radio posts

Grooveshark reaches deal with EMI, more big things just around the corner

by Lee Mathews Oct 13th 2009

I love my Grooveshark pro subscription - I paid for it a while back when the new VIP preview went live and I've never regretted it. With more new features rolling out and a major announcement today, the service keeps getting better and better.

Today's big news: EMI Music and EMI Music Publishing have come on board to "create a mutually sustainable deal which represents the future of digital music," said Grooveshark CEO Sam Tarantino.

In layman's terms: Grooveshark listeners now have access to EMI's massive catalog of tunes. In a brief phone chat with Grooveshark's Joshua Bonnanain, I got the distinct impression that this was just the start. While he didn't spell out any specifics for me (we love a good mystery anyway) I'm hoping that the ability to buy and download playlists is coming soon. I'd much rather use Grooveshark for my purchases than iTunes - Josh said stay tuned, wheels are turning.

Some added coolness for current VIPs: there are now half a dozen new themes available to use and added options for the now playing bar. You can choose either no cover art, or artwork in two different sizes. It's an awesome option, especially if you use Grooveshark on both small and large displays.

Reaching a deal with EMI is fantastic news - here's hoping other labels follow suit.

Tags: audio, EMI, grooveshark, mp3, music, online-radio, radio, streaming

Filed under: Audio, web 2.0

Last.fm HD radio stations coming to major US cities

by Jay Hathaway Sep 11th 2009

CBS, the parent company of Last.fm, is launching HD radio stations in the four largest US markets, powered by Last.fm. We've seen traditional radio stations go online before, but it's rare to see an online service take to the airwaves like this. The stations will play music based on Last.fm's weekly charts, which sounds like a Web 2.0 twist on the old call-in countdown votes on the radio stations of my childhood.

To tune in to the actual stations you'll need to be in LA, New York, Chicago or San Francisco, and have an HD radio. That means this might be a bigger win for HD radio adoption in general than for Last.fm in particular. If people are going to start buying HD receivers, it'll be because there's enough quality content to make the investment worth it. Last.fm's stations might be a good start.

If you're not, though, you can still catch the online streaming version of the station through the Last.fm site or through Last.fm's mobile apps. Listeners can also expect in-studio performance and interviews from a studio Last.fm has set up in New York. With data from over 25 million users, Last.fm might be taking the mystery out of the formula for radio success. I wonder if they'll dig up some obscure gems, too, or whether it'll just be the popular stuff.

[via Wired]

Tags: cbs, hd, last.fm, music, radio

Filed under: Audio, News, iPhone

Rejoice, news nerds! NPR arrives on the iPhone

by Jay Hathaway Aug 17th 2009

NPR has launched a new iPhone app with that's so good it might replace both your computer and your radio as your favorite way to listen to the news. The app allows you to listen to live streams from hundreds of NPR news stations, as well as reading and listening to archived stories. All told, you're getting over 1,000 stations, news programs and live streams on your iPhone for free.

To keep all this content organized, you can add stories to your queue and listen to them in order. If you're just interested in what's playing on your local station, you can easily locate it using the NPR app and your iPhone's GPS. The NPR app is more than news, though: it also lets you listen to popular programs like Car Talk and Fresh Air. If they're on air anywhere in the country, you'll see an "on air" badge, meaning you can listen live. For shows that aren't live at the moment, you'll still be able to listen to the most recent episode on demand.

[via Mashable]

Tags: iphone, news, NPR, public-radio, radio

Filed under: Audio, Business, Web services

Pandora stays alive by reaching workable royality rates

by Jay Hathaway Jul 7th 2009

There's been a lot of news about the stalled negotiations between online radio providers, artists and record labels, but that seems to have come to an end, and at least one online music site is very happy about it. Pandora, a popular music player and recommendation service, was at the top of the list of possible casualties in the royalty battle, but thanks to the new agreement - which requires Pandora to pay out 25% of its U.S. revenue to SoundExchange in exchange for a whopping 40-50% reduction in royalty rates. According to the company, this means a fighting change to turn a profit in the near future.

