Thus far, two albums are being made available via Premieres: “Once I Was An Eagle” by Laura Marling, and “Wrote a Song for Everyone” by John Fogerty. Unlike a typical Pandora station, the pre-release albums are offered in an on-demand way, with users have the ability to select any track from the album to listen to as they wish. There’s no limitations on the order songs are listened to, or how many times they’re played.

Once the album is released for sale in stores, it will be removed from Pandora Premieres. According to the announcement, new albums will be featured on a weekly basis, and some of them will be accompanied by exclusive content, such as video interviews with the band or artist. The station functions mostly like other stations, with the ability to skip ahead to the next song. There’s no thumbs-up and thumbs-down options, however, and tracks can be selected individually from a list.

The purpose of the new station is multi-faceted. On one hand, users will benefit by getting access to albums before they hit stores, and artists will get exposure ahead of album releases that could help fuel sales and that will provide a unique type of exposure. Pandora says such an impact on the careers of artists is “one of the most gratifying parts of this exposure.”

In order to listen to the stations, users have to specifically hit up the Pandora Premieres URL at pandora.com/premieres, at which point it will be automatically added to your radio stations for future access. Have you checked it out yet? Let us know what you think in the comments!

SOURCE: Pandora

If the reports are true, then Apple will be well on its way to launching its iRadio service by its expected summer release date. However, there’s one thorn still in Apple’s side. The sources say that talks between Apple and Sony Music Entertainment, the 3rd label that Apple needs to secure its service, are still dragging along. Until Apple is able to secure a deal with Sony as well, its iRadio service will be at a stand still.

Apple will reportedly pay rates that go “neck and neck’ with the rates that Pandora currently pays for its music service. Previously, Apple requested that the labels charge it only 6 cents per 100 songs streamed, but it was unanimously rejected by all three labels. Pandora, who just hit 200 million users this week, will have some tough competition coming from Apple, which currently has 400 million active iTunes users. A media juggernaut like Apple will have no problem getting users to convert over to its service.

Apple is also one-upping Pandora by offering several on-demand features, with some rumors saying that it may offer on-demand streaming of music like Spotify. In order for Pandora to compete effectively, it may have to remove its 40-hour restriction placed on mobile devices, and it will have to offer similar on-demand services. Music streaming services all around will be seeing a very difficult opponent in the future.

[via The Verge]

Pandora shared even more statistics as well, boasting that users stream 1.5 billion hours of music every single month, and the service streams 200 million songs before 10 AM every day, proving that Pandora is a vital part of commuting to work in the mornings. Furthermore, listeners have personalized their stations with more than 25 billion “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” ratings.

Last month alone, Pandora played over 100,000 unique artists and more than 1 million unique songs, and mobile usage of the Pandora app is on the rise, with more than 140 million listeners having used Pandora on a mobile device. Streaming music on a smartphone or tablet is becoming more and more popular, so we can only guess that number will keep rising in the future.

Pandora announced last month that monthly listener hours were just below 1.5 billion, so more users are listening to more music through Pandora — that’s an increase of 40% from 1.07 billion during the same time last year, proving that music streaming is becoming more popular, and people are using Pandora to do it.

Pandora reports that listener hours for the service during March totaled 1.49 billion. That number of hours represents a very significant increase compared to March 2012 when listeners spent a total of 1.07 billion hours. That means listener hours for March of 2013 represents a 40% increase compared to the previous year.

Pandora reports that its share of total US radio listening for the month was 8.05%. Interestingly, the growth compared to March 2012 for the share of total US radio listening doesn’t show the sort of growth as you might expect with such a major increase in listener hours. In March of 2012, Pandora had 5.73% of the total US radio listening audience.

Pandora also had 69.5 million active listeners at the end of March 2013. That number is 36% higher than the 51.2 million listeners for the service in March of 2012. It’s worth noting that these metrics for March of 2013 offers the US radio listening market share data based on a trailing 28 day basis at the end of the month. Pandora says previous reports used a trailing seven-day basis at the end of the month. The company says that moving to the 28-day trailing basis will give a more accurate idea of the services monthly market share. However, the company did figure the comparative data for 2012 using the new formula for its March metric comparisons.

[via Pandora]

However, the labels are getting worried because Pandora is attempting to negotiate for lower royalty fees. Currently, it pays 12 cents per 100 songs, but it needs to have a lower rate in order to generate a profit. Despite it not generating a profit, Pandora’s 12 cents per 100 songs fee is much lower than the 21 cents per 100 songs recommendation provided by the Copyright Royalty Board. Even Spotify, with its millions of users, is paying 35 cents per 100 songs.

The labels aren’t planning on lowering Pandora’s royalty fees however. They believe that the web radio industry is still growing, and that there will be other services that will be just as good as Pandora. They’re banking on Apple’s iRadio becoming a success. A source told The Verge that there is no doubt that Apple’s iRadio is coming, and that Apple has achieved a lot of progress with music labels. The sources say, “Apple is pushing really hard for a summertime launch”.

