Late last week the news broke that Apple is buying Beats Audio for $3.2 billion. As most observers have noted, this is an unusually large acquisition for Apple, which tends not to buy companies that already have such prominent brands, for so much money. With the Beats acquisition Apple gets a successful audio company selling […]
iTunes Radio is not innovative, nor is it a great app. However, I think it stands a chance of doing what Apple set out to do. As I explained yesterday, I think Apple intends to bring streaming radio to millions of iOS users who don’t already use a service like Pandora. Then, Apple wants to […]
Apple’s first foray into online radio shipped last Wednesday as part of the latest version 7 of its iOS mobile operating system. The big question is: What’s the big deal? Or, rather, Is it a big deal? After using the service for four days I have to conclude that iTunes Radio is a big deal, […]
Typically I’m a little more cautious when upgrading my mobile device OS. I usually wait a couple of weeks for the early adopters to upgrade and find the bugs and hassles, and maybe even wait for the first patches to fix those bugs before taking the plunge. But today I had two reasons to upgrade […]
Ever want some music go with what you’re doing, but can’t quite figure out where to start? Maybe you’re studying, doing housework or having a nice dinner, and you don’t want to pick just one artist or album, but you don’t have a whole playlist ready to go. Today Slacker Radio releases “My Vibe” which […]
I am checking out this YouTube preview of iTunes radio. Seems like a pretty functional service at first glance. You can customize channels and such, just as you can with Pandora, Spotify, Google All Access and the rest. But then there is the Siri interface. “Play Radiohead Radio,” the user commands. “Station Radiohead Radio playing!” […]
Apple has confirmed the long awaited expectations: some kind of iTunes based “iRadio” application should be available by the fall. The Washington Post article summarizes the subscription free service: “Using the firm’s Music app, users will be able to create digital radio stations based on their favorite artists or songs. Listeners can then tweak the […]
The 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show kicks off on Tuesday and runs until Friday. As usual, I will be monitoring the announcements and news from the show for anything of import to radio, broadcast and online, podcasting and streaming. Announcements for the show are just getting started. Monday is “press day” at CES, when there’s […]
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is “in talks” to obtain licenses for what amounts to a Pandora-like streaming music service. All Things Digital says it’s true, or as ATD’s Peter Kafka puts it, “Industry sources I’ve talked to say that’s correct.” I’m sympathetic to this reader comment on the WSJ piece: “Oh great. […]
As the great patent war between Samsung and Apple continues, I’ve started wondering which mobile operating system is better for radio listening: Apple’s iOS, which runs the iPhone and iPad, or the various Android flavors featured on Samsung devices and many other mobile phones. My tentative answer is that it is a bit of a […]
