by John | Jun 7, 2015 | Instructor Tech Help, iTunes, Latest News, Music, Spotify
What's it going to be? iTunes or Spotify in the future?
Apple's big announcement is supposed to be tomorrow – when they launch the iTunes (or whatever they decide to call it) streaming service! I can't wait to see what they're offering and learn if I'll be switching away from Spotify anytime soon.
There's a bunch of industry press asking if there is anything Apple could offer in an App, that would be an improvement over the Spotify App so many of us enjoy. Tweek this or that feature maybe, but there are many who feel Spotify has broken the code on streaming music.
Could Apple improve how we deliver music in our classes?
Apple doesn't do “Me Too” products or services. If you'll excuse the pun here. They do Apple… or they go home 🙂 Seeing how dominate Spotify has become in streaming – the company is valued at $8 Billion – I have a hard time believing Apple would make a half hearted attempt to compete.
Then there's the pride issue here. Apple revolutionized the digital music industry back in the 2000's. They've sat on their hands while Spotify, Deezer and Pandora are taking serious bites out of Apple's revenues. My prognostication is that Apple will roll out something very cool tomorrow. I can't wait to try it, learn it and then teach everyone how to use it in their classes!
by John | May 21, 2015 | Big Box Instructor, Instructor Training, iTunes, iTunes & Spotify Training, Latest News, Spotify
Spotify had a big announcement yesterday > sounds like they're going directly after iTunes with a confidence that really surprises me. After all, we're talking about Apple here – the company with the largest market value of any company on earth. Kind of like my four pound Yorkie Maxx attacking our neighbor's German Shepherd!
Good for them 🙂
Streaming music service Spotify has announced new features including adding podcasts and video; music that adapts to the listener’s running pace; and the promise of smarter abilities to serve the right playlists for the time of day, activity and habits of the user.
The company’s launch event in New York on Wednesday, helmed by its chief executive Daniel Ek, offered some deeper clues about how Spotify is evolving, and the key challenges it faces as it aims to grow beyond its current 60 million active users, of whom 15 million pay for the service.
Spotify is biting back at Apple
Recent months have seen a wave of stories about Apple’s supposed backroom machinations with music labels, encouraging them to clamp down on Spotify’s free, unlimited streaming service — which in turn would boost the prospects for Apple’s upcoming relaunch of its Beats Music. Read the rest here.
https://youtu.be/N_tsgbQt42Q
How do I get the ICI/PRO podcast on Spotify?
With many of us spending more and more time on Spotify, and away from iTunes, being able to cue up one of our latest episodes on Spotify would be awesome. So while I await my update signal from Spotify's server, I thought I would look into how I submit the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast to the new podcast offering from Spotify.
Here's what I found. With iTunes, Stitcher or any other Podcast service, publishers like ICI/PRO submit a link to the show RSS feed – here's mine http://feeds.feedburner.com/IndoorCycleFreePodcast – and this feed tells iTunes what episodes are available and when there's a new one, ready to be downloaded. It appears that Spotify is using the Panoply podcast network as the source for their on demand audio content.
So stay tuned. I'll make an announcement ASAP. Oh, for the last few of you who haven't yet, Spotify has an intro offer to upgrade to premium: $0.99 for three months.
by John | Jan 13, 2015 | Big Box Instructor, iTunes, Latest News, Music, Schwinn Cycling
Merrill Richmond with StairMaster | Schwinn send me a press release about how the Schwinn Class Tamer iPhone App had won an Outstanding Achievement Award. Pretty cool:)
Schwinn developed this as their gift to Instructors – and an expensive gift at that. I don't know exactly what they've spent on the design and ongoing maintenance of the Class Tamer App. I have looked into contracting with an App development company, to build something similar and was quoted “around” $40,000.
You can download your own here > and it's completely free.
STAIRMASTER AND PINCKNEY HUGO GROUP WIN INTERACTIVE MEDIA AWARD
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Pinckney Hugo Group, a full-service marketing communications firm, and StairMaster, which markets and distributes Schwinn indoor group cycling bikes to commercial health clubs, were awarded an Outstanding Achievement Award by the Interactive Media
Awardsâ„¢ for the Schwinn Class Tamerâ„¢ App.
The Outstanding Achievement Award recognizes that the app surpassed the basic standards of excellence that comprise the web’s most professional work. The app was honored for excellence in the sports category. “It was truly a collaborative effort that led to the Schwinn Class Tamer App,” said Merrill Richmond, vice president of sales and marketing, StairMaster. “Together, with Pinckney Hugo Group, we were able to develop the premier music player for group exercise professionals. It is a tool organized intuitively with large, easy-to-read fonts and controls to help them stay organized while they energize their classes.”
