Amazon launched its cloud-based music streaming service last year and provided a web-based interface for iOS users. Now iOS users with an Amazon music library can download Amazon's official Cloud Player app and enjoy their music on the go. Released on Tuesday, the new Cloud Player app lets Amazon users stream, download, and manage their music in the cloud. The service comes with 5 GB of free storage, and additional storage is available starting at US$20 per year for 20 GB. The Cloud Player app is available for free from the iOS App Store and is compatible with an iPhone and iPod touch running iOS 4.3 or later.Amazon Cloud Player app available for iPhone and iPod touch originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 12 Jun 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Monday, 18 June 2012
Amazon Music Library-Amazon Cloud Player-Free Storage-Iphone-Ios
Saturday, 16 June 2012
Bluetooth Device-Speaker Phone-Speakerphone-Braven-Iphone
Today is the day that BRAVEN's new SIX series of Bluetooth speakers hits the market, and in case you're curious about this new noisemaker, we've got a full review for you right here. Be sure to stick around until the end of the post, because you can enter to win a new BRAVEN 600 (US$149.99) of your very own.
Design
The BRAVEN 600 is a multitasker. Not only is it a Bluetooth wireless speaker that can be daisy-chained to other members of the SIX series, but it has a built-in 1400 mAh battery pack for charging up your iPhone when it's running low. It's also a speakerphone, and it packs all of this functionality into a nice-looking anodized aluminum case. That case can come in either mountain ash (kind of a nice silvery tone) or bright Moab red. On one end of the case is a USB port for powering your favorite electronic device, an audio out port, and a battery check button. At the other end is an audio in port (used in conjunction with the output port for daisy-chaining), a micro-USB port for charging the BRAVEN 600, and buttons for turning the volume up or down, enabling the speakerphone capability, and turning the speaker on and off. Gallery: BRAVEN 600 Bluetooth Speaker All of this is packaged into a clear plexiglas box with amazing shelf appeal. Inside that box is a charging cable, an AC adapter the size of the one that comes with the iPhone, and a daisy-chaining cable. Charging the BRAVEN 600 takes about four hours.Functionality
Pairing the BRAVEN 600 with an iPhone is an easy process; you simply slide a toggle up to turn Bluetooth on, after which the speaker emits a rather impressive synthesized tone to get your attention (there's another tone indicating that Bluetooth has been turned off). Next, you press and hold the speakerphone button for five seconds. The BRAVEN 600 appears on the iPhone's list of Bluetooth devices, and you tap the device name to pair the two. The BRAVEN 600 also appears on the list of AirPlay devices. As expected, this Bluetooth device works well when paired with a Mac. It appears as both audio output and input devices. After that, it's time enjoy your music, and you will enjoy it thoroughly. As opposed to many of the Bluetooth speakers I've tested over the year, the BRAVEN 600 actually sounds like an audiophile-quality speaker. There's a lot of depth to the sound from this device; the bass really kicks, yet treble tones don't get lost in the process. I listened to a variety of tunes from my iPhone, and all sounded great. On the other hand, I wasn't as impressed with the speakerphone capability. According to my fellow TUAW blogger Erica Sadun, it sounded like I was talking with a bagful of cotton balls in my mouth. That was what she sounded like to me as well -- the iPhone's built-in speaker phone provides much better sound quality for phone calls. I also wasn't too happy with the BRAVEN 600's abrupt handling of the call. Many Bluetooth systems I've tested, both for cars and home, do a nice job of fading out of music that is playing when a phone call comes in. With this speaker, there was just an abrupt jump to the ringtone. As I only had one BRAVEN 600 to play with, I wasn't able to test the daisy-chaining capability. However, I think it would be incredible to listen to music from a pair (or more) of these speakers. I liked the fact that I could press and hold the volume buttons on the speaker to have them act as previous / next buttons when shuffling through music or playing a playlist.Conclusion
BRAVEN's new SIX series of Bluetooth speakers looks like it will be a winner. The BRAVEN 600 is joined by the 625S (shock-resistant, has a built-in LED flashlight, made for outdoor use) and the 650 ($189.99, more capable than the 600). I'm actually sad that I have to give this away to a TUAW reader, but it's a product that I would happily spend $150 on. Pros- Excellent build quality and design
- Music / movie sound quality is i read more..source:http://aol.it/MNjYo4
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Unofficial Apple Weblog-Free Performances-Itunes Festival
Apple has announced some details on the 2012 iTunes Festival in London. This 30-day music event will take place at The Roundhouse and feature free performances by Usher, Emeli Sandé, Jack White, Norah Jones and One Direction among others. Tickets will be distributed via lottery, and fans in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and the Netherlands can vie for a seat. Apple will stream performances to computers running iTunes and iPhones, iPod touches and iPads with the iTunes Festival app installed. The fun starts on September 1 and runs for the whole month.Apple's iTunes Festival scheduled for September originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 18 May 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Unique Design-Ipad-Bang
Bang & Olufsen offshoot brand Beoplay is giving the iPad speaker dock the B&O design treatment with the new Beoplay A3 iPad stereo dock. As you'd expect from the Danish electronics design firm, the Beoplay A3 is a minimalist, slim, black and polished metal wedge into which a first or second generation iPad is placed (no word on whether the shipping product will support the new iPad). The dock sense the iPad's orientation and adjusts which speakers are activated in order to produce the best possible sound quality. The A3 is designed to run off of AC if you want to use it as a kitchen or coffee table information center, but can also be powered for up to five hours off of a built-in battery. The firmware of the device is upgradeable through the free Bang & Olufsen Setup Utility app. There's no price or availability information for the Beoplay A3 yet, but you can sign up to be notified when it appears in the Beoplay online store.Beoplay A3 iPad stereo dock has a unique design originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 03 May 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Music Services-Deezer
Music streaming provider Deezer is one of the bigger (and older -- it's been around since 2006) services of its kind, with some 20 million registered users in 48 territories, and 15 million tracks in its catalog -- but it has failed to capture mindshare in quite the same way as rival Spotify; and some might argue that this will make it harder in the long run for Deezer to keep up and grow.Today sees the launch of the company's latest attempt to turn that situation around: "Open Deezer," a new set of APIs for iOS, Android and Java-based web apps, which it hopes will help it bring on a new raft of developers to create music services around its platform. read more..
