“Next week (this week) he’s scheduled to return to New York to unveil Spotify’s new platform in front of his first-ever press conference—a platform that he admits still isn’t ready for a public debut.”

I’m been playing with the Spotify app beta for a while now [...]]]> Forbes.com has a long article on Spotify’s Daniel Ek.

“Next week (this week) he’s scheduled to return to New York to unveil Spotify’s new platform in front of his first-ever press conference—a platform that he admits still isn’t ready for a public debut.”

I’m been playing with the Spotify app beta for a while now and there isn’t much there. If you don’t know much about music and don’t have time or the desire to find new music there are playlist by popular sources. (Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The Guardian, Fuse) Also one app that somewhat mimics turntable.fm, called Soundrop, although it’s far from perfect and suffers the same problem top 40 radio stations suffer from… repetition and lack of depth. You can’t ‘thumb down’ songs and lots of bands get played to death.

Will they unveil something for the more experienced and adventurous music fan?

It’ll be interesting to check out at least.  I’m sure Google has the talent and cash to give this a serious run but the execution is pretty important.  There is a fine line between being too simple for the masses, who only have 500 songs total, and the small percentage who have 50,000 songs. [...]]]> http://www.fastcompany.com//1799610/google-music-geeks-try-to-show-they-love-music-more-than-algorithms

It’ll be interesting to check out at least.  I’m sure Google has the talent and cash to give this a serious run but the execution is pretty important.  There is a fine line between being too simple for the masses, who only have 500 songs total, and the small percentage who have 50,000 songs.  Suggesting music for the former is easy… for the latter, not so much.

I like Spotify and use it from time to time but it doesn’t yet ‘wow’ me.  I’ve yet to find a service that does. Pandora’s suggestions for me are too repetitive or just wrong.

Last.fm, Slacker, Mog, Rdio… they all are trying but seem to be missing something that’ll push them past the competition and to the mountain top with their current iterations.

I’ve had ideas for my dream music product for years and don’t see the space changing all that much to really incorporate all the bits that would make it off-the-charts engaging. Maybe all the music tech companies are taking the Netflix approach and dumbing down the GUI to not confuse the average consumer. Maybe “dumbing down” is the wrong description… ‘incredibly simplified’ may be more appropriate. There are ways around this though.

Maybe I’m just like the Jack Black character Barry?  I did read High Fidelity when it came out in ’95.  It was suggested to me by another obsessed music fan on an old listserve for an under-appreciated British band.

Jawbone JAMBOX (Black Diamond)

I decided to try out this highly rated bluetooth speaker for my iPad and iPhone and was shocked at its ease of use, sound quality, small footprint, portability and long battery life. I liked the choice of colors which makes these small speakers standout and easy to spot. When I [...]]]>

Jawbone JAMBOX (Black Diamond)

I decided to try out this highly rated bluetooth speaker for my iPad and iPhone and was shocked at its ease of use, sound quality, small footprint, portability and long battery life. I liked the choice of colors which makes these small speakers standout and easy to spot. When I first opened the package, I was pleased that the company included several high quality cords including both short and long micro USB cords for recharging and computer synching, charge adapter, and a tangle-free audio cord for non-bluetooth sources. You can create an account on the Jawbone MyTALK site to download voice profiles and apps. In pairing mode, it easily connected with my iPad and iPhone. I tested the iPad first with Netflix, Pandora, Hulu+, Air Video Server, and iTunes.

Considering that the speaker is only the size of 2 stacked Wii controllers, the sound was surprisingly strong, clear, full-bodied, and free of hisses or pops that I have experienced with other bluetooth speakers and maintained the bluetooth connection without a single drop.

I ran Pandora and tested the speakerphone function which worked nicely. You can program a quickdial number that can be immediately dialed by pushing the round button on the top when paired with a phone. You can download apps for voice commands which I didn’t try since I rarely ever use, but the transmission and receiving sound quality is quite good.

There’s no need to bring any cords which is the real advantage of using this speaker for true convenient portability. A full day with great tunes and the speaker lasted the entire day using only 50% of the battery life.

I researched all of the bluetooth speakers currently available, and this stands out by far. The Bose Soundwave is grossly overpriced, as is all Bose products, and you’ll be pleased by the quality of sound this little sucker puts out. It’s not audiophile quality but nothing is that is this size, including anything by Bose or Monster.

Jawbox has released a 2.1 firmware update to introduce LiveAudio, quoted from their website:

“JAMBOX is the only speaker in the world that gets smarter every time you plug it in. Just sync it with MyTALK, Jawbone’s industry-first online platform to download apps, software upgrades, and the latest features – including LiveAudio™, an immersive three-dimensional listening experience. Jambox’s integrated intelligence allows you to personalize it to your specific preferences. No other speaker on the planet is intelligent and updateable – but then again, nothing else is quite like JAMBOX.”

“This immersive, three-dimensional listening experience brings incredible depth, detail, and unprecedented spatial realism to everything from mp3s to special binaural recordings. It’s like hearing your favorite music and audio content for the first time — the way it was meant to be heard.”

While “meant to be heard” is OBVIOUS marketing fluff (as is the same statement by Monster and their terrible ‘Beats by Dre’ line, “as the artist intended”) LiveAudio at least is a feature you can disable.

Jawbone JAMBOX (Black Diamond)

First of all, yes, Live Nation gives you the option to ‘opt out’ of this “complimentary” subscription but it’s listed under “Privacy Information”. It [...]]]> Please beware that when purchasing tickets to certain events via Live Nation (Ticketmaster) you are very easily be duped into a “bonus” or “complimentary” magazine subscription. Why is this a scam?

First of all, yes, Live Nation gives you the option to ‘opt out’ of this “complimentary” subscription but it’s listed under “Privacy Information”. It should be listed elsewhere with a different heading. Also, “bonus” implies free, no cost to you, and this is not the case. Also, you must check the box to opt-out versus checking the box to opt-in.
(Click on the image below for larger version)

Secondly, if you do decline this “bonus” offer, you are then eligible for a “refund” of $14.99 if you are thorough enough to read the fine print and follow a couple links. Why are you eligible for a “refund” if this is indeed a “complimentary” offer?!