we7 is a UK-based music streaming app much like the ever popular Spotify app that came out last year.  Like Spotify, we7 offers an unlimited all-you-can eat consumption of music from their library of over 6-million songs for £9.99 a month.

It has most of the features you’d expect in a music app, including the ability to search, create, and add playlists right on your Android phone that also syncs with their online service so you listen to it in your computer’s browser.  we7 also supports offline-caching of stations/playlists so you can stay pumped with  music even when you don’t have service.  What’s great about their off-line caching is the ability to cache all you want – you are only limited by the storage on your phone.

Interested in checking it out before you buy?  No prob, we7 has a free 2-week trial of their “Premium Plus” feature set that you can start right within the app.  Oh yea, one more thing – it’s UK only.

Search “we 7″ in the Android Market.

via [eurodroid]

View full post on Google Android News Android Forums

The Bazillions – Rock-n-Roll Recess

We hear a good bit of children’s music here at GeekDad, and we’ve made it our mission to filter out the crap so you don’t have to. Let’s face it – you don’t want to listen to Raffi, and the truth is neither do we. This is why when a solid kid’s album comes across the (wholly virtual) GeekDad desk, we feel the need to share.

Such is the case with The Bazillions, the brainchild of Twin Cities parents/musicians Adam and Kristin Marshall. These educators first began by writing songs for their students, and then the idea morphed into a proper project all its own. Combining the songwriting acumen gleaned from a decade spent in their ongoing indie pop band The Humbugs and a keen ear for music that appeals to kids without alienating adults, the Rock-n-Roll Recess album was born.

From the earliest strains of opening track “Good Morning,” the unpretentious pop-rock of The Bazillions generally forgoes the requisite edutainment angle in favor of primarily uplifting sing-alongs about childhood experiences. Standouts include the whimsical “Super Sonic Rocket Bike,” the oddly poignant “Tommy Got in Trouble” and an almost humorously soulful ode to “Mac-n-Cheese.” Still, the band manages to channel a genuine sweetness in closers “Lookout Man” and “Goodbye.”

Though at times the song structure can become predictable – delicate openings that swell to schoolhouse rockers – The Bazillions do manage to mix things up a bit. Furthermore, it’s really hard to fault a team of children’s musicians who purposefully sidestep easy artistic outs like musical heavy-handedness or face-saving irony. Instead The Bazillions come through as a sincere indie outfit that just happens to write songs for kids.

It’s worth noting that the album-proper only contains 10 tracks with a pair of bonus instrumentals tacked on for good measure. That makes it a bit short even for a kid’s album, but with the obvious care given to the instrumentation, pitch-perfect harmonies and incredibly competent production, it’s more than a fair shake.

Rock-n-Roll Recess is exactly what a children’s music album should be. It doesn’t preach or demean, and it never goes for the low-hanging fruit. If you’d rather share with your kids well-written, beautifully recorded songs about prepositions, careers and imagination that the traditional fare of animals, ABCs and “The Wheels on the Bus,” then The Bazillions are just the band for you.

WIRED: intelligently written, skillfully performed, expertly produced

TIRED: a bit on the short side, your kid will likely ask for his own supersonic rocket bike

Review materials provided by: The Bazillions

View full post on GeekDad

Image: Oxford University Press

I’ll admit it, I’m no musician. But I have an appreciation for music, and come from a very musical family. I may be the only person in my extended family who hasn’t been trained to sing or play an instrument. (My two forays into the clarinet and the violin don’t count.) But my mom did send my sister and me to classes at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music when I was a kid, and I did have an excellent music teacher in elementary school. So despite the fact that I can’t perform music with flair, I wish I could, and I’m fascinated by the topic.

Enter The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can’t Live Without It by Philip Ball. This book is so full of information that you don’t normally find, tackling a topic both simple and complicated. Chapters are titled with musical terms such as “Prelude” and “Overture.” Subject matter runs from what music is, to why and how we enjoy it. Along the way, we also learn about the evolutionary role of music, musical notes, sound, instruments and music’s language. The book addresses physics and biology issues related to music, as well as the history of it and the mathematical patterns it follows. It also tackles regional and historical differences in music, and how and why music makes us feel emotion. And as if that wasn’t enough, the book also gives plenty of ammunition for promoting music education.

Throughout, The Music Instinct references musical examples, which you can then listen to on the Oxford University Press website. This very helpful companion site also has podcasts and further resources, and you can also get more information on each chapter of the book. The book itself has just enough diagrams and musical notations to explain the accompanying text, and also includes extensive end notes, a thorough bibliography and an index.

