Continue reading »]]> I was recently browsing through the Amazon store for a new pair of headphones. I have countless pairs of earphones – some of which have great sound quality – but they tend to break so easily and are only goody for light use.

However, whilst browsing, it crossed my mind to have a look at some wireless headphones. I’ve previously known them to be very expensive and many of them seem to have poor build and sound quality.

However, I stumbled across a £24 pair on Amazon that had good reviews and thought I didn’t have much to lose – so I bought a pair.

It’s fair to say – considering the price tag – they’re brilliant. They aren’t branded (so those of you who like to show off their brands – these aren’t for you!), but that never seems to bother me!

The sound quality is relatively good and I was pleasantly surprised. The headphones have decent bass and don’t seem to sound “tinny” in the slightest.

They will happily connect to any Bluetooth audio device in stereo and/or mono (eg PC, iPod touch 2G or above, iPhone, any smartphone, etc) and it’s really simple to get them going. Simply hold down the multifunction key for 7 seconds (when the blue and red LEDs flash) and connect to them as normal.

I was also really impressed by the battery life. I’ve had these headphones for several days now and have used them for hours on end – and they’ve still only been charged once! They usually outrun the battery life of my iPod by miles!!

My only minor complaint is the LEDs on the device. When you’re using the headphones, a blue LED flashes occasionally. Whilst this is fine in a well lit room or outside, it can be irritating if you’re trying to use them in the dark or at night.

Other than that, they’re a fantastic pair of budget wireless headphones and seem to outsmart many of their more expensive competitors. At £24 a pair, you really don’t have much to lose.

Continue reading »]]> If, like me, you’re one of those people who still purchase MP3s, this site may be of interest to you.

It’s called MP3Puzzled, and it allows you to compare prices of MP3 downloads from various legitimate retailers – such as iTunes and Amazon.

You can even view how the prices have changed historically – which is both pointless and kind of handy at the same time!

In any case, it’s a handy, free little tool that I thought I’d mention.

Continue reading »]]> On Thursday (29/9/11), we7 converted it’s free service to a “radio” service – being the latest online music service to do so. It follows Spotify, who moved to limited music streaming in April.

The new service for free users allows up to 50 “on-demand” tracks per month, and then a limited radio service. Premium and Premium+ users still have full access to the old site at http://subscription.we7.com and can choose between the two sites.

It does prove that there really is no money in free choice-based music streaming. We7 previously blamed the music industries high streaming fee – which was difficult to match with advertising.

We7 has argued that it believes people want their music to be chosen for them on a genre basis. According to The Telegraph, it denies the move is due to increased competition.

It’s a real shame, but it seems impossible to make money from advertised streaming services.

Continue reading »]]> Spotify have just sent me an email which did get me rather overexcited. Check this one out!

I really would love to believe that you could buy 100 tracks for £1.15 – I guarantee you it would be a bestseller! Sadly, when you actually go Spotify’s site, the actual price of the package is £50. Slightly disappointed, I have to admit.

On a more general thought though, it does make me think of the amount of poorly written emails we get these days. You’d think, for a company of that size, they’d at least have someone to check over emails before they send them.

Rant over!

Continue reading »]]> Apple has just set up their 12 days of Christmas website ready for Christmas 2010. The session will offer 12 days of various free music, videos, apps and books.

To download the app to your iPhone or iPod touch head here, or click here to go to the official site where you can sign up to email alerts.

The 12 days starts on December 26th, and finishes on January 6th – so don’t miss out! Last year I remember it was actually really good - some decent apps, films and music given out for free.

This really is a no brainer – something for nothing from Apple, for once!

Continue reading »]]> Spotify has today launched a new go-between package, presumably to try and increase the amount of paying customers.

The new package sells at £4.99 per month. It includes unlimited streaming (see Free package below), abroad usage for more than 2 weeks and no advertising. However, it lacks the offline syncing and mobile use. I actually think that this is a clever idea – not everybody has a phone or device that works with the mobile system so it makes sense to have a cheaper PC only package.

The £9.99 Premium package remains unchanged. However, Spotify have now introduced a new free package that doesn’t require an invite. You essentially get the same as the old free package, but you are limited to 20 hours streaming per month. You also don’t get the Spotify radio mode, but I don’t believe that many people use it.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased. It won’t really affect me, but for those who don’t have a compatible mobile device it makes sense to just go for the cheaper option.

Continue reading »]]> Just a quick post to say I’ve just found an interesting little application. If you want to backup your iPod or iPhone’s music tracks, you usually have to pay for some commercial piece of software.

However, I’ve just found an app called SharePod. It’s totally free and will backup as many tracks as you want (purchased or personal) to your specified destination.

Go and grab it if you want to rescue any tracks from your iPod or iPhone.

Continue reading »]]> The BPI (British Phonographic Industry) recently released the 2009 music statistics for sales across the UK. In the report, it mentions how our music industry has coped with the rush of illegal downloads.

From what they say, sales of albums have declined slightly through 2009, but this has been the trend since 2005 when sales of albums started to fall. I suspect this is due to the fact that people can now save money if they only pick the tracks that they want online – they no longer need to purchase the whole album. In any case, it now stands that 128.9 million album sales were made in 2009 compared to 133.6 million in 2008.

Sales of singles have rapidly increased in 2009. The total number of singles sold in 2009 stands at 152.7 million, compared to 2008’s 115.1 million. The increase in sales of singles started in 2003, but 2009’s increase is the biggest seen so far.

Bear in mind that that only mentions sales and it is unclear how many pirated downloads were made – but it is still believed that the proportion of illegal downloads is much bigger than the proportion of legal purchases.

I believe that 2010 will be the year for music streaming rather than downloading (or purchasing in a shop). With more and more of us gaining access to the internet, it is becoming easier for us to legally stream music from the internet. I think services such as Spotify will rapidly grow in 2010 as it primarily free – the company makes money from an advert being played after every fifth or sixth track.

Spotify (as far as I’m aware) hasn’t revealed how many streams were made in 2009, but it would be interesting to know. I believe that free music streaming is the only way to get people of P2P.

Credit for information to the BPI and the Official UK Charts Company.

Continue reading »]]> Spotify, a big player in the music industry, has now introduced MP3 purchases.

They originally had it so the software could link you to sites such as 7digital, but it now looks like they are offering direct MP3 purchases.

The new Spotify update allows you to purchase tracks which you can keep forever. They are in MP3 format so they can be placed on any MP3 player or iPod. All purchased music is stored in your music directory and can also be accessed from Spotify.

It looks like the new concept is ran in partnership with 7digital, as the EULA mentions 7digital and their logo is shown.

Looks interesting – I won’t ever use it because I’m going to keep my Spotify Premium membership going as it works seamlessly with my iPod Touch. I doubt many long term Spotify premium users will use the new feature, but it might be handy for free users. Nevertheless, it is a nice addition to Spotify.

Continue reading »]]> It actually would be really good if more music providers allowed purchasing music by SMS. I think it’s a great idea that’s brilliant if you can’t be bothered to use credit cards (or don’t have them).

The only company that I know which offers this service seems to be 7digital but a) they are not cheap for SMS purchases of tracks (£1.50 per track is very expensive for a song – £1 is justifiable but £1.50!) and b) the £1.50 cost only covers tracks up to 99p. That means a 51p surcharge for using SMS – rip off!

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knows any other music by SMS services, that work either in the US or the UK.

Any ideas?

I wish companies would realise the potential of this – think of all the kids who could legally be buying music by SMS without a credit card!