If there was any doubt that Spotify would continue its crushing blow to the top of the streaming music world, today might well be the last time such a doubt was spoken. What we’ve learned, straight from the source of course, is that the Premium service that’s available with Spotify streaming music service has now reached and broken the 2 million person mark. This means that over 2 million people are now paying to have the full Spotify service on their phones and in their homes – is this fantastic for a group that started out only across the pond back in 2009?

Before we go any further, if you don’t know what Spotify is, you should check out the full guide on Spotify your humble narrator wrote for SlashGear back when it was first released here in the states. After that, you should check out our review of the Spotify Premium app that you’ll only be able to run if you’ve got the Premium service hooked up. Right after the USA launch we also gave a whole handful of invites away as well as reviewing that app, that’s how super pumped we were.

And that’s only the USA launch, not even a few months ago! Back on the 28th of May, 2009, our man in England mister Chris Davies made a video demo of the Spotify Android app as it existed in its first state. It was already pretty super neato back then. Now the combined collection of premium users all over the world is at 2 million. Are you one of them?

In addition to the DROID RAZR and the MotoACTV, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jah demoed the company’s new MotoCast app and service to the tech world in New York City today. The service is pretty straightforward streaming/remote access software that will be included on the DROID RAZR and probably future Motorola phones as well. Jha demonstrated it downloading music and displaying remote photos from a remote computer while on the wireless network.

The app will be media focused; Motorola’s press release speaks almost exclusively on streaming from your home computer to your phone. Video, photos and documents should work as well. Note that this is remote streaming, not cloud storage – your home computer has to be on in order for you to access the files. At one point during the demonstration, Jha couldn’t connect to the remote computer and was left without a lot to do.The advantage to this is that you won’t need to pay for any extra service, since you’re providing the storage at home and you’re already paying for a wireless connection. The DROID RAZR will include an installer on its on-board storage.

MotoCast video demo

MotoCast is a bit of a tough sell for power users, who have been able to perform similar feats for ages. Services like Dropbox and the Amazon Cloud Player allow access to media and files without having to keep a connection to your home computer. The only read advantage that MotoCast has is that it will be pre-loaded (and non-removable) on future Motorola phones. That alone should get it at least some audience, but we’ll see how many actually use it when the DROID RAZR releases next month. Be sure to check out our hands-on coverage of the Motorola DROID RAZR.

Check out our hands-on of the Motorola DROID RAZR:

Motorola DROID RAZR hands-on:

The popular online media and music streaming service Rhapsody that is now available on Android, Google TV and many other devices has just launched their latest update for Android. Starting today users can stream in style with a brand new, fully redesigned and imagined Android tablet interface. It’s not just re-sized for a tablet, it has been full on designed specifically for tablets and looks great.

Rhapsody allows customers to find and discover millions of new music tracks, not to mention unlimited music streaming to your Android phone or tablet. They are touting the new tablet layout as more touchable, more engaging, and now with loads of content and new paths to music discovery. With large tiles for easy discovery users can find and enjoy music with ease. This new UI apparently works on Android 3.0 Honeycomb and above tablets, and only for 9″ or larger screens. We’ve yet to try it on a 7″ slate but have a feeling it just might work anyways.

That isn’t all either. The latest update is available right now in the Android Market and they’ve even updated a few fixes for the Kindle Fire — so apparently they support smaller screens in some fashion at least. Other updates include fixes to adding tracks to playlists in bulk, enhanced audio focus at song startup, fixed some sign in screen issues and now supports all Samsung device on Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread.

If Google Music isn’t your cup of tea or you’d like access to millions of artists and music give Rhapsody a try today. Get the new updated app from the link below and enjoy.

Market Link

Those of you who were Rdio users prior to purchasing a Samsung Galaxy Nexus were probably wondering when it would be updated to Android 4.0. It is now perfectly compatible, and even underwent a much welcomed UI transformation. Like other music streaming apps, Rdio offers an great collection of over 12 million songs that can be instantly streamed to any Android device.

