Amazon Releases Cloud Music Player for iPad

Apple has released its Cloud Player app for the iPad, some six months after it came out for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Your music. Everywhere. Listen to your music collection from the cloud on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad anywhere you are. You can download or stream your library from the cloud – or play the music you already have on your device.

Amazon has made several moves to expand its cloud music platform in recent months. It has optimized its music store for mobile Safari, made free digital copies of all CDs ever purchased on Amazon.com, and introduced a new "scan and match" service similar to iTunes Match.

[Source: MacRumors]

StreamPortô Universal: Transform your Sound System with Wireless in less than 60 Seconds

Bayan Audioís StreamPortô Universal is a wireless audio adapter which lets you stream impressive near-CD quality audio from media players (phones, tablets, notebooks) to existing audio/speaker systems without the need for cables - freeing up your favourite gadgets to stay by your side for browsing.    

 

Many audio systems need media players to be physically connected, making them awkward to use and forcing a choice between music and tweeting, or Spotify radio and games. By enhancing these sound systems with the StreamPortô Universal, your personal devices can finally stream audio whilst simultaneously being used to multi-task - without any need to compromise on quality or convenience.

The StreamPortô Universal enables you to stream music, podcasts and Internet radio from any Bluetooth A2DP-compatible device (including many Apple, Android & Windows players) to your existing sound system (including Hi-Fi, docks and soundbars). Such extensive compatibility eliminates the need for you to worry about expensive upgrades or maintaining a single-brand system in order to enjoy quality wireless audio.

Google will launch a free music streaming service, FT says

As if branching out into hardware like phones and tablets, driverless cars, and even augmented reality glasses wasn't enough, Google is also working on a free music streaming service, the Financial Times reports.

The service would try to drown out the likes of Spotify, Deezer, and Nokia Music. The launch is said to be "impending", so it seems Google is still just tuning up.

According to the FT, Google will offer subscriptions as well as free unlimited listening. Though you will have to put up with ads if you don't want to pay, just like on Spotify.

Why would Google go into unchartered territory then? Especially seeing as its Play Music service, which launched in 2011 as Google Music, is only available in the US and a handful of European countries. Well it's another way for Google to make money, seeing as at the moment 95 per cent of its revenues come from advertising. Streaming is big business, being one of the fastest growing areas of the music market.

Apple is also rumoured to be working on a streaming service, which would put it and Google in direct competition on yet another front. As if the smart phone war wasn't already bloody enough.

Google could preinstall the service on all Android devices. And seeing as the operating system is on three out of four smart phones, that should give Google quite some reach. Not that it wouldn't be short of competition though. I'm sure Spotify and its good buddy Facebook wouldn't be too happy about the Google boys crashing their party. The music industry is also no fan of Google -- just this week, the Recording Industry Association of America attacked the search giant for linking to pirate sites. It claimed Google had gone back on its promise to shunt such sites further down its search rankings.

[Source: CNET]

Nokia Music+ now live for US Lumia owners

After launching the service across the pond just a few short days ago, Nokia's now ready to make Music+ available for the US -- confirming to us today its availability on Yankee soil. To recap, the paid subscription service ramps up the free app's offerings with higher quality audio, unlimited offline downloads and Mix Radio skips, multiple device use, as well as lyrics -- all for $4/mo. It's a significantly cheaper alternative to other freemium music streaming servicescurrently available in the Windows Phone 8 ecosystem. So, if you've recently gone Lumia, you might want to check it out.

[Source: Engadget]

O2 Tracks app offers UK Top 40 playback, for a price

If you follow obscure app-related news, you might remember that Samsung, MusicQubed and the Official Charts Company launched a UK Top 40 app last summer for owners of certain Samsung devices. That promotion's now come to an end, and this time around it's O2 that's partnering with the Charts Company with its own Top 40 app, fittingly dubbed "O2 Tracks."

When you first sign up there's a complementary free trial period -- 8 weeks for O2 subscribers, 2 weeks for anyone with another operator. After that, O2 customers can subscribe for £1 per week, while for others it's £5 per month. The music itself is delivered through a bright blue, O2-themed interface, with extra tabs for tawdry "celebrity news and gossip," if you're into that sort of thing.

Like the old Samsung app, tracks are downloaded to your device at regular intervals rather than being streamed, so any worries about data usage shouldn't apply here. For what it's worth, O2's app looks relatively well designed and clutter-free, but we doubt it'll be tearing anyone away from the likes of Spotify and Google Play Music anytime soon.

