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Ford is first to introduce Spotify in-car integration

Ford SYNC AppLink Spotify

Ford and Spotify have announced a partnership that sees the popular streaming music service make an appearance in Ford vehicles. Spotify is now compatible with Ford SYNC AppLink, streaming its catalog of over 20 million tracks over the car radio. You'll need to download the new iOS or Android Spotify apps to take advantage of the new hotness. You be able to access your songs, playlists, and custom stations, and can even control things with voice commands. Aside from Spotify, Ford SYNC AppLink allows you to access other service, like Pandora, Amazon Cloud Player, MOG, Slacker, and Rhapsody.

Read More | Ford

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Slacker Radio comes to Xbox 360

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Microsoft, Music, Video Games,

Xbox Slacker Radio

We recently reported on the Slacker Radio redesign, and the company is keeping the freshness going, debuting on the Xbox 360 today. You can download the Slacker app for free, and you've gotta be an Xbox Live Gold subscriber in the US or Canada for the privilege. You get the same overhauled color scheme, music guide, and Kinect voice controls. Head over to the Xbox Live Marketplace to grab the 116 MB download.


Slacker Radio sees massive redesign, aims for Pandora, Spotify

Slacker Radio redesign

Slacker has been around for a few years as both a free and premium Internet radio service, and now the service has released a new redesign. The old black and gold interface is replaced with a newer, hipper, cleaner look on all platforms, including web, Xbox 360 app, and mobile apps. Slacker had to do something to take some attention away from Rdio, Spotify, Pandora, and the like, and we have to say that the new design makes things easier on the eyes, and thusly, easier to use.

Slacker pricing remains intact. You have the free version, Radio Plus for $3.99 per month, and then Slacker Premium for $9.99 per month. Updated Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10 versions are on the way as well.


Sprint readies FM Radio and Entertain Me packages for Android and Windows Phones

Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Music,

Sprint Entertain Me RadioSprint is bringing FM radio to select Android and Windows Phone devices this year with the NextRadio tuner app. This move makes Sprint the first US carrier to herald FM radio in such fashion, and shows the amount of faith the carrier puts in a format some might say is already dead.

Sprint also revealed an application bundle for the Sprint Zone on Android dubbed "Entertain Me." The bundle will feature Sprint TV and Movies, Sprint Music Plus, Spotify, Slacker, iHeartRadio, Shazam, and Rumpus.


With iTunes Match, Apple has ended piracy as we know it

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Editorial, Music, Software,

iTunes Match

I belong to the MP3 generation. Mine was the first to confront the choice between an $18 CD filled with marginal tracks and free MP3 downloaded from Napster in minutes. It was a test of character, and like many of the MP3 generation, I failed. But my days as a copyright violator, music pirate, and intellectual property profiteer ended long ago, and after enabling iTunes Match, previous guilt is gone.

To be fair, I haven't actually stolen music in years. I actually have multiple music service subscriptions, mostly because I am too lazy to cancel when I switch. So I have access to Rdio, Zune Pass, Rhapsody, Slacker, and Spotify Premium. But the truth is, I have a 32GB music collection sitting on my home PC that was built illegally downloading from services like Napster, Limewire, and BitTorrent. But now Apple is offering me amnesty for just $25 a year.

Apple's iTunes 10.5.1 launched yesterday, and it includes the much-anticipated Match feature. Install the software and it will scan your hard drive for music and make high-quality, 256-Kbps AAC versions of every file available to you in the cloud. The kicker is that this includes not just songs you purchased through iTunes, but any music file on your system, no matter where or how you got it. It will cost $25 a year to maintain access to this newly rebuilt and legal library, but for that price you can have access to up to 25,000 songs. Apple will pay the labels a small fee for the rights, but all you pay is the $25 per year. For those of us in the MP3 generation, this is library liberation.

Click to continue reading With iTunes Match, Apple has ended piracy as we know it


Listen to music with friends on Facebook with Spotify, MOG, Rhapsody, Slacker, and more

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Internet, Music,

Facebook is good for discovering the latest news about your friends and family, but what about music? As part of its f8 developer conference yesterday, the site teamed up with a number of online music entities to bring music discovery to Facebook.

Music companies like Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody, and Slacker will be offering their own apps, which will allow you to share what you're listening to with friends on Facebook. Their music choices will also show up on your news feed, and you can listen to the songs right inside Facebook.