If Apple really is far into negotiations with music labels, perhaps the music labels were able to convince the company that a 6 cents per 100 songs royalty fee was too low. Regardless, with Apple’s power, its iRadio service would most likely be an instant hit, and it may deal incredible damage to Pandora’s business, especially since Pandora has just restricted its mobile users to only 40 hours of free music streaming per month. If the music labels offer Apple a better rate than Pandora, Pandora is expected to make a case in front of Congress with the Internet Radio Fairness Act (IRFA) bill. The bill, if approved by Congress, would lower Pandora’s (and other web radio’s) royalty fees so that they can generate a profit.

[via The Verge]

Both Pandora and Microsoft know that you’ve been waiting a long time for a Windows Phone 8 version of the app to come out, and they even announced plans to bring Pandora to WP8 during the platform’s launch event, so as a gift for your patience, they’re giving WP8 users an ad-free experience until the end of this year. This is a feature that only normally comes to premium subscribers of the service.

Furthermore, the app comes with Live Tile support, meaning that you can check out what artist and song is playing right from the home screen, and users can simply tap on the tile to go directly to the app. Microsoft and Pandora claim this as the app’s exclusive features, so if you were expecting anything groundbreaking in the actual app (besides the ad-free experience), you may be disappointed.

Along with the ad-free experience, however, users will also be able to play unlimited music. Pandora recently stuck a 40-hour monthly limit on its service for free users, but Windows Phone 8 users will be able to listen to all of the music that their hearts desire until the end of the year, after which you can spring for the monthly or yearly plans ($3.99 monthly or $36 yearly).

Amazon already has its own MP3 store and Cloud Player, so it has the means to start the service, but considering how saturated the music streaming market currently is, it might not be the wisest choice. Amazon has yet to enter any formal discussions with record labels, so it’s basically feeling its options out. Considering how large the online retailer is, it may be able to set itself apart from the competition, especially if it includes the music subscription service with its Amazon Prime features. Free music streaming could be a major draw for consumers to purchase an Amazon Prime subscription.

YouTube and Google are also reportedly planning their own music-subscription services. Both of the services would have a free version subsidized by ads, and they would both offer an ad-free version at a cost of course. Apple has been in talks of starting its own music streaming service for a while, however due to its low royalty rate propositions, it has been seeing a lot of rejection from record labels.

The outbreak of all of these “upcoming” music subscription services is a bit overwhelming. All of these companies will be tempting to subscribe to, and Spotify will definitely be facing some tough competition. These companies will all have to come up with exclusive features that will interest customers and drive them away from the rest of the competition. Having mobile access to their service would be a huge plus.

[via The Verge]

The app will stream music via SoundCloud. It will feature 4 tabs. The “Suggested” tab recommends you songs based on the musical artists you follow. The “#NowPlaying” tab lists links to songs tweeted by your followers who tweet using the #NowPlaying hashtag. The “Popular” tab lists the songs that are currently trending on the music app, and the “Emerging” tab lists a bunch of up-and-coming artists featured on We Are Hunted.

The app will display artists and songs in a grid design. Clicking on an artist’s panel will cause it to expand displaying a short bio on the artist, as well as links to songs the artist has on SoundCloud, or on iTunes. Users can tap the play button to begin streaming music from the artist. Users will also be able to follow artists directly from Twitter’s “Twitter Music” page.

iOS users are said to have first dibs on the Twitter Music service, just like Twitter’s video sharing app, Vine. The Twitter Music service is speculated to be released to iOS devices by the end of this month. Twitter hopes that by integrating music into its network, it can attract more new users to its service. It will, however, have a hard time prying users away from popular music services like Pandora and Spotify.

[via CNET]

During Q4 fiscal 2013, Pandora earned $125.1 million in total revenue. The earnings were better than Wall Street expected and sent shares in the company up significantly in trading. Pandora reports that fiscal 2013 total mobile revenue was $255.9 million and grew 105% compared to the previous year.

Despite the numbers sounding good, Pandora did report a Q4 fiscal 2013 GAAP basic and diluted net loss per share of $0.09. On the listener metrics front for February 2013, Pandora reported 1.38 billion listener hours. That is an increase of 42% compared to February of 2012.

Pandora has 8.48% of the total US radio listening audience, an increase from 5.74% in February 2012. The Internet radio service racked up 67.7 million active listeners as of the end of February 2013, up 37% from 49 million the previous year.

[via Pandora]

According to Pandora, limiting the hours of free streaming music is not something the service wants to do, with it being “contrary to our [Pandora's] mission.” It has to do this, however, due to an over 25-percent increase in royalties since 2010, which the service has to pay for per track played. Among this price increase is a fairly large rate increase of 9-percent in 2013, with another jump of 16-percent expected by 2015.

This change will not affect the majority of mobile users, however, with Pandora reporting that those who listen to more than 40 hours of free music per month represents under 4-percent of its active listeners. To put 40 hours in perspective, with an average song time of 4 minutes per song, users will be able to stream 600 songs for free before having to pay, and the monthly rate is more than reasonable at just $0.99.

For those who don’t want to put up with the hassle of paying $0.99 after hitting their free listening limit, a Pandora One subscription is also available, which will also get rid of the advertisements. Under the $0.99 option, users will still have to listen to ads. The change goes into effect this week, and users will be alerted when they near their free listening cap.

[via Pandora]

Says Pandora, the company has been “extra thorough” in making sure it offers local artists in various stations, something that is a tad necessary when spreading into new markets. An Australian/New Zealand page has been added to the company’s website, detailing the features we’ve all come to know and love. There are links to both app stores for mobile users who run either of the major mobile operating systems.

