If you listen to music on your iPhone or iPod Touch while you're driving, you probably don't exercise much control over your playlist--skipping and pausing songs without looking down at the screen is almost impossible. Fortunately, there are apps for that.
One of many background and font choices that come with SongVoo.
SongVoo, which released version 1.1 last week, is my latest discovery in this realm. It's similar to PlaySafe in that it places a skin on top of your iPhone's music player, superimposing the artist, song, and album name in large letters, and lets you control music playback with simple hand gestures that don't require you to look at the screen--in the case of SongVoo, you touch anywhere on the screen to pause, touch twice to fast-forward to the next song, and touch three times to reverse.
It has several advantages over PlaySafe, however. With PlaySafe, you have to choose songs or playlists and add them to the app before you can start using it, and it can take a little while for PlaySafe to index them. With SongVoo, this process is much more efficient--it added all 800-plus songs on my iPhone in under five seconds.
Alternately, you can begin playing your music from the normal iPod music app and then open SongVoo to superimpose SongVoo's skin on top of it. SongVoo also offers tons of backgrounds and fonts, and lets you switch among them simply by shaking the device. There are also smaller finger-buttons for setting your playlist to shuffle, to loop songs or the entire playlist, and to see detailed song information.
Version 1.1 of the app adds a couple of features that seem geared toward the attention-deficit-disorder set. You can preset the app to skip the intro and/or outro of every song (you set it by time length, such as 25 seconds), and post updates to your Facebook page simply by drawing a "W" on the screen with your finger. (By default, it posts "I am dancing to..." and the name of the song and artist, but you can change the message to something cheekier if you like.) Useful, fun, and only $0.99.
Back in the dark ages before Internet access, staying on top of the coolest new music required some work. You could read about new bands in magazines and newsletters--the more obscure the better--but most music fans had a few people they trusted to be their personal music experts. Record store clerks, friends in bands, and people in the local art scene all competed to be up on the latest new sounds coming out of Austin or Detroit or Seattle, and the rest of us reaped the benefits of this competition.
Miracle Fortress, one of the recommended albums from a real live record store owner, Sonic Boom's Jason Hughes.
Panel, a new Web site and associated $2.99 app for iPhone and iPod Touch, updates this old world of trusted experts for the new world of on-demand digital music. Created by Los Angeles record producer Darius Fong, Panel will enlist a new expert every couple of weeks to recommend two recent favorite albums. The iPhone app lets you stream these albums in their entirety or on a song-by-song basis, and provides information about the album and panelist (this information--but not the music--is also available on the Web site). If you want to buy it, the iPhone app has a link to iTunes, and the Web site links to both iTunes and Amazon's MP3 store. You can even share your recommendations via your Facebook update status or Twitter feed, allowing you to pretend that you discovered this obscure gem all by yourself.
Panel's first expert is Jason Hughes, the owner of one of my favorite Seattle record stores, Sonic Boom. Future panelists, according to the company, will include Justin Gage, who created the Aquarium Drunkard music blog and XM/Sirius radio show, producer and musician Matt Bayles, who used to be part of Seattle band Minus the Bear, and bronze sculptor Peter Harper, who also runs an online Musician of the Month contest from his Web site and happens to be Ben Harper's brother.
As I noted in my previous post on subjective sound quality, I primarily listen to my portable music players in my car. It's a 2010 Prius, and Toyota cleverly designed it to support portable music--under the armrest between the front seats, there's a small plastic container that's the perfect size to hold an iPod or cell phone, and below that platform there's an auxiliary input and DC outlet (cigarette lighters are so 1973) to plug it into. (You can see the set-up in the third photo in the "interior" gallery here.)
(Credit:
Chilli X)
There's only one problem: the music controls on an iPhone or iPod Touch are not designed for driving. The pause, last song, and next song controls are the size of your fingertip, and you generally have to look at the screen to hit them accurately--not a good idea when you're speeding down the highway.
