Sunday, December 21, 2014

APPS / MUSIC SPECIAL.................... Music to your ears

Music to your ears

Listen to your favourite band, search for music of your choice, find music that syncs with your preferences… These apps do it all

There are a number of other interesting apps that help you discover music. All of them are free, and let you find new artists, and discover new things about existing ones. Happy listening!

There was a time when you would listen to your favourite music on short wave radio, or from compact discs. Over the years, there has been a revolutionary change in the way we source our music. The rising popularity of the smartphone has also made it our primary media player. Be it rock, classical or pop, there are apps for everything these days.

Apps such as Gaana and Saavn are already popular. A few other music streaming apps.

SOUNDWAVE [Android, iOS and Google Chrome]
Imagine a dedicated chat messenger that lets you share music; Soundwave does exactly that. You create a group and add your Facebook friends to share songs and generate playlists together. It also tells you which of your Facebook friends use the app, and lets you follow them or follow users on your Twitter timeline.

You will also get recommendations of people from the Soundwave team and others who have created groups. You get suggestions from their “song of the moment”, to their recent played songs and songs most played in the week. Recommended friends are based on different categories of music from hip hop to electronic dance.

SHAZAM [MacOSX, iOS, Android, Windows]
Available free for the iOS, Android and MacOSX, Shazam has become the most famous music identification app in the last few years. It listens to music playing in the background and helps you identify the track. So if you like something playing in a coffee shop or get hooked to a song that plays briefly on a favourite television series, just fire up Shazam. It will listen to the song and identify the name of the track and the artist. It will also give you links to videos and artist biography; you listen to it for free or buy the song for later.

Shazam also comes up with 20-odd recommendations of songs, albums and artists. You can use tags to identify your own music and see what other people are browsing.
All this is free, though ads do may pop up.

NEXT — SOCIAL MUSIC
DISCOVERY
[iOS Only]
The app uses 30-second videos by people and independent artists. Swipe right if you like it or left if you don’t. You can choose the genre; it will show music from new bands. Start following the band if you like it and be informed about its new releases. Remember, it will only be a 30-second video; for full views or to hear the song, you will have to use YouTube or other channels. On the other hand, it helps new bands find new listeners. The app is free and currently does not have any ads.

MIXCLOUD [Android, iOS and the Web]
If remixes are your turn- on, Mixcloud is your thing. Sign in using your Facebook account and immediately, songs and remixes liked by you or your friends fill up your screen. You can select categories from ambient, classics, electornica to science and technology podcasts. The app is free for radio jockeys, DJs and podcasters, who can upload their content and have listeners discover them. You can share songs of your choice, and repost them on your timeline. The app also lets you see what kind of music is trending, and sends you notifications on music it thinks you may like.

Since disc jockeys normally use a playlist while composing a mix, you can also look at the track list in the particular mix and choose accordingly.


Gagandeep Singh Sapra HT141209

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