W♥M (Archive)

Amazon Music News: Metric and Big Data's "Risk" (Amazon Original Remix)

Metric - “Risk (Big Data Remix)” Read More Amazon Over the weekend, Amazon ran a promotional price drop for their Echo Show, selling for $149 instead of its normal retail price of $229, as part of the Super Bowl commercial. I thought it was such a good deal … Google With Lenovo Smart Display, it’s pretty much free. If you want music, you can upload all your MP3s to Google Music and access them via the Smart Display. Of course, if you prefer, you can subscribe to Google Music, YouTube Music … Metric I've seen Metric twice (four times if you count Emily Haines solo or Broken Social Scene), so you know I love this little Canadian band. Their Rock the Garden's set was very similar to their … Big Data New York's Big Data was up next. The band was previously in town at the Fine Line Music Café earlier in March 2015. This music project is lead by Alan Wilkis, who teamed up with a variety of artists for their 2.0 album …

There are some big news coming from major online retailer giant Amazon.

The first is that Google and Amazon have made up and play nice… so YouTube will once again be available on Amazon’s devices, such as The Echo and Fire Stick.

Second is that Amazon will start making their Amazon Music streaming service available to non-Prime users, but with advertisements, according to Engadget. This would make sense, considering that you can already stream Spotify (with ads) on Amazon’s speakers.

Of course, the free service will be limited, as Amazon still wants you to pay for their full Music service, with access to more than 50 million songs.

Also, speaking of Amazon Music, it was announced yesterday that Metric and Big Data (artist/producer Alan Wilkis) have teamed up to release an Amazon Original Remix of “Risk.” You can only listen (or purchase) only on Amazon Music.

You can catch Metric on their upcoming April/May Canadian tour:

April 17 - Victoria, BC - Save on Foods Memorial
April 18 - Vancouver, BC - Pacific Coliseum
April 20 - Calgary, AB - Stampede Corral
April 21 - Edmonton, AB - Shaw Conference Centre
April 22 - Saskatoon, SK - SaskTel Centre
April 23 - Winnipeg, MB - Bell MTS Place
April 26 - Toronto, ON - Scotiabank Arena
April 27 - Ottawa, ON - TD Place Arena
April 28 - London, ON - Budweiser Gardens
May 2 - Halifax, NS - Halifax Scotiabank Centre
May 3 - Moncton, NB - Avenir Centre
May 5 - Montreal, QC - Mtelus

Personally speaking, the free Amazon Music is a little too late, as I’ve actually gone all-in with Google’s devices (such as the Lenovo’s Smart Display) as they offer the ability to upload music you own via Google Play. What is better about this, is that you may own a lot of music that is simply not available on any streaming platform - such as live recordings or bootlegs or obscure singles and B-Sides.

UPDATE: Not to be outdone by Amazon, Google also allowed a free version of their YouTube Music service available on their speakers and Smart Display. Go here for the instructions to turn on the feature.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Nvidia Shield

NVIDIA Shield 2017 Read More The Mi Box That left me with my only choice: The Mi Box. If you aren't familiar with the Mi Box, it's a $69 Android TV box sold by Chinese company Xiaomi. When you get the Mi Box ... Roku I recently purchased the third generation Roku 2 at the end of July. I've been keeping an eye on the Roku for a long time, but have finally decided to get one based on the fact that they now support DLNA. ... Apple TV Apple TV is the only one that supports iTunes purchased movies and "Air Play", but if you don't live in the Apple Universe, a workaround is with UltraViolet (via Flixster or Vudu). You can read more about UltraViolet here. ...

It’s been about three years since I purchased The Mi Box and it was just time I needed to upgrade the device.

I know the trend right now are Micro PCs, but I don’t think it’s an elegant solution, since Windows 10’s fonts are tiny, sitting 10 feet away - and not to mention that you still have to use a mouse and keyboard to navigate.

Android TV (which includes Amazon’s limited version called Fire TV), Roku, and Apple TV, are basically the main three competitors in this streaming box market. I have own all three types and I love and hate them all. Many of you already have one of these boxes, and they’re fine for most of you. I just find that Roku and Apple are very limited in what you can actually do with their boxes.

