Apple finally put the rubber stamp on its deal to acquire Beats Electronics, and immediately, Apple made some adjustments to the Beats Music streaming service app on iOS. The app is, incidentally, also available to those on Android and Windows Phone, although at this moment in time, limited to those within the confines of the United States.
Having officially announced the acquisition of Beats Electronics, the official Beats Music app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone have seen a new pricing and trial structure with immediate effect. Although the app itself remains largely unchanged, the previous 7-day free trial of the premium service has now been pushed to 14 days, while the annual subscription has dropped around $20 to just $99 for the whole year.
Following the release of iOS 7 and the subsequent untethered jailbreak from the Evad3rs team, the Cydia community seems to be exuding an air of professionalism and creative thought, and having covered iOS tweaks for a number of years, I have been generally taken aback by the marked improvement in the quality and thoroughness of tweaks this time around. Rather than releasing tiny alterations that deal with one small feature or snag, developers have sought to completely modify the way entire apps and features behave for the better, and Aria, a new tweak over at the BigBoss repo, gives the Music app something of an overhaul.
Samsung's dogmatic approach to developing new products has seen it emerge as a superpower in the mobile game, but while the market is currently awash with devices bearing the Korean outfit's famed logo, we've also seen, particularly over the past couple of years, a marked improvement in the range and caliber of its software roster. The abundance of great 'S' apps accompanying each new Galaxy release always felt as though it was leading up to something more substantial, and today's announcement of "Milk Music," Samsung's very own streaming radio service, certainly makes a big statement.
Spotify is an immensely popular audio streaming service, boasting a mammoth 20 million songs with more being added all the time. But while some artists have amassed millions of plays apiece, around one-fifth of the extensive library has never been heard - at least, not through Spotify. This equates to, as those with solid math skills will have already established, around four million tracks collecting dust, and it is at this point that Forgotify, a service that has collected all of these unheard tracks, steps in. The site, which doesn't appear affiliated with Spotify, lets you sign in and listen to some of these forgotten 'gems,' and whether you want to discover new artists or simply help with the initiative, you can log right in now and get listening!
When Google refreshed Android to bring in version 4.4, KitKat, it added some new features to the mix while also redesigning some of the platform’s existing ones. Music playback was one example of something that got a lick of paint in KitKat, with a new lock screen widget being at the center of it all.
Beyoncé's new, self-titled fifth studio album has shattered sales records on Apple's iTunes Store by shifting a mammoth 828,773 copies in its first three days. With 617,213 copies sold in the U.S. alone, the album is already well on its way to becoming the singer's fifth solo album to pass the million sales criteria for Platinum certification in the States, and considering that at present, it's only available on iTunes, it's a great achievement.
Spotify has emerged during the last few years as one of the leading music streaming services around, and although it operates a subscription model, those simply registering an account have been able to listen to tracks on some devices, albeit supported by ads. Now, Spotify has decided to change the way in which free listening works, and if you happen to be an iPad or an Android tablet owner, it's a change for the better.
Launching the native Music app in iOS provides users with a default "out-of-the-box" setup that involves a tab bar containing a number of easily accessible options such as Radio (depending on your location), Genius, Artists and Songs. The ability to change those options has always been present as part of the Music app, but has always been hidden away through the More section, with only a limited number of users actually taking advantage of the functionality. Carry on reading to find out how to customize the Music app tab bar to suit your own needs.
iOS 7's design has been a polarizing topic in the tech industry over the past three weeks, but with iOS 7 beta 2 having dropped nine days ago to a much warmer reception, it would seem as though the tech world is growing used to some of the big changes Apple has made. The home screen icons have, along with several native apps, been completely redesigned as part of a 'flatter' approach, and the Music app has perhaps saw the biggest changes of them all. But if you're not in a position to try iOS 7 beta out for yourself just yet, you may wish to check out a third-party offering by the name of Musi, offers a flavor of the official iOS 7 Music app in terms of design cues.
