playlist
Latest
Rock your workout with RockMyRun
Almost everyone uses a favorite playlist when they workout. The music helps the time pass more quickly and should help produce more energy. Now with RockMyRun you can listen to music lists prepared scientifically to improve your workouts by up to 30%. The free universal app requires iOS 7.0 or later. Users need to set up an account before you can use all the features in the app. This requires your name, email, and a password. Users can also use their Facebook ID to login. Once you have registered and logged in, you can set up your own list of music playlists and sort the list by length, genre, and beats per minute. Users can select a variety of playlists from more than a dozen different types of music including pop, rock, country, hip hop, R&B, reggae, and more. Each of these list were compiled with the goal of keeping a consistent level of energy and tempo throughout your exercise session. That is just what they do according to Dr. Jeanne NIchols, the lead exercise physiologist for EPARC, a top exercise research laboratory. In her findings, Dr. Nichols concludes that, "music that has been mixed together to maintain and optimize beat encourages the listener to experience and internalize more positive feelings about the experience and the outcomes. Once you have selected the type of music you want to listen to for your workout, you add it to your list of music. Then you can choose from a huge number of individual lists of music that vary in the beats per minutes and length. In the Rock listing you will find around two hundred different lists from which to choose, so no problem locating a good mix. The music varies in beats per minute from under 120 to more than 160. The more beats the higher the energy level and the faster the tempo so you can choose slower music to warm up or cool down and a really fast list for listening during the most strenuous part of your exercise program. Lengths in RockMyRun can be as short as ten or eleven minutes for warm ups and cool down sessions or to a maximum length of forty-five minutes. If you want your playlists to run longer than that you will need to upgrade to a premium membership either on a monthly basis for US$4.99 a month or an annual subscription of US$35.99. These subscriptions will be charged to your iTunes account and will automatically renew at the end unless you go into your account and turn that feature off at least 24 hours before the original subscription ends. RockMyRun operates seamlessly with most other running programs that count your steps, plot your path on a run or cycling trip, or tracks your calories burned. So you can use both at the same time. Overall RockMyRun provides users with a huge number of mixes to choose from when working out. No one should have any issues with finding just what you want. Based on the scientific data, the concept of using music consistent in tempo and energy should make the workouts end with users receiving better results. The only drawback is the maximum length of forty-five minutes. If you do long runs or cycling trips that won't be enough. However users do have the option of subscribing and deciding if they want to pay for scientifically prepared music or just listen to their own mixes.
Halo: MCC re-adds Halo 2: Anniversary Rumble playlist
The Halo 2: Anniversary Rumble playlist is live in Halo: The Master Chief Collection, after 343 Industries stripped it out on November 14 to help ease matchmaking issues. Still, the playlist isn't finalized – it currently allows up to 10 players and doesn't feature ranking, and 343 says it will continue tweaking the playlist to eventually support up to eight players with ranked play. "Once we've ironed out existing matchmaking issues," 343 writes. Matchmaking continues to be problematic in The Master Chief Collection, and even before the game's launch on November 11, 343 had to make changes to the announced lineup of playlists. Our review noted that matchmaking was "barely functioning." On November 20, 343 released a patch aiming to fix many matchmaking issues. [Image: Microsoft]
Halo MCC playlists tweaked prior to launch, Halo CE playlist delayed
343 Industries has updated its launch-day multiplayer matchmaking playlists for Halo: The Master Chief Collection, introducing a number of last-minute tweaks to its previously announced lineup. Halo: The Master Chief Collection will debut this week with the series-spanning Team Slayer, the eSports-focused Halo Championship Series, 4v4 Halo Team Anniversary, tournament-ready Team Hardcore, and 16-player Big Team Battle, among other featured playlists. 343 notes that it has delayed the launch of a dedicated Halo: Combat Evolved playlist, and will reconfigure it to focus on 2v2 matches in response to player feedback. Halo: The Master Chief Collection premieres on November 11. [Image: 343 Industries]
Bop.fm playlists don't care which music service you use
You use Spotify, your brother is an Rdio guy and your girlfriend is all about Beats. So sharing playlists is basically a no-go. Bop.fm's goal is to break down those walls by aggregating freely available music from a variety of sources. At the moment that list includes Spotify, Rdio, Beats, YouTube and SoundCloud, though you can only import playlists from the first two. When you sign up for Bop it detects what other services you're connected to, and automatically plays back a track from wherever it's available -- even if that's only as a video as YouTube. Of course, no music service is complete without its share of celebrity endorsers, so Bop.fm has enlisted Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne and Paul McCartney to share playlists.