Just like Spotify and Grooveshark, songs can be cached for offline playback. It’s hard to decide which one to subscribe to – as all offer access to so many songs. But more likely than not, you’ve already taken a liking to one prior to reading this. And there, you’ve made your playlists and populated your music library through your personal account.

So why would you jump services if all offer the same features? You wouldn’t. And that’s why survival and growth completely depends on future device compatibility. As long as Rdio, Spotify, Grooveshark, and many others continue to support the latest firmware and devices – they’ll be able to retain there subscribers.

[via MobileBurn]

HTC is looking to expand their reach and partnership with Beats Audio by taking on music streaming providers such as Spotify and Pandora. According to new details revealed by GigaOM, HTC and Beats Audio co-founder Jimmy Lovine are planning their own Beats-powered music streaming service for HTC smartphones and tablets.

Reports also suggest possible HTC/Beats Audio branded bluetooth speakers and docks that we might be seeing this month at Mobile World Congress. HTC already offers speakers with the HTC Rhyme but according to these tipsters they are also looking to release a more powerful and substantial “wireless boombox” to offer with their devices. We are hearing that HTC has been in talks with Spotify and many other music streaming services in the recent past trying to work out some sort of deal — but have failed miserably and weren’t able to get anything done.

The failed attempts to partner with some other services actually isn’t that bad though. Beats Audio co-founder Jimmy Lovine also happens to be pretty big guy around the music industry and is the head of Geffen A&M, a Universal Music subsidiary. Using his added weight and powers to help seal the deal with record labels and get some official licences out of the way could really help HTC in this situation.

HTC currently offers HTC Watch to users that want to stream movies and TV shows so this could be one more additional feature to add to their list. We don’t have any further details, nor do we know if this will be a free service like Google Music, or a paid subscription like Spotify and others. Hopefully we’ll learn more at Mobile World Congress in a few weeks. With three new impressive phones coming soon, Playstation Suite certification for gaming, HTC Speak Siri alternative, and now music streaming on the horizon HTC is looking better and better for 2012.

[via SlashGear]

Google’s music streaming option has continued to grow over the past few months since it was officially released back in November of 2011. Originally called Google Music it was recently renamed Google Play Music along with the Google Play Store. While the average user wont run into some of the below issues, many of the die-hard Android users (and there are plenty) will have them, and hopefully Google can make some changes moving forward.

For anyone like me that has multiple Android smartphones, tablets, and media players, that also loves to flash custom ROM’s you’ve surely had the issue from my screenshot above. Previously Google Music was limited to 8 devices and would just close if you reached your limit. They recently upped the limits to 10 but with Android devices coming in all shapes and sizes some might burn through that quite quickly.

If you have a Galaxy Nexus and use Google Music, then decide to flash the latest CyanogenMod 9 or other custom ROM’s when you resign into Google Music that same device will use two activations. I’ve reached my limit of 10 multiple times and had to deactivate the same device on multiple occasions, as I’ve wiped it out and flashed a different ROM more than once. Like I said above this wont be an issue for the average user, but we all know that tons and tons of Android users aren’t what we’d call “average” users.

Next up, we all know Google Play Music allows “unlimited” streaming of up to 20,000 songs to any device be it PC, laptop, smartphone, or tablet. I have two PC’s, two laptops, and way more than six Android devices so that goes out the window quite fast for me — before I start flashing custom ROM’s. On top of that, their so called unlimited streaming appears to have some sort of limits. According to reports from Droid-Life earlier today, users are seeing a message saying “Your limit for streaming music has been exceeded. Please try again later.” From what we understand this is not a 20,000 song limit, but an actual limit where this user that streams tons and tons of music has apparently reached some sort of limit, and can no longer access his own songs, including the ones he’s purchased from the Google Music Store.

Now this could simply be a mistake, or this user could have actually reached some sort of data, or time spent streaming cap that Google has to this point, not detailed to the end users. I don’t know about you guys but I sure didn’t read the fine print. I just hit go and enjoyed the new streaming options. Does Google Music actually have streaming limits, or was this just a mistake? We are currently looking into the matter and hopefully get some clarification soon.

