Tag: MUSIC,@FEATURES

We know that Google is planning a streaming music service for Android devices, and rumors of Apple offering a similar product have been circulating for years. Late last night, though, Amazon stole their thunder. With little to no fanfare, Amazon unveiled 'Amazon Cloud Player,' a service that comes bundled with 5GB of free Cloud Drive storage for uploading your music and other files, too. The ...

One of the reasons that Aussie dance quartet Cut Copy is constantly on our iPods is because the band, with its electro-pop-meets-arena-rock stylings, is one of the most forward-thinking dance acts around. The boys use the futuristic preoccupations that were pervasive in the '70s and '80s -- think classic synths or dreamy vocals that owe a bit to Boy George or OMD -- to make incredible music ...

For starving musicians and champagne-sipping mega-stars alike, a strong digital presence is essential. The ways in which artists can present and sell their work online are constantly expanding, changing the face of the music industry in the process. The need for intermediaries between artist and audience, such as record labels and publicists, is a thing of the past. Enter Bandcamp, a service ...

Share A reader writes: "I recently helped my parents clean out their house, and, lo and behold, stumbled upon my beloved record collection, which I had assumed was long gone. So, now I need a record player. I'm not planning on becoming a wedding DJ anytime soon, but I want my Emerson, Lake and Palmer to really bump, so help make this reunion work and just tell me what to get!" Dear Reader: ...

Once upon a time, electronic music was generally the realm of those with access to thousands of dollars of musical equipment, or bedroom producers working in niche and largely unrecognized genres. But over the years, the advent of home computing has brought these worlds together, with the ability to easily emulate a studio's worth of equipment on a laptop or PC. Furthermore, electronic music has ...

Share A reader writes: My trusty Sony receiver finally fizzled out after nearly 15 years, and sadly I'm looking for a home theater version that will incorporate all the digital and high def devices I've accumulated since I bought it: a game console, DVD player, DVR and sometimes my laptop for Netflix. I've obviously been out of the game for a while and don't even know what goes into a good A/V ...

Share A reader asks: I just moved in with roommates to my first dorm room and realized we need speakers. (Three dudes listening to headphones in the same room is just creepy.) We don't have a ton of space, so a 5.1 system is out of the question, and a booming subwoofer would probably get us written up anyway. High-quality audio matters to me, though, and all the computer speakers I've seen sound ...

Until recently, if you wanted to listen to music on your smartphone through a premium-paid service, you only had a few options, such as Rhapsody and Rdio. Fortunately, MOG, another music-streaming service, comparable to Rhapsody and Rdio, has just appeared on the scene with apps for both iPhone and Android. Read on to see how MOG sets itself apart. ...

The newly independent Rhapsody is moving at lightning speed to steal back some market share by slashing prices and marketing the iPhone's offline playback support of the service. The former Real subsidiary has beaten other would-be killer iPhone music apps to the punch, as it's the first on the block (in the U.S., anyway) allowing users to tag songs they want to play -- even when no Internet ...

What it is: DoubleTwist is a music manager and media syncing tool for those who don't want to join, or are looking to leave, the cult of Apple. It has gained particular notability ever since T-Mobile agreed to package the application with some of its Android-powered handsets. What we like: Aesthetically, we find DoubleTwist rather pleasing. While others have described it as "rough," we quite ...

Share For over two months, music bloggers and journalists have been plagued by an intricate, creepy and riveting mystery: the identity of the mysterious and macabre iamamiwhoami. In December, a 55-second clip of a hyper-saturated, eerie (Scandinavian?) forest appeared on YouTube, making its way through critics' circles because of its catchy, pretty sounding music. No information was given, ...

Share Look, we've said it before, but it can't hurt to be clear: We are all nerds. Everyone at Switched, our friends, our parents, and the musicians we love. Because, to us anyway, being a nerd means looking up and imagining something active and wonderful outside of our little cubicle-walled existences. Be it 'Star Wars' or Sun Ra, a healthy imagination, for the most part, is the realm of ...

digg_url ='http://www.switched.com/2010/01/19/music-is-the-future-22-of-the-greatest-high-tech-vids/'; Musicians imagine themselves vanguards, leaders of the path forward. Their music can light the way into the future, bringing revelations that will allow humankind to be elevated to the next level of evolution. Either that, or they just like wearing spacesuits and silver eyeliner. ...

Like the albums they're producing, there's a burgeoning group of independent musicians whose tweets put the musings of major-label artists to shame. While they might not have as many followers as, say, Bono or Justin Timberlake, you still won't find better material on the microblogging site than the musings of indie musicians. While this crop of alt-music power players do a fine job, there are ...

digg_url ='http://www.switched.com/2009/11/27/forget-video-phone-top-20-songs-about-technology/'; Beyoncé and Lady Gaga, two of the most forward-thinking ladies in pop music today, decided to get together and record a jam (and video) about a favorite gadget of theirs. When "Video Phone" was set to debut, we were thrilled. All of the components were there: B, Gaga, dancing, and devices. ...