Daily News Courier

Spotify app for iPhone adds free radio streaming support

Most people love music, but even the most diehard audiophile must be attentive to their budget when it comes to spending money on it. Spotify is here to help you with that, with a new free mobile streaming feature for the iPhone and iPad for US users. The service has been introduced for desktop users as of last year, but so far mobile users had to pay a $10/per month subscription to take advantage of the feature.

"Our focus has always been on creating an amazing user experience. The radio feature we’ve added to our iPhone and iPad apps gives users the ability to discover, listen and save what they like on the go ? all within one app ? for free," commented Charlie Hellman, vice president of products for Spotify.

The new service is quite similar to Pandora in that it allows users to design their own radio stations by choosing from the Spotify catalogue of over 16 million tracks. Users can also create playlists that consist of albums, artists or single songs.

This is a social music service as users are able to also ?like? the tracks they listen to which are saved for listening later on, on their computers. ?Liking? tracks is also important in finding new bands and personalizing your radio station. Adding friends and browsing through their favorite tracks is also an option.

For those interested in the Spotify update for iOS, it is available for download at the App Store.

By Radu

Source: Spotify Blog – Spotify
Source2: Spotify launches iPhone streaming radio – Jun. 19, 2012

Spotify adds faster Android 4.0 design, widget, Last.fm scribbling, and higher quality in new update

Spotify has made its completely redesigned Android app available in Google Play. The new app, which has been rebuilt with the Android 4.0 design guidelines in mind, offers a new slide-out navigation that makes it easier than ever to access controls and song playlists. Users can also slide right to access What’s New, Inbox, Friends, and Search to find the right song to play.

The latest version of Spotify looks absolutely nothing like the last version. The app has an ICS look and hi-res album art to go with it. It has also added a great looking “Related Artist” screen to discover similar artists to the one currently being played. The controls on the player page have also been simplified to look more like the default Play Music app, and the controls are always accessible at the bottom of the screen. Users can also change the song through a new home screen widget.

Aside from its pretty new exterior, Spotify has updated to include a few important behind the scenes features. The sound quality has been bumped up to 320 kbps, which is a huge improvement for people who crave richer audio even when streaming music. It also can now crossfade between songs, enable Last.fm scribbling, and browse a friend’s profile or playlist page from the app.

Spotify is available now in Google Play. The app requires a Spotify Premium subscription and a Facebook account (unless you signed up without one before). Android 2.1 or higher is necessary to use the app.

[Download from Google Play]

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HBO GO adds Amazon Kindle Fire support, still won

The fantastic HBO GO app, which allows HBO subscribers to watch full episodes and view special content on their Android devices, now supports the Amazon Kindle Fire. HBO made the announcement today that and uploaded GO into the Amazon Appstore, bringing more than 1,400 movies and premium television shows to one of the best selling Android tablets to date.

HBO GO requires an HBO subscription through a cable operator. Once a paying subscriber is authenticated, the app provides access to all of HBO’s popular shows, miniseries, cast and show information, and entire seasons of popular shows. The app offers a Watch List that can customize a queue of videos to watch, so there’s always something worth seeing when you’re on the go.

Sadly, it’s the only Android tablet currently supported by HBO. Despite 10-inch screens with beautiful screens being perfectly suited to stream True Blood, HBO has yet to open up support to the other Android tablets that have proven popular. The ASUS Transformer Prime, Motorola Xoom, and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 have all been denied access. Looks like it’s back to watching shows on our little 4-inch screens instead – or 7 inch if you have a Kindle Fire.

Download HBO GO to your Kindle Fire by visiting the Amazon Appstore.

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Songify Android app now lets you Auto-Tune your speech into music ala AutoTune the News

Ever wanted to unleash your inner T-Pain? Now you can with Songify, a new app for Android 2.2 and higher that automatically converts speech into music.

You may be familiar with Songify as a popular iOS app endorsed by the Gregory Brothers, the musically-inclined group behind YouTube channel AutoTune the News. The app has finally crossed over to Android and is available now as a freemium app.

Songify lets users select a song as the background music and then has them record vocals. The vocals are then run through audio processing the over-corrects the pitch to give it that distinct sound. The app comes free with backing from the “Double Rainbow” song and a couple other songs, but the “k coins” virtual currency is required to get other songs like the “Bed Intruder” (hide your kids, hide your wife) or some original beats made for the app. Users can earn coins by liking Samsung on Facebook or downloading an app, or they can just purchase a package that strips the app of advertising and provides more options to upgrade the audio.

I’ve spent a few minutes playing with Songify and will be back later with my impressions of the app (and perhaps a video?) once I’ve had more time with it. I’m anxious to see how it compares to the last music app in which I embarrassed myself, MicDroid.

[Download from Google Play]

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Turntable.fm Android app drops the beat, lands in Google Play for social music fans on the go

Turntable.fm is a popular hangout spot for the “in” crowd to go and listen to music. While those folks were previously relying on their desktop to get a daily soundtrack, the official Turntable.fm Android app is now available for U.S. devices running Android 2.2 or higher.

On the off chance that you’re unfamiliar with Turntable.fm, here’s a quick rundown: members login via Facebook or Twitter and enter rooms where other members act as DJ’s. Members create rooms and select who has DJ privileges, then those users create playlists that stream instantly to everyone in the room. Listeners can vote up good songs and vote down poor ones to send clues about what kind of songs to play and avoid.

Turntable.fm did a solid job porting the desktop experience to Android based on first impressions. Music pumps as hard as your phone’s speaker or connected audio device will allow, and there are plenty of interactive features. Room members can post to chat, thumbs a song up or down, tap on a user to learn more and become a fan, or share to Facebook, Twitter, and email. And if a particular song proves so good that you wish to buy it, there’s a built-in link to search for it in Amazon MP3. Sadly, it performs a generic search for a term rather than actually going to the app.

Popular rooms are listed when launching the app, as are rooms that need DJ’s, and those that users have marked as favorites. Users can even create a room from their Android device and invite other DJ’s. Only users in the United States can access Turntable.fm.

Download it from Google Play.

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