GigaOM » Apple

ITunes Match international rollout premature; refunds being issued

Darrell Etherington — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:54:36 +0000

If it seemed on late Wednesday like Apple’s rollout of iTunes Match to basically every international market where the iTunes music store is available was too good to be true, that’s because it was; Apple is telling customers on Thursday that beyond Brazil and the U.S., Match “will not function.”

The link that leads to iTunes Match in international stores still functions, surprisingly, allowing you to view the relevant sign-up page without issue, as you can see in the screenshot below. But signing up still doesn’t actually provide access to the service.

But even if you followed that link and signed up early like I did, Apple has you covered: The company is reportedly issuing refunds to customers who attempted to get in early. According to reports on Twitter, contacting iTunes Support about an ability to use the service results in a reversal of charges. It’s not clear whether charges will be reimbursed without first contacting Apple directly.

ITunes Match allows users to scan and match their entire music library in order to access it from anywhere on Apple’s servers. It launched in the U.S. to mixed reviews, and it was recently introduced in Brazil, too, alongside the launch of the iTunes Store there. While Apple doesn’t appear quite ready to launch it internationally, it is clearly headed in that direction, since it already has different pricing in place for the service’s annual subscription fees, specific to each market.

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iTunes Match rolling out internationally (and maybe accidentally)

Darrell Etherington — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:11:03 +0000

Apple is apparently in the process of setting up iTunes Match (its music library matching and cloud storage service) for international customers. According to reports, users can now access the iTunes Match sign-up page from this direct link. As of this writing, it was working here in Canada, where Match costs $27.99 per year.

I managed to sign up for iTunes Match using the link, too, though iTunes prompted me to log out and log back in because something had gone wrong. Upon logging back in and trying the link again, the purchase link was replaced with an “Add this computer” option, but that led to the same error message. Nevertheless, I received email confirmation that my iTunes Match subscription had indeed gone through, and others are reporting receiving the same.

Still, attempts to get the service actually matching and uploading my library haven’t yet been successful, which leads me to believe Apple didn’t yet intend to reveal this to the public. The Match sign-up page is also reported to be live in the U.K., Spain and New Zealand, and other international iTunes stores. Pricing varies by location. If you’ve had any luck signing up or have found the link works for you, let us know in the comments.

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TuneUp could improve your iTunes Match experience

Darrell Etherington — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:43:08 +0000

An app that just arrived on the Mac App Store on Thursday could help improve your initial iTunes Match experience, thanks to a host of features it includes for cleaning up your iTunes library. A clean collection with plenty of accurate metadata is probably easier for Apple’s Match servers to handle.

TuneUp is actually a suite of tools, including Clean, Cover Art, DeDuper and Tuniverse. The first three will be of particular interest to people with huge, unwieldy iTunes libraries dreading the iTunes Match scan and upload process. Here’s a quick look at what they do:

Clean. Fixes mislabeled tracks and fills in missing song info, using “acoustic fingerprint technology” that actually uses the track itself as the basis for filling in track information, which it retrieves from the same Gracenote MusicID database that iTunes itself uses when you rip tracks into iTunes from CDs.
Cover Art. Scans your library and finds all cover art, including multiple choices for each, in a convenient tool that lets you approve each selection individually or save them all at once. Great if you’ve got a lot of obscure music that isn’t available on Apple’s own iTunes Store, and want to have cover art show up in iTunes Match uploaded tracks.
DeDuper. If you own a lot of “Best Of” albums or compilations, or you’ve had a bad transfer of an existing library from one Mac to another, you may have a lot of duplicate tracks. This third tool included in TuneUp Goes through and finds duplicates, then presents you with a convenient list of potential duplicates so that you can review each and make sure a rare live bootleg isn’t deleted by accident. Also, TuneUp’s DeDuper uses “acoustic fingerprinting,” just like the Clean feature, so it goes deeper than just surface information like track and artist name.

The final component of TuneUp, called Tuniverse, is an intelligent sidebar that displays upcoming concert information, bios, tweets, YouTube videos and other content related to the artist you’re currently listening to, as well as providing sharing options for Facebook.

