Hasta La Gadget!

Rdio, that lover of social streaming and sworn enemy of the vowel, is finally opening up its new TV and movie service to all users in the US and UK. Previously only the realm of Rdio Unlimited subscribers, Vdio lets users rent, buy and do various social activities with television and film. At present, the service is offering a solid set of new releases, like Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook, which can be rented for $2.99 and $5.99, respectively. Each movie description also lets you know which of your friends have watched the feature, with help from the Facebook sign-in up front.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

Comments

Via: The Verge, The Next Web

Source: Rdio Blog

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

Read The Full Story

Back in November, Rdio rolled out updated iOS and Android apps featuring a refreshed user interface that is cleaner than the previous offering. A couple months later, the music streaming service unveiled free streaming in several countries. Now the company has announced the first of what is suggested to be multiple updates, adding features and improvements users have been asking for.

Rdio doesn’t say how many updates it has planned, nor when we can expect to see the next batch. It does walk us through the four changes that users will see, however, with the announcement stating that some users of the Web and desktop apps could already be seeing the new features. First among them is one tailored towards new listeners, who will now be presented with other Rdio users among their friends

The friends are found based on the new user’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, assuming they’re connected to the user’s account. In line with both this improved social push and the updated iOS and Android apps we mentioned above, users will be presented with a change that Rdio calls a “curated list” of friend recommendations, influencers it feels you should follow, and “hand-picked” music artists.

A personalized station has been added to the streaming service called AutoPlay, which finds and presents music that is based on the previous song you listened to, helping users discover new music and reduce the amount of time spent hunting for music that suits your tastes. There’s also a new Start Station button to launch a new station based on the song currently being listened to.

One particularly hotly requested feature has also been added – thumbs up and thumbs down. It doesn’t matter if the user is listening to the AutoPlay station, a song-based station, or an artist-based station, each can be “taught” about your individual preferences using the news thumbs up and thumbs down feature. All of this is accompanied by a new player, which features what Rdio calls a “visually-evolving listening experience.”

SOURCE: Rdio

Rdio improves music discovery with first round of new features is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’ve ever sighed in frustration at not being able to leap straight from discovering a song to playing it ad-nauseum on Spotify or Rdio, here’s a heads-up. Shazam’s iPad-focused iOS update integrates both streaming services with its discovery software in addition to a new look home screen and an auto-tagging mode that’ll passively observe any music in the background. The mapping service has also been tweaked, letting you search and see what songs are being tagged in your neighborhood (or anyone else’s, for that matter) and if you’d like to see it in action, head on past the break.

Update: Shazam’s been in touch to clarify that Rdio is available for all users, but if you want Spotify integration, you’ll have to upgrade to the paid version.

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, HD, Mobile, Apple

Comments

After years of fighting against the digital tide, the RIAA announced it’ll now factor online audio and video streams when considering tracks for its Digital Single Award. The certification has heretofore been given to digital tracks that have gone Gold or Platinum, but only for downloads: 500,000 for Gold, 1,000,000 for Platinum and 2 million-plus for multi-Platinum. But under its new policy, 100 streams count as one download, meaning that it could reach those thresholds with a mix of streams and downloads, not just the latter. The new approach is “an approximate barometer of comparative consumer activity; the financial value of streams and downloads were not factored into the equation.”

All told, these include streams from services like MOG, Rhapsody, Slacker, Spotify and Rdio along with video sites like VEVO, YouTube and MTV.com. Under the new system, 56 titles have already gone Gold and beyond, with 11 receiving their first ever digital song cert. A couple of first-timers include Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” which went Platinum and Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” that went multi-Platinum. While we can’t say if music services will make everyone happy, it’s clear streaming’s here to stay. Hear that, iTunes?

Filed under: Internet

Comments

Via: The Verge

Source: RIAA