Pandora Radio is the granddaddy of streaming music apps, and for years now, the company's iPhone app has been one of the most popular ways to use and interact with the service. Just today, the app has nabbed a big update, bringing it to version 4.3. The new update adds a redesigned interface, which lets you tap an album to see lyrics, artist info or other notes. You can also publish information directly to Facebook and share recommendations with your friends.

The update has been able to share tracks to Twitter and email for a while now, so the Facebook integration just adds to the functionality. The Pandora app itself is free, and you can subscribe to a premium service, called Pandora One, from directly inside the app.

Pandora app revamps interface, adds Facebook publishing originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 22 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Pandora app revamps interface, adds Facebook publishing originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 22 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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"Wait, who's Brett Terpstra? Does that guy still write here?" Yes, he does, on special occasions. The release of Lick of the Day 2.0 seemed like a decent reason to come out of hiding.

Lick of the Day is an app from Agile Partners for iPhone and iPad which teaches guitar players new skills in an easy-to-digest video and interactive format (see previous coverage by Matt Tinsley). With each lesson you get a high-quality video that includes explanations, fast and slow versions as well as tips for making the most of picking patterns and finger positions. Each lick also includes tab / notation, text narrative and backing tracks for practicing. The live fingerboard representation as the tab plays for you is one of my favorite parts of the app.

In version 2, Agile partners with TrueFire to include 20 new Lick Packs that cover 500 blues, rock, jazz, rockabilly and acoustic lessons. Basically, if you play guitar, there's something there to enhance your ability, whether you're just getting started or a seasoned pro. They don't talk down to you; they present the music theory and techniques while building from the simple to the highly skilled, with enough instruction along the way to get you there.

My personal guitar skills have enhanced tenfold over the last year, due in large part to this app. I'm excited to see all of the new content and features coming out in such a valuable part of my music toolkit. Check out Lick of the Day in the App Store. It's free, with each "Lick Pack" being an in-app purchase (US$2.99) with free samples from the pack to try out before purchasing.

Agile Partners releases Lick of the Day 2.0 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Agile Partners releases Lick of the Day 2.0 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I use my iPhone a lot to listen to music and podcasts in my car -- I connect it right up to my car stereo, and it's my main listening source while driving around LA. As a result, I really wish there were more options to control my music while driving around. Music- and podcast-streaming app Stitcher has introduced a new feature along these lines they're calling Car Mode, which is basically just a simplified interface with large, clear controls, so you can choose and play your music easily. There are also some other new features added into the app, including a new front page and faster playback. You can download Stitcher Radio for free on the App Store.

Unfortunately, this isn't really what I'm looking for -- this layout still requires you to pick up your phone and press buttons to use it, and that means that you'll still have to pull over to the side of the road to choose your music. (Because as we all know, using your cell phone while driving is illegal; just ask the LAPD.) What I'd really like to see from these streaming apps is Siri integration. I often will be driving around and get an urge to listen to a specific song or artist, and it'd be nice to use Siri to say something like, "Siri, play me some Rolling Stones," or "play me 'Bohemian Rhapsody,'" and have it automatically start playing.

I'm not sure that's entirely possible just yet, as Apple's API for Siri can be limited for some developers -- at this point, I think about all you can do is open an app. But hopefully that will change soon. The first streaming-audio app to let me start up and control songs in the car with just my voice will definitely have me interested in switching over to it.

Stitcher Radio announces a Car Mode, but it's not quite what I want originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 17 May 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Stitcher Radio announces a Car Mode, but it's not quite what I want originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 17 May 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The wait is over. Random Access Memories, Daft Punk's first proper album* since 2005's Human After All, is now streaming in its entirety over at iTunes. It features guest spots and contributions from Chilly Gonzales, Nile Rodgers, Pharrell Williams, Julian Casablancas and others. While the album doesn't officially hit stores until May 21, its leak earlier today most likely brought about this early stream.

