News tagged ‘music’

Here's an official changelog for recently released iOS 4 for iPhone and iPod Touch:

This update contains over 100 new features, including the following:

• Multitasking support for third-party apps*
– Multitasking user interface to quickly move between apps
– Support for audio apps to play in the background
– VoIP apps can receive and maintain calls in the background or when device is asleep
– Apps can monitor location and take action while running in the background
– Alerts and messages can be pushed to apps using push and local notifications
– Apps can complete tasks in the background
• Folders to better organize and access apps
• Home screen Wallpaper*
• Mail improvements
– Unified inbox to view emails from all accounts in one place
– Fast inbox switching to quickly switch between different email accounts
– Threaded messages to view multiple emails from the same conversation
– Attachments can be opened with compatible third-party apps
– Search results can now be filed or deleted
– Option to select size of photo attachments
– Messages in the Outbox can be edited or deleted

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Kim Yeo-hee is known as an iPhone girl who creates music using only iPhone apps. She became famous after posting a video where she performs Lady Gaga's Poker Face, which has recently achieved 4.2 million views.

She always wanted to start a career of performer and songwriter, and it looks like her desire is finally fullfilled - according to Wall Street Journal, recently she made a deal with South Korean label Dreamhigh-Ent. As she said in her interview:

“Since I bought my iPhone, I kept playing with it and experimenting with different apps and got totally hooked".

It seems that iPhone can even make dreams come true!

So iPhone 4 is finally unveiled and what do we have in it? Here is a list of hardware upgrades:

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Latest NPD report reveals that Apple increased its music market share again. Here is a current ball game (in comparison to the last year situation):

• Digital music downloads: 40% (+5%) of all music sold;
• Apple: 28% (+4%) share of all music sold, 70% (+1%) of digital music downloads;
• Amazon: 12% (+3%) share of all music sold, 12% (+4%) share of digital music downloads.

Vice president of industry analysis at NPD Russ Crupnick says that physical media market share decreases because it becomes too effortful to look for a necessary CD in retail stores.

"Online shopping offers consumers who still want CDs more variety than they would get in a brick-and-mortar store; plus, recommendations, and other interactive features that raise the overall value proposition for music buyers."

It is interesting that though Amazon's market share is growing, the Department of Justice is looking into Apple to determine whether the company leverages its market power to prevent competition on the music market.

Yesterday The New York Times had posted a Brad Stone's report that reveals interesting information on the online music market investigation started recently by US Department of Justice.

The story started two months ago, when Amazon began to seek music labels that would allow company to sell their new songs day earlier than everyone else in exchange for exclusive "MP3 Daily Deal" promotion on the Amazon's site (according to BillBoard). In answer to that Apple asked labels to refuse Amazon or the company will not provide marketing support to those of songs that appeared in Amazon first. Such negotiating tactics attracted the attention of DoJ and now, as the NYT reports, it started inquiries with different music labels to confirm the information.

Currently Apple has 69% of online music market, while Amazon holds second place with its 8% share.  Since 2003 Apple sold more than 10 billion songs and thus provided significant revenue for the music industry.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WpPrKuUghw

For those who doesn't like iTunes for its restrictions and lockdown on music and files a new solution has been delivered to the BigBoss repository and it’s called PwnTunes.

PwnTunes allows copying files from iPhone or iPod touch to PC just after plugging the sync cable. There is no tethering for only one PC, so you can use your device anywhere you want. Other features include:

• Music files are normally named after the original filenames on the PC and without gibberish encoding.
• Deleting songs and any other type of files directly via USB (iDevice works as USB device)
• Loading cover.jpg/folder.jpg from same folder as cover
• Album name is taken from folder's name if no album ID3 tag found, artist name is taken from parent folder's name if no artist ID3 tag found

The app currently is currently compatible only with Windows (XP/Vista/7), but the developers promise the Mac support to be delivered soon. The price is €9.99. No additional software on PC is required, you just need to launch Cydia on your jailbroken iDevice and install PwnTunes from Data Storage Section. When installed, connect you iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad via USB and the app will ask you to buy License or download it if you have already purchased one.

Recently Billboard published a report that reveals new information on Apple's share on music sales market. When the first generation iPhone was presented, iTunes had only 12,7% of American music market. In 2008 Apple almost doubled it and made 21,4%. 2009 reveals five percentage points increase - now iTunes has 26,7% of music sales.

Such mobile providers as AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless on the contrary lose their positions, downing from 6,6% to 4,9% in 2009. Partly it is explained by lower priced ringtones in iTunes and its free tools for making custom ringtones. Both of these factors eventually attracted more people.

Physical media music in turn loses its popularity from year to year. Numbers reveal its share fell from 57,5% in 2008 to 49,3% in 2009. That means that iTunes actually makes a half of all digital music downloads overall.

iTunes' closest rival Amazon also increased its sales. But in digital MP3 sales the company's share grew from 0,8% in 2008 to 1,3% in 2009, which is not even close to Apple's 26,7% share. Such results, according to Billboard, were "still well short of where major labels had hoped Amazon's download store would be by now, dimming earlier expectations that it will be able to significantly reduce the labels' heavy dependence on iTunes for digital sales."