Friday, 30 March 2012
Interval Training-Strength Training-Exercise Program-Workouts-Music
A trio of apps have come out recently that will give your spring workout a boost: Faster ($1.99): This app, shown at right, is geared toward those who exercise outdoors and relies on GPS to be effective. You can set a distance and target time, and if your pace isn't matching the goals you set, Faster will slow down your music. There's a social aspect to it as well, with Game Center integration and the ability to earn badges and compete with friends. You can also hear voice feedback during workouts and use it in tandem with other fitness apps. Now that the weather's warming up here, I'm looking forward to using Faster outside and hope it'll keep me motivated and not looking longingly at gardens and park benches. One warning: For those who still have some DRM-protected tracks on their iPhone, Faster will not work with them. Bit Timer ($.99): Bit Timer is designed for when you do any sort of interval training, great for if you're doing a regimented exercise that requires you to alternate between running and walking, or if you're doing strength training and need to take rests between sets. Two distinct tones let you know when you're about to perform the exercise and when you either enter your rest period or change exercises. To change the seconds, hold the colored bars and drag down to increase time, drag up to decrease it. When using a music app, Bit Timer will fade the music out to let you know when to switch phases then fade back in, which is really nice. The one drawback to the app is that you can't set the work and rest periods for any longer than 2-minute increments at a time. I'd like to see this go up to 5-minute increments to better utilize it with such programs as the Couch to 5K plan. Plus, I'd like to see some customization such as being able to switch to different phases of an exercise program. But for 99 cents, this app is a good deal, and I plan to incorporate it into my workouts. Fitness Trainer ($.99): For building those spring workouts, you can create and track routines in this app. There are more than 70 exercises within the app to choose from, including videos to demonstrate move you're not familiar with. This app just hit version 4, and it's a good way to create a training program for yourself without having to pay for a personal trainer. What it won't do is keep you working out. That you'll have to do yourself.Three new apps for a better workout originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Daily iPhone App: Beatstream
Beatstream is the latest app from the folks at Smule (who recently acquired Khush, another music-loving developer, and I can kind of see their influence here as well). Usually, Smule's apps are based around creation of music, but Beatstream is a little more targeted towards listening to your music (at least at first). The idea is that you can pull any music from your iTunes library, and Beatstream will turn it into a game, the game-iest game that I've ever seen Smule make. You basically control an arrow running along a path, and you can tap on the screen to flip it through two different colors, which match barriers running along the path in front of you. The goal is to make sure that when your little arrow crosses the barriers, it's the same color. Matching colors and going through levels you up, and missing the colors brings you back down. It's fun, and even on the easiest setting, the barriers show up on the screen quickly enough that there is a little bit of a challenge trying to make sure the arrow is flipped the right way before going through them. There are also badges to earn, and unlike standard achievements, these actually change the gameplay a little bit, or even trip up the way the music sounds, like making it go faster or play in some crazy fashion. The one caveat with the music in Beatstream is that, like all other apps that pull music from your library, it won't work with DRM-protected songs, so if there's anything on your device from before 2009, you might not be able to play it. Same deal with long songs -- I had a few really long songs that just didn't work. But I was able to get a shorter song working without a problem, and while you could tell the song was matched with an algorithm (rather than by hand, like a Rock Band or Guitar Hero song), it still played well along with the music anyway. Beatstream is a cool way to experience your music while tapping along with that little arrow. I don't think it'll be a tentpole release for Smule -- it doesn't quite have that music creation streak that has led them to so much success with apps like Ocarina and Magic Piano. But it's a quality addition to their library for sure -- it's 99 cents on the App Store right now.Daily iPhone App: Beatstream originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Olivia Broadfield-Propellerhead-Soundcloud-Tuaw
The long wait is almost over! The winner of our Remiix & WIN competition, with Olivia Broadfield, Propellerhead, SoundCloud and TUAW, will be announced live tonight at 9:00 PM CET (8 PM GMT) on Olivia's Ustream. The winning remix will walk away with Propellerhead's brand new Balance audio interface and a copy of its latest DAW, Reason 6, plus a SoundCloud premium membership, a signed copy of Olivia Broadfield's latest album, "This Beautiful War," and some TUAW merchandise, too! We've been overwhelmed and thrilled with the hundreds of submissions to the competition. It's been a tough job working through the remixes to get to our finalist because there's been such a high standard of creativity and production. Well done! But there can only be one winning remix -- the cream of the crop -- and we can't wait for it to be announced tonight. Until then, if you haven't already, why not take a listen to the finalists on Sound Cloud here?Remix & WIN: Winner to be announced live tonight at 9 PM CET (8 PM GMT) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 29 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..