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BMW, Mini offer MOG streaming for iPhone
BMW Group understands that people don't want to fumble with their iPhone just to listen to music in their car. They want it to be easy, which is why the auto manufacturer has partnered with MOG to let iPhone owners stream on-demand music directly to their dashboard. BMW Group has embraced mobile technology and included an in-car infotainment system in select 2011 BMW and Mini cars. This infotainment system will connect to an iPhone and let you listen to Pandora, navigate to local businesses and even update your Twitter or Facebook status. Now BMW and Mini owners can use this infotainment system to access MOG. MOG is an on-demand streaming music service that lets you listen to the music you want, when you want. You can select your favorite tracks from a catalog of over 12 million songs. There's also artist-only stations and a decent recommendation engine to help you find new songs. To get MOG in their car, BMW and Mini owners have to sign up for the MOG primo service, download the MOG app and connect their iPhone to their car. [Via ipodnn]
Logitech Squeezebox gets MOG personalized music streaming
This one's for you, Squeezebox listeners: you can now add the MOG music streaming service to your list of apps and stream 13 million mood-categorized tracks to your system at up to 320Kbps. It's ad-free for $5 per month, you can try it for 14 days before you commit, and installing the app should be easy via the mysqueezebox link below. In our household, the favorite mood seems to be swing.
Facebook partners up to bring music, news and videos to your profile through Open Graph (video)
Facebook's f8 developer conference is going on today, and Andy Samberg Mark Zuckerberg has just revealed another part of his master plan for the social network. Open Graph will now integrate many of your favorite news and music services, including Spotify, Rhapsody, Rdio and MOG onto your Facebook page with custom apps, and will also bring video from Vevo, Netflix, Hulu and many more. The media platform's already up and running, so you can see (and hear) the results of Mark's labor right now. Update: Unfortunately for Facebook users in the US, Netflix has confirmed that its Facebook integration will only be available in Canada and Latin America initially, due to a US law that "creates some confusion over our ability to allow U.S. members to share what they watch." That doesn't apply to the music services, however, and you can get an idea how Spotify will work in the video after the break. Even TiVo's gotten in on the action, announcing new sharing buttons for its iPhone and iPad mobile apps, although there's no direct DVR integration mentioned yet.
MOG FreePlay brings 11 million songs to the web gratis, makes you work for free tunes
Free? Yeah, we all like free, but when it comes to streaming music, there's always a catch. This time it's a FreePlay "tank," which lets you stream any of MOG's 11 million songs from the web without subscription fees -- well, at least until that looming gauge hits empty. The system adds a rather unique social media twist, filling tanks to different levels based on virtual interactions. And MOG's CEO says many users should never hit empty -- there are a variety of ways to earn free music, such as "interacting with advertisers in meaningful ways." Like Spotify, MOG's ultimate goal is to convert freeloaders to paid subscribers, and forking over $5 (Basic) or $10 (Primo) per month does have its benefits, including hardware integration and mobile access -- both of which won't work with the free version. Now that we have several free streaming options, it ultimately comes down to availability -- having access to 11 million tracks could be great, but only if you can play the songs you want to listen to. So, do you MOG? And no, we also have no idea what that means, but you can check it out when the site goes live tomorrow morning at 9AM ET.
MOG brings its music streaming magic to Boxee
Do you own a Boxee Box and have an account with a little streaming music service called MOG? Well, soon enough you'll be able to pick and choose from the company's 11.5 million song strong library right on your TV. That's 320kbps audio and album art in 1080p that you can peruse using your double-sided Boxee remote and a welcome expansion of the media box's music repertoire -- which currently includes Last.FM and Pandora. You can try MOG for 14-days for free, but after that you'll have to sign up for either a $4.99-a-month basic account or a $9.99-per-month Primo account if you want to keep enjoying its streaming audio selection. Check out the PR after the break. Update: We just got word that MOG should be live on Boxee around 6 a.m. on Tuesday, so get ready to crank those speakers and wake up the neighbors.
