Hasta La Gadget!

Most of us know that feeling of loving a song so much that we have it on indefinite repeat, but The Infinite Jukebox takes that to a new, algorithmically (and just plain rhythmically) brilliant level. The handiwork of Paul Lamere, the online music player takes a single track and breaks it down into beats, then links together any beats that sound particularly similar. Playback can continue as standard, but it can also jump between those linked points in an ever-evolving song.

In fact, left to its own devices, The Infinite Jukebox will continue to play the same song forever, though the track itself will evolve over time. “For beat similarity we look at pitch, timbre, loudness, duration and the position of the beat within a bar” Lamere says, with a colorful, circular representation of the progressing playback and the possible leaps.

You can also use your keyboard to control playback, with space handling play/pause, the left/right arrows for changing play velocity, and the down arrow setting velocity straight to zero. Control freezes playback on the currently playing beat, and shift triggers a bounce from the current beat to all similar sounding beats.

Behind the scenes it’s the Echo Nest analyzer that does the clever work, the same engine that’s behind Nokia Music’s personalized playlists. Some tracks work better than others, Lamere warns, with those that have plenty of self-similarity sounding smoother in the transitions.

You can upload your own MP3 to The Infinite Jukebox, or choose from any of the preloaded tracks that others have tried; that’s a quicker way of getting started, since the Echo Nest analysis can be a little time consuming depending on server load. Karma Police by Radiohead works well, as does Psy’s Gangham Style which is what got Lamere started in the first place.

The Infinite Jukebox: Justin Bieber, tweaked, forever and ever is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Neil Young isn’t shy when it comes to embracing new technology, something he put beyond question with his latest appearance on The Late show with David Letterman. The artist took the opportunity to reveal plans for his high-fidelity Pono music service. The aim is to tackle the poor quality in which he believes most people receive their music these days — the humble MP3. Young’s offering would comprise a three-pronged approach, including a music store with high-resolution recordings, a digital-to-analog style conversion technology, and portable hardware to listen to it all with. The simple intention is to offer music as it was originally intended to be heard, but at this time there’s no detail as to what this actually entails (sorry specification fans).

According to Rolling Stone, the big three labels are interested, and the goal is to unify, rather than diversify, the quality of recorded content. The Pono players (that yellow wedge you see above) will serve up your existing catalog, but you’ll likely need to re-buy some of your collection if you want the holistic experience. With no cards fully on the table, we’re at the ransom of Young’s celebrity endorsements, which all claim that the benefits are tangible. Young, of course, says “You can’t get better than this, this is what they do in the studio,” but until we get some details, or ears on, everybody knows this is nowhere.

[Image credit:CBS]

Continue reading Neil Young’s Pono music service wants to democratize high-quality audio (video)

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio/Video

Neil Young’s Pono music service wants to democratize high-quality audio (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 07:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft is reportedly planning to make a big push in its music service to rival that of Apple’s iTunes as well as popular music streaming service Spotify. According to Bloomberg, citing inside sources, the new Xbox Music will combine the best features of both rival services so that customers can purchase songs and sign up for music streaming.

Microsoft has been in talks with the major record label companies, including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music, and EMI to secure the necessary music rights. The negotiations may still be in the early stages, although the company plans to launch the service later this year.

Xbox Music’s streaming aspect will work similar to Spotify, charging usrs a monthly or annual fee, while still letting consumers purchase digital music through an online store similar to iTunes. Music may also be stored on an online locker that’s accessible by multiple mobile devices running Windows Phone 8 or Windows 8. It would be similar to Apple’s iCloud, where songs purchased elsewhere can also be stored and accessed for a monthly or annual fee.

[via MacRumors]

Microsoft plans Xbox Music to rival iTunes, Spotify is written by Rue Liu & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.