A great deal of this book went over my head, but it is still a tremendous read for anyone interested in music. It has something to offer people with a casual interest, or for experts in the field. I have learned quite a lot from reading it, and know that each time I look at it, I’ll pick up something that I missed the time before.

You might not pick up this book if you merely enjoy listening to music, but if you’re interested in the intricacies of what music really is, it’s a great resource. To get the most of it, read it slowly and utilize the resources on the companion website.

The Music Instinct just came out this month and retails for $29.95.

Wired: A thorough, in depth study of music, the science and math behind it, its history and what it means to us.

Tired: The book contains much advanced language and subject matter, which may go over the heads of the unlearned (like me).

Note: I received a free copy of this book for review purposes.

View full post on GeekDad

Google’s foray in the phone operating system industry is booming.  The growth of Android, along with the abundance of “DROID” advertising has helped launch itself into the forefront of consumers who seek an alternative to the white walled garden, and of AT&T.  While Android’s speed of development has been great, there is definitely one area that can be improved upon still:  Media.  I’m not just talking Android’s lackluster default media player (at least we have alternatives), but the way you obtain, organize, and manage your music and videos.  Now, I don’t believe Android NEEDS an iTunes equivalent, I’m quite contempt with manually transferring my media, but it would make some things easier.

The fact that Google is looking to launch Google Music with their next update, code-named Gingerbread – aka, Android 3.0 , gives us a good indication that they wants to be your to go to gadget for tunes. On top of that, Google TV is making great strides with it’s partnership with Logitech, showing off a Harmony Remote app for Android.

While not many details are known to us yet, the fact that Google is looking to launch Google Music, and Google TV, means even tighter integration to Android.  So stop playing Angry Birds beta for just a second and take a stroll with me to the possible future….

• Manage and organization of your media with the database powers of Google’s search
• One stop access to downloading music, tv, & movies
• Google TV integration for transferring TV shows & Movies to your phone or tablet
• Wireless/Wifi Syncing of new media content

What other possibilities can you imagine? Let us know in the comments.

View full post on Google Android News Android Forums

You may have heard a thing or two about Google’s music service, likely to be dubbed Google Music.  The idea was discussed at I/O back in May, which expectations we would see something around September.  Well, September is here, and we’ve really heard nothing new about Google Music, until now.

Reports are now coming in that sources are revealing that Google Music may be landing sometime around Christmas.  Sources are also revealing that Google is planning to launch the service along with Android 3.0.  There’s only one catch, it seems that Google Music, being spearheaded by Andy Rubin himself, is having zero luck in signing deals with any major record labels.

Music is not the only area where Google is reportedly having difficulty getting content providers to come on board.  There have been numerous reports that they are having an equally difficult time swaying studios and networks to partner with them over Google TV.  One thing is for certain, though, and that is Google had better hurry up and get some record labels on board, or they will be launching a shiny new music service with no music to be found.

Google may be gearing up to launch their music service along with Android 3.0

View full post on Google Android News Android Forums

Google Music — or a version of what Google plans for Music to be — was shown off way back at I/O along with the debut of Android 2.2. It has since then been assumed that the launch of Music would most likely coincide with the launch of Android 3.0 (Gingerbread). From what has been revealed so far, the service will offer cloud-based functionality such as streaming from a desktop system to your Android handset as well as the ability to push song and album downloads directly to your phone. But when, exactly, does Google plan to unleash their counterattack on Apple’s iTunes?

The word is Andy Rubin has been hard at work in an attempt to get the service up and running by the holiday season, which does go hand-in-hand with the rumored release timeframe for Gingerbread. The problem is, so far Rubin and Google have failed to get any record labels to sign on to their music store. It isn’t that they don’t want to. One exec speaking on conditions of anonymity said, “finally here’s an entity with the reach, resources and wherewithal to take on iTunes as a formidable competitor by tying it into search and Android mobile platform. What you’ll have is a very powerful player in the market that’s good for the music business.”

See, music execs would love to have someone come along and take the power out of iTunes’ hands, or at least alleviate some of the hold Apple has on the digital music distribution industry. But for the same reason negotiations with Google may take a while. Record labels are very protective of their intellectual property, if you hadn’t noticed, and are pretty hung up on big profits at the same time. We expect most if not all major distributors to hop on board, though whether or not negotiations will delay the debut of Google Music remains to be seen.

[via BGR]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

Mobile phones have become a staple of daily life, so much so that most consumers can hardly imagine going through the day without one by their side, says eMarketer.

eMarketer predicts mobile content revenues will rise from less than $1.15 billion in 2009 to more than $3.53 billion in 2014, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 20% over the period.

