Saga shop

26/01/2023

25/01/2023

Modern paintings are like women, you'll never enjoy them if you try to understand them.

20/01/2023

20/08/2022

SoundCloud has acquired audio AI company Musiio, which makes tech that can “listen” to new music and purportedly identify the hits. The acquisition, announced Tuesday, is meant to help SoundCloud sort through its immense library of amateur music and will “become core to SoundCloud’s discovery experience,” the company said in a statement.

As DIY music distribution platforms like SoundCloud lower the barrier to entry for amateur artists and flood platforms with new music, identifying and promoting the good stuff has become even more challenging. SoundCloud claims that Musiio’s tools can quickly sift through countless hours of (mostly bad) music and pick out the songs that have patterns and characteristics that correlate with chart-toppers.

The acquisition is meant to help SoundCloud sort through its immense library of amateur music.

18/08/2022

While convenient, the iCloud Music Library also has its quirks. That’s because it matches and replaces songs or albums you already have on your device with a high-quality version from the Apple Music streaming library (if available). That process can lead to messed-up metadata, missing album art, and matching to the wrong song. Users have also complained in forums about the feature being confusing and accidentally wiping files off their devices. And it also means you’re locked into listening to your music on Apple devices.

It’s convenient but not everyone wants or needs it.

16/08/2022

Streaming company SoundCloud is cutting about 20 percent of its global workforce. Billboard reported on August 3rd that SoundCloud CEO Michael Weissman told the staff in a company memo that the change is mostly due to the current economic climate. Employees affected would be notified over the next several days.

“Today’s change positions SoundCloud for the long run and puts us on a path to sustained profitability,” Weissman wrote in the memo. “We have already begun to make prudent financial decisions across the company and that now extends to a reduction to our team.” In a statement to Billboard, a SoundCloud representative confirmed the news, and said: “During this difficult time, we are focused on providing the support and resources to those transitioning while reinforcing our commitment to executing our mission to lead what’s next in music.”

SoundCloud is pushing a new streaming royalties system

14/08/2022

It’s taken a while for Apple’s music service to make it to one of the most popular smart TV platforms. It was ported to Amazon’s Fire TV in 2019 and has since made it to at least one game console: the PS5 (though it doesn’t seem to be supported on Xbox or Switch). In my opinion, though, streaming music services make a lot of sense on TVs. If someone has a nice set of speakers, odds are they’re connected to the TV, and having album art displayed on such a large screen is a treat for most of us who usually only see it in thumbnail form.

There are a few features missing.

12/08/2022

“Integrating Apple Music into the Audio infotainment system marks the next step in the collaboration between Audi and Apple,” said Audi’s head of product marketing Christiane Zorn. It shows that Apple is more willing to hand automakers the keys to its music streaming platform, giving drivers more choices on using the service instead of being locked into using Apple CarPlay or resorting to Bluetooth from a smartphone.

Audi vehicles will play Apple Music without CarPlay.

10/08/2022

After a lengthy wait, Wear OS users can now use the YouTube Music app to stream their tunes over Wi-Fi and LTE. And, as a bonus, users can also add the app as a widget for quicker access to recently played playlists or YouTube Music’s browse page.

In a user community post, Google says you’ll be able to access 80 million songs via the app. On top of ad-free streaming, the app supports Google’s Smart Downloads feature that automatically refreshes songs downloaded to your Wear OS watch whenever it’s connected to Wi-Fi. There are a few caveats. For instance, you have to be a YouTube Music Premium subscriber. Also, cellular streaming isn’t available for iOS Wear OS 2 users.

A long-awaited update is here ahead of the Pixel Watch.

10/08/2022

Ikea, which has never been scared to dive into new product categories, has announced plans to release a record player as part of its new Obegränsad collection this fall. The record player was designed in collaboration with house music supergroup Swedish House Mafia, and has a chunky design in line with a lot of the other consumer electronics Ikea has produced. Alongside it, the Swedish retailer has also announced an armchair and desk as part of the collection.

A previously announced model never made it to release.