The latest evolution of Spotify was revealed today at a press event in New York City that showed off Spotify’s new browser app, music discovery features, social additions and more.
Spotify users will now be able to get the same experience they’ve become accustomed to with the desktop client via a new web-based player. The new web-player will allow users to search and play music, create playlist, and use other new features Spotify unveiled today that will help people find newer, better, cooler music.
Apple released iTunes 11 last week, and it’s a step in the right direction. Its interface is cleaner and easier to use than previous versions, but what Apple fans have really been wanting for the past couple years is an unlimited music streaming service akin to Rdio, Spotify, or Pandora.
Rumors surfaced earlier this year that Apple is working on a Pandora-like radio service backed by iTunes’ huge music catalog. Some hoped Apple would introduce the service before the end of the year, but a new report claims that the new streaming service is nowhere near to being complete.
Like Spotify, Rdio offers unlimited music streaming for a monthly subscription fee. Today Rdio unveiled a completely redesigned iOS app in the App Store, and it’s available now as a free download for subscribers.
Clean and simple design has always been a plus for Rdio, and the new iPhone and iPad apps reflect that design taste.
Happy Thanksgiving! This year to observe the holiday we asked each of our writers to tell us a bit about the things they are most thankful for in 2012: specifically, the Apple product, app, service, third-party accessory and person they most relied upon and were grateful for this year. All through the rest of the day, we’ll be posting these thanksgiving observances. Here’s Cult of Mac News Writer Alex Heath’s list of the things he’s most thankful for this year. You can find the rest of our Thanksgiving Smorgasbord entries here.
Happy Thanksgiving! This year to observe the holiday we asked each of our writers to tell us a bit about the things they are most thankful for in 2012: specifically, the Apple product, app, service, third-party accessory and person they most relied upon and were grateful for this year. All through the rest of the day, we’ll be posting these thanksgiving observances. Here’s Cult of Mac News Writer Killian Bell’s list of the things he’s most thankful for this year. You can find the rest of our Thanksgiving Smorgasbord entries here.
It’s been almost a month since Apple began shipping the iPhone 5, and we’re still waiting for some of the biggest apps to be updated for its larger 4-inch display. Fortunately, as of today, eBay and Skype are not longer on that list.
If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve seen me complain about Spotify’s lack of iPhone 5 support for the past several weeks. Every single app on my Home screen has been updated for the iPhone 5’s taller display except Spotify, and it has been getting on my nerves. First world problems, I know.
Whether you share my pain or not, Spotify has finally pushed out an update for its iOS app that brings support for the iPhone 5’s full resolution. You’ll of course need a premium account to play music. The Pandora radio-like part of Spotify is free for everyone.
Version 0.5.8 says, “Spotify now looks great on iPhone 5!” You can grab it now in the App Store.
Multi-touch? Pah, that’s so last year. Gestures are where it’s at. Only yesterday, we reported on a prototype wrist-mounted motion detector; today, we’re trying out Flutter, a free OS X app that we first mentioned back in March when it was still a demo.
Now it’s available in the Mac App Store. It claims to put gesture controls at your, um, fingertips, using your Mac’s built-in webcam.
Steve Jobs introduced Genius back in 2008. It could be the brains behind Apple's rumored streaming music service.
The big story of yesterday evening was a somewhat cryptic report by The Wall Street Journal that Apple wants to build its own streaming music service, a la Pandora. Once you step back from the “hey, wouldn’t that be cool”-edness of it all, it’s a weird report. But it may not be totally bonkers. In fact, it probably makes a lot of sense.
Spotify's latest update brings a "friendlier" login screen to iPhone.
Spotify’s official iOS app has received a new update that introduces a number of new features and improvements. In addition to playlist sorting on the iPad, Spotify promises “friendlier” login for first-time users on iPhone, a new settings menu that’s now arranged by category, faster radio, and more.
Good news for our readers up north: Spotify should be available in Canada very soon. An exact date hasn’t been announced by Spotify, however.
As part of the music streaming service’s expansion plans, certain countries in Asia and South America could possibly be added in the near future as well.
Your keyboard lights up, so why shouldn't your trackpad?
If you’ve got a fairly recent MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, you’ll know that typing in a dark room is a breeze thanks to its backlit keyboard. It now seems as though Apple is looking to extend this feature to the trackpad as well. In a new patent filing entitled “Illuminated Touchpad”, the Cupertino company describes a new touch-sensitive input technology that doesn’t just light up, but also provides an “improved feedback mechanism.”
All the music you can listen to just a click away.
I listen to music from a number of places while I’m working. Most of the time it comes from Spotify, but I’ll also call on albums or songs I’ve purchased from iTunes, or check out songs Spotify doesn’t have on YouTube. It’s kind of a pain switching between the three, but there’s never been a better solution.
Until now. Meet CloudPlay, a fantastic little app that sits in your Mac’s menu bar and pulls music from all kinds of sources, including iTunes, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Internet radio stations.
It’s likely to be at least a month before Apple releases iOS 6 to the public, and so it’s unlikely apps will receive iOS 6 support for a few weeks yet. But Spotify is getting its update out of the way early. Its latest iOS release — version 0.5.4 — brings iOS 6 support, more radio stations on the iPad, and bug fixes.
