Pandora

54 'Pandora' stories May 2013 - July 2013

Pandora for iOS now automatically pauses when muted, adds improved playback buffering

Jordan Kahn Jul 8 2013 - 7:13 pm PT

Pandora Radio for iPhone and iPad received a minor update today that brings a couple of welcomed improvements for users. The first notable new feature will automatically pause music when muting your iOS device, making sure you never miss a song when muting suddenly and forgetting to pause. The updated app also adds improved playback buffering for what Pandora says is ‘stutter-free’ music and the usual bug fixes and performance enhancements.

Pandora also notes that “all the URLs that work on Pandora.com now work just as well on your phone.”

Full list of what’s new below:

What’s New in Version 4.4

• Stuck with a flaky connection? We’ve improved playback buffering to keep your favorite music stutter-free.
• Never miss another great song: if you mute your phone, we’ll pause your music for you.
• More links to more of what you love: all the URLs that work on Pandora.com now work just as well on your phone.
• Bug fixes and improvements to keep your music playing as it should.

Apple’s iTunes Radio label royalities revealed, plans to add talk radio for sports, weather

Jordan Kahn Jun 27 2013 - 6:12 am PT

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iTunes-Radio

Leading up to the unveiling of Apple’s new iTunes Radio service earlier this month at WWDC, we reported on some small details regarding deals Apple had reached with the major labels necessary to get bring its Pandora competitor to market. Earlier reports claimed that Apple was paying Warner around 10% of ad revenue— that’s around twice as much as Pandora reportedly pays. Today, The Wall Street Journal provides us with some in-depth info on what Apple is paying labels and publishers after taking a look at the terms of the deal.

Apple will in fact be paying well over the 0.12 cents per listen Pandora offers the labels, as well as a percentage of ad revenue, and the payout will also increase during the service’s second year:

During iTunes Radio’s first year, Apple will pay a label 0.13 cents each time a song is played, as well as 15% of net advertising revenue, proportionate to a given label’s share of the music played on iTunes. In the second year, that bumps up to 0.14 cents per listen, plus 19% of ad revenue.

However, there are some exceptions. The report notes that Apple won’t have to pay royalties for songs that users already have in their iTunes library. That will apparently extend to “songs that might be on an album that a listener owns just part of.” Interestingly, Apple also won’t pay for songs skipped before the 20 second mark and those included in special promotions, but it can only skip paying royalties on two songs per hour for each iTunes Radio user:
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Hands-on with iTunes Radio, Apple’s streaming music service [Video]

Michael Steeber Jun 10 2013 - 7:22 pm PT

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Apple has been long rumored to be launching a music streaming service, set up to compete with Pandora, and today, they delivered. iTunes Radio, as it’s been dubbed, lives inside of the iOS 7 Music app, as an extension of the app’s functionality.

The video above gives a full walkthrough of iTunes Radio running in iOS 7, and what you can expect when the operating system is released to the public later this year.

Apple unveils much rumored iTunes Radio service at WWDC 2013

Jordan Kahn Jun 10 2013 - 11:58 am PT

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iTunes-Radio There were no shortage of details regarding Apple’s much rumored radio service leading up to today’s keynote address. The rumors said Apple was planning on introducing a free, ad-supported radio service, similar to Pandora, that would be highly integrated with a tweaked model for its iAd business. Apple has now officially unveiled the service dubbed ‘iTunes Radio’ and provided some details on exactly how it will work during its keynote presentation this morning at Moscone West in San Francisco.

The new iTunes Radio app is built in to the iOS radio app, and works on the Mac and Apple TV as well. As rumored, iTunes Radio will be free, supported by ads. In a twist, however, iTunes Radio will be completely free (free of ads) if you’re a subscriber to iTunes Match:

The Music app has a beautiful new design and includes the new iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service featuring over 200 stations and an incredible catalog of music from the iTunes Store®, combined with features only iTunes can deliver. iTunes Radio is the best way to discover new music. When you tune into iTunes Radio on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac®, PC or Apple TV®, you’ll have access to stations inspired by the music you already listen to, Featured Stations curated by Apple and genre-focused stations that are personalized just for you.

As we reported prior to today’s event, the underlining technology is based on Apple’s iTunes Genius feature with iTunes Radio tailoring the experience to your iTunes usage. Apple says there will be Siri integration, and also aims to offer users “access to exclusive “first listen” premieres from top selling artists.”
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Rhapsody releases completely redesigned iPhone app with new UI, full-screen player, much more

Jordan Kahn May 23 2013 - 9:03 am PT

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Rhapsody is rolling out an all new iPhone app today following some big updates to competitive music services earlier this week including Pandora and Rdio. Rhapsody is calling this app update “a completely new experience” for iOS and broke down on its blog a ton of changes its made to the UI on top of adding new features like customizable organization for your library and downloads, improved album and artist pages, and a new full-screen player.

Personalized organization: The music you curate lives in the My Music section, which now has improved organization into two key categories:

o Library: The central folder for your Rhapsody music when connected to the Internet. Music is sub-categorized by playlists, artists, albums, stations, queue and listening history

o Downloads: All the music you can’t live without can be downloaded for easy offline playback

· Upgraded Album and Artist pages: Read a review of an album, shuffle tracks from an artist, and much more

· Full-screen player: Showcase gorgeous artist and album imagery that takes advantage of iPhone’s full screen real estate

· Pop-up menus: Easily add tracks to “My Music,” download, add to a queue or favorite by tapping the + image

Pandora Radio rolls out Facebook publishing, improved interface, enhanced track menu, more

Zac Hall May 22 2013 - 7:09 am PT

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Just as Apple appears to be readying its music streaming service and Google just announced its subscription music service, Pandora Radio has released a sturdy update to its iPhone app.

Users can now publish Now Playing activity to Facebook as it updates, similar to Spotify or Rdio, allowing friends to interact with the music you enjoy. Sharing individual tracks and stations to Facebook, Twitter, and email is built right in now as well.

Pandora 4.3 also includes a handful of UI improvements that greatly improve the native feel of the app, including the ability to tap the album art to reveal track information, but the new features and improvements are only available for iPhone for now.

Pandora 4.3 is available on the App Store now:
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