Head over to iTunes to stream the album in one glorious 74-minute track. Don't worry, that's just the format of the stream. If you're not sold on Daft Punk or have been living presumably dance-free under a rock for a few years, we've included their delightful tune "Get Lucky" featuring Pharrell Williams for your listening pleasure below.

*Yes, they did the soundtrack for Tron: Legacy. No, we don't count that as a proper album.

New Daft Punk album Random Access Memories streaming on iTunes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 May 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

New Daft Punk album Random Access Memories streaming on iTunes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 May 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In February Amazon's Cloud Player was linked with Ford Sync AppLink-enabled vehicles ... at least for Android users. Now the service has been updated to allow users with iOS devices to sync their Amazon library with their 2013 Fords.

The current list of vehicles featuring Ford's Sync AppLink is limited, but includes the 2013 models of the Mustang, Focus, Fiesta, E-Series, C-Max Hybrid, Fusion, Expedition, Super Duty and the F-150. Sync AppLink allows users to control entertainment apps on their phone via voice commands and manual controls built into the steering wheel. [Note: the trim levels featuring Ford's MyFord Touch touchscreen console cannot, as of the current software release, use AppLink. -MTR]

Amazon's Cloud Player allows every customer to stream any album they've purchased at any point in time from Amazon. It's a great service you might not know you have access to. Recently I logged into my account to find my list had been updated with albums I'd purchased eight years ago. I've long since lost the original copies, so it was a delightful surprise.

Sync AppLink also works with other iOS applications such as Pandora, Spotify, NPR, Stitcher and more. You can see the full list on Ford's site. Note that some other AppLink supported apps, like Telenav Scout, currently only work with Android and not iOS.

Amazon's music service added to Ford AppLink for iOS users originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 08 May 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Amazon's music service added to Ford AppLink for iOS users originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 08 May 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are quite a few "drum simulator" apps on the iPad and the iPhone -- it's one of the first ideas a lot of developers had when the touchscreen devices became available, and lots of devs carried that idea out to release. But Drums! is one of the most popular of these apps -- it's gotten plenty of feature space from Apple, and has even been included in Apple Store demos for a while now.

Just recently, Drums! was updated to version 3.0, and the app has been completely redesigned. The drums (which you just tap on to activate) are now represented with Retina display graphics, the drum sounds have been remastered and the app now has a music player, to allow you to play along with your own music. You can still record your work, or you can now record both drums and music, and then send that track out to email, WiFi or other popular file-sharing services. There are also now more drums available via in-app purchase, and you can do drum tricks like hit a rimshot just by tapping in a certain spot on the drum.

Drums! is one of many drum-playing apps on the store, but it's a solid choice for sure. You can pick it up right now for just US$0.99.

[via App Advice]

Drums! gets redesigned for version 3.0 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 07 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Drums! gets redesigned for version 3.0 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 07 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We mentioned Songza's iOS app last year around when it came out, and the music sharing service has just updated the app to version 3.0. The free app has been almost completely reimagined, and while it still offers plenty of tunes to listen to, the interface has been revamped -- it's much cleaner, flatter, and has some nice bits of plain color included. The "Concierge" service is still there and upgraded, so if you simply tell the app what you're doing, it'll try to get you some music to do that with. The company has also focused on ease-of-use, so for example, just holding down any Concierge station button will start up the music, no matter what, so you can get things rolling as quickly as possible.

The new version also includes an updated "HQ Audio" system, so the tunes you're hearing can sound as good as possible. As before, Songza can be downloaded for free, and whether you missed it or have wandered away from the app in the past, the latest version adds enough new that it's definitely worth another look.

Elias Roman, Songza's co-founder, also tells TUAW that the company has hit a few new milestones recently. The app has just seen its 6 millionth install from the App Store, and served over 560 million songs in just the last month. Songza claims 4.7 million monthly active users, and it says that in total those users spend over 65 million minutes playing tunes every day. That's a sizable user base for sure, and we'll have to see if this updated version makes Songza even more popular.