It is interesting to look forward for Google which recently acquired Simplify Media to expectedly turn it into iTunes rival for Android users. But for now the company's subsidiary AdMob reveals the amount of media bought or even downloaded by Android users is still so small that it cannot be compared with iTunes success.

New information received by BusinessWeek from anonymous Apple employee reveals that Steve Jobs began to regularly visit Cupertino's office only in January, 2010, though he returned to work after liver transplant in June 2009.

BusinessWeek sought comments from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and he said that he frequently speaks with his friend Steve Jobs and he looks healthy.

"Every time I hear him, he's doing a lot of work and a lot of thinking that's involved in that work, and those things sort of go away if you're very worried about your health".

Jobs announced about his temporary leaving in June 2009. He explained that the reason was about private matter. In September Jobs appeared at Apple's annual music event to present new iPods. It was his first appearance that year and that time he especially underlined his gratitude to a liver donor, who died in a car crash in his mid-20s.

After that Jobs was focused on iPad, and it is reported that he was personally involved in its development.

At this moment he is back at work and experts from Creative Strategies consulting firm say it is good news:

"Except for the fact that he's lost a lot of weight, he's the Steve Jobs of old. At the visionary level, technology and design level, he seems to be working at the same level he was before he was sick."

Dropbox is a great service similar to Apple’s iDisk. It lets you store your files on a server and immediately share your pictures, documents and other files across different computers and phones. Users can get 2Gb of server storage for free. There is an app for desktops, iPhone and other phones. recently a special version for iPad was released.

You can register and download the application for your desktop computer here (Windows, Mac and Linux). Here is a link to a free iPhone/iPad application in AppStore.

With DropBox on the iPad you can:

• Access your Dropbox on the go.
• All the contents of your Dropbox are available for viewing.
• You can even stream music and movies in your Dropbox straight to your iPad.
• Upload files and sync them to your Dropbox.
• Upload photos from your iPad and email its public link to a friend in less than a minute.
• Export files to other iPad apps.

This week Apple announced that it will shut down its previously acquired music service Lala on May 31. If you'll try to register there as a new user, you'll see a message box:

"Lala is shutting down. The Lala Service will be shut down May 31, 2010. Unfortunately, we are no longer accepting new members."

If you're an existing member of Lala, you'll be able to use the service until May 31. But since today you'll have no access to Web songs, gift cards (any unredeemed must be utilized) and wallets, and your credits will be automatically passed to iTunes. It is also announced by Lala if customer will request a check by May 31 they will write it.

Apple purchased Lala last year for $85 million. It was announced that this service will play a significant role in iTunes strategy. Lala's difference was that user was allowed to upload music from their hard drives and then listen to it from the service. Maybe now this function will be implemented in iTunes.

Few days ago Tidbits made a test of Apple's iPad's Camera Connection Kit. It was  found that the kit works fine with almost any USB microphone, headset or headphone. That means you can listen to music or even make VoIP-calls. It is reported that the quality of such calls is "terrific".

The Unofficial Apple Weblog also tested the kit and found USB keyboards to work pretty good. Well, this was expected because of official iPad Keyboard Dock support. The only problem is that USB keyboards don't have a dock so it is inconvenient to use with iPad.

As you see from the video below the kit allows you to import photos from the memory card and delete it. iPad can import not only usual images, but also RAW files from high-end cameras. Moreover, photos will be copied at full resolution and with EXIF metadata. Video may be also imported and processed with a simple editor. But note that any video clip that is larger than 640x480 and 5 megabytes will be shrunk.

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The same guy who two years ago ported Linux 2.6 kernel to the iPhone has yesterday posted a video of Adroid OS running on iPhone. He is a member of iPhone Dev-team and his nickname is Planetbeing.

What is more important, Android has been ported to iPhone with ability to choose what OS you'd like to work with on a boot. This was achieved by OpeniBoot bootloader, which is also developed by Planetbeing.

As it can be understood from the video, this is the alpha-version of Android for iPhone though most of the functions (such as playing music, making calls, browsing Internet) are working fine. The volume buttons serve as the "home" and "call" buttons.

Planetbeing has also posted image that can be downloaded here, but he also states this version works fine only with iPhone 2G. Porting to iPhone 3G must be simple, but there may be problems with delivering Android to iPhone 3GS.

Apple's iPhone OS 4 event ended just few hours ago and now we finally have fresh information about the upcoming operational system.

So the main idea claimed by Jobs was that it has seven tent poles. Here they are:

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Yesterday Apple released iTunes 9.1. With a new version you can sync with your iPad to enjoy music, TV shows, movies and many more while you're on the go. The app will help you to organize and synchronize books that have been downloaded from iBooks on your iPad. The improvements also include more freedom in managing Genius Mixes and several security updates. To learn more visit Apple Support page.

To update your iTunes select Software Update in the Apple Menu at the top left of the screen.

Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit consists of two adapters and will allow users to transfer digital photos directly to their iPad via either USB or SD card. Now it is listed in the Apple Store with late April as the shipping date. The price is $29. The kit supports all of the standard photo formats including JPEG and RAW.

It is still unclear if these adapters could be used as storage for videos and music.  For instance, you can buy this kit and several SD cards to and possibly increase iPad's storage.