We know not everyone has an abundance of Android devices like the hardcore enthusiasts, and most wont stream so much music that they reach these types of limits, but if Google is going to impose them they should at least offer an alternative or paid access for those needing more. For now they do allow downloading your Google Music to a PC, or make music available offline for phones and tablets. That is a start but I’d love to see even more options as Google Music becomes a bigger part of my daily life.

Have you reached these limits? What do you guys think?

News in the music streaming world has been turned up to 11 this afternoon regarding reports that the popular 3rd party application Spotify for Android is set to receive a huge update soon. According to folks at The Verge Spotify is working on a major app update that will bring tons of changes, and support for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Spotify for Android is awesome. The streaming options and having 320 kbps version available are great too, but their application UI is quite terrible. It works great on Gingerbread but looks like it was designed for FroYo 16 months ago. It hasn’t been updated since back in November last year and seems to struggle on Android 4.0 devices. All of that should be changing soon if the rumors are correct.

Not a lot of details were made available regarding the update. It is said to have a huge UI overhaul that will work great, and look great on Android 4.0 ICS, and hopefully we get some new features or sharing options. We love Spotify here at Android Community, but Google Play Music is pretty good too. What do you use for your music steaming on Android?

The popular music streaming service Spotify is about to finally get a much needed, much anticipated update. We suspected an update was coming earlier this month and now can happily report that it will be available later today in beta. Spotify has completely overhauled their Android app with full Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich support as well as an impressive ICS theme too. Spotify is calling this a “top-to-bottom” app update and redesign that users will love.

While the new UI and design is the first thing you’ll notice, Spotify wants it to be known that under the hood they’ve added a brand new music discovery engine that will help Premium users discover awesome new music and artists — since we are here for the music and all right? I like their screenshots that is for sure. Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition (and Down River) are great songs. Premium users can enjoy this new app for Android with tons of improvements over the old and outdated design. First off you’ll notice the Android 4.0 ICS design elements, then you’ll quickly notice the album artwork is displayed in high-resolution. A welcomed change with all the HD phones and tablet screens on Android.

Spotify has introduced a quick and easy slide-out menu for navigation and a quick menu option nicely themed to go right along with the latest version of Android. The image below shows how convenient both will be. A quick swipe toggles the slide-out navigation option and the quick menu floats over the top of searches, playlists, now playing lists and more.

Obviously looking at the images provided you can clearly see this isn’t a minor update, and just like mentioned above we have a completely overhauled top-to-bottom design change, for the better. The related and similar artists view has been improved, and Spotify has opted to add social aspects too with users being able to look up fellow users profiles and see their favorite music.

For now this impressive new Spotify for Android app is in beta, and will be available officially on the Google Play Store sometime soon. For those looking to enjoy it today you’ll have to be a Spotify Premium subscriber (sign up here), and it will be available later today on Spotify.com so stay tuned for download links and full details. If you’re interested in trying out Spotify you can sign up with the link above, or check back shortly for our full review of the all new Spotify for Android app.

Today Spotify announced their impressive brand new music streaming app for Android. Since first released last year in the US I’ve been patiently waiting for them to update the application, and today they’ve done that and more. Spotify didn’t just update their app, they’ve completely redesigned it from top to bottom and it now feels part of the Android 4.0 ICS family with the Holo theme and more. If you’re a fan of Spotify or have been considering it, you’ll want to stay tuned for my hands-on video.

Announced this morning was the new preview or beta version of Spotify. Lucky for us the folks over there were nice enough to provide us with the new app, and a Premium subscription so we can enjoy countless hours of music from their millions of choices. I have plenty of screenshots for everyone but you’ll want to start with the announcement post above for full details, then enjoy the video.

