Talking with Financial Times, Spotify’s chief content officer and US managing director, Ken Parks said, “We have an enormous internal effort to drive conversion and engagement with the service. We are very focused on growing in our existing 1e markets as well as expanding in other markets.” In UK, Spotify is now facing stiff competition from emerging streaming services such Pure Music.

Latest figures reveal that more than 20 percent of its user base pays for using Spotify services. It also claimed that more than half of its paying members belong to below-30 years of age demography. This is one segment which is generally very difficult to monetize. Spotify also clarified that while calculating its active users, it does not include users on a free trial of its premium services.

Spotify is now looking to augment its services. It recently introduced new apps for this purpose. These apps may be used for creating playlists for personalizing features.

Spotify Crosses 3 Million Paid Subscribers Mark is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Colin Crawford, director of marketing with Pure, said, “Forget the hassle of downloading and ripping – just search and enjoy. Both intuitive and easy-to-use, Pure Music has been designed to be at the heart of Pure’s expanding and market-leading range of internet-connected radio and audio products.”

Pure Music has also announced its subscription plans. Its basic plan comes at £4.99 a month and it will offer unlimited streaming of music. It will also let you stream music over multiple devices, so that you are not restricted to just one player. You can play music on the company’s own internet connected radios, on its lounge website or via your iOS and Android mobile apps.

However, Pure Music is not offering any caching services for the time being. The service is expected to arrive later, albeit with an addition fee tacked to it. You can stream music via Wi-Fi connection and 3G. The service is already live in the UK.

Pure Music: Spotify’s Latest Rival in UK is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Digital downloads are doing a little better than traditional formats such as CDs, however, there performance is still not good enough to make up for dismal performance of traditional formats. In 2011, digital download recorded 26.6 percent increase. The UK music industry sold 26.6 million digital albums in e011. However, Compact Disc sales plummeted 1e.6 percent to 86.2 million. Other media such as Vinyls reported sales figures of 389,000 albums.

The biggest blow to the industry comes from the practice of illegal downloads. The reports show that illegal downloading is on the rise. Interestingly, digital downloads have, so far, failed to hurt CD sales. Compact Discs still form 76.1 percent of total music market. Geoff Taylor, chief executive officer of BPI said, “British music fans understand that the album remains the richest way to connect with an artist’s work. Digital developments grab the headlines, but the CD remains hugely popular with consumers, accounting for three-quarters of album sales.”

Singles market defied the overall trend and recorded 10 percent increase in sales to 177.9 million.

Music Sales Declining in UK is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Thanks, in part, to BeatsAudio over-ear headphones have seen quite a resurgence in recent years – a few years ago it was all about having an iPod and those the famous white earphones. Well, everyone still wants an iPod or iPhone, but now those white earphones are not cool anymore – NoiseHush has recognised this sea change – as consumers realised that in-ear technology just can’t compete with the sound quality and comfort of over-ear technology and the coolest headphones you can buy are the big, chunky and over-ear variety.

NoiseHush like many others are looking to seduce you with their new line of HD Stereo headphones. Which offer maximum comfort, a stylish design and ear-pounding sound quality. We gave the NoiseHush NX26’s a thorough testing on range of mediums and devices to see how they stack up against the competition.

First of all, we started with some noisy dance music, a perfect start to test the headphones punch and sound range. We’re glad to report that they performed admirably. They did begin to distort right at the top of the volume range, but for many you’ll never take the NX26’s up to that level.

Next up, we tried the headphones on some movies to see how they handled a wider spectrum of sounds, which is where in-ear headphones usually tend to fail miserably. NoiseHush’s NX26’s performed very well with deep low-ends and crystal clear highs.

The final test we devised was to play some videogames and see how they performed. Again is was the same story of impressive range of sound delivered with crystal clarity. We do own a pair of BeatAudio heaphones and for the money of the Nexus pair they do stand-up against them well. There are certainly on par with the cheaper Solo’s, but can’t really compete with some of the more expensive versions Beats offer.

Where the headphones start show off the cheaper price point is the build quality and comfort. They’re not poorly made, but they’re far from having a high-end premium feel to them, but for the price we can live that. They’re quite comfortable with a padded headband, which is adjustable to fit your head, but we found they only really became comfortable when they were worn-in and had loosened up a bit. The ear cushions are well padded and do isolate a lot of the outside noise without having to use noise-cancelling technology – which tends to mean you have to have some batteries for the system to work, which is one of the major downsides of some of Beats’ high-end range.

The NoiseHush NX26′s do come with a very handy microphone and controller on the headphone wire. You can make phone calls via voice commands and there’s a button to control music playback, volume and you can also answer phone calls with a touch of the button. The tangle-free cable is impressively long compared to the competition meaning they’re ideal for gaming, listening to music or watching movies.

