'Phantom' mobile phone vibrations: why we get them

Professor Alex Blaszczynski of the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney has a scientific explanation from fanthom vibrations — when you hear your phone vibrate —  but no one is actually calling you. The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

According to Blaszczynski, the vibration people felt was not "phantom" nor related to an addiction but "a real sensation" similar to what occurs when you place your mobile near a speaker and hear a buzzing sound when it's communicating with a tower.

That sound, caused by electromagnetic interference (EMI), occurs even when a mobile isn't receiving a text message or ringing, and it can often happen when the mobile is doing what is known as a "hand shake" with a mobile tower, he said.

The "burst of electrical activity" in that hand shake affects skin nerves, causing transcutaneous muscle stimulation and giving the impression of a vibration, he believes.

According to Rob Nokes, president of Sound Dogs, a sound effects company in California.", phantom rings are a "psycho-acoustic phenomenon" related to the way the human brain interprets sound.

Read full article.

Related articles on audio illusion, phantom phone rings ringxiety or fauxcellarm blogged by textually over the years.

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In the news again: Phanthom ringtones/vibrations

According to The Telegraph, smartphones are so addictive many users now hear “phantom vibrations” because they are desperate to receive new messages, a study has found. The findings will be presented to the British Psychological Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology Conference in Chester. [via SmartMobs]

... Some people are so hooked to their devices that they even begin to experience “phantom” vibrations where they mistakenly believe their phone is buzzing in their pocket, it was claimed.

First written about in 1996 - Click here for links to articles related to audio illusion, phantom phone rings or ringxiety and fauxcellarm.

New bill suggests ringtones played with the intent to annoy could carry 6 months jail time

Has America gone crazy? According to WDBJ7.com, a bill (HB39) sponsored by Delegate Bob Tata, R-Virginia Beach, would upgrade using a cell phone ring with ‘the intent to annoy’ from a Class 3 misdemeanor punishable by up to $500 fine to a Class 2 misdemeanor which would carry up to 6 months in jail and a fine of $1,000.

Kickstarter Project: Music from Saharan Cellphones

Music from Saharan cellphones is a compilation of music collected from memory cards of cellular phones in the Saharan desert. And it's coming to vinyl thanks to Kickstarter.

In much of West Africa, cellphones are are used as all purpose multimedia devices. In lieu of personal computers and high speed internet, the knockoff cellphones house portable music collections, playback songs on tinny built in speakers, and swap files in a very literal peer to peer Bluetooth wireless transfer.

The songs chosen for the compilation were some of the highlights -- music that is immensely popular on the unofficial mp3/cellphone network from Abidjan to Bamako to Algiers, but have limited or no commercial release. They're also songs that tend towards this new world of self production -- Fruityloops, home studios, synthesizers, and Autotune.

... The cassette was ripped onto the internet and has circulated around the world, featured in the The Guardian, BBC Worldservice, The Fader, Pitchfork, as well as a number of other blogs, but has never had an official release. The vinyl release is a chance for the artists in the compilation to get paid and be properly credited. The record will be accompanied by liner notes with a short bio of each musician and group -- artists from Ivory Coast, Mali, Algeria, and Niger.

The funding makes this release possible -- covering a portion of production costs, mastering, distribution, and payment for the artists.

Read more.

Vinyl set to make radio comeback for one day only

BBC Radio 6 Music has announced it will be playing only vinyl on New Year's Day, reports the BBC.

Most BBC stations phased out vinyl in favour of CDs in the 1990s and the majority now use digital versions of songs.

But 6 Music bosses have turned the clock back with an "All Vinyl" day to round off a month-long celebration of vinyl.

Station editor Paul Rodgers said: "In a world dominated by digital music, vinyl is a format still close to the hearts of many music lovers and increased sales demonstrate its enduring appeal."

Read more.

Google Music launches massive sale to lure customers away from iTunes

Google Music has signalled its intent to prize customers away from iTunes by announcing a huge 'blowout sale.' TechRadar reports.

The limited time offer serves-up half a million top albums for just $4.99 - virtually half of what Apple is charging through iTunes.

There's also a whopping 10 million MP3 tracks available to buy for just 49c, again undercutting Apple by 50 per cent or more in most cases.

Read more.

MySpace Returns with Facebook-Integrated Music Player

MySpace has apparently decided to become the new Spotify with the release of its first major product since they were purchased by Specific Media: a music player with built-in search engine and Facebook integration.

[via TIME Techland]

Apple iTunes match music service launches with outage

Apple launches its cloud music service in the UK. Analysts describe it as an "amnesty for pirates", but it has the blessing of the record labels.

