Sony gives in, adds its music to iTunes in Japan

After 8 long years, Sony has finally given in, offering music from its Japanese artists on iTunes in Japan. This comes after the company’s addition of Western artists to the iTunes store earlier this year. Sony has been experiencing low earnings and is a rival to Apple, which no doubt makes this a bit like salt in the company’s ever-growing wound.

The music is already available, and includes Japanese artists like Ikimonogakari and Toshinobu Kubota, which were previously offered via Recochoku. The music is not DRM’d, which means users can freely swap it amongst all of their devices. The tracks can be downloaded for about $3 each, or $25 for an album. The audio is rated at 256kbps.

This comes after Sony picked up Recochoku, a distributor it used to makes its tracks available to Japanese customers. Perhaps not surprisingly, Sony hasn’t issued any statement or announcement in regards to this change in stance. One must commend the company – ever stubborn and staunchly opposed to using its rival for sales – for holding out as long as it did.

Some analysts believe this move is part of Sony’s overall efforts to gain traction after experiencing its recent losses. Per its last quarter earnings report, the company brought in $20 billion in earnings, a drop of $158 million. Last month, we reported on Sony’s plans to lay off about 2,000 of its workers by the end of this year.

[via TNW]


Sony gives in, adds its music to iTunes in Japan is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


MR-808 recreates Roland drum machine with robot instruments, puts them in an 808 State (video)

Moritz Simon Geist's MR808 recreates Roland drum machine with robot instruments, puts them in an 808 State video

Music lovers will often tell you that Roland’s TR-808 gave birth to modern music. Acid house, rap, techno and other genres owe some of their original (and even current) sounds to that synthetic beat. Moritz Simon Geist appreciates the effort, but has built a solution for those who think the drum machine is a little too perfect: his MR-808 installation has robot limbs playing all the equivalent real-world instruments, right down to the cowbell. A laptop musician at the helm sends MIDI input to an Arduino controller that then triggers the robot’s instrument motors and matching lights. The effect is a unique mix of flawless cues with imprecise, almost organic sounds — imagine 808 State or Kanye West replacing each and every machine with a live band and you’ve got the idea. Although the sheer size of the MR-808 sadly nixes chances you’ll ever see one at the local nightclub, it could give any of Geist’s recorded music one of the more distinct vibes we’ve heard.

Continue reading MR-808 recreates Roland drum machine with robot instruments, puts them in an 808 State (video)

Filed under: ,

MR-808 recreates Roland drum machine with robot instruments, puts them in an 808 State (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Boing Boing  |  sourceSonic Robots  | Email this | Comments

Marshall Major 50 FX headphones marks 50th anniversary

Marshall is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year with another set of headphones, only these are lined with gold trimmings. The Major 50 FX headphones are similar to the Major Pitch Black headphones that we reviewed over the summer, only these new ones comes with a few upgrades inside and out.

The Major 50 FX headphones are made for big sound (obviously), and the technology inside has received a slight boost from the previous Marshall Major headphones. The new headphones come with gold trimmings on the outside. The outer ear caps are lined with gold, and the Marshall logo in the center of the caps are gold as well.

The headband is made of vinyl and features the inscription “London England 1962″, which is the birth place and birth year of the Marshall amplifier brand. On top of the gold trimming and inscriptions, the Major 50 FX headphones are Apple certified, and include an inline microphone and remote, so they’ll work seamlessly with Apple’s numerous products.

The headphones also come with a canvas carrying bag — perfect for on-the-go audiophiles. The Marshall Major 50 FX headphones are available right now at a cost of $170. That’s definitely not a bad price to pay for top-quality headphones. Plus, if you like bling (and who doesn’t), then it’s practically a two-for-one deal.


Marshall Major 50 FX headphones marks 50th anniversary is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


MR-808 Naturalizes the TR-808 Synthesizer

Moritz Simon Geist has an unusual name. He’s also a electronic musician who has been getting bored with the production of electronic music, probably because the technology has reached a stage when you can call up practically any instrument with virtually no effort. So he decided to make a drum machine that plays samples in real-time, using actual drums. And robots.

mr 808 robot installation by moritz simon geist

Geist decided to emulate the legendary Roland TR-808, the drum machine that kickstarted the careers of many artists, despite – or is it because of? – the fact that it doesn’t sound like any real drum kit. The TR-808 uses analog circuits to create its sounds, but Geist’s installation replicates these sounds physically via percussion instruments, hence the name Mechanical Replica-808, or MR-808. The real kicker here is that Geist doesn’t play the instruments himself; he built robots that he triggers with the help of an Arduino microcontroller and Ableton, a music software. Then he housed the robots in an oversized case that resembles the TR-808.

Now that’s a high tech emulation of a low tech gadget. Check out Geist’s blog for more details on his creation.

[via Hack A Day]


Why Recycle When You Can Turn Your Old Hardware Into a MIDI Symphony?

At this point every city has a facility that will process all of your old electronics. But instead of doing the responsible thing and recycling your unwanted gear, it turns out you can turn it into a giant electronic symphony specializing in Bob Dylan’s hits. More »

Radioactive Orchestra 2.0 takes the music live, makes sweet photonic melodies (video)

Radioactive Orchestra 20 takes to the live stage, makes sweet melodies from photons video

Sweden’s Kollektivet Livet took a step towards demystifying the invisible energy around us last year through its Radioactive Orchestra, which turned isotopes into beats and beeps. To our relief, the Orchestra isn’t content to record in the studio. Version 2.0 of the music project is all about going on tour, so to speak, through live instruments: in a first prototype, a photon detector translates every radiation hit from nearby materials into its own audio pulse. The invention results in an imprecise art based on distance, but aspiring cesium rock stars can tweak the sensitivity or transpose the notes to generate their own distinct tunes. Orchestra manager Georg Herlitz tells us that the initial setup you see here, played at TEDx Gotëborg, is just a “sneak peek” of both a finished instrument and more work to come. We might just line up for the eventual concerts if the performance video after the break (at the 10:30 mark) is any indication.