Songza 3.0 update available now originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 02 May 2013 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Songza 3.0 update available now originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 02 May 2013 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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polychord (US$9.99) is a virtual instrument for making and creating keyboard / electronic-style music on the iPad. With its easy-to-use approach and layout, polychord makes it painless to get your head around the basics and start making some really lovely sounding and creatively inspiring music. Whether you're an expert musician looking to perform live or a novice, you'll find polychord engaging and fun.

There are two main components to playing polychord: chord circles and strum keys. There are nine Chord circles, each representing a chord that is derived from the musical key you've selected. Each chord circle has seven chord inversions around it, so you can play a variant of the root chord (minor, major seventh, augmented fifth etc). This gives you 63 chords to play in total in a really straight forward and easy-to-read (and touch) structure.

Strum keys is a virtual keyboard with 13 keys or individual notes that are derived from the corresponding chord circle you're playing at the time. There are no keys present that wouldn't melodically fit in with the chord circle you're playing. Strum keys is placed horizontally at the edge of the iPad, making it really easy to reach for and play, as opposed to so many virtual keyboards that mimic a traditional piano layout. You can play individual or multiple keys, or strum the strum keys up and down, which produces a very satisfying sound. Additionally, swipe the keys to pitch bend or add tremolo. polychord lets you specify strum keys to play a specific scale pattern, like blues pentatonic, dominant Bebop or Ionian, depending on the style of music you're looking to play.

The idea is to play chords with the chord circles and a melody over the chords with the strum keys. In theory, polychord makes it nigh on impossible to hit a wrong note, and with very little practice you'll soon have some nice chord circle progressions and strum keys melodies under your belt.

Once you've got an idea for a song, turn on Auto Accompany to add drums and bass (27 patterns) to your track. There's also a customizable arpeggiator which plays the notes of the chord you're currently on. When you switch chords, Auto Accompany's drums, bass and arepggiator will follow you. It all adds much more dynamic to your song.

For more advanced musicians, and those wanting to dig deeper, polychord lets you mould and tinker the sound with some very practical variations and customizations (filters, envelope control, warm and fat waves, bitshift mode and timing). It's all accessible and generally designed to be tweaked on the fly, particularly in live performances.

When playing, everything is really responsive, with very little noticeable latency, so it really does feel like you're playing an instrument while you're tapping away on polychord.

Additional features include saving and exporting, sharing with Soundcloud, Twitter and Facebook, MIDI (for using polychord as a controller with a DAW) as well as virtual MIDI (controlling other apps) and finally, full Audiobus support and integration.

Speaking of Audiobus integration, polychord with a few other choice music apps on iPad (see video below) really does make for an exciting and rewarding music-making experience.

Spending some time with polychord, the things I loved about it most are just how engaging and playable it is. And it sounds great, too! If you're looking to approach a musical task from a different angle (like songwriting), polychord is a great way to inspire and think differently. Or if you're a beginner, or someone looking to kill some time, polychord is also just a lot of fun, too!

polychord is available from the iOS App Store now. For more info on polychord, check out the polychord website here.

polychord for iPad: an inspiring way to create music originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 01 May 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

polychord for iPad: an inspiring way to create music originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 01 May 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thanks to the guys at Chromatic Labs, we've got three copies of Tabular for Mac to give away, worth US$19.99 each.

Tubular is a comprehensive application for reading, editing and writing tablature music on a Mac. If you're a musician, music teacher or composer of music who's looking to use tablature, Tabular has all the tools you'll need.

To find out more about Tabular, check out the review I did of it a little while ago here.

Here are the rules and how to enter:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button.
• The entry must be made before 3, May 2013 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Three winners will be selected and will each receive a code to download Tabular for Mac with a value of $19.99.
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

TUAW Giveaway: Win a copy of Tabular for Mac originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 27 Apr 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAW Giveaway: Win a copy of Tabular for Mac originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 27 Apr 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I am not a fan of the Apple EarPods that come with the iPhone 5, so when id America sent a pair of their new Metropolitan In-Ear Headphones (US$29.95) I was eager to give them a try.

