Music gadgets

If two data points make a trend, here's a new one: there will soon be two iPhone apps that promise to turn your humble mobile phone into a mobile electric-guitar rig, complete with multiple amps, effects, and microphones.

DJ and electronic music apps for the iPhone aren't much of a stretch--after all, a lot of electronic musicians have been using computers as their primary instrument since the 1990s, and the iPhone is as powerful as the highest-powered desktops from a decade ago.

But most guitarists are stubborn analog creatures, hunting vintage music shops and Craigslist for the perfect … Read more

After spending the last few years focusing on building a credible search engine and fixing Windows, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is now turning his eye, Sauron-like, toward Microsoft's consumer products.

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced that two longtime leaders in its Entertainment and Devices Division, President Robbie Bach and Chief Technical Officer J Allard, are stepping down. Although both executives are best known as the public faces of the Xbox, they also bear some responsibility for the Zune, Microsoft's portable media player and associated software and services. Bach was assigned to fix Microsoft's digital-media strategy in the mid-2000s, … Read more

At Coachella on Friday night, I had the thrill of seeing one of my musical heroes, John Paul Jones, play live with Them Crooked Vultures, which also features Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) on guitar and vocals and Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) on drums. The set had a lot of highlights--including a tremendous jam on "Scumbag Blues"--but my favorite part was seeing Jones switch between instruments, including basses with four and ten (!) strings, a mandolin, and a keyboard.

As well as...this thing. It looked like some sort of slide guitar with an electronic … Read more

At long last, the Zune Phone is here. Microsoft isn't calling it that--apparently it thought the name Windows Phone 7 Series rolled off the tongue a bit more easily--but the next generation of Microsoft's smartphone software not only features the entire Zune HD software and services experience (just like the iPod became a component of the iPhone), but the entire user interface itself bears a close resemblance to the Zune HD.

To be clear, Microsoft isn't building the hardware like it did with Zune--rather, partners like HTC, LG, and Samsung will do that work. But a lot of what the company learned from several iterations of Zune design has been rolled into its mobile platform.

Microsoft introduced Windows Phone 7 Series Monday morning at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and there's a lot to wrap your head around. I'll leave the full rundown to others at CNET, but one of the most interesting aspects is the way Microsoft seems to be trying to get rid of the notion of "apps," which have become the iPhone's calling card and are widely imitated by every other smart phone OS out there.

I don't mean that Windows Phone 7 Series phones won't support third-party applications--of course they will. But you won't interact with those applications by selecting a specific icon, opening an app, doing whatever you want to do, then closing it and moving on to something else. … Read more

Microsoft enthusiast and blogger Long Zheng noticed something interesting in the Zune PC software update released Tuesday.

The software contains three new hardware identifiers, which are used to load the appropriate driver when a particular device is plugged in to a USB port on a Windows PC. Those identifiers all contain the cryptic string "Phone.Device." The identifiers for the original Zune devices are different, saying "Zune.Device."

This is the clearest evidence yet that Microsoft is planning some kind of Zune support for mobile phones. As I've been predicting for almost two years, this … Read more

A proposed file format called MusicDNA will allow content owners to ship up to 32GB of information, such as album cover art, song lyrics, and even up-to-the minute blog posts and concert listings, alongside a music file. If enough content owners and distributors sign on, it could become an alternative to the MP3, giving users a more album-like digital playback experience, and allowing artists and content owners to charge more money per download.

The proposed format was announced by Bach Technology on Sunday at MIDEM 2010, a music-industry conference under way in Cannes, France. Unlike current alternatives to the MP3, … Read more

For heavy music listeners and explorers of new tunes, subscription-based music services make a lot sense on a mobile device. Instead of being bound to your phone's limited storage, you have access to millions of songs for a single monthly fee.

That's why I picked RealNetworks' Rhapsody (and its competitor Spotify, which isn't yet available in the United States) on the Apple iPhone as one of my five most welcome products of 2009.

Now owners of a Motorola Droid, an HTC Nexus One, or any other phone running Google's mobile operating system will be able to … Read more

Bill Gates has said that prognosticators often overestimate the amount of technological change that will happen in a year, but underestimate the changes that will take place over a decade. With the Zeroes coming to an end this week, and Steve Guttenberg's recent column questioning the viability of recorded music in 2020 as inspiration, here's my pick of 10 trends in music and technology that will shape the next decade.

Songs instead of albums Musicians will always find ways to record their music--it's a fundamental drive, like painting for a painter or writing for a writer. But … Read more

Online music provider 7digital is bringing over-the-air music downloads to recent BlackBerry phones, such as the Storm, Bold, and Tour. The rumors have been circulating for several months now. On Tuesday the company is set to launch its application--developed by DevelopIQ--on the BlackBerry App World store, as well as on the 7digital Web site.

After installing the free app, BlackBerry users will be able to buy and download more than 6 million songs from all four major labels and all the big independents, all in unprotected MP3 format. The app adapts automatically to the speed of the user'… Read more