Tag / Music

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Google Play Music All Access hits some European territories with special launch price of £7.99/€7.99

Screenshot 2013-08-07 at 22.27.12

You! Hey you!

Do you like music?
Do you like the idea of being able to stream an unlimited number of a selection of millions of tracks to your internet connected devices in exchange for a monthly fee with a 30 day free trial before you start?
Do you like such services to force you to remain in a certain ecosystem due to a frustrating lack of platform agnosticism?
Do you think that you don’t give Google enough information about you and your habits already?
Do Spotify and Rdio not have enough letters in their names for you?

If you answered yes to a good proportion of these questions, you should try Google Play Music All Access! Launched in the States at Google I/O, the ridiculously named service (which I affectionately refer to as GPMAAAAAAAAAAA), has finally crossed over the Atlantic, and you can now sign up with a 30 day free trial in the following countries. Note: all are new today unless otherwise specified.

  • Australia (since July)
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • France
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Luxembourg
  • New Zealand (since July)
  • Portugal
  • Spain
  • United Kingdom
  • United States (since forever)

This means that every country that has access to the Google Play Music locker service (with the sole exception of Germany (thanks, GEMA)) also gets the streaming service, which has been priced at £7.99/€7.99 for those who sign up before September 15th, at which point it will rise up to match its main competitors at £9.99/€9.99. I’ve had a few minutes with it and, at least in the UK, I can’t see a reason to pick it over Spotify, which offers the same holes in the streaming library but, most importantly, the true cross-platform accessibility that Google’s offering lacks. Hell, you can’t access All Access outside of the web app and Android yet. Still, those entrenched in Google’s ecosystem and those who like to, well, ‘fill the gaps’ with the music locker service may find GPMAAAAAAAAAAA to be the streaming service for them.

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

RIM pledges to keep loving devs with bizarre music video

At its BlackBerry Jam concert event to show off BlackBerry 10, RIM premiered a surreal music video in which leading employees sing their hearts out for the developer community. The video is rather surreal and confusing, so it’s best just to sit back and enjoy the dulcet tones of Alec Saunders, VP of developer relations.

Via Ben Popper (Twitter)
Source RIM (YouTube)

 

by James Trickey

Things That Should Exist: The Instant Rap Battle Machine

Things That Should Exist is a column by James Trickey. Things suggested are not always good ideas.

I know it sounds incredibly similar to the Instant Insult Machine and I can tell you now that it is indeed. I have my reasons for this, the first being that I have been running low on ideas lately, but to be honest I’ve been struggling for ideas since day one. The second being that it is another thing that should exist and so ended up here on Digixav.

I want to explain to you lot that it is an “upgrade” of the previous machine that looked like some odd tortoise thing and will look exactly the same but with a few different features. If you really want, I can throw in some accessories for it like sunglasses and a pimp hat (or anything else from that Build-A-Bear place). This means you could have a pimp beatboxer! Here is an example that I made on Paint yet again and, if you didn’t know, the purple thing sticking out of his hat is a feather, like pimps have. If you don’t get it, nevermind. We really need to get Photoshop.

The Instant Rap Battle Machine will come with a preset beat that you and your challenger or challenged can rap along to. You could enter your rap names into the machine (mine’s MC Jtrick) and as the beat drops the robot shouts “Get ready (I can’t think of a good rap name so I’ll) Eminem! Lets hear you rap in 3..2…1!” and then everyone listens to the intense rap that has been spat. This will be repeated for the other guy (someone crap so we’ll go for) “Justin Bieber!” and he will sing some song which technically won’t be allowed because it’s not a rap but we won;t go into details. And just so you know, Eminem won that one.

It will also feature a sound detector thing so if there is an enormous crowd present (which there will be) it will take the volume of the “OOOooooo….R U GONNA TAKE THAT FAM?!?!”s (as in the plural, you understand, no?) and the rap with the loudest  “OOOooooo….R U GONNA TAKE THAT FAM?!?!”s wins.

This new version won’t do the insulting for you but rather enhance your insulting enjoyment, because I know that I could do with something that makes hurting people’s feelings more fun since it’s just a bit plain at the moment.

As with the previous model, you could download different voices for the machine and different beats off iTunes or whatever. I’m sorry for having no imagination with the photos but meh.

And so with another week gone I say goodbye, but I’ve run out of stereotypical comic book noises.

POW.

Header image from spinningpixels

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Nokia uploads (and pulls) Rack City parody developer advert

Nokia‘s not a company to shy away from a bit of viral marketing, but releasing a parody video of the horrendous Rack City by Tyga might be taking the advertisement of Windows Phone development a bit too far. Having been uploaded by Nokia to YouTube, TechCrunch reports that the video was pulled, but we found a copy on Vimeo and downloaded it to reupload if necessary. It’s Dev City bitch!