TuneUp has been around for a while, but it has celebrated its Mac App Store availability with a sale of 20 percent off the regular sticker price for a lifetime subscription. That makes the whole bundle just $39.99 for a version you can install on multiple Macs, instead of the standard price of $49.95 for a one-computer license. Plus, it’s a timely arrival for a tool that could clear up some confusion as you move your library to the cloud.

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A few of our favorite things: Headphones and headsets

Darrell Etherington — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:32:41 +0000

This holiday season, we’ll be running a series of weekly features called “A few of our favorite things,” where we round up some gift suggestions based on the gear that has passed through our offices either for review purposes or through personal purchases. We’ll tell you what we think is the best gear out there, for a variety of product categories and budgets.

For our inaugural edition of “A few of our favorite things,” we’ll be looking at an essential product for iPhone, iPad and Mac owners alike: headphones. Mostly, we’ll be talking about stereo headsets that also feature mics and remote controls which work with late-model Macs and iOS devices.

Best all-around stereo headset: Bowers & Wilkins C5. These in-ear beauties are great at sound isolation, audio fidelity and comfort, and they look great, too. Durable cord construction will mean you shouldn’t have to worry too much if you get snagged on a fence or other outcropping, and the unique looped excess cable design at the earbuds keeps them firmly in place, unlike a lot of other in-ears we’ve tested. The only real downside is their price: at $179.99, they’re not cheap.

Best stereo headset under $100: Marshall Minor FX Earphones. These are a fraction of the price of the C5 at $64.95, and still manage to exude a lot of style. They sound good, too, but the EarClick tech isn’t quite as good as the C5 in terms of making sure they stay put inside your ear canal. Plus, they’re gold, and frankly, we’re a little more partial to silver.

Best over-ear stereo headset: SteelSeries Siberia Neckband Headset. These are also relatively inexpensive, retailing for $79.99 direct from the SteelSeries website. SteelSeries normally makes headsets for gamers, and these live up to that tradition, providing strong bass response and immersive, rich sound that you may find surprising for the price. That, and the unique design of the Siberia which moves the band to behind your neck instead of on top of your head, preventing bad hair days and working perfectly with winter hats, makes these our favorite this year.

Best gaming headphones: Turtle Beach Ear Force PX5. If you’re gaming on a Mac, you’re probably in a relatively small minority, but the Turtle Beach Ear Force PX 5 is a great pair of headphones for you. They accept optical in (which all Macs have), do true Dolby 7.1 surround sound, and are wireless. All those features will cost you, though, as these ring in at $249.95. Budget gamers should look at the SteelSeries Siberia.

Best stereo headset for workouts: Sennheiser Adidas PMX 680i. Sennheiser actually makes multiple varieties of activewear headsets for the iPhone and iPod touch with integrated remotes, but the PMX 680i ($69.95) is the best in our opinion. They won’t break down no matter how much you sweat, nor will moisture interfere with audio. The neckband keeps them firmly in place without being uncomfortable while jogging or even doing jumping jacks, and the neon yellow accents make them very night-visible.

That’s our list, but feel free to argue our picks or chime in with your own suggestions in the comments.

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Apple launches iTunes Match in the U.S.

Darrell Etherington — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:26:53 +0000

You no longer have to be a developer to access iTunes Match, the subscription music service from Apple that scans your entire iTunes library and makes it available for download on any of your iOS or Mac devices. You can sign up by downloading iTunes 10.5.1, so long as you’re in the U.S.

iTunes Match is a $25 per year subscription service, through which Apple matches tracks in its extensive iTunes Store catalog to ones in your own personal library, regardless of their original source, and makes available 256 Kbps AAC DRM-free tracks for download on any device associated with your Apple ID. If Apple can’t match a track from your library, it’ll upload your original file instead, making sure that everything is available to all devices. Apple initially said it would deliver iTunes Match by the end of October, and obviously missed that timeline by a couple of weeks.

