Tag: Spotify

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Elusive Spotify Lossless Option May Arrive as Paid ‘Music Pro’ Add-on

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Spotify’s elusive lossless music experience is being teased again, this time based on code uncovered by The Verge in recent builds of the Spotify app for Android.

General Spotify Feature
More than three years have elapsed since Spotify announced its intention to offer a “HiFi” premium option that would give users access to a catalog of CD-quality music tracks. Originally the company said the tier would go live by the end of 2021, but a shift in the wider streaming market upended that idea.

Apple Music has since rolled lossless listening into its standard subscription price, while Amazon stopped charging extra for its lossless music library. The moves effectively kiboshed Spotify’s original strategy of marketing an exclusively lossless HiFi tier.

That said, it doesn’t sound as if lossless is coming as a free perk. The latest rumors suggest that Spotify now aims to offer lossless audio playback in an optional “Music Pro” add-on that will also include new DJ remix features, which let subscribers “speed up, mash-up, and otherwise edit” tracks from their favorite artists, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Spotify will reportedly make basic versions of these remixing tools available as part of its Premium subscription (currently $10.99 a month, or $5.99 for students). Meanwhile, the more expansive offering will be part of a “Supremium” tier that will include its long-delayed lossless audio feature.

How much the “Supremium” tier will cost is unknown. Similarly, the intended price of the lossless “Music Pro” add-on for premium subscribers has not been revealed, but given that major rivals include lossless in their standard plans, asking users to pay anything more than a nominal fee in unlikely to go down well.

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Apple Removes Game Boy Emulator iGBA From App Store Due to Spam and Copyright Violations

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Spotify may be raising prices, here are my 3 favorite alternatives

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Spotify is reportedly set to raise the prices again. This news from a recent Bloomberg report that cites anonymous sources who told the publication of the streaming giant’s future plans. 

According to the insiders, Spotify intends to “increase prices by about $1 to $2 a month” across five markets by April 30. These include the UK, Australia, and Pakistan. The other two regions were not mentioned. Users in the United States are slated to see the same changes, but they won’t happen until later in the year.

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Tidal’s game-changing feature lets your friends open shared songs in Spotify

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Music streaming service Tidal is introducing a great new feature to its desktop app, one we hope other platforms implement: universal links. Now, whenever a Tidal user shares a song with a friend, the recipient will be able to listen to the track “on their preferred streaming service.” They won’t be forced to install the app on their compute. As the company put it, your friends can enjoy “your latest musical obsession, regardless of where they listen.”

The platform itself didn’t make an official announcement. This update appears to have been discovered by a Reddit user on the Tidal subreddit who posted screenshots of the patch notes and the feature in action. We can confirm Tidal Version 2024.03.27 of the desktop app is indeed live and rolling out, as we received the patch on our computer.

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You can now finally use Sonos Voice Control with Spotify tunes – here’s how

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Audio brand Sonos is expanding the reach of its Voice Control software to now support Spotify, allowing users to verbally command the streaming service.

All you have to do to control the app, according to the company, is to say the words “Hey Sonos, play Spotify” into one of the brand’s supported speakers. That’s literally it. Doing so will play one of your Spotify playlists at random. If you want the software to play a specific playlist, you’ll have to mention it by name, like “Discover Weekly,” for example. The feature does extend beyond just being a glorified play button, as it can also be used to help manage your library. 

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Spotify Complains That Apple Hasn’t Approved Update With Subscription Pricing and Links in EU

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Apple has not approved a Spotify app update that adds information on subscription pricing and links its website, Spotify complained today in an email to the European Commission (via The Verge). Spotify says that Apple has not “acknowledged nor responded” to its App Store submission.

Apple vs Spotify feature2
The European Commission on March 4 fined Apple almost $2 billion and said that Apple abused its dominant position in the market by preventing music streaming services from telling users about more affordable subscription prices outside of their iOS apps. The EC said that it is “illegal under EU antitrust rules” for Apple to keep developers from telling customers about cheaper music subscription options.