Sonos now streaming MOG music at 320kbps
If you live in the US and own a Sonos whole-home audio system then the world of streaming audio truly is your oyster. You'd be hard pressed to name a single major domestic audio service not available to your S5 all-in-one or ZonePlayer setup. Today Sonos adds the MOG music service with high-quality 320kbps streams available on-demand or via customized artist-only radio stations. Better yet, you can sample the 11 million song library for free over the next 14-days before being asked to subscribe to the $9.99 per month Primo offering.
Streaming music breakdown: how Google Music and iCloud will impact today's options
Gone are the days of going to the music store, finding a vintage CD or cassette tape, happily unwrapping it and thoroughly perusing the cover art as you listen to your new album for the very first time. In a want-it-now world, that simply takes too long -- and we have the internet to thank for the change in pace. As preferences seem to shift in the music consumption universe, it feels as if tastes are centered around consuming the largest amount of music possible. And thanks to the sudden proliferation of online streaming services, satisfying those desires in record time has become a reality. Unsurprisingly, competition is mighty fierce -- consumers have options for user-made radio stations, on-demand streaming content, and cloud-based multimedia. But if you've been hearing the word on the street, Apple and Google could soon make their way onto the scene by offering streaming music options of their own. Almost everything these two tech giants touch turns to gold (emphasis on almost -- we don't think Ping and Buzz built the best reputations), so there's reason to believe that these oft-rumored services will become automatic front-runners the day they're released. Head on past the break to see some of the lucky / unlucky contestants planning to give Google and Apple a run for their (near-limitless) money, replete with a breakdown of what they offer and how hard they hit the wallet.
MOG subscription music service comes to LG Smart TV Blu-ray players, HTIBs
If you need an alternative to Pandora, Last.fm, Rhapsody, Napster or any of the other music services already dipping a toe into the living room via connected TV platforms, you may want to consider MOG which is expanding from being on Roku players to the LG Smart TV platform. According to the press release it is now available on the Blu-ray players, HTIB systems and Smart TV Upgrader and should be available on HDTVs later. Potential subscribers can check out a 14-day free trial before opting for either a $5 a month plan that gives access only through the website or LG's TV hardware, or a $10 a month primo package that expands access to iPhone and Android clients. All the details and model numbers of supported hardware are in the press release after the break and yes, it will scrobble to Last.fm.
MOG Fusion to bring premium music service to cars, or so MOG hopes
MOG's on-demand music subscription service could be coming to a vehicle near you. Excited? You should be. At this year's CES, auto manufacturers had a coming-out party when it comes to in-car infotainment, and MOG's champing at the bit to jump on the bandwagon. According to the company, its newly launched MOG Fusion program will be accessible to select suppliers and manufacturers in the CE and automotive industries, with the API program being made available to "select partners," with Visteon Corporation being named in particular. It's still unclear how exactly tunes will be delivered, but we're sure all of that will be revealed in due time. Not nearly quick enough to satisfy you, we're sure, but hey...
Chrome Web Store, HTML5 and the iPad: symbiosis at its best
It's all coming together, folks. It doesn't take much of a gander at the Chrome Web Store to notice a trend: some of the flashiest, most mature "apps" are actually just in-browser versions of iPad apps. And you know what else? Most of these "apps" actually run fine in Safari on the iPad. We're not sure how long Google gave developers to port their experiences over, but it seems like most of the best work had already been done in the form of HTML5 apps that were merely wrapped in app form for App Store delivery. Google's just taking things to the next logical step. Continue after the break as we expand this thesis paragraph into a number of supporting blocks of text, a few jazzy pictorial examples, and a stunning closer.
MOG hits the Chrome Web Store, cools our Flash fever with a nice cool HTML5 washcloth
We've long been proponents of subscription music, but it's always a rocky relationship: Rhapsody's excellent selection but bad app and terrible web player (you call that a bitrate?), Zune's beautiful UI but Windows-only-ness, and Spotify's continued inability to work in the US. Eventually, this particular writer drifted over to MOG, which was initially a $5 a month web-only service, best known for its high bitrate and decent selection, with a more recent move to Android and iPhone apps (including offline play) for a still-palatable $10 a month price. Unfortunately, all this time we've had to put up with the indignities of a pop-up, window-based Flash player for our main MOG experience, which crashes any browser on a Mac at least once a day -- like most Flash things on the Mac. Which brings us to today: MOG is a featured app on Google's new Chrome Web Store, and once "installed" it offers an all-new luscious, speedy, HTML5 UI for MOG. Better yet, the web app also works in Safari at mog.com/chrome. Under the hood there's still a "headless" Flash playback element for DRM purposes, but everything else is a vast improvement. The only thing that could make us happier would be some sort of exfm-style Chrome extension for adding music we discover on the web to MOG playlists. You know, as long as we're getting lifelong dreams granted like this, might as well go for broke.