To sign up for iTunes Match, all you need to do is install iTunes 10.5.1, which is available now through Apple.com, and then click on the iTunes Match link on the iTunes Store main page. To sign up, you’ll need an Apple ID and an active payment method on your account to pay the initial $24.99 fee for the first year of service. Be aware that the initial scan and upload of your library could take up to a few hours depending on how many tracks you have.

Also note that as of this writing, iTunes Match has temporarily suspended new sign ups and is advising users to “check back in an hour,” due to overwhelming demand. Note also that your iOS devices will need to be running iOS 5 or later to use the service, and there’s a 10 device and 25,000 song limit.

How is the service working for you so far, if you managed to get in, and who’s planning to sign up, once Apple opens up registration again?

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Shuffler.fm brings blog-based music discovery to iPad

Darrell Etherington — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 17:07:57 +0000

Shuffler.fm finally released its free, official iPad app for public consumption in the App Store on Tuesday, after talking about its plans for an Apple tablet version first in August. The music discovery tool pulls its content from music blogs, combining them in a Flipboard-style experience specifically aimed at helping you build your listening library.

Unlike other social music discovery tools, Shuffler.fm isn’t basing its findings on your existing tastes, as Last.fm or Pandora do. Instead, it aggregates and organizes content from popular online music blogs, like Pitchfork, TheMusic.FM, Stereogum and many more. Content is then organized by genre-based channels, which also help populate a playlist of tracks you can play back from the bottom of the iPad interface while you read about the very songs you’re listening to.

The idea behind Shuffler.fm is great, since it provides an alternative to algorithm-based recommendations in services like Pandora that often provide quite a narrow view of a user’s listening habits. By using curated blog-posted content, Shuffler.fm allows users to be much more broad in their approach to music discovery while also providing the advantages of some kind of editorial filter to prevent information overload.

Shuffler.fm’s iPad app design is simple, even more so than its web-based version. But through its simplicity it does a good job of getting out of the way of the music while at the same time presenting it in a visually attractive way. The presence of the blog-fueled radio playback interface, with its bookmarking (with a free Shuffler.fm account) and sharing options (email, Facebook and Twitter), also helps ensure that you agree with what you are reading about tracks and that you can share them with friends if you come across something you think they should hear.

That sharing element could become even more integrated in the future, as Shuffler.fm co-founder Tim Heineke told me that there are plans in the works “to connect [Shuffler.fm] more to your current social network of sharing,” but that there’s nothing definitive he can share at this point.

The only thing I’m not crazy about in Shuffler.fm is that to read full articles about the tracks in question, the app uses an in-app browser to direct you to the website of origin. I’ve been spoiled by nicely formatted reading views from apps like Flipboard (for some articles, though not all) and Instapaper. But at least Shuffler.fm is directing some traffic back to the websites that supply its content, which in the end is better than my selfish desire to read things in a slightly more easy-to-digest format.

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GarageBand comes to the iPhone and iPod touch

Darrell Etherington — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:23:59 +0000

Apple has introduced an update for the iOS version of GarageBand that makes it compatible with iPhones and iPod touches, too. The now universal app is available as a free update for owners of the iPad version, or it’s $4.99 if you’re buying it for the first time.

The iPhone version is pretty much the same as its iPad cousin, with the same multitouch and smart instruments, eight tracks of editing layers and audio export capabilities. But Apple has taken the opportunity to refine the product with some new tools and features, too.

Smart instruments gain custom chord support, so that you can make your own to strum. This allows seasoned musical pros to get off the beaten path and produce some pleasant and more unique sounds, and amateurs like me to do terrible things that no one should be forced to listen to. You can also change time signatures to 3/4 and 6/8, change the key of your currently active song and export to iTunes as AAC or AIFF format. There’s also an Arpeggiator (tones in a chord played in rapid succession, not all at once) option for the Smart Keyboard.

All the new tools seem designed to provide more fun for the experienced set, while maintaining the low barrier for entry that makes GarageBand such a generally appealing app to begin with.