Continue reading Radioactive Orchestra 2.0 takes the music live, makes sweet photonic melodies (video)

Filed under: ,

Radioactive Orchestra 2.0 takes the music live, makes sweet photonic melodies (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceTEDx Gotëborg  | Email this | Comments

Watch 19 Mini Marios Play Classic RPG Themes

You might recall musician Diwa de Leon from his entertaining and amusing performances of the Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Galaxy music. Well, Diwa is back, and this time he’s formed a new musical group – the Mini Mario Orchestra.

mini mario orchestra

And the first performance of the Mini Mario Orchestra? Well, you’d think he’d play a bunch of music from platformers, but to keep us on our toes, Diwa has decided to do an awesome medley of RPG themes instead – all while dressed up as Mario, and playing each and every instrument himself:

Now wasn’t that special? Mario playing the Dragonborn theme from Skyrim and the Main theme from Mass Effect seems a little out of place, but it’s still pretty great. I only wish he would have played some more tracks from the Paper Mario series. I’d think that would be more appropriate.

If you liked what you saw (and heard,) be sure to swing by and comment on the video’s YouTube page, and let Diwa know what other tunes you’d like to hear from the Mini Mario Orchestra. Personally, I’d like to hear the Casino Night theme from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.


Google’s Music Explorer hits the Play store, recommends artists based on…

Google's Music Explorer hits the Play store, recommends artists based on...

When we got a look at the new Nexus 10 running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, we expected Google’s Music Explorer feature would slot into the Play store alongside the OS update. As it turns out, the feature has been quietly implemented, so you can now check out similar artists from within another’s catalogue. We had a fiddle with it, but weren’t particularly impressed — you can only see three similar artists in the bubble-like UI at any one time, with no explanation of why they are linked together, or how the recommendations are decided. Some people will probably appreciate the casual browsing experience, but we found it a little too uninformative. Of course, you can make up your own mind by grabbing your tab and heading for the Play store. Just don’t be surprised if the whole experience ends up bursting your bubble.

Filed under: , ,

Google’s Music Explorer hits the Play store, recommends artists based on… originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 07:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePhandroid  | Email this | Comments

iTunes overhaul pushed back to November

Last month, we heard that Apple was planning to roll out a pretty big update for iTunes. That update was scheduled to land sometime this month, but with October ending tomorrow, it’s become pretty clear that the iTunes refresh probably won’t make it out the door before November arrives. Sure enough, Apple confirmed today that it has delayed this major iTunes update, and now the company is saying that it should be available before the end of next month.


Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr confirmed the delay of the update to All Things D today, though sadly, he didn’t get too specific about why it was pushed back. “The new iTunes is taking longer than expected and we wanted to take a little extra time to get it right,” Neumayr said. “We look forward to releasing this new version of iTunes with its dramatically simpler and cleaner interface and seamless integration with iCloud before the end of November.”

There could be any number of reasons for this delay – including, as All Things D points out, Apple’s recent management shake up – but we’re tempted to take Apple at its word when it says that needs more time to iron out the kinks. Remember, Apple doesn’t have the best history with these iTunes updates after all. In any case, once the update does finally arrive, it will come sporting a bunch of new features, including the iCloud improvements Neumayr mentioned.

There are also improvements to the user interface and playlist creation to get excited about, as well as general boosts to performance. Sadly, the iTunes faithful will have to a wait a few more weeks before they can put this update through its paces, but it’s better for Apple push it back than release it on time with a bunch of bugs. Stay tuned, because we’ll probably hear more about this iTunes update as we draw closer to its yet-unknown November release date.


iTunes overhaul pushed back to November is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Live at Microsoft Build 2012 for the dawn of Windows Phone 8!

This week Microsoft is holding their yearly developer conference with Windows Phone 8 at the forefront right here at the start of the mobile OS, but the desktop OS Windows 8 and tablet OS Windows RT as well – and we’re here all week to bring it to you live! Build is essentially the Microsoft equivalent of Google’s own Google I/O and Apple’s WWDC – it’s Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and Windows RT’s turn now. This Build is unique in that it comes immediately following the release of Microsoft’s new fave

Jordan Rudess, keyboardist for the musical group Dream Theater stood on stage at the beginning of the first keynote this week to show off some apps that his group developed. He’s not just a musician, he’s a developer as well. Using a Surface RT and a giant Lenovo touch-capable All-in-One PC to make it happen with Windows 8, he set the tone for the whole conference: multi-touch, multi-use, cross-platform action. His app Tachyon (which you may have heard of before) brings on a lovely musical bit of madness for the masses.

We’re expecting not just one whole heck of a lot of new information from Microsoft this week other than developer-specific details. If you’re interested in the guts of the system, [stay tuned to our Microsoft hub.] It’s time to see what Microsoft has in the insides of this next-generation release!

Also have a peek at the timeline below to see some more Windows Phone 8 action as it came on down over the past couple of weeks. This weekend is the big drop internationally, and Microsoft stores across the earth will be bringing you every phone in every color in the very near future – get pumped up to the max! And don’t forget to check out our full Windows Phone 8 review as well!


Live at Microsoft Build 2012 for the dawn of Windows Phone 8! is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.