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Posts Tagged ‘Playlists’

Boo Hoo! SimplifyMedia dropping products and changing direction

Filed under: Multimedia, Internet Tools, iTunes, iPhone, Music

The problem is, we just don’t know where they’re going. In a Saturday blog post, the company announced it is “…taking a new direction” and won’t be offering their current apps to new users.

SimplifyMedia has been offering free software for computer-to-computer and iPhone-to-computer music sharing over the internet. Using the iPhone app, you could connect to your computer at home and stream albums, playlists or songs without any complicated firewall setups. A newer version of the software also allowed remote access to your iPhoto library.

It also looks like the company is going to slowly sunset current customer accounts but will continue to keep them functioning for at least another 3 months.

The Simplify iPhone app has been removed from the App Store, and the company says new account creation will be disabled soon.

I don’t have any idea where the company is headed, but the current product will be missed. SimplifyMedia was offered for Mac, PC and Ubuntu.

[Thanks to Robert for the tip]

TUAWBoo Hoo! SimplifyMedia dropping products and changing direction originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Patent hints at next generation Apple TV

Filed under: Gaming, Hardware, Video

The USPTO has published seven different patents from Apple today, including one that might be found in the next generation of the Apple TV. The patent allows for a “Remote Control System that can Distinguish Stray Light Sources” — in other words, a Wii style remote that can pick out a certain type of light source from other bulbs in the house. The patent paints some pretty wild pictures of what they must be working on at Apple HQ: it describes IR emitters mounted near a television, and then describes how to keep the remote control both “measuring its own motion” from those sensors, and able to recognize differences between those sensors and other light sources, including reflections and other features of the surroundings.

Of course, Apple’s not a company that tends to follow, so you have to wonder what else they’re putting together if they really are planning on taking a song from Nintendo’s Wii and adding it to the Apple TV’s repertoire. Not that we’ll ever see it for sure — they file patents all the time, some of them already used (other patents filed today include Smart Playlists in iTunes and the “slide to unlock” feature found in the iPhone and the iPad), and some which will never see release. But it certainly sounds like something is cooking in the Apple R&D labs.

TUAWPatent hints at next generation Apple TV originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MySpace Music buys, crushes Imeem

In a ferocious display of anti social behavior, News Corp.-owned MySpace Music bought its competitor Imeem today and tore it down. Imeem.com, imeem content embedded in other sites and the Imeem plug-in itself have all been, for lack of a better word, killed.

Imeem was bought for an undisclosed sum though most speculation centers around $8 to 10 million. The site now redirects to a MySpace page explaining that MySpace is working to transfer Imeem profiles and playlists to MySpace. No time line is given.

Given that Imeem seems to have been destroyed, with MySpace choosing not to retain its technology or web site, the purchase and subsequent actions can only be seen as hostile. Even if Imeem.com’s users switch to Pandora or Mog, developer Lee Martin thinks there is a hole to fill. Martin developed twt.fm — an application that reached 1.5 users by enabling streaming music through twitter. On his blog, Martin says “…Myspace shows up to pull one of the best API platforms out from developers’ feet without warning…We [API developers] need a new streaming API partner or our services will die.”

This move follows weeks of speculation that MySpace would be purchasing Imeem. Imeem had been in financial distress for some time, even going so far as to lay off 25 percent of its staff in October 2008. I’m assuming the remaining 75 percent to be unemployed as well after today’s buyout / annihilation.

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Exporting all of your playlist names to a text file

Filed under: How-tos, iTunes, AppleScript

The ability to sync albums didn’t exist prior to iTunes 9.0. My workaround to sync albums was to create album-based playlists with the following nomenclature: artist – album. This also made it easy for me to burn CDs of albums, as I could just navigate to a playlist and click on the “burn” button.

If you manage your iTunes library like this, and would like a way to export your playlists to a text file (to share your album collection with your friends and whatnot), then the Playlist Names to Text File AppleScript may do the trick for you. To install the script, first download it and then place it in your [username]/Library/iTunes/Scripts/ folder.

After running the script, you’re presented the option of whether or not you want to save a text file with the names of all the playlists (and folders) in your iTunes library. Playlist Names to Text File is available as a free download on Doug’s Scripts site, though I’m sure Doug will certainly appreciate any donations.

2009 for me wasn’t very musically exciting. To make up for lost time, I’ll be embarking on a journey to listen to 52 albums in 52 weeks during 2010. But I can’t do this without “a little help from my friends,” who’ll be reviewing my album list and make some recommendations.

TUAWExporting all of your playlist names to a text file originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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8tracks to Launch Playback API and Developer Program

It appears that the time for freemium music services in the US has passed. Earlier this week streaming music site Imeem sold to MySpace for under $10 million dollars while laying off a large number of staff. For a company with all four major record labels signed, more than 15 million uniques a month and well over 5 million tracks in its catalogue, it came as a sobering blow to the industry. While many companies move to a subscription model, 8tracks continues to forge along in what some describe as a convenient loophole. As of this weekend the company is publicly launching its API for Boston’s Music Hack Day.

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Similar to the original concept for Muxtape, 8tracks allows users to trade 30 min (8 track) playlists. But unlike Muxtape, because 8tracks songs are not identified prior to play, the company is treated as an internet radio station. This status as a radio station means that it avoids the high licensing fees plaguing the streaming music sites. While Muxtape was forced to close in 2008, 8tracks continues to thrive.

This weekend 8tracks is publicly launching its music playback API in the hopes of leveraging the collective brain power of Music Hack Day attendees. Some of the tools already built using the API that will be demoed include an iPhone player, a player widget for Facebook and a weekly Hype Machine mix. For those interested in getting involved with 8tracks on Music Hack Day, the developer API is available tomorrow at developer.8tracks.com.