My initial unskilled hands-on reveals a product that doesn’t lose much appeal compared to the iPad version, though the smaller screen might feel a little more cramped to some. Apple does a good job of simplifying control interfaces, however, to avoid making the on-screen space feel claustrophobic.

If you’ve been left out of the iOS GarageBand party before now because you didn’t own an iPad, now’s the time to add your voice to the chorus, even if you can’t carry a tune or even keep time to save your life. Note that you’ll need a device at least capable of running iOS 5 to use the app, even though the software requirements actually only need iOS 4.3 or higher.

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November has arrived, but iTunes Match has not

Darrell Etherington — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:01:52 +0000

Apple announced at its iPhone 4S event that iTunes Match would launch by “late October,” but that self-imposed deadline has come and gone, and consumers have yet to gain access to the service. ITunes Match provides iTunes users the ability to access their entire library in the cloud for a yearly subscription fee, and it’s been in testing with developers since August.

Even developers are running into problems accessing the service, however, since the version of the iTunes 10.5.1 beta that makes it possible to scan and upload your library is now expired, reports Dan Moren on Twitter. Apple, which wipes the library of prerelease Match users on occasion, did so most recently last Thursday, so some developers could be stuck without any service at all. Apple has made the trial period not part of the actual paid subscription that developers sign up for, however (time starts when the service actually launches), so it’s not like they’re being financially inconvenienced.

This isn’t the first time Apple’s missed an announced launch date, but it is rare that Apple will come out and say publicly that a product will ship at a certain time and then miss that window. More often, the company keeps product plans and release time lines extremely vague until it can guarantee a release.

The recent wiping of the developer Match libraries and the lapse of the beta expiry both point to a fairly imminent release, however, and I would expect Apple to either speak up soon about a revised time line or just launch the product itself. From what I’ve seen of Match (and it’s been a while now), the service looks fairly close to being ready for public use.

We contacted Apple for comment on the delay and will report back if and when we hear more.

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iTunes in the Cloud goes international

Darrell Etherington — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:04:40 +0000

One part of Apple’s iCloud service that went live originally back in June is “iTunes in the Cloud.” This lets you automatically or manually download new books, apps or songs purchased with your iTunes account on one device to any other device on which that account is signed in. Originally, music wasn’t included in the mix for users outside the U.S. Now it is.

Depending on where you live, you should now be able to see Music listed in the Store section of your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch’s Settings.app under “Automatic Downloads.” Also, you can find a “Purchased” tab in the iTunes Store on iOS devices, with a list of all the tracks you’ve bought through iTunes with your ID. Each of these can then be downloaded to your device by tapping the cloud icon next to the album or track name.

So far, MacRumors is reporting that users in the U.K. and Canada are seeing these features go live. I can personally vouch for them now being available to Canadian users. Any other international readers care to weigh in on “iTunes in the Cloud” availability in your neck of the woods?

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iTunes Match arriving “late October”

Darrell Etherington — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:47:54 +0000

Apple finally talked about when people can expect to get their hands on iTunes Match, and it’s later than iCloud in general. Later in October is as specific as the company got to putting a release date on the cloud-based subscription music service that makes your iTunes library available to all your Apple and Mac devices. Here’s a look at how it works.

Your library, but not necessarily your files

Unlike Spotify or Rdio, iTunes Match only provides you with access to tracks already in your library; iTunes music you’ve purchases, or albums you’ve added from other sources like your own CD collection are what you’ll have access to. Upon first set up (managed through a menu in the left-hand column of iTunes under “Store”), iTunes scans your library, and then looks for matches on the iTunes store servers. Where it finds a match, nothing more needs to be done; you’ll be able to download tracks from Apple in high-quality 256kbps AAC to up to 10 computers or iOS devices.

If Apple encounters music it can’t match, don’t worry; iTunes Match uploads copies of that content from your hard drive to its servers, including album artwork and any other track and artist information, so you shouldn’t even notice the difference between it and the music provided by Apple (except maybe in terms of audio quality, depending on the quality of the originals).

All your music anywhere. Until you sign out.

