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Tag: Music

The Counting Crows Bring Their Music to BitTorrent

Posted by Alan Buckingham at 4:31 PM on May 14, 2012

Underwater Sunshine (or what we did on our summer vacation)

The popular rock band Counting Crows are going BitTorrent.  The band has made four songs off of their latest release available for free download in an effort to attract new fans.  The album, titled Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did On Our Summer Vacation), was released last month and features15 tracks.  In a departure from their past, the Crows have made this CD a collection of all cover songs.

The BitTorrent release features not only the audio files, but also liner notes, and artwork from the album.  Frontman Adam Duritz, during an interview with Mashable,  said “I don’t know how I didn’t think of this earlier — it’s the most obvious thing in the world since BitTorrent has such a huge global reach.  It’s not just about getting music to the people who would buy it anyway — even though that is, of course, very good — the hardest thing to do is make new fans.”

Kudos to the Counting Crows for taking this route and seeing the benefits that many, or most, artists and labels seem to be clueless about.  Getting their music out there for people to hear is the first step towards gaining new avenues of revenue.  Some fans may elect to buy the CD’s, but even those who don’t will perhaps spend money on a concert ticket or, at the least, promote the band to other listeners.

This approach may seem like a no-brainer for established stars who already have fans looking for their material, but it is a bit tougher for the unknown artists who want to get noticed.  However, this may generate the publicity to get more bands to take this approach, and there are some great success stories from those who have taken the free approach early – just ask Jonathan Coulton or the guys from OK Go.

Party With My Friends

Posted by Andrew at 12:33 PM on May 4, 2012

As it’s the weekend, and a long one at that in many countries round the world, perhaps Todd will forgive this piece of total brilliance. DJ Duo Hot Problems have taken lip-syncing to a whole new level with the video from “Party With My Friends” in a Star Wars sing-along. Of course, it’s also Star Wars-day today!

Sheer genius, even if you don’t like Star Wars that much.

Songza: Playlist Maker for Every Mood or Activity

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 4:24 PM on April 6, 2012

I don’t know about you, but I am really bad at making playlist. First I usually think about making a playlist about the time I need one and don’t have time to make it. Second I am really bad at naming playlist, so I have playlist that have names like my favorite songs, or something obscure like Fun Time or Son of Cash. When I created those playlist I am sure the titles had meaning, but after a while I forget what they were, so I tend to create multiple playlist with a lot of the same artists. I am sure I am not the only one that either hates making playlist or is bad at it and that is where Songza comes in.

 

 

Songza is available on iOS, Android and through their Web site. The company Songza is made up of music experts, software engineers and “absurdly talented dancer” They have gather together over 1,880 playlist created both internally but also by artist, producers, DJs and other people involved with the music industry. You can either sign in through Facebook or you can create an account for Songza. Once you have sign in on an iOS device the first page you see is divided into three sections. The bottom section has five tabs, Concierge, My Playlists, People, Explore and Settings. With Concierge highlighted the middle section will show six blocks with activities based on day and time. The top section is where you can adjust the day and time, so for example if it’s Friday afternoon and you are driving home early you could set it for Friday evening and you will get playlist like Cure for Road Rage or Post-work Celebration. If you tap on My Playlist at the bottom you will see the most recent playlist you have listen to, any that you tagged as favorites and if you follow someone on Songza you will also see their play list. Under the Popular tab you have the featured playlist, what’s trending and all-time popular. Although the Concierge is great when you want to be really lazy. For the me the real power of Songza comes out when you hit the Explore button (aka as Discovery on Android). From there you can find playlist based on Activities, Moods, Decades, Culture and Record Clerk. There are probably more than 50 activities listed everything including coding, reading in a coffee shop, road trip, house party and between the sheets just to name a few. Under moods you will find aggressive, earth, gloomy, seductive, trippy and many more. What ever mood you are in Songza will have a playlist for you. Under culture you will find playlist with songs that are being blogged about and are trending on sites like Beatport.  Gorilla vs Bear and Pitchfork. If you are looking for best of lists this is where you will find them. Finally under explore there is Record-store Clerk, where you will find list that were created by artist, record labels, legendary producers, great composers and yes some of the list were created by actual record store clerks. There is an option to contribute your own playlist however because of licensing restriction you can’t listen to your own playlist.