The fastest growth will come from mobile music, the percentage of mobile listerners and moble phone users more than doubling by 2014.

The mobile video audience will increase threefold between 2009 and 2014, with the increase in mobile broadband and the emergence of viewing options outside the carrier networks. That will help boost revenue growth to a CAGR of more than 25% from 2009 to 2014, says eMarketer.

View full post on dailywireless.org

Product: Asgard Headphone Amp

Manufacturer: Schiit

Wired Rating: 8

Just because my audio expertise falls somewhere between Cupertino-issue earbuds and Justin Bieber doesn’t mean I want my music to sound like Schiit. Or does it?

At first glance, the Schiit Asgard Headphone Amp seems to be the kind of fully discrete (non-tube), single-ended (drains juice but sounds great), Harry Potter–in–hardcover–sized, brushed-aluminum beauty that even a Luddite could love.

But on first listen, the Luddite may realize it’s the kind of specialty device best left to the audiophile. While I did notice a perceptible increase in general clarity when I listened to some lossless White Album tracks on my Grado RS-1s, the improvement was pretty subtle. We’re not exactly talking swimming in an infinity pool as opposed to a drainage ditch here, people.

However, after some coaching I was able to hear an improvement in separation. That said, I did notice, for the first time ever, that the jet engine backs the entirety of “Back in The USSR.”

I thought my observations warranted a few second opinions. (Not the jet engine thing. That’s a fact.) So I passed it on to two Wired staffers who know a lot about music, which, as it turned out, is where their similarities ended.

The first liked the Asgard so much he wanted to buy it. His reasons? A nice smoothing of the frequency response, good price, U.S.-made parts, buttery volume controls and the beautiful design.

But the second echoed my assertion, reporting only a small decrease in muddiness at the high and low frequencies when listening through his Sony MDR-7506 headphones. He suggested that using low-impedance cans (which Schiit already urged us to do, but no one listens to Schiit) as well as plugging it into a decent stereo instead of an iPod, might yield more-exciting results.

What does this all mean? Well, if you are very sensitive to bad vibrations or spend a lot of time listening to Aphex Twin, the Asgard is a good bet, as it pretty much indisputably makes music sound better. If you still listen to the earbuds that came with your iPod, you would probably be wise to invest in some good headphones before you start dropping money on this Schiit.

WIRED Beautiful. Great price for refined construction and U.S.-made parts. Makes for a subtly better listening experience, by staying fuzz-free on even the most complex music. Awesome five-year warranty for parts.

TIRED This is hot Schiit, literally: After a couple of hours the amp gets almost too hot to pick up. Some listeners noticed a weird, buzzing sound. Not enough of an improvement for all but the most-expert audiophile.

View full post on Wired Product Reviews

We all love our music. It needs to be everywhere we are, all the time. We also love services that playback music from the cloud. But, what if your travels take you somewhere without adequate coverage? Should your life’s soundtrack be put on hold, simply because your carrier wasn’t thoughtful enough to put a cell phone tower in the 8th story bathroom in the center of a 20 story building? Well, Thumbplay doesn’t think so, so they’ve done something about it.

Thumbplay has released an update that allows you to store certain songs, locally, on your Android device. Although Slacker Radio has offered this option for quite awhile, this is the first time it’s really been offered by an app that relies more on individual selection than automatic.

For $9.99 a month, you get access to Thumbplay’s full music library. The app is only available in the U.S., and you can head over to Thumbplay’s website for downloads.

[via PRNewsWire]

For more information on Android and the current Android mobile phones, check out our Android Guides

Thumbplay now offering offline music caching

View full post on Google Android News Android Forums

SugarSync has released the lastest version of their cloud storage and synching application for BlackBerry. SugarSync v1.5 now includes the ability to stream music direct from their servers to your BlackBerry device. This is of course i addition to the other added features for the app as noted in the press release:

SugarSync for BlackBerry features the ability to remotely access, open and easily share your computer files, including documents, photos and more stored in a SugarSync account. With an appropriate document editor, files can be edited as well and synced back.

With the new version, people may stream non-DRM protected music – synced from their computers to the cloud – directly to their BlackBerry handheld device, and save local storage for favorite tunes, photos, videos, and more. The built-in music player enables people to play full sets, not just single songs.

The new version also includes email auto-complete, a time-saver feature which allows people to even more quickly share a files with colleagues or friends, as well as performance enhancements and bug fixes.

Lately, I have become quite a fan of cloud storage applications. With SugarSync adding music streaming to the list of offerings, it will push them beyond other services such as Evernote. When you sign up, you get 2GB of storage allocated to you for free with larger packages available for purchase starting at only $4.99/mnth.

