Tag Archives: Streaming Audio

Spotify comes to Denon and Marantz receivers, shares music over NFC

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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.

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Spotify comes to Denon and Marantz receivers, shares music over NFC originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Next Web  |  sourceSpotify (1), (2), Google Play  | Email this | Comments

Plex launches new Web Client and PlexPass subscription, updates Media Server

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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.

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Plex launches new Web Client and PlexPass subscription, updates Media Server originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 22:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Logitech’s UE Smart Radio, Boombox, and Mobile Boombox give you wireless audio on the go (hands-on)

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Logitech's UE Smart Radio, Boombox, and Mobile Boombox give you wireless audio on the go

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.

Gallery: Logitech UE Smart Radio, Boombox and Mobile Boombox hands-on

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.

Continue reading Logitech's UE Smart Radio, Boombox, and Mobile Boombox give you wireless audio on the go (hands-on)

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Logitech's UE Smart Radio, Boombox, and Mobile Boombox give you wireless audio on the go (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Townsquare Media buys what’s left of MOG

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MOG playing XX music

Beats' acquisition of MOG ultimately carved the company into two pieces, if not quite evenly: it left both the blog content as well as a music-oriented ad network that's popular, if without nearly as much cachet for the technology crowd as the streaming audio. Entertainment outlet Townsquare Media must have seen a bargain in the making given that it just swept in to buy MOG's remaining parts. The deal, which AllThingsD understands is worth $10 million, will see the MOG name wiped for good as the ad network and sites slip into Townsquare's collection. While anti-climactic, it still marks the formal end to a significant chapter in cloud music -- MOG at one point was going toe-to-toe with the likes of Rdio and Rhapsody, and it now exists only as a memory.

Continue reading Townsquare Media buys what's left of MOG

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Townsquare Media buys what's left of MOG originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceGigaOM, AllThingsD  | Email this | Comments

Sony unveils in-car receivers with App Remote, taps into your smartphone music from October

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Sony unveils incar receivers with App Remote, taps into your smartphone music from October

Sony has been big on smartphone integration for car audio lately, having already launched its MirrorLink receivers earlier in the year for the more well-heeled drivers among us. The company is bringing that mobile tie-in down to Earth through a new quartet of in-car CD receivers. The MEX-GS600BT, MEX-BT4100P, MEX-BT3100P and CDX-GS500R all bring in App Remote, which lets the faceplate buttons steer local music or Pandora streaming radio coming from Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Walkman devices paired through a Bluetooth wireless link. The old-fashioned USB connection is still on offer for these and the HD Radio-toting CDX-GT710HD, while the whole collection can graft on the optional SXV200V1 tuner to carry the full Sirius XM satellite radio lineup. Differences across the line aren't completely clear from Sony's wording, although both the MEX-GS600BT and CDX-GS500R carry two USB ports as well as 5-volt RCA preamp outputs. You'll be waiting awhile to slip any of these receivers into a DIN slot, regardless of which one you pick: the GS500R ships in October for $199, and the rest hit the shops in November for between $149 to $249.

Gallery: Sony App Remote receivers

Continue reading Sony unveils in-car receivers with App Remote, taps into your smartphone music from October

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Sony unveils in-car receivers with App Remote, taps into your smartphone music from October originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 22:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spotify Radio gets thumbs up, thumbs down on desktop

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Spotify Radio gets thumbs up, thumbs down on desktop

Pretty much from day one, the mobile Spotify Radio feature outclassed its desktop counterpart, thanks to the presence of one feature -- thumbs up and thumbs down buttons. The ability to more finely tailor the music selection to your tastes is a pretty essential feature for any automatically generated playlist. Finally, Spotify is bringing the buttons to the Mac and Windows clients in an update rolling out today. Your likes and dislikes are synced across platforms and, best of all, the update finally lets you view radio stations you've created through the mobile app on your desktop.

