Streaming Music Options Increase & iOS 5.1.1

Streaming Music Options Increase: The technology we use to listen to music has changed dramatically over the last forty years. As a kid I can recall seeing and playing 78 RPM records and 8-track tapes. We then moved on to analog tapes and I can still recall the thrill of being able to listen to my favorite music on a generic Walkman, via a cassette tape. And of course 33 1/3 vinyl records were popular as well and those sort of fell out of mainstream favor when the compact disc came along. And today many people are turning to yet another music format – streaming of music from the Internet from vendors like Pandora Internet Radio and Spotify. Both Pandora and Spotify offer listeners the ability to custom tailor the music they are listening to – to fit their own tastes. Right now I’m spending hours a week with the Billie Holiday channel piping the sounds of Billie and her contemporaries through the sound system in my living room courtesy of Pandora!

And both Pandora and Spotify offer free and paid subscriptions to their streaming music services that can be accessed online, via apps for portable Wi-Fi devices and through media players like the $49 Roku player. The free subscription from Pandora has a few commercials and the free subscription from Spotify has a limit of 10 hours per month of listening so you don’t have to subscribe to check out the services and in the case of Pandora if you don’t mind a few commercials you really don’t need to upgrade to the paid service.

And later this year Microsoft will be upgrading its Zune music service to a new unnamed streaming service currently being referred to as “Woodstock” so streaming music services are increasing offering music fans more ways to listen to music than ever before!

You can find more information about Pandora and Spotify from their respective websites;

http://www.pandora.com/

And

 www.spotify.com/us/start/

For additional reading on the subject of streaming music from the Interent; here’s a Reuter’s article titled Pandora, Spotify face off in free online music market

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/07/uk-internet-music-pandora-idUSLNE84600H20120507

And here’s a Rolling Stone blog article titled Microsoft Prepares ‘Woodstock’ Streaming Service that discusses the upcoming Windows streaming media services going by the unofficial name of Woodstock:

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/blogs/gear-up/microsoft-prepares-woodstock-streaming-service-20120427

iOS 5.1.1: And Apple has just released an iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch software update that is supposed to address some minor bugs including increasingly the reliability of taking photos on the iPad via the home screen and a few AirPlay hiccups.

Here’s a link to a MacObserver article titled Apple Releases iOS 5.1.1 for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch that will tell you more!

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/apple_releases_ios_5.1.1_for_iphone_ipad_ipod_touch/?utm_campaign=feature

Linda R.