My main complaint with the EarPods is that they refuse to stay in my ears, preferring instead to pop out at inopportune times during important phone calls. Then again, I've never been fond of in-ear headphones either, since they're usually quite uncomfortable. But my frustration with the EarPods was enough to make me give the Metropolitans a try.

Design and Functionality

The headphones come with four sets of tips -- one made out of memory foam, the other three made of a rubber material. I tried the memory foam tips first, basically treating them like the pair of memory foam earplugs I own -- squishing them down, inserting them into my ear canal, and then letting them expand to fit.

The memory foam tips were tight and did a good job of blocking out ambient sound, but I found them to be quite uncomfortable. That left the rubber plugs to try. Fortunately, changing the tips is easy to accomplish -- it just takes a pull to take off a set and a good push to install the new set. The Metropolitan headphones are made from aluminum, so there's no concern that you're going to break them.

I must have the world's most narrow ear canals, as the smallest set of rubber ear tips worked beautifully. With the ear end of the headphones figured out, I plugged the gold-plated right-angle connector into the audio port of my iPhone 5 and started listening to music. The Metropolitan headphones are definitely stronger on the bass end than Apple's EarPods, so if you're a fan of really loud rock you're gonna love these. I tried several music genres, playing with the iPhone's equalizer (Settings > Music > EQ) to sweeten the experience on several albums. What I found was that the Metropolitan headphones also have really decent treble response, too.

The Metropolitan features a fabric covered cable, which I found to be somewhat noisier than the rubberized coating Apple uses on the EarPods. That's not an issue if you're sitting still listening to music or talking on a phone call, but it an be annoying to hear the rustle of clothing against the cable if you're moving a lot.

There's a microphone and remote on the cable in the usual spot. When on the phone, pressing the single remote button once answers a call; pressing it again hangs up. While listening to music, a single press pauses or restarts music playback. A double press is used to skip to the next track on a playlist, while a triple press skips to the previous track. Siri is just a long press-and-hold away, and rejecting an incoming phone call can be accomplished by holding down the button for about two seconds. My only gripe here is that there's no volume control from the headphone button -- you have to change volume on the device.

When used with the iPhone 5 to make phone calls (people actually do that on occasion...), my phone call recipients found the voice quality to be about the same as it was from the EarPods -- in other words, not that great. I think there's just something inherently wrong with the dinky microphones used in headphones of any sort.

If you're tired of Apple's white EarPods and cables, that may be worth the price of the Metropolitan headphones alone as they come in Brilliant Red, Navy Blue, Lime Green, Rose Pink, and Jet Black in addition to the Aluminum Silver I tested. In each case, the cable color matches the headphone hue.

Conclusion

Apple's EarPods are included with every new iPhone and the latest iPods, but they don't appeal to everyone's tastes. id America's Metropolitan cost about a dollar more than the Apple 'pods, and can provide a much more comfortable listening experience for people who don't like the feel or functionality of the Apple product. They're much less expensive than the $150 Beats Tour In-Ear headphones that I've tried before and offer sound quality that's not that much different.

Pros

• Excellent price point
• Fabric-coated cables don't tangle easily
• Includes a small cloth carrying bag
• One set of memory foam ear tips, three sizes of rubber ear tips included
• Sound quality meets or beats other in-ear headphones that are much more expensive

Cons

• No volume control on the button/mic
• Noise of cable bumping against clothing can be annoying when in motion
• Microphone isn't very sensitive

Who is it for?

• Anyone who finds the standard Apple EarPods to be uncomfortable or loose, but doesn't want to spend an arm and a leg for quality in-ear headphones.

id America's Metropolitan in-ear headphones offer comfort, great sound and a bargain price originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 26 Apr 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

id America's Metropolitan in-ear headphones offer comfort, great sound and a bargain price originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 26 Apr 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I remain a big fan of Slayin, a little game that got released on the App Store a while ago, that compresses a full fantasy-style RPG into a fascinating little endless game. I think the game's mechanics (where you simply move back and forth across the screen, holding your weapon out in front of you, as you kill monsters and collect money and XP) are my favorite part about it, but the soundtrack's good as well. And now, composer Matt Creamer has released the Slayin soundtrack for download over on Bandcamp, where it's now available for you to listen to and download directly.