[via the BBC]

Spotify to launch API for its music catalog?

According to CNet, Spotify may announce tomorrow the addition of an open app platform to its popular music service.

The "app finder" may include the ability to read reviews of the music as they listen to songs, people "in the music business" tell the Wall Street Journal. One app will reportedly display lyrics to the songs playing, while another will list upcoming concerts of artists in a user's play list and link to ticket sales sites.

The apps are expected to be free and available to users of both the free and premium versions of the service, the Journal reported.

Read more.

Steven Levy on Facebook, Spotify and the Future of Music

A decade ago, Napster's attempt to set music free was crushed by the music labels. Now, Facebook and Spotify (not to mention Google, Amazon, and Apple) have resurrected the dream. Hallelujah.

Steven Levy for Wired.

Why Labels Are Abandoning Streaming Music Services

What happens to streaming music services when they have no music left to stream? That seemingly zen question may be answered if more record labels follow the lead of the more than 200 labels that have withdrawn their catalogs from services like Spotify, Napster and Rdio following the release of a study that suggests streaming music hurts music sales.

[via TIME Techland]

Why Google Music Targets Social And The Cloud

FastCompany's take on Google's Music store.

Google launched its long-overdue music store today, roughly eight years into the reign of Apple's iTunes Store, which just sold its 16 billionth song

Why has Google entered such a saturated market? Call it another battle in the Great Tech War of 2012, with the big four (Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon) now duking it out over the music industry. But none of these companies are actually expecting to make significant revenues from selling music. They're interested in bolstering the products the music runs on.

Read more.

Google opens music download store, welcomes artists to upload directly

More on Google Music, from arstechnica.

Google Music is now open to the public and its streaming features will remain free. But that's not all: Google has also decided to begin selling music downloads directly to customers, and will even let artists upload their own content, bypassing music labels.

Google Opens a Digital Music Store

Google Music will sell individual tracks as well as full albums, letting customers store the files in "cloud" accounts. Customers will be allowed to share music by offering friends one free chance to listen to any purchased track.

[via Media Decoder]

Google Music launching without Sony and Warner

Universal Music Group will be well represented at a press event Google has scheduled for Wednesday, but conspicuously missing will be two of the other top-four record companies.

CNET has learned that Google has signed a licensing agreement for the new service with Universal Music Group but does not have deals in place with Sony Music Entertainment or Warner Music Group, according to multiple industry sources. It is unclear whether EMI would participate. Talks between Sony, Warner and Google continue, the sources said.

[via C/net]

Freeallmusic.com offering music downloads via Facebook

Two year-old start-up Free All Media is giving away music downloads for watching ads online. To access their FreeAllMusic.com portal, you must allow basic access to your Facebook info - because there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Read more in Digital Trends.

SiriTunes uses SMS to find free music

TUAW writes up SiriTunes, a service that delivers "free music" to your phone using the Siri voice assistant.

You simply send text a message to (424) 888-7474 like "Play [artist name]." SiriTunes searches for that music online and texts you back with one or more links to those files.

Read more.

BBM Music App Goes Live In BlackBerry App World

BBM Music is a somewhat inexplicable music subscription service that integrates BBM. As of yet, the app has only been available to beta zone members, but today the app went live to users in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.

[Official BBM Music Launch Video via TechCrunch]

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]

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.

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.

Spotify users steamed over Facebook requirement

Visitors to Spotify's sign-up page are told they need a Facebook account to register. CNet reports.

The new requirement comes after last week's announcement at the F8 developer conference that the social-networking giant and music-streaming service were integrating their services.

The partnership was touted as allowing Spotify users to listen to a wider selection of music. However, the integration also lets users' Facebook friends see what tunes they are currently listening to.

And that isn't sitting well with some music fans, who have been flooding discussion boards to express their displeasure with the new arrangement.

Read more.

Facebook Employee Reveals Killer Facebook Music Feature on Tweeter

Facebook Music is launching Friday. This, everyone knows. But not everyone knows exactly how it will work, since Facebook been tweaking things right up until launch. But last night one Facebook employee accidentally revealed one killer feature of the service. TechCrunch reports.

Creative director Ji Lee sent out the following tweet earlier:

The “Listen with your friend” feature in ticker is blowing my mind. Listen to what your friends are listening. LIVE.

Within minutes, Lee deleted the tweet, but not before Mitchell Holder grabbed a screenshot. Yes, Lee is describing a key feature of Facebook Music launching tomorrow. Not only will all music you’re listening to appear in the just-launched right-side ticker, there will be a link to “Listen with your friend”, that when clicked, will allow you to listen along to the same song at the same time (thanks to the magic of scrobbling and track matching).

