streaming - page 5

Apple’s TV app doesn’t work with the two best streaming services

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The TV app coralls all your favorite content.
The TV app coralls all your favorite content.
Photo: Apple

Netflix won’t be embracing Apple’s vision for the future of television.

Apple revealed its plan to own your TV screen today with a new app called TV. The new service aims to unify your TV experience on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV by taking you straight to content, but the two best streaming services won’t be available.

Apple Music tops first JD Power music streaming rankings

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apple music app
Exclusives are keeping Apple Music subscribers loyal.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The first ever J.D. Power music streaming satisfaction survey found that Apple Music is the most liked streaming service in the U.S.

Spotify didn’t even manage to crack the top 3 in the survey that polled over 4,000 subscribers to music streaming services to gauge how well each company performs when it comes to performance and reliability, ease of use, cost, content, communication and customer service.

Sore Spotify says music exclusives are bad for everyone

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Spotify
Spotify wants Apple to quit with the exclusives.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

As Apple secures exclusive after exclusive with the hottest names in music, Spotify is beginning to feel the heat. According to Troy Carter, global head of creator services at Spotify, these deals are “bad for artists, bad for consumers, and bad for the whole industry.”

Why Apple should buy Tidal (and why it shouldn’t) [Friday Night Fights]

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fnf
Tidal could be Apple Music's biggest rival later.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

When you have the kind of cash Apple has, the easiest way to take down the competition is to just buy it. That’s exactly what the Cupertino company is planning to do with Apple Music rival Tidal, according to a recent report.

FNF-bugBut would a Tidal takeover be a good move? Would Apple be using its money solely to wipe out a rival, or will Tidal’s talent and connections to the music industry be great for Apple Music?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over the latest Apple acquisition rumor!

Apple might buy struggling competitor Tidal

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apple music app
A Tidal acquisition would give Apple Music even more artist exclusives.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Jay Z and Apple might be joining forces.

Apple has dominated the jigga man’s streaming service, Tidal, ever since the launch of Apple Music one year ago, but a new report claims that the iPhone-maker is in exploratory talks to acquire the music streaming service.

Spotify accuses Apple of blocking app update

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Rap Genius is partnering with Spotify.
Apple is making it harder for Spotify to compete on iOS.
Photo: Spotify

Apple is allegedly stopping Spotify from competing with Apple Music by blocking the streaming service’s latest iOS app update from the App Store.

Spotify sent Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewell a letter this week claiming that Cupertino is inflicting great harm on its streaming music competitor (and Spotify’s customers) by not allowing Spotify to use its own billing system for subscriptions.

Spotify is first music streamer to reach 100 million users

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Spotify
Spotify is the largest music streamer in the world.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Spotify now has more active users than any other music streaming service on the planet, but when it comes to paid subscribers, it looks like growth has stalled.

The Swedish music streaming service revealed today that it now has 100 million active users — up from the 75 million it had last year — however its paid subscribers total hasn’t budged since March.

Apple will live stream WWDC keynote

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Get ready for iOS 10.
Get ready for iOS 10.
Photo: Apple

You won’t have to go all the way to San Francisco to watch Apple’s big WWDC keynote as it happens.

Apple revealed today that it will offer a live stream of the event, which will be held June 13 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. The company is expected to unveil iOS 10, OS X 10.12 and much more at the software-oriented keynote in front of thousands of lucky developers.

New Apple TV loses to Roku in U.S.

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apple tv and siri remote
The Apple TV had a surge of sales last year.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The fourth generation Apple TV experienced the largest increase in unit sales last year among streaming media players but it hasn’t been good enough to supplant Roku as the top streamer in the U.S. 

Apple TV’s biggest weakness appears to be its price point. New research shows that smaller stick streamers made up half of last year’s sales and Apple’s competition reaped the rewards.

Should Apple kill off iTunes music downloads? [Friday Night Fights]

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fnf
Are you ready for a world without music downloads?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

iTunes music downloads still rake in millions of dollars every quarter for Apple, but they’re falling fast.

FNF-bugAccording to sources who claim to be actively working with the company, it is already mulling the idea of chopping music sales completely in as little as two years, and instead placing an even greater focus on Apple Music.

Is it a good idea for Apple to boot such a popular service in the same way it massacred floppy discs and FireWire, forcing users to stream all their music? Or should it keep iTunes alive until downloads die out naturally?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over the future of the world’s most popular music store.

SoundCloud takes on Apple Music with new subscription service

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SoundCloud Go is yet another music streaming service.
SoundCloud Go is yet another music streaming service.
Photo: SoundCloud

Apple Music’s competition in the music streaming battle just got a little fiercer today with the introduction of a new subscription service by SoundCloud.