Several Australian-based genre stations have been added to the service for those in AU/NZ, including Aussie Today’s Hits, Hip Hop, Alternative Rock, Classic Pub Rock, Lite Rock, Indie Rock, and Country. Artists include The Temper Trap, The Angels, Australian Crawl, Jimmy Barnes, Colin Hay, Tame Impala, and Boy & Bear. More location-specific genre stations will be added in the future.

Pandora’s founder Tim Westergren is currently zipping around the two nations, holding Town Hall events to usher in the announcement. Said Westergren in the announcement on Pandora’s official blog: “We’ve been dreaming of this day for a long time now, and can’t wait to start connecting music and listeners across continents halfway around the world. We said we’d be back and now we are, so please be sure to spread the news!”

[via Pandora]

Version 4.0 also promises diverse social sharing capabilities and other innovative features available for the first time. Pandora 4.0 brings a uniform interface to both iOS and Android smartphone platforms for the first time. Mobile platforms are very important to Pandora, with over 75% of its total listening taking place on mobile and other connected devices.

Pandora also notes that it holds a leadership role in the mobile advertising market second only to Google in US revenue for mobile advertising. The expanded listening functionality in version 4.0 includes updated core features for better listening experience and more prominent placement for controls for shuffling stations and dealing details. Artist pages have been modified making it easier for listeners to explore and learn more about the artist, album, track, and station that is playing music they like.

The artist pages now include improved biographies, discographies, genome traits of the current track, and lyrics. Users also get a new personal music profile serving as a detailed timeline of Pandora listening for each user. Other features include a music feed with a centralized place for listeners to find and follow friends on the music service and instant sharing capabilities via social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Pandora 4.0 is available in the App Store right now and will be available in the Google Play store in the coming weeks.

Pandora, for those who aren’t familiar, takes an initial suggestion of an artist by the listener, and then builds a custom playlist based on music it thinks will be similar. It’s based on interlinking audio data from the Music Genome Project, with users rating suggestions to guide how the playlist develops.

Of course, Pandora isn’t the only streaming music service out there, and Nokia is perhaps going to be frustrated by the news of its addition. Nokia Music has already been available for Windows Phone 7 devices, and will be included as an exclusive to Nokia’s Windows Phone 8 Lumia devices, as part of the company’s attempt to pull together differentiating features.

What may save Nokia is Pandora’s limited availability compared to Windows Phone overall. Microsoft will be pushing its smartphone globally, but Pandora can only be used in the US; Nokia Music, meanwhile, is offered with all of the Lumia phones, no matter where they’re sold.

Pandora wonders if any of us have heard of artists, including Donnie McClurkin, French Montana or Grupo Bryndis. Those artists have Amazon sales rankings of 4752, 17,000, and 183,187 respectively. With rankings like that it would be no surprise that most of us have never heard of anyone in that trio of artists. However, over the next 12 months Pandora says that is on track to pay performance fees to those three artists of $100,228, $138,567, and $114,192 respectively.

Those are impressive incomes for musicians odds are none of us know. Pandora says for over 2000 and other artists who are even lesser known it will pay out $10,000 each over the next 12 months. For over 800 artists who are more popular, Pandora will be paying out over $50,000 over the next 12 months. $50,000 is a comfortable middle-class income in many parts of the country.

If little-known artists are making this much money from Pandora alone, you might be wondering what megahit artists and groups are making. Pandora says that Coldplay, Adele, Wiz Khalifa, and Jason Aldean have already been paid out over $1 million each. Even more impressive is that Drake and Lil Wayne are close to $3 million annually each from Pandora alone.

Apple’s negotiations with Sony/ATV were reportedly down to the per-song rights fees which Sony/ATV asked to be higher than the standard tenths of a penny per stream standard. The NYPost also noted this week that “executives close to the matter” have said Sony/ATV will be pulling out of the two main copyright associations Ascap and BMI by January of 2013. If they do indeed pull out of these groups, licensing songs by businesses across the map will be more difficult as they’ll have to go through Ascap/BMI as well as Sony/ATV instead of working with a one-stop-shop, as it were.

Apple’s service would act as a main competitor for Pandora as it would be able to lower costs between free streams and final song purchases as they’ve already got a music store that can facilitate purchases. With iTunes, Apple is already a massively beastly music-toting group, but with a free radio streaming service that could give a more “human” way to the music discovery process, they could move on to a new level.

When word that a Pandora competitor was in the works for the iPhone 5 earlier this year, Pandora company stocks dropped significantly. This new news source notes that “They didn’t put whatever they needed to put in the app,” and that “It seems they were rushed into it.” This same source notes that music streaming from Apple on devices like the iPhone 5 is still a possibility for a software update months in the future – stay alert!

The legislation is called the Internet Radio Fairness Act and is being backed by online radio service Pandora. The goal of the legislation is to lower the royalties paid by Internet radio stations so that they are on level with the rates paid by satellite and cable radio providers. The lawmakers argue that Internet radio stations unfairly pay higher royalty rates than cable and satellite stations.

The reason is that online radio stations are placed on a different royalty-setting rate than the other similar services. Internet radio providers argue that the royalty rules hamper innovation and discriminate against Internet-based radio stations. The bill proposes moving online radio services to the same 801(b) standard of the Copyright Act that is used to set royalty fees for cable and satellite radio providers.