Apple was told that it must “remove anti-steering provisions” in the European Union, and so on March 5, Spotify submitted an app update that included subscription pricing tiers and options to pay without using in-app purchase. Spotify says that it has not had a response from Apple since submitting the update.

Spotify told the European Commission that Apple’s lack of response is “yet another example” of how Apple “will seek to circumvent and/or not comply with the Commission’s decision.” Spotify asked the EC to require Apple to approve the app update.

In a statement to The Verge, Spotify also said that Apple’s delay “directly conflicts” with Apple’s statements about processing app submissions within 24 hours, and “flies in the face of the timeline for adoption” from the EC.

It’s been nine days now and we’re still waiting to hear from Apple about our app submission to show EU consumers pricing and a link to our website, which we are now authorized to do by the European Commission’s decision on the music streaming case. Apple’s delay directly conflicts with their claim that they turn around reviews on app submissions within 24 hours, and it also flies in the face of the timeline for adoption the Commission laid out.

The ruling from the European Commission that requires Apple to eliminate anti-steering rules is separate from the app ecosystem changes that Apple made in the European Union with iOS 17.4 to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Under the terms of the DMA, Spotify is allowed to distribute a Spotify app to EU users outside of the ‌App Store‌, but it would be required to pay Apple’s Core Technology Fee for each user. Spotify currently does not pay Apple any commission.

The DMA also permits Spotify to direct users to make purchases on its website while also providing information on in-app promotions, discounts, and deals, but again, Spotify would need to agree to Apple’s updated business terms and fees to implement these changes. Spotify has not clarified if it adopted Apple’s new terms or if its update has been submitted without doing so.

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Entertainment

Neil Young returns to Spotify after two-year protest

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Neil Young is back on Spotify after boycotting the platform over two years ago, he said in a new blog post. The Canadian singer ditched the platform over vaccine misinformation on the Joe Rogan podcast. He’s returned because Rogan’s podcast is no longer exclusive on Spotify. “My decision comes as music services Apple and Amazon have started serving the same disinformation podcast features I had opposed at Spotify,” he said – which isn’t really the stance he thinks it is.

When Young dropped his catalog from Spotify, he added he was fed up with Spotify’s “shitty” sound quality. Nothing has particularly changed there.

— Mat Smith

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Instead of its App Store.

Days after Apple started allowing iOS users in the EU to use third-party app stores, the company has announced more changes to how developers can distribute their apps. Most significantly, those who meet certain criteria can let users download apps from their websites. The Web Distribution option, available this spring, will effectively let developers bypass the app ecosystem entirely for their own apps. To be eligible, devs must opt in to new App Store rules and pay a fee for each user install after a certain threshold.

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It’s one of the more useful AI-powered features.

TMA

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AI-powered visual search features arrived to Ray-Ban’s Meta sunglasses last year with some impressive (and ) tricks — but a new one in the latest beta looks quite useful. It identifies landmarks and tells you more about them — a sort of tour guide for travelers. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth explained in a (Meta-owned) Threads post with a couple of sample images explaining why the Golden Gate Bridge is orange (easier to see in fog), a history of the painted ladies houses in San Francisco and more.

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Users can subscribe to third-party labeling services too.

Bluesky, the open-source Twitter alternative, is about to start testing one of its more ambitious ideas: allowing its users to run their own moderation services. The change will bring Bluesky users and developers together to work on custom labeling tools for the budding social media platform.

Bluesky is seeing a surge in growth after it removed its waitlist and opened to all users in February. The service has added about 2 million new users, bringing its total community to just over 5 million. It might need the extra moderation.

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Spotify Begins Rolling Out Music Videos in Beta Across 11 Countries

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Spotify today announced support for music videos, a new feature the streaming service describes as a “beta” with a limited catalog that is available in 11 markets.

spotify music videos
Music videos for supported tracks will show up in the Now Playing screen for Spotify Premium users in the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Brazil, Colombia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Kenya.