MOG arrives on iPhone, Android with 8 million songs but no multitasking mode (update)
The name may sound like something out of a Final Fantasy game, but we hear it stands for Music On the Go, and today MOG is doing the name proud by bringing a wide swath of streaming music to Android and iPhone. $10 a month gives you access to over 8 million songs, and during a completely unscientific impromptu testing session, that number actually included a reasonable amount of most everything we'd want. Of course, you don't get to keep any of the 320Kbps MP3 files, merely store local copies on your phone for as long as you pony up, and even on Android (where we take task switching for granted) the merest jump to web browser stops those tracks cold. (MOG says it's working on it, at least for the iOS 4 version.) We were also disappointed to find out the MOG Radio feature is nothing like we were told -- rather than a Pandora you can tune to specific artists, the feature just seems to filter your existing queue. Playback options were also lacking in this early version (like volume and jog sliders) but at least MOG's got a slick, robust discovery mode, and with this many songs to choose from that's a very good thing. Both versions should be live immediately with three-day, no commitment trials, and there's a press release after the break if you still need more info. Update: It turns out our difficulties with MOG Radio were due to a buggy preview build; downloading a fresh version of the app this morning, the Pandora-like functionality worked just fine.
MOG bringing unlimited music streaming to iPhone and Android, Rhapsody taking iPhone music offline
While we all wait patiently for Apple to concoct its own subscription-based, unlimited music streaming service (hello, Lala acquisition!), MOG is jumping on the opportunity right away. Er, almost right away. Down in Austin this week, the company announced that an iPhone and Android app would be out "in early Q2" in order to bring unlimited music streaming to both operating systems for $10 per month. We're told that a catalog of seven million songs will be available, but there's no way to know if 6.99 million are of the "no one cares" variety. At any rate, your monthly fee will also allow unlimited streaming from the desktop, but alas, you'll be left with nothing but hollow memories should you ever stop ponying up. In related news, Rhapsody has announced (video after the break) that offline playback support is coming to the iPhone, with the updated app expected to be passed along for Apple's confirmation "shortly." Granted, the Rhapsody to Go subscription is $5 per month more than MOG's option, but with all this competition popping up, we wouldn't be shocked to see that slide lower in due time.
Massively tours Final Fantasy XI's latest version update
Not too long ago, we were taken on a tour of moogles and mayhem by the developers over at Square-Enix as we got an inside look into Final Fantasy XI's July version update. There's a lot of meat to this update as it includes everything from Ninja job changes, new blue mage spells, more item augmentations, campaign quests, expansions to Moblin Maze Mongers, and their newest mini-expansion pack, "A Moogle Kupo d'Etat!"Our hands-on is set to cover all of these new additions, so let's waste no more time here on the front page. On to moogles and more!