The difference in royalty rates paid by Internet radio services compared to cable or satellite services is substantial. Internet radio services pay over 55% of their revenue in royalty fees while cable and satellite stations pay between 7% and 16%. The new bill has also received support from Clear Channel, Engine Advocacy, the Consumer Electronics Association, and the Computer and Communications Industry Association.

[via The Hill]

For instance, rather than the relatively limited licensing that Pandora, Slacker, and other such streaming services use, and which force compromises such as only allowing a certain number of playback repeats per track per hour, Apple is apparently aiming for greater control over how often music could be played. Those direct licenses, the insiders claim, could result in a hybridization of Pandora and Spotify, with users able to repeat playback of their favorite tracks.

The service would be ad-supported, it’s said, with Apple using its iAd system, though there’s also the possibility of a subscription fee. Other platforms, such as Spotify and Pandora, take the approach of offering free, ad-supported accounts, or premium accounts with no advertising for a monthly fee.

Offering mobile music has become something of a niche treat in recent months. Nokia has attempted to differentiate its Windows Phone handsets by bundling access to Nokia Music, which includes both specially curated playlists of themed tracks as well as a Pandora-style customized “radio” option which builds a unique playlist based on a seed track. Nokia’s particular gimmick is to make Nokia Music entirely free, both of charges and any registration process, and playlists can be downloaded to the phone for offline enjoyment (though not transferred off of it).

Apple’s system, however, would have the benefit of broad, cross-platform support, according to the tipsters. The unnamed service would work not only on the iPad and iPhone, but on the iPod touch, Mac computers, and the Apple TV. There’s also the possibility of PC support, though unsurprisingly Android devices aren’t expected to be supported.

With negotiations still tipped to be in the early stages, and the music industry as a whole being cautious about inking digital deals, the new Apple streaming service is unlikely to arrive publicly any time soon, the sources warn. Think “months” rather than in time for the iPhone 5 launch next week, is the suggestion.

Before I tell you exactly which one (have you guessed yet?), let me define what I want in a music service. I want good music. I want the music I am in the mood to hear. Sometimes that’s a song I already own. Sometimes that’s a song I’m familiar with, but haven’t gotten around to downloading. Sometimes it’s a song I didn’t know I would like until I heard it. Never do I want to hear another cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as long as I live. I’m looking at you, Pandora. Enough with the “Hallelujah.”

My favorite music service, by a long shot, is SiriusXM. That’s right, satellite radio. I love it. I knew I would love it from the start. I love it so much that when I bought a car that had Sirius radio installed, I called up and bought a full year’s subscription with all the bells and whistles, before the 3-month trial period had ended. That’s support for 1 car stereo, plus access to the Web site and the mobile app for streaming.

I don’t know exactly how much it costs, and I’m not going to Google it for you. That’s not the point. It wasn’t so expensive that I balked at paying for a year. The music was much more important to me than the total cost over a year. If you’re looking for a bargain, look elsewhere. But if you want to know why I think this is the best service available, keep reading.

First, an unnecessary disclosure. My day job is with Samsung. As far as I know, we’re not connected to SiriusXM in any way, and I’m not being paid to promote the service. In fact, I’ll bet there are a variety of ways we’re connected to other music services. For some people, those others may be the right choice. There are lots of ways they can serve up music that Sirius can’t match. But those are not my favorites.

One exception is Google Music. I use Google Music in addition to Sirius. When I need to satisfy the itch for just that one song from my library at the precise moment, Google Music comes to the rescue. But I’m not married to Google Music. If another cloud-based storage option came along offering even slightly better service, I would jump ship without regret.

I joined SiriusXM first for Howard Stern. I’m a long time fan. Don’t judge until you’ve tried him for a month. Howard Stern operates two channels on SiriusXM. One plays his main radio show, which is broadcast new three days a week, and then reruns of the show for the rest of the week. The other station plays shuffled clips from his 30+ year history on the radio, as well as shows from other broadcasters Stern has culled.

There is every indication that when Stern’s current contract is up, he will retire from radio. His success on “America’s Got Talent” is probably not helping my chances of hearing him live on my morning drive. When Stern leaves Sirius, I will miss his show more than I have missed any other show that disappeared from the airwaves. But I will remain a loyal SiriusXM subscriber.

Sirius has an excellent collection of curated radio channels. The first 10 channels correspond to decades. Channel 6 is all Sixties music; channel 9 is all nineties music, and so on. There are channels themed towards certain bands or personalities. Jimmy Buffett has his own channel, and so does Eminem. There is a Bruce Springsteen channel, and Sirius recently added a Pink Floyd channel. The best thing about these personality-inspired channels is the bonuses they offer. There are clips of interviews, outtakes, B-sides, and live recordings that even true fans may have missed.

In fact, this is the best thing about all of Sirius. The channels are well-curated. Sirius has employed plenty of old school DJs from the bygone days of radio. Almost all of the original MTV VJs are employed at Sirius. Video killed the radio star, but satellite radio resuscitated the video star’s career.

Tune to a station you like. I love “Lithium,” which is likely named for the eponymous Nirvana song, and which plays mostly alternative music from the early nineties. If you’re a true fan of this genre, on any given day you’ll likely hear songs you already own, songs you never got around to downloading from Napster in its heyday, and some songs you’ll swear you’ve never heard before.