• Download The Latest Version Of SugarSync Via BlackBerry App World>>

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. SugarSync v1.5 adds streaming music to their cloud storage and synch app for BlackBerry

View full post on CrackBerry.com blogs

Do you remember back to March? Yeah, I don’t either, but way back then we mentioned Mog was developing an app for Android, and it’s finally ready for public consumption.

Available as a free download with a $9.99 monthly subscription, Mog offers more than 8 million songs that can be downloaded to your Android device and played on customizable radio stations free of any ads or interruptions. In addition, the Mog PC desktop client lets you continue the music there if you choose.

Here’s what you’ll find with Mog Mobile:

• Unlimited downloads: Subscribers can download any song or album directly to their phones and continue to listen to music even when out of cell or WiFi range.
• On-demand streaming: Unlimited listening to any artist, album, or song at any time.
• MOG Radio: Only MOG offers the patent-pending “MOG Mobius” music discovery engine, which enables users to control the mix of similar artists, from true “artist only” radio up to a full mix of similar artists.
• Playlist access between website and mobile: Make playlists on MOG.com and access them on your phone. Favorite tracks that are bookmarked from the web are then integrated into a user’s personal library and appear in favorites on the mobile app.
• High quality audio: Songs can be downloaded at the standard rate of 64 kbps or users can turn on HQ downloads (up to 320 kbps) to save the song as a larger file with higher audio quality. This gives listeners the option of receiving high quality downloads for maximum audio fidelity.
• Multi-tasking: Android users can continue to play music with MOG while using other applications. In the coming weeks, MOG will add multi-tasking for iOS 4 users.

At first glance, a $10 monthly subscription seems pricey, but that’s just the price of a single CD, maybe even less. When you compare the costs, it’s a much better deal to pay that much for access to 8 million songs instead of 10 or 12.

To spread the word about their new mobile app, Mog is offering free 3-day trials of their app with no personal information required; only your email address is needed. You can check out the video below to see Mog in action.  If you want to give Mog a try, click HERE from your Android device or scan the QR code.

Source: Mog

View full post on AndroidSPIN | Your No.1 source for Everything Android.

Review of Thumbplay Music Store for BlackBerry Smartphones

Streaming Music is now as much as part of the BlackBerry Culture as e-mail, BBM, and track pads. Personally I use my BlackBerry more than any other source for music. Having a great music application, for many, is really a need and not just a want. Thumbplay introduced their own version of streaming music/music store just a little while ago and CrackBerry has given a lucky few some free three month subscription. Promising effortless playlist creation from millions of tracks, access to any album and artist, and wireless sync with you PC or Mac make this app look like a contender. In a world dominated by internet streaming radio for your BB device with great apps like Pandora, iHeart Radio, an app like Thumbplay might get overlooked, but this app should be on your radar.

read more

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Thumbplay Music Store for BlackBerry Review

View full post on CrackBerry.com blogs

Image: Pixelh8

We at GeekDad have been paying particularly close attention to Pixelh8’s newest music project, Super Chip Tune Samba Band, for a number of reasons. The most obvious, of course, is that Matthew Applegate (Pixeh8’s moniker IRL) is one of us: both a geek and a dad. Perhaps more importantly, however, is the level to which this educational experiment could redefine the niche aesthetic of chiptunes.

The very idea that Pixelh8 is encouraging and enabling school children to create electronic music is interesting enough, but, coupled with the recent corporate support that Super Chip Tune Samba Band has garnered from Marshall and Nintendo, it is presently poised to change the very nature of the genre.

Chip Music as we know it today is very firmly rooted in handheld systems like the Nintendo Game Boy and, particularly in regard to the Super Chip Tune Samba Band, the Nintendo DS. And since the employed music creation and performance applications are created by uniquely motivated individuals working well outside the bounds of traditional game development, the style is intrinsically linked to the same types of unauthorized storage devices that facilitate game piracy on these platforms. A recent Facebook note from Pixelh8, however, points to an interesting shift in this paradigm.

Concerning the interest the project has generated from the likes of the BBC, Nintendo and Game People, Matthew says:

It has also now made me change the way I do things, no longer will I reverse engineer / hack computers to learn about them, it’s all gone, all of it (much to my friends and colleagues despair). From now on it will be official development only. Developing for several hand held platforms with the intention to create small but useful music related software. I am saving my pennies for the devkits. iPhone and Android development already underway, with the intention of developing for DSiware, PSP Go and Symbian in the future.

