Music

Meet iTunes Radio, Apple's long-awaited streaming-music service

After more than a year of negotiations with the music labels and publishers, Apple Monday unveiled its much-talked about free, streaming radio service -- called iTunes Radio -- at WWDC in San Francisco.

"It is the best music player we have ever done," said Apple iTunes chief Eddy Cue, who showed off the product.

Apple's product aims most squarely at Pandora, which has more than 70 million active monthly listeners but is available only in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand. iTunes Radio will launch in the U.S. this Fall, but Cue said it will roll out in other countries soon after. … Read more

The Audiophiliac's top digital music tracks for testing speakers

Great-sounding albums are becoming increasingly rare, so when I find noteworthy efforts I'm happy to share the news. The goal is highlighting new stuff -- or at least newly recorded/remastered music, and this time I'm going to make separate digital and analog lists. This one covers digital standouts on CD and SACD; next weekend I'll cover LPs.

The list is based on music that I played at home, so I'm sure I've missed some great albums. Share your finds in the comments section.

Doug MacLeod, "There's a Time" (CD)

Bluesman MacLeod … Read more

Could the world's best turntables come from New Jersey?

VPI has been making turntables in New Jersey since the early 1980s when Ronald Reagan was president, and everyone thought the CD would kill the LP in a few years. Well, VPI is still there and is currently experiencing a sales boom.

Harry Weisfeld has been at the helm since Day One, but he's about to step down and let his son Matt run the company. Harry will continue to design turntables and tonearms. He makes prototypes, listens to his handiwork, and then goes back and tweaks the design. I spotted lots of failed designs all over the factory, … Read more

Apple signs Sony/ATV to iRadio, last major hurdle before WWDC

At this point, Apple is all but certain to unveil iRadio -- or whatever it calls its Internet radio service -- at Monday's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Early Friday, Apple reached a deal with Sony Music, the last of the three major labels it needed to sign up, according to people familiar with the deals. And now Apple has also signed up Sony/ATV/ That deal, first reported by Billboard, was confirmed to CNET by a Sony/ATV spokesperson.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

Sony/ATV, the world's largest publishing house, is jointly owned by … Read more

Apple now has all major labels on board for Apple Radio launch

After more than year of off-and-on negotiations, Apple has now reached deals with all three major music labels, making it increasingly likely that Apple will unveil its free Internet radio service at next week's WWDC event.

The latest deal is with Sony Music, according to industry sources who said the two sides struck a deal Friday morning. Sony had been the lone holdout of the three major music labels, haggling over some details that frustrated execs at the other labels. The world's largest label, Universal Music, was the first to sign on, followed by Warner Music and its publishing arm, Warner/Chappell. … Read more

Justin Bieber to go where no teen singer has gone before

Should you have spent recent weeks obsessing over a strange clicking noise on your Verizon phone, you might not know that Justin Bieber has not been having the most stellar of times.

There's his allegedly on-off-on-maybe-who-knows relationship with Selena Gomez. There was the lassitude in appearing on stage for concerts.

And then he even allegedly fainted backstage.

Now is the time to offer some good news to beleaguered Beliebers. For Justin is to be sent into space.… Read more

Samsung GS4 ad shows how to hold baby and watch LeBron

This is perhaps an even greater philosophical question than: "Why do some people consider cheerleading a sport?"

For today we must consider how to hold a baby and watch the NBA Finals at the same time.

Should we turn on our televisions and hold the baby with both arms? Or does modern man hold his large-screened cell phone in one hand, while cradling baby in the other?

Samsung has a position on this. For its new Galaxy S4 ad insists on the latter pose as the ideal for both man and baby.

This ad, a follow-up to one released on Monday … Read more

Singer-songwriter Kelly Rowland's favorite tech

In this week's episode of Hooked Up, Kevin Frazier hangs out with Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter and former Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland at the Kimberly Hotel in New York City. She talks about how she navigates the music world using tech and how tools like SoundCloud have allowed her to give fans a preview of her upcoming album, "Talk A Good Game."

Kelly also talks about connecting with her millions of social media followers, sharing candid moments with Tumblr and Instagram, and her hi-tech watch line for TW Steel.

Also, CNET Editor Brian Tongs breaks … Read more

Bose SoundLink Mini: Tiny $200 Bluetooth speaker delivers big sound (hands-on)

There's a new portable Bluetooth speaker in town -- and it's got the Jawbone Jambox and its wireless brethren squarely in its sights.

Bose today introduced the SoundLink Mini, a $200 wireless speaker that's considerably smaller and less expensive than the company's earlier Bluetooth offering, the SoundLink Bluetooth Mobile Speaker II. That model retails for $300 to $350, depending on whether you opt for a nylon or leather cover flap.

The svelte speaker is 2x7.1x2.3 inches, and it's a looker. The frame is a unibody aluminum enclosure that surrounds tiny stereo drivers at … Read more

QuietComfort 20: Bose introduces its first in-ear headphones with active noise cancellation (hands-on)

Bose has been a go-to choice for noise-canceling headphones since the company's original QuietComfort headphones debuted in 2000. But even as the design has moved from over-the-ear (QC3) to on-ear (QC15), they've remained full-size models -- reasonably travel-friendly, but still somewhat bulky if you're crammed into a coach seat.

But now Bose is shrinking its noise-canceling offering into a much smaller form: the new QuietComfort 20 model. They're the company's first in-ear headphones with active noise cancellation. The QuietComfort 20 headphones will cost $299.95 when they debut later this summer; an iPhone-friendly 20i model … Read more