You can download and play back songs from iTunes Match on any device where you have your account signed in, but the party ends when you switch Apple IDs. Content is erased from your device when you sign in using different credentials, so if your iTunes account for music, and the one you use for apps are different, for example, switching between the two is not a simple thing.

Pricing and availability

As announced when iTunes Match was originally previewed, the service will cost $24.99 per year. For that price, you get unlimited downloads on up to 10 devices (iOS, Mac or PC) and access to Apple’s 18 million strong iTunes store database for 256 Kbps AAC tracks for matching. Again, other tracks not found will be uploaded in their original format to Apple’s servers. Any tracks from iTunes Match doesn’t count against your iCloud storage limit.

iTunes Match will be available for U.S. users late in October, but international users will have to wait. No announced timeline for release in other markets is yet available, and it will probably take some time for Apple to work out the licensing deals necessary for that to happen.

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iTunes Match now in beta, includes music streaming

Darrell Etherington — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:43:39 +0000

Apple has begun testing iTunes Match with a limited portion of the Apple developer community, as of late Monday. The iTunes Match service is a subscription-based part of iCloud that scans your existing iTunes music library and stores a 256 Kbps copy of all matched songs on Apple’s servers for you to access from any connected Apple device, so long as your software is up-to-date. Perhaps the biggest news, though, is that even though Apple didn’t talk about it when the service was announced, iTunes Match appears to support remote streaming, in addition to downloads to local device storage.

Developers were granted early access to iTunes Match Monday afternoon, via a sign-up page included in a newly released version of the iTunes 10.5 beta. Our sources say Apple appears to have cut off new iTunes Match registrations for the time being, saying that it will be expanding its initial pool of testers over the next few days. Developers still have to pay the $24.99 yearly subscription fee, which allows you to store up to 25,000 songs on Apple’s servers, but the period between now and the service’s public release, as well as an additional three months of service will be free of charge. Developers are also warned that any music stored during the beta period will be deleted at the end of testing.

In addition to the ability to download music directly to up to 10 devices (including a maximum of 5 computers) associated with a user’s iTunes account, iTunes Match provides another feature that hasn’t been specifically advertised by Apple: the ability to remotely stream tracks from the cloud instead of having to download them first.

That iTunes Match is now live for testing is good news, since it means we’ll hopefully see it arrive on time this fall alongside iOS 5 and iCloud. The website Insanely Great Mac has a video of iTunes Match streaming in action, which you can see below. It’s a feature that many thought was missing from Apple’s music service when compared to similar offerings from Google, Amazon and Spotify. It’s still possible the streaming aspect won’t make it into a final release version of iTunes Match, but if it does, Apple will have an even stronger contender on its hands than most people anticipated.

Note that iTunes Match will be U.S.-only when it launches in fall, probably due to issues with obtaining international licenses for all the music streamed. Apple will no doubt be trying to roll out the service to other markets through negotiations with major record labels, a process which could be helped along if the U.S. launch goes well.

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Updated: 4 reasons Pandora could win the fight for digital music

Hey look, Exfm is like Ping, but useful!

Darrell Etherington — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:36:44 +0000

A new iPhone app released on Thursday brings a music social network to the iPhone. Not for the first time, mind you, but it does get a lot of things right that previous offerings, including Apple’s own Ping, haven’t been able to nail down.

Exfm is the free iPhone client for an existing service that started life off as ExtensionFM, a Chrome extension that lets you grab and build playlists out of free MP3s posted to blogs. It also lets you both listen to those and share them on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks.

The iOS app doesn’t let you collect music tracks itself, but it does grab songs you mark as “noted” using the Chrome extension, letting you play them back on your iPhone via streaming over Wi-Fi and 3G.

Exfm scratches a couple of itches that Ping doesn’t: It doesn’t depend entirely on users having a strong network to function, since it gathers tracks for your consideration from music blogs, and it also actually lets you play music from your built-in iPod app and “note” those songs, which means you can share your musical tastes with your social network contacts as you listen.