The in-game theme is a particularly excellent piece of 8-bit music, but almost everything there is good, and there are even some unreleased tracks for real Slayin fans to check out. The price is name-your-own, so technically you could grab it for free, but the composer definitely deserves a few bucks at least for his work.

And if you haven't heard any of these sounds in the game yet, you definitely should. Slayin is one of my favorites on the App Store so far this year, and it's available for US$0.99 right now.

Slayin soundtrack now available originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Slayin soundtrack now available originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After reviewing a cubic buttload of Bluetooth speakers over the last few years, it takes a lot to get me excited. Fortunately, I recently received a Bēm Mobile Speaker (US$69.99) to test and it restored my faith in accessory manufacturers being able to create things I'd like to buy.

Design

The Bēm (pronounced "beam") Mobile Speaker is small; a cube 2.5 inches on a side weighing a scant 8.6 ounces. I somehow think that Steve Jobs would have approved of the cube design...

Don't think that because it's tiny that it can't pump out the sound. My first test with the speaker came when my wife was on a phone call downstairs, and she was wondering why I was blasting music. When I showed her how small the speaker was, she was as impressed as I am.

Gallery: Bēm Mobile Speaker

The review Bēm was flat black; it also comes in purple, red, green, orange and white. The surface is made of a soft touch plastic material that gives it a good feel when you're handling it. There's a gray base of the same material on the bottom that keeps the Bēm from sliding on slick surfaces.

There are minimal buttons on the Bēm; just volume up/down buttons and a play/pause button on the front and a power/pair button on the base.

On the back of the unit are aux in/out audio ports, a mini-USB port for charging, and two tiny LEDs; one to indicate Bluetooth connectivity, the other to indicate charging status.

Functionality

Like I mentioned, I just can't believe the sound that comes out of this diminutive box. It's not stereo, of course, being a single speaker, but Bēm makes up for it with sheer volume. It's surprisingly good sound, with very little distortion even with the volume all the way up.

The buttons didn't work too well for me; I'm not sure if the device has gone through a bunch of reviewers or if I had a unit that was slightly defective, but the touch buttons seemed to be a little flaky in operation. A few taps on the up volume would work fine, but then unexpectedly the volume would be at maximum. Strange...

I love the fact that Bēm chose to use a nice small AC adapter for charging instead of one of the huge bricks that some other manufacturers have included with speakers. The fact that they even included an AC adapter is a good thing; many manufacturers now are just including a USB cable.

Pairing was a cinch and quite fast; no special buttons or codes were required, it just paired. I was pretty happy with that process.

I was unable to test the battery life of the Bēm Mobile Speaker; the company says that it will last for about six hours on each charge.

Conclusion

The Bēm Mobile Speaker is an extremely portable and surprisingly loud Bluetooth speaker that is a perfect companion for your iOS device.

Pros

• Reasonably priced for a quality Bluetooth speaker
• Simple pairing process
• Very loud volume, good sound quality
• Attractive and simple design
• Includes small AC adapter

Cons

• Buttons on review device were a little flaky

Who is it for?

• Anyone who wants a powerful speaker that takes up very little space.

Bēm Mobile Speaker will have you beaming originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bēm Mobile Speaker will have you beaming originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With so much competition already existing in the streaming music world, the Twitter #Music app faces the same problem as every new service -- how do they set themselves apart from the competition? The answer for Twitter is discovery; more specifically helping users discover new musical artists along the lines of the ones they already follow.

It takes a few minutes to learn how to navigate the app, but once you understand the ins and outs you'll be flying. There are four screens: Popular, Emerging, Suggested, and #NowPlaying.