OK - but one wonders if such tweets, then deleted tweets are not cleverly orchestrated just to create a buzz.

Vimeo Rumored to Launch Music Store Wednesday

YouTube rival Vimeo is reportedly launching a section dedicated entirely to music tomorrow, according to a report by Digital Music News via Launch.

The music store will have pre-licensed tracks that filmmakers can incorporate into their videos. Producers will reportedly have to pay for some of the content, but other tracks will be available through a creative commons license.

Read more.

Free Music on Facebook: How Can It Fail?

Mashable. Facebook will launch a music service later this month, we reported last week. Facebook is partnering with top music services Spotify, MOG and Rdio to let users stream music on Facebook.com.

Nokia offers $10,000 to creator of their next ringtone

Nokia is inviting people to create a new Nokia ringtone. The winning tune will be placed next to the standard Nokia Tune in a selection of the company 2012 product portfolio.

The tune should be fresh, expressive, original, creative yet distinctively a Nokia Tune. All collaborations are welcome.

First prize: $10,000, runners up (5x) $1,000.

Read Contest Rules. The winners will be announced on 7th October 2011.

[via Zunited]

Trivia: The origin of the "Nokia Ringtone" - For those of us without a musical ear and who have not recognized the score, the famous and generally considered annoying Nokia ringtone since 1994 - is actually a 13 note rendering of Francisco Tarrega's masterpiece, Gran Vals. Tarrega was a 19th-century Spanish musician considered by aficionados to be the father of the modern classical guitar. Click here to listen to original rendition by Francisco Tarrega.

Facebook Adding Music Services

According to the WSJ, Facebook is preparing changes designed to make the site a hub for listening to music, watching movies and playing videogames.

Facebook has told media executives in recent days that it will begin letting online music services such as Spotify AB and Rdio Inc. publish user activity on Facebook pages, much like actions such as adding friends or "liking" websites.

Read more.

Apple gives devs early access to iTunes Match

According to CNet, Apple has started giving developers a chance to kick the tires its upcoming iTunes Match service, which will allow both streaming and downloading.

iTunes Match is the service that scans a user's library to find music that they may have ripped from a CD, but did not purchase from Apple, and cross references it with Apple's own library. If it finds a match, it provides a user with a license of the full-quality track, as long as they're a paid subscriber.

Read more.

BlackBerry Launches Its $5 Music Service

The BlackBerry Music service has launched. As previously reported, it’s 50 songs, tethered to your phone, for $5 a month. Peter Kafka reports for All Things D.

Most important is that BBM Music subscribers can “share” songs with friends who also use the service. Which means that your pool of available songs could expand well beyond the 50 associated with your account.

Other details: You can only change up to 25 of the songs in your collection each month. And while music sources I talked to thought an international rollout wouldn’t kick in until next year, Research In Motion says it will be available in many territories later this year. For now, the beta is limited to the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

Read full article and RIM press release.

BlackBerry Music: $5 a Month, 50 Songs

All Things D has the details on BBM Music.

Five dollars a month. Fifty songs you can share with your friends. But only on your BlackBerry, and their BlackBerries.

That’s the basic pitch behind BBM Music, the new subscription service Research In Motion plans to roll out soon.

As previously reported, the BlackBerry-maker is in late-stage talks with the big music labels; music industry sources believe RIM is aiming for a beta launch in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom in early September. A RIM rep declined to comment.

Other details:

-- A full-fledged rollout is planned for the first three territories later this fall.

-- Subscribers won’t be able to export their music to PCs or other hardware, with the exception of RIM’s much-maligned PlayBook tablet.

Read more.

BBM Music: RIM's Music Service for Phones

Research In Motion Ltd. is developing a service that would let subscribers access music on its smartphones, according to people familiar with the matter. All Things D reports.

The music service is designed to work with RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger, the company’s proprietary instant-message system, according to people who have discussed it with RIM executives. These people said that BBM Music, as the service is to be known, could launch as soon as next week.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

Google just launched a new music discovery site called Magnifier

Google has today launched a new site geared towards helping Google Music users discover new music. [via TheNextWeb]

The site, called Magnifier,will feature music, videos, live performances, interviews and free songs that users of Google Music beta can add to their collection.

Read more.

YouTube Gives Music Publishers Ads on Fan-Made Videos

Thanks to a new deal between YouTube and the National Music Publishers Association, as well as its subsidiary Harry Fox Agency, music publishers and songwriters will start garnering money when their tunes are used in fan-made videos.

