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Joe Rogan nabs an estimated $250 million from Spotify to share his big-brained ideas
Joe Rogan just signed a new deal with Spotify to continue his many podcast ventures, which is valued to be worth around $250 million. Additionally, the contract allows Rogan’s content to appear on other platforms, with some caveats.
Victrola's Stream Onyx is a more affordable version of its Sonos-compatible turntable
Victrola is making good on its promise to expand its Sonos-compatible turntable lineup with the Stream Onyx. Visually and functionally, it's very similar to the Stream Carbon, which was released last fall, but it costs $599, 25 percent less than the Carbon.
Sonos can now stream free audiobooks from your local library
Sonos users can now borrow and stream audiobooks from their local libraries thanks to the free Libby app.
Spotify and Warner sign a new global music licensing deal
Spotify and Warner Music Group have signed a new global licensing agreement. If Spotify is your go-to streaming platform, the good news here is that your music listening experience won't change as a result of this deal. The Warner Music artists you were listening to yesterday will still be available to stream into the immediate future.
Some AT&T unlimited subscribers will get Spotify Premium for free
AT&T is adding a new streaming option to its Unlimited & More Premium wireless plan: Spotify Premium. AT&T customers with the Unlimited & More Premium plan are now eligible for Spotify Premium at no additional charge. Other select AT&T customers can sign up for a six-month free trial of the streaming service, after which they'll be able to purchase a Spotify Premium plan for $9.99 per month.
Spotify continues to expand its lineup of podcast exclusives
Spotify has been on a tear as of late to build out the podcast side of its business, and it's adding another exclusive show to its lineup. The third season of sports-focused show Riggle's Picks, starring comedians Rob Riggle and Sarah Tiana, will only be available through Spotify.
Spotify's quest to get it 'just right' through balanced design
In the heart of Stockholm a team of designers and engineers have been hard at work, mostly in secret, overhauling one of biggest names in music. (And no, we're not talking about Icona Pop or even an ABBA reunion.) On Birger Jarlsgatan, a street that divides the neighborhoods of Ostermalm and Norrmalm in the Swedish capital, sits the home of Spotify. Not all that long ago it was the undisputed king of subscription music services. Today it is just one of many major players in the exploding marketplace with would-be usurpers, from Google to Beats, surrounding it on all sides. Over the years it's shoehorned in new features and accelerated its international expansion, but the design stagnated. Its iTunes-like desktop client didn't just look dated, it was cumbersome and many of its features bordered on obsolete. Its mobile apps and web player filled a need, but lacked the polish and stability many mainstream customers demanded. So for the last several months a team led by Michelle Kadir (Director of Product Development) and Andreas Holmstrom (Lead Communications Designer) have been toiling away to bring Spotify into the 2010s. That means a flatter more playful look with soft edges and large images. But the company also bucked the trend towards lighter color palettes by slathering its UI with enough black to make Tomas Skogsberg proud.
JBL SoundFly Air ships, delivers AirPlay to your wall socket for $199
JBL's SoundFly lineup is one of the rarer breeds of wireless speaker we've come across: it's much like an earlier AirPort Express made solely for audio, designed to be as unintrusive as possible while it kicks out the jams. Those who find that stealthy sound appealing will be glad to hear that the more advanced of the two SoundFly speakers, the SoundFly Air, is now shipping. The 20W box will play audio streamed from any AirPlay-capable device on the same WiFi network while it sits demurely on a wall outlet. JBL is counting on a few tricks to set itself apart from the rest of the similarly Apple-oriented pack, such as linking up to four of the speakers for whole-home audio and offering an iOS app to tailor the output to the room. About the only reservation is a $199 shipping price for something that isn't as portable or universal as a Jawbone Jambox, but that may be the price to pay for a speaker that can offer longer range and syncing while it very nearly blends into the furniture.
Windows Phone 8 gets Pandora Radio, Cut the Rope, Urbanspoon and more (update: full list)
Microsoft knows that Windows Phone 8 is only as successful as its apps. To that end, it's blowing the doors open in terms of major app support. It's not only promising a Windows Phone version of Pandora Radio for early 2013, it's offering ad-free listening for the first year. How's that for strong out-of-the-box content? On top of this, Microsoft is vowing a slew of new apps and games that had previously only been available in the Android or iOS camps, including Asphalt 7, Cut the Rope, Temple Run, Urbanspoon and Where's My Water. By the time the expansion is done, Microsoft hopes to have 46 out of the 50 most popular apps onboard, making any platform switch that much gentler. Instagram is a notable omission -- still, it's a big leap in terms of equality. Update: If you need even more detail, Microsoft has posted a wider list of new apps as part of its official Windows Phone 8 launch post. If that's not enough, you can catch a video overview of the platform after the break. For more, check out our Windows Phone 8 event liveblog!