Lyrics and description courtesy of My Nokia Blog:

Bringing cool to coding. Mobile devices are cool. Mobile apps are cool. Mobile Developers are about to get cooler. Nokia Developer is turning towns into Dev Cities with its Ready.Set () {Code} Challenge. We are hitting 13-cities looking for developers who want to build an experience not just another app. Developers who build the coolest, baddest apps for the Windows Phone platform and Nokia Lumia devices earn devices & prizes. Sign up for a Challenge near you: http://www.nokiadeveloper.eventbrite.com/

LYRICS
dev, dev, city kid, city kid
dev, dev, dev city kid, city kid, dev
dev, dev, dev city kid, city kid
Mutha on the beat

Hah!
[Verse 1:] – Smixx
dev city kid, dev, dev city kid
ten ten ten twenties and we flippin’ bits
100 deep coding hard no guest list
Nokias who we’re messin wit
Got my other bits messin’ with my other bits
Codin’ all night figure we ain’t ready yet
Make it work too dope I ain’t selling it
Decoder’s fresher than another stick a peppermint
Dope sweater we the first kings killin this
Young money young money gettin’ bounty rich
We got that Metro on this ish

you know what it is
[Chorus:] – Smixx (Cory)
dev city kid, dev, dev city kid
dev city kid, dev, dev city kid
dev city kid, dev, dev city kid
ten ten ten twenties and we flippin’ bits 

dev city kid, dev, dev city kid
dev city kid, dev, dev city kid
dev city kid, dev, dev city kid
Been codin’ since a youngin now I’m gettin’ rich
[Verse 2:] – The Product (Christian)
I’m a money makin’ star
buy the club rounds on my card
Got the sick rims on my brand new car…
y’all dev’s get out walk the boulevard

I get my apps done pronto
Push it in the mornin’ and I’m gonzo
Hanchos gonna make it rain buy a poncho
You ain’t gettin’ money made but you want dough

Head phones on tilt seat back
Steady codin’ on it keys get tapped
lovin’ this platform, some too packed
d/l numbers going up like gas

Hot damn pull away from the pack
Localized it so I’m big in japan
Tat t-t-t-tatted up gettin stacks

Steve Balma love’s me
you know how it is

[Chorus:] – The Product (Christian)
dev city kid, dev, dev city kid
dev city kid, dev, dev city kid
dev city kid, dev, dev city kid
hacking code on them apps and I’m getting cheques

dev city kid, dev, dev city kid
dev city kid, dev, dev city kid
dev city kid, dev, dev city kid
ten ten ten twenties and them fifties Smixx

[Verse 3:] – Smixx (Cory)
I want a lumia in my pocket
so I’m ready to win
I choose to rocket
and not just contend
I see the leaderboard 
and want my name at the top
just to know that I brought it
to know I’ve still got it
that I’ve snagged my reward
and man I’m not bored
when I’m out for blood
and I’m going in hard
I want to build an experience
not just another app
this whole mobile thing
is not just another fad

Nine hunnids, hunnids
Nine hunnids, hunnids
Nine hunnids, hunnids
Nine hunnids, hunnids

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Chrome extension hides annoying Twitter trends about the likes of Justin Bieber and One Direction

Ever gone onto Twitter and seen the trending topics occupied by ridiculous statements from the fans of Justin Bieber and the like? Things like these seem all too common.






Thankfully Ben Hooper, aka @mythofechelon, has developed a Chrome extension that filters out trends relating to Justin Bieber, Rebecca Black, Lady GaGa, Jedward and One Direction, with more plagues artists to follow at a later date. The trend-purging extension is free to download from his site, and Hooper would love some feedback on Twitter or by email. Watch the video below to see the extension in action.

Happy browsing!

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Vevo redesign shifts away from YouTube towards Facebook

Vevo, the music video service that causes more problems than it solves, launched a major redesign of its site today, notably emphasising Facebook connection and shifting away from YouTube hosting. Why can’t they just hurry up fix the iOS app?

Gigaom

Over the past two years, Vevo has become the default place to watch music online. But, like many other streaming video providers, it had a problem: For users, the act of watching videos tends to be a very disjointed process.

Users search for something they want to watch, find it, watch it and then have to search for something else all over again. Most sites have recommendations when the videos end, but they can be hit or miss — and they tend not to be very personal, not reflective of a user’s viewing history or his social graph.

I’ve written about this a lot in the past — about how the success of streaming video will be driven by improved discovery and through the implementation of a more TV-like playback experience where the user doesn’t have to continually search for the content he wants to watch.

Anyway, the latest update…

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