Spotify now offers US college students half-price music streaming (updated)

Don't think you can afford a paid streaming music service as a cost-sensitive student? Think again -- the price may finally be within your reach. Spotify has launched a US student program that lets you pay just $5 per month for Premium access (half of the usual price) as long as you're attending a post-secondary school that qualifies for federal aid, whether it's a college or a vocational outlet. Be sure to time your registration well, though. Much like an equivalent offer in the UK, you'll only get the discount for a year. Still, the $60 you spend may be worthwhile if it gives you enough studying music to get through a couple of tough semesters.

Update: Helpful reader will noticed that the discount merely lasts for a year at a time -- you can renew it three more times before you're paying full price. In other words, it should cover your entire degree.

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Via: San Francisco Chronicle, Rich DeMuro (Twitter)

Source: Spotify

Tags: discount, education, internet, music, spotify, streaming, student, students Next: Augmented reality concept uses Google Glass to make reading the newspaper more like... reading a website .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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Latest Apple TV rumors have it teaming up with Comcast for streaming

Rumors Apple will launch a new TV-connected device/service seemingly never die, and now the Wall Street Journal reports it's in talks with Comcast (and that rumored discussions with Time Warner Cable over a "Project Jupiter" team-up stalled when it became a takeover target). With interesting timing, the rumors focus on an aspect of the deal that would give Apple's streaming of live TV and cloud DVR recordings over a "managed connection" avoiding last-mile bottlenecks. That's similar to how Comcast sends video on-demand to its Xbox 360 app, and a contrast to the recent net neutrality discussions arising over its deal with Netflix. Noting that the companies "aren't close to an agreement," the rumors suggest an arrangement where Apple sells its hardware at retail TiVo-style, although how customers log in and who controls that relationship is something where the two continue to differ.

As the article notes, this proposal is similar to Comcast's arrangement with TiVo -- it sells boxes at retail that in some areas can access Comcast VOD -- but going in with Apple to create some kind of hybrid service would be a major change. So far, Comcast has pushed its X1 platform with live TV, internet features and eventually cloud DVR streaming to multiple devices, while also testing out a full IPTV service on college campuses.

Despite years of rumored negotiations and device testing we still haven't seen Apple jump out with a product to modernize/revolutionize the existing TV experience. Now, we wonder if pressure from regulators on the proposed Time Warner Cable / Comcast merger, cord-cutting (the number of customers paying for cable, satellite and fiber TV dropped slightly last year, the first time that's happened), and competing internet TV services (Netflix, Sony, Amazon etc.) is creating a new reason for cooperation. If any of those are true, the next steps are figuring out how the two sides will split the money coming in, if the studios and networks that supply content will play ball, and if Reed Hastings will fire off another angry open letter (following up his net neutrality-related posts on Comcast's Xbox 360 video on-demand and peering).

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Source: Wall Street Journal

Tags: apple, apple tv, appletv, cloud, comcast, hdpostcross, rumor, streaming Next: LSTN headphones: helping people hear in style
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Torrent front end Popcorn Time made streaming movies free and easy, so of course it's gone

For about four days "Popcorn Time" lived, opening an easy-access door to streaming movies via torrents, but now it's gone. Aggregating info from APIs (YIFY for torrents, OpenSubtitles for subs and TheMovieDB for metadata) its developers quickly pushed out open source apps for Linux, OS X and Windows. The team explained that it's meant to be as easy as using Netflix, and insisted no legal problems were incoming because it didn't host any content locally or charge anything. Whether Hollywood studios agreed (doubtful) won't be known, as a "Goodbye" statement on the Popcorn Time website says the project is over "because we need to move on with our lives." If this sounds like a dream setup however, all is not lost -- TorrentFreak has heard from the YTS movie torrent site that it's picking up the baton and expects to release an installer "shortly."

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Source: TechCrunch, Popcorn Time (1), (2), TorrentFreak

More Coverage: GitHub

Tags: hdpostcross, mpaa, popcorn time, torrents, yts Next: Switched On: Birth of a platform .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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New ad-free streaming music app launched by Samsung for specific Galaxy models

Samsung has introduced a new ad-free streaming music app for its high-end Galaxy models. Called Milk Music, the app can be found in the Google Play Store, but is exclusive to the Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy S5 (starting in April, of course), Samsung GALAXY Note II, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Samsung Galaxy Mega and the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini.

