These days, there is a plethora of audio content available to stream over the Internet. Even traditional terrestrial radio often offers content streamed over the Web, diversifying the choices for how consumers can enjoy music and other audio. Although the legality is questionable, there are--and will always be--ways to record these streams. Streamed audio recordings for music are not going to offer the same sound quality as a ripped CD or even a purchased MP3, but it's a good option for talk programs and mixes that might not be available in other formats. This tutorial will show you how to record streamed audio as an MP3; just be sure to read the usage rules for any recording source before beginning.
Editors' note: This tutorial was completed using Windows XP.
Cost: Free
Time commitment: Varies
System Requirements: Windows
Digital music site Last.fm is like Pandora on steroids. The site allows devoted music fans from around the world to compare tastes, stream music from their favorite artists, stay up to date on local shows, download free MP3s, and create their own custom radio stations.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Last.fm's open API has given rise to hundreds of user-created applications, plug-ins, web tools, mash-ups and widgets. No other music site offers more tools or more features to help users connect with each other and the music they love.
Unfortunately, the deep features that makes Last.fm so appealing to hardcore music nerds, can also make the site a little intimidating to first-timers and casual listeners. Like a freshman dance, folks will often just find one comfortable corner of Last.fm and lose sight of everything else going on around them.
If you're interested in breaking out of your Last.fm rut, I've put together a quick video guide and slideshow, illustrating some ways to take your experience further.
Disclosure: Last.fm is a property of CNET parent company CBS.
Pandora's free, ad-supported Internet radio service has attracted millions of registered users, and spawned one of the more popular iPhone Apps. On Tuesday, May 19, Pandora announced the launch of Pandora One, a premium version of its popular, free, Internet radio service.
For a yearly fee of $36, Pandora's power users can upgrade to the Pandora One service, which offers ad-free playback, higher-quality audio (192Kbps), extended playback time, and a dedicated desktop player. The announcement of Pandora One comes hot on the heels of news that the company will soon add lyrics to its radio feeds using Gracenote technology.
(Via Hypebot)
The music discovery Web site imeem.com officially launched its very own iPhone app on Thursday, May 14. Imeem's app is free and bears a resemblance to similar offerings from Pandora, Last.fm, and Slacker, offering the ability to stream, search, and purchase music over Wi-Fi or cellular connections.
But before you write off the Imeem app (download) as some late-arriving Last.fm wannabe, there's one killer feature to be aware of: cloud storage. Apps like Last.fm will go so far as to create personalized radio stations based on a random selection of songs from your collection, but the Imeem app allows you to call up any song or album in your collection and play it without the restrictions associated with most services (i.e. limited skips, and the inability to play songs from the same artist back-to-back).
In order to stream music from your personal collection, you first need to upload your music to imeem.com from your desktop using its free Mac/PC-compatible client. Now before you go thinking that you can upload that 300GB iTunes library to Imeem and stream it anywhere in the world, there's a catch. Imeem won't charge you for the first 100 songs you upload to the site, but anything more than that will require a VIP service ($29.99 per year for up to 1,000 songs, or $99.99 per year for up to 20,000).
Beyond the appeal of streaming your music collection form the cloud, the rest of the Imeem application falls somewhere between the simplicity of the Pandora app, and the more personalized, social approach of Last.fm. The main menu screen offers ... Read more
One of the least appreciated conveniences MP3 players have given us is the capability to fit a library of audiobooks in our pocket. For those with vision impairment or blindness, the ease of instantly downloading digital audiobooks is especially liberating, compared with the days of CDs and cassettes. Unfortunately, most MP3 players simply aren't designed with accessibility in mind, keeping the convenience of digital audiobooks out of reach for those who would most appreciate it.
