Alt-J open for Soundhalo app, lets you instantly buy gig footage
Mobile PhonesSoundhalo is a new Android app that means you'll never have to hold up your phone and record grubby bootleg footage again -- or go to a gig for that matter.
The app, which is currently in beta but readily available on the Google Play store, launched last night at a gig by Mercury Prize-winning acoustic jazz-dubsteppers alt-J. Continue reading...
Apple to secure licensing for iRadio this week, report says
SoftwareApple is set to sign a licensing agreement with Universal Music Group this week, so its rumoured iRadio service can stream tunes from the label's catalogue, sources close to the matter told The Verge. And Warner Music is said to be next in line.
There is one niggle. Sony Music Entertainment -- home to Alicia Keys, Michael Jackson and Paul Simon, among others -- is dragging its feet, with talks said to be "not as far along towards reaching a deal". But two out of three isn't bad, right? Continue reading...
Grand Theft Auto radio stations now on Spotify and iTunes
Games and GearI'm enjoying some fresh Slavic sounds courtesy of Vladivostok FM as I write this. If you've ever cruised the knackered streets of Liberty City's Broker neighbourhood, you may well be familiar with its eclectic Russian post-punk and pop.
No, I'm not playing Grand Theft Auto at my desk -- the game's maker Rockstar has released many of its radio stations as playlists on Spotify and iTunes.
Continue reading...
1 billion songs legally downloaded in the UK, Adele tops chart
MP3 PlayersLegal digital music downloads have just hit 1 billion in the UK, according to the Official Charts Company.
Tottenham's own lovesick warbler Adele leads the pack in digital downloads, holding the number 1 spot with 1.41 million downloads of the hit song Someone Like You, although her album 21 is the fourth-biggest selling album of all time in the UK. Continue reading...
Apple iRadio rival to Spotify and Pandora delayed
MP3 PlayersThe needle is skipping for Apple's planned music streaming service, as the iPhone and iPad giant struggles to reach a deal with record labels.
The purported streaming rival to Spotify and popular US service Pandora, inevitably nicknamed iRadio, was thought to have been planned for early this year. But the New York Post reports that negotiations with record labels over licensing of music have delayed the process. Continue reading...
HMV closing 66 shops, with nearly 1,000 jobs under threat
Home CinemaHMV is bringing down the shutters on 66 shops, threatening 930 staff. After an angry employee hijacked HMV's Twitter last week, the retailer's administrators have finally revealed which stores are to be axed.
The 66 branches of the ailing music, DVD and games chain will close over the next two months. Read on to see if your branch is to be axed. Continue reading...
Sony to stop making MiniDisc stereos in March
MP3 PlayersIt's the end of an era -- Sony will stop making MiniDisc stereos next month, two years after it stopped selling its portable equivalents, the BBC reports.
MiniDisc stereos first went on sale back in 1992, so it marks an end to the 21-year-old format's life. Sony hoped MiniDisc would become the format of choice, as a better quality alternative to cassettes. But the rise of CDs put paid to that. Continue reading...
HMV extends massive sale to raise cash, stay afloat
Home CinemaHis Master's Voice is singing a sad, sad song -- the dog-tricking disc-flogger is selling off a huge amount of stock on the cheap, reportedly to raise quick money for creditors. Extending its 'big sale' for at least another month means a whole basement of bargains, but is the retailer in real trouble?
Go to HMV.com today and you'll see it plastered with 'big sale' banners, which have been up since Boxing Day. Retailers all cut prices on stuff they didn't flog before Christmas, but the sales usually end come the first week of the new year. Continue reading...
Brits splash £1bn on digital goods as disc sales shatter
GadgetsBrits splurged a whopping £1bn on digital goods in 2012, the first time we as a nation have passed that vertiginously high mark. £1,033,000,000 was spent on digital video, music and games, the BBC reports, an 11.4 per cent rise on 2011.
It's not good news for physical media, as you'd expect, with sales of disc-based entertainment plummeting by 17.6 per cent. Nevertheless, CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs still make up 75 per cent of sales, because people still like to own (and perhaps more importantly, give) stuff to put on our shelves. Continue reading...
Apple music streaming promised by iTunes 11, says analyst
SoftwareRadio, what's new? Someone still loves you... Apple, that is. Changes in iTunes 11 suggest iRadio music streaming will arrive soon, before the much-rumoured new Apple TV.
At least one analyst believes radio is a sound salvation, claiming that iRadio is set to launch in 2013. Richard Greenfield of BTIG argues that the Radio button in the latest iTunes software has been given more prominence in readiness for an ad-supported music-streaming service to rival Spotify, Rdio and Pandora. Continue reading...
iTunes 11 download out now with new interface, mini-player
SoftwareThe new version of iTunes is finally here, following delays that saw Apple missing its original October deadline for the spangly new software.