While there are already a handful of robust, authorized music-making options available on popular handheld devices, from the Korg series available on the DS to the iPhone port of Oliver Wittchow’s popular Game Boy tracker Nanoloop, the very idea of giants like Nintendo, Sony and Apple not only encouraging but actively enabling an artist like Pixelh8 to create exciting new performance interfaces on their platforms is incredibly exciting.

The chip music community, despite its wealth of talented artists and abundant online presence, continues to toil in relative obscurity. There have been in-roads – the Reformat the Planet documentary, Superpowerless’s well-earned attention from MTV and the recent signing of chip rockers I Fight Dragons just to name a few – but most have been viewed with no small amount of internal consternation. Such is often the case with strong independent music communities.

These new developments concerning Pixelh8 don’t seem to point to an attempt to legitimize the genre, as any fan can tell you that the strength of the music itself proves the validity of chiptunes, but instead to spotlight it as both a musical and technological revolution. Putting affordable, functional music-making tools in the hands of the public via legal means is tantamount to Sears decision to produce their Silvertone line of guitars in the mid-1950s. It puts the tools for making cutting edge music where they belong.

View full post on GeekDad

Many of the killer features that Google Music will offer (stream to device playback and push downloads come to mind) go hand-in-hand with the Android 3.0 (Gingerbread) features previewed at Google I/O. It only makes sense that the two would see a concurrent launch, and that’s just what Android product manager Gaurav Jain is saying. Dan Morrill squashed the recent Gingerbread rumors floating around, and part of that includes an October release. I suppose it’s still possible, but we agree that that timeframe might be a little soon. Expect to see both Google Music and Android 3.0 launched closer to the holiday season or early 2011.

[via Gizmodo]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

On Thursday June 24th, 2010 the iPhone 4 was released in Apple stores across the United States. Some people received theirs via pre-order the day before, while many others were waiting patiently in line at Apple Stores for theirs. For two artists on opposite sides of the country, the day couldn’t come quickly enough. One got his phone via pre-order, the other waited in line for 9 hours before getting hers. Both had spent time before getting the phone writing music and the very next day both used the iPhone 4 to film music videos.

By June 30th, both those videos were filmed and edited and up on YouTube for our viewing pleasure. Both are excellent pieces of art in their own regard, two very distinct and different styles highlighting not only the innovative and inevitable use of the technology, but also the musical and visual creativity of each creator. Here are both of those videos, and while I’m sure by now there are many others just as creative on the internet to choose from, these two stood out to me immediately due to a myriad of reasons.

Solace

First up is “Solace” by Rana Sobhany. Directed by David Kalani Larkins and Andrew Bowser, it was shot entirely on the iPhone 4 over the course of a day in New York City. I happened to be present during some of the filming, and was impressed at the enthusiasm by all parties involved. The music was composed by Sobhany entirely on the iPad, using AKAI’s Synthstation and SoundTrend’s Looptastic apps.

Larkins viewed the project as a challenge, to use new tech, end results unknown. Says Larkin, “How the iPhone 4 was going to perform would be a complete mystery so I knew that whatever we shot would need to be strong enough conceptually to stand on it’s own. I also wanted the end product to be looked at on the same standard as any other DIY/low budget video, and appealing to digital world that we live in.

“Andrew took the very rough and displaced pieces of a vision I had for a digital concept and came up with what I think was a genius idea of creating a literal “iPad man” and taking him on a series of dates throughout the city. We shared the idea with our prop designer Casey Johnson whom in a matter of 24 hours created a customized prop to allow a person to wear an iPad on their face.

“Nearly nothing was hand held, as we wanted to stay away from the camera shake that is often present in the camera. For 90% of the shots I used a mic stand and a grip clamp as our tripod. It looked awkward and curious to most onlookers, but it certainly did the trick!”

For something that was composed, filmed, directed and edited in less than a week (only the music composition taking longer than a day) it’s a great example of artistic ingenuity using new tools.

While creative in it’s own right, there is no denying that this video would make a great commercial for the Apple products used and featured in it. Even though that wasn’t the intent of the video – to get attention from Apple PR – it may be a welcome side effect. The main intent though, was to make art regardless of the technology. In my opinion, I think Rana, David & Andrew succeeded.

Cascades

Meanwhile across the continent, Vancouver, British Columbia folk artist flakjakt (Steve Failows) had written his own song. He finished mixing it moments before heading out to the first filming location. Enlisting the assistance of his friend and director Marty Martin, they set out to film a great video regardless of the tech, as Failows put it “although we shot on the iPhone 4 – our main goal was to make a great video regardless of the tech involved. Hopefully we came up with something fun and memorable.”