A “Switch to Video” icon appears above the song title in supported music tracks. Tapping starts the song from the beginning with accompanying video within the Now Playing view, which can also be rotated to landscape orientation on iPhone and Android.

Supported artists include Ed Sheeran, Doja Cat, Ice Spice, Aluna, and Asake, and the videos can also be accessed on desktop or smart TVs. Spofity told TechCrunch that its full music catalog will eventually include “thousands” of songs.

Previously, video content on Spotify has been limited to video podcasts and short repeating music video clips when a song plays. Apple Music has included its own music video catalog for six years now. The feature was introduced with the release of iOS 11.3 in March 2018.

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Computers

How to Open Spotify Links If You Aren’t a Spotify User

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Spotify dominates the music industry. This becomes really obvious if you don’t use Spotify: You end up being sent, and inevitably clicking on, Spotify links all the time. It happens on social media, yes, but also in text exchanges with friends, in emails, and in DMs. The thought is a good one; someone enjoyed a piece of music and wanted to share it with you. The problem, though, is that the Spotify link is mostly useless if you don’t use Spotify.

What if you use other streaming apps, such as those offered by Apple, Amazon, and YouTube, to listen to music? Are you doomed to search for the track, album, or artist on those services manually? Is that forever your fate? Absolutely not. Here are a few tools that can help you turn Spotify links into links for your preferred music service. (Just note, these tools will work to locate songs, artists, and albums across platforms, but since playlists are usually unique to each platform, these methods won’t work with custom playlists.)

Google Chrome: An Extension to Automatically Redirect Links

If you use Google Chrome or a compatible browser like Microsoft Edge, the browser extension Music Link can automatically open all Spotify links in whatever music app you like. Just install the extension and click its icon to configure it. Choose which music service you prefer and you’re done: Any Spotify link you get from now on will redirect to your app of choice.

You can optionally uncheck whatever services you’re fine with getting links to. SoundCloud, for example, tends to let you play music regardless of whether you have an account, and a lot of its offerings aren’t on other platforms, so you might as well not redirect those links. For the most part, though, this is the kind of extension you can install and never think about ever again.

iPhone and iPad: Song.link for Apple Shortcuts

Chrome extensions may not always work on iPhones or iPads, but thankfully there’s an Apple shortcut for redirecting Spotify links. Just copy any Spotify URL to the clipboard then launch the shortcut Song.Link. This will find the URL in your clipboard and offer you links to the song on other platforms. There’s even a YouTube link, which is helpful if you don’t subscribe to any streaming service.

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Spotify launches Jam (Video) – timeswonderful

spotify jam

Spotify has announced the launch of its latest new feature called Jam, this new feature allows you to create a personalized real-time listening session, which will be available to Premium subscribers, more details are below.

Jam is a new way to enjoy music together in real time. If you’re a Premium subscriber, you can even invite your friends to add their favorite tracks to a communal playlist. It’s like crafting a unique musical journey that everyone on board can enjoy!

Jam is rolling out for all Spotify users globally starting today—so make sure your app is up-to-date. Premium listeners everywhere can start a Jam and anyone on Spotify can join. Simply invite your squad and Jam will help you find the perfect songs to add to the queue, finding the overlaps in your listening preferences to deliver music recommendations that everyone will love. You’ll have the ability to see who’s added which track so you know whom to thank for that crowd pleaser, whether you’re prepping food together in the kitchen or enjoying games in the backyard.  

Once you start a Jam, you can invite a group of friends or family—Free or Premium users, or a mix—so they can share the experience. Premium listeners can join from wherever they are, whether they’re in the same room or across the world. 

You can find out more information about the new Spoify Jam feature over at the Spotify website at the link below, along with details on how you can start to use this new feature.

Source Spotify

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