More moogles than you can shake a chocobo at in the upcoming Final Fantasy add-on
Moogles. A rich, noble race that's been around for ages. Sure, their contributions to society are overlooked -- such as their dedication to keeping your house clean, changing your jobs, and acting like a save point in oh so many Final Fantasy worlds. But that doesn't mean that this race has many more things to share with society.Things like haunted mog houses, engagement rings, and... um... mogfia bosses? What's going on here?It's a Moogle Kupo d'Etat, the next add-on expansion pack for Final Fantasy XI! Just like the first pack, A Crystalline Prophecy, this expansion will once again provide a short storyline and an augmentable item at the end, all for the low price of 10 bucks.This time around, it's the headpiece for the sets! The Champion's Galea, Anwig Salade, and Selenian Cap are all up for grabs once the mini-expansion is completed.The add-on pack will be available for pre-order on July 5th, and will most likely roll out with the next version update later in July. Check out our gallery of some of the scenes from the upcoming pack, as well as our look at the new items!%Gallery-67047%
Final Fantasy XI's mog tablet quest to become permanent game fixture
This year's addition to the Adventurer Appreciation campaign, the Mog Tablets of King Kupofried, has become such a rousing success that it will be a new permanent game mechanic for all Final Fantasy XI players.The quest involves finding 11 hidden tablets scattered throughout the world and bringing them back to the Explorer Moogle in Jeuno's Ru'lude Gardens. Once all of the tablets are recovered, three of King Kupofried's super kupowers are released all over Vana'diel for adventurers in the areas introduced by the main game, Rise of the Zilart, and Chains of Promathia, excluding Dynamis, Tu'lia (Sky), Lumoria (Sea), and Promyvion.These powers do things from providing teleportation from the capital cities to the boat towns of Mhaura and Selbina, provide the gilfinder and treasure hunter traits to everyone in affected areas, give fully healed players bursts of speed, and more. The powers will last for a week before the tablets scatter to the winds and the hunt begins once again.For the full explanation of this brand new permanent game mechanic, check out the page on it at the Final Fantasy XI main site.
Beckett MOG magazine offers in-game items for WAR, EQ2 and more
Beckett Massive Online Gamer magazine, the publication all about MMOs and all the stuff we love best, has just announced a collection of exclusive in-game items they're including in their magazine's issue #15. These items include the following: The special Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning in-game item is the Vanquisher's Emerald Band. The item offers +2 to all stats, plus a special effect that gives you a chance to inflict additional corporeal damage. The exclusive EverQuest 2 in-game item is a Limited Edition Guild Hall Statue. EverQuest 2 players can now proudly display this unique item in their Guild Halls. This issue of MOG also features two in-game items, a Cat Club weapon and Special Cat Earmuffs, for Nexon America's Mabinogi. Players can now customize characters in a feline way using these two new items. As an added bonus, the first 1,000 people who subscribe to the magazine online will be emailed an exclusive key code within one business day, so they can enjoy their in-game item right away. This special issue will go on sale the week of September 28 at your favorite book store or magazine stand.
The Daily Grind: Which Final Fantasy would you prefer in MMO form?
Square-Enix is known for making each of their Final Fantasy games in a brand new world or at least mostly new. While that's fine and dandy, let us suppose that the next MMO to come out of Square-Enix is in fact a recreation of one of their previous Final Fantasy games in MMO form. Which game would you like to see get the treatment? Midgar and it's band of rebel miscreants from Final Fantasy VII or perhaps Final Fantasy XII with its dashing sureshot Balthier? Or something else entirely? We're curious to know which of these many, many worlds and famous characters you'd most love to experience.It's a tough call for us, but we're somewhere in-between the two aforementioned games for both their worlds and characters. On one hand you've got an interesting game mechanic where classes could utilize materia, but on the other hand you've got a world where some kind of magical mist can drive its denizens to crazed outbursts of rage. Although we may have to go with the twelfth game due to its bunny girls. Then again, if they were to make the sixth game into an MMO we could probably create Moogle characters for a change.
A tour through the new Tabula Rasa arena
The newest Tabula Rasa PvP arena, named the C.E.L.L.A.R. (Coalition of Enlistees Likely Looking for Aggressive Retaliation), has been gaining some attention since its introduction in Deployment 8 this week. This arena is set up as a boxing ring, complete with suitable equipment, colored corners and the whole nine yards. Earlier this week, the members of the TR MOG clan held a tournament in this arena, and we were lucky enough to attend. We figured we would take this opportunity with the tournament in play to snap some screenshots and create a handy guide to the arena for those who aren't familiar with it just yet.%Gallery-9822%
Exclusive EQ 2 item for MOG readers
Massive Online Gamer is looking to reward (or bribe, depending on how you look at it) their subscribers who are also fans of EQ2. The first one thousand people to purchase a subscription will have access to an exclusive in game item. Now there isn't much info on what the item actually is, although it looks like a combination between a shield and wall art, so either might be a possibility. Either way, who doesn't like free stuff?A year subscription costs $16.99. It's really not that bad a price considering you get 6 issues of the magazine. Those interested can subscribe online.