Obviously you can see right off the back the user interface has received a complete overhaul. Something Spotify is calling a “top-to-bottom” change for the better — and we’d have to agree. So far I’m loving the look and feel of the new Spotify for Android. You’ll have to be a premium user to enjoy the full streaming services, but it’s worth it.

Before their app looked like something from Android 2.2 FroYo back in early 2011 but now it’s fancy, shiny, HD, and works great on high resolution phones and tablets. They’ve added HD album artwork so you now get a full-sized high resolution image, and you can flick to go forward a song just as before. All of the features we know and love from Spotify are still present, it just looks better.

Just like their desktop version you can now sign in and look up friends on Facebook, or regular Spotify account owners. You can check your friends accounts, follow their music habits and get introduced to new and exciting music like never before. I personally love the fact that when you select an artist it shows you their top songs. So you’ll instantly hear classics from great bands, even if you’ve never heard of them.

Spotify has received a full out facelift and so far I’m really digging their new look. Like mentioned above this is a beta preview build only, and they’ll be adding more features like folders and additional options in the final version once it lands on the Google Play Store. The only feature missing from the old app is an Android widget, which I’ve heard will be present in the final version. Stay tuned for more information and check out the screenshots below.

Get all the details, download links, and information from the earlier announcement here.

The popular digital music streaming service Spotify that we love here at Android Community is headed to a few more countries. Starting today Spotify will be available in Australia and New Zealand for users to enjoy their wide array of over 16 million songs instantly on their Android phones, tablets, PC’s and more.

Spotify recently launched their new Android 4.0 ICS beta app that makes listening to all the music your heart desires even easier, available soon while their current app is available now in the Google Play Store. Spotify has a similar pricing structure for those in Australia and have three options available. Free is computer only and includes the occasional ad or two while still delivering quality music streaming 24/7. Spotify unlimited will be $6.99 and offers unlimited, ad-free streaming to any computer or laptop, then Spotify Premium (my favorite) for $11.99 a month offers complete audio bliss. Listen to any music you want, whenever. With unlimited streaming to computers, laptops, phones, tablets, as well as multiple other devices — Premium even has a listen offline caching system.

Here’s what Spotify’s Co-founder had to say about today’s new:

“We’re unbelievably excited to be here,” says co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek. “Australians are massive music fans and we’ve created a service that we know they’ll love. Spotify offers everything you could possibly want from a music service: it’s free, it’s fast, it’s easy to share and with more than 16 million songs we have one of the biggest on-demand music libraries in the world.”

To celebrate the launch each country has their own unique playlist including Australia’s hot 100 list called the G’Day Australia Playlist and a New Zealand playlist Kia Ora. The same pricing listed above applies to New Zealand as well, only each option is $1.00 more for some reason. Head to Spotify.com to get started today, enjoy those playlists, and give the Android app a try via the Play Store link above. For more Spotify news hit the links below. Enjoy the music folks!

Samsung’s getting close to launching their new music service to rival the folks at Spotify, and even Google Play Music here in the US. This week they’ve let a few lucky users enjoy an early beta preview of their new Music Hub. We first mentioned this back in May, but now we’ve received our own hands-on time with the music app for Android.

Samsung’s new Music Hub will start off being available for their new flagship Galaxy S III, and eventually make its way to other devices. At first glance it’ll feel and seem like a great blend between Spotify and Google Music — and in a way it is. It takes clues from many popular options available today, and adds its own flare and polish for an overall solid experience.

Overall our first impressions of the new Music Hub streaming service are quite positive, but we’ve only had a very limited time to enjoy the application. When first launching the app you’ll be greeted with a grid of options and icons. They look great on our Galaxy S III but sadly there is no tablet app at this time.

As you can see from the screenshot above Samsung gives you a large list out of the gate. To start you’ll need to be signed into your Samsung account — which is the same media hub account many have with recent Samsung devices, Smart TV’s and more. The starting grid at first launch consists of 12 options:

• My Music
• Catalog
• Radio
• Recommended
• Search
• Tagged
• Recent
• Downloads
• Account
• Settings
• Help
• About

The design is simple, fresh, easy to understand, and runs quite fluid and nicely for us. With Samsung Hub you can upload music right to your Samsung Hub account for streaming, as well as streaming right from Samsung themselves. Then of course it’ll obviously play any actual music files you’ve got on the device too. For now you’ll have access to roughly 19 million tracks, and more are being added daily.