The HumanWare VictorReader Stream digital-audio player isn't particularly slim, attractive, or affordable ($349), but its unique design is made specifically for the needs of blind and vision-impaired users. The device is laid out similarly to a large mobile phone, complete with a spacious numerical keypad and dedicated volume buttons on the side. A numerical keypad may seem like an odd choice of navigation for a portable audio player, but in its defense, few other interfaces are as instantly and universally recognizable to the touch. The tricky part is remembering exactly what each key represents. For instance, repeatedly pressing the number one will cycle you though the Stream's main menu categories, each announced over your headphones or the internal speaker in a pleasant synthetic voice.
The VictorReader Stream may look like a phone, but it's actually an MP3 and audiobook player designed for the blind and visually impaired.
(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)Below the keypad are basic playback controls (Play, Pause, Reverse, and Skip), each differentiated by the shape of its key. You'll also find an oval-shaped key above the play button that advances the built-in sleep timer in increments of 15 minutes, in case you have a tendency to doze off while listening to books.... Read more
For music lovers, the Pandora internet radio application for the iPhone and iPod Touch is a welcome addition.
(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)
Apple publicly unveiled the Pandora Internet radio iPhone and iPod Touch application during the unveiling of the iTunes App store on Thursday, July 10. Tim Westergren, CEO for Pandora, was kind enough to give me a personal tour of the new application. The following is a synopsis of just about every question I had for Tim. Editors' note: This is not an interview transcript, but a roundup of information on the Pandora iPhone application presented in a FAQ format.
An option key allows you to bookmark artsist or songs, or purchase the current song directly from iTunes.
(Credit: Pandora)How much will iTunes charge for the Pandora application?
It's free.
Will the iPhone version of the Pandora application stream music over the new 3G cellular connection?
Yes. New iPhones can use the Pandora app to stream music over 3G or Wi-Fi. Updated first-gen iPhones can stream over Wi-Fi or Edge, and the iPod Touch will obviously only stream over its Wi-Fi connection
What's the audio quality like?
Pandora's serves its iPod Touch and iPhone audio streams as 64Kbps stereo MP3 files; however, the quality and file format may be retooled once Pandora's tech team has some time to work with the new iPhone's hardware.
How will Pandora make money off a free application?
Pandora may eventually consider placing short audio advertisements in its streams, but, Pandora's first priority is to grow its user base.
Will Pandora stations I've already created using the Web service be available on the iPhone application?
Yes. Any stations, artist bookmarks, and song like/dislike preferences will be identical between the Pandora Web service and the Pandora application.
You can create and save custom stations directly from the Pandora app.
(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)What can I do with the Pandora application for the iPhone and iPod Touch?
Most of the features of Pandora's Internet radio Web service will be available on its iPhone application as well. People can create radio stations based around artists or songs, bookmark favorite artists or songs, pause and skip tracks, vote on songs, and view descriptions of why a currently playing song was included in your stream. You also have the option to purchase the currently playing song directly over the iTunes Wi-Fi store.
Pandora's intelligent recommendation engine explains song choices.
(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)Can I stream Pandora wirelessly from my iPhone over Bluetooth?
The iPhone does not currently support streaming stereo audio over its built-in Bluetooth; however, third-party Bluetooth audio adapters are available that fit any minijack audio output.
If I can connect my iPhone to my car stereo and stream Pandora over 3G, why would I listen to music on commercial or satellite radio?
Keep in mind that Pandora is a music-only service, so you'll need to get your talk radio, sports, and traffic reports elsewhere. That said, so long as you have decent 3G reception in your area, streaming Pandora internet radio to your car stereo via your iPhone should work fine.
Pandora's song voting system has made it to its iPhone app as well. Voting on songs helps fine-tune Pandora's personalized song recommendations. People can also pause and skip tracks.
(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)Can I wake up to Pandora radio if I dock my iPhone or iPod Touch into an iPod alarm clock?
Not likely, since most alarm clock docks trigger song playback from your music library. Some iPod alarm clock docks include an auxiliary input, however, so if you kept music streaming from Pandora all night (and somehow managed not to run down your battery), then it's possible. Seems like a pain though.
Will Pandora music streams display album art?
Yes, although some music in Pandora's catalog is still without cover art.