Milk Music, which is powered by Slacker, offers 200 customizable channels. Exclusive tunes from new and emerging artists will soon be heard from the app. And Samsung made this extremely easy to use with no registration or set-up required. You can even make one station that is comprised of all of the stations that you like to listen to.

"Milk introduces a fresh approach to music that reflects our innovation leadership and our focus on creating best-in-class consumer experiencess. We’re offering consumers amazing, rich music experiences built around what matters most to them and their lifestyle."-Gregory Lee, president and CEO, Samsung Telecommunications America and Samsung Electronics North America Headquarters
It seems that a little birdie (it was actually an asterisk) told us that if you use the service, you better enjoy the no-ads feature for now, because the lack of advertising is for a limited time only. Still, Samsung has produced a hassle-free streaming music app for many of its customers to enjoy, and it can be downloaded and installed now.



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Chevrolet adds Beats Music streaming to its in-car system as Beats opens its API to developers

Beats Music is already integrated with Apple's CarPlay system, which means you'll be able to stream music from Beats' catalog in any vehicle that happens to have Apple's setup installed. Now, new API support could mean we'll be able to pump out the jams from even more cars. The streaming music service made its API public today, a move that gives third-party developers access to its vast music collection. In particular, developers get access to the company's library of tunes, album art and track metadata (Beats previously shared its API privately with a few big names like Sonos and Bop.fm). So far, Chevrolet has announced it's adding Beats to its AppShop system -- and we're sure it won't be the last company to do so.

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Via: CNET

Source: Beats Music

Tags: Beats, Beats Music, mobilepostcross, music, streaming music, streaming music service Next: Greetings, from Joystiq .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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Kim Dotcom previews new music streaming site with his own europop album

Kim Dotcom has done it again. Two years after he rented a bunch of musicians (including Will.i.am) to promote his doomed Megaupload service, he's turned to a group of presumably more affordable artists to support his next project, Baboom. The music streaming site launched in preview mode today, with a design that looks like a cross between Rdio and the new MySpace, and with just a single album in its library: a sort of europop medley made by Dotcom himself with contributions from Printz Board (one of Will.i.am's buddies), Mona Dotcom (Kim's wife) and some others we've never heard of.

Although this teaser album is free, Baboom will ultimately let you pay to download music in addition to streaming it, and the site appears to offer a degree of support for high-definition audio too (including FLAC and MP3 320Kbps). The big selling point, however, will be a reward scheme that gives you free music in exchange for installing an advertising plugin into your browser -- but that's likely still a few months off. In the meantime, Dotcom's talent for self-publicity (if not singing) seems to be working: Baboom is reporting 80,000 plays in its first hour online.

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Thanks To Ads, Rdio Now Offers Free Streaming On The Web

Not to be outdone by Spotify, Beats or Pandora, Rdio is now free through its website. Mobile users still have to pay if they want access to the full Rdio experience. Users will also have to pay if they want an ad-free experience — because that’s how Rdio is making its service free.

As the announcement says, “Free listeners will hear a mix of new feature announcements, messages from partner brands, notifications about exclusive content, and other helpful tips.” So, you know, commercials.

This move isn’t that surprising for Rdio. Just yesterday, Spotify dropped its time limit on its free service, which previously limited freeloaders to unlimited streaming for six months.

On mobile, Rdio’s free version remains unchanged where it previously offered users a radio-like (or Pandora-like) experience where stations streamed for free but users could not select individual songs. Last month Spotify launched a similar service.

Rdio’s longevity has long been called into question. Recent layoffs and restructuring seems to indicate not everything is well in Rdio’s house. And the competition is about to get even more tight.

The streaming music scene is about to get a new player. Backed by AT&T, Beats Music launches on January 21st. The service is said to be sold in AT&T stores and likely bundled in some fashion with AT&T phones and included on wireless plans. Rdio, and for that matter, Spotify, need to grab all the marketshare they can before this new player enters the game. Free is a good, if desperate, way to do it, too. As Janet and Luther once proclaimed, the best things in life are free.

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Netflix outage interrupts streaming in US, Canada and Latin America (update: fixed!)