[via Mashable]

Africans Act 4 Africa - activists and musicians rally for food aid

Sara Mitaru, a Kenyan singer-songwriter, is rallying artists across the continent to raise money for the East Africa famine – and to put pressure on African governments to chip in as well. The Christian Science Monitor reports.

Africans Act 4 Africa, launched yesterday aims to put pressure on African governments to fund relief for a crisis on their own turf. The group’s organizers hope to raise awareness through social media and media coverage, prompting leaders to step up to help the 12 million Kenyans, Somalis, and Ethiopians urgently needing food aid.

Sara Mitaru, the organizer and a well-known Kenyan singer-songwriter, called, texted, Tweeted, and Facebooked her network of fellow musicians in countries as far apart as South Africa and Nigeria, calling for their participation.

Read more.

How to set ringtones for Gmail labels on your Android phone

With the latest version of Gmail (2.3.5), now available in the Android Market, you can set distinct ringtones for each Gmail label you use. Here's how in 5 steps, courtesy of CNet.

Spotify sued over music streaming technology

Music service Spotify is being sued in the US and Europe for allegedly violating patents held by PacketVideo. The BBC reports.

The lawsuit claims that Spotify has violated at least two patents owned by PacketVideo that cover methods of streaming music over data networks.

The legal action comes barely two weeks after Spotify launched a US version of its music streaming service.

UK-based Spotify said it would "strongly contest" the claims PacketVideo made in its lawsuit.

Read full article.

Want a Spotify US Invite? Here is how you get it

Courtesy of GigaOM, how to get a Spotify US invite:

Fill out the form aka just add your email and get an invite. Simple as that! The invitation form is here. Spotify is sending out invites every 15 minutes so this should be a fairly smooth process.

Spotify: Five CNET editors, five thumbs-up

After months of delays, Spotify is now available in the United States. CNET's Donald Bell is taking an in-depth look at the online streaming service, but that doesn't mean the rest of us don't have a few things to say about it.

Facebook App to help Musicians Connect with and Sell Music

ONErpm.com announces the debut of its Facebook App, ONErpm, a robust social commerce application enabling musicians and labels to market and sell their music globally to fans right from their Facebook page.

Artists can sell by territory, set pricing tiers, and offer free downloads in exchange for an email address. Emphasizing globality, ONErpm also supports multiple currencies and languages including English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

[via e-mail press release]

Singer Imogen Heap shows off musical gloves at TEDGlobal

A pair of musical gloves that allow wearers to manipulate music using just hand gestures have been shown off for the first time by singer Imogen Heap.

The performance kicked off TEDGlobal in Edinburgh, a conference renowned for showcasing cutting-edge technologies.

[via the BBC]

Should Facebook Add a Music Service?

A software engineer on Thursday uncovered references to a music download service called "Vibes" in Facebook's new video chat desktop software, it could very well be a reference to Facebook's upcoming music service..

[via PC World]

Spotify plans to leverage Facebook for US launch

Two days ago, Spotify announced that it was finally coming to the US, possibly as soon as next week. The European music service will be leveraging Facebook heavily, according to pitches it is making to potential advertisers, which were obtained by All Things Digital.

[via ZDNet]

Symphony in B(eeps). Gadget sounds of our lives

The Philadelphia Inquirer in a fascinating article, looks into the origin of the sounds our gadgets make around us. Who came up with the microwave C when you hit a button, or the Verizon spray of notes at startup when you turn on an LG cellphone? Who figures out what the notes are going to be? Apparently a lot of people.

... Sumanth S. Gopinath is an assistant professor of music at the University of Minnesota and a scholar of ringtones. He says we've created a "treble culture" - a world of high, tiny digital beeps in toys, watches, and gadgets. Although these technologies "originated in the U.S., Japanese producers took to them with particular alacrity," he says. Japan and East Asia have been especially prominent in creating global treble culture.

We may be creating a culture of shorter and shorter musical forms. One of the most familiar pieces of music in the world, says Gopinath, is the "Nokia Tune" - you know it - which "is heard 1.8 billion times a day." Gopinath says short musical pieces like this, heard in the thousands, amount to a kind of "world music."

And world advertising. Such music, because it's short and relatively quiet, might not seem all that pressing. "But given their distribution over large numbers of users," Gopinath says, "they add up to a tapestry that cumulatively has a powerful effect." The "Nokia Tune," the Apple "Marimba," the "Vista Tune" - all are soft, constant assertions of a corporate source. "Sonic branding"!

Read full article.

Anonymous Hits Universal Music And Viacom

According to Gizmodo, the group of hackers Anonymous released information they grabbed from Universal Music Group including company information and application data. There was also a handful of usernames and plain text passwords from Universal Music Group users.