[Source: AndroidCentral]

HMV closing 66 shops, with nearly 1,000 jobs under threat

HMV is bringing down the shutters on 66 shops, threatening 930 staff. After an angry employee hijacked HMV's Twitter last week, the retailer's administrators have finally revealed which stores are to be axed.

The 66 branches of the ailing music, DVD and games chain will close over the next two months. Read on to see if your branch is to be axed.

In England, stores will close in:

• Ashton-under-Lyne
• Barnsley
• Bayswater
• Bexleyheath
• Birkenhead
• Birmingham Fort
• Blackburn
• Boston
• Bournemouth Castlepoint
• Bracknell
• Burton-upon-Trent
• Camberley
• Chesterfield
• Croydon Centrale
• Durham
• Fulham
• Huddersfield
• Leamington Spa
• Leeds White Rose
• Liverpool Speke Park
• London Trocadero
• Loughborough
• Luton
• Manchester Market Street
• Moorgate
• Orpington
• Rochdale
• Scunthorpe
• South Shields
• St Albans
• St Helens
• Stockton-on-Tees
• Tamworth
• Teesside
• Telford
• Wakefield
• Walsall
• Walton-on-Thames
• Wandsworth
• Warrington
• Watford
• Wellingborough
• Wigan
• Wood Green
• Workington

In Scotland:

• Dumfries
• Edinburgh Fort Kinnaird
• Edinburgh Gyle Centre
• Edinburgh Ocean Terminal
• Edinburgh Princes Street
• Edinburgh St James Centre
• Falkirk
• Glasgow Fort
• Glasgow Silverburn
• Glasgow Braehead
• Kirkcaldy

In Northern Ireland, these stores will go:

• Ballymena
• Belfast Boucher Road
• Belfast Forestside
• Coleraine
• Craigavon
• Derry
• Lisburn
• Newry
• Newtownabbey

In Wales, only the Wrexham branch will close.

Although not named in the list of doomed shops, HMV's flagship Oxford Street store is also thought to be under threat. The 50,000 square-foot shop could raise around £6m if sold to interested parties, said to include H&M, Zara and JD Sports.  

As many as 100 of HMV's 220 branches were reported to be under threat earlier this week, so 66 store closures is better than feared. That is, of course, small comfort for those staff who face losing their job -- fingers crossed they can find something before stores close their doors over the next couple of months.

Around 190 jobs have already been lost at HMV's head office and distribution network, prompting a disgruntled employee to hijack the company's official Twitter feed with angry tweets. The mystery whistleblower called it a "mass execution of loyal employees" and lamented that the company had been "ruined".

HMV went into administration last month. Restructuring expert Hilco has bought the company's debt, and could now take full control of the chain to ensure it survives -- albeit in drastically reduced form.

[Source: CNET]

Apple: 25 Billion Songs Sold Through iTunes

Apple just announced that it has sold more than 25 billion songs through iTunes. That’s incredible. The 25 billionth song downloaded? Monkey Drums” by Chase Buch, Apple said, and the song was bought by a user in Germany. The user will receive a €10,000 iTunes gift card as part of the celebration.

“We are grateful to our users whose passion for music over the past 10 years has made iTunes the number one music retailer in the world,” Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue said.

Cue also noted that Apple sells about 15,000 songs every minute. We have a feeling the 50 billionth download isn’t too far off.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

HTC promises 'new sound and camera experience in 2013'

Normally I avoid infographics like the plague. They're basically free advertising, and baby needs a new pair of shoes. But HTC just published one on a "Brief history of photography." And tucked down at the bottom is the following line:

HTC kicks off a new sound and camera experience in 2013

That's very much in the same ballpark as the supposed "ultrapixel" sensor Pocket-Lint reported will be used in HTC's next round of phones.

Only a couple weeks until HTC's Feb. 19 events in New York and London, folks. We're getting close.

[Source: AndroidCentral]

Sony to stop making MiniDisc stereos in March

It's the end of an era -- Sony will stop making MiniDisc stereos next month, two years after it stopped selling its portable equivalents, the BBC reports.

MiniDisc stereos first went on sale back in 1992, so it marks an end to the 21-year-old format's life. Sony hoped MiniDisc would become the format of choice, seeing as it was a better quality equivalent to cassettes. But the rise of CDs put paid to that.

The MiniDisc stereo format struggled outside of Japan due to high prices, not to mention the fragility of the discs themselves. While Sony claimed recordings would stay intact for 30 years, a simple magnet placed nearby would wipe your whole Now 11 compilation.

The discs initially offered 74 minutes of audio, but this was increased to 80.

