Archive for: music
I’m a huge music lover and as such I’m always looking out for the latest and greatest pair of headphones that can provide me the greatest quality of audio. Sometimes it’s not always in the most expensive pair, but there’s lots of trial and error until you find the brand you’re most comfortable with. Because price is such an issue can be hard to justify the purchase of a $300+ pair of headphones when the money is tight, so the release of these new Kicker headphones is definitely timely.
The new Kicker HP1973 Over-the-Eat Headphones are a great buy for a mid-range pair of headphones. Having hard a pair of Kickers in the past, these headphones are sure to get you the sound you’re looking for without breaking the bank. The classic retro look is being promoted to both music lovers and musicians alike for any of their needs. They feature a lightweight over-the-ear design, padded headband, black braided cloth cable, a 3.5mm iPhone-compatible plug, and a sleek black paint job.
The inspiration for the design is stated in the name, 1973, when the only way to hear great music was with a pair of cans like these. The dynamic full range of audio will, as they say, hit all the highs and lows of your favorite tunes. Coming in at $70, it’s a fair price to ask for style and substance.
Do you enjoy swimming? And do you love music and can’t get anywhere without your MP3 player? Well, we have news for you. Regaletes, a shopping site available from Spain, is offering a great new gadget: A waterproof MP3 player.
This new gadget is available only in a 2GB model. I know, this is not the best sized MP3 player, but still, in 2GB I’d say that you can have enough music for your swimming session. The interconnection system is, of course, USB.
Even though it could sound a little pricy, 89 euros, still the possibility to use it while you are showering or in a swimming pool it’s just awesome!
“Grab That File!” is an online service available that lets you download music directly from MySpace completely free. This free version provides us with the possibility to download up to 7 songs per day, with the possibility for a Premium upgrade.
As you probably know, MySpace is the favorite site for many bands to start distributing new songs but of course the only way to listen it is using the website with an Internet connection. Grab That File! gives us the possibility for a direct download of the MP3 file.
The use of it is pretty simple: Login using your Facebook account; enter the MySpace URL with that contains the music; and download the file you want.
Of course, there’s a big disclaimer saying that you should only download music that does not infringe any copyright laws.
Music artists are finding new ways to distribute their content that completely goes against the traditional models of releasing new albums and tracks. In the past we’ve seen artists like Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead offer their music for free, suggesting that users pay what they think the album is worth. While a novel idea, it did show traditional publishing models that they were not necessary. Both albums did very well online and opened doors for more modernized methods.
Recently Soundcloud struck a deal with The Hype Machine and already the benefits are showing as the service has reached a million users and will quickly surpass that at a global level. The audio sharing site is becoming very popular with musicians to share their new music, collaborations and pet projects to the world. Seen as the “Flickr” or “Vimeo for audio” artists are posting up and users are able to interact with those posts seeking the audio they want.
Techcrunch recently did an article on their success which no one will argue is a very viable way to distribute music. It notes that the service is “winning the hearts and business of artists.”
Oh Beck…you no longer need two turn tables and a microphone, you just need a computer with an internet connection. Perhaps some understanding of beats might also play an important role in your use of TurnTube. DJ’s beware, TurnTube, powered by YouTube, is a video music mixing masterpiece that allows users to mix their favorite videos like a pro. Using YouTube’s extensive library of music videos, you can create your own music by simply pairing them up and setting the mood.
With a simple cross-fade and mix of some of your favorite music, not only are you providing your audience with great tunes, but paired with music videos is always a nice visual touch. I’ve tried playing with the web app and honestly, I’m not a good DJ. But, if you’ve got the talent give it a try. You can search for your favorite songs, and load them up in two play lists. You then set up your videos to cue at a certain point that will allow for a seamless integration. Start your music, and then adjust as necessary.
If you’re wondering what the final product will look like, below are samples of videos that have been mixed, and some of them are really really good. This won’t get you a moonlighting gig, but it’s a lot of fun to play with.
Cloud storage is huge, and many of us have stored our data in the cloud already. Whether we’re storing documents or media, the cloud gives us a safe place other than our hard drive to access our data in case of a mishap on our hard drive. Still there are others who think that it is too dangerous to store our most vital information in the cloud because we no longer have control of it. No matter what side of the fence you are on, cloud storage is become a reality for more than personal use, but also for businesses.
Cincopa is now offering cloud storage for digital music in an application called Tubemystuff. The idea is that most of our media far outweighs the storage capacity of our mobile devices. Many of us have hundreds if not thousands of gigabytes of music and video that simply can’t come with us. This is what Tubemystuff plans on changing. Rather than having to pick and choose what to bring with you, you upload what you want, and Tubemystuff allows you to access the other stuff later via a cloud connection.