For the price we were pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the NX26′s, for a price of around £60 – they are certainly worth considering, and will some clever design decisions with the length of the cable and on-board controls they’re a great pair versatile headphones for phones, mp3 players, laptops or just about any device.

NoiseHush NX26 HD Stereo Headphones Specifications
• Driver Unit: 40 mm
• Output Power: 30mw RMS
• Speaker Frequency Response: 20HZ-20kHz
• Sensitivity: -42 ± 3dB
• Mic Frequency Response: 100-20kHz
• Cable Length: 5.7 feet
• Audio Connection: 3.5mm Stereo Jack Socket
• Weight: 175g

NoiseHush NX26 Headphones Review is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Netflix is expected to go operational in the UK in e01e.Steve McAllister, President and managing director of sales & distribution with BBC Worldwide, said, “With our content already available on Netflix in North and Latin America, we’re delighted to be a launch partner for Netflix in the UK and Eire, offering viewers the chance to watch some of our best loved shows on the platform from day one.” While both the companies are keeping mum about financial details but the deal is expected to be non-exclusive.

Netflix’s new deal with BBC World will give it an edge as now it will be able to access BBC’s treasure trove, which contains masterpieces like Fawlty Towers, Little Britain and Spooks. LoveFilm does not have any such deal with Beebs. However, it has recently entered into a collaboration with Sony Films and the deal will enable LoveFilm to stream movies like Salt and The  Social Network. It looks like that both the companies are now doing their best to capture the market. LoveFilm CEO, Simon Calver said that these deals will help the company in providing better content to its subscribers at the same low monthly price.

Netflix Joins Hands with BBC for its UK Debut is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

What’s the worst thing about Spotify? It doesn’t pay that much to artists. No. It’s devaluing music? No. It’s the fact that the service is pretty poor when it come to music discovery. There’s so much music, that often, it’s hard to find the hidden gems – sure you can use your friends recommendations – but what happens when all your friends just listen to Adele or Jay Z.

Well Spotify has recognised this shortcoming and it’s plan to solve it is to create a new apps platform. A system of apps that look to enhance the experience of users listening to music. It will allow developers and media partners to build apps to run within the company’s desktop application – serving tickets, reviews and recommendations to Spotify users.

The Announcement

The announcement was made last week at a New York press conference, and see’s the Swedish company follow Apple and Facebook’s lead with their own Apps eco-system, a dramatic change for the company. But, interestingly, the apps that are going to be available on Spotify won’t be sold for a profit, in fact they won’t be sold at all – meaning developers will have to get a little creative in order to monetise the system.

Chief Executive Daniel EK said that Spotify will bring a host of new features to the software; such as recommendations, ticketing, editorial content thanks to partnerships with the Guardian, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Songkick, Last FM and TuneWiki. For example, The Guardian’s app brings album reviews from both the Guardian and Observer into Spotify’s service.

“Today, we become a totally integrated platform,” said Ek. “We’re opening up our platform in a way that lets you curate the apps that you want, and really make Spotify yours … This is the beginning of something game-changing for digital music.”

The apps will of course sit within Spotify’s desktop client, although Ek did state that if successful, the platform may extend to its mobile apps in the future too. The apps will be available for free to paying users of the service.

Developers will have to go through the usual hoops to get their apps on the service. They will have to submit their ideas to Spotify for approval before building and launching anything. This should mean that the Spotify App store won’t be full of useless apps – something Google failed to do in the early days of Android. The premiss of the system will be to add valued content alongside Spotify’s music.

Spotify will be using the apps platform itself, to add new features to the service – starting with a Facebook-style news ticker showing what friends are doing on the service. Ek said: ”We have a lot more in the works. But more than anything we really look forward to being surprised by developers,” he said. “We believe they’re going to deliver amazing new apps within the Spotify platform.”

Recent Criticisms

Ek didn’t talk about the recent criticisms of streaming music payouts to artists during the event, but he did defend the company’s business model, in response to a question about whether its payments to music rights holders risk becoming a bigger burden as more people use Spotify.

“For us, we don’t feel that those are onerous terms in any shape or form. We’re very happy with how our model is performing,” he said. “We are paying out the vast majority of all the revenues, and that’s really how we want to keep going.”

Spotify currently has an impressive amount of users with 10 million active users, and 2.5 million of them paying for the service. It is available in 12 countries, and its users have created more than 500m playlists – a number that has doubled since July 2011.