Popular features the artists who are currently trending on Twitter. Emerging showcases smaller artists who are building twitter buzz, although at the moment it's not clear how they judge if someone is "emerging" or not. Suggested compiles artists based on who you already follow. And #NowPlaying is based on the music your followers are listening to.

Music is displayed on tiles with the artist's picture or logo. Simply click on the tile and hear the song by that artist. It's a little disappointing that you're limited to only one song per artist to listen to, especially if you're using the most basic function where the music is simply an iTunes preview clip. The service allows you to connect your Spotify or Rdio account to listen to full songs however. Using the app with just iTunes clips feels like a waste of time, but when given access to the full song the potential for music discovery increases dramatically. For instance, I had no idea M83 recorded new music for the upcoming film Oblivion and now I do. Thanks, Twitter #Music.

#NowPlaying is the most actively social component of the service. It shows you what your friends are listening to and specifically which friend recommended it. Given the limited use of the service right now there weren't a lot of recommendations available for checking out, but it was neat to see what one of the obscure rock bands I like was sharing at the moment.

Whether this service strikes you as merely a fun distraction or an exciting new way to discover music will probably depend on how much you use your Twitter feed to discover music. I tested it with two different Twitter accounts, one for a music blog I write for that mostly follows bands, and my own personal account that basically only follows a punk band and rappers I think are funny.

The end result is easy to predict. The more artists you follow on Twitter the better the suggestions proposed for you are going to be. Otherwise you're going to find the to-be-expected list of Top 40 and popular indie rock acts you find in every streaming services recommendations.

It's also worth noting that suggested songs tend to pick older tracks for some artists. The band Alkaline Trio is represented by their newest single "I Wanna Be a Warhol" while indie rocker Kevin Devine brings up his 2005 song "Cotton Crush." "Cotton Crush" is a great song, but Devine has put out three solo albums since then. On one hand I appreciate including deeper cuts in an artist's discography; on the other it seems strange for a new music discover service to reach that deep when it only offers one song by an artist at a time.

Twitter #Music is a clever new way to discover music based on the stuff you already like. It's hard to judge the suggestions too harshly when you take into account they are largely based on the suggestions of mainstream Twitter users. The app more than makes up for it with their personalization based on your own personal use. I'd like to see future updates add the ability to listen to more than one track by a single artist, but even in its current form Twitter #Music is going to be getting a lot of use on my iPhone.

Twitter #Music app helps you find tunes by who you follow originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Twitter #Music app helps you find tunes by who you follow originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As reported by ABC News, the new Twitter #Music app will officially launch today. It will be available through the Twitter #Music app for iPhone and on the web here.

Details are coming in this morning. A post has been published to Twitter's blog with a lot of information. The Twitter #Music app will help you discover music based on what's trending on Twitter, bands and others you follow and music gleaned from tweets. Basically, a music recommendation service based on tweets!

According to Twitter, it pulls music from iTunes Rdio or Spotify. Music previews will default to iTunes, and those who subscribe to Rdio or Spotify can log into their accounts and enjoy full tracks as they're available. Twitter notes that other music services will be added in the future.

It's going to be fun to play with and we'll have a detailed look at #Music soon.

Update: Twitter #Music is available it the App Store now.

Twitter #Music to debut later today (Update) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Twitter #Music to debut later today (Update) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chromatic Lab's Tabular (US$19.99) is an all-in-one application for reading, editing and writing tablature music with a Mac. If you're a musician, music teacher or composer of music, on a percussive or stringed instrument, and you use tablature instead of music notation, Tabular has got all the bases covered.

With a detailed, built-in interactive tutorial to get you started and help you understand and learn tab music, and an easy-to-use interface with Retina display support, Tabular is simple to get your head around and a pleasure to use.

For starters, Tabular is a place to store all your tab music. Its library feature allows you to group and organize your tab music in one easy-to-find place. Import Guitar Pro 5 or MIDI files into Tabular and export them as PDF, MIDI or plain-text (ASCII) formats.