The genre selection could use a little more variety. You won’t find the most obscure genres to quench your thirst. If you’re into underground hip-hop, or pop a cappella, or other less popular genres (as I am), you won’t find stations to support your habit. But there is still plenty to like. I have 6 channels programmed into my dashboard shortcuts, and each of those is a starting point. Sirius channels are nicely grouped. So, if you start with a singer/songwriter channel and work your way up the board, you’ll branch out in ways that make sense: through coffeehouse music; to early alternative rock, with its smooth vocals and padded synths; to the nostalgic Lithium station I mentioned; through college rock and new alternative.

There are blocks of comedy channels, from family friendly through the ultra-raunchy Raw Dog and Howard Stern channels. There are news and political channels that cover a wide spectrum. I still donate to my local public radio station, but I can’t stand listening to it because of the ubiquitous membership drives. On SiriusXM’s NPR station, I get most of my favorite shows with none of that nonsense.

There are occasionally cool special events, but SiriusXM would do better to have more of these. Sirius broadcast live Bruce Springsteen’s first ever show at the Apollo theater in New York City. A special tribute channel will pop up frequently to correspond with an anniversary or a death. The Pink Floyd station seemed to start as a special feature, but now seems like an awesome permanent fixture. Still, when Stern vacates his channels, Sirius will need more original programming to fill in the gap.

There are other small problems, too. The service doesn’t work in tunnels. It cuts out briefly when you drive under a large overpass. Sometimes, it just stops working for a moment or two. Sirius depends on a direct line of transmission from a satellite in space. It doesn’t quite penetrate yet. It would be nice if the service could buffer better, or perhaps pair the satellite component with an online, connected component in the car for a hybrid service that was much more reliable. It doesn’t hamper my enjoyment, but it is annoying when I miss the punch line of a joke because I drove under an exit ramp.

Sirius has been growing steadily, but not quickly enough. It is competing with free terrestrial radio, after all. Free radio gets worse and worse by the day, but hey, it’s free. Plus, most cars have an audio input for your phone or MP3 player, as well as CD players, DVD players, and even Blu Ray built-in. And that’s just in the car. On the desktop and on mobile devices, competition is even more fierce.

I would still recommend SiriusXM above all. If you miss the old days of radio, when a DJ you could trust and enjoy would pick out an interesting selection of music, then SiriusXM will bring you back.

A new version – or at least an updated version – of Google’s mobile operating system being in the works wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to imagine at this very moment in time. This is because not only do we know that Google is always and constantly working on Android in order to improve and upgrade it for the future, we’re also coming up on a giant developer event as well. This next month we’ll be live at Google I/O 2012 to bring you all the sweet Android and Chrome action, and you can bet there’ll be some surprises prepared for us by Google in both.

Pandora’s mobile application meanwhile does rock at this point, still having thousands of mobile users listening in on the daily from all corners of their app-covered environment. This update now adds the most important feature Pandora has ever implemented: stopping the music when headphones are pulled out of your device’s jack. That and, again, being prepped for what may very well Android 4.1 – we’ll see next month!

While the numbers sound good, the company is still expecting a net loss per share of between $0.07and $0.11 for fiscal 2013. Pandora now boasts 51.9 million active users, and those users consume 3.09 billion listening hours of music. That is a lot of people listening to music.

The 51.9 million active user number is up 53% year-over-year. Pandora holds 71.7% of the US Internet radio services market. Pandora commands almost 6% of the entire US radio listening market. Pandora predicts between $420 million and $427 million in revenue for fiscal 2013.

[via TechCrunch]

Enter the X1 DVR/cable box, which has just launched in its first market, Boston. It gives users a lot of the same functionality as an Internet-connected TV, with connectivity to all sorts of WiFi-powered apps. The Weather Channel, Pandora, Facebook, and Skype are just a few examples and of course the cable provider will continue to add new content down the road. But it is a good start as Comcast tries to prove it’s more than just a cable company.

The new box also interacts with the iPhone via a special Comcast app designed exclusively for the X1, making it truly a 21st century cable box. It is definitely true that most of you out there are living with a pay TV device that is horribly outdated in this world of online content and cord-cutting. Of course, most of the other companies are very resistant to change, so we’ll see if this gets them to step up their game.

[via VentureBeat]

The quickness of growth here is being juxtaposed immediately with what Clear Channel sees as its main competitors and application environments that are comparable to iHeartRadio. These applications for Clear Channel appear to be the likes of Facebook and Twitter as well as music applications like Pandora and Spotify. None of these applications are radio station centric like iHeartRadio, but the fact that they’ve grown in registered users quicker than the lot of them does speak volumes about their relative potential.

You can currently pick the app up for both Android and Apple’s iOS via each of their main app stores. Head to Google Play’s download page for a smartphone application for Android or head to iTunes for the iPad download or the iPhone / iPod touch version. Grab em all!

Bloomberg reports that Spotify will launch the new internet radio service before the end of the year, and it will be relatively cheap to operate due to lower royalty fees. Sources say that Spotify is reaching out to content partners to notify them of the plan. The service would be free, and supported by advertising, much in the same way as the current Spotify service is.

