Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.
I gripped the handset, twirling the coiled wire around my wrist, listening for a ring tone. Instead, a busy signal triggered an autonomous twitch reaction in my teenage hand: hang up, wait for dial tone, hit redial, listen for ring tone. Again. Again.
Filed under: Internet
No word yet on whether or not Xbox Music is breaking out of its Windows 8 prison
     |
Ford said a while back that it wanted more applications with support for voice control inside its vehicles, and slowly but surely the company’s getting what it wished for. Just as Spotify did a few months ago, SiriusXM is now introducing its own app for the SYNC AppLink ecosystem, giving drivers access to the internet radio service right from their Ford’s in-dash system. This also includes features like voice commands and steering wheel controls, as well as access to SiriusXM On Demand and MySXM. As part of the deal with the Satellite Radio company, the American car maker announced that customers purchasing one of those SYNC AppLink-ready autos will get a six-month subscription to the All Access Package — which is usually $199 per year and has more than 160 channels to choose from.
Filed under: Transportation, Software
Source: SiriusXM
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
“Internet radio” is usually a misnomer, as well as an indicator of its ambition. The term “radio” is misapplied to internet services like AOL Radio, Rhapsody Radio, the upcoming iTunes Radio and their ilk. All these mediums are unrelated to radio technology. But for most people, “radio” simply means something you turn on and listen to. As a marketing term, “radio” seeks to accustom users to new technology by connecting it with familiar technology. Pandora describes itself as “free, personalized radio.”
The business intent in all cases is more ambitious — to wean people from the terrestrial radio habit and migrate them to online services. Will it work?
Rdio has been making fairly regular changes, improvements, and expansions, with today marking its newest roll out into new locations, as well as a first for the service – availability in Asia. The service had not previously been available anywhere in Asia, but with expansion into Hong Kong and Malaysia, it has found added a
It’s no secret that there’s some contention between Pandora and the powers that be over how much it pays for every song its users listen to, with the Internet radio station feeling it pays too much, and with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, more commonly known as ASCAP, frequently trying to raise
Back in March, we reported that Apple plans to launch it iRadio streaming music service by this upcoming summer, followed up by a piece in April on its reported signing of various licensing agreements. Now sources are saying the company has run into a snag with Sony over an issue with how much it will pay when users skip songs.
The information comes from the folks over at CNET, who report that “people familiar with the negotiations” say Apple and Sony Music are in contention over how much Apple will pay when a user listens to part of a song, then skips to the next one. Such an issue is reportedly causing frustration amongst the other labels slated to have their music offered through the service, which they anticipate bolstering the music industry.
Sources also have said that iRadio will offer features not found on what will be the service’s biggest competitor, Pandora, such as rewinding a song they want to hear a second time around. The service will reportedly allow an easy way for listeners to buy a song while using iRadio, and will also give labels a cut of the advertisement revenues generated. Apple is considering using audio advertisements.
Unlike Pandora, Apple has chosen to form individual deals with each music label rather than going by federal stipulations, which could potentially give the service more abilities than Pandora, but comes at the cost of running into negotiation problems. One such difference that could be in iRadio’s benefit from direct deals, for example, is having no limit on the number of songs skipped, or a higher skipping allowance than Pandora, which limits skips on an hourly basis with a daily cap.
While the sources provided some information on the matter, they didn’t specify any particular numbers, such as what Sony is wanting per skipped song and what Apple wants on its part. Reportedly, Apple is seeking to have the same terms across its deals with each music label, and as such could have problems if Sony ended up getting a deal that crunches out with more favorable numbers than the other labels.
SOURCE: CNET
Apple iRadio stymied by song-skipping issue says sources is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Back in February, Slacker Radio was given a massive design overhaul, with the older clunky interface being replaced with a white, easier-to-navigate alternative. That change was accompanied by the addition of new features, as well, all with the goal of helping the service compete with the likes of Pandora and other similar offerings. Now the numbers are in, and it turns out the redesign did more than expected.
Since the changes made earlier this year, the Internet radio service experienced an increase in new subscribers to the tune of between 10 and 20-percent, with the numbers breaking down to between half and one-million. That’s not all, however, with the service also experiencing an increase in the amount of time its users – which tally in at 35 million, active users unknown – spend listening to music with the service.
Said Slacker Radio’s CEO Jim Cady: “Listening time since launch has also gone up by 25% largely because of the more approachable interface and new programming. We had expected it to go up. We didn’t expect it to go up that much.” In addition, the service has – much like Pandora – seen a big jump in the number of songs being streamed via a mobile device.
Out of the total number of hours spent listening to the service, 2/3rds of them are streamed via a mobile device, such as a smartphone or a tablet. In light of this, Slacker is looking into offering its service as a bundle option with a carrier or two (or three, etc.) It doesn’t plan to stop there, however, also saying that being offered via infotainment systems in cars is a big goal. The company is reportedly in talks with GM, Ford, Honda, and other big-name auto makers.
[via Billboard]
Slacker listening times increase following February redesign is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Marantz will release a new 7.1ch AV amplifier model “NR1604″ in late May.
The amplifier has slim dimensions at 440 x 367 x 105 mm and has a discrete power amplifier rated output 50W × 7ch (8Ω), maximum output of 100W × 7ch (6Ω).
It supports DLNA, FLAC / WAV files up to 24bit/192kHz and Apple Lossless support up to 24bit/96kHz. Also available is “2 M-DAX” through which you can play compressed music files MP3, WMA, such as AAC. USB and smart device connection is possible through the front.
It also supports AirPlay to play music wirelessly through a PC or iPhone and Internet radio. M-XPort “RX101″ to connect Bluetooth receiver is sold separately.
There are a total of 7 HDMI inputs in the system, 1 in front, 6 in the back and it can also be scaled up to output 4K, and 4K video pass-through (3,840 × 2,160 dots).
Price: 84,000
Color: Black
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