When it comes to reading and practicing, Tabular has a looping function, adjustable playback / tempo speed -- so you can start slow and increase the speed as you improve -- and a configurable speed trainer that increases the tempo after every loop -- a challenging way to encourage honing your skills. Tabular also keeps track of your hard work with practice logs.

If you compose, Tabular makes it really easy to enter tab using the keyboard. A virtual fretboard displays where each note is played. At your disposal is a large bank of notations, including legato, vibrato, bends and grace notes, to name a few. One feature I particularly like is custom templates, where you can create and save your most common instrument configurations as a template. Tabular also has full printing support.

Finally, Tabular supports full rendering of the musical staff, meaning you can see the music in notation form alongside the tablature.

If you are learning to play, practice or teach a stringed instrument (with three - 12 strings) or a percussive instrument -- and you don't read music notation -- Tabular is a fantastic way to organize, practice and write tablature music.

Tabular for Mac makes reading and writing tab music easy originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 18 Apr 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Tabular for Mac makes reading and writing tab music easy originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 18 Apr 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nearly 10 years after the iTunes Music Store first opened up for business, iTunes remains the market leader in digital music downloads.

According to a research report published by the NPD Group earlier this week, iTunes accounted for approximately 63 percent of all digital music downloads in 2012. Trailing behind is AmazonMP3 with a somewhat respectable 22 percent share. While Amazon has a ways to go before even getting close to Apple, the world's largest online retailer has been making significant gains in that regard. In 2011, Amazon's share of the digital music download market checked in at 15 percent, representing a solid 50 percent increase year over year.

"Since the launch of Apple's iTunes store, digital music downloads have become the dominant revenue source for the recorded music industry and iTunes continues to be the dominant retailer," said Russ Crupnick, senior vice president of industry analysis at NPD. "There's a belief that consumers don't need to buy music because of streaming options, when in fact streamers are much more likely than the average consumer to buy music downloads."

The report adds that 44 million Americans downloaded a digital song or album last year.

To help contextualize the raging success that is the iTunes Music Store, Apple in early February announced that consumers had downloaded over 25 billion songs. That averages out to about 15,000 songs downloaded per minute.

The iTunes Music Store currently offers over 26 million songs to choose from and is available in 119 countries.

iTunes maintains its music download dominance as Amazon plays catch-up originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iTunes maintains its music download dominance as Amazon plays catch-up originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rockstar, the developers of the very popular Grand Theft Auto series, has kindly set up playlists for every one of the series' radio stations, for use in both iTunes and Spotify. The GTA series is well-known for its music, and when Rockstar ported both GTA3 and GTA: Vice City over to iOS, we were fortunate enough to get the great soundtracks with them. But, of course, you can't always be playing the game, so if you want to listen to the music on your own, you can load one of these up in iTunes, and listen away.

Unfortunately, the games' commercials are not available in iTunes. Rockstar has set up a special "Advertising Council" site to let you listen in directly to the hilarious parody commercials from the series instead.

And of course this is all done in prelude to the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 5, expected sometime later on this year. No word yet if there'll be a Mac (or even an iOS) release for the newest game, but we'll keep an ear open.

[via Joystiq]

Rockstar shares the Grand Theft Auto soundtracks on iTunes and Spotify originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Rockstar shares the Grand Theft Auto soundtracks on iTunes and Spotify originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We see tons of app updates come through the App Store every single day, but it's very rare that one of those updates removes functionality rather than adds it. The latest update for Bump for iPhone does exactly that, unfortunately. Bump is an app that came out very early in the App Store's life, and its core feature was that you could "bump" with another iPhone user to share contacts. Over the years, Bump has added more and more sharing features, to the point where it can now share files, work with Dropbox and even connect up with a Mac directly.

Last year, the company added the ability to "share" music from phone to phone, basically by sharing the song's information, and then by looking that song up on the target phone across YouTube and iTunes. But that feature no longer works, as per the app's latest update. It could be that Apple didn't like music being "shared" across phones without their standard cut being paid, or it could be that Bump just didn't think the code was working as well as it should. At any rate, you can't share music in Bump any longer.

