streaming

For some reason, I had never heard of Qloud until getting a release yesterday about it celebrating the registering of more than a million users via its Facebook application, which launched three months ago. The service hooks up with your iTunes library and scraps together any versions of the songs it can find hosted online, while taking advantage of your iTunes XML file to include such niceties as play counts and the last time you listened a song.

It manages to do this with a (Windows only) plug-in that installs itself on whatever machine your iTunes library resides in. It will periodically keep tabs on your iTunes XML file, which is the one that has all your track names and metadata for playlist organization, play counts, and song data. It then cross references this list with any legally hosted versions of the songs online, and will play them with an embedded player right in the app.

The company says that after installing the plug-in, it takes 15 to 20 minutes for your library to appear. My 50GB library managed to make it in about 12 minutes, and to my surprise, a great deal of it made the cut from metadata to music--although nearly every song was a video from YouTube.

What was apparent from the get-go with this app is that it's not quite a replacement for some of the other music-streaming services out there, like Orb, MediaMaster (coverage), and Simplify Media (coverage). Many of the fairly popular bands I had in my library had music videos with decent audio, but the majority were live recordings from concerts made by fans. This translates to bad video, and even worse audio. Audiophiles will not be pleased, nor will those who enjoy a particular version of a song that's on their library, be it live or an alternate studio recording.… Read more

MediaMaster is a Web based jukebox and music storage service we've covered a few times here on Webware. It launched in mid-March, and has since gone on to roll out a successful Facebook app, and a directory of user-created radio stations, which are playlists people have decided to share. In a nutshell, the service lets you upload your music and manage it in a Flash-based jukebox that's about as easy to use as Apple's iTunes software. Today they're launching their mobile service, which lets anyone with a Palm Treo or a Windows Mobile handset access their … Read more

Don't look now, but the so-called clown company may get the last laugh.

Sure, Hulu.com is still saddled with a silly name. The video site started by NBC Universal and News Corp. also isn't packaged very well, and offers too few shows and too little to do outside of watching video.

But a review of a test version of Hulu, which launched Monday, reveals that Hulu nailed the basics. Fans of The Simpsons, Bionic Woman, or My Name is Earl can go to the site, click on a couple of links, and watch the TV shows in … Read more

The music industry continues to take baby steps toward ad-supported music as EMI has become the third major record label to license songs to social-networking site Imeem.

The companies said on Monday that Imeem users will be allowed to upload EMI-produced songs to the site. The ad-supported service is free to users and Imeem plans to share ad revenue with the labels. Sony BMG and Warner Music Group previously cut similar deals with Imeem. Users can post the music to their personal pages and share the music with friends, but the offering only allows them to stream music and doesn'… Read more

Add the new Palm Centro to the list of smartphones that can stream live TV from the Slingbox family of placeshifting devices. Sling today confirmed what was widely assumed: the Palm OS version of the SlingPlayer Mobile software is fully compatible with Sprint's new bargain smartphone. (The current version of the software may warn Centro users that they're about to install it on a noncompatible device, but that minor glitch should be corrected in the next build, says Sling spokesman Dave Zatz.)

Confirmation of Centro compatibility is hardly a big surprise, given that the SlingPlayer runs on Palm'… Read more

Philips has released a wireless stereo system that's dedicated to all streaming, all the time.

The Streamium WAC3500D is a compact unit that plays back MP3s from practically all music sources, ranging from USB storage devices and CDs to PCs and iPods. The latter is possible through wired or Wi-Fi connections with an iPod dock that comes with it.

The system, which includes a power-efficient 80W digital amplifier and FM radio, also doubles as a music server with its onboard 80GB hard drive and convenient CD-ripping function. For hassle-free CD-to-MP3 conversion, song tagging is provided by Gracenote's album … Read more

Sony BMG, one of the top four music labels, will begin offering music videos from the likes of John Mayer, the Dixie Chicks and Beyonce.

On Tuesday, the companies said that they will stream the videos from the artists' profile pages. Sony also said that it will also include some audio tracks available as well.

The companies will split the advertising revenue, according to a statement. MySpace has also agreed to promote Sony artists throughout the site.

Record labels are looking to expand into different distribution outlets outside of Apple. Independent bands have flocked to MySpace to promote themselves, but … Read more

No wonder all that talk about an Internet toaster never went anywhere--it should have been a piano instead.

While rival Steinway may be going for the whole sound system, Yamaha is sticking to the instrument itself as the centerpiece of its latest digital music endeavor. An updated version of the player piano, the "Disklavier" can stream music live so you can pretend you're Herbie Hancock playing Carnegie Hall, much to the chagrin of guests and family at holiday gatherings. And if you can't find the right accompaniment on the DisklavierRadio system--or don't want to pay … Read more

If last week's FCC leak wasn't proof enough, the UK's Automated Home (via Gizmodo) has pretty much filled in all the details on an as-yet-unannounced networking accessory for the Sonos Digital Music System. The Sonos ZoneBridge BR100 will act as a wireless bridge between other ZonePlayers in the Sonos' proprietary mesh network. That's useful because the Sonos system requires at least one of its boxes to be tethered to a wired network connection. Previously, that meant one of the two included base stations of the Sonos system would need to be near an Ethernet port, or … Read more