I have hazy memories of seeing some albums for sale on MiniDisc in HMV, but they never took off. I was strictly a CD man, myself.

Sony tried to relaunch the format as Hi-MD in 2004, but a certain Apple MP3 player was already available by then. So suffice to say Sony's efforts were thoroughly torpedoed, due to the iPod's far greater storage and convenience.

Sony introduced portable MiniDisc players a year before their stereo counterparts, in 1991, but put the kibosh on them a couple of years ago. The portable version was far more popular, selling more than 22 million units in its life. For one thing, it didn't skip, unlike the Discman I had. That was a waste of time.

[Source: CENT]

RIM Reveals BlackBerry 10 Movie, TV and Music Partners

RIM will reveal the final version of BlackBerry 10 on Wednesday and it’s already starting to provide new details on what to expect. The company on Monday revealed its music, TV and movie partners for BlackBerry World, the firm’s new ecosystem that includes apps, videos, music and more.

On the movie front, you can expect films from: 20^th Century Fox, Entertainment One (eOne), Lionsgate, MGM, National Film Board of Canada, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (U.S.), Starz Digital Media, STUDIOCANAL, The Walt Disney Studios, Universal Pictures (U.K.) and Warner Bros.

TV shows will be available from: ABC Studios, BBC Worldwide, CBC/Radio-Canada, CBS, DHX Media, ITV, National Geographic, NBCUniversal (U.K.), Nelvana, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (U.S.), Starz Digital Media, Twentieth Century Fox Television, Univision Communications Inc. and Warner Bros. Unfortunately it looks like shows from HBO and Showtime are off the list for now.

Finally, music will be available from “all major and independent” record labels, including: 4AD Records, Domino Recording Company, finetunes, Matador Records, [PIAS] Entertainment Group, Rough Trade Records, Sony Music Entertainment, The Orchard, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, XL Recordings and Zebralution.

RIM’s music store will only be available in 18 countries at launch and videos will only be available for purchase or rent in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Be sure to check out our in-depth video of BlackBerry 10 for a closer look at what to expect.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

HMV gift cards to be accepted again from tomorrow

Attention, shoppers: HMV is accepting gift cards. Yes, the troubled music, video and games shop will this week once again let you use your vouchers to pay for stuff.

Branches of HMV will accept gift cards from tomorrow, Tuesday 22 February. Great news for anyone who got a gift card for Christmas or recently received vouchers as a refund.

More than 50 potential buyers have expressed interest in saving the ailing chain, with Hilco, the restructuring specialist that bought HMV Canada in 2011, currently reported to be the favourite. HMV's suppliers, including record labels and film studios, are reported to be willing to offer Hilco favourable credit terms. It seems HMV could weather this particular storm after all.

If HMV is sold to new owners in the coming months, they could then decide not to honour old vouchers. In that unlikely event, you could try and claim your money back from your credit or debit card provider -- check out our guide to your options.

The question of gift cards caused a right old kerfuffle when administrators Deloitte decreed vouchers had been suspended. One disgruntled customer in Dublin was so short of gruntlement he simply helped himself to games of an equivalent value to his useless gift card and marched from the shop. But as frustrating as it is to be out of pocket, it's not the staff's fault.

Also in trouble on the high street is Blockbuster, currently in administration, and in danger of following Jessops and Comet into oblivion.

[Source: CNET]

HMV stops online orders as potential buyers circle

HMV has powered down its HMV.com website, halting online orders entirely, as the longstanding retailer enters administration.

Although its high street shops are still open, HMV says its website "has been suspended following the appointment of the Joint Administrators", going on to confirm, "No purchases can be made online until further notice."

HMV is continuing its post-Christmas blue cross sale in an effort to generate more cash, but for the time being it seems any bargains you snap up will have to happen over the till.

It's possible HMV will reopen its site further into the administration process, though when now-extinct retailer Comet went the same way last year (also turning to administrators Deloitte), it similarly put the kibosh on online orders.

The 91-year-old company has sparked anger by refusing to accept gift cards or vouchersfollowing the news that it was looking for a buyer. If you had an outstanding order with its online service, it's unclear what will happen to your purchase -- I've contacted Deloitte about this, and also to ask whether the site will reopen, and I'll update this story if I hear back.

HMV could have a future, meanwhile, as Deloitte says it's been contacted by parties interested in buying the ailing chain, Sky News reports. It's not clear who would be keen to snap up the firm, but as a major high-street name HMV's business could hold some appeal, even though the existing management wasn't able to make enough cash to keep it afloat.

[Source: CNET]