 

 

You can share a song to Facebook or Twitter or by email. There is no ability to share to Google Plus on iOs devices.  If the song is available you can purchase it through the iTunes store on any iOS device. I couldn’t find a buying option on my Android device or the web site. I have only been playing around with Songza for a little over a day, but so far I love it. I did run into a couple of problems though. The first is Songza is different on Android then it is on iOs. iOs is on app version 5.10 while Android is only at 3,0,10, so iOs seems a little more polished. On Android, Concierge is missing and instead of Explore they use Discovery. When you save a playlist on iOS it automatically goes into your favorites list. On Android you can put it in your favorites list or you can create collections. However when I did try to create a new collection on Android Songza would crash and I would have to log back in. Also there does seem to be more buffering on Android then iOs. Despite these problems I do recommend trying Songza out. It is free so there is nothing to lose. Robert Scoble (aka the Scobleizer) interviewed the founders and the video is available on YouTube

Stanton SCS.4DJ Digital DJ Mixstation

Posted by Andrew at 12:13 PM on February 26, 2012

SCS.4DJ MixstationIf you’re a DJ, you probably know the name Stanton, purveyors of DJ hardware. If you’re not a DJ, you probably still know the parent company, Gibson, of the guitar fame. Either way, we’re in good company here. Todd and Steve mix it up with Darrin “B-Side” Young from Stanton.

On show is Stanton’s SCS.4DJ Digital DJ Mixstation, a self-contained digital controller that has its own built-in computer and mixing software. The Mixstation is Linux-based with proprietary software that takes advantage of the unit’s features.

The music itself is all digital (.mp3, .wav, .aac) and USB storage can either be plugged in temporarily or else more permanently fitted on the underside in media bays.

Some of the cool toys include a 4″ hi-res colour LCD screen, display of the current track’s beat and wave form, media browser and automatic synchronisation between tracks (beat match). There’s also an auto DJ feature that takes a playlist and beat matches between the tracks. Nice.

Available now for $499 from over 500 retailers nationwide.

Interview by Todd “TC” Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network, and Steve “Surfer” Lee of Waves of Tech.

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ComplyFoam Replacement Earphone Tips

Posted by Andrew at 9:09 AM on February 23, 2012

ComplyFoam Replacement Earphone TipsIf you’ve got a pair of earphones or earbuds that just don’t quite fit your ears properly, then you’ll want to take a look at this interview with Nate from ComplyFoam.

ComplyFoam produce replacement tips for earphones and earbuds from a huge range of manufacturers – SkullCandy, Monster, Shure, Sony to name but a few. The difference between the OEM tips and the ComplyFoam ones is that the latter are made from memory foam which responds to body heat, expanding and fitting better. As a result, more exterior sound is blocked, giving a better listening experience.

The replacement tips are available in a range of colours and sizes, with prices around from $10-$20 for a set of three depending on model.

Interview by Jeffrey Powers of Geekazine and Andy Smith of Geocaching World.

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AfterShokz Bone Conduction Headphones for Sports

Posted by Alan Buckingham at 11:15 AM on February 19, 2012

Many of you are probably familiar with bone conduction sound technology, which has been around for a few years, but has previously been associated with Bluetooth headsets for making hands-free calls on your smartphone.  Now, AfterShokz has finally succeeded in bringing the technology to music headphones.

The new headphones are designed mainly for sports.  They boast a healthier environment because they go over, instead of in, the ears and reast on your cheekbones.  This means you aren’t closed off from the world while you’re running, biking, or whatever.  That’s important because you certainly need to hear that horn beeping behind you.  The membranes are waterproof, meaning they can easily be cleaned, which is again important for athletes because of sweat.

There are three different models of the AfterShokz, one of which has an inline microphone making it suitable for phone calls as well.  The models begin at $59.95 for the Sport, and go up slightly for the Mobile and Gaming models.  There is also a Bluetooth model in the works.  You can learn more in the video below and by visiting AfterShokz.

Interview by Jeffrey Powers of Geekazine.

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Sennheiser RS 220 Cordless Audiophile Headphones

Posted by geeknews at 8:46 AM on February 15, 2012

RS 220 Audiophile Wireless HeadphonesCordless headphones rarely have audiophile sound quality because of the data compression technologies used to transmit the music to the headphones, but Sennheiser‘s new headphones resolve this by using a lossless technology to transmit the sound. Eric Palonen gives Todd and Jeffrey more detail.

The Sennheiser RS 220 are cordless audiophile headphones, based on the reference HD 650 headphones. The wireless transmission technology is based on lossless Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) implementation. The charging base has both digital and analogue inputs.

The RS 220s will be available from March for $599. For comparison, the HD 650s are $499.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central and Jeffrey Powers of Geekazine for the TechPodcast Network.

Sponsored by:
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