Shot in a little over a day, there was more post production work done on “Cascades,” which is evident in the final product. Martin ended up with a ton of footage to edit, from the nine locations they shot in. Using Final Cut for the editing, he admits, “although the result is a bit rushed and rough, I ended up embracing the look and think that it helps translate emotion well onscreen.”

Martin had more to add on his Vimeo page. “Of course, I knew there would be obvious technical hurdles, so everything was structured to be shot to take advantage of the camera’s advantages. Lack of lighting, aperture and shutter speed control were all taken into consideration when planning all shots. And because I knew a lot of the camera work would be locked off (something I rarely do), a lot of the cinematic vision was going to be dependent on how I cut everything together in post.” The end result is a quirky, fun and surprisingly smooth video complimented by an equally minimalist song.

Clearly, these are artists that were very enthused with the new features on the iPhone 4, immediately accepting a challenge that had not been offered just to experience the process and results. While of course on of the most popular hand held devices in the world, it’s great to see the device not just being loaded with apps and becoming nothing more than a toy, but inspiring creativity in people.

I look forward to seeing more projects coming from this rush of creativity, just as we saw with the release of the iPad, and will still see. If you happen to come across any other creative projects using the iPhone 4 or iPad, leave a link in the comments!

Follow us on Twitter @cebsilver and @wiredgeekdad

View full post on GeekDad

In a recent interview with Hebrew Calcalist, Android product manager Gaurav Jain announced that the mobile platform will play a huge part in the upcoming Google music, and that its launch will coincide with Android 3.0. He also confirmed statements that we can expect to see both this upcoming holiday season.

This is likely a move to challenge Apple’s plans to add streaming capability to iTunes later this year. I am excited by the idea of Google having a music service that will allow purchase, streaming, and download of music, so I am extra excited to see what this holiday season brings us Android users.

For more information on Android and the current Android mobile phones, check out our Android Guides

Google Music to Launch with Android 3.0 This Christmas

View full post on Google Android News Android Forums

The mobile music scene has become more competitive with the entrance of newcomers MOG, Rdio and mSpot. AP News reports that music blog site MOG and a startup called Rdio, backed by Skype co-founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Frilis, are both entering a market already served by Rhapsody International and Thumbplay.

They will offer applications that work on iPhones, giving consumers access to millions of tracks for about US$10 a month. They will be competitive to Apple’s iTunes store. MOG also plans to launch on Google’s Android operating system.

Other mobile music players include Spotify and Pandora. Jamcast’s Virtual Soundcard captures any audio playing on a consumer’s PC and then transmits it over their wireless network to DLNA and UPnP-compliant devices, such as gaming consoles, HDTVs, smartphones and other connected devices in the home and beyond.

Meanwhile, mSpot yesterday launched on Android, giving users a way to store music they already have and stream it to themselves on mobile devices. It’s free for 2GB of music, or about 1,600 songs, and monthly fees are charged above that.

Apple is also expected to launch its own service for accessing music remotely, following the company’s purchase (and subsequent closure) of music startup Lala. Last week Hewlett-Packard acquired Seattle-based music streaming service Melodeo for a reported US$35 million. Google itself has also been linked to launch of its own service.

On February 25, 2010, the 10 billionth iTunes song was purchased by Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia. Wikipedia has a comparison of online music stores and music streaming services. Music streaming services offer listening without the listener actually owning the source file. Music streaming is limited to devices connected to the Internet, but it’s cheaper than buying a music file, with many free of charge.

iPhone music apps include Twang (above), MiniPiano, DigiDrummer, Leaf Trombone, JamPad, Scratch LP, miniSynth and Fart Piano to name a few.

Daisyphone lets you co-create short loops of music with your friends by pressing on little dots on your phone.

The real fun is the real-time co-creation of loops with other people. Press the i button and then turn sharing on – there are ten loops that are shared across the world.

Imagine a virtual ensemble in a public space. Free apps provide the instruments while Microsoft Kinect tracks your “air guitar”. Share and enjoy.

View full post on dailywireless.org

Marian Call sporting her Jayne hat. Image: Copyright 2010 Eric Fiallos

Recently, the beautiful, talented and incredibly nice musician Marian Call decided to do a major tour and take on all of the 50 states. She calls it the 49>50 Tour, since Alaska, where she lives, is the 49th state. She came to Arizona fairly early in the tour, and played last Wednesday evening at a house in the Phoenix area. Despite being the middle of the week, we trekked the 122 miles down to meet her and see her show. She thanked us multiple times for driving so far. She even said we got extra points for making the trip but she wasn’t sure which game the points were for!