Google snatches up streaming service Songza
Google has just purchased music streaming service Songza and, while the exact terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed, it reportedly involves what financial experts refer to as "a boat load of money." Apple boosted its streaming music presence by picking up Beats. So it only makes sense that Google would have to fire back with an acquisition of its own. Like Beats, Songza relies pretty heavily on actual human curation to build playlists. The newest member of the Mountain View family uses contextual data about you to decide the best playlist for you at any given time. These lists are put together by DJs, musicians and music critics rather than some algorithm that looks at meta data like genre or BPM. These lists can get you pumped for a work out or just get you through a slow work day, but what they're not is a Pandora style infinite radio station.
Adidas teams with Spotify to soundtrack your run, hook you up with a new route
Spotify knows a thing of two about playlists we guess. As for Adidas? It's responsible for more gallons of sweat than most. So, in something of an inspired combination, the two forces have linked-up to create a web-tool for runners. Hit up this link, and you'll be prompted for your location, a hint of your musical taste, and just how physical you want to get. Feed that info into the machine, and you'll be rewarded with a route to run in your locale (that matches your chosen distance) and a playlist based on your reference track AND desired level of physical pump. The heavy lifting for the route selection is actually powered by Runkeeper. Given there's a music-and-mapping device with Adidas' name on it, we can see potential for greater integration (offline music on the watch? A feature for loading the map? Too much to ask?). That'd definitely give not just us, but the competition, a run for its money.
Google Play Music gets a new look for iOS 7 and 'I'm feeling lucky' radio
If you're an iOS user that stuck with Google Play Music past the free All Access promo, a new update brings this refreshed UI for iOS 7 and a few new features. As promised at launch, it now supports "I'm feeling lucky" radio which randomly assembles a playlist based on recent listening habits. Also new are themed auto-playlists built around tracks in your library and those you've given a thumbs-up to. Google's iOS team added genre radio stations for All Access subscribers too, and the ability to search by genre for everyone, bringing this version's features up to par with its Android counterpart. With the amount of countries where the service is now available, that shouldn't leave many people out -- unless they live in Canada, that is.
BBC Playlister web app launches today as an open beta
Well, that was quick. Having announced its new Playlister service yesterday, the BBC's now said it's launching later today. The beta web client won't just work nicely on PCs, it'll also be optimized for mobile browsers, and instead of a dedicated app for the service, Playlister will be integrated into the iPlayer Radio app "over the coming months." Using the web platform, you'll able to add music to personal playlists from any of the BBC's radio stations, as well as tracks that've featured on TV shows aired on any of the Beeb's channels. As we heard yesterday, those playlists can then be exported to YouTube, Spotify or Deezer for listening. Having seen a brief demo, adding, managing and exporting is all pretty simple. You may not find all the tracks you've added on every service you export to, but it's clear about how many are missing -- you'll shortly be able to play around with it yourself, of course. Soon, you'll also be able to follow your favorite BBC radio DJ's and see what they're adding to their own Playlister mixtapes. This is just the start, apparently, as the BBC says many other features are to be added in the future. Update: Live!