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Spotify Radio gets thumbs up, thumbs down on desktop originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Aug 2012 09:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Next Web  |  sourceSpotify  | Email this | Comments

Spotify marks its first anniversary in the US with 13 billion listens, a whole lot of sharing goin’ on

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Spotify marks its first anniversary in the US with 13 billion listens, a whole lot of sharing goin' onThey grow up so fast, don't they? Spotify's US launch was just over a year ago, and the streaming music outlet wants us to know just how big its baby is getting. Americans listened to more than 13 billion tracks on the service in the first 365 days, and they shared more than twice as many -- 27,834,742, to be exact. Not surprisingly, just over half of that socializing went through Facebook, as you can see in the company's sugar-coated chart. Spotify is likewise flaunting 2,700 years' worth of time spent skulking around its app platform. Don't feel any pangs of regret if you forgot to buy something for Spotify's birthday, by the way: the company isn't holding any grudges and says you'll "love" what it has gift-wrapped for year two. We're hoping that involves more free radio stations and fewer holdout musicians.

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Spotify marks its first anniversary in the US with 13 billion listens, a whole lot of sharing goin' on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Jul 2012 18:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bang & Olufsen unveils Playmaker wireless audio bridge, makes sure AirPlay and DLNA speak Danish

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Bang & Olufsen unveils Playmaker wireless audio bridge, makes sure AirPlay and DLNA speak Danish

Bang & Olufsen has been slowly but surely adapting to a wireless world. Its new Playmaker (shown at center) brings that evolution to audio: with the receiver linked up, any AirPlay- or DLNA-friendly audio device can beam its sound to a set of the Danish firm's designer speakers. Wireless audio bridging isn't anything new by itself -- we know at least one rival that might say it's old hat -- but the company is promising clean and powerful sound through a built-in DAC that can drive even the beefiest of BeoLabs, like the 2,500-watt BeoLab 5. We can look forward to the Playmaker reaching stores before the end of the month, but we'll pay a premium for all that theoretical power. The bridge by itself costs $425, while a special bundle with BeoLab 3 speakers will set listeners back an eyewatering (if ear-melting) $4,310.

Continue reading Bang & Olufsen unveils Playmaker wireless audio bridge, makes sure AirPlay and DLNA speak Danish

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Bang & Olufsen unveils Playmaker wireless audio bridge, makes sure AirPlay and DLNA speak Danish originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jul 2012 18:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Beats buyout of MOG worth $14 million, splits company not-so-neatly into two

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MOG player

More official details are emerging from Beats Electronics' acquisition of MOG, and they paint a considerably messier picture of the deal than we saw just a day ago. HTC (which has a big stake in Beats) has confirmed that the move into streaming music was worth $14 million -- not a whole lot considering that MOG had raised $33 million through its entire independent lifetime. The low price might come as the result of Beats being very surgical with its deal. The Jimmy Iovine- and Dr. Dre-founded outfit is taking control of the core audio service as a separately-managed company, while the ad and music blog components are mostly left untouched. MOG's loss of independence is coming on a very ignominious note as a result, but it could be good news for subscribers anxious about the service's future as well as HTC phone owners wondering just where Sense UI's Beats integration might go next.

Beats buyout of MOG worth $14 million, splits company not-so-neatly into two originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 16:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Unwired View, The Next Web  |  sourceHTC  | Email this | Comments

Sirius XM gives Google TV a Stern look, plans radio app for this summer

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Sirius XM gives Google TV a Stern look, plans radio app for this summerSirius XM has long had a love affair with Android, going so far as to build an Android-powered satellite radio just a few months ago. That flame is burning for at least a little while longer with plans for a Google TV app launching this summer. Much in line with Sirius XM's more recent internet options, subscribers can soon tune into virtually anything from the satellite radio lineup, including the obligatory Howard Stern, as well as online-only bonuses like ESPN SportsCenter. The radio provider tells Reuters that it worked "closely" with Google to build the app, but what secret sauce that adds (if any) is left to the imagination: the live pausing and five-hour content storage don't exactly break the mold of what we've seen so far. We'll find out very soon just how category-busting Sirius XM can get when we get a full reveal of the Google TV app in sync with the start of Google I/O.

Sirius XM gives Google TV a Stern look, plans radio app for this summer originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 08:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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