The Pandora playback screen looks much like the standard iPod playback screen, complete with cover art.
(Credit: Pandora)Does the Pandora iPhone/iPod Touch application have the same limitations on track skipping as the Web version of the Internet radio station?
Yes. Because of legal restrictions, users cannot skip tracks on Pandora more than six times per hour. Fortunately, Pandora's Music Genome Project is pretty good at coming up with song selections.
Will using the Pandora iPhone application run down my battery quickly?
Yes. Reports so far suggest that the new iPhone's battery performance is at its worst when using its 3G connection. Streaming Pandora content over the iPhone's Wi-Fi connection should produce better battery performance than using 3G.
Will AOL's streaming radio app open the door for others?
(Credit: AOL)Details of AOL's streaming radio application for the Apple iPhone 3G have surfaced after it was revealed that the application won an Apple design award for "Best Entertainment Application" at this year's WWDC. The free application will be available for the iPhone 3G next month, allowing users to stream 200 AOL online radio stations and 150 terrestrial radio stations over both Wi-Fi and 3G cellular connections.
While news of streaming radio capabilities coming to the iPhone is certainly exciting, personally, the thought of listening to terrestrial and AOL online stations doesn't exactly get my blood pumping. The larger story here is that Apple and AT&T have shown a willingness to integrate streaming media into the iPhone, opening a door for streaming audio services such as Pandora, Last.fm, Muxtape, and others.
Of course, converting interactive Adobe Flash-based streaming audio Web services into iPhone applications is no easy task, and the payoff has yet to be proven worthwhile. The possibilities are promising, however, and if the same application can be ported over to the iPod Touch (maybe even integrated with the iTunes Wi-Fi music store), consumers really will have a new way to discover music on the go.
Listening to Rhapsody channels on the Haier Ibiza Wi-Fi MP3 player lets you explore and download an all-you-can-eat buffet of music without ever connecting to a computer. The Ibiza won't outsell the iPod anytime soon, but it proves that subscription music discovery and downloads can work on portable, wireless device.
(Credit: Jasmine France)Yesterday, I spoke about the history of the subscription music model, its roadblocks, and the major players committed to its success. In part 2 of this feature, I'm going to outline some areas of growth for subscription music, share some comments from Rob Williams of Rhapsody, and take a closer look at Microsoft's approach with their Zune Marketplace.
So far, we're seeing three music device trends that will shape digital music in coming months and years: digital audio on more device types (cell phones, MP3 players, UMPCs, in-car GPS, car stereos, home stereos, laptops, Squeezeboxes, boomboxes, Chumbys, and even sneakers); greater adoption of wireless technologies including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth; and cheaper, high-capacity flash memory replacing hard drives. Services such as Napster and Rhapsody are betting that while Apple may dominate the MP3 player space for a while, there's plenty of room for subscription music on all the many connected devices in your life that aren't iPods.
The Sony Ericsson 580 is proof that someone other than Apple can create a good music phone. Built-in Napster Mobile software lets users preview and purchase tracks on the go.
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)In a conversation I had with Rob Williams, senior vice president of music software for Rhapsody, Williams agreed that while wireless internet penetration needs to improve to fulfill the potential of the "celestial jukebox" concept, there are still plenty of opportunities for wireless music delivery. In our conversation, Williams said, "We want to assist people in getting music on devices, on their phone, at home, in their car, and across the Internet. We think that's something users actually want." At the moment, using Rhapsody to discover music while on the subway or in the car is a tricky proposition. A new partnership with Verizon could speed acceptance of on-demand music downloads and streaming radio (presumably using Bluetooth to broadcast to your car). However, despite the popularity of the iPhone, it remains to be seen whether consumers will broadly embrace music phones.
Putting subscription music everywhere the iPod isn't sounds like a tidy divide-and-conquer recipe for long-term success, but will it be enough? Are there other, more human factors contributing to the slow adoption of subscription music services?
