The other subscription music service, Songl launch a disaster
Posted Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 7:04 pm by Jason Cartwright
Update
Despite switching on the website and launching the Android app, Songl claims that it didn’t actually launch today. A tweet from them says the ‘Official launch of Songl coming soon’.
There was actually two music streaming services that launched in Australia today, although you’d hardly know it. Songl, the joint venture between Sony and Universal, is the renamed anubis.fm that we’ve covered before on techAU. Unfortunately they couldn’t have chosen a worse day for the launch.
Songl’s launch had to compete with the 500 pound gorilla – Microsoft’s Zune Music. After launching internationally a couple of years ago, there was a lot of pent up demand for Zune and actually reasonable brand recognition.
Socially, the last two days have seen twitter flooded with tweets of international attention about Zune’s Australian launch. Sadly the only tweet today about Songl, was from Songl’s own twitter account.
To make matters worse, the Songl iPhone app isn’t available on launch day for download. Instead is currently waiting approval from Apple. With mobile apps being sold as one of the new features that would make Songl better than anubis.fm, it seems like a big miss step. There is however an Android application available.
The last piece of the sad launch for Songl is its integration with Sonos. Unfortunately there’s no Sonos update to remove references to anubis.fm and replace it with Songl.
I’m not sure what kind of budget has been allocated, but I kind of feel bad for them, with this promotional video being the best marketing they can muster.
Overall the only thing that has gone right is the launch of the website, now live you existing and new users can sign in.
More info @ Songl.
Anubis.fm to be renamed to Songl, mobile apps coming Nov 22nd
Posted Monday, November 14, 2011 at 6:32 pm by Jason Cartwright
Anubis.fm will soon become Songl. If you’re not familiar with Anubis.fm, it’s one of Australia’s first music subscriptions services, run by Sony, originally called bandit fm. Digital Music Distribution (DMD) is a new joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment Australia and Universal Music who will rename the service to Songl.
The change will occur officially on Wednesday 16 November 2011, but the site is already live if you visit songl.com. To get a free trial account, you’ll need an invite code, it doesn’t look like existing accounts are working yet.
Songl has some increased benefits to users including:
- A new improved web interface which allows easier creation of playlists.
- User playlists are accessible from more devices including PC, Sonos, iPhone and Android phones.
- Mobile phone access which allows users to access their music on the move.
- Both an iPhone app and Android app will be available from the iTunes store and the Android Market respectively from Tuesday 22 November 2011.
- 320 kilobit (high quality) streaming is available to Sonos, Web and mobile users. Simply select your preferred setting in Account Details.
Official confirmation of mobile applications is welcome news to members, after being told for months that a mobile anubis.fm was ‘coming soon’. That long-awaited app will now arrive with the name Songl, regardless of the name, a music subscription service without a mobile solution is a sitting duck for competitors.
Existing Anubis.fm members should be aware of the key information below:
- Your Anubis.fm login and password will still work on Songl from Wednesday 16th November 2011.
- Your Anubis.fm Premium membership (or existing free trial) will be honoured and continued as a Songl Premium membership till your next monthly anniversary date (after which it will not automatically renew) AND you will be given a further FREE 30 day trial on Songl from that date.
- At the end of the 30 day free trial, we will request that you re-enter your payment details to continue as a Songl Premium member.
- There may be a temporary reduction in the number of artists and tracks available on Songl. This will be rectified as soon as possible.
According to the FAQ page on Songl, it will only be available in Australia, with plans for international expansion in the future. Another interesting detail is that premium members can cache up to 1,000 songs on their mobile device for offline playback. The system will check at least every 7 days to ensure your subscription is active, if not, the tracks will cease to playback.
Membership types are listed in the graphic below, starting at $8.99pm for the basic, or $12.99 for premium. This will go head to head with Microsoft’s Zune Music, set to launch in Australia shortly for $12pm, but supports WP7, Xbox and PC playback rather than Sonos, PC and iPhone/Android.