“The Spotify revolution is really to make access as an alternative to ownership,” said Ek. “We’re just three years in, but we’ve already become the second biggest digital revenue source for all the labels in Europe behind iTunes. And we’ve paid out more than $150m to the music industry so far.”

He also summed up Spotify’s mission statement with a carefully-crafted soundbite: “The ultimate goal here is to be as ubiquitous as the CD, but with all of the obvious advantages of being digital.”

The Apps

We’ve had an extended look at some of the apps that are currently available, they’re not groundbreaking in anyway, and Apple will hardly be quaking in fear of what Spotify has planned. The new app service looks to get users engaging more, and not just running the software in the background.

We Are Hunted’s app is simple and effective, allowing you to instantly playlist 100 of the top tracks from online sources like blogs. Last.fm’s app will have potential for those of you who have scribbling their music for a while. Songkick offer easy access to contert tickets of artists you listen to and The Guardian, Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, obviously, offer more of a editorial focus.

Apple Vs Spotify

Ultimately, if Spotify becomes the next big bastion for music delivery this will surely put another nail in the coffin of the labels favoured model: selling music. Something Apple has had a stranglehold on for years. Traditionally, the Spotify vs Apple argument has been often been played down, but, with Spotify’s increased exposure with its Facebook partnership, the Swedish company is the clearest competition to the iTunes crown.

The age old battle of ownership versus access is one that is brought into sharp focus with this new announcement –  we personally can’t see both coexisting without having an impact on one another. The likely winner, surprisingly, could be Spotify. Sure it’s going to take a while, but with an all-you-can-eat ethos Spotify looks to be a better deal for the consumer, and less so for the major labels, Apple and independent artists.

Spotify Vs iTunes: Battle Of The Apps is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

The service initially used peer to peer networking and it treaded l3gally dubious territory, and this is something which caused the eventual demise of the service. Napster was used by artists and the recording industry as it ate into their profits. Napster was hit with a lawsuit by The Recording Industry Association of America in 2000. Soon, the service was being disparaged by popular artistes including Dr. Dre and Metallica.

The lawsuits forced Napster to start blocking unauthorized music exchange, which caused the massive decline in traffic. Various Napster copycats such as Kazaa and Limewire also failed to survive. In 2003, Napster was bought by software company Roxio, which released the service in a new format. However, it failed to capture the old magic. In the coming years, Napster changed many hands. Roxio sold it to Best Buy, which sold it to Rhapsody.

While Napster was founded on l3gally and morally dubious grounds, but we got to give it the credit for bringing new options to the table. It was good while it lasted.

Goodbye Napster: The Music Service is no More is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Under this service, Virgin Media users will six months of Spotify Premium for free. Spotify Premium account lets its users stream unlimited music, without annoying advertisements. Once you have exhausted the six months of your free subscription, you will be required to pay standard charges of £9.99 per month to continue receiving the services. You can access your tracks and playlists through your TiVo service or through your smartphone. Since the music is downloaded, you can play the tracks even if you are not connected to the internet.

The offer is available to the existing Virgin Media subscribers as well as to the new ones. According to Cindy Rose, executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media said, “Our goal to deliver a truly unique experience for our customers and we’re really excited about bringing Spotify to our TiVo service as part of our ongoing initiatives to develop the platform further with new features, applications and content,”

The app can be found under the Apps and Games section of TiVo Service.

Spotify Meets Virgin Media: Enjoy Streaming Music Through Your TV is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Style: 4.5/5

Constructed from steel they have the edge over plastic in both strength and style. Simple, understated steel is often a great look for gadgets especially ones like headphones which you will wear, and simplicity is certainly the approach Urbanista have taken with these headphones. That’s not a bad thing either. If you want to show people you’re wacky you can get a pair of Skull Candy headphones. The Copenhagens are modern and stylish for people who don’t want to draw attention to their headphones but don’t want to by wearing something clumpy, awkward and ugly. We’re rocking the white version but there are six different colours available. As far as headphones go they are very smart (at least from a distance) the trapezoid shaped leather speakers are futuristic and edgy, much nicer looking than big round speakers. Unfortunately up close they look a tad cheap because of the flimsy plastic hinges and the horrible foam squares which are bound to discolour over a short space of time. Ultimately they are very nice, just not as nice as they think they are.

Function: 3/5

The headphones fold up easily much like a pair of sunglasses and they come with a lovely box for transportation. Function is where these guys come into their own as an urban tool. They are lightweight and when they are folded they are small enough to be chucked into a bag without taking up too much room. You would need a big pocket to carry them in your jacket, but it wouldn’t be impossible especially if you dig your big winter coat out.