The delay, the Wall Street Journal reports, was down to "engineering issues". Apple said at the end of October that it "wanted to take a little extra time to get it right". Never mind though, because now the much-needed iTunes revamp is available to download. Continue reading...
JBL OnBeat Micro is first Lightning dock for iPhone 5 and iPad
MP3 PlayersLightning has struck -- the JBL OnBeat Micro is the first speaker dock that fits the new generation of iPhone, iPad, iPad mini and iPod. JBL dropped by CNET Towers to not only show us the OnBeat in action but also give an insight into how Lightning works, and what it's like working with Apple.
The latest models of Apple kit sport a new 19-pin connector codenamed Lightning to charge your phone and play your music. Lightning replaces the larger 30-pin connector seen on all previous versions of the iPhone and iPad. Continue reading...
Google Play Music deal brings 5 million new tracks to Android
MP3 PlayersGoogle Play Music has pressed play on a deal that brings Lady Gaga, Rihanna and 5 million more new songs to your Android phone's music store.
Google has done a deal with European licensing and publishing groups to add more than 5.5 million tracks, including meat-decked GaGa and good girl gone bad RiRi. The deal folds the UK and American sections of Universal Music Publishing's library into Google Play and spans most of Europe. Continue reading...
Google Play Music tunes up in UK, is cheaper than iTunes
MP3 PlayersWith a bellow of "Hello Britain!" Google's Play Music service is on stage and launching into its first number, after the world's longest tune-up. While you've been able to store your music in Google's cloud for ages, you can now finally buy new tunes -- and they're pretty cheap.
Prices are different to those on iTunes. Muse's albums are mainly £4.49, but their latest is £5.49 and their live album HAARP is £6.99. Those are a couple of quid cheaper than on iTunes, but it varies according to artist. Continue reading...
Beats by Dre Executive are big, bassy, for busy businessmen
AccessoriesBeats by Dr Dre may be a down-with-the-kids brand, but there's no reason why besuited captains of industry shouldn't be in on the fun. Enter the Beats by Dr Dre Executive, a demure set of headphones that offer noisy sound and won't clash with your accent tie.
Available to pre-order today, Beats boasts these on-ear monsters are "designed to take you from the boardroom to the tarmac and everywhere in between". They come with a hard-shell carrying case and feature active noise cancellation, so your tunes won't be interrupted by jet engines or the moans of poor people as you fly past in your BMW. Continue reading...
Looper gets director's commentary MP3 for cinema listening
GadgetsLooper director Rian Johnson has recorded an audio commentary for his time-travelling jaunt, designed to be listened to in cinemas.
Nimbly skirting around DVD and Blu-ray release norms, Johnson has uploaded his commentary to MP3-hoarding site Soundcloud. The 38-year-old director hopes you'll download the track online, load it onto an MP3 player and listen to it while you're sat in the cinema. Continue reading...
B&O A9 is an AirPlay-enabled speaker, not an archery target
GadgetsOn the right in the picture above is the B&O A9, and on the left is an archery target -- or is it the other way round? Either way, the A9 is the latest product from Bang & Olufsen's Beoplay series of Wi-Fi equipped speakers that, to put it mildly, has a very distinctive design.
The main body is a 70cm circle, supported by three wooden tripod legs, making it look exactly like something Robin Hood would use to show off his bow-and-arrow skills.
Continue reading...
Amazon Cloud Player streams your MP3s online, in UK today
SoftwareAmazon's Cloud Player went live in the UK today, allowing users this side of the pond to store and play music over the web or via dedicated apps on smart phones -- a feature which has been available in the US for over a year.
The launch comes a few weeks after the retail giant announced its expanded range of Kindle Fire tablets are also heading our way, along with its Dropbox rival Amazon Cloud Drive -- a service which gives you 5GB of free online storage and is upgradable up to 1,000GB (for a hefty £320 per year). Continue reading...
Ed Sheeran top of the pirate pops for illegal UK downloads
SoftwareFolksy closing-ceremony invader Ed Sheeran has been pegged as the nation's most-pirated artist, with Manchester hailed the UK's biggest city for music sharing.
A new study, conducted by monitoring bods Musicmetric, looked at the approximate locations of surfers using BitTorrent to calculate which regions of our green and pleasant land were most rife with digital copying, and which artists were proving most popular. Continue reading...
New iPod touch and nano flaunt fresh design in hands-on pics 
MP3 PlayersWe've gone hands-on with Apple's spangly new iPods, both the supersized iPod touch and the new-look iPod nano. Click through the photos above to ogle Cook and co's highfalutin MP3 players from every angle.
Let's start with the new nano, which is -- as the name suggests -- absolutely tiny, thanks to a 2.5-inch touchscreen. It's incredibly light, so you'll hardly even notice you're holding it, and it's much easier to use than the slightly fiddly square nano that Apple was flogging previously. Continue reading...
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