Subscription services are really heating up in Australia, with a number of other high profile international services like Spotify launching here in early 2012. Ultimately competition and choice is great for consumers, with options to suit everyone’s needs.
More information @ http://songl.com
TiVo to lose Sony Music content, June 27
Posted Friday, June 24, 2011 at 6:48 pm by Jason Cartwright
In an email to TiVo subscribers, news arrives that Sony Music content will no longer be available on TiVo. Starting from the 27th June 2011 the content loss also extends to Bandit.fm content. While the reason why the Sony Music content is being pulled still remains a mystery, what is clear is that TiVo is going backwards in Australia.
No new models, features or updates are being released and now content is beginning to disappear. While the US version of TiVo are enjoying Series 4 devices with a much improved flash-driven HD UI, and iPhone/iPad apps, Australians are left out in the cold with Series 3.
While its doubtful that many consumers bought the TiVo for its IP-delivered media (still SD), any loss of content or functionality sends the platform in the wrong direction. On the 27th of June, the content will disappear automatically.
Read the full message @ TiVo
Upgrade your Wii – PS3 Move is out now
Posted Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 7:20 pm by Jason Cartwright
Today has been one of the busiest days in tech news for quite a while, that means Sony’s Playstation Move has launched with little fanfare at all. Admittedly old mate Mr Timezone means the PS Move hasn’t made it to the US, yet, so it may have more luck in tomorrow’s news.
Also part of the issue could be the fact this is essentially a more accurate Wii controller. Sure it has tracking of the Z-axis that the Wii doesn’t, but basically its Sony incrementing on Nintendo’s work. If you are looking to try it out, there’s a Playstation Move starter pack available.
This includes a PlayStation®Move motion controller, PlayStation®Eye Camera and a demo disc featuring:
- Sports Champions
- Start the Party!
- The Shoot
- EyePet: Move Edition
- TV Superstars
- echochrome ii
- Tumble
- Beat Sketchers
For more information check out the PS Move FAQ. Also leave a comment if you’ve tried the move, what do you think ? Best thing since sliced bread, or cool, but iterative ?
Sony introduce first consumer Video-SLR
Posted Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 7:24 pm by Jason CartwrightIt’s not often we see brand new technology in the industry, especially in a category that’s existed for so long. Video cameras are nothing new, but a interchangeable lens system is just plain disruptive. Still cameras have offered the ability to switch out lenses for different situations for a long time, Sony’s EX-VG10 takes that same idea and introduces it to video cameras. This allows videographers to use the right for lens for the right situation, giving ultimate control.
The camera shoots in full 1920×1080 high definition video at up to 24Mbps, which will chew up your 32GB SDHC/SDXC in 4 hours flat. It seems like a waste, but if you want to snap some stills, you’ll get 14.2 megapixels to play with. There’s also an array of microphones, hopefully resulting in some usable audio, something often not common with consumer camcorders.
The Sony EX-VG10 goes on pre-sale in the US tomorrow for US$2000, which really puts it into the prosumer category.
More @ Engadget
PS3 Slim confirmed, drops size and price, now under A$500
Posted Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 8:21 am by Jason Cartwright
Well the rumour mill and blurry leaked spy shots were correct. The PS3 Slim does indeed exist, confirmed by a Sony Press Release this morning.
Regular readers will remember my post ‘Why the PS3 Slim doesn’t matter’. In the post I was critical of the pricing of the PS3 still a $699 years after it’s launch.
While expectations were that a small price reduction may be on it’s way with the slim, it looks like Sony have heard the complaints (and their sales figures) have dropped the PS3 in price by $200.
The PS3 Slim will be available on September 3, 2009 and sell for A$499.95. The hard drive size has increased from 80GB to 120GB, and as the name suggests also features a much sleeker (no doubt lighter) design. There is also a drop in power consumption by two-thirds, helping to reduce fan noise.
Also announced is PS3 Firmware 3.0 which is due on September 1st. The updates main addition will be a ‘What’s New’ screen where users will be able to quickly browse the new items available in PlayStation Store as well as their recently played games directly on the XMB.
More @ PlayStation