It’s a good plan, and would help Spotify attract an even larger audience to its service. Pandora has an extremely large number of registered users, around 150 million, with 49 million said to be regularly active. That service doesn’t operate outside the US, however, while Spotify is active in multiple countries across the globe.

The new service could also give Spotify access to content that the company has been denied from cataloguing previously. Pandora has access to any music that has been published since they operate under a government statutory license, so if Spotify follows the same path, it could open up artists that have been restricted in the past, like The Beatles and Adele.

DISH customers will be able to create a new Pandora account or log in with their existing one to stream music through their television. Naturally, you’ll need to have your DVR hooked up to the internet. Pandora joins the ever growing number of apps available for the Hopper DVRs, including Twitter, Facebook, as well as various games, weather updates, and sports.

The DISH Hopper was introduced back in March, and features three satellite tuners and a 2TB hard drive, capable of storing around 2,000 hours of television. Customers are able to pause TV in one room and pick it up from the exact spot in a completely different room. The Hopper also provides access to on-demand content from ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC, plus Blockbuster’s streaming movie service.

The D-Link MovieNite will stream from Vudu, Netflix, YouTube, and Pandora, all in 1080p where available. D-link say that the MovieNite has a simple three-stage set up, and ports include HDMI, Ethernet, and a composite audio/video port. The streamer has built in WiFi connectivity.

MovieNite has some additional features: you can stream live video from mydlink network cameras, and you can pull down photos from Picasa in case you want to share your latest vacation snaps with the family. The MovieNite comes with a remote, but there are apps available for iOS and Android that will let you control the streamer via your smartphone or tablet.

The MovieNite will be available at Walmart, online and in retail stores, for $59.99. The media streamer is apparently available right now, so if it sounds like your thing, get ordering.

The company was off the ground in 2006, and by the early part of 2007 it was attracting millions of new users on a monthly basis. In case you never heard of this platform, iLike offered free music streaming and sought to offer recommendations and social sharing opportunities based on listening history. Think of it as a Pandora, Playlist.com, or Spotify. More than $17 million in funding went to iLike.

The problem was even though iLike was generating as much as 1.5 billion pageviews per month, it didn’t have a great revenue model. Therein lies the problem with so many other failed music services that offer so much to users but don’t do enough for themselves. Struggling, iLike was snatched up by Myspace in 2009 for a reported $20 million. But just like Myspace, iLike continued on a downward path. So long and rest in peace.

[via GigaOM]

It’s unclear whether existing owners will be able to buy the new remote control, or if they’ll have to satisfy themselves with the menu option. It will be bundled with Roku’s most recent – and cheapest – STB, the Roku LT, announced last month and offering streaming access to Netflix, Pandora and other services for just $49.

We’re waiting on images of what the new Roku remote will look like, so for the moment we’ll just have to use our imaginations. Updates when the pictures arrive.

Update: Image of the remote has arrived, and as you’d expect it has a big Pandora button on there. However, there’s also a dedicated Netflix button and a dedicated Crackle button too.

Buick is also working to get tech into the cars that younger and more tech savvy drivers demand. One of the tech items that Buick is adding to its cars is Pandora radio. Pandora will be featured in the Verano, Regal, and LaCrosse in 2012 and all 2013 models will have Pandora. The web radio service will be available to drivers using connectivity to their own smartphone.

The Buick cars have a 7-inch or 8-inch touchscreen inside with high resolution. The driver can connect the smartphone to the screen and car via Bluetooth or USB. Once connected, the driver can access Pandora stations and music using the touchscreen, voice control, or the steering wheel buttons for control the content.

Pandora has announced hat its Halloween themed section is now available to listen to. There are eight different Halloween themed stations to choose from. The selections include Halloween, Halloween Party, Spooky Symphonies, Children’s Halloween, Ghostly Grooves, Witch House, Goth, and Industrial.

Apparently, there is enough music for anything from a kid’s Halloween party to sound effects for your outdoor spooky display for trick-or-treaters. You can listen to the music right if you have an account.

Pandora has implemented a 320hr per month “abuse prevention limit” which, if users exceed, will trigger some sort of contact to make sure “the account is being managed appropriately.” We’re guessing that means finding out whether you’re recording cassette mixtapes and selling them at your nearest street market.

Otherwise, the process of creating custom stations is streamlined thanks to cleverer auto-complete, and once made each station has its own sharable URL. Artist information pages have been boosted too, with lyrics and biography support. It’s not necessarily all good news for users, though: Pandora’s changes have also been made with advertisers in mind, and the company is keen to point out that there’s now more space for bigger ads along with support for full-screen video overlay promotions.

Pandora’s new Comedy Genome Project features sketches spanning 12 genres including Comedy Icons, Today’s Comeday, Political Comedy, and Raw Comedy. The new addition brings 10,000 comedy clips from more than 700 comedians to Pandora’s existing music library. Featured comedians and artists include Chris Rock, Joan Rivers, Richard Prior, George Carlin and many more.

They will use the same type of model used in their Music Genome Project, which will utilize over 100 common traits that target theme, delivery style, logic, and language. It seems to have taken the Pandora team a good amount of effort to transfer what they’ve learned about music analysis to that of comedy. But their efforts should pay off as it seems adding comedy to their library has been one of their top requests by users.