Uncharted 3's latest lab is 5-on-5 SMGs, riot shields, and grenades
Naughty Dog has issued an update to Uncharted 3 with a brand new experimental Lab playlist to play around in. The playlist is going back to a 5v5 format, this time giving players a combination of riot shields, uzis, and grenades to carry out to the battlefield. Kickback and boosters are disabled, too, so it sounds like your best strategy is to be vicious: Shoot everything until you get close enough to stab them in the back.With this update, Naughty Dog also fixed an issue with DLC maps not showing up properly in the rotation, and there's a full rundown of what you'll see when on the company blog. The developer also promises a full schedule for upcoming labs and events soon, as well as more news about a new character coming to the game (from a Sony contest) and other updates in the next patch, 1.13.
Spotify offers up playlist radio stations and more with latest upgrade
For an upgrade with a fairly underwhelming number like 0.8.3 attached, the latest version of the Spotify desktop client brings the goods. First up is much requested the ability to create radio stations based on playlists or albums, with the click of a button (that would be the Start Playlist Radio or Start Album Radio button, for the record), generating a queue of similar music. A new boost to search brings up music in the main view when you hover over it in search results, while embeddable HTML codes have been added to right click functionality. The service has also added Tumblr posting to the game. The update is rolling out today for Windows and Mac users. More info in the source link below.
Google Play adds shared song playlist to Music, helps you relive your friends' terrible taste in tunes
Remember that funky beat your buddy at work shared with you over Google+? Don't bother digging through their post history, Mountain View's music service has you covered with its new "Shared with me" auto-playlist. This self-maintaining list keeps track of all the songs friends and colleagues send your way, making it easy to hunt down a catchy tune your brother sent you, or to endlessly ridicule a coworker's awful sense of sound. The playlist not only shows the track, artist, duration and price, but also a preview of the Google+ post (and a thumbnail of its author) that you scored the shared song from in the first place. Looking for lost music? Just take a look at your auto-playlists.
Shazam launches new Player app, lets you get to know your jams better
Shazam today released its first fully new app since the launch of the familiar self-titled music tagging app. The new, simply-named Shazam Player offers up streaming lyrics, YouTube videos, concert dates and lets you make playlists on the go. You can also share your favorites via Facebook and Twitter, to properly avoid becoming a musical shut-in. Press release and video after the break.
YouTube launches education-only site, won't teach evolution of dance (video)
The bandages are barely off after a recent nip-tuck and the internet's biggest time sink is going under the knife again with its new YouTube EDU initiative. Imagine your favorite video site with all the fun stuff stripped off -- it's essentially that. Gone are comments and related videos, and all the non brain-enhancing stuff, leaving just what's good for the grey matter. Why? Well, in the VHS era teachers had control, but now it's a minefield. With its wealth of knowledge, YouTube is an obvious choice for educators, but with so many ways to get RickRolled, or catch-up on the latest keyboard cat, pupils' attention can be lost in seconds. The project has content provided by over 600 educational outlets such as TED and the Smithsonian, with subjects broken down into more than 300 teacher-friendly playlists. We're not sure if "national constitutions"is going to be one of them, but hit the promo video after the break to find out more.
Rdio launches free, non-ad-supported streaming for US users, meter to keep you in check
Ad-free, on-demand streaming is coming your way, folks -- and it won't cost you a dime. Rdio has announced the launch of its free service that will give you access to a library of over 12 million songs without being interrupted by pesky Spotify-esque advertisements. The no cost subscription won't require you to give up your credit card info either, but, you will get a "customized meter" that will let you know how much music you can access monthly. No word yet on how much time you'll have, but any amount of time with the Radiohead discography is sure to be of use. You'll be able to listen via the web or desktop app without grabbing a paid membership, but if you want Rdio's tunes on your phone, it'll cost you $9.99 per month. Also, from what we've heard, this is only available in the US -- for now. If you're looking for the full rundown then hit the PR below for all the details.
The Daily Grind: What's your boss fight playlist?