Oddly enough though some tracks you can fully enjoy, while others are limited to 30 second previews and then you’ll be prompted to purchase the song. In the “My Music” grid you’ll find anything and everything music. From on device MP3′s, purchased music, and previously streamed songs. Music Hub also offers 7digital integration and all of that account info can be transferred over too.

Just like many current offerings Samsung will handle all of the file type conversion, as well as album artwork on their end. So this means users will have a seamless experience with smooth audio playback and album artwork should they want it. Also Samsung’s worked hard to make the entire user experience and UI simple to use and navigate. Taking hints from a few different competitors the “Now Playing” screen is my favorite part. The album artwork is large, HD, and easy to see. Then you can simply swipe left or right for next/previous tracks — artwork included — and even previewed before you swipe. Well done Samsung!

For now the official Samsung Hub service is only available in Europe, but will be headed stateside very soon. Samsung mentions that the app itself, information, subscription details/pricing and more will all be available on their website shortly. Like mentioned above this will be exclusive to the Samsung Galaxy S III, but I’m sure the developer community will change that real quick. Stay tuned for further details!

With just five days left to go before the Kickstarter campaign for OUYA comes to a close, OUYA has announced a new partnership with radio streaming service iHeartRadio. Previously, the OUYA team revealed that the console will offer streaming games through OnLive, and now it sounds the multimedia onslaught is nearly complete thanks to this new deal with iHeartRadio. Now we just need OUYA to announce partnerships with the likes of Hulu Plus and Netflix and we’ll be set.

Writing in an update on OUYA’s Kickstarter page, iHeartRadio discussed what this partnership means for OUYA users. iHeartRadio will allow users to tune into over 1,000 different radio stations across the country through their OUYA, ranging from rock to college stations. Users also have the ability to create their own commercial-free custom radio stations, and iHeartRadio claims that it has over 14,000 songs to pick from while making your perfect playlist. Essentially, it’ll be the same service you can already get on mobile devices and Xbox 360, except with OUYA the iHeartRadio team is promising an HTML 5 app made especially for large screen formats.

Not too bad, OUYA. Between these streaming announcements, the reveal that Rodomodo’s Human Element prequel will be an OUYA exclusive, and Square Enix’s announcement that Final Fantasy III will be a launch day title, OUYA has some pretty serious names backing it up. Things are definitely beginning to take shape as the Kickstarter winds down, and it looks like the OUYA team will have more than enough money by the time everything is said and done.

To be a little more precise, OUYA’s Kickstarter page shows an incredible $6,548,055 raised at the time of this writing, and with the better part of a week left to go, there’s a chance that number may cross the $7 million mark. After the Kickstarter closes, OUYA will have to prove that it can make it in the highly competitive gaming market, and some don’t think it can. Here’s hoping that everything works out for the best with OUYA, because even though we have our reservations, the Android-based console does sound like a great idea.

[via SlashGear]

The folks from RealNetworks have finally launched their popular and widely known RealPlayer app for Android. Being available for some time in a beta demo, today they’ve officially launched RealPlayer v1.0 and it’s the ultimate multimedia app. Whether you want to stream music, watch movies, or look through photo albums — RealPlayer does it all.

RealPlayer for Android is essentially an “all-in-one” media solution, and works rather well especially considering it’s a free download. The UI is extremely simple to understand, although some headers could use a little cleaning up. I was hoping for something more in line with Android 4.0+ interface wise, but certainly have enjoyed this simple and easy to use solution.