The good news is that if you have a version of Bump that will share music, you can simply keep that version by not upgrading to the new one, and you can also keep the functionality. You can even drag the app out of your iTunes library (if you've installed it from an iTunes client), and save it elsewhere, in case you ever accidentally upgrade. True, this one feature may not justify having to remember not to upgrade the app every time (and you'll miss out on any future Bump features), but if it's something you depend on, there are ways to keep it active.

Bump removes ability to share iTunes tracks in latest update originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bump removes ability to share iTunes tracks in latest update originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Turntable.fm is one of the many social streaming music sites out there -- it allows you and your friends to stream music and even listen in together to your favorite albums and songs. The company already has its own standalone app for the App Store, but it's trying a new tactic now to grab attention in this increasingly crowded streaming market, releasing a new app called Piki (a misspelling of "picky," I guess) that's centered not just around listening to music, but also around sharing recommendations and favorites.

Just like any other streaming app out there (Pandora, Slacker and Rdio are all popular variants on this), Piki lets you pull up radio stations that will automatically fill with music and stream it out to wherever you happen to be. The difference here is that instead of coming from a computer or even a radio producer, these stations are filled with music recommended by your friends and other members of the service. You can provide reactions to the music as well, and then those picks are incorporated in other users' music, too.

I know Pandora does use user preferences to rate its various music streams, and while Slacker's big claim is that they're using actual radio producers to pick some playlists, this is definitely an interesting idea, especially if you've got friends using the app with some excellent taste in music. And the fact that Turntable.fm is branding it under a completely different name shows that things are getting hectic in the streaming business. They're doing whatever they can to nail down an audience of listeners. If you're down to put an ear on some new tunes recommended by your fellow listeners, Piki is currently available on the App Store for free.

Turntable.fm releases Piki app, for music recommendations and streaming originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Turntable.fm releases Piki app, for music recommendations and streaming originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Do you know your intervals? Your minor second, fifth or major seventh from a given root note? Or a major harmonic scale from a mixolydian chordal mode? Not only can you read it and play it, but can you hear it?

With 10 different exercise modes, Better Ears will train you to hear, play and read music in a simple and intuitive way. The app provides training ranging from interval and scale recognition to key signature recognition and chord music reading.

The app comes with two modes: learning and training. There are four levels of difficulty, from beginner to professional. Choose your level and start with an area to learn. For example, choose beginner and scale recognition. You're be presented with ionian and pentatonic major scales and aeolian and pentatonic minor scales. Click on one, and the scale is played and displayed on the virtual keyboard (or guitar fretboard), written on the music score, and an explanation of what the scale is and what it means is displayed from Wikipedia.

When you feel confident that you can recognize, play and read the scales, switch to training mode and hit the play button. The scale is played and you have to listen and identify what kind of scale it is. If you get it wrong, Better Ears tells you what the right answer is and then moves on to the next question. Better Ears gives you stats and feedback on how well you're doing and whether you're improving or not.

Better Ears has many different virtual sounds, so if you're learning an instrument other than piano, you're sure to find something that suits your instrument. For keyboard / piano players, you can hook up a MIDI keyboard and play using that instead of the virtual one. It's a brilliant way to practice your scales and become familiar with the instrument.

I really like Better Ears. It bundles theory and application into one easy-to-use package. There are no rules as to how you practice, you just go for it. It also looks good and performs well. However, I would love to see an easier way to practice the exercises in a given key. At present, Better Ears moves all around the keys as it cycles through the exercises. You can limit to one key from a control menu, but it would be nice to have an upfront way of controlling such parameters, so you can focus on practicing in one key.

Better Ears is available from the Mac App Store now for $24.99 or the beginner-only version is free.

Better Ears: A music theory and ear training app for Mac originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Better Ears: A music theory and ear training app for Mac originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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