I wanted the best of the best Android TV, and eventually just bought the Nvidia Shield when they had a sale. I was holding out for a new model of this device (since the internal hardware had not been changed since its launch in 2015), but I eventually gave in.

The new smaller 2017 version (with new redesigned controller) is the model I bought, and to be perfectly honest, it’s still a very good streaming box, thanks to the Tegra X1 chip (with 3GB of RAM). It’s fast enough to run any Android software and seems to handle 4k content better than most TV devices of its kind.

Overall, I’m still very happy with the Nvidia Shield and it’s the only device that I use regularly on my TV.

Pros:

The best, fastest, most updated Android TV on the market

4k/HDR/Dolby Atmos 7.1 support

Voice Control and Google Assistant

NVIDIA GeForce Now (currently FREE)

The only Android TV device that can officially run Amazon Prime Videos (Amazon and Google

Game controller is the best I’ve used on any streaming box

Ability to control Shield with Google Home Hub

Can run Dolphin Emulator (other devices on the market are not fast enough to run this software)

Official Google Play store apps, like Kodi, MAME4droid, Snes9x EX+

Supports Google Music and Amazon Music!

Ability to sideload any APK applications, such as Morpheus TV, StopAds, Adblocker

Shield exclusive games, like Doom 3, Tomb Raider, Half-Life 2

Cons:

The most expensive Android TV on the market

No Micro SD reader (found in the original 2015 model, but not in the latest model)

Small storage (only 16GB)

Short battery life on the game controller

Remote controller does not have volume control

Remote controller is flimsy

Remote controller’s batteries are not rechargeable

Needs a special base to stand the Shield upright

The Shield will unwantedly turn on (or off) the TV

I actually hated the remote controller that came with the Shield … so I’m using the game controller for everything and may be the reason why I’m complaining about the controller’s battery life. I find myself recharging it every other day, and it’s a little annoying.

The small storage and lack of SD card reader isn’t really a deal breaker, because you can address this with a rather large USB stick or USB Harddrive. For most people looking to just stream their content, 16GB will be fine for them.

As for the Shield turning on and off the TV, you can disable this “feature” under CEC power management, so it’s not a big deal.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Lenovo Smart Display

Lenovo Smart Display Read More Amazon Over the weekend, Amazon ran a promotional price drop for their Echo Show, selling for $149 instead of its normal retail price of $229, as part of the Super Bowl commercial. I thought it was such a good deal …

After living with the Amazon’s Echo Show for seven months, and realizing its limitation (the fact that Amazon wants to sell you every service that should be free - like displaying your photos or playing your music), it was time I moved away from Alexa and to Google Assistant via Lenovo Smart Display (10” version).

So, why would you buy one over the other? Despite being much cheaper to buy, you end up paying more if you decide to go the Amazon route. If you own an Echo Show, you might end up buying a subscription to Amazon Music ($8 a month), a subscription to Amazon Drive (for your photos at $11.99 a year), a subscription to Amazon Prime (for watching some videos at $99 or more a year). As you can see, it can add up.

With Lenovo Smart Display, it’s pretty much free. If you want music, you can upload all your MP3s to Google Music and access them via the Smart Display. Of course, if you prefer, you can subscribe to Google Music, YouTube Music, Pandora, Deezer, or Spotify. You can access your movies via YouTube (which is not available on Amazon). You can access all your photos via the free Google Photos service.

To me, it’s really hard to argue free over paying for subscriptions, however, I can understand why some users won’t mind paying for ease of use.

Setting up the Smart Display was really hard. You have to download Google Home and sign in using a Google account. If you have a custom G-Suite Account, it won’t work unless you tweak the privacy settings (they should all work except for Google Calendar). If you sign in using different Google accounts on Google Home, it won’t work.

To get Google’s Duo to work, you must associate the app with your phone number and sign in using the same account that you use for Google Home (again, multiple accounts may cause problems).

If you have problems, you can’t simply delete and re-add in the software - you basically have to factory reset and start over from the beginning. Don’t feel bad, but I had to factory reset the display three or four times, to get everything to work. It definitely didn’t feel like the product was ready for primetime. It’s understandable, as the Smart Display is the very first of its kind.

Once you get it up and running, it’s very similar to the Echo Show. Everything the Echo can do, the Smart Display can do a little better.