On first boot you’ll have to wait while it searches for content, but after you’ll be ready to go in seconds. Their main home screen is dead simple as you see above, and gives you access to everything in one convenient place. No additional apps or even menus are needed — it’s all right at the start. Sadly they don’t offer much when it comes to settings, options, and customization. While there is metadata and equalizer support, that is tucked away behind a premium $4.99 in-app purchase. Here’s what to expect with the free, and paid versions.

RealPlayer Features – available with the free RealPlayer app:
• Music, videos and photos all in one place
• Available in nine languages
• Optimized graphics for high-res devices
• Playlists
• lastFM scrobbling
• Voice commands for search
• Control playback when phone is locked
• Sharing on popular social media sites
• Move application to SD card
• Set your favorite song as a ringtone
• Headphones controls
• Auto bookmarking of videos
• Home screen widgets to control media
• Access any file format your device supports

Additional Features – available through an in-app upgrade:
• Graphic equalizer with ability to save custom settings
• Metadata discovery using the Gracenote database
• Manual metadata editing
• Cross fading for a seamless music experience
• RealAudio and RealVideo (rmvb) support
• No advertisements

In general RealPlayer is geared towards audio and video, with photos just being a bonus. Music playback and controls were simple, as they should be, and album artwork was present for most artists. They’ve added a nice widget for those who like that option, and I’ve been using that all weekend. They’ve also added music controls to the lockscreen — sort of. If the screen locks when you unlock it you’re instantly brought to an unlock screen for RealPlayer too. Two unlock screens in a row is odd, but you can quickly change songs and then go back about your business.

My only complaint for the most part would have to be the photo viewer. It’s pretty generic and doesn’t even offer pinch-to-zoom. It is nice to be included, but would be fine without. As you see above in the premium suite screenshot, that is where the good features come. Their real selling point is .RAM and .RM support — which sadly requires users to buy the premium version for $4.99. All in all RealPlayer as a music and video player is another awesome option for Android. Here’s what the SVP of Real Networks had to say:

“This is the media player that people want. It delivers on what RealNetworks does best: helping people simplify, connect to, and enjoy their digital media. We drew on the rich heritage of the RealPlayer media platform, whic has close to 500 million users and one of the most recognized brands in media players worldwide, to make the incresingly complex world of mobile media easy to use and manage.” – Scott Uomoto

RealPlayer has been one of the most popular PC programs in its class for years and years, and the same continues strong here on Android. Their beta player alone has nearly 11 million downloads, and now with the official RealPlayer app that will only continue to grow. Those looking for an awesome yet simple all-in-one media player for Android, give RealPlayer a try today at the link below.

RealPlayer for Android link

If you happen to own both a Pioneer AV receiver from 2012 and a HTC smartphone, then starting today there’s a chance you can use both of them together. Today Pioneer announced a firmware update for “all Pioneer 2012 networked audio video receiver models,” that adds support for HTC Connect. This means that you can now use your HTC smartphone to stream music to your receiver.

That’s not a bad feature at all, but these AV receivers aren’t the first Pioneer products to get HTC Connect functionality. That distinction belongs to the company’s SMA wireless speakers, which launched earlier in the year. In any case, a number of Elite and Pioneer branded AV receivers have been given HTC Connect support, and you can see the full list over at Pioneer’s website.

By clicking on that link above, you can also find the firmware update for your specific receiver. The page lists all of the HTC handsets that will be compatible with your receiver after you’ve applied the update: the HTC One series, HTC Droid Incredible 4G, HTC EVO 4G LTE, and the HTC DROID DNA. That’s a pretty healthy selection of HTC smartphones, and we’re sure owners of the brand-spanking-new DROID DNA will be pleased to see the device on the list.

It should be noted that you can still use your phone as you stream music to your receiver, though Pioneer warns that this functionality hasn’t been tested with third-party apps, so it’s recommended that you use HTC’s pre-installed music app to make sure that everything works properly. Is your receiver supported in Pioneer’s push for HTC Connect support?