Flipboard for Android gains audio, lets us tune into SoundCloud from our Samsung
Flipboard on iOS has had audio for some time, giving users the chance to go all high-brow as they listen to NPR while browsing the news on their iPad. It's Android's turn to adopt that cultured stance: an update to Flipboard on its newer platform includes the full, listen-in-the-background Audio category channel selection, whether it's thoughtful public radio snippets or spotlights on podcasts and artists. SoundCloud mavens get the biggest fill, both through a direct link to their account as well as a list of specialized channels. Anyone who can already use Flipboard for Android just needs to hit Google Play to add the new audio dimension; Kindle Fire and Nook owners should see a fully tailored experience in a matter of days.
Rdio posts Android beta app with new sidebar UI, unified playback and remote control
Rdio has spent a large part of 2012 revamping its mobile app, and a new beta shows that it's still full of ideas with two months left to go. The 2.3 test version makes the ubiquitous hidden sidebar even more unavoidable than we've seen before, but those not irked by UI homogeneity will be happy to see Rdio gain some multi-device harmony: along with syncing whatever's being played from desktop to mobile and back, the beta introduces a remote control that lets Android gear either serve as the remote or as a target for other devices. A play-later queue persists across devices, too. Although we haven't been given a timeframe for the finished version pushing out through Google Play, there's nothing stopping avid subscribers from taking a slight risk with the beta and getting a taste of their musical future.
Google Play Music and Movies purchasing reaches Google TV, patches a media strategy hole
It's been one of the more conspicuous omissions in the media hub space: despite Google Play being the cornerstone of Google's content strategy, you couldn't truly use the company's music or movie services through Google TV without depending on content you'd already paid for elsewhere. As of a new upgrade, the ecosystem has come full circle. Viewers with Google TV boxes can at last buy or rent directly from Google Play Movies and Google Play Music, and the content will be indexed in the TV & Movies section alongside third-party video services and traditional TV. The upgrade also helps Google's TV front end play catch-up with its mobile counterpart by adding automatic app updates and subscriptions. While device owners may have to wait a few weeks as the upgrade rolls out, the addition signals a big step forward for a platform that has normally leaned heavily on others for help.
Onkyo DS-A5 grafts AirPlay on to existing home stereos, docks older iOS gear
Embracing AirPlay has usually involved a wholesale switch in hardware: years of speaker investment go out the window for the sake of skipping a wire. Onkyo doesn't have a problem if you bring your own equipment to the fray. Its new DS-A5 docking station brings Apple's WiFi media streaming to many home stereos, including those of rivals, as long as there's a wired or 802.11g-capable wireless router to feed the connection. Naturally, there's perks if you do live in an Onkyo universe -- any link using its Remote Interactive cable can both wake the stereo through AirPlay as well as control the dock from a traditional remote. About the only oddities are the vintage composite video output and a 30-pin dock for charging iPads, iPhones and iPods, neither of which will be much help if you live on the cutting edge. Onkyo brings the DS-A5 to American shores in October for $199; that's a lot to pay for playing songs from the couch, but it's a sight more affordable than replacing home audio equipment costing multiple times that amount.
BBC Media Player to give Android users their iPlayer fix in a mostly Flashless world
Remember how the BBC was asking Adobe to keep Flash for Android on life support for a short while? The broadcaster just removed any doubts as to why with the launch of BBC Media Player, its solution for that day when the mobile plugin is well and truly buried. Starting with iPlayer on the mobile web and moving on to both radio as well as an updated version of the Android app due next week, the BBC will be using close Flash cousin Adobe AIR for streaming playback on Android phones and tablets. It can't quit Flash technology cold turkey given the sheer number of devices still running Gingerbread or earlier, which rules out HTTP Live Streaming for now. Media Player isn't necessarily the most elegant solution -- we're seeing reports of sub-par video and other hiccups -- but it will keep those episodes of Doctor Who rolling on most Android hardware and let the BBC push out updates that address as many of the Google-inclined as possible.
SiriusXM for Android update brings On Demand and offline listening
If you're an Android-toting SiriusXM fan, you've probably spent the last month wondering when your smartphone would get the newfound flexibility to tune in beyond live radio. As of Sirius XM's version 2.2 update, Android is back on equal footing. The upgrade supplies On Demand streaming, both for catch-up and the occasional classic, as well as downloadable copies to keep the music and talk flowing offline. As before, the access is considered a free perk of a SiriusXM subscription; if you enjoy Howard Stern's cynicism enough to want it at odd hours of the day, your angsty fix awaits at the source.