Marian's famous typewriter. Image: Copyright 2010 Eric Fiallos

Marian Call is well trained in music and grew up surrounded by it. I am fairly new to her music, but was drawn to her because of the kind of person she is. I also figured, how can so many geeks be wrong? I knew her live music wouldn’t disappoint, and it didn’t. Her voice is so beautiful that you wonder if it is even possible for her to miss a note. Apparently it is possible, but only when she does it on purpose. Her melodious voice lends itself well to every style of music she sings. Her music runs the gamut from geek music to love songs to a cover of a country style song originally sung by the guy who runs an open mike night in Alaska. Her song titles show her range and include such treasures as “I Wish I Were a Real Alaskan Girl,” “The Volvo Song,” “I’ll Still Be a Geek After Nobody Thinks It’s Chic,” “It’s Good to Have Jayne On Your Side” and “We’re Out for Blood,” which is a song about zombies. My daughter remarked, however, that it has to be about vampires and not zombies because the lyrics don’t say, “We’re out for brains.” Can’t argue with that logic.

Marian Call and Scott Barkan. Image: Copyright 2010 Eric Fiallos

Her guitar player for this part of the tour, Scott Barkan, did an excellent job as well. Even in such a small setting as a house concert, Marian fills the air with her voice and Scott with his guitar. You are surrounded by the music. They use just enough equipment to make for a complete experience without being too loud for the neighbors. Marian Call’s music needs very little accompaniment, and Scott’s guitar was sufficient for most of it. But she also does her own percussion, using such instruments as a kazoo, a rain stick, a tambourine and an interesting old typewriter.

I had never been to a house concert before, and wasn’t sure what to expect. We RSVP’d to the proper email address, got the address and printed out directions. Marian was nice enough to let us show up an hour early to chat and feed her dinner. We visited for a while, and then other people started showing up. We knew no one, but most people there were pretty friendly. There were almost two dozen people by the time the concert began. Fortunately, one other couple brought their young son, so my kids weren’t the only ones there.

Marian played from about 7:45pm to 10pm, with a break about 2/3 of the way through. I didn’t count how many songs she sang, but she picked quite a variety, including songs from each album. All of them were better live than recorded. I have found that hearing music live gives you a whole new appreciation for the recorded versions. She would also add commentary and asides to many of the songs, which made them funnier and applicable to that particular concert. She also shared the background for many of the songs, explaining why she wrote or sang them.

At the break, people paid their money, bought her CDs, and generally gushed about the concert. We saw a satellite fly over. When it was over, we said our goodbyes pretty quickly, as we had another 122 miles to drive home. I’m sure we don’t get the award for driving the farthest to see a Marian Call concert, but I am glad we made the effort. It was so worth the drive.

All in all, I would definitely go to a house concert again. Marian says she enjoys them the most, and I can see why. They bring people together for one night, often complete strangers, which can sometimes facilitate more lasting friendships. In addition, you get to hear live music and support the independent arts. Helping one person achieve success inspires others to take chances. Additionally, you can directly support the artist, instead of a venue taking a cut.

I wish more musicians would do house concert tours. Listening to live music is something that used to be ubiquitous in our culture, before recorded music was widespread. Concerts were attended, balls were held and there was usually at least one person in each family who knew how to play an instrument. Live music is so much more participatory, even if you’re just clapping or swaying with the melody. We should all try to take our kids to live music when possible.  It’s not like listening to mp3s on their iPod. It is all about being a part of the experience.

I talked to Marian about us bringing our kids to the concert. We tend to take the kids with us wherever we go, partly from necessity and partly from wanting to expose them to real life. Marian agreed that it is important to take kids out in the world, including to places that some people might choose to get a baby sitter and leave them at home. Kids need to get out to learn how to properly act. If you don’t take them anywhere, they’ll never learn, so you’ll never take them, etc. It’s a vicious cycle.

Marian Call has plenty of her tour left to go. Most states still remain unvisited. Check her tour schedule on her website, and see if you can make a show. Or better yet, host a house concert yourself! But either way, try to go see her. If you are lucky enough to see her play at a house concert, you will get to actually talk and laugh with her. You don’t get to do that often at a concert these days.

Marian gave me a couple of CD download codes for her full album Got to Fly. We will give the codes away to two lucky GeekDad readers. To win, write a tribute haiku to Marian or her music in the comments and we will pick two random winners in the next week. Make sure to leave an email address so we can contact you if you win!