For all the music lovers out there we have a brand new song identifying or song matching app for Android available today, absolutely free. If Soundhound, Shazam, Google Ears and more weren’t what you’re looking for then give the all new app from Rhapsody a try. They’ve just introduced a new app neatly called SongMatch and it’s available right now.

Obviously they’ll be integrating this into their own Rhapsody music services, but they’re marketing their new song recognition app by saying “Hear it. Match it. Play it.” Just like all those other apps that are available (do we really need another) this will listen to the music, identify it, and neatly let you save and enjoy it for later.

The cool thing here that they have over the others is the fact that SongMatch won’t just tag and recognize the song, but your Rhapsody account will have a playlist dedicated to SongMatch tags. You’ll easily be able to fire up Rhapsody and stream all these awesome songs you’ve been tagging with ease. Here’s what to expect from their new app:

● Match any song against Rhapsody’s library of 16 million tracks
● View information about each artist including top tracks, full albums, bios, and similar artists
● Start a free 14-day trial from directly within the app
SongMatch users who are Rhapsody members can:
● Match any song against Rhapsody’s library of 16 million tracks
● Launch full length playback for any matched song
● Launch full length playback for any matched album
● View information about each artist including top tracks, full albums, bios, and similar artists

The service is absolutely free, but Rhapsody isn’t. Just like Spotify they offer a music streaming service that requires a monthly payment, but if you’re already into the Rhapsody music world this will be the perfect song recognition app for your Android smartphone or tablet. Give it a try today by clicking here.

[via Android Police]

We have a feeling that some of you like Spotify just as much as we do, because today the company announced a rather big milestone for the music streaming service. Today Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced that the service has 1 million paid subscribers in the US, which is a pretty big achievement. It gets even better though, as Ek also said that there are 5 million paid subscribers worldwide.

It would seem that Spotify has taken off in a big way, as those numbers mean that Spotify has doubled its paid userbase in just one year. That certainly isn’t anything to scoff at, and we can imagine that things will keep getting better for the service for some time to come. When everything has been added up, Spotify says that it has a total of 20 million users across 17 different markets, and those users have created more than one billion playlists.

Of course, Spotify is bringing in money from each and every user, since those who are using the service for free hear advertisements occasionally between songs. It seems that Spotify has been good for artists too, as Ek said today that the company has paid out more than $500 million to the people who make the music. This seems to be a case where everyone wins in one way or another, which is great.

Since Spotify offers so much music, you might be thinking that most of it never gets played by users. Actually, the contrary appears to be true, as Ek says that 80 percent of Spotify’s catalog has been streamed. Spotify is available on the Google Play Store [download link] as well as a number of other platforms, so if you haven’t given it a spin, it might be worth checking out. Are you one of Spotify’s millions of users, or haven’t you tried it out yet?

[via SlashGear]

We already heard today that Spotify has hit 5 million paid subscribers worldwide, but this next bit of news might just be bigger, depending on your music tastes. It turns out that today is the day Metallica’s full music library goes live on Spotify. That means you can now listen each and every one of the legendary band’s songs for free.

Of course, Metallica will be getting a cut of the money from those advertisements that will play every once in a while as you’re listening, so this is a beneficial relationship for both the band and for Spotify. This is notable because of Lars Ulrich’s campaign against piracy, which was running strong back around the time Napster was at its peak. Interestingly enough, Ulrich and former Napster head Sean Parker appeared on stage today to announce the addition of Metallica to the Spotify library.

Up on stage, Ulrich said that his battle against piracy wasn’t about the money, but rather about control. Just the same, Parker said that the idea behind Napster wasn’t simply “free music” but freedom in general. Parker reiterated that he never intended Napster to be about theft, despite the fact that many people used the service for music piracy.

In any case, it appears that the two former enemies have since made good, and Ulrich appears very pleased with the fact that Metallica’s library can now be found on Spotify. The Spotify Android app is available now on the Google Play Store [download link], so be sure to give it a download if you haven’t already. Who’s ready to listen to some metal?