You have the capability to listen to stored music when you home PC is online and offline, but the product prefers that you create huge playlists on their servers so that you don’t have to rely on the physical storage of your computer. While compelling, I’m not quite sure the audio quality would be the same. I’ve used other cloud services and the quality does seem to be reduced.
There are a variety of services just like this. Do you use any? Can you recommend something better. Let us know what cloud services you use in order to access your media while away from home.
How many of you have created your iTunes playlists and feel like your list is never complete unless you’ve got everything you need for every song including album art? If you’re one of those types, then I’m right there with you. Nothing frustrates me more than playing music on my MP3 player and seeing no album art with a song. Perhaps I’m OCD, perhaps it’s just the huge music fan in me, but Album Art Search has been a holy land of sorts for all the album art I need.
The site offers up the album art of some of the most sought after albums, straight from the homepage, but digging deeper you’re able to find what you’re missing after a search for a specific album. The categories give you a broad based idea of what you’ll find, and by clicking on the image you can go to Amazon if you’d like to buy the physical media. You can also bookmark and save the images for your own use.
So now there’s no reason for any of your playlists to be without album art. Dig in, find what you need and let us know what you think. There are other competitors out that I think do it better, but I like the ease of finding what I need on this platform.
Digital music distributor RouteNote has just announced the launch of three new music store partners – Deezer, Napster and Thumbplay Mobile.
RouteNote is the only digital music distribution service that has no upfront costs and provides artists with access to the worlds largest online stores and streaming services. Artists can choose from a growing list of quality partners including iTunes, Amazon mp3, Spotify, eMusic and more.
New partner summary:
Deezer is a French business, but has agreements with all 4 major labels to stream ad-supported music to their 9 million registered users across 35 different countries. In the three years since its launch, Deezer has been voted the most innovative website of 2007 by readers of 01Net, ahead of both Facebook and Dailymotion. Deezer also won the 2008 Red Herring award, for Europe’s most innovative web companies, among various other awards. The proof of their success is really in the number of people listening to music through their service, which keeps on growing. In addition to their music streaming service, Deezer also offers:
- Access to radio channels: Hip Hop, Rock, Electro, Jazz, Live, French Scene, Disco etc.
- Surfing intelligent online radio
- Information about artists, albums, tracks, introducing subscribers to new music
- Sharing playlists, chat and musical tastes with friends via the community of ‘Deezernautes’
- Watch videos
Napster was the first cat among the digital pigeons with it’s peer to peer service, but they’ve come a long way since their rebellious beginnings, and now their subscription service offers both unlimited streaming and a number of DRM free downloads per month, available online and on smartphones in Europe and the USA.
Thumbplay is the largest mobile content provider in the U.S. Operating both web based and mobile services, including licensed music, video and games. They have deals with all the majors, and several independent labels and artists, and now you can get access to their services through RouteNote. Hundreds of millions of cellphones in the US are waiting to download your music.
To get your music live with these music stores and all our other online music partners, sign up for our music distribution service, and get our new music upload tool. You can have your tracks online in minutes, and earning you money in a matter of weeks.
Disclosure: I am the CEO of RouteNote.
Guitar Hero, done it. Rock Band, yep, did that too! I’ve not been a big fan of the mobile versions for some of these, even on the Nintendo DS the Guitar Hero just didn’t port well without cramping up and wishing your had double joints on your double joints. Still there’s no denying that these games are a lot of fun, whether you’re playing on your own or playing with a group. Mastering the moves, hearing the songs, and remembering the days when you wanted to be a real rockstar, are all part of the experience.
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In what was practically the unplug heard around the world, imeem users were rudely awakened when upon loading their favorite playlists, they
imeem playlists moving to MySpace Music
were nowhere to be found. MySpace’s acquisition is not responsible for imeem going away, as the suffering company would have surely gone the way of the dinosaur on its own, but rather, shutting off the API killed a lot of apps, desktop and mobile alike. The impact was felt the world over as no word was even given, no warning, not even an explanation was made at the time of this event.
Recently MySpace has done right with the imeem community by assuring them that their playlists are fine, and are simply being ported over to MySpace music playlists. While I’m not entirely sure of MySpace’s music porting capabilities, I’d have to assume this is not an overnight process. Nevertheless, MySpace’s imeem acknowledgement provides some comfort to avid imeem users, but little those that have already migrated to other platforms. The service’s dedicated fans were the most spurned by this transition in ownership, and perhaps MySpace’s assurance comes too little too late.
In the announcement MySpace encourages users to use the existing music service provided by said company while the transition is taking place. It states it has the largest licensed digital catalog of music, hoping to lighten the blow even more, but for some of us, MySpace is not a site we thought of when we thought of music. Will the acquisition of imeem, will this change? Should be interesting to see the response once the imeem playlists have been brought over.