With a bigger, beautiful HD screen, a beautiful bamboo-back design, and audio, it blows away the Echo Show. Fear not, Amazon will be coming back with a second generation Echo Show that promises to better compete with the Smart Display.

Breakdown below:

Product:	Echo Show	Echo Show (New)	Lenovo Smart Display
Price:	$149.99	$225.99	$249 (10”)
Release:	June 28, 2017	October 11, 2018	July 2018
Size/Resolution:	7”/1024 x 600	10”/1280 x 800	10”/1920 x 1200
Speakers:	Dual 2” stereo speakers.	2 x 10W and Dolby processing for room-filling sound	2" 10W Full Range Speaker, 2 x Passive Tweeters
Camera:	5MP	5MP	5 MP Wide Angle
Processor:	Intel SR2KT Atom x5-Z8350 Processor (2M Cache, up to 1.92 GHz)	Intel Atom x5-Z8350	Qualcomm® Home Hub Platform (Snapdragon™ 624, Octa-Core A53 1.8 GHz, 14 nm)
Software:	Amazon Products (Amazon Music, Videos, Photos) ($) Hulu CNN NBC Spotify Ring	Amazon Products (Amazon Music, Videos, Photos) ($) Hulu CNN NBC Spotify Ring	Google Products (Google Music, Videos, Photos) (free) Google Podcast Google Duo YouTube Chromecast HBO Now Spotify Pandora

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

News: The Grammy Awards 2012

News of the week: It's all about the Grammys. Before we get to the news - I just wanted to mention that Jaklumen recorded a podcast all about W♥M and his involvement. It's a little long, but if you were interested, you can hear it via soundcloud: Incidentally, Jaklumen wrote about a Adele mashup, who was the Grammy's award sweeper.

ROLLING IN THE GOLD
adele.tv

Clearly the big winner of the night was Adele, winning six Grammys: Album of the Year (21), Best Pop Record (21), Best Short Form Music Video ("Rolling in the Deep"), Record Of The Year ("Rolling in the Deep"), Song of the Year ("Rolling in the Deep"), and Best Pop Solo Performance ("Someone Like You" by Adele).

Pretty amazing, especially after having disappeared from public singing performance due to her throat surgery last year.

It's really amazing how far Adele has come. I have been very, very lucky to have caught Adele at the Theatre De La Jeune Lune, Minneapolis 6/2/08 and she had practically no press. As I noted about her:

She sounded nervous, at first, but once she started singing, it was loudly with confidence. She played and sang on the first two songs, before being joined on stage by her acoustic guitarist (Benjamin Thomas) and keyboardist (Steve Holness)... it was pretty low key, with the music only there to serve Adele's voice.

If this is any indication, she will win her categories in the Brit and NME Awards, as I have predicted.

GOODBYE WHITNEY HOUSTON
whitneyhouston.com

Whitney Houston passed away on the eve of The Grammy Awards. When I first heard about Houston's death, I immediately asked if it was drug-related. Unfortunately, it's one of those realities; Houston had a troubling drug problem (especially after seeing her insanely thin-to-the-bones on her live appearance in 2001). Sony Music issued the follow statementing regarding Whitney Houston:

Whitney Houston was an icon and a once-in-a-lifetime talent who inspired a generation of singers and brought joy to millions of fans around the world. She had a voice of unmatched beauty and power that changed music forever, and she leaves behind an indelible legacy of timeless songs that will never be forgotten. She also was an important member of the Sony Music family who spent her storied recording career with Arista Records. She will be greatly missed. Our deepest condolences go out to her daughter and her entire family.

GOOGLE MUSIC: BEST OF THE GRAMMYS
music.google.com

Google, I have come to the conclusion that they do evil. They're introducing all these stupid features I don't want (instant view, instant search, new image search, google plus sucks and doesn't work on anything!, personal search, etc). Personal search is by far the worst, it shows links that your friends "+". How is that useful? I can't turn it off when I'm signed into my domain. I just wish there were settings that disable all the "fancy Google" and just give me basic search. Anyway, what you probably already know is that Google is all-powerful and they do a lot of CENSORING. They censored us a few years ago, no reasons were given or effort to contact us (but it's not difficult to guess that it has to do with record companies complaining). I know what you're thinking: switch to another search engine. Have you tried this? Dude, it's hard.