Pandora CEO Tim Westergren explained their decision in a blog post:

Adding comedians to the mix has been one of the top requests from our listeners, so we’ve taken the same approach to comedy as we have to music: carefully and deliberately analyzing comedic “bits” across a very large number of attributes to capture the style, delivery and content of each performance. It’s been a very fun experience, taking what we’ve learned in music and applying it to a whole new category. Now, instead of talking about “minor keys,” “falsetto,” and “extensive vamping,” our comedy-analysts capture “odd juxtaposition” (A horse walks into a bar…), “misdirection” and “spoonerisms” (a well-boiled icicle, instead of a well-oiled bicycle)…

[via PCMag]

It is free to use and works like a personalized radio station, where your preferences determine what types of songs get played and yet you don’t know exactly which songs to expect. If a listener thumbs up a song that’s playing, the next song to play will be something similar, selected via some sort of algorithm based on the aggregated thumb ratings, genres, beats, etc. If a listener were to thumb down a song, it would stop playing and be removed, skipping on to a song that’s dissimilar.

The milestone was reached last week with the 10 billionth thumb being a thumbs up for the song “Ridin’ Solo” by Jason DeRulo. A blog post by founder Tim Westergren reads:

Of the many milestones we’ve hit over the past 6 years, this is perhaps the one that makes us most proud. We created Pandora to bring personalization to radio, to allow each individual to determine the sound of their stations, and to make it as simple and intuitive as possible. There is no greater evidence for us of meeting that objective than the ongoing engagement you have all shown in your use of the thumbs.

Recently, the company has expressed interest in expanding beyond music.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

In fact, the company claims to have been informed that demands for information had been distributed “on an industry-wide basis to the publishers of numerous other smartphone applications.” At the heart of the matter is the device’s unique ID and the user’s current location, which many apps have been found to record and send back to the developer without the owner of the device necessarily knowing that would take place. It’s possible that the investigation may decide to charge developers under the terms of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which protects information stored on electronic devices.

According to the WSJ‘s sources, the federal case – if carried forward – is most likely to be converted into a civil case, with any companies found at fault being fined rather than facing criminal charges.

[via Android Community]

Mitsubishi’s 3D Home Cinema TV series uses an integrated 3D emitter that functions with special battery powered 3D viewing glasses. The pair I was donning was a super durable rubberized set used for high-volume demo purposes. For regular home use there’s a slightly more flattering alternative as well as third-party options. However, the glasses are not included with the purchase of the TV. They come in a bundled kit for $399 that includes two-pairs of glasses and a Blu-Ray Disc of 3D Disney content. You can also purchase single pairs for $149.

The minimum comfortable viewing distance is roughly 9 to 11 feet away for the 92-inch model and likely greater for those prone to motion sickness. I was able to sit about 6 feet away from the 82-inch model without any discomfort and that may have been due to the sharpness of the picture quality. The series employs the same DLP technology used in most 3D cinema screens with a 1080p resolution and 1000x faster pixel response time from a 120Hz sub-frame rate for smooth and crisp fast action scenes.

The image below of the 82-inch model gives you a better idea of just how big are these displays. The 92-inch model—not pictured—measures a whopping 4 feet tall, 6 feet wide, and almost 2 feet deep.

Connectivity features include StreamTV that lets you access the internet for various services including VUDU 3D movie streaming, Pandora, Facebook, and Twitter. The TV is Bluetooth enabled so that music can be streamed from cellphones or other Bluetooth enabled devices. The Mitsubishi TV Control app is available for download from iTunes that converts your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad into a TV remote. Future developments may allow for streaming content from your mobile devices. Other connectors include four HDMI inputs, a USB media player, and a PC/DVI port.

As for sound, the series features Mitsubishi’s Unisen 5.1 Surround Sound that consists of 16 to 18 speakers beamed separately for an immersive audio experience without requiring additional speaker components. And should you wish to add a subwoofer, it can be connected wirelessly. This eliminates the usual mess of speaker cables and wires, and should keep the missus happy.

Mitsubishi’s Director of Product Development, David Naranjo, was kind enough to talk with us and confirmed that pricing would be $6000 for the 92-inch model, which won’t be available until mid-summer. The first video below is a short interview and the second video is a demo of the Unisen 5.1 Surround Sound.

Expand Content Formats. Although music format stations represent 80% of total radio share according to Arbitron, a media and marketing research firm, many radio listeners are drawn to sports, talk, news and other forms of content beyond music. We think there is an opportunity over the long term to offer these types of content in addition to music.

Pandora’s offering also says that such diversification is what gives terrestrial radio an edge over it’s commercial free online service.  But when will we see a Rush Limbaugh or Howard Stern channel?  It’s unclear how a service, which creates a very personal music station for individual users, would be able to mimmick the same business model for talk shows and sports, but if they could pull it off, it could mean a boon to talk radio and sports talk fans who wish to focus listening to their favorite teams or political philosophies.

[via New York Times]

The NGP may have a quad-core, Cortex A9 heart and a larger, higher resolution display, but the difference is that you can buy the Pandora now whereas Sony’s machine isn’t expected until the end of the year. There’s a lot more flexibility in the Pandora too, assuming you’re the sort of person who likes tinkering with open-source software.