One of Ping’s greatest weaknesses is that it doesn’t plug in to a user’s actual music library or let her use it easily while she’s listening to music. If I have to go to my library, find the track I’m hearing, and mark it as Liked in the desktop version of iTunes, most of the time I’m not going to bother. If, on the other hand, I can just unlock my iPhone (where I do the vast majority of my music listening, anyway) and, using a single tap, recommend a track, I’m much more likely to participate.

To be fair, Apple did introduce the ability to Like and post comments about songs in the iPod app in iOS 4.3, but it works with tracks purchased from the iTunes Store, which leaves a lot of uncovered ground for many users. Exfm works with anything in your library, and it connects you to Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm friends in addition to those who also use Exfm.

Apple partnering with Twitter to make iOS more generally social is a good idea. If Exfm’s early efforts with its iPhone app are any indication, Cupertino should think about cutting its losses with Ping and teaming up with theses guys to shore up that side of its mobile business, too.

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How to Market Your iPhone App: A Developer’s Guide

One reason Apple isn’t sweating the prospect of iTunes Match piracy

Darrell Etherington — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 19:32:36 +0000

Source: Asymco

When Apple announced iTunes Match, a scan-and-match service for your entire music library, not just for songs bought through iTunes itself, it seemed to many that it could open the door to even more piracy of digital music, which is already a rampant problem. At the time, I suggested Apple might be anticipating the future of digital music distribution and getting out ahead of the competition early. Apple might also be less worried about the prospect of digital music piracy now that App Store revenue looks poised to overtake money made from iTunes music sales in just a few short years.

Asymco (via Silicon Alley Insider) estimates that based on current trajectories, income based on app sales will pass income based on iTunes music sales in just three years. iTunes music only generates about twice the income of App Store sales, owing to a much higher amount of retained revenue on app sales. Users buy about 67 songs per iTunes account on average, but also about 62 iOS apps, so revenue from apps is growing at a higher rate than is revenue from iTunes music sales.

iOS is a platform designed with the future in mind, and since it’s only three years old, we’ve probably only just seen the beginning of its success so far. Digital music, by contrast, is being attacked from all sides by alternative content delivery methods, including subscription services, and even free, socially sourced options like newcomer turntable.fm. Amazon and Google are offering cloud streaming services, and iTunes Match is a way to stay one step ahead of the competition. But as users increasingly turn to services like Spotify, and those services begin to play nice with record labels, the pay-per-track and download is beginning to show its age.

Apple knows apps are key to the future of its content revenue picture, and Asymco’s analysis serves to make that clear. Apple is still king when it comes to digital music, but to stay there in the long term, it has to shake up the way it does business. With the App Store, Apple still has the smartest business model around, and the one that’s most appealing to developers and consumers alike.

Featured image courtesy of Flickr user Paul Sapiano under CC BY 2.0.

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Share your music with portable speakers for your iDevice

Charles Hamilton — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 18:22:05 +0000

Headsets — like the Turtle Beach PX5 that Darrell reviewed recently — are great for listening to music on your own. But while you’re outdoors this summer, there are times when you may want to share your music with those around you. There are many portable boom boxes designed for iPods and iPod touches, but here are a few of the more unusual options.

Grace Digital Audio Eco Extreme

If you want something rugged for taking on a bike or to the beach, you might like the Eco Extreme. The manufacturer claims it is both waterproof and shock-resistant. It seems to seal pretty tightly, but I haven’t tested it in watery conditions yet.

The Eco Extreme is designed to stand upright when desired, includes a carabiner for attaching to backpacks, and a pouch for storing cards and other small items in addition to your music player. It requires 3 AA batteries (not included), but the Eco Extreme will not charge your iDevice, since it uses the headphone jack to connect. This is a bonus if you ever want to use the Eco Extreme with something other than an Apple product.

The 3-inch speaker is pretty small, and is rated at 3 watts and a frequency range of 200Hz – 10KHz. It puts out decent sound for its size, but don’t expect high fidelity. However, the Eco Extreme might be a good way for the kids to listen to music while at the pool or the beach.