Without a doubt--I think Steve Jobs was right on with this--there is an instinctual resistance to subscription music pounded into us by decades of consuming music as a physical medium. Rhapsody's Williams agrees: "There's definitely a hurdle with subscription because it's not an exact replica of the model people are used to in the physical world."
However, as a generation grows up trusting the Internet's infinite shelf space, we may become less concerned about owning an MP3 file. As a former record store employee, I can't tell you how revolutionary it still feels to know that music will never again go "out of print." Just five years ago, I played grief counselor to customers who optimistically walked into my record store asking for the long-out-of-print Travelling Wilburys album, only to walk out empty handed (the album finally saw a revival in 2007). As a reaction to repeat disappointments, many of us still stockpile MP3 files as we do CDs or LPs. It make take a while for the new reality of the Web's infinitely deep catalog to sink in, but when it does, purchasing music files a la carte may seem as quaint as buying VHS movies at Blockbuster--especially for casual music listeners who would enjoy a passive stream of music and risk-free on-demand downloads of whatever Top 40 music they might be enjoying on the radio.
But how does a Rhapsody hook these customers? Attempts to lure them with Rhapsody-branded MP3 players have met with mixed success, but nothing on the scale of the iPod and iTunes. In-home streaming jukeboxes such as the Sonos music system and Logitech Squeezebox, both preconfigured for use with Rhapsody and bundled with a trial subscription, have made some inroads. As Rob Williams stated in my interview, "Anything that has an IP address is a natural place for a subscription service."
Are home-based music systems such as Sonos the next battlefront for subscription music services?
(Credit: Sonos)The other, perhaps more promising hook for Napster and Rhapsody is subscription music content on mobile phones. Personally, I can't stomach the idea of using my phone as an MP3 player, but there's a little gadget out there called the iPhone which is apparently doing quite well, and from a business point of view, an on-demand music service on a mobile phone makes sense. After all, not everybody will buy an MP3 player and even fewer will buy a product such as the Squeezebox, but nearly everyone has a cell phone. With more than 3 billion mobile phone service subscribers worldwide, the market is so huge that luring a mere fraction of customers to Rhapsody or Napster on their handsets could make a real difference for these music providers. If subscription services could tack their charges on the already skillfully obscure cell phone billing statements, their customer base would probably hardly blink. It's a crazy world in which we pay $80 a month in phone charges, but would rather steal a song than pay 99 cents for it, but I think Rhapsody and Napster are smart to take advantage of that particular market quirk.
Microsoft's Zune Marketplace doesn't cast a wide net for users, but instead chases a younger, more savvy demographic.
(Credit: Microsoft)But there's an interesting third approach to the future of subscription music, too. Unlike Rhapsody and Napster, which strive work with a wide swath of consumer electronics, the Microsoft Zune Marketplace subscription music service is a vertical solution intended only for the Zune MP3 player. In an attempt to position the Zune as a hip, more youthful alternative to Apple's now mainstream iPod and iTunes universe, Microsoft has positioned the Zune and its integrated $14.99/mo Zune Marketplace subscription music service toward a smaller, younger, more musically devout demographic. Judging from their well-funded marketing campaign complete with 20-year-olds making deep psychedelic connections to The Shins while riding the subway--they just might get away with it, too.
Historically, the niche interests and voracious appetites of young, money-strapped, die-hard music fans could only be met by the deep, free, and unrestricted catalog of music available illegally through peer-to-peer services. Today, however, as labels of all sizes and genres are increasingly opting for inclusion on subscription music sites (often motivated by marketing and exposure, rather than direct financial gain), the all-you-can-eat buffet of subscription music is considerably better than it was only a few years ago. If properly dressed and curated, there's no reason the more than 3.5 million tracks available on a service such as the Zune Marketplace couldn't satisfy (or at least compliment) the appetites of highly demanding users. However, it's a tough audience to cater to, but Microsoft holds an advantage not shared by Napster or Rhapsody (aside from deep pockets), which is owning a closed vertical system of both the software and the hardware. It may come as no surprise that the Zune MP3 player is not compatible with any other subscription music service beyond the Zune Marketplace, nor is the Zune Marketplace compatible with any other MP3 player (with some rare exceptions).