Designed with input and insight from Schwinn’s global team of Master Instructors, Pinckney Hugo Group created the app to serve as the premier music player for group exercise professionals. The app is a one-of-a-kind music player that enables instructors to create and save ride playlists by accessing songs, playlists, albums and artists directly from iTunes. After a playlist is created, the instructor can input a set of commands, cueing notes, music tags and beats per minute (BPM) for each song within the playlist. Playlists can then be saved for future use in class.
The judging consisted of various criteria, including design, usability, innovation in technical features, standards compliance and content. To win, the app had to meet strict guidelines in each area. Other entries in the sports category that received an Outstanding Achievement Award include the NCAA website and the World Anti-Doping Agency — Play True Quiz. Best In Class, the highest honor of the competition, went to ESPN World Cup Essentials, Everton Football Club and Warrior Dash websites.
The Interactive Media Awards is an international awards competition that was started in 2006. Each year the awards honor the best website designs in a multitude of categories throughout the year and are designed to elevate the standards of excellence on the Internet.
by John | Jun 13, 2013 | iTunes, Music, Spotify
Nope. Move along, nothing to see here.
Based on what's being described, iTunes Radio won't work for your class. Unless you just want to hit play and work with whatever iTunes decides to deliver to you.
iTunes Radio (from what I can see) is really just Apple's version of Pandora. Give them a song or genre of music and iTunes Radio will serve a streaming radio of suggested songs.
I found a good explanation at zdnet.com of why Apple isn't offering a streaming catalog like Spotify or Google's new Google Play music services.
Apple most likely chose the radio station model because:
1. It's less like to cannibalize its iTunes music sales. A buy button is prominently displayed in the upper-right hand corner of the iTunes Radio now playing screen putting you just a touch away from being able to purchase a track.
2. It was a much easier sell to the music labels. I'm sure that the buy button in the upper-right corner was a significant part of Apple pitch to labels.
3. It was easier to close deals with three major music labels (which came down to the wire) as opposed to getting deals with all of the labels representing the 26 million plus tracks in the iTunes Store's massive music library.
Personally, I'd rather have a “catalog” (or hybrid) music streaming service from Apple (imagine, every track in the iTunes store being free to listen to!) over a “radio” service, which is why I don't see canceling my Spotify subscription any time soon. Ever since I've bought into the catalog streaming model, I've purchased very few individual tracks (although I've still purchased a few pre-release albums and live recordings) — which is probably the exact reason why Apple (and the labels) opted for iTunes Radio on Monday. I hope that Apple eventually expands it's music subscription offering, but judging by how long it took it to secure deals with three music labels (iRadio has been rumored since September) I'm not optimistic.
iTunes Radio is planning to launch this Fall.
by John | Nov 27, 2012 | iTunes, iTunes & Spotify Training
What's with Apple these days?
Back in September Apple was talking about a complete redesign of iTunes for version 11, with a promised release in October 2012 – which is obviously passed. I had made a note to myself to look into this so I could understand any changes and help with any new challenges that those of you still using iTunes may experience.
Now I'm reading that the release of iTunes 11 is imminent, whatever that means.
Here's another disappointment.
One recent addition to iTunes that I haven't discussed (I'd been waiting for iTunes 11) is how iTunes now offers wireless home sharing between devices logged in with the same Apple ID.
In this post I talk about how you can share iTunes music between computers that are using the same wireless network. It works very well in a Two Instructor household 🙂
So when I saw that you can now share between devices I thought I should create a tutorial on how to use it. I figured that it would most likely work the same as Spotify; you can listen to a playlist from your computer – or – transfer all the tracks onto your iPhone (turn on the available Off-Line toggle) so you can use the playlist for your class… turns out you can't. Best as I can tell you can only listen to music from another networked computer. There's no option to transfer a track or playlist to your device.
“I must be missing something here?”, I thought. When would I want to use my iPhone to just listen to music from a computer in my house or office?
But wait! I must be able to drag tracks or playlists from my computer, to my device. That's what iTunes Wi-Fi Sync is for right? Well, no. Not exactly. To use Wi-Fi Sync your computer needs to:
- Recognize your device = you must go through the complete setup process if it doesn't.
- Be connected to a power source, er… like your computer. So what's the point of Wi-Fi if you have to plug in?
If Spotify is available where you live and you have a wireless enabled portable device, we have a bunch of tutorials (here and here) to help you make the transition away from iTunes.