"You'll now start seeing new music posts and play buttons all over your newsfeeds. Hit a play button and the music starts. Right there," Spotify said in a blog post. "Spotify fires up to give you a new soundtrack to your social life. Check out your new Music Dashboard and your real-time ticker to discover the music that's trending with your friends."

Click to continue reading Listen to music with friends on Facebook with Spotify, MOG, Rhapsody, Slacker, and more


We’re giving away 10 Slacker Premium Radio 1-year subscriptions!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Features, Internet, Music,

Slacker Premium Radio free

Here at Gear Live, we love us some . If you don’t know, Slacker is a fantastic streaming music service. It has millions of songs in its catalogue, and real DJs actually control their channels, which means you get a great mix of songs that go well together, rather than something put together by an algorithm. While Slacker is free, they also have a couple of upgraded services - Slacker Radio Plus, and the newly released Slacker Premium Radio. This typically costs $10 a month:

  • Play songs, artists, albums on-demand
  • Custom playlists
  • Unlimited Skips
  • Unlimited Song Requests
  • No Audio or Banner Ads
  • Complete Lyrics
  • Over 2 Million Songs
  • Cache stations to smartphones for offline listening
  • ABC News and headline news updates for any station
  • "Peek Ahead" artist and album previews

We said this would be big, so here’s what we're gonna do - we are going to give away 10 one-year subscriptions to Slacker Premium Radio. How do you enter? Easy:

Want a bonus entry? Subscribe to Gear Live on YouTube! We will select ten random entrants on July 1 - good luck!


Slacker Premium brings unlimited on-demand music streaming

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Internet, Music,

slacker premium radio

Slacker finally launched their Slacker Premium Radio service yesterday, a new tier of the popular streaming audio service that gives music lovers on-demand access to the individual songs, albums, top charts, station playlists, and single-artist radio stations in the Slacker library.

The $9.99-per-month Slacker Premium can be accessed on the Web, as well as through apps available for the iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android, and BlackBerry platforms.

Slacker Premium Radio lets listeners search, play, and replay specific songs and entire albums from the 8 million songs in Slacker's library. In addition, users have the ability to create playlists and cache songs and albums for offline playback. Slacker Premium Radio also features all-new artist pages that contain artist biographies, all songs by the artist, discographies, and related artists.

Click to continue reading Slacker Premium brings unlimited on-demand music streaming


Huge Slacker Radio Plus giveaway!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Features, Internet, Music,

Slacker Radio Plus FreeHere at Gear Live, we love us some . If you don’t know, Slacker is a fantastic radio’s streaming music service. It has millions of songs in its catalogue, and real DJs actually control their channels, which means you get a great mix of songs that go well together. While Slacker is free, they also have a service called Slacker Radio Plus, which adds the following perks:

  • Unlimited Skips
  • Unlimited Song Requests
  • No Audio or Banner Ads
  • Complete Lyrics
  • Over 2 Million Songs
  • Cache stations to smartphones for offline listening
  • ABC News and headline news updates for any station
  • "Peek Ahead" artist and album previews

We said this would be big, so here’s what we're gonna do - we are going to give away:

  • FIVE one-year subscriptions to Slacker Radio Plus
  • FIVE three-month subscriptions to Slacker Radio Plus
  • FIVE one-month subscriptions to Slacker Radio Plus

We are going to make it ridiculously easy to enter as well. All you need to do is become a fan of Gear Live on Facebook, and leave a comment on our wall - feel free to enter as many times as you'd like. That’s it! On Friday we will select fifteen random entrants and hit them with the goods.


Deal of the Day: 44% off Sony BRAVIA 52- and 46-inch LED HDTV (2010 model)

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: HDTV, Hot Deals,

Sony BRAVIA KDL-52EX700

If you’re in the market for a new , then you’ll wanna pay close attention to today’s , because it’s one of our best. You can currently save a whopping $950 (that’s 43%!) off of one of the new 52-inch Sony BRAVIA JDL-52EX700 1080p LED displays. Looking for something a bit smaller? How about $750 off (4%!) of the 46-inch Sony BRAVIA KDL-46EX700? The great thing about these deals is that these are the current 2010 models, not some older units that needs to be clearanced out. These sets have integrated 802.11n WiFi, DLNA support, and even stream content from Netflix, Amazon Video, YouTube, , and more. Oh, and even better? Free shipping.

Here are the links:


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