Posts Tagged
music
Google’s geeky. Its homepage has always been spartan, and even the shade of blue used on its links are tested for performance. Its HQ is known for group bikes, indoor slides, yards mowed by goats and filled with inflatable deserts, the representatives of the web giant’s robot-themed mobile OS.
But Google’s also successful, wildly so. It’s a rare day when any internet connect human doesn’t touch at least one Google products. Not because we’re forced to, but because we want to. Google Search just works, and its popularity got us to try the rest of their apps. And you know what? Google Maps, Gmail, Docs, Chrome and more all work so good, most of us choose them because they work great. They may be spartan, but they sure do the job.
That’s not enough. The new Google, one increasingly infused with Google+ DNA since its launch 2 years ago, is focusing harder than ever on design. And features. And glasses, and driverless cars, and beating Dropbox, and more. It’s a busy — and shiny — new search giant, and that’s on showcase more than ever at this year’s Google I/O developer conference.
As anyone working in the record industry will attest, virtually all music is now consumed digitally. There is a massive market for digital downloads, but there is also a huge number of music fans who get their fix through streaming sources.
Songdrop is a free service that can be used to access music from all of your favorie streaming sites in one place – no more jumping from site to site. Let’s take a look and see how it can simplify listening to the music you love online.
There are so many good books to read, movies to watch, and music to listen to. I don’t know about you, but I always find myself without enough time in the day to be able to sit down and just dive into a good book. Then, there are those times when I hear a good song on the radio and I try to remember it so I can buy it later, but that never works. I am not sure if it’s because I am getting older (I am really not that old), but I cannot seem to remember things unless I write them down.
I have been using a web app called Done Note Done to jot down some of the books, music, and movies that I want to check out. It has been a good way for me to keep track of all the things that I want to get to later – with a dash of social networking thrown in. Granted, you can use your favorite task manager for this as well, but this app may just get me to read and watch more movies. Let’s take a deeper look into Done Not Done.
If you listen to music enough, eventually the music you have in your library gets old. Luckily, there are tons of apps out there to help you find new music. You can try unlimited streaming with Spotify or discover new artists with custom stations on Pandora. These services are great, and widely used. Unfortunately, services like these don’t really benefit independent artists.
Thesixtyone is a web app that turns indie music discovery into a game. Users listen to full songs from up and coming artists and have the opportunity to interact with the song and artist in various ways. On top of these interactions, users can complete quests and earn points just for listening to songs and accomplishing various tasks. It’s quite an interesting idea for music discovery, so stick with me after the jump to learn more about how thesixtyone works and if it’s worth checking out.
These days, it’s essential for visual artists of all disciplines to have an online presence so that their work can be found, followed and talked about in the industry. And there are indeed plenty of web apps one can use to create portfolio sites, with something for everyone and various feature sets. But what if you’re looking for something clean, elegant and easy to use, that lets your work do the talking?
The enthusiastic team behind Salon.io believe they have the answer – their still-in-the-works app allows you to create stunning showcases of your art with minimal effort, while retaining the flexibility to be customized as much as you need. But how does it fare against the competition? Let’s give it a try and find out! (more…)
Finding and choosing music to listen to is an easy task for a lucky few. For the rest of us, choosing music is often an annoyance. Whether you are tired of your collection or just don’t know what you’re in the mood to listen to, sometimes it’s good to step back from iTunes and let someone else do the heavy lifting. That’s where an app like Songza comes into play.
Songza labels itself a music concierge. It’s an online playlist based music application, full of playlists for different events, moods, decades and genres. Songza is 100% free AND audio ad-free, a rarity in the world of online music streaming. Read on to learn more about this new music application, like details on how it works and what I think of it thus far.
I remember as a teenager the first time I tried to make myself a mix tape, and how cool it was. Then I started making them for my mom and girls that I had crushes on, only to realize that it wasn’t really impressing the ladies. Boy, were those some good memories.
Yes, making mix tapes are a thing of the past, but you can relive that past with a web app called Mixtaping.fm. It’s a great way to take the concept of tape mixing into the digital age. Who knows, it could even score you some points with the ladies this time around. If nothing else, the nostalgia factor is definitely worth trying out the app.
Ever since Youtube was launched in 2005, it has become increasingly popular to share any form of media via the web. The days of taking a tape or DVD over to your friend’s house are over; instead, we’ll email a link or post it on Facebook. While Youtube and Vimeo dominate the video sharing category, another site, SoundCloud, pioneered a unique niche: audio sharing.
Described as the “world’s leading social sound platform,” SoundCloud is an excellent example of a product built on the needs and preference of the consumer. Most of us are already sharing songs and audio online, but usually we’re awkwardly sharing it with YouTube videos. SoundCloud provides another option, letting you directly share audio with your social networks.
There are a number of sites out there dedicated to listening to music, like Pandora and last.fm. Most of these sites are either traditional radio that is played online, or they create “stations” based upon a particular artist or song. While I use Pandora on a fairly regular basis, sometimes I like to use a site that is geared towards playlists rather than stations. When that’s the case, I turn to 8tracks. This site is comprised of thousands upon thousands of user-created playlists.
When using 8tracks, you can listen to any playlist, create your own or be a part of the social aspects of the site. Read on for more information about how this site works and why it’s definitely worth checking out.
In this Quick Look, we’re highlighting Twusic. The developer describes Twusic as a Belgian project developed in Brussels by the company LemonLab, born of two young entrepreneurs’ mind, both passionate about music and social media, Amaury Lesplingart and Alexis Lecomte. Twusic is a music platform that allows users to compose their own music station from a simple tweet using the hashtag #nowplaying.
Read on for more information and screenshots!