So what's it all mean? Well the one-sentence conclusion for those of you smart enough to skip to the very end of my rant, is that subscription music service providers are likely to grow stronger over the next five years because of the consolidation of providers, the increasing amount of portable, networked devices, the breakthrough of the mobile music phone, and the generational shift of young music consumers with huge appetites and no hang-ups about owning music because of fears of scarcity. Apple's iPod and iTunes store have stood as the biggest roadblocks to the adoption of subscription music these past 5 years, but they have unwittingly set the stage for subscription music's increased viability as consumer's expectations for deep catalogs of affordable, on-demand music spill over into the areas of mobile phones, home stereos, and worthy iPod alternatives.
Will Apple ever adopt a subscription music model for iTunes?
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)
Rhapsody launched the first high-profile subscription music service in December 2001, in the middle of a revolution. The first iPod had just hit the shelves, streaming Web radio sites like Live365.com were in full bloom, and the masses were just warming to the idea that they could preview and discover music online. A service like Rhapsody, which promised subscribers unlimited access to its growing music catalog, made music junkies salivate. It also pointed the way to a brave new world where people no longer needed physical or virtual media.
The future didn't go quite as planned, however. Because the illegal-but-free P2P world offered the most music, when Apple finally added an online store to their iTunes music software, Rhapsody's subscription music revolution--which has since included Yahoo Music Unlimited, MTV's Urge, Napster, Zune Marketplace--had started to lose momentum.
Rhapsody is the current king of the hill for subscription music, but without iPod support, where can it thrive?
(Credit: Real Networks)Today, the only remaining outlets for subscription music are Rhapsody, Napster, and the Zune Marketplace. iTunes, in contrast, is now the No. 2 music retailer in the nation. Many factors contributed to the subscription music stall, not the least of which is the fact that the most popular MP3 player in the world is deliberately incompatible. Can the model survive?
At the 2008 Macworld expo in January, Steve Jobs quieted iTunes subscription service rumors by proclaiming that people don't want to rent music, they want to own it (unlike movies, which they should rent through iTunes, of course). Jobs' logic is that because people listen to a favorite song hundreds of times throughout their life, a file that might expire doesn't make sense. For companies like Rhapsody and Napster, the million dollar question is, "Is he right?" The answer is more complicated than you'd think. I would never be so bold as to call Mr. Jobs a liar, but I think his Macworld statement is misleading.
The subscription vs. purchased music debate presents a false choice--a black and white view of a world without accounting for all the mess in between. While it's true that most music consumers do just fine purchasing music a la carte through iTunes, Amazon, or eMusic, the idea of a coexisting "celestial jukebox" isn't any less potent. It's like saying the iPod and FM radio can't coexist. The concept of DRM protection for purchased music is clearly dumb (and still practiced by iTunes, by the way), but the real reason iTunes will be the last service to adopt a subscription music model is because it doesn't have to. Apple's existing music retail store is already enjoying a charmed existence without a subscription music option rocking the boat. Why the hell would Apple open up an all-you-can-eat buffet in a restaurant already raking it in on overpriced entrees?
What will the playing field of digital music look like five, 10, or 20 years down the line? The only predictive statement I'm willing to make is that the people of tomorrow, like the people of today, will want choice--choice about what music they want to hear, where they want to hear it, what devices they want to hear it from, and how much they want to pay for it.
So now you know my position. In the second part of Subscription Music's Future, I'll outline areas for subscription music's growth, talk with Rob Williams, SVP of music software for Rhapsody, and go under the hood of Microsoft's marketing logic for Zune Marketplace.
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Donald Bell is an electronic musician, a veteran record store employee, and a fearless hardware hacker. He's also CNET's Senior Editor for MP3 and digital audio.
Jasmine France is CNET's resident digital audio doyenne, writing and editing product reviews, crave blogs, and feature stories on all things MP3. And if you need advice on headphones, she's your girl.