The new SoundCloud Go service costs $10 per month, giving you unlimited access to the YouTube of Audio’s vast trove of indie content without ads. You can also save files to listen to offline, but that might not be enough to take on Apple Music and Spotify.

Netflix’s hidden streaming menu will solve your buffering woes

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Netflix
Expect Netflix to stay in the no. 1 spot for the foreseeable future.
Photo: Global X / Flickr CC

It’s happened to all of us: We get to the thrilling conclusion of the latest Daredevil or Jessica Jones episode, and suddenly Netflix’s “buffering” logo appears, bringing our TV binge to an abrupt and unwelcome end.

Luckily, you can use Netflix’s hidden streaming menu to set your streaming speed to a lower tier, which should bypass the buffering foolishness. Here’s how to find it.

Beloved iPod shuffle is reborn for the Spotify era

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Mighty Clipped and plugged in
The new Mighty wants to bring Spotify to those with an active lifestyle.
Photo: Mighty Audio

Today, the iPod shuffle you’ve been hoping for is getting a shot at life — no thanks to Apple. Mighty Audio is launching its Kickstarter campaign for the new Mighty streaming music player, a small clip-on device that can stream Spotify wherever you go without having to use your smartphone. A portable, affordable music player with streaming capabilities? Yes please.

Spotify baits premium hook with free Chromecast

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spotify-baits-premium-hook-with-free-chromecast-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201602chromecast-png
Get a free one of these when you buy three months of Spotify Premium.  Photo: Spotify
Get a free one of these when you buy three months of Spotify Premium. Photo: Spotify

If you haven’t already grabbed a free trial of Spotify, you’re in luck – this deal makes joining the streaming music service even more enticing.

Today through February 28, when you buy three months of Spotify Premium for $29.97, you’ll get a free Chromecast.

CBS says Apple TV talks didn’t go anywhere

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Apple TV might get exclusive TV shows.
Apple oddly hasn't reached out in a while.
Photo: Apple/YouTube

CBS CEO Les Moonves had plenty to say about the Apple TV last year, but this year for some reason he said that CBS hasn’t been talking with Apple very much at all. Apparently the two companies used to talk pretty frequently about bringing CBS to Apple TV’s rumored streaming television service, but negotiations haven’t gotten anywhere yet.

“We had conversations awhile back, and we haven’t had recent conversations with them,” Moonves said to CNNMoney.

EFF: T-Mobile’s Binge On breaks net neutrality by throttling all HTML5 video

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The EFF agrees: T-Mobile's Binge On plan is just throttling.
The EFF agrees: T-Mobile's Binge On plan is just throttling.
Photo: T-Mobile

T-Mobile, America’s uncarrier, claims that its Binge On program allows its customers to stream an unlimited amount of video from select services without taking away from their data caps. And that’s true.

But according to the Electronics Frontier Foundation, what’s also true is that Binge On throttles streaming speeds on literally every other HTML5 video service out there, degrading video performance across the board no matter where you stream. Boo.

Apple expected to bid on Thursday Night Football streaming deal

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Football
Would Thursday Night Football be a touchdown for Apple TV?
Photo: NFL Network

The NFL is looking for a new partner to host Thursday Night Football, and it appears that Apple may be gunning to make an interception from Yahoo and Google.

Traditional networks like CBS, ESPN, Fox, and NBC were all informed by the NFL that it is ready to accept bid for broadcasting rights to its Thursday Night Football package, but the league also notified Apple that it can bid for a non-exclusive streaming deal for Apple TV and iOS users.

Rdio marches to death playing the high notes

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The Rdio app just got better than ever. Photo: Rdio.
You won't be able to stream from Rdio on Christmas this year.
Photo: Rdio

Rdio made the date of its demise official this morning. The streaming music service as we know it will cease to exist on December 22 — just six days from today — at 5 p.m. Pacific time. Rdio sent around an email to its users to let them know the specifics of the shutdown.

“Rdio is being acquired, and the service is shutting down worldwide on December 22,” the company wrote on its Goodbye page. “We’re excited to bring great music experiences to even more listeners in the future as part of the Pandora team.”

Beats Music subscriber, your time is almost up

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apple-is-killing-beats-music-this-month-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201511beatsmusic_ios_combo-jpg
Apple is getting rid of your data next month.
Photo: Apple

If you’re still subscribed to Beats Music instead of Apple Music, your days are numbered. Until January 19, you have the opportunity to save all of your playlists and migrate your account data over to Apple Music if you wish to do so. But after that, Apple will discard of your current data.