Music

Listen: the gesture-based music player you can use without looking at it

Lory Gil ∙ December 19, 2013

Thanks to the iPhone’s mobility, people don’t listen to music the way they used to. There was a time, even before me, when the only way you could listen to prerecorded music was at home, on a huge piece of furniture that housed a phonograph player. You’d sit on the floor and just listen to an album. Nowadays, people do just about everything except sit while listening to music.

Listen: The Gesture Music Player makes it easy for you to control your music-listening experience without having to even look at the screen. Thanks to big buttons and simple gesture-based interactions, you can play tunes while doing almost about anything…

Rdio revamps profile views and adds Sleep Timer

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 13, 2018

After countering Spotify's recent service expansion and its brand new (and somewhat limited) free streaming feature by expanding into twenty new countries, the popular music subscription service Rdio today refreshed its free iPhone and iPad application with a handy sleep timer function to stop playback after a period of time.

The new Rdio 2.5.4 also includes redesigned profile views with your photo right at the center, various subtle interface improvements and minor bug fixes...

Digital music download’s not dead: Beyoncé proves it

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Beyoncé’s fifth self-named album was released as an iTunes-exclusive with absolutely no hype five days ago. Billboard said the album had sold 80,000 copies in just three hours on its first day of iTunes release. Three days in, the digital download pulled 828,773 downloads, Apple confirmed.

It's become the fastest selling album ever on iTunes, broke the US first-week album sales record and went straight to number one in 104 countries. Today, Apple and Columbia have confirmed that the album has passed one million iTunes downloads.

This could easily be a watershed moment for the slowing sales of digital music downloads, if you ask me. If anything, Beyoncé’s proves that album sales are not dead yet even though digital music sales were down four percent through Thanksgiving...

Apple launches ‘Best of 2013’ iTunes page for top apps, games and more

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 27, 2019

As it has done every December since 2009, Apple has published an iTunes page today highlighting the top performing downloads in its various digital storefronts. The page covers everything from apps to games, to books and movies.

Apple named Duolingo, a free app that teaches you how to speak in different languages, its iPhone App of the Year and the popular 'Ridiculous Fishing - A Tale of Redemption' its iPhone Game of the Year. More top picks after the fold...

Apple says Beyoncé has become the fastest selling album ever on iTunes

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 16, 2013

CNBC is reporting on Twitter that Beyoncé's fifth self-named album, released as an iTunes exclusive three days ago, has become the fastest selling album ever on iTunes. Apple has confirmed the news via a press release this morning, saying Beyoncé has gone down in history as the fastest selling album ever on the iTunes Store worldwide.

The surprise album has racketed up a whopping 828,773 sales in just its first three days exclusive availability on iTunes. It also broke the US first-week album sales record with 617,213 sold and proved to be a global success going to number one in 104 countries...

Ecoute music player receives major iOS 7 makeover, gains Last.fm scrobbling

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 21, 2018

Ecoute by Louka Desroziers and Julien Sagot of PixiApps used to be my fav third-party iPhone music player - MacStories editor Federico Viticci even named it his best iOS music player following its August 2012 debut.

A couple other alternative music players have been released since, most recently the gesture-based Beat and the $1.99 Panamp (formerly Couch Music Player).

This past weekend, PixiApps have piqued my interest all over again with Ecoute 2.0 for iPhone and iPod touch, a major rethinking of the software with iOS 7-optimized appearance, song scrobbling via Last.fm and more...

Apple offers free Lorde single in ’12 Days of Gifts’ app

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Last week, Apple updated its '12 Days of Gifts' app for the 2013 holiday season. The update was a fairly significant one, because for the first time ever, the company opened up access to the application for folks in the United States.

And Apple is celebrating the occasion by giving away a free gift early. While the actual 12 Days of Gifts event isn't scheduled to begin until December 26, users with the app installed right can pick up Lorde's new single 'No Better.'

Beyoncé releases her fifth album exclusively on iTunes, packing 18 videos

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 13, 2013

The American singer, songwriter and actress, Beyoncé, has made an unusual move of releasing her fifth self-titled studio album exclusively on Apple's iTunes. Available today from the iTunes Store, the release is dubbed a 'visual album' and arrives with a heavy marketing push from Apple - the iTunes Store is currently featuring Beyoncé's album on all rotating carousel at the top, with links to her previous albums.

You didn't even know she was working on a new alubm? You're not the only one! Visual album? That's because each song comes with an accompanying music video (plus a digital booklet), a great treat given music videos are normally sold separately of songs...

You can now control iTunes Radio via Remote app

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 12, 2013

After refreshing its free Remote app for the iPhone and iPad with some radical redesign to match the overall iOS 7 aesthetics, Apple has just put out a minor update adding a nicely done ability to control iTunes Radio from your iOS device.

But rather than stream iTunes Radio songs directly (and what would the point be in doing so knowing iTunes Radio is available within the stock iOS 7 Music app), the application simply controls the feature running in iTunes for Mac or Windows.

Previously, you could only control playback of music and other media kept locally in your iTunes library. If anything, this update will go down in history as a handy little enhancement that makes it ridiculously easy to control your iTunes Radio stations, skip songs and more, right across the room...

Spotify announces free mobile streaming, Led Zeppelin deal, 20 new countries

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

Having just wrapped up its news conference in Manhattan, the popular Swedish startup Spotify announced that its namesake five-year-old music-streaming service is now providing a limited amount of music free on tablets and smartphones (with a few caveats), just as The Wall Street Journal predicted.

Previously, only desktop and web streaming was free as mobile devices required a paid Spotify Premium tier.

Also, Spotify is now available in an additional twenty new markets and has landed an exclusive content distribution agreement with Led Zeppelin, an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The band has stubbornly refused to license its music for streaming and was holding out until 2007 to join iTunes so this is kinda big deal.

The Led Zeppelin deal arrives hot on the heels of an exclusive deal with Metallica, which Spotify signed a year ago. The full reveal is right after the jump...

Rdio expands into 20 new countries

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

Rdio, the popular music-streaming services, announced today that it has expanded its service into twenty new countries globally. After today's expansion, the service is available in 51 countries across six continents.

The company conveniently timed its announcement just as Spotify is scheduled to hold a press conference later today, likely to announce plans to make mobile access to its music service free.

With today's expansion, Rdio is now the second largest music subscription service in the world in terms of countries serviced. By comparison, rival Spotify is currently available in 32 global markets and Apple's iTunes Radio is a U.S.-only affair, though new countries will be added some time in 2014.

However, Rdio still pales in comparison to Deezer, which is available in a whopping 182 countries around the world. The full list of new Rdio countries is right past the fold...

Beat – Music player is a great looking gesture-based app

Lory Gil ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

Apple’s recently updated music player still doesn’t impress some people. It looks cleaner and has a simpler user interface, but it doesn’t have that “Wow factor.”

Beat – Music player is a third party music listening app that makes your iTunes library look great. Plus, the customizable gesture based controls make full use of the touch screen technology. Hop inside for a quick look at it...