Music

Apple did not harm consumers with iTunes’ FairPlay digital rights management, ruling finds

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 16, 2014

Apple's proprietary digital rights management software, FairPlay, that prevented users from loading songs from rival music stores on early iPods, did not harm consumers nor did it violate the United States antitrust laws, an eight-person jury has determined.

As reported by The Verge, the jurors have sided with Apple in a decade-long suit and have not found Apple guilty of exploiting FairPlay DRM as a lock-in preventing rival music stores from syncing with iPods. Though the iPhone maker is off the hook now, an appeal will be filed with a higher court.

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Spotify gains iPhone 6 support, adds new ‘Top Tracks in Your Network’ playlist

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

Better late than never: Spotify, the popular music-streaming service hailing from Sweden, today at last gave its iOS clientproper support for the new iPhone screen resolutions so it no longer runs scaled on your iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus.

More importantly, version 2.2 has added the “Top Tracks in Your Network” playlist which shows the most played songs among the people you follow.

Top Tracks in Your Network rolling out as we speak to all users and can be found under the new Top Tracks button in the Browse section of the Spotify app.

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Major Shazam update adds Counts feature, in-app player, deeper Spotify integration and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

The popular music-identification service Shazam on Wednesday issued a major update to its iOS client adding richer Spotify integration letting you listen to Spotify songs without leaving Shazam and automatically add Shazamed tracks to a specific playlist, an in-app player allowing you to quickly listen to the Shazam charts, a new Shazam Counts feature which displays how many Shazams each track has and more.

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Apple posts iTunes Best of 2014 charts

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

Like in years past, Apple ahead of the holidays published its list of the best and most popular apps, movies, TV shows, music and books available on iTunes. In the category of the top paid iPhone app, Heads Up! came in first. Facebook's Messenger is Apple's top free iPhone app and Clash of Clans emerged as the top grossing iPhone app, respectively. On the iPad side, Minecraft, YouTube and Clash of Clans have been rated as the App Store's top paid, free and grossing apps, respectively.

Without further ado, here's the rest of Apple's most popular apps and media in 2014.

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Snarky comments revealed by Steve Jobs’ testimony in iPod class-action lawsuit

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 3, 2014

A decade-old class-action lawsuit over the iPod and Apple's practice of locking the media player to its iTunes ecosystem is kicking off this week and with it comes a videotaped deposition of Steve Jobs, recorded in 2011 shortly before he died.

It's full of snarky comments and as if that wasn't enough, attorneys have unearthed emails between Apple executives and other evidence casting light on the company's inner workings at the time.

The suit revolves around the iPod, iTunes and FairPlay, Apple's digital-rights management (DRM) system for copy-protection of music sold through the iTunes Store. FairPlay was dropped in 2007 following the 'Thoughts on Music' open letter by Steve.

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Pandora previews UI redesign with emphasis on thumbing, new Station Personalization and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 2, 2014

Pandora, the popular U.S. based music streaming and automated music recommendation service, on Tuesday showed off an upcoming iPhone app update sporting a revamped interface with new Station Personalization features, greater focus on thumbing and more.

Though still a few weeks away, developers were kind enough to share a few screenshots showing the streamlined interface featuring a thumbs-up icon on the Now Playing screen for rating songs, personalized genre and artist suggestions at the top of your list of stations and more.

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Chase offering card holders free iTunes music to try Apple Pay

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Chase is launching a new promotion to entice its cardholders to try out Apple Pay. As noted by MacRumors, the bank is notifying customers that they're giving away free iTunes music this weekend to anyone who adds their card to Apple's payment service.

From November 21 to 23, those who add their Chase Visa card to Apple Pay will receive early access to David Guetta's new album "Listen." Once verified that their card has been added, users will receive an iTunes redemption code via the Chase mobile app.

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Billboard to begin incorporating streaming services in top 200 chart

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

On Wednesday, December 3, Billboard says it will premiere its biggest upgrade to its 200 chart in more than 23 years. The chart, which currently tracks the top 200 albums of the week by sales, will be the first to include on-demand streaming and digital track sales.

To do this, the chart will incorporate streaming service data measured by Nielsen Entertainment by way of a new algorithm. Billboard says it's the "most substantial methodology update since 1991," when Billboard began using point-of-sale data to measure album sales.

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FT: Apple to bundle Beats Music with iOS next year

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 19, 2014

As Apple continues to migrate Beats Music to iTunes servers ahead of a major service overhaul, The Financial Times newspaper is reporting that the iPhone maker is looking to bundle the subscription music service into its iOS mobile operating system “early next year”.

If true, Spotify will have plenty to worry about because Beats Music would become instantly available on hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads without requiring a download.

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‘Everest’ lets you control the Music app and Spotify using banner notifications

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Everest is a recently released jailbreak tweak that allows you to control your music via banner notifications invoked by an Activator gesture. Along with the stock Music app, you can use Everest to control music from Spotify.

If you're looking for an alternative to controlling your music with Control Center, then Everest is a legitimate option. Have a look at our video walkthrough inside to see what I mean.

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Shazam updated with support for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Audio identification service Shazam updated its iOS client today, bringing the app to version 8.1. The change log for the update is very short, but it does include one significant item: the app now officially supports the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

"Shazam now makes the most of the big, beautiful screens of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, so you can get the full glory of those extra pixels." reads the text, which was posted by the developers in the App Store earlier today. "We get it, size matters."

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