Streaming media is the future. You know this if you’ve used Netflix, Rdio, Grooveshark or any of the other popular music services. Apple is said to be getting into the game as well and a recently-released patent application from 2009 shows iTunes streaming will in fact offer something different from the rest of the players.
As much as I love Rdio, and I do love Rdio, I can’t always guarantee that… → Read More
Rdio, the social music startup founded by Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, is expanding its platform today with the launch of its API and an affiliate program.
Rdio launched last year as an unlimited, on-demand social music service that allows users to build and share online music collections from a catalogue of over 8 million songs. Rdio offers a Web-only music streaming music… → Read More
We created subscriptions for publishing apps, not SaaS apps.
—email attributed to Steve Jobs
There’s been so much confusion in the wake of Apple’s new subscription billing policy for apps that Steve Jobs felt the need to issue the proclamation above via his preferred method, a personal email. (It’s his version of the burning bush). While… → Read More
With an on-demand catalog of over 8 million songs, it’s hard not to love Rdio. But given the new rules soon to be enforced in Apple’s ecosystem, it seems as if the company may be in for some stormy times ahead. But with a fresh $17.5 million in the bank, they’re plowing forward anyway. Today brings a new version of their iPhone app.
This latest version, 1.0, is very slick. Using what they call… → Read More
Rdio, the social music startup founded by Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, isn’t exactly waiting around for Spotify to make its way to the United States (or Google Music for that matter).
TechCrunch has learned that the company has secured $17.5 million in funding from new investor Mangrove Capital Partners, along with earlier backers Skype, Atomico Ventures and Friis himself… → Read More
Pretty sure 99.9% of you won’t care one bit, but this fills me with joy: Rdio, the music service I was most happy to have discovered in 2010, will soon be available on Sonos, the awesome wireless sound system I was most happy to have discovered in 2010.
Scheduled for release ‘later in Q1 2011′, Rdio Unlimited subscibers (that’s me!) in the United States and Canada will be able to listen to the… → Read More
Who says nobody will consider paying for streaming music? Thumbplay Music, which offers unlimited music streaming apps for a monthly subscription across iPhone (iTunes link), Android, and Blackberry, reports that its smartphone apps have been downloaded 500,000 times since June. Thumbplay won’t say how many of those downloads turn into paying customers (you get a free trial before having to… → Read More
So now that we’re very much approaching Opie & Anthony D-Day—Friday is the contract deadline, even though the contract actually expires on October 1—we need to ask ourselves: are we ready to drop Sirius XM if the boys don’t sign another contract? → Read More
Years ago, the music industry could have blamed falling album sales on piracy. “Nobody’s buying the latest Chingy because they’re just downloading a 128CBR rip from Suprnova~!” What’s the excuse now when people have loads of legitimate digital options—iTunes, Zune, Pandora, Spotify, Rdio, etc.—at their fingertips? Oh, right: it’s still piracy. Please update your act. → Read More
It’s been two months to the day since Rdio launched in the States – check out Erick’s review if you’re interested in learning more about the (awesome) social music service.
But until today, you needed to be invited by another user to gain access to the service. Not that it was all that difficult – users were able to invite dozens at a time and we gave away thousands of invite codes for TechCrunch… → Read More
It’s only been a couple of weeks since Rdio launched in the US and I started using it, and I’m already pretty sure I’ll be hooked for a long, long time – and I’ve tested a bunch of online music buying, sharing and streaming services in the past few years so that’s saying something. Check out Erick’s review if you’re interested in learning more about the service.
Anyway, if you’re a music fan and… → Read More
The latest streaming music service to launch is Rdio, which is backed by the founders of Skype. It lets you stream 5 million songs from all the major labels (some key indie bands are missing though), create playlists, and find music through other people. The problem is that it is rolling out slowly. You need an invite just to try it out.
Well, we just got 1,000 invites for TechCrunch readers. … → Read More
It took Apple’s review team close to a month, but the update to the Rdio iPhone application is now finally available from the App Store (iTunes link).
It’s unclear why it took Apple this long, considering the update merely fixes some software bugs and adds one minor feature (remembering which song you were playing when you last closed the app). → Read More
Earlier this month, the founders of Skype (and Joost and Kazaa) soft-launched their latest startup, an online music subscription and download service called Rdio. It is still invite-only, but I’ve been testing it out for the last few days. My initial take: Until Apple launches iTunes as a jukebox in the cloud, it could learn a few things from Rdio. While the new music streaming and download… → Read More
Last week at the D8 conference, and again at Apple’s WWDC event, chief exec Steve Jobs said there was nothing inherently wrong with