A new 99-cent app called PlaySafe is designed for just this problem. Before you start driving, you can select an album or playlist and turn shuffle on or off. As soon as you're done with your selection, the music starts playing, and PlaySafe overlays a simple set of controls on top of the touch-screen iPod. To pause (or resume playing), you touch a large arrow in the middle of the screen. To go back to the previous song, you swipe the screen to the left. To go to the next song, you swipe the screen to the right. Simple, elegant, and potentially life-saving.
Zune HD
(Credit: Microsoft)I find it hard to evaluate an MP3 player until I've lived with it for a little while. Specifications, demos, and even quick hands-on tests don't tell you the most important thing: how does it sound? Can you listen to it for an hour? A week? The rest of your life?
On Tuesday, I spent a few hours with the 32GB versions of Microsoft's new Zune HD and Apple's latest-generation iPod Touch. To me, these are the top-of-the-line competitors in the MP3 player market--if you're a serious music listener with nearly $300 to spend, these are your two choices.
On a straight specifications basis, each of them has clear advantages.
The iPod Touch excels as a portable multifunction computer, with tens of thousands of available applications, and it's the only choice for Mac users. The Zune HD has superior music-discovery features, particularly when used with a Zune Pass subscription. Plus, it has an HD Radio and a sophisticated desktop PC client that makes iTunes look stale.
On industrial design, I think they're about even--a commendable feat for Microsoft given how far behind the previous Zunes were. On user interface, the iPod Touch may be more intuitive at first, but the Zune HD is way cooler--I love the way artist images and words scroll across the background as you play a song--and gives you far more customization over the music-playing experience. (I'm amazed that the iPod Touch still doesn't have an easy way to add songs to a now-playing queue, for instance.)
But what about the actual sound? To try them out, I ran them into the audio input jack in my car, which is how I most often listen to portable music. I turned each device up to just below maximum volume (I've heard my iPhone distort at its max), and made sure the EQ settings were completely flat.
iPod Touch
(Credit: CNET)The Zune HD sounded very crisp and clean, with clear separation in the bass, but the midrange--guitar, vocals--didn't seem full or loud enough. When I turned it up to try and get a fuller sound, the treble became overwhelming.
The iPod Touch was noticeably louder at the same volume setting on the car stereo. The trebly parts--cymbals, high-hat, the squeak of a saxophone reed--were still distinct, but the bass sounded rounder and warmer, and the midrange (the most important spectrum when choosing audio gear) shone through. It made me realize how much sound was missing when I listened to the Zune HD.
The difference became most obvious when I took a couple songs--Radiohead's "How to Disappear Completely" and Mr. Bungle's NSFW funk-bizarro song "Squeeze Me Macaroni"--and listened to them back to back on each player. On the Zune HD, the acoustic guitar in the Radiohead song sounded clinky and thin, and the percussion in the Bungle song was unbearably high-pitched. On the iPod Touch, the guitar sounded like guitar and the percussion was complementary rather than overwhelming.
A few hours later, I tried a similar test through the relatively cheap headphones that come with the Zune HD. Here, the Zune fared a bit better--it sounded louder, so I didn't need to turn it up so much that the over-boosted treble hurt my ears--but there simply wasn't as much audio information coming through, especially at the low end.
Hearing is subjective--apparently younger listeners are beginning to prefer the "sizzle" of highly compressed MP3s, and one listener's "crisp" is another's "harsh." And I'm an analog fan, with far more records than CDs in my home collection. But to me, the Zune HD sounded pretty good, while the new iPod Touch is the best-sounding MP3 player I've ever heard, comparing favorably with a decent CD player.
Your lesson? Don't just read the specs and look at the interface before you buy an MP3 player. Spend some serious time listening to it, at volume.
If you were hoping for Apple to announce a subscription-based music service for the iPhone and the iPod Touch on Wednesday like I was, suppress your disappointment: early this morning, Apple approved Rhapsody for iPhone, and it's available in the iTunes Store.
It's the second such service Apple has approved, but the first, Spotify, is not available in the United States. (The Rhapsody application is not showing up in search results quite yet, but it is showing up within iTunes.)
(Credit:
Rhapsody)
Rhapsody was a pioneer in subscription-based music, and I'm a big fan of the service; in 2005, it was the first one to turn me on to the thrill of chasing your whims and surfing randomly among genres, which you can't do with per-download services like iTunes.
