When Spotify arrived in the U.S., there was such fanfare that one part of the rollout plan was largely ignored. That free Spotify playback on the desktop enjoyed by so many users was only set to last for six months, and next week is Spotify’s six-month anniversary in the U.S. market. When that sweetheart licencing arrangement is up, free Spotify accounts are going to be much more locked down.
Rhapsody just went platinum. After a decade in the business, Rhapsody can finally celebrate amassing more than a million paying subscribers in the United States, which is still well short of Spotify's legion of 2.5 million paying subscribers worldwide, but it does qualify Rhapsody as the largest premium music subscription service in the U.S. To celebrate the occasion, Rhapsody boss Jon Irwin shaved his head, just as he promised he would.
Recently, a correspondent with more attitude than common sense excoriated me for having no taste. He could be right, but I doubt it.
If you’ve ever worked in retail, you know all too well of the pain that comes with spending eight to 10 hours of the day in a store or shop this time of year. We’re not talking about the flood of customers, or the frantic pleading of managers with revenue-based KPIs to sell everything in your store but doors. It’s the music. No matter how much you love the holidays or dig your gig, hearing the same 40 Christmas songs looped continuously for a month will make you want to strangle David Bowie and Bing Crosby with a work sock. This, we encourage you to end the cycle of musical madness by partaking in The Punk Rock Advent Calendar, our Cool Site of the Week. 
If you're a Sonos user, go grab your dancing shoes and air guitar, because the Sonos System Software 3.6 update gives you more ways to rock out. One of the big additions is Android tablet support via the Sonos Controller for Android app. With Android smartphones already supported, users are now able to wirelessly control Sonos from any Android 2.2 (or above) device with this update, including the Kindle Fire.
Last week we discussed Google’s lack of support for music lovers in 
Grooveshark is no stranger to lawsuits having been sued countless times. But the latest lawsuit, even though it's from a familiar foe, seems to be a bit different. Universal Media group on Friday filed a fresh lawsuit against the online music streaming service, accusing it of running a massive music uploading effort internally. Hit the jump for more.
iTunes killer. We're not saying Google is or is not an iTunes killer, but now that the sultan of search has removed the beta label from its Google Music platform and opened its disco doors to the public, we wanted to throw those two words out there so you can get used to seeing them. Google Music is officially open for business and you can bet there will be lots of comparisons to iTunes. So, were the 
-
Technology
Entertainment
-
Music
-
Creative
Sport & Auto
- About Future
- Jobs
- News
- Advertising
- Digital Future
- Privacy Policy
- Cookies Policy
- Terms & Conditions
- Shop
- Investor Relations
- Contact Future
© Future US, Inc. 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, California, 94080. All Rights Reserved.