The Dark Knight Rises is like the most anticipated movie of the year. People are going straight up loco for this movie. Is Batman going to die? Is Bane really just Ricky Martin’s alter-ego? Will Michael Keaton make a cameo? We don’t know, we haven’t seen it yet.
If you’re as excited we are though, then you’re probably trying to gorge on as much Batman stuff as humanly possible right now. Don’t worry, we got you covered and put together this little guide on all the ways you can use your iPad to get your Batman fix while waiting for the movie to finally hit theaters.
Back in March, Max Petriv tweeted some images of a Spotify iPad app he had been working on. Not only was the app optimized for the iPad’s larger display (at that time there had not been a Spotify client even teased for the iPad), but the design and interface of Petriv’s app looked downright gorgeous.
The New York-based designer had no clue that his pictures would cause such a stir, with many publications, including Cult of Mac, reporting that an unofficial Spotify app was finally in the works. You see, Spotify had been promising the world an official iPad client for months and months, but when pressed, the music streaming juggernaut would only give vague hints, like “it’s definitely coming.” Hardly a satisfactory answer for iPad users wanting their own Spotify experience.
After showing off his early work on a Spotify iPad app, Petriv was blindsided by Spotify suddenly coming out of the woodwork to release its highly anticipated official app in May. The timing of Spotify’s announcement was interesting given that Petriv had just asked for help developing his own app less than two months prior.
Petriv is now publicly working on his own Spotify app again, but due to the restrictions Spotify imposes on developers, he needs your help.
Your iPhone is more than a phone, it’s part of your life. It knows what you’re doing now (putting out fires with your boss? planning for drinks?), where you’re going for lunch and where you wish you were.
Even if you’re an open book — frequent Foursquare check-ins, Instagramming dinner, Spotifying all over the place — you probably wouldn’t broadcast every single thing you do with your iPhone, right?
iTunes is set for the biggest change it has ever seen this year.
Apple is said to be preparing an iTunes overhaul that will deliver the largest change the online music store has seen since its debut back in 2003. Set to be unveiled by the end of this year, the refresh will reportedly bring better iCloud integration and file-storage for users with multiple iOS devices, as well as new features for sharing music with friends.
Radio finally comes to Spotify on mobile... if you're in the U.S.
Spotify is gearing up to issue an update to its iOS app today, which will bring its popular radio feature to the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch for the first time and allow the service to take on rivals like Pandora or Slacker. What’s more, unlike its traditional music streaming service, the radio feature will not require a paid Spotify Premium subscription to use on mobile devices.
iOS 6 has some awesome new features, but here's 7 things it's still missing.
We’re super excited for iOS 6. Although it isn’t the complete iOS overhaul many users were hoping for, it does deliver a whole host of new features — like a new Maps app, user interface enhancements, improvements to stock apps, and Siri support on iPad — that we’re certainly looking forward to.
However, it’s hard to ignore the fact that iOS 6 still has some things missing. Things we’ve been waiting for for some time. Here are seven of them.
Remember a few years back when all the cool kids in Europe bragged about how they were enjoying this really cool new music service called Spotify, and you couldn’t even try it because Spotify wasn’t available in the USA? It took forever for Spotify to launch their awesome product in the U.S. Rumors floated that the hangup was caused by legal issues with the licensing of the music, but in an interview today at AllThingsD’s D10 conference, Sean Parker claimed Apple was trying to keep the music service from launching Stateside.
Spotify updated its universal iOS app today with some new features, including push notifications. The app store description says it all:
What’s New in Version 0.5.1
• New: Push notifications. Receive notifications when your subscribed playlists are updated, you get new subscribers, and more. You can choose which notifications to receive in Settings.
• New: Intro guide for new users.
• Fixed: Missing retina graphics on log in screen (iPad).
• Fixed: Retina album art is now always synced when you offline sync playlists.
• Fixed: App could sometimes become unresponsive after scrolling and navigating at the same time.
• Other improvements to Facebook login, screen locking when offline syncing, performance and stability.
Spotify, last updated on May 2 and available in 15 different countries, allows access (for subscribers) to its Premium music service on iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. There’s a two-day trial available for free, after which you’ll have to choose a Premium plan or cancel. You’ll still be able to listen to wirelessly sync songs from your Mac, edit playlists, and see Spotify’s catalog of music without a subscription, but you won’t be able to stream to your iOS device.
See this? It's just another way Android is hopelessly fragmented.
We already know that between hundreds of different Android builds and handsets, Google’s smartphone OS is hopelessly fragmented, and requires immense expense and time on the part of developers to get even a simple app working reliably.
But the problem with Android — and why it’s such a bitch to develop for — goes deeper than just too many handsets and OS builds to support. Even developing a simple music app for Android is a nightmare due to Android fragmentation, because Google couldn’t even get volume control on Android right out of the box.
Popular music streaming service Spotify is now available in Australia and New Zealand, making the platform available in a grand total of 15 countries. Spotify lets its users stream 16 million tracks via its desktop and mobile apps, and the service is updated every week with new albums and releases.
