Music

Marvis Music Player redesigns your music experience on iOS

Around here, we love music players. It’s especially nice when they have a smooth look and plenty of added features. If you are going to use something other than Apple’s stock Music app, there had better be a reason for it.

Marvis Music Player has a nice design and plenty of unique user interface features that are customizable so listening to music is more than just a good-looking playback experience.

Take a sneak peek at Spotify’s new experience with Running, activity-based playlists and more

An iDownloadBlog reader has sent in a number of gorgeous screenshots of Spotify's major iPhone revamp. The software was just released to Spotify's beta testers a few hours ago ahead of its impending public release.

You may have heard Spotify stepped on Apple's toes with the announcement of new media types like news, video and podcasts, along with a flurry of feature additions like activity-based playlists, a cool Running feature and more.

With that in mind, we urge you to take a look at the screenshots included below and see for yourself how the new Spotify experience on mobile looks like.

Apple said to be planning early international rollout of streaming music service

Russia is going to be among the first countries where Apple will launch its revamped Beats Music service, according to Billboard. The publication points to a report from local outlet Vedomosti, who cites several sources claiming that the company is in negotiations with Russian record labels regarding the service.

The fact that Apple is eyeing Russia for an early streaming music launch isn't alone significant—its slowing economy and struggling ruble have deterred other services like Spotify from entering the countries—but what is interesting is that it sounds like the company is planning on a quick international rollout.

Spotify rolls out podcasts, video, news, Running feature, activity-based playlists and more

Spotify is determined to give Apple's vertically integrated iTunes ecosystem a run for its money. At a media event in New York City, the Swedish streaming-music startup has moved into video, as previously suspected.

The service will now host video podcasts and other types of video content like news, much like Apple's iTunes. According to TechCrunch, Spotify will also serve up playlists that are more personalized and relevant to what you’re doing at the time.

Apple-owned Beats Music also features activity-based playlists, mostly human curated, so this is another shot across Apple's bow.

Helius 2 adds a fresh coat of paint to the Lock screen music controls

Helius 2 is the follow-up to the popular tweak that redesigned iOS Lock screen media controls. In a nice gesture to owners of the original, developers s1ris and Phillip Tennen have rewritten the tweak from scratch and are providing it as a free upgrade to previous owners of Helius.

In case you've forgotten, or in case you've never used the original version, Helius is a tweak that takes your default media controls on the Lock screen, and provides them with a fresh coat of paint. Have a look at our video walkthrough for more information on how this tweak works.

How to display the now playing app in the iOS media controls

Have you ever glanced at your Control Center or Lock screen media controls, and wondered what app was responsible for playing the now playing song? This tends to happen if you have several music apps installed on your iPhone.

The problem stems from the fact that iOS doesn't display the app responsible for a song's audio output. But a new jailbreak tweak, called PlayingLabel, promises to solve this issue.

Spotify and Starbucks sign multi-year streaming music partnership, should Apple be worried?

How times change. It used to be that Starbucks would partner with Apple on any relevant music-focused initiative. But as the balance of power has slowly but surely shifted from music downloads to streaming, Apple is no longer the preferred partner.

Announced Tuesday, a potentially far-reaching partnership between the U.S.-based coffeehouse chain and Spotify, the world's leading streaming-music service hailing from Sweden, will see Starbucks promote premium Spotify subscription tiers while granting Spotify users access to Starbucks' rewards program.

SoundCloud for Apple Watch is here

An update Monday to SoundCloud's free of charge iPhone and iPad application has added an Apple Watch component allowing you to listen to user-submitted music and audio right from your wrist, identify songs playing from your iPhone and more.

“The new app makes it even easier for you to hear the freshest tracks when you’re out and about, from your daily to commute to going out for a run,” Germand developers noted.

Music labels ostensibly applying pressure on Spotify to ditch free service for 3-month trial

In another sign that Apple may have conspired with major record labels to kill free music streaming, Digital Music News is now reporting that both Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment are pressuring Spotify, the leading subscription streaming-music service, to end its free, ad-supported service and instead limit music lovers to a three-month free trial.

As previously reported, Apple's alleged backing of these efforts have prompted scrutiny from the United States Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and the European Union’s Competition Commission into Apple's business practices in the music space.

Try before you buy: Apple’s new music service to offer lengthy trial periods and free song samples

Apple's new music service could include multiple ways to listen for free, Recode reported on Friday. Citing sources familiar with the project, the site says that while the service won't include a typical 'free version,' Apple is hoping to offer a lengthy trial period and free song samples.

The trial period could range anywhere from one to three months, depending on the outcome of Apple's current negotiations with record labels, which would give users a lengthy look at the service. It may also allow music owners to upload a sampling of songs that others could listen to.

How to transfer your music to a new computer using iTunes Match

iTunes Match is a paid service from Apple that allows you to store all your music in iCloud, regardless of where it originated from. For example, it could be music imported from CDs, downloaded from online music stores, or even music that was downloaded in ways that go against copyright laws. In short, iTunes Match matches or uploads all your music to iCloud so you can stream or download it from any of your Apple devices, including Mac, iPhone, and Apple TV.

With that said, iTunes Match offers an easy way to move your iTunes library to a new computer without having to deal with transferring files from one hard drive to the other. In this post, I will show you how to transfer your iTunes library to a new computer using iTunes Match.

Spotify could move into video later this month as Apple targets streaming music

Spotify, the world's leading music-streaming service with sixty million listeners on a free tier and fifteen million accounts on its $9.99 per month tier, could start integrating video into its service as early as this month, according to a report published Friday by The Wall Street Journal.

A video-streaming service should complement Spotify's music platform. The company reportedly has the likes of Facebook and YouTube in its sight, the latter working on a paid subscription service of its own.

Google's Music Key allows Play Music subscribers to watch ad-free music videos on YouTube and Jay Z's Tidal includes access to music videos in its subscription and will soon live-stream concerts and related events to users. Rdio briefly experimented with video, too, but pulled that service over lack of interest.

Earlier today, the privately owned Swedish startup sent out invites for a May 20 press event in New York City ahead of Apple's Beats Music relaunch at WWDC next month.