Music

Jailbreak Tweak Adds #NowPlaying Feature to Tweetbot

Some of the things that pop into the Cydia store amaze me. Innovation can really flourish in an environment like Cydia where there are little restrictions to hold developers back. Untrackerd is a perfect example of that innovation.

But jailbreaking is not just good for disrupting Apple's hidden tracking service, it's also good for customizing your iOS and downloaded tweaks to make your life easier. The jailbreak tweak I'm about to mention falls in the latter category, by making a great app even better...

Apple Gets Cozy With Two Major Music Labels, Seeks Dates With Remaining Two

Yesterday we informed you that Apple's Cloud Music Service was finished, and ready to go live ahead of major competitor Google.

Today, news corroborating those reports have surfaced, and it's been revealed that Apple has already completed negotiations with two of the industry's four major record labels.

The major record labels consist of EMI, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony. The reports fail to mention which of the two that have given Apple the green-light, but it's largely expected that all four will eventually give Apple their blessings...

Apple’s Cloud Service Almost Ready to Launch

We've heard a lot of talk regarding this cloud thing Apple's been working on. It's supposed to allow iTunes customers to store their media on a remote server, and then access it from anywhere they have an internet connection.

It's obviously coming. Apple built that huge data center in North Carolina and rented all that digital storage space for something. We've heard rumors that the service could launch right alongside a revamped MobileMe sometime this spring, but will Apple be able to meet expectations?

Green Day Revenge Will Make You Sing “Good Riddance” to Your Hard Earned Cash

Green Day Revenge [iTunes Link] was created by Tapulous, the amazing developers behind the popular Tap Tap franchise. This series has earned a massive following and has catapulted the music rhythm genre into popularity while spawning many clones in the process.

Banking on that popularity, Tapulous created a few spin-offs such as Kings of Leon Revenge, Katy Perry Revenge and my favorite, and Justin Bieber's Revenge. But no need to worry, I'm cured of "Bieber Fever," so today I'm just going to focus on Green Day Revenge...

Iconic iPod Click Wheel Comes to the iPhone with iClassic

With all of Apple's touch devices these days, do you ever miss the classic iPods? Sure they didn't have as cool of games or shoot HD video, but there was definitely something sexy about that click wheel. It was responsive and made browsing your music collection faster than ever before.

If you are looking for a way to kind of relive the good old days, check out iClassic. The Cydia application for jailbroken iDevices will allow you to bring back the click wheel, on your current touch screen device. But can an application truly capture the experience of the click wheel?

SoundTracking Allows You to Share Your Music Quickly

Do you enjoy listening to music? Do you use Facebook or Twitter? If so, then you fall into the target audience that Schematic Labs is banking on for their latest iOS app. SoundTracking made its debut at the huge Austin, TX SXSW (South by Southwest) conference last week.

The purpose of the iPhone app is really quite simple. You are given multiple ways to input the song you are listening to, and then given the opportunity to share that music with your Foursquare, Facebook, and Twitter friends. I know it sounds kind of vanilla, but the app is good at what it does...

iOS 5 Pushed Back to the Fall, Preview at WWDC

Some news has surfaced concerning iOS 5 and Apple's roadmap for the coming year. According to M.G. Siegler of TechCrunch, Apple is going to push back the release of iOS 5.0 to this fall, and the iPhone 5 will launch with a version of iOS 4.x.

Speculation has been that Apple would hold a media event next month for an iOS 5 preview and MobileMe revamp, but TechCrunch's sources claim otherwise...

Revamped MobileMe to Include Music Locker Service, Cost $20 Per Year?

According to a report from The Music Void, Apple will be re-launching MobileMe this April, alongside a new, cloud-based music "locker." MobileMe will most likely be a free service, but The Music Void claims this new locker service will cost $20 a year.

The streaming locker service would have to tie into the iTunes backend, and users would be able to stream content between iDevices and the desktop. No specific details have been leaked about the locker in the sky, but The Music Void says Apple has already been hounding record labels for the rights to stream their content...

Stream and Manage Podcasts On the iPhone With Instacast

Do you like to listen to podcasts? Do you subscribe to multiple podcasts in iTunes? If so, you realize how much of a pain it can be to manually transfer your podcasts from iTunes to your iPhone. Perhaps you don't even sync podcasts to your iPhone to conserve disk space.

Podcasts can take a considerable amount of memory on a device with limited storage, not to mention the time and hardrive space it takes to download each episode in iTunes. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a robust streaming solution for podcasts?

Instacast can best be described as Netflix for podcasts. As a cloud-based podcast streaming solution, Instacast is a fantastic stand-alone app for any podcast enthusiast...

Apple Reportedly in Negotiations With Record Labels For Unlimited Music Downloads

If there's one feature that I really appreciate about the App Store, it's the ability to re-download previous purchases with ease.

Even if you're on another device, all you need is your iTunes login credentials and bam; it's downloading again, for free.

The iTunes music store doesn't exactly work like that. I rarely download music from iTunes, so I was shocked the first time that I realized I couldn't re-download an album that I had bought previously.

Fortunately, for those of you that rely on iTunes for all of your music needs, this might be about to change...

Make Your iPhone’s iPod Look Just Like Windows Phone 7 with Muzik

Awhile back, we showed you a jailbreak theme called "OS7" that replicated Windows Phone 7's interface on the iPhone. Some of you installed the theme and played around with it. The theme's attention to detail and resemblance to Windows Phone 7 was striking.

An app called Muzik, by Dr. Wilson Gaming, allows you to play your iPod music in the style of Windows Phone 7 and the Zune. Muzik recently received some major updates to make it a more formidable clone of the Zune experience.

If, for some reason, you want the ability to replicate the Zune interface on your iPhone, Muzik is about as good as it gets.