Therein, of course, lies the main difference between Pandora and more mainstream consoles from Nintendo and Sony: the target audience. The NGP is more powerful and the 3DS supports 3D, but neither offer the out-of-the-box flexibility of their compact rival.

The MIP plugs into the media interface outlet inside the glove box or console of the vehicle and allows use with multiple smartphone apps while in the car like streaming Pandora radio content to the cars audio system. The MIP will work with Pandora on the iPhone 3G, 3GS, and iPhone 4.

The device allows Bluetooth audio streaming of personal music libraries and for control of those tracks from an iPhone. A special video cable is also offered that lets the iPhone or iPod user stream video content to the cars display when the vehicle is not moving. The steering wheel controls in the car can be used to switch tracks when used with the iPhone or iPod.

The service has unveiled a couple new gifting options with a gift subscription good for a full year of service. The gift subscriptions cost $36 for the entire year and can be given as an email gift or via a gift card.

If an email subscription is used, the gift code can be scheduled for up to a year in advance. The year of service on Pandora includes unlimited listening with no ads and tracks are streamed at 192kbps for better sound. Pandora can play on your desktop via the desktop app and there are customization options. Pandora can also be accessed via some smartphones, web connected TVs and Blu-ray players.

The first batch of mass production units began back in February, and the initial run has all been sold out.  The Pandora hardware is capable of running Quake at 60fps and will be compatible with USB 3G modems for mobile network gaming.  It has a WVGA display and boasts over 10hrs of battery life, all in something a little larger than a Nintendo DS.

Unfortunately, the delivery schedule for the first 1,000 Pandora handhelds has been impacted by the recent flight meltdown, caused by the Iceland volcano.  There’s no known timescale for their arrival.

[via Twitter]

As well as over 17,000 radio stations, 20,000 plus on-demand programs and over 35,000 podcasts, the Allegro can access Pandora for streaming audio.  Connectivity includes WiFi b/g/n, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a stereo speaker jack, and you can control Pandora’s thumbs up/thumbs down rating system directly from the mediaplayer itself.  The company also offers a free iPhone remote control app.

As well as internet radio there’s support for streaming media from your home network, and there’s an alarm clock with snooze functionality too.  Nonetheless, the price is still pretty high: the Grace Digital Audio Allegro has an MRSP of $169.

Press Release:

Grace Digital Audio Delivers Thousands of Stations and Rich Sound Quality with the Allegro Wi-Fi Internet Radio & Streamer

With unique features including a built in recharging circuit, 5 function alarm clock, and a remote with Pandora controls, Allegro is at home on the nightstand or in the backyard

San Diego, Calif. – (April 6, 2010) – Grace Digital Audio, a leading brand of wireless indoor & outdoor audio solutions, is pleased to announce the addition of the Allegro Portable Wireless Radio & Streamer to their line of internet radios. With Pandora recently topping 50 million registered users and millions of internet radio users worldwide, the demand for a high quality, easy-to-use and affordable internet radio is at an all-time high. Available now at GraceDigitalAudio.com, Allegro provides a superior sound quality with easy access to thousands of radio stations, on-demand programs, and podcasts around the world.

Utilizing a Class D 8 watt digital amplifier, Allegro produces a sound quality that delivers a superior audio experience indoors and out. Grace Digital Audio’s unique triple power option includes a built in battery recharging circuit, allowing users to power Allegro with an AC adapter, 6 regular AA or rechargeable batteries. Allegro can recharge batteries while still in the unit, eliminating the hassle of moving batteries to a separate charger. Other internet radios use regular batteries or strictly an AC adapter, which can become costly and greatly limits portability.

Allegro provides access to over 17,000 radio stations, 20,000 plus on-demand programs, and over 35,000 podcasts. Compatible with Pandora Radio, Sirius, MP3tunes, Live365.com, Aupeo!, and blogtalkradio, Allegro is connected to radio programs all over the world. Using the Allegro’s full function remote or the easy access top panel controls, navigating the radio world is easy. The 4 line backlight display allows you to conveniently browse all the music options by region, country, station, or choose from over 50 musical genres. Users can also stream their personal music collection straight to Allegro wirelessly from a PC or Mac. Equipped with a 5 function alarm clock and a conveniently large snooze button, Allegro functions just as well on the nightstand as it does in the backyard.

Allegro Wi-Fi Radio features include:

• Access to over 17,000 radio stations, 20,000 on-demand programs, and over 35,000 podcasts
• Equipped with it’s own battery recharging circuit, the Allegro’s triple power option allows use of AC adapter, 6 AA regular or rechargeable batteries
• Class D digital amplifier and rear ported full range speaker provides superior audio quality
• 10 station presets, up to 100 saved favorites, displays song/artist info, alarm clock radio, and remote control with Pandora controls
• Wirelessly stream music and stored audio files from your PC or Mac
Now shipping, Allegro is available for $169.00 at www.GraceDigitalAudio.com and various retailers throughout the U.S.

Grace Digital Audio’s Chief Marketing Officer, Greg Fadul, believes sound quality and innovative power options set Allegro apart from its competitors. “Allegro’s Class D amplifier delivers a sound experience you’re just not going to find in comparable internet radios and our built in recharging circuit makes it affordable and convenient to run the radio without the restrictions of a cord. For only $169.00 you can’t beat Allegro’s listening options, portability, and sound quality.”