This news post is directed at you, iPhone-carrying-R.E.M. fan. That’s right, if you own an iPhone and you love all things R.E.M., check this out. The band have launched a new iPhone/iPod Touch application that’s available free of charge.
The iPhone App allows fans instant access to R.E.M. music and online content direct from the band’s headquarters in Athens, GA.
The iPhone can be very beneficial for the person on the go. Many iPhone users claim that there is life before the iPhone and life after the iPhone. The iPhone’s creation has been an icon for this generation and it’s especially helped music lovers.
Several applications allow you to “capture” a song, let you watch a video, or play around with an instrumental game, but one man at University of Michigan has taken it one step further. This man has actually convinced the school to allow students to get school credit by playing on their iPhones all day!
Just because you have an iPhone and live in Australia doesn’t mean you’re safe from ’80s pop star Rick Astley.
According to the BBC, iPhone owners in Australia got quite a surprise this week when they found their phones displaying a wallpaper of Astley’s photograph with a message: “Ikee is never going to give you up.”
For those who don’t know, Spotify is a program that streams music from most major record labels (support for the independents is on the way) at the click of the button. Unfortunately, it’s only available if you live in the U.K., or if you are amongst the select few in the U.S. who is sent an invite code for the service.
There is hope for the rest of us since Spotify has been planning a stateside launch for late summer according to an interview with founder Daniel Ek.
Ohio-based band BJSR has a new music video for the track “Play”, which was recorded from start to finish with new video-capable iPhone 3GS by local company Showdown Productions. Kyle Brock, of Showdown Productions, told Wired:
“The song was written by Ben Rivet, the main character of the video. [Rivet] was purchasing a new iPhone and came up with the idea to promote his music. We wanted to test the limits of the iPhone video, and show off what it was capable of.”
Watch the music video after the cut:
Sony is jumping into the online music distribution market, as sources told CNET that Sony is attempting to deal with other major recording companies to provide music downloads through the PlayStation Network.
This comes after Sir Howard Stringer, Sony Chairman, President and CEO, said that the company can compete with iTunes by providing “something that Apple can’t” and will “grab that opportunity before Apple begins to provide support for other hardware and blocks [Sony] out.” Digital music served on the Playstation Network seems to be the answer.
TuneUp, an iTunes plugin that provides artist names, genres, track numbers and cover art for you music collection, is launching a new user interface today with some added features. Since its launch in 2008, TuneUp has over 200,000 registered users, and you can try a free version of the software at tuneupmedia.com.
Launched in 2008, the plugin does what you don’t have time to do: it homogenizes your entire iTunes library. The free version corrects 100 songs and downloads 50 album covers, but the “Gold” version, purchased for $30 or for an annual subscription of $20, give you unlimited access to the Gracenote Global Media Database of more than 100 million songs.
Last year, a noncommercial, public Internet ‘wiki’ site operated by OdioWorks called BlueWiki was shut down after Apple lawyers claimed (pdf) that discussions on the site constituted copyright infringement. BluWiki users shared information about making other music platforms, like Songbird, Banshee, Rockbox and Winamp, workable on the iPhone and iPod instead of Apple’s iTunes.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has now partnered with OdioWorks to file a lawsuit against Apple for stifling free speech on BluWiki in order to restore the discussions on the site. Apple is obviously trying to maintain iTunes as the exclusive platform on the iPod and iPhone, but hobbyists and tinkerers should be able to share their thoughts on community sites like BluWiki.