Many of us have admitted that sooner or later, no matter how good an MMO's score is, we turn it off due to sheer repetition and replace it with our own tunes. It's OK, I do it too. And when it comes to boss fights, it sometimes helps to have tunes queued up that are guaranteed to get your blood pumping and your fingers tappin'. Me? I'm all about the epic '80s montage jams when I'm going toe-to-toe with the deadliest virtual villains in games. Give me You're the Best Around, Danger Zone and Love is a Battlefield, please, and pump up that bass. Montages solve everything. So what about you? What do you queue up on your MP3 player when you're heading into the boss' sanctum? For today's bonus points, why not provide a link to the YouTube video version so we can all enjoy your no doubt excellent taste in music? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
iTunes 10 now offering social playlists with Ping
After Twitter integration and iPad migration, looks like the next stop for Ping is social playlists. That's right -- the next time you make a mix in iTunes 10, clicking on the playlist arrow will give you two options: you can either purchase the playlist as a gift to your friend or loved one, or publish the playlist to Ping itself. Once your playlist is published, you can even give your friends on the network the option to edit it, making it a community playlist of sorts. Of course, this last option only works if you really trust your friends' taste. After all, it just wouldn't do to have Philip Glass invade your "Core Workout Playlist" featuring such beloved anthems Move This by Technotronic and Whoomp! There It Is by Tag Team.
PSA: Second batch of Halo: Reach's October playlist updates hit
Bungie's given word that the remainder of the online playlist updates for Halo: Reach that it had planned for this month have gone live this evening. You can find a full list of tweaks and changes the developer made after the break. If you're not already too busy playing Reach, that is.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Burn baby burn
Dear Aunt TUAW, Is iTunes slowly encouraging the death of CDs? The burn icon at the bottom of the interface has disappeared as you can see in this screen shot. Concerned, Your nephew Sean
Bringing the Remote app shine back to the iPod app
Sachin Agarwal, co-founder and CEO of Posterous, wrote a blog post yesterday calling Apple a "huge start-up." Fair enough description, but what really interested me about the post was Agarwal had some info on one of my favorite iPhone apps – the Apple Remote. The app, if you aren't familiar with it, allows you to turn any iPhone or iPod touch into a remote for your computer's iTunes library. It's a terrific little app that hasn't been updated in over eight months -- even while most of Apple's in-house apps have been. Why? Agarwal says that the Remote app is written by a single person at Apple and he is busy with other projects at the moment. All that's interesting, but the real reason I'm writing this is so that Apple will listen again and give this coder a big fat raise and put him to work on the actual iPod app for iPhone and Music app for iPod touch. As you can see above, the layout of the two apps are fairly similar. However, the Apple Remote app is much easier to navigate thanks to the big, colorful playlist icons that mimic the ones you see in iTunes. Those icons make your playlists more distinguishable -- something that is always welcomed on a small screen. It's a small difference, yes, but one that makes the user experience that much better. I always had wondered why Apple would add the colorful icon features in the Remote app, but not in the main music player apps on the iPhone and iPod touch. Now I know -- because it wasn't Apple, but a single developer on staff that put a little extra love into his project. For that, I hope Apple takes notice, gives the guy a raise, puts him back on the Remote app project so he can update it for the iPad, and most of all use his excellent ideas to make the regular music player apps that much better.
Uncharted 2 multiplayer getting experimental playlists starting May 28
Naughty Dog appreciates the importance of keeping things fresh for folks who partake in the multiplayer portion of Uncharted 2. That's why, starting the weekend of May 28, the developer will launch a series of experimental online playlists every other week, as part of a promotion labeled "The Lab." For instance, this coming weekend will see the temporary introduction of a 2 vs. 2 Team Deathmatch mode, in which pairs of players race to 25 kills. As an added bonus, this Memorial Day weekend will also earn players double cash, which should entice the prodigal treasure hunters among you to return to the fold. Check out Naughty Dog's naughty blog for more info on future experimental playlists.