They also come with a built-in mic for your smartphone which is a convenient little feature and the shoe lace style wire is feels much stronger than the traditionally shaped wire plus it tangles a lot less. Going back to style, it looks cool too. One big tick in the box is that apart from the plastic hinges, the rest of the design feels fairly sturdy and they seem like they will prove to be very reliable in the long-term.

Sound Quality: 3/5

I have to be honest, I think the sound quality is quite poor. They have managed to get a nice level of bass in there which is the hardest thing to do with headphones so well done to Urbanista for not neglecting the lower frequencies like a Hell of a lot of headphones do. But one of the most basic and most irritating flaws of these headphones is their oddly shaped speakers. Sure they look very cool, but they are far from snug and there is a lot of leakage.

The lack of volume control is also annoying. They seem designed to simply blast music into  you at high volumes with no real thought in the actual quality of the sound. Don’t get me wrong, they don’t crackle or fizzle or buzz, but they don’t bring out the best in music either.

Gaj-it Verdict: 3/5

They are stylish, portable and urban. They’ll be a great addition to a teen’s wardrobe but not so much for an avid music fan or audiophile.

Urbanista Copenhagen Headphones: Review is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Google has finally brought their Google Music service out of beta and last night they officially launched the new music service in the US. While it’s not available outside the US, we’re going to take a in-depth look at what Google has planned to try and compete with iTunes and other music services like Spotify.

It represents quite a departure for the search engine giant. They’ve always positioned themselves as a middle man, but yesterday’s announcement see’s them go head to head with the myriad of other mp3 music stores and Apple’s iTunes. But, does it offer anything new that’s really worth getting excited about? Well if you are a Android user, being able to buy music direct from your phone will be a welcomed one.

The Cloud 

One of the features of Google music is the ability to use the service within the cloud, now, this is nothing new, Apple’s has its own version of this and similar to Apple’s service users will be able to store and stream 20,000 songs from your own collection or bought through the new music store. You’ll be able to access your music through your phone, desktop or tablet via streams or you’ll be able to download them direct to your device.

Music Hub

To upload your collection to the service you will need to use the music hub software, which will allow you to add songs to your cloud locker – even if its spread across several computers.  Our main gripe is who has the time or patience to upload 20,000 tracks to anything, with UK upload rates it would take ages for the average punter. Maybe in a couple of years this will be the future, but Cloud services sound better in theory than in practice.

Google Music App

To access your music, you’ll need to download the Google Music app, this will allow you to access your cloud as well as download music back to your device, you’ll need an Android phone running 2.2 and have the latest version of the Android Market place.

Google’s Android market place will now sport a section where users will be able to buy music like you would on iTunes.  Google has got three out of the four major labels on board as well as deals with 1,000′s of independent labels. Tracks will cost the standard cost of a track: around 99p and you’ll be able to get the tracks in full Mp3 320 quality and DRM free – something iTunes doesn’t offer. You’ll be able to preview tracks for 90 seconds and you will be given a free song a day. Whether you get to choose it or it’s chosen for you remains unclear.

Google + Integration

Google has big plans for intergration with its newly launched Google + social network. They are planning to share your purchases with people who are in your circles, and better still, your friends will be able to listen to track in full once, and if you buy an album they’ll be allowed one full play of the album too, which is a very clever idea and will no doubt increase Google Pluses use too.

Artist Hub

Another interesting concept that Google has come up with is the artist hub – a new way for artists to sell their own music. In a similar way to the App store, it cuts out the middle man. Artists or smaller labels will be able to set up their own page, dictate the price of the release, and will bank 70% of the revenue generated. Essentially it’s Google’s own version of Bandcamp. The artist will be given full control on what sort of previews they want and if it takes off could be a revolutionary change for the industry. Its been done before, but with Google’s exposure and marketing budgets could become the future distribution network for smaller, more niche independent labels.

Google will look to woo the music buying public with some exclusive content, these will include exclusive live concerts from the Rolling Stones, Busta Rhymes debuting his new studio album on Google Music, plus free live albums from Coldplay, Shakira, Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews Band.

Missed Opportunity

But, has Google missed a massive opportunity, well, according to some it is has, an  independent music analyst Mark Mulligan, formerly of Forrester Research, said: “Google for so many people is the junction of their digital lives. The company was expected to create a much more imaginative service than just a simple download store and digital locker system,” he told The Telegraph.

From early impressions Google has pretty much copied the iTunes model, with some refreshing additions, we like the idea of being able to share purchases and the artist hub. They’ve now got to get the same deals sorted in Europe and the rest of world. There’s no doubt it will succeed, purely down to the sheer number of Android handsets out there, but those of you who thought it might change the world of music forever will be a bit disappointed. But it’s early days so we can’t judge just yet.

Google Music: What You Need To Know is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com