In my most recent trial late last year (in conjunction with the Sonos multiroom audio system), I wasn't able to find any significant gaps--if anything, there was too much music, including more versions of the novelty song "Kung Fu Fighting" than I ever imagined--and there is some excellent curation and editorial work, particularly for indie rock artists.
The iPhone app is pretty straightforward: you can search for songs, surf genres and chart-toppers, and create queues and playlists. If you're a fan of Pandora, you'll also appreciate the Rhapsody Radio feature, which creates tailor-made stations built around particular artists or genres. As long as you have an active Wi-Fi or 3G connection, the music should keep playing without interruption.
It's a free download, but to use it, you'll need a Rhapsody to Go subscription, which costs $14.99 a month. That's not quite as good a deal as Microsoft's Zune Pass, which costs the same and gives you 10 permanent MP3 downloads a month, but of course that service requires a Zune, which means that it applies only to about 1.1 percent of the MP3 player market (according to a statistic that Apple snarkily included in its presentation Wednesday) and exactly zero mobile phones.
Apple appears to have seen the light, as it is now allowing subscription-based music to come to the iPhone. It makes my phone's 8GB storage size seem a lot less limiting.
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Today's Apple event contained a number of newsworthy announcements--a new digital-album format, precut ringtones at $1.29--but what's more striking is the way that the company really focused the improvements on the iPod Nano.
The Nano was the only Apple device that got a significant overhaul, with a video camera, FM radio, voice recorder, and pedometer. Somewhat surprisingly, the more expensive and higher-end iPod Touch isn't getting a refresh this time around. It still lacks a video camera and built-in FM radio.
Strategically, this makes sense: on stage, Steve Jobs claimed that the Nano has sold more than 100 million units, making it the most popular MP3 player in the world. It occupies the sweet spot in price, between $100 and $200 (the new 8GB version will be $149, while the new 16GB version will cost $179).
Last year, Apple hardly updated the Nano at all, besides introducing a few new colors. So to keep its firm hold on the midmarket, Apple was smart to add a few checklist features, particularly the video camera, which suddenly makes the Flip look overpriced.
At the low end, the Shuffle got a price cut to $59 for the 2GB version or $79 for the 4GB version, but this seems expensive, compared with SanDisk's Sansa Clip+, which costs $40 for a 2GB or $50 for 4GB, and includes an FM radio, small screen for navigating menus, and expandable memory via a microSD slot. Here, Apple seems to be relying on the iPod brand to carry it.
At the high end, the iPod Touch remains one of the most exciting devices on the market--it's basically redefining portable computing, thanks to its Wi-Fi connection and Apple's massive App Store. But as a pure MP3 player, I still think that there's room for competition.
Microsoft's forthcoming Zune HD might grab some hard-core music fanatics, thanks to its built-in HD radio (more stations), all-you-can-play subscription service, and (in my opinion) better navigation scheme that lets you get to more of your music more quickly. The Zune HD also looks like a better deal on a straight-memory basis--the 16GB version will cost $220 (only $21 more than an 8GB iPod Touch), and the 32GB will cost $290, which is $9 less than the equivalent iPod Touch.
If I were shopping for an MP3 player today and had less than $100 to spend, I'd buy a Clip+. If I had between $100 and $200, the iPod Nano is the obvious choice. If I had more than that, I'd have to weigh whether I'm more interested in a broad range of apps (iPod Touch) or music (which might sway me to the Zune HD).
After months of increasingly wild rumors, CNET's Ina Fried got the official scoop yesterday: Microsoft is indeed releasing the Zune HD this fall. The device will feature an OLED touch screen, high-definition video output (with an optional add-on), a version of Internet Explorer (it sounds similar to the version planned for Windows Mobile 6.5, which uses the core IE6 engine but adds Flash support, as well as some technology from IE8 to better support JavaScript), and HD Radio.
(Credit:
Microsoft)
I spoke to the Zune marketing team this morning, and they didn't have much to say beyond those points. In fact, they weren't originally planning on saying anything until later this summer, but felt they needed to set expectations for Zune customers in light of all the rumors.