[via SlashGear]

Today we learned of an awesome new Bluetooth speaker option announced at CES is available starting today, and if you love portable speakers it’s worth a quick look. Meet the Bem Speaker Trio. This unique Bluetooth speaker option allows you to blast your tunes in the living room, then bring the music with you to multiple rooms and even the garage all simultaneously. All this works completely without wires too, so bring on the Google Music.

Essentially all three speakers can be placed throughout the house in your spot or room of choice, and offer a 120 ft range of quality streaming music. For extra boom leave them all nicely placed on the conductive charging base and enjoy your music with even fuller sound. If you’re having a party just place them throughout the house, leave one by the pool, or even in the bathroom. The options are endless.

The base does all the handy work and emits the Bluetooth audio coming from your Android phone, iPod, iPhone, etc. Audio plays with Bluetooth or 3.5mm audio in. Then the base also features wireless conductive charging. Once you’ve enjoyed music for around the products 6 hour play time, simply return the speakers to the base for a quick charge.

Each speaker measures in at 6×6 for a portable and compact cube design, and has an elegant finish in black or white. We know you white Galaxy S III owners want to match. The bottom of each speaker base also has a nice LED that will glow while in use, report battery stats, and confirm when charging is complete. They feature a soft touch finish and touch sensitive buttons for ease of use. We can’t comment on sound quality but the design and elegance of the product sure looks good so far. Give them a go today for $299, they’re available right this moment.

[via SlashGear]

The Slacker Radio has recently been updated and while we are fans of the new look and new design, we will offer the warning up front — if you are really loving your currently installed version of the app, you may want to hold off on this update. While the core features of the app seem to have remained the same, the look and feel has been given a complete overhaul. You can get a look at that in the image below, even the app icon has undergone a dramatic change.

As you see, the new Slacker Radio icon is orange, however once opened, the change jumps out. The app opens to what you see below — aside from the blue, things are simple and easy to navigate. You can start by searching (using text or voice), or by clicking one of the four options. These options include Genre Stations, My Music, Specialty Stations and News/Talk/Sports and should all sound familiar for current Slacker users.

The key here, they are all seemingly easier to navigate to with this update. Once inside any of those sections you will still have your familiar categories and aside from the different colors, things will seem pretty familiar. The main change in design seems to come in with that first launch screen. Otherwise, looking at the Google Play Store listing for the Slacker app and things remain somewhat of a mystery as to where this is going.

The ‘what’s new’ section simply notes that “this is the initial release of the new, redesigned Slacker Radio v4.0.” Simple and to the point, but we do wonder where things will go from here. All said and done, as things stand, we have to say that Slacker appears to have done something really nice with the app. Though, it was a bit shocking on that first launch. In addition to the Android app, the Slacker Radio website has also been updated.

[via Google Play Store]

Today we have some bad news for the millions of users that enjoy Pandora free online radio streaming. It looks like the personalized radio service will soon be adding limits to us mobile users. For those that enjoy the mobile app on Android you might want to listen up. According to new reports mobile users will be limited to 40 hours of streaming a month. After that they’ll have to pony up some cash to keep listening.

Due to rising royalty costs for all the music Pandora has to offer, the service is going to be adding some caps and restrictions to all of us Android-toting listeners. Not just Android, but all mobile users will now be put on a limit. It isn’t all bad news however, as their CEO had some interesting things to say regarding their users.

Pandora founder Tim Westergren explained the change in a recent blog post, claiming that royalty costs have increased over 25% in the past 3 years, not to mention 9% higher in 2013 alone. So they’ll sadly be going against their “mission” of offering free unlimited streaming, and be adding a few small limits.

The good news here being that Tim states the average user doesn’t go beyond 20 hours of streaming in a months period, and that only 4% of their user base actually streams more than 40 hours per month. So for those that do, once you meet that 40 hour limit you’ll have to pay $0.99 to finish out the month. That or pay the monthly fee to become a premium user – which also removes ads. Overall this shouldn’t be a cause of concern for most customers, but some of you might want to decide if Pandora is still right for you.