Anyway, remember Google Music? They are having a sale for Grammy nominated albums for $3.99, so you can pick up that Jay-Z and Wilco album for cheap. Unfortunately, "Album of the Year" winner Adele's 21 album is still at an expensive $10.99.

Will I be buying them? No. Because I had bad experiences with Google Music. But it's not Google Music, it's "Android Marketplace". Very confusing, I thought it was "Google Music". Do I need an Android to listen to the music I purchase? Google is having a branding issue, in my opinion.

UPDATE: Tried using Bing as my default, and I freaked out when it clearly shows my Facebook account associated with Bing. It also knew my location (probably from my Facebook information). There wasn't any information on Bing how I can disable my automatic Facebook.

Here's how to turn off Bing from accessing your information. Go to your Privacy settings on Facebook. Disable "Instant personalization" and "Public Search": they are on by default.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

Music Services: Google Music, MyMusicCloud, MOG, and Deezer

Since I was no fan of Spotify, here are some more music options:

GOOGLE MUSIC
music.google.com

This week, Google introduced Google Music, which is an epic fail on many levels.

First of all, it's eight years too late - I have already invested my chips in Amazon MP3.

Then I tried to download a free track, only to find out that they will only allow you to do so if you give them your credit card. There are very few companies that I am willing to give my credit card information to - and I'm not about to do so for a song that I just want to try out its service.

Fine, I won't be buying any music from Google.

Then I downloaded their Windows application to upload some music to the 'cloud': I get a connection fail. Granted, I'm quite paranoid and my Firewall won't allow traffic in or out without my permission... but I never got any request from the Google application. It doesn't really matter, they're already really too late, I'm already using my own DLNA harddrive (which I can download my music if I'm in the same network).

If I can get it to work out, I think the free 20,000 upload songs is cool... but then again, why not just use other free storage service like box.net? .... Or see second option below:

Update: I got Music Manager to install (hint: it was my Firewall blocking it). The software asks where I store all my music. After about ten minutes, it tells me that I have over 90k and there is no space to upload all of the songs. Which is fine, I don't want to upload all my music. THEN: it automatically started uploading all my music (!!!). As far as I can tell, there is no option of stopping the transfer - unless you force-quit the application!

MYMUSICCLOUD
mymusiccloud.com

The differential factor in MyMusicCloud is that they offering both online and offline music. You can choose to buy music through their store or upload your own music.

I did play around with it, so far, so good: it worked as advertised.

I uploaded a song via their website (could not install their application, once again: my computer firewall is probably the cause) and it instantly showed up on my MyMusicCloud application. There is no iPad application, but you can still run the iPhone application. I was a little confuse on a "download" (for offline) option as it wasn't made clear on the app. Also, I wasn't sure what they meant by queue. Do they mean playlist?

Anyway, it's free, can't complain too much. How do they make money? Well, you can buy music directly from them and you can purchase more storage (the free account offers only 2 gigs). Pricing for storage is decent, the most expensive is $40 a year for 20 gigs.

MOG
mog.com

Mog last month announced a free version of their "award-winning music service".

They've upgraded to 12 million songs (from 8 million the last count) and their new model of their self-described "gas tank" model, you have to earn points to listen to free music. That just means you have to pester your friends to use Mog, from my understanding of it.

Of course, what they really want you to do is upgrade to a paid service - all the useful feature (such as syncing it to your phone) is in the $9.99 a month plan... which I'm still too cheap to pay. If I were to put down money, wouldn't it just make sense to pay emusic.com and keep music you download?

DEEZER
deezer.com

Was sent a "hush hush" invite to this... only to get denied: "Deezer's music services are not yet available in your country. ".

Deezer looks like a competitor to Spotify, offering 13,000,000 tracks* and "unlimited music in your pocket".

Since I couldn't try it out, I'll only comment that I hate that name, "deezer". It sounds like 'geezer'... but I suppose 'deezer' sounds much cooler in French, where the company is based out of.

Well, maybe you have better luck with it than me. Right now, I'll just stick to buying and ripping my own MP3s, thanks but not thanks.

* Spotify also offers 13 million tracks.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M