Apple killed the headphone jack with the iPhone 7. It took Samsung until the Galaxy Note 10 to lose the iconic audio port. According to a smartphone rumors site, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 will ship with a 3.5mm to USB-C dongle. That means the 3.5mm is…
Category archives: Gear And Software
As TikTok’s Music Licensing Reportedly Expires, Owner ByteDance Purchases AI Music Creation Startup JukeDeck
Capitalizing on the rapid growth of music consumption in the app, TikTok parent company ByteDance has confirmed a major acquisition. The Chinese conglomerate has purchased Jukedeck, an AI music startup in the UK. As with most AI-centered music startups…
Alibaba’s Xiami Music Partners with MQA to Offer Lossless Audio Streaming in China
British audio tech startup MQA has been quietly building partnerships in the music industry. Several months ago, Jay-Z’s music streaming service, TIDAL, rolled out MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) streaming on iOS and Android devices. Rhapsody Intern…
Spotify Lite Officially Rolls Out to 36 Countries
Last summer, and to beat the competition in emerging markets, Spotify quietly unveiled an alternative version of its app. Dubbed Spotify Lite, the company first tested the 15 MB app in Brazil. Visually, both apps look similar. Yet, under the hood, the…
Vodafone’s ‘My Muze’ Music Streaming App Quietly Reaches Over a Million Downloads in South Africa
In March 2018, Spotify went live in South Africa. The company would offer local users a Premium subscription for R5.99, or about $0.42 USD at the time. Yet, the low price only lasted for a short time. Shortly after the introductory offer – good for on…
Social Community Music Startup Unitea Raises $2.3 Million in Funding
Unitea has confirmed a new fundraising round. The social music community app has raised $2.3 million in the startup’s latest investment round. Unitea raised $200,000 in its first investment round five years ago. Then, the startup received $1.2 million…
Surprise! Spotify Hands Over Your Personal Information to Major Labels When Using ‘Pre-Save’
Spotify currently doesn’t have the best reputation right now. This year alone, the company has gone to war with songwriters over much-needed royalty payments, lost multiple high-profile executives, destroyed its relationship with Warner/Chappell and Wa…
Still Lacking Key Features, YouTube Music Unveils ‘Smart Downloads’
YouTube has finally caught up to its music streaming competitors – at least somewhat. Google’s third attempt to break into the music streaming market – YouTube Music – has expanded Offline Mixtape. The feature will now include an option dubbed ‘Smart …
Spotify Faces Backlash Over Axing Beloved Features on Mobile
Once again, users aren’t happy with Spotify’s new mobile update. Spotify doesn’t have a great track record with iOS users as of late. Several months ago, the streaming music company unveiled a controversial new feature aimed at forcing fans to share so…
Apple Starts Removing iTunes Branding, Including Links, From Its Websites
So, is or isn’t iTunes dead? Last week, on the opening day of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple subtly confirmed its popular download store would go away on macOS 10.15 Catalina. The writing has been on the wall for a while for the iconic …