The effect on listeners is going to be fairly small. If you listen to over 40 hours a month of Pandora, there'll be a 99 cent charge that buys you unlimited listening for the month.If you're a Pandora One subscriber, you still get unlimited listening with no new charges. This agreement is in place until 2015. Other "pure play" music services like Pandora will be operating under the same deal, but there are carve-outs for small webcasters.

[via TechCrunch]

Tags: music, pandora, radio, royalities, soundexchange, streaming, webcasters

Filed under: Audio, Business, News

Congress extends deadline for Internet radio royalty negotiations

by Jay Hathaway Jun 20th 2009

Royalties have been a bone of contention between major record labels and Internet radio stations for years, and now it looks like the two sides only have 30 more days to iron out an agreement. After they failed to agree by the February 2009 deadline that Congress set last year, Congress took action to extend the deadline to 30 days from last Wednesday.

Until last year, the Copyright Royalty Board had the authority to determine the rates webcasters would have to pay for songs, but a 2008 bill called for negotiation on the issue instead. What's missing from all the coverage of this extension is what happens if an agreement can't be reached by the new deadline. According to the bill -- which was passed without amendment -- after the 30 day period passes, no agreement can be reached under the existing provisions, which means the rules of the game could change again at Congress' whim.

[via AppScout]

Tags: congress, music, radio, RIAA, royalties, webcasting

Filed under: Audio, Fun, Internet, Beta, web 2.0, Web

Tunerec streams the songs you want from a library of thousands

by Lee Mathews Dec 19th 2008

I love Last.Fm, but sometimes I'd prefer to listen to songs I've chosen myself. Services like Plorf and Tagoo are one way I can do that, but the files they link to probably aren't legal and sometimes disappear from one day to the next.

Tunerec, on the other hand, may have a system that will ensure your cloud-based playlists keep working. According to the site, everything is totally legal and all it requires is a little bit of patience. Ok, a lot of patience.

How does it work? Once you're registered Tunerec will automatically begin "recording" tracks into your library. The process seems a bit slow, but only because of the sheer volume. I received my beta code yesterday and currently have 17,056 tracks available and the number is steadily climbing.

I'm assuming that the process is necessary to keep things "legal," though I can't say for certain. There's not a whole lot of information on the site about how it works.

There is, of course, a social element to the service. Invite your friends and you'll be able to subscribe to their playlists and share tracks amongst yourselves.

Overall, Tunerec works quite well. Audio quality is excellent, and I'm very happy with the songs I've got at my disposal. It's currently in closed beta, so head on over and request a code to get started!

Tags: mp3, music, radio, streaming

Filed under: Audio, Web

Surf the world's radio stations with Radio Beta

by Brad Linder Dec 5th 2008

There are dozens of web sites that aggregate radio streams from around the globe. But Radio Beta is one of the few that I've found that lets you surf by geographic location and not just genre.

Want to find that old station you used to listen to when you went to college in Chicago, but can't remember its call letters? Just click the "Radios from United States" link and browse until you find it. Always wondered what drive time radio sounds like in Australia? You can search by country too.

Radio streams are also sorted by genre, allowing you to peruse a huge list of rock, pop, 60s, 70s, or 80s music. Or if you know the station you're looking for you can just use the search box.

Radio Beta has its own audio player built in, which allows you to listen to music while searching the site. The player only works with Firefox and Internet Explorer for now.

[via AppScout]

Tags: music, radio, radio-beta

Filed under: Audio, web 2.0, Web

Working Browser - Compare your job

by Brad Linder Nov 14th 2008

The folks behind the Working series of radio stories that have been running on public radio program Marketplace, have put together a nifty Flash-based Working Browser. The radio stories explore some of the more unusual occupations of people around the world. But the Working Browser allows anybody to create a profile and rate their job satisfaction, describe their compensation, and answer a few other questions.

