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I want Sony's 360 Reality Audio to be the future of music
Sony's CES press conference didn't offer many surprises, aside from a lot of discussion around Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and a cameo by Pharrell Williams. The singer and producer was on stage to discuss the company's biggest announcement during the brief evening event: 360 Reality Audio. With this project, Sony is taking high-resolution music to another level by adding a spatial dimension. The goal here is to create something that "makes listeners feel as if they are immersed in sound from all directions." Or to put it another way, to make you feel like you're at a concert any time you listen to music. To do so, the "experience" depends on a lot of things lining up.
Waze adds built-in audio player to spice up your commute
You won't have to use Google Maps if you want a built-in music player to accompany Google's navigation tools. In the wake of a Spotify tie-in last year, Waze has released beta versions of its Android and iOS apps with a native audio player that supports eight services in total. Deezer, iHeart Radio, NPR One, Pandora, Scribd, Stitcher and TuneIn are now available alongside Spotify to give you a choice of listening material for your commute. Not every app is available on every platform (you can use TuneIn only on Android, for example, while Deezer only works on iOS), but you only need to sync Waze with a third-party app to have access to familiar tunes on your next drive.
SoundCloud brings high quality streaming to Go+ subscribers
SoundCloud is giving its Go+ subscribers access to better audio while streaming. The top tier service from the company now offers a high quality streaming option, meaning that, whenever content is uploaded in a lossless or high bitrate format, subscribers will be able to stream that audio at 256kbps AAC. Just head to your SoundCloud settings and adjust your selection under "Streaming quality" to opt in.
Deezer's AI mood detection could lead to smarter song playlists
Astute listeners know that you can't gauge a song's mood solely through the instrumentation or the lyrics, but that's often what AI has been asked to do -- and that's not much help if you're trying to sift through millions of songs to find something melancholic or upbeat Thankfully, Deezer's researchers have found a way to make that AI consider the totality of a song before passing judgment. They've developed a deep learning system that gauges the emotion and intensity of a track by relying on a wide variety of data, not just a single factor like the lyrics.
Garmin adds Deezer to its music-playing fitness watches
To date, Garmin's music-capable fitness watches have had access to iHeartRadio and... that's about it. You're about to get some much-needed variety, though, as Deezer's music service has finally arrived on Garmin fitness wearables after months of promises. You can store more than 100 tunes on your wrist and sync playlists (including curated workout playlists) like you might with other services on smartwatches, but the ace up Garmin's sleeve may be Deezer's Flow feature. While the mix of favorites and recommendations isn't that special on your phone or PC, it gives you a fresh mix every day -- important when you'd rather not repeat your gym soundtrack.
Deezer now creates playlists based on your listening habits (updated)
Not to be left behind by the competition, Deezer is tweaking its Flow feature. The app's latest update augments the automatically curated playlist tool to include tracks from artists related to what you're listening to. More than that, the patch gives Flow its own tab within the navigation panel. "You want to discover new music but still have control over what genre is recommended? You in a rock mood and your favorites Nirvana and Guns 'n Roses would definitely cheer you up? Just select the Flow tab that will float your boat," the Deezer announcement says.
Deezer can provide the soundtrack for your Xbox One games
You don't have too many options for large, on-demand music services that will stream in the background of your Xbox One games. Now that Groove Music is no more, Spotify is the main game in town. Thankfully, Deezer just gave you a viable alternative. Its newly launched Xbox One app gives you all-you-can-hear music streaming regardless of what you're doing on your console, including background streaming while you play.
Alexa can now stream music from Deezer
Deezer has been rapidly expanding its footprint, from the devices it's available on to adding voice control. Now it's adding Alexa to the mix. Not only is Deezer voice control available on Amazon's Echo devices, but it's also accessible on devices that support Alexa, such as the Sonos One and Ultimate Ears BLAST. The service will be accessible to users in 66 countries.
Deezer's 'SongCatcher' borrows Shazam's song ID trick
As Tidal has showed us lately, streaming is a tough business, but underdog French company Deezer is trying to keep up with its giant rivals Spotify and Apple Music. The site is launching a new feature called SongCatcher that can identify any song, much like Apple's new acquisition, Shazam. It works in much the same way; you launch the app, and it will identify any music playing from its 44 million song database. Once it's found the tune, you can then add it to your favorites or playlist and play all the recognized tunes directly from SoundCatcher.
Spotify and Deezer urge EU to lean on Apple
Streaming is single-handedly boosting music sales and Spotify doesn't want any one behemoth (see Apple) gaining a stranglehold over the booming market. It got its wish when the EU promised "legislative instruments" to help out the little guy, specifically smaller firms that fear bigger corporations could stifle them by imposing strict rules on their apps. Seven months later, there's no new laws in sight, so Spotify (along with its original ally Deezer) is knocking on the EU's door once more, reports the Financial Times.