Note: All of these photos are copyright 2010 Eric Fiallos, all rights reserved, used with permission. I tried to take plenty of photos myself, but my camera battery died before I got any good ones.

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Google’s take on digital music distribution — which very well could end up being called simply Google Music – may make its way to the public by the fall, according to a report at CNet News. Sources within the music industry are talking up that time frame for the launch of Google’s answer to iTunes, a move that is sure to deepen the Google/Apple rift and add fuel to an already raging feud between the two technology giants.

The music service was shown off at Google I/O, where its integration with Android was emphasized. “Google Music” will have both a push component that directly sends song downloads to your handset as well as a desktop streaming portion thanks to the acquisition of Simplify Media that will allow users to stream their stored media libraries to their phones without the need to sync between devices.

Of course, don’t think Google plans to put all of its music eggs in the Android basket, as they are looking beyond smartphones to creating a truly formidable music retail outlet. The folks in the music industry couldn’t be more pleased, as many see the one-sided dominance of iTunes creating stagnation in the marketplace.

It remains to be seen if Google also plans to launch a desktop client similar to iTunes, or if the entirety of Google Music would take place in the cloud. Apple, too, is gearing up for a cloud-based iTunes, so the race is on. Does Google have what it takes to be a true competitor, or will they be just a little too late to the game?

[via cnet]

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It looks like Google are going to enter the online music game, with the roll out of a music download service, linked into its search engine later this year, with the possibility of online subscription service in 2011.

The details around the service are still a bit sketchy but Google have been stepping up conversations about offering new music services tied to Android devices. At Google I/O, Google showed off technology that would allow Android users stream music to their phone from their desktop. While you can get over-the-air music with the Amazon MP3 app, there is still no complete integrated music solution such as iTunes on the iPhone.

A cloud based music service for Android would be really cool as it would allow you to stream whatever music you want to you device without worrying about storing it locally on a memory card.

[source: WSJ]

For more information on Android and the current Android mobile phones, check out our Android Guides

Google Music Service

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Samsung’s doing some pretty big things for this Galaxy-centric event they’re holding next week Tuesday. We received yet another update on the event this morning revealing the event’s musical guests. B.O.B will be performing live to commemorate whatever special occasion they drag us to New York for.

As we anxiously wait for the next eight days to tick by, we can’t help but be excited by the prospect of being able to get our hands on the expected-to-be-announced American version of the Samsung Galaxy S, as well as another possible device (Galaxy S Pro, anyone?).

View full post on Android Phone Fans

In an unsurprising move, it appears that Google will be using the straightforward ‘Google Music’ brand for its upcoming cloud music streaming and push-to-phone music service announced at Google I/O, or so an uncovered logo hosted on Google’s servers seems to indicate (the same URL can be modified to access other Google logos). It isn’t clear when Google plans to make its music service live, but if rumors of an upcoming cloud-based iTunes are to be believed than Google won’t want to sit on this one too long.

Google Music will most likely be a two-tiered operation. On one end you will be able to search for songs, purchase them, and send them from the cloud directly to your Android device. The other end sees a desktop client that syncs your music to the cloud for streaming on your phone wherever you go, with technology coming from the acquisition of Simplify Media. If Google gets this one right, they may just have solved one of the biggest gripes with the Android platform.

[via TechCrunch]

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Last day of May! Be sure you are following us for your chance to win these awesome prizes…

BlackBerry Music Gateway follow on youtube to win!

BlackBerry Presenter follow on twitter to win!

Solio Rocsta follow on facebook to win!

You gotta love the Ongoing Follow CrackBerry Contest… you get a chance to win great prizes each month just for following CrackBerry on youtube, twitter and facebook!

May’s Awesome Prizes: For May we’re mixing up the prizes so you’ll want to make sure you’re following us on all of youtube, twitter and facebook so you get a shot of winning all three:

• Youtube: The BlackBerry Music Gateway lets your BlackBerry’s music be heard through your home audio system via Bluetooth
• Twitter: The BlackBerry Presenter connects to a projector and your BlackBerry (wirelessly) so you can broadcast and control presentations rght from your BlackBerry
• Facebook: The Solio Rocsta solar charger gets it’s charge from the sun, so if you’re out doing stuff with no electricit nearby you can still make sure your BlackBerry always gets a charge.

Wicked prizes. And remember… all you need to do is follow, so if you’re already following us… you’re in! We’ll announce the May winners and June’s prizes later this week, so stay tuned! Visit the follow crackberry contest page for full details.

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Reminder to get in on May's Prizes in the Follow CrackBerry Contest: Win a BlackBerry Presenter, Music Gateway or Solio Rocsta!

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