The Eco Extreme comes in several colors, retails for $49.99, and is available from the Grace Audio website.

iMainGo X

If you want better sound quality, and don’t mind doing without the shock- and water-resistance of the Eco Extreme,the iMainGo X, which also has a number of additional features.

It connects to your music player using a standard headphone jack, and it has a flexible, clear plastic cover on one side so that you can access your player’s controls without taking it out of the case. You can use the iMainGo X with iPhones as well as iPods and iPod touches, and with other MP3 players. Since it has both an aux and mic in jacks, it can even be used with iPads, Kindles, tablets, and laptops — even gaming consoles and guitars! Unlike the Eco Extreme, the iMainGo X has an external headphone jack if you want to keep your music to yourself — in fact, it has two, so your kids can share in the backseat without disrupting your peace and quiet.

The design is kind of cute — it looks a bit like an old-style cassette Walkman. The holes where the reels would be are actually the speakers, and their fidelity is much better than the Eco Extreme. I was quite impressed with the quality, frequency range, and volume that can be produced by the two 37mm (about 1-1/2″) speakers. You can even daisy-chain more than one iMainGo X if you want more sound.

The iMainGo X uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery rated for 12 hours of playback time, and it comes with an AC adapter, a travel bag, and a carrying strap. It retails for $69.95, and is available through the iMainGo website and other online retailers.

SuperTooth Disco

The SuperTooth Disco is the 800-pound gorilla of portable sound. With a rating of 28 watts, this speaker can put out an amazing amount of high-fidelity sound, with excellent frequency response. In fact, I’ve found that it’s a bit difficult to set the levels low enough to not blast out the neighbors, which is hardly surprising since the SuperTooth Disco has specs that include two standard speakers rated at 8 watts each, plus a 12-watt subwoofer.

As you might guess from the name, ths SuperTooth Disco connects to your player using Bluetooth A2DP, so it can be used with Macs, iPods, iPhones, iPads, and many other devices. It also has a standard audio line-in jack, so you can use a cable if you wish. I’ve been using Bluetooth, and playing music from my MacBook Pro has never sounded so good. I’ve heard interference on rare occasions, but never often enough to be a problem.

The Disco includes a NiMH battery pack rated at 10 hours of playback time, and an AC adapter. At 89 x 315 x 70mm (3.5 x 12.5 x 2.75 inches) and weighing 1140 grams (2.5 pounds), this is definitely a speaker that you won’t want to put in a backpack or on a bike, although it does come with a carrying case. But if you really want to share your music with a crowd at your next summer party, the SuperTooth Disco can handle it.

The Disco retails for $149.00 and is available in the U.S. at department, specialty and mobile phone stores; the manufacturer’s online shop seems to be only for European orders.

The Speakal iPig

This one’s a bit ridiculous, and could be a relative of the Swoop, but I have three friends with kids who said they want one after taking one look at it.

The iPig actually has very good sound. It comes with five speakers, including a 15 watt subwoofer. The iPig puts out 25 watts, and it has adjustable bass and treble, so it’s not far behind the SuperTooth Disco in sound capabilities.

You can control the volume by touching the pig’s ears, which is a nice touch. To make other changes, you’ll need the included remote, which works fine, but is tiny and will probably get lost quickly. The iPig can be operated with an included rechargeable lithium-ion battery rated at 6 hours of operation, or using the included AC adapter. It will even recharge your iDevice through the dock connector in the pig’s head. It’s portable, but its shape isn’t conducive to carrying, and it’s surprisingly heavy, so I’m not sure kids are going to want to lug it around.

The iPig comes in regular and “cool” versions; the regular version has round eyes, and the cool version looks like it’s wearing shades. Oh, and if you don’t like white, it comes in yellow, pink and black, and the same manufacturer makes the iPanda, the vaguely apple-shaped iPom, the miSoccer soccer ball, and the ghostly iBoo.

The iPig retails for $139.99 and is available from the Speakal website.

Disclaimer: All speaker systems tested for this review were provided by the manufacturers.