Fitbit's Ionic will let you play Deezer from your wrist
Fitbit's Ionic smartwatch suffers from a dearth of apps, we noted in our Engadget review, but the wearable firm is trying to flip that equation with an update to its Fitbit OS. It will bring over 100 new watch faces and 60 apps, including Yelp, Nest, Hue Lights and Flipboard. The most interesting one is Deezer, coming in 2018, as it will run on the Ionic without a smartphone, lightening the load for runners and other athletes. The company also launched Fitbit Labs, a new effort to create apps that motivate athlete behavior changes and accelerate Fitbit's pace of innovation.
Deezer brings lossless audio to the desktop with a new app
Music streaming service Deezer moved beyond Bose and Sonos speakers a couple of months ago in US markets, expanding its subscription offerings to pretty much everyone via a mobile app. Around the same time, Deezer opened up its HiFi tier to any speaker with Chromecast built-in. Now, the company is bringing exclusive video content and a free trial of Deezer's $20 per month HiFi service to a new desktop app for macOS and Windows.
You can now stream Deezer on Roku devices in the US
It just got easier to use your Roku player (or Roku TV) as the heart of a home stereo setup. Deezer has launched a Roku channel for American users, giving you access to its Premium streaming music service on the big screen. Fork over $10 per month and you'll get unfettered streaming along with Deezer-specific twists like Flow (a never-ending mix of favorite and recommended music) and special mixes.
Deezer now streams high-quality audio to more than just Sonos
Deezer Elite brought high-quality music streaming to Sonos speakers back in 2014, but until now, the service wasn't available on audio gear from other companies. Starting today, you can access the renamed Deezer HiFi tier from Chromecast Audio or any speaker that has Chromecast built-in. That opens up the options to devices from the likes of Sony, Samsung, Bang & Olufsen, Onkyo and Pioneer -- just to name a few.
Neo-Nazi site Stormfront has been temporarily taken down
The post-Charlottesville removal of neo-Nazi content from various web sources continues to power on as the long-standing website Stormfront has, for now, been taken down. A Whois search shows that Web.com domain provider Network Solutions LLC has put a hold on the website and as the Knoxville News Sentinel reports, the hold prohibits the site from being updated, transferred or deleted. If the domain provider decides to delete Stormfront, any subsequent version hosted elsewhere would have to be recreated from scratch.
Google Home's voice controls now work with free Spotify accounts
If you're a Google Home user without a paid Spotify account, your use of the service on Home has been limited. Up until now, Spotify has only integrated with Home for paid accounts. But at I/O, Google announced that would change; free Spotify users would be able to stream their library to Home. And now, it appears that the integration is now live for US users: free-tier Spotify users can now stream their music to Google Home.
Google and Deezer promise to expunge racist music, too
Google and Deezer don't want to be known as home for the hateful, racist music that Spotify started deleting earlier this week -- so both companies have pledged to follow in its footsteps. Spotify began removing racist content after Digital Music News published the names of 37 white supremacy bands you can find on the platform. Most of them are included in Southern Poverty Law Center's list of racist acts you can find on streaming services and digital stores.
Google Home plays Deezer tunes at the sound of your voice
Google Home doesn't have a huge range of on-demand music services on offer (Google's services and Spotify are your biggest choices), but you can add one to the list today. Deezer has launched Home support for its streaming music service, giving listeners in several countries a hands-free music source if they're not fans of the larger providers. The stand-out is voice control over Deezer's semi-automatic Flow playlist -- you can tell Home to "play your Flow" and get a highly personalized playlist with very little effort.
Three’s ‘Go Binge’ plans offer ‘free’ data for Netflix streaming
To better compete with EE, Vodafone and O2, Three is introducing a zero-rating scheme in the UK. The network operator has teamed up with Netflix, TVPlayer, Deezer and SoundCloud to offer inclusive streaming with select mobile contracts. So when you watch or listen to these services on the go, they won't count towards your monthly data cap. The move, while contentious for net neutrality advocates, will no doubt be welcomed by consumers. There is, however, a pretty big catch: to take advantage of the new perk, you'll need to upgrade to a "Go Binge" plan, which Three admits will be slightly more expensive than your current, equivalent contract.
Tidal’s ‘On Air’ podcast network features five exclusive shows
Jay Z's forthcoming album isn't the only new content coming to Tidal this month. The streaming music site announced Tuesday that it is following the lead of Google Play, Deezer, and Spotify and now offering podcasts to its subscribers.
