I've been a Cars fan forever – they were the soundtrack of my senior year in highschool. Yes I know that dates me, but these we cassettes – not 8 tracks 🙁
Turns out I have a bunch of Cars fans in my Thursday class (we're all of similar vintage) so I thought it would be fun to include a few tracks in my class next week.
Digging around I found that there are some very nice Mashups and remixes. Would any of these fit into your next profile?
Both of these questions have pretty much the same solution…
Spotify is jumping in Apple's face with this and I find it kind of funny 🙂 Turns out that if you're paying your monthly Spotify subscription through iTunes, you are paying an extra $3.00 a month. Why? Because iTunes charges an extra 30% on top of recurrent subscriptions.
Spotify is trying to raise awareness around the fact that it's cheaper to subscribe on the web instead of through Apple's App Store. The leading subscription music service plans to email iPhone customers the below note encouraging them, if they haven't already, to start paying at Spotify.com and save a few dollars. “In case you didn’t know, the normal Premium price is only $9.99, but Apple charges 30 percent on all payments made through iTunes,” the email blast reads. “You can get the exact same Spotify for only $9.99/month, and it’s super simple.”
The message is followed with a step-by-step tutorial that explains how to shut off auto-renew through iTunes (so Apple won't keep charging you the higher $12.99-per-month rate) and transfer your account to the web – something that can only be done once your current subscription lapses. “Pardon us if you can't do this immediately. Your current plan needs to end first,” Spotify says.
This will only apply if you downloaded and subscribed to Spotify using your iDevice. Most of us (me included) used our computers and subscribed directly with Spotify.
But this got me thinking; how do I cancel my free trial to Apple Music?
Turns out it's easy to cancel any monthly subscriptions.[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
Open the Music App on your phone and click the silhouette icon in the top-left corner.
Next choose View Apple ID and Log In.
Then under Subscriptions > Manage
This screen will show your Apple Music and other auto-pay subscriptions, including Spotify if that's how you're subscribed.
NOTE: cancelling won't end your trial early.
Please let me know if you have additional questions. [/wlm_private]
It's common to have a little “chit-chat” warmup with Podcast guests. This time is for catching up with past contributors (or to calm first timers) before we record the actual Audio Profile or dive into the episode's topic. I'll occasionally have the recorder running during this time and for fun, I thought you'd enjoy hearing a segment of my conversation with Instructor Christine Hawthorne – AKA blogger Chrispins – where we discuss our initial thoughts on Apple Music and Chris shares a bit about her life beyond teaching.
I'll be publishing Chris's latest Audio Profile for our ICI/PRO members later today.
Not sure how I feel about this new show shot in an Indoor Cycling studio in LA. I've had a few regulars mention it to me at the club. One told me that she's excited to learn more about the sex and drama filled life I lead as an Instructor 🙂
Hollywood Cycle episode #1 is tonight on E! Entertainment Television
You may have already seen the trailer
https://youtu.be/e6h3rQlZUzI
Now you can also get some advice on what not to do in a cycling class >
“Hollywood Cycle” stars Nick Hounslow, Nichelle Hines and Aaron Hines give the down-low on what to avoid during their intense spinning sessions. Listen in!
Do ClassBuilder and Schwinn's Class Tamer iPhone Apps work with Apple Music?
This person on Facebook said they both do… which would be very cool. So I renewed my efforts, fought through the confusion and she's right! I was able to open an Apple Music playlist that Dennis Mellon sent me, with either ClassBuilder or Class Tamer with my iPad*. I added a few cues and nearly everything worked perfectly – even in off-line mode.
The two exceptions being the cross fade and tempo adjustment functions in Class Tamer won't work. It's because of the DRM that protects each track delivered through Apple's streaming service.
With Apple Music, that would be all of the songs you selected have DRM.
* Tempering my enthusiasm is Apple Music on my iPhone still doesn't work. It refuses to see the the Apple Music playlists in iTunes on my laptop.
Here's that playlist from Dennis if you'd like to experiment. I'd open that link with your iPhone/iPad. Then set the playlist to Make Available Offline so ClassBuilder or Class Tamer can see the tracks. It appears to me that these downloaded tracks are normal AAC music files, except for the DRM that prevents you from copying, burning to a CD or keeping the files if you don't continue your monthly payments.
Tap the … more icon for the off-line option.
When I tried to open it on my computer it repeatedly send me to the “Download iTunes” page – even though I had iTunes open. I rebooted everything and when I re-opened iTunes I could see the new playlist… but at this point I still can't drag the playlist onto my phone and sync using wifi or the cord.
At launch, many users had trouble adding new music to their libraries, due to an apparent bug with the iCloud Music Library, which wouldn't activate for some users (myself included). This feature, which allows you to sync your collection across devices, is apparently also required to add tracks to your collection in the first place (even if you're only using Apple Music on one device). Strange. Although Apple had apparently fixed the iCloud Music Library bug within a matter of hours, the fact that the service requires this extra step for such basic functionality is a head-scratcher. Nearly 24 hours later, the songs I've been saving in the app still aren't showing up under the “My Music” tab. Presumably that will change at some point.
While it's convenient to be able to merge your existing tracks with Apple Music's library, the mechanism used to do this will madden many people: You have to use iTunes. Some of us would prefer to never see or think about iTunes ever again. And the thing is, it's totally possible to transfer music from your computer to a phone without using clunky desktop software. Spotify lets you sync your local MP3s to its mobile apps, but even that requires routing things through the Spotify desktop app.
What an interesting space streaming music has become.
Facebook has been in talks with major record labels with the intention of “getting into music”, according to reports.
Record labels including Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group have all spoken with Facebook, according to The Verge, though the exact purpose of the talks has yet to be confirmed.
Speculation around why Facebook is expressing an interest in music has centred around the possibility of a streaming service to rival the likes of Apple Music and Spotify.
Sources close to the talks claim that they are still in the early stages, but suggest that Facebook is planning something “unique”.
A separate report by Variety on 1 July detailing Facebook's intentions to test video ads could hint at the manner in which the social network plans to monetise any potential service.
Facebook's addition of listen buttons to artist's pages is as far as the firm has gone in creating its own music service and a fully developed streaming service could be seen as the next natural step.
With all the cash Facebook has, I wouldn't be surprised if they bought Spotify and/or Deezer shortly. We'll just have to wait and see.