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Report: Convenience means iTunes users will pay for iTunes Match

Darrell Etherington — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:39:50 +0000

Though some iCloud functionality is already available to iTunes users (purchase history and Automatic Downloads, specifically), the paid iTunes Match service doesn’t launch until fall. But The NPD Group thinks there will be ample demand for such a service when it does arrive, according to details from an upcoming report it shared with us. But why are users so eager to sign up?

Forty-six percent of iTunes users surveyed by The NPD Group for its upcoming “iTunes User Report” expressed interest in signing up for a paid cloud music service, were Apple to offer one. Of course, since Monday, we’ve learned Apple does intend to offer such a service, in the form of iTunes Match. iTunes Match will scan a user’s local iTunes library, and provide access to high quality AAC files of songs found for direct download to any device associated with their iTunes account. Scanned music doesn’t necessarily have to come from the iTunes Store, either, which is a cause for concern for some, and excitement for others.

It’s easy to say that users are interested in iTunes Match because it seems like it could amount to a possible amnesty regarding pirated music, but the details of Apple’s scan-and-match service weren’t known when NPD posed its question. Instead, it seems more likely the motivation stems mainly from the convenience a subscription cloud music service provides, owing to the success of mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad.

NPD entertainment industry analyst thinks the survey is a good indication that Apple chose the right time to launch a fee-based service that provides cloud music access to iTunes users:

It’s notable that even before Apple’s announcement this week, nearly half of iTunes users had some interest in a paid cloud-based music service. As device penetration continues to grow, and as consumers demand easier access to their music from multiple devices, we can expect interest in these services from Apple and others to continue to rise.

That nearly half of iTunes users said they were willing to pay for cloud music access is very promising for Apple, considering how much of a shift it represents from the current way of doing things. It’s even better news for the company that younger iTunes customers appear even more amenable to the idea: 57 percent of teens aged 13 to 17 responded positively to the idea, indicating that there’s a good chance cloud music adoption will grow with time.

The only hurdle might be that NPD’s analysis found that the ideal average price for paid iTunes cloud music service is $17 per year, which is a fair bit shy of the nearly $25 Apple is asking. Also, NPD’s question to iTunes users did include the word “streaming” in its definition of a cloud service. iCloud and iTunes Match don’t provide streaming per se, but they do provide access to your entire library from any device where you have internet access, another condition set by NPD, and, as Cult of Mac points out, streaming just isn’t that useful to most Americans because of bandwidth data caps.

If Apple can sign up anywhere near half of the 160 million iTunes users it had at last official count, iTunes Match will be a considerable success. Are you planning on contributing to that success?

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iTunes 10.3 beta now available, with a touch of iCloud

Darrell Etherington — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 15:13:40 +0000

The iTunes 10.3 beta is now available for download by any and all from Apple’s official site, bringing with it support for some basic iCloud functionality. Specifically, consumers will be able to view and download any past purchases they have made through the iTunes store.

You can access your purchase history through a link on the iTunes store main page, which brings you to a list of all your previously purchased apps, books and music (no sign of movies or TV shows yet, and music is U.S. only at the moment). As with the iOS purchase history sections, you can alternate between a total list of all the content you’ve ever bought with your iTunes account, and only those items that aren’t in the library on the computer you’re browsing from. Downloading an item is as easy as hitting the cloud icon, and you can download all items at once with a button at the bottom.

iTunes 10.3 also brings support for the iBookstore, which has previously only been available on iOS devices. You can now buy e-books from iTunes, and then sync those purchases back to your devices or transfer them over-the-air.

Finally, you can also now enable Automatic Downloads on your Mac or PC with iTunes 10.3. So if you buy content on your iPhone, it will automatically be detected and download on your computer, too. That should take some of the sting out of syncing devices, where app transfers back and forth can take a huge amount of time.

iTunes 10.3 is available free for all Mac and PC users, so long as you’re running OS X 10.5 or later, or Windows XP SP 2 or later. Check it out and let us know what you think of the changes.

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