Gadget and Techno Updates
Posts tagged Spotify
Spotify may further curb free music access this week
Apr 13th
Spotify may shrink back the amount of free listening it gives once again, insiders said Wednesday. Having already limited new members on the free plan to 20 hours of listening per month, it’s now reportedly considering locking down the number of listens per song and might also throttle back existing listeners. The company could make the changes public as soon as this week, CNET heard, although they wouldn’t take effect until May.
The reasons for the clampdown weren’t given, but it would most likely be to appease labels that want more paying customers and fewer depending on ads. Spotify has been More >
Spotify rumored giving out advance cash to rush US launch
Oct 27th
Spotify may finally be edging closer to its promised US launch as a leak this afternoon hinted that it had taken drastic steps to get music label deals. A number of tips maintained that it was still without US deals but has been promising large cash advances to labels to earn their confidence. Multiple touching points are left, but Spotify has “never been closer” to a deal, CNET understood.
Among the concerns has been the conversion rate of ad-supported free users to paying subscriptions. Less than 10 percent of Spotify’s current European base has been willing to pay the monthly fee, More >
Spotify still without any US deals
Sep 17th
Spotify’s problems getting US deals may still be ongoing if claims from music industry sources are accurate. None of the major labels have signed deals and might not have time to make one before the end of the year, the contacts told CNET. Publicly, Spotify has been insisting it was close to striking a deal for much of the year.
Among the issues keeping the service are Spotify’s low rate of turning free customers into paid subscribers and, equally, Google Music. The search engine’s plans for downloadable and streaming music have positioned it as an alternative to iTunes that would More >
SageTV ships Mac- and PC-ready streaming media player
Sep 5th
SageTV is now shipping the SageTV HD Theater 300. The media player streams media files from the internet or a local network to the connected television and supports full 1080p. It will also play media files from USB storage devices.
The HD Theater 300 supports HDMI 1.3 and both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD/MA audio output. The player comes with a remote but also the sometimes missing HDMI and component audio and video cables, and an Ethernet cable. It’s compatible with SageTV’s Media Center software, which allows any PC or Mac equipped with an HD tuner card to watch and record More >