Right now there are only a handful or profiles, but the web site only launched yesterday. As more people enter their information, the site will provide an interesting way to see what people do for a living and how they feel about it. In addition to browsing profiles, you can sort the browser by categories like gender, education, compensation, length of commute, and other variables to see how many people fall within each category.

Tags: radio, working, working-browser

Filed under: Internet, Video, Social Software

Barack Obama plans to post weekly YouTube address

by Brad Linder Nov 14th 2008

For years, the president of the United States has delivered a weekly radio address to the nation. President-elect Barack Obama plans to be the first to videotape that weekly address and post it on YouTube.

The move shouldn't come as a huge surprise. The Obama campaign used new media tools like Twitter, YouTube, and text messaging as a key part of its effort over the past two years. But it's a bit silly to point out that Obama will be the first president to use YouTube in this way, as Obama's transition team is trying to do. The video sharing site didn't exist when President George W. Bush was running for office. So all it really means is that President Bush didn't use YouTube.

While Obama won't be sworn in as president until January, he has started to deliver the weekly Democratic Party radio address, which will also be videotaped and uploaded to YouTube and to Change.gov.

[via Mashable]

Tags: barack-obama, obama, president, radio, weekly-radio-address, youtube

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Windows, Freeware

Screamer: Portable Internet Radio Streamer

by Lee Mathews Aug 25th 2008

While I know it's no big deal to dump a couple of gigs of music onto my 8GB flash drive, sometimes it's nice to fire up some streaming radio for a change of pace.

Screamer is available both as an installable application and as a portable executable. Go with the portable version, and you'll be able to take your presets with you wherever you can plug in your USB flash drive.

Click on presets, and Screamer will bury you under a mountain of radio streams. Browse by genre, geographical location, network, or language. Once you make a selection, its category heading will automatically be added to the bottom of the preset list for easy channel changing.

I tune in The Edge, and Screamer adds the rest of the Modern Rock category for me. Slick.

Favorite your top feeds and Screamer saves them in a simple XML file - handy for emailing your faves to a buddy, if you feel like sharing.

Recording is supported, though only on streams that provide track information. You'll still need an app like StreamRipper for recording other feeds.

Development is very active, and new streams are added frequently. You can request a specific one by visiting their forums. Screamer is freeware, Windows only.

Tags: internet radio, InternetRadio, radio, streaming, streaming music, streaming radio, StreamingMusic, StreamingRadio

Filed under: Audio, Internet, AOL

AOL Radio: Now with CBS

by Brad Linder Jun 10th 2008

AOL has relaunched AOL Radio, with live streams from 140 CBS-owned radio stations from around the country in addition to hundreds of web-only channels. That includes a handful of talk radio stations and dozens of music stations. But more importantly, the CBS deal could help AOL bring in local advertising deals, which could be a vital component in making AOL Radio profitable.

The New York Times reports that Arbitron rating show that AOL Radio has a larger weekly audience than any other web radio service. But the cost of providing the bandwidth for radio streams and paying royalties for the rights to stream the music is high, and the company has yet to turn a profit from its online radio efforts.

The deal with CBS replaces a similar partnership AOL had with XM Satellite Radio.

The new AOL Radio Player also features support for Safari, preset buttons and support for pausing radio streams and skipping some songs.

Tags: aol-radio, cbs, internet-radio, online-radio, radio

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Video, Blogging, Web services, Search, web 2.0

Redlasso offers bloggers TV/radio searchable database, but it's in trouble!

by Danny Mendez May 21st 2008

Redlasso is a database stuffed with the latest TV and radio programming, allowing registered users to search for and "lasso" out clips in order to imbed them on other sites. "Virtually all media" (TV, Radio, streaming internet programming, podcasts) is indexed in almost real-time, says the Redlasso site.