Ubuntu One Music Store comes to mobile and web, skips the plugins
If you'd wanted to shop Ubuntu One's Music Store in the past, you had to use a plugin through an app like Banshee or Rhythmbox. Not very convenient, we'd say. Someone must have been listening up in Canonical's cloud, as Ubuntu One just brought its 7digital-based store to the web and mobile devices. Apart from widening the software scope, it's billed as a more direct interface to shop for tunes and send them to Ubuntu One's cloud for either streaming or syncing. Don't think that's enough of a perk? Early purchasers get half a year's worth of Ubuntu One Music Streaming for free -- as strong an incentive as any to dip a toe into the (music) stream before jumping in.
Stitcher updates its iOS app with offline mode for data-free radio
Stitcher is all about giving the people what they want and, only days after introducing its popular lists, it's back with an offline mode for its iOS apps. Despite boasting one of the smallest data footprints in the streaming game (0.2MB per minute), you can now download over 10,000 radio shows for unconnected listening. Beware -- the app will automatically update the shows on your custom stations, so if you plan on using it to save that precious data for other things, make sure to set it to only pull over WiFi. Along with that major enhancement, there's a new comments system and other improvements in Facebook sharing, searching and AirPlay compatibility. The PR says the update is live, but iTunes disagrees, so you'll have to wait a little longer before going off-grid.
Spotify comes to Denon and Marantz receivers, shares music over NFC
Spotify didn't want to leave all the spotlight time to phone manufacturers today. To start, it's widening its toehold in the living room: three Denon AV receivers and four Marantz counterparts now have support for streaming Spotify Premium music through respective firmware updates, with control coming either through the on-device screen or through Denon's mobile remote app. You're not necessarily left out if you have no compatible home theater to call your own, however. As long as you have a device with at least Android 4.0, an update to the Spotify app will let you apply audio effects or share Premium music between NFC devices through a tap. All of the updates are free -- just know that you'll need Spotify's full $10 per month subscription to grease the wheels. Check the source links for the supported receivers and app updates.
Plex launches new Web Client and PlexPass subscription, updates Media Server
Plex fans among us just got treated to a smorgasbord -- albeit one that isn't completely free. The media front-end developer hopes to boost its bottom line through PlexPass, a subscription service that amounts to a paid beta program. Shell out $4 per month and you'll get early access to in-development features, including a slate of premium-only extras during their incubation phase. One of the more ordinary (if important) features is going live today: a revamped Web Client not only rivals the native OS X app for speed but offers full media playback on top of the usual queue management. Whether you subscribe or not, you'll want to get an updated Media Server app that supports both PlexPass and the new client along with improving the server's behavior in several areas, such as lowering its memory use and supporting RTMP transcoding. We hope Plex keeps enough components on the free side of the fence as time goes on. For now, at least, we'll see the paid model as a way for loyalists to reward a company that has been powering their home theater PCs for years.
Logitech's UE Smart Radio, Boombox, and Mobile Boombox give you wireless audio on the go (hands-on)
In addition to producing a slew of new headphones, Logitech's latest collaboration with Ultimate Ears has produced a pair of Bluetooth speakers and a Smart Radio. The UE Smart Radio comes equipped with 802.11b/g WiFi on board to pull audio from directly from the likes of Spotify and Pandora or from local sources like Mac, PC, iOS or Android devices. A 2.4-inch LCD is on the front, along with the usual audio controls, plus there are six preset buttons that can be programmed to easily access playlists from myriad locales. It's also got a rechargeable battery, good for a claimed six hours of playback, and will set you back $180 when it goes on sale next month. Logitech's UE Mobile Boombox replaces the firm's Mini Boombox, but keeps its $100 price. It comes in five colors (red, yellow, blue, white and black) and can both stream your tunes via Bluetooth and serve as a speakerphone using its omni-directional mic. You can pair up to eight devices with the Mobile Boombox, and its rechargeable battery promises up to ten hours of listening pleasure. In our brief ears-on, we found it offered clear sound, though unsurprisingly, it struggled to pump out much bass. That said, we really liked its solid rubber construction, and can see it holding up well to abuse. Its big brother, the $250 UE Boombox, has much better low-end response and a fuller sound generally thanks to its eight drivers. Like the Mini, it also can pair with eight devices and has a rechargeable battery, though it promises only six hours of audio. We really dig its cast aluminum chassis and clean lines, and the handle on top begs to be used in old-school fashion -- with the Boombox propped up on your shoulder bumping some choice hip-hop. Both of these Bluetooth speakers start shipping this month, and our friends in grand Europa get them in September.
