music

Watch out, Pandora. Google's new Google Music "all access" subscription service just painted a target on your back.

Launched at Google's annual I/O developer conference in San Francisco, the $9.99-per-month Google Music All Access adds new streaming options in the form of radio algorithms and curated playlists, on top of the existing (free) Google Music app.

This puts Google in direct competition with other popular streaming services such as Pandora, Spotify, Slacker Radio, and -- if the rumors are correct -- Apple, if the company's talks with music labels lead to its own … Read more

Google launched a music streaming service Wednesday, taking its first stab at the growing industry with a new service linked to Google Play for Android.

The All Access service costs $9.99 a month and you get a 30-day free trial. And it's launching Wednesday in U.S., with additional countries coming soon. If you sign up by June 30, you get it for $7.99 a month.

The move puts Google in direct competition with music streaming companies like Pandora and Spotify, and also potentially with Apple, which has been inching in that direction. Just last week, for … Read more

Ticketfly, a ticketing and marketing service, has launched an initiative aimed at giving venues and event promoters the ability to direct targeted rewards at their most loyal customers.

The impetus behind the Fanbase initiative, announced Wednesday, is that while 7 percent of ticket buyers generate 30 percent of the revenue brought in at the gate of events utilizing Ticketfly tickets, there has previously been no way to adequately identify, reward, and motivate those people.

While other ticketing and marketing services have rolled out other loyalty programs, San Francisco-based Ticketfly said its new program is the industry's most sophisticated effort … Read more

Those who want to edit audio files may not be satisfied with the native options available on their Mac. WavePad for Mac functions well and has most of the features users look for in a usable audio editor.

WavePad for Mac is available as a free trial version with a 14-day usage limit, while the full version requires payment of $129 to unlock. Despite requiring the user to accept a lengthy licensing agreement, the program did download and install quickly. Video tutorials and technical support were both available. The program's main menu is cluttered but well designed. Buttons for … Read more

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Google is close to unveiling its streaming music service, as it prepares to take on Pandora, Spotify, and possibly Apple.

In March, Google signed a deal for two streaming services with Warner Music -- one tied to YouTube, the other to Google's Android music platform, Google Play. And now Google has struck deals with Universal Music as well as Sony Music, according to a report in The Verge, which suggests that Google could make the announcement at tomorrow's big developer conference, Google I/O.

While Google has been working with the music labels on two services, sources tell … Read more

The more I run, the more I realize my regular playlist isn't cutting it. Even with some 150 hand-picked songs, I get bored hearing the same ones over and over. And although they're among my favorite power-pop tunes, they're quite diverse when it comes to tempo. I need songs of at least 128 beats per minute (bpm) to keep me running strong.

Enter Fit Radio, a free app (Android|iOS|Web) that streams up-tempo playlists designed to amp up your workout. It's like Songza for sprinters, or maybe Pandora for bike peddlers.

The app is divided … Read more

Savvy cloud-storage seekers know they can get 2GB free from Dropbox, 5GB from Google and SugarSync, 7GB from Microsoft, and so on.

Of course, there's no way to pool all that free storage into a single, unified cloud drive. That's precisely the idea behind Backup That, a new service that leverages the space available in your various e-mail accounts to give you potentially unlimited storage.

After registering for the beta, you choose one or more mail accounts to link to your Backup That account. The latter currently works with AOL, Gmail, GMX, Mobile Me, Yahoo, and other mail … Read more