Although the company swears it is negotiating deals with several content partners, it received a cease-and-desist letter from three major TV networks on Monday. They accuse Redlasso of creating a "business based on the unauthorized syndication of" others' content. Though it doesn't seem to be enough, Redlasso monitors all member accounts (to make sure no one's watching extended amounts of programming) to ease the minds of content owners.

The service is intended solely for bloggers and other web publishers. As a result, expect some type of application process when requesting an account. As for us, we're waiting on our acceptance emails. The service is free, but it is currently in closed beta, meaning its unavailable to the general public.

Tags: cips, clip, radio, redlasso, television, tv

Filed under: Audio, Podcasting, web 2.0

Introducing an occasional series - Download Pod

by Brad Linder Apr 18th 2008

We spend a lot of time in front of our computers. But when we finally step away, you know what we like to do? Relax with a good book. No, just kidding! We download digital media from our computers and enjoy it on the go. With that in mind, today we're starting an occasional series bringing you reviews of some of our favorite audio and video podcasts.

We're going to try to avoid the big names at the top of the iTunes charts and bring you some of the more obscure podcasts we think are worth listening to. But that doesn't mean we won't don't love us some Science Friday from NPR or Diggnation. It just means that you're probably already well aware of them. We'd rather tell you about the Naked Scientists, Digital Planet, and Love & Radio.

If you have suggestions for podcasts you think we should check out, let us know in the comments. And stay tuned for our first irregularly scheduled review.

Tags: diggnation, digital-planet, download-pod, podcasts, radio, science-friday

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Windows Mobile, Web services, Freeware, Social Software, Mobile Minute, web 2.0

Last.fm hits Windows Mobile

by Danny Mendez Jan 10th 2008

Fancy Last.fm? Fancy Windows Mobile? Then you'd probably fancy the Last.fm Windows Mobile app currently in development, which happens to be called Last.fm Mobile. The Pocket PC version includes scrobbling and experimental radio functionality, but the Smartphone version can only scrobble from Windows Media Player.

The app has a healthy backing of supporters at the Last.fm forum, which is where you can learn where to download and how to install Last.fm Mobile. You'll need Windows Mobile 5 or 6 and the .NET Compact Framework 2.0, which should be included with Windows Mobile 6.

Last.fm offers tools for discovering new music, social networking, and, of course, listening to music. The addition of WM functionality only makes it that much more useful.

[via MR MOBILE]

Tags: fm, internet radio, InternetRadio, last.fm, music, radio, social network, social networking, SocialNetwork, SocialNetworking, Windows Mobile, WindowsMobile

Filed under: Business, Google

Chances are, Google Phone won't show up at the Verizon Store

by Ted Wallingford Oct 4th 2007

As Google and Verizon are locked in a tiff over the way 700 MHz radio spectrum is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, it looks less and less likely that we're going to see the forthcoming Google Phone at wireless retail stores when it finally hits the market. Google contends that the licensee of the radio spectrum should be forced to sell "unlocked" devices, therefore permitting open applications on their network, a move which would certainly benefit Google and other powers whose bread and butter is mainly software.

Verizon, on the other hand, argues that they don't need to make unlocked phones available, since it's possible to get unlocked phones from other sources. Google's response? Big carrier retail sells 95% of the phones in North America, so arguably less than 5% of available phones are unlocked and open. Google, of course, isn't accustomed to having access to just 5% of the market these days. Nevertheless, the spectrum license reads as follows (quoted from Google's public policy blog):

"[Licensee] shall not deny, limit, or restrict the ability of their customers to use the devices and applications of their choice."

It's a clash of business models. Verizon makes money by selling applications they control. Google makes money by giving applications away and monetizing the mindshare they gain by doing so. Wireless is a wild frontier for somebody like Google, because the power brokers in the cellular industry don't want to compete with new players from other spaces, like a search engine company.

Bottom line, it doesn't look like the Google Phone is going to be on Verizon's store shelves, and something tells me Google isn't about to start a retail chain of its own.

Tags: fcc, google, radio, spectrum, verizon

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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