Music

Apple to Unleash iTunes Music Extras via App Store?

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Sep 4, 2008 a 7:55 am

One of the last "advantages" CDs had over music downloads (like iTunes or Amazon MP3) is the printed extras they could include in booklets, like photos, art, lyrics, and other assorted bonus material.

Well, get ready to kiss that goodbye. According to TechCrunch, who bills the story as "Apple Puts One More Nail Into the CD Coffin":

Lightning Review: Midomi

By Dieter Bohn, Friday, Jul 25, 2008 a 11:52 am

Today's Lightning Review comes from FoilTape, a review of Midomi, free on iTunes. Most people have been raving about Shazam for identifying music, but Midomi seems to work better with humming and the like. Let's see what FoilTape thinks!

Midomi calls itself "the ultimate search and discovery." It's a FREE, cool and engaging app that definitely has scored 'wow' points with me. Midomi is a song recognition program that you can sing to, hum to, talk to, or type to. You can even hold your iPhone up to your car stereo to capture the sound. Midomi then searches its database and tries to decipher your best karaoke attempt and gives back likely matches.

Lightning Review: Pandora

By Dieter Bohn, Wednesday, Jul 23, 2008 a 10:52 am

(Today's Lightning Review comes from BaLLi5t1c, a full review of the awesome Pandora Radio app (available on iTunes for free!). BaLLi5t1c gets a 25% off coupon to the iPhone Blog Accessory store. Want one yourself? Post a review in our forums -- full details here)

This is my first time writing a review for an iPhone app, partly because I just received my 16GB Black this past Friday and partly because I’ve been basking in the glory that is the App Store, and I couldn’t think of a more deserving app than Pandora Radio to review.

For those of you who have never heard of Pandora Radio, I’m sure you’re wondering what it is exactly and why I would make such a bold statement in my title. Allow me to enlighten you.

To put it lightly, Pandora Radio is a heaven-sent program/application that will allow you to stream music that you’ve never heard of but probably should have, music that you listened to many moons ago but somehow let slip into obscurity with those passing moons, music that is probably still in your current rotation in iTunes, and anything in between. Not too shabby, eh?

You might ask, “BaLLi5t1c, how does it do all of that without me hand-picking all of the artists and songs that I want to hear?”

iPhone vs. Big Media: Mo' Music Mo' Money!

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, May 20, 2008 a 8:54 am

With the super-fast new 3G iPhone Steve Jobs will all but certainly announce this June, it makes sense that Apple would want to provide services that exploit all that delicious bandwidth, like over-the-air (read: via cell as opposed to WiFi or local sync) ringtones, ringbacks (shudder!), and iTunes Music Store purchases. Sounds great! You're on the road, away from your WiFi and your computer, and you hear a great song, and it's available right there via 3G HSDPA download. More songs for us, more content for Apple, and more money for the artists, right?

Wrong. Enter the record labels, who reportedly think that if you buy a song over 3G as opposed to WiFi on your computer, it should somehow give them MORE money. That's right, a bigger cut for them, meaning higher cost to Apple, meaning (unless Apple eats it like they are with movie sales right now), higher cost to us.

Makes, sense: be given a bigger, more convenient market... demand higher prices.

Where did these guys come from? Did I miss some late-night infomercial...?

Weekly Web App Review: Flytunes

By Chad Garrett, Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 a 8:26 am

Looking for Internet radio on your iPhone? Tired of not having built-in FM like Zune owners? Look no further than Flytunes (http://www.flytunes.fm/) for the iPhone! Flytunes is a web-based media player for iPhone and iPod touch that allows you to stream music and talk channels for free!

Flytunes offers some decent features. When you navigate from the top of the screen, you can access a wide variety of channels including: Presets, Alternative, Artists, Classical, Country, Dance, Decades, Easy Listening, Eclectic, Jazz, Kids and Family, Local, Pop, R&B, Rock, Sports, Talk, Urban, Weather, and finally World. Some of these categories have as little as one sub-category, others have as many as twelve sub-categories. Regardless of what you are looking for, Flytunes is likely to have a musical flavor to suit your tastes.

Rumor: Apple Considering All-You-Can-Eat Music Subscriptions?

By Rene Ritchie, Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008 a 7:55 am

People don't want to rent their music. So said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Of course, the Jobsinator also said people don't want to watch video on tiny iPod screens, and we see how far that got him...

So, while 100% unsubstantiated rumor at the moment, The Financial Times (via Apple Insider) is reporting a "tip off" that says Apple is now considering an unlimited music program similar to Nokia's "Comes With Music".

iPhone Won't Ignite Mobile Music Market? Well We'll Just See About That, Won't We Mister!

By admin#IM, Thursday, Jun 28, 2007 a 9:07 am

Industry insiders are questioning what impact Apple's new iPhone could have on the nascent mobile music market (say that three times fast). Even though iPhone is destined for greatness, it still doesn't change the model for music distribution by tethering users to a desktop rather than OTA (Over The Air) for purchasing and downloading content.

Some analysts, however, say mobile music sales will be dampened as long as users are limited to loading music on their phones via their PCs and Macintosh computers, and blocked from buying music wirelessly. "The whole idea of on-the-go instant gratification isn't there," said Ted Cohen, managing partner of media consulting firm Tag Strategic.

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