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Adobe’s Upgrades Acrobat.com, Launches New Mobile App

Adobe’s online office suite, Acrobat.com, is getting its first major upgrade since the service left beta back in June of this year. The new release, launching tomorrow, is an entirely unified experience thanks to the addition of a much-requested file organization tool, explains the service’s Director of Project Management Rick Treitman.

Also new are 35 user-requested features, including file searching capabilities and integrations with web services like Flickr and Google Image Search. However, one of the most exciting pieces to the upgraded service is the newly launched mobile component. With Acrobat.com’s smartphone application, users won’t just have access to their files on the go – they can also scan in new documents with their phone’s camera.

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The New File Organizer

The one major new feature in this release of Acrobat.com is the file organizer. Before, files could live in three different places on the service. Now all files are accessible through one main interface.

<img src=”http://www.family-learning-center.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/cache/b93a8_acrobat_file_organizer.png”

The file organizer itself includes some handy features, too. Instead of using a traditional folder structure like you have on your computer’s hard drive, the service introduces something called “collections.” These are more like iTunes playlists than file folders (or even labels in Gmail) because files can be assigned to multiple collections instead of having to sit in just one folder.

Another key component to the organizer is a file search tool. Believe it or not, the online service had no way of helping you find your files until now. Although the current search capabilities don’t yet offer full text search of your documents, Adobe says that may come further down the road.

Also new is the organizer’s “import and edit” feature which lets you open external files directly into the appropriate program so you can begin to work on them online. In the past, you had to first launch the program, then import the file. This time-saving step is more akin to what rival Google Docs offers via their upload feature except that in Acrobat.com, you don’t have to click a link to open the uploaded file – it happens automatically.

Other New Features

The various online office programs themselves have seen improvements as well in this new release. Buzzword is leaving beta and now it, along with Presentations, lets you import images from online services like Flickr and Google Images in addition to the images found on your computer. One drawback to this feature, though, is that the online image searches don’t offer filtering by license type, so a user could easily get into trouble by adding a copyrighted or otherwise licensed photo into their document if they neglect to check permissions first.

The Tables app, still in beta, now has the ability to do more data sorting and filtering. It also adds new views including a print layout view that shows what the document will look like on the printed page.

Acrobat.com Comes to iPhone, Blackberry

One of the more exciting developments is the new Acrobat.com mobile application which will be made available to Blackberry and iPhone users shortly. Built in conjunction with a company called scanR, the mobile application lets users take advantage of their mobile phone’s camera to add new files to the service. After taking the photo, the app uses OCR technology to convert the image to text. How well this works is unknown at this time because the app has not yet arrived in the respective app stores.

The app also lets users view their files in a read-only mode, convert them to PDFs, and share them with others via fax or email. There will be two versions of the app made available – a free version and a premium offering which will allow for more PDF conversions and faxes.

According to Adobe, the Acrobat.com service is faring well. They already have 6 million users and add around 100,000 more each week. While a lot of users are students and SMB owners looking for a free alternative to more expensive Microsoft Office software, the company says they’re also seeing the service picked up and used in small workgroups at larger companies. However, Adobe admits that they’re not an enterprise play yet and they also won’t reveal how many people use the premium version of the service – only that they’re “happy” with the number thus far.

If you want to try the upgraded online suite, you can do so at www.acrobat.com as of tomorrow (Saturday, November 21st) at 6 AM EST.

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Ask Engadget: Best wireless PMP for audio streaming?

We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Magnus, who really, really wants Apple to make an iPod with integrated WiFi streaming. Or something.

“For a very long time I have been searching for a portable device where I can store all of my CDs in MP3 format and then stream the songs wirelessly to my HiFi system. The portable device must I’ve tried FM transmitters, they all suck. I don’t want a docking station. Any help? Thanks!” have a display so that I easily can scroll through the playlists (I don’t want to use a TV or monitor). I suppose that there must also be a second device that is connected to the HiFi system that would receive the wireless streams from the portable device.

Our first thought is to get a Bluetooth-enabled PMP and a BT-equipped stereo. Of course, our first thought could be awful. For any of you with experience in this field, why not throw this fellow a bone in comments below? He’ll be eternally grateful, we’re sure.

Filed under: Ask Engadget, Portable Audio, Wireless

Ask Engadget: Best wireless PMP for audio streaming? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Twones: Delicious for Streaming Music

If you’re the kind of music lover with playlists strewn across multiple web services, then Twones is the tool for you. Twones is best described as Delicious or Friendfeed for streaming music. The early beta site allows users to bookmark and organize music from more than 23 music services including Last.fm, Hype Machine, MOG and even MySpace. The company offers an audio footprint of where you’ve been and once you install the Firefox toolbar, it will also track where you’re going.

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Upon downloading the toolbar, users are given the opportunity to bookmark their favorite music on the sites that they already use. From here, file links are automatically created within Twones and listeners can revisit the same bookmarks for streaming playback. In addition to offering the ability play back songs, the site also offers a variety of information on your favorite bands including news, YouTube clips, upcoming gigs, articles and photos. Another feature is a Last.fm-style recommendation system to suggest new artists for exploration. If you’d like to find new music from community members, you can also click on the “On Air” or “Popular” buttons to get a taste of what’s being played across the web.

Says co-founder Tim Heineke,”In the next month Twones will release a real time activity gadget where users can embed their playlists into social networking sites and blogs.” Once this happens, users can listen to whatever they like and the tracker will automatically update sidebars, home pages and Facebook walls. Other future plans include expanding the number of services that Twones pulls from and exploring the possibility of importing 3rd party playlists created prior to Twones toolbar installation.

Only 500 lucky ReadWriteWeb readers will get a chance to check out this invite-only site. To try the service, visit Twones.com and enter the code: RWW09.

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