Playing the New Bjork Album, and Playing Along, With Apps

Bjork's latest conception, “Biophilia,” is among the most creative, innovative and important new projects in popular culture. “Biophilia” app essentially turns an album into a sort of audiovisual game, delivering a miniature production studio into the world’s willing hands.

[via The New York Times]

The birth of the iPod

The destiny of Apple changed drastically 10 years ago with the release of a deceptively simple digital music player. MacWorld looks back at the birth of the iPod.

Sony launches Entertainment Network

According to The Telegraph, technology giant Sony has soft-launched a new network allowing almost all its devices to access music and movies. A major marketing campaign will begin on 1 November.

The streaming service, which also offers a download-to-own option, offers a global catalogue of over 10 million tracks on Sony Tablet and other Android-based tablets and phones. The UK service offers 7 million tracks.

... A Sony spokesman said the company’s aim was to appeal to the owners of MP3s players who have used the devices simply to listen to CDs they already own. Some estimates suggest that 85 per cent of iPod owners listen primarily to music they have simply ripped from their own collections.

Read more.

Composer Jonathan Mann sings "Duet With Siri"

Jonathan Mann, who is 29 and lives in Berkeley, Calif., has drawn public attention before by composing a song a day -- on everything from last year's iPhone 4 to the economist Paul Krugman. He said when he first saw Siri demonstrated, the idea for a duet immediately came to him.

Watch and listen to him sing on YouTube.

[via ABC News]

Apple Now Sells You Ringtones Directly Through Your iPhone

Apple is launching a store for buying tones to use when you receive text messages or alerts.

It’s built into the on-device iTunes app, offering “an incredible spectrum of music ringtones and alert tones that can be assigned to any alert setting on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.”

[ReadWriteWeb via Gizmodo]

New Nokia Tune is electronic dance music

Nokia has revealed the winner of its Nokia Tune contest, the company's search for a 21st century update to the classic "Grand Vals" renditon, the default melody in hundreds of millions of Nokia handsets and estimated to be heard over one billion times a day.

22 year old Italian sound designer Valerio Alessandro Sizzi came up with the Nokia Tune Dubstep Edition - a genre of electronic dance music. It will show up alongside the default ringtone on 100m Nokia devices in 2012.

Listen here.

[via Slashgear]

The impact of iTunes

Entering the new millennium, albums were enjoying blockbuster sales of several million units for its superstar artists, and profits were booming. Yet the threat of Napster and other forms of illegal downloading threatened to eviscerate those profits as many music fans were starting to get used to the idea that music, and loads of it, could be free. Stuff reports.

The entry of Apple into the music world was more than a success - it was a phenomenon. Today, iTunes is the largest music retailer, has redefined the listening experience and has largely become the way that music is consumed.

Read full article.

Facetones: See a video of your friends Facebook pictures when you call each other

According to MobileBurn, Verizon Wireless has introduced a new service for its Android customers called Facetones. Facetones is designed to blend personalized ringtones with a slideshow of images of the person calling.

Facetones integrates with social media sites to pull down images of a contact, which it will then display as a slideshow when that contact calls. Facebook is the first site that Facetones will connect to, though it seems like Verizon has plans to add more social networking sites in the future.

Read more.

Apple seeks worldwide iCloud music rights

Sources familiar with the discussions between Apple, record companies, and music publishers, say Apple is seeking international music licenses for its iCloud service. The licenses would be similar to those the company has already obtained for U.S. operations, the sources said.

The sources said Apple is close to reaching deals with rights holders but nothing is signed. An Apple representative declined to comment.

Read full article in CNet.