As they do each year, the holidays have brought their usual assortment of family gatherings, overeating and service outages, including one tonight affecting Netflix. We're able to play videos on some of our devices but not others, and users are flooding Twitter with reports that it's out. The official support account tweeted that it's aware of streaming issues on "all devices" throughout the US, Canada and Latin America. There's no word on when service will be restored, but while we keep an eye on

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Vidzone brings free music-video streaming to PS4

The PlayStation 4 might not play CDs (yet) and an official YouTube app is still MIA, but that doesn't mean music and music videos are out of reach. Vidzone has finally taken its streaming app into the next generation, and, unlike Music Unlimited, it's free. Much like its previous-gen counterpart, the video application offers concerts, interviews, custom playlists and even crams the PS4's native social-features in for good measure. You can share screenshots of what you're watching to Facebook and Twitter, for instance, and recent activity in the app also populates the "what's new" activity feed on your friends' consoles. Unless you want your Battlefield 4 clan to know you went on a lengthy Ke$ha binge, however, we suggest turning that setting off.

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Via: Joystiq

Source: PlayStation Blog

Tags: hd, hdpostcross, music, PlayStation, Playstation4, ps4, sony, StreamingVideo, VidZone Next: Tesla Model S software update guards against faulty wiring
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Rdio shutters Vdio movie streaming service, offers Amazon gift cards as compensation

Rdio was a bit late to the game when it announced its movie streaming service, Vdio, earlier this year. The spinoff site was available in beta form in the US, the UK and Canada, offering blockbuster flick rentals for $6 and movie purchases for up to 20 bucks. Rdio took Vdio offline today, however, citing an inability to differentiate its offering in a very crowded market. Customers who purchased movies and TV shows or have unwatched rentals will receive compensation in the form of Amazon gift cards, while promotional credit will expire. Click through for a surprisingly succinct FAQ.

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Vdio

Tags: hdpostcross, movie, movies, rdio, streaming, vdio, video, videostreaming Next: Judge rejects ACLU challenge, says NSA telephone data collection is legal (update) .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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Google Turns On Desktop-Based Web Streaming Of Google Play Content For Chromecast

Google Chromecast owners can now stream Google Play music and movie content direct from the web, as well as from smartphones and tablets, thanks to the Google Cast extension for the Chrome desktop browser. Oddly, Google’s own media store isn’t the first to do this, as Netflix on the web can play nice with the Chromecast extension, as can YouTube. But Play media access means Google’s $35 wonder device is everything the Nexus Q was not, and a device only limited by software and time.

When the Chromecast first launched, it was sort of like a knock-off designer handbag: Not the thing you really want, but close enough and so cheap it didn’t matter. Slowly but surely, however, Google has been improving its streaming dongle to the point where it’s quickly becoming a true competitor for Apple’s AirPlay and Apple TV devices, which is a much-needed ingredient currently missing from Google’s ecosystem.

Web-based streaming is also something that AirPlay can handle, thanks to the ability to connect an AirPlay display in the latest version of OS X. Chromecast also still can’t mirror a display entirely, which is something AirPlay can handle that’s incredibly useful for presenters, educators and many others. AirPlay has also been used by many developers as a way to program experiences designed to take advantage of using both a small and a big screen at one time, which is likewise something Google hasn’t really implemented with Chromecast just yet.

Earlier this week, Google added a good list of new content partners to Chromecast’s stable of supported software, and each drove up the value of owning one considerably in my opinion. In the same way that Apple keeps improving the Apple TV via content partnerships and service improvements, Google keeps doing the same with Chromecast, but the short-term potential here is even greater, I think, at least in terms of immediate impact for a huge group of Chrome and Android users.

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Spotify tablet streaming goes free — if you don't mind sitting through a few ads

We can't say as we were particularly taken aback by today's Spotify announcement, after all someone spilled the beans the other week (thanks a lot, The Wall Street Journal) - but we trekked through a cold New York City morning to Spotify headquarters all the same. As anticipated, the company used the occasion to announce a free version of its tablet streaming service. Of course, nothing in this life is truly free, right? As such, the streaming offering will be ad-supported, much like the non-premium version of its desktop offering.

Ek kicked things off by rattling off some impressive numbers, including 1.5 billion playlists created (with one and a half million made each day) and 4.5 billion hours of music streamed last year, before launching into the big news of the morning. The new version of the service will work with both Android and iOS tablets and plays along nicely with the company's new Connect offering, so you can play that music through some of those high-end compatible speaker systems. You'll be able to access your playlists through your tablet devices, but beyond that the exec didn't break down the service too much, save for saying that it's "the same as the desktop experience."

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Tags: spotify Next: Engadget Eurocast 047 - 12.10.13 .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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