Here's why: the Zune HD isn't going to be the super-device that some geeks had been hoping for. It will play games--just like today's Zunes, which ship with a couple simple games--but it won't be a full-fledged gaming device like the Sony PlayStation Portable or Nintendo DS. It won't have its own application store, although Microsoft hinted it might connect to the forthcoming Windows Marketplace for Mobile, which could let third-party apps like Facebook and Pandora find a home on the device. It won't feature WiMax connectivity, although that might be planned for a future touch-screen phone with a similar form factor.
In other words, this is Zune 3.0, a music-focused device with a nice touch screen. It'll support video and apps, sure, but the team is focusing on improving the music-playback experience--think album art, more detailed artist pages with images, perhaps lyrics or video content.
Will these features be enough to get users to choose a Zune HD instead of an iPod Touch? The main difference seems to be HD Radio. I believe Microsoft when they say FM radio is the Zune's second-most important selling point, but Zune users are a very small portion of the overall MP3 player market--the tens of millions of users who bought an iPod didn't care about radio. There may be some other killer features we don't yet know about, and there's always the Zune Pass to consider--a great deal at $14.99 a month for unlimited streams and 10 permanent downloads--but I think the uphill battle against Apple will continue.
As far as the other half of the news goes, it's been clear for some time that Microsoft was getting ready to integrate the Zune Marketplace into Xbox Live. The company will have more details to show off next week at E3, so I'll save further comment until I see what they've got.
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Eliot Van Buskirk over at Wired has an interesting post today about Seattle band Presidents of the United States of America.
It's like a radio station with all PUSA, all the time.
(Credit: Melodeo)In addition to selling its songs on iTunes in the normal fashion, PUSA has just released a $2.99 application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that will let you stream songs from four albums (the ones whose rights are owned by the band), plus assorted other flotsam (live tracks, demos, whatever).
The application was built by Melodeo, whose vice president of business development is none other than PUSA's Dave Dederer.
The songs are streamed, not downloaded, which means that you need a live Internet connection to hear them. In other words, imagine Pandora or Slacker, but focused on one band and with no restrictions on song order or skipping.
The trick with this kind of compilation is clearing the rights--radio station compilations, for example, would probably be impossible because so many licensees would have to be contacted. But I think that this could be a very interesting way for bands to earn a little bit of money from music to which they have exclusive rights.
Imagine your favorite band releasing an application with demos and outtakes from its latest album, on the same day the album itself goes live to iTunes and other download sites. Imagine it releasing concert recordings the day after a concert takes place.
Record labels could also benefit--Melodeo is apparently already working on a compilation for a Seattle-area label. Perhaps this is the digital replacement for the old SubPop singles club?
It looks like the iPod's still got a bit of life left. It may no longer be the main driver of innovation at Apple, but the company sold 22.7 million iPods during its fiscal first quarter. That's up 3 percent from the same period last year, although a much slower rate of growth than in previous years. Still, it's growth nonetheless. Not only did Apple beat expectations but the results reported Wednesday also marked an all-time quarterly sales record for its iconic MP3 player.
Meanwhile, iPhone sales actually fell from the previous quarter, from 6.9 million to 4.4 million, coming in slightly shy of Wall Street's consensus expectations of 5 million. That's a definite reversal of the "hockey stick" sales trend we saw beginning last quarter.
What's going on here? My theory is that the iPod Touch is cannibalizing some potential iPhone sales. Plenty of users are satisfied with their current cell phone provider, but have read reviews indicting AT&T's cellular network. I've found this to be true in my own case--AT&T's 3G network has spotty coverage around Seattle, and my iPhone drops calls more frequently than my last phone, a RAZR from Verizon, although it's not as bad as the phone I had with T-Mobile until 2006. (I literally threw that one into a garbage can at the hospital, when I couldn't use it to call my family about the birth of my daughter.)
But most of the best things about the iPhone--the touch screen, the App Store, the music interface--are available on the iPod Touch, plus you get full Web access and e-mail when you're within range of an open Wi-Fi network. Better yet, you get more capacity for your music--I'm constantly having to delete apps and albums from my 8GB iPhone, but a 32GB iPod Touch would be enough for my entire digital music collection. Except the darn thing would have cost $200 more than my iPhone.
Actually, scratch that--once you add in the cost of the required AT&T data plan, any iPhone is far more expensive than the $399 32GB iPod Touch.
I reckon a lot of potential iPhone buyers are doing the same calculations and buying an iPod Touch instead. If so, offering a $99 iPhone--as I'm willing to bet Apple will do before the end of 2009--probably won't help sales all that much. Rather, Apple might have to consider changing from AT&T to another partner carrier--Verizon seems to be the least-bad of the big U.S. cellular networks, based on anecdotes I hear from its customers.
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I've been a fan of the Sonos Multi-Room Music System ever since I saw it in action at a neighbor's house a couple summers ago. There's no other solution that gives you such easy access to so much music in so many places in your house, whether that music is stored on your computer or delivered via partnerships with Internet music providers like Last.fm (owned by CBS, which also owns CNET), Pandora, or Rhapsody.
You should be able to save $399 off the price of a Sonos home system by downloading this free remote control app to your iPhone or iPod Touch. But Sonos hasn't made the necessary bundle available.
Recently, Sonos sent me a system to test out with their new free iPhone controller (more about that later), and I came away even more impressed. The setup process was a model of clarity and efficiency--every consumer software developer in the world should study it. (Microsoft, Apple, are you paying attention?) Without going into exhaustive detail--you can read CNET's full review if you're interested--the one-page quick setup guide worked flawlessly, the installation of the PC desktop controller software was fast and easy, and once installed it took less than 5 minutes to index my entire 25GB music collection. Connecting new devices to the system was as easy as walking up to them, pressing a couple buttons, and waiting for the lights to stop flashing. Done. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being attaching speakers to a PC and 10 being getting a MacBook to connect to a PC-based home wireless network and print to a PC-attached printer using SMB, this was about a 3.
To be honest, the only reason I haven't bought one--a reason which you'll see in almost every review and head-to-head comparison--is the system's price. The standard two-room Bundle 150, which gives you two base stations (one with amp, one without) and a controller, starts at $999. You can plug one of the stations, the ZP90, into any audio system with an auxiliary line-in, but the amplified ZP120 needs standalone speakers--Sonos will sell a pair to you for $179.99. Expanding into extra rooms requires you to buy additional ZP90s ($349) or ZP120s ($499). It adds up.
Another oddity with the system is that one Sonos device in your system needs to be plugged into a router with an Ethernet cable. The justification is reasonable: Sonos uses its own wireless mesh to avoid interference with regular Wi-Fi networks. But in practical terms, this will probably raise the price even higher.
Case in point: my wireless router's in the room with my PC. I don't need a Sonos system in there--I'll just plug headphones or small speakers into my PC. So if I'd bought one of these bundles, I would now have to go out and pay $100 for a wireless bridge to connect the Sonos system to my wireless router without wasting a base station. Yow.
There's an easy fix to both problems. In October, Sonos released a free app that lets you use your iPhone or iPod Touch as a remote control for the system. It eliminates the need for the CR 100 controller.
So why not create a new two-room bundle for iPhone users with home wireless networks? (Two groups that I imagine overlap significantly--call it the SuperGeek bundle.) Take out the CR 100 controller, which lists for $399. Replace it with the ZoneStation 100--the wireless bridge--which lists for $99. That would theoretically knock $300 off the price of the Bundle 150, bringing it down to $699; with speakers, the price could be $849. That's still not cheap, but it would be well below that psychological $1,000 barrier, making it easier to justify. (You could buy these parts a la carte today, but they'd cost almost the same as the bundles with remote--$948 without speakers, $1,127 with.)
Sonos could even package an entry-level one-room iPhone/Wi-Fi bundle--just a single ZP90 and ZoneBridge wireless bridge--for something like $399 (a $49 discount off the a la carte price), and I bet they'd fly off the shelves. And the product is so cool, and works so well, once people are in, they'll keep adding extra base stations as they can afford them.
