Music

iTunes Festival app appearing on Apple TV’s ahead of September 1 start

By chrisoldroyd, Tuesday, Aug 28, 2012 a 3:51 am

Apple has pushed out an update for the Apple TV that brings an iTunes Festival app to the main screen. The iTunes Festival, much like the Hulu Plus app that appeared earlier this month, doesn't require a software update it just appears on your home screen over the air.

How to exclude songs or albums from playing when using shuffle in the iOS Music app

By chrisoldroyd, Sunday, Jul 22, 2012 a 11:11 am

If have a lot of music on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, using the shuffle feature can be a great way to listen to a random selection of music. Unfortunately, it comes at a price if you have content that you just wouldn’t want to listen to. For example, I have a couple of albums with children’s nursery rhymes and also some Christmas songs. Every time I select shuffle and begin to relax, without fail t plays one of the nursery rhymes and drives me mad.

Well, if all of your music is stored on your Mac or Windows PC in iTunes, there is a very easy way to tell your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to leave certain tracks or albums completely out of the shuffle list.

European Union seeking changes to music licensing laws that stifle online music stores

By chrisoldroyd, Thursday, Jul 12, 2012 a 5:07 pm

The European Union is seeking changes to current music licensing rules that prevent companies such as Apple with its iTunes Store from easily setting up an EU-wide online music store. If the ruling gets passed, it could force music royalty-collection societies to pass their revenue streams to their rivals if they fail to license music to online services in multiple countries. Bloomberg. reports:

Music copyright licenses are granted on a national basis in the EU so consumers can only download music from an iTunes store in their home country. The EU has sought to promote pan-European licensing for years, and the commission issued an antitrust decision in 2008 against national agencies that collect royalties on behalf of artists.

Samsung tries to tempt iPhone owners with iOS data transfer utility

By Simon Sage, Friday, Jun 22, 2012 a 3:27 pm

Samsung has recently launched Easy Phone Sync for Galaxy owners that want to bring data from their old iPhone over to their shiny new Android devices. The desktop application is supposed to be able to transfer music, videos, podcasts, pictures, contacts, and text messages to any Galaxy device, inclulding the latest SGS3.

R-Tap for iPhone and iPad review

By Simon Sage, Monday, Jun 18, 2012 a 4:33 pm

R-Tap for the iPhone and iPad was launched over the weekend, giving gamers a slightly different take on the usual rhythm game mechanics. Even if you're not into music games, you might want to check out a contest hosted by R-Tap in the forums for a chance to win a free iTunes gift card.

Ping might get killed off in the next version of iTunes

By Simon Sage, Wednesday, Jun 13, 2012 a 10:38 am

Ping, Apple's ill-fated music social network, may be seeing its end of life in September with the next major release of iTunes.

Amazon launches Cloud Player for iPhone and iPod touch

By Simon Sage, Tuesday, Jun 12, 2012 a 1:11 pm

Apple was apparently threatened by Spotify's U.S. entry

By Simon Sage, Thursday, May 31, 2012 a 11:10 am

Most of the really interesting stuff from the D10 relating to Apple has come from the Tim Cook interview, but another interesting tidbit came from an interview with Spotify's Sean Parker and Daniel Ek. When asked if Apple had tried to stop Spotify from entering the U.S. market, Parker hesitantly answered, "There was some indication that that might have been happening."

Apple rumored to have acquired music editing software developer Redmatica

By Simon Sage, Wednesday, May 30, 2012 a 6:22 pm

Word has it that Apple has picked up an Italian developer called Redmatica, which makes Mac music editing software called Keymap Pro, among other products. Last night, Tim Cook mentioned that Apple doesn't tend to be particularly public with its acquisitions, so there's no official confirmation about the buy, but there are some pretty solid documents backing up the rumor from the Italian Communications Regulatory Authority.

Get your iPhone and iPad DJ on with iRig MIX

By Georgia, Thursday, May 17, 2012 a 7:53 pm

Billed as "the first mobile mixer for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, for DJ-ing anytime, everywhere" the iRig MIX is fixing to make music mixing more mobile than ever.

If you're a pro DJ, the iRig MIX claims to have everything you need. That includes a full on EQ adjuster, a crossfader, a headphone cue and a mic input. It works with either one or two iOS devices, and with popular DJ apps so you can record your performances, share them with friends and family, or distribute them to the world.

It's also got an X-Sync feature that lets you mix any form of audio, everything from traditional audio gear to MP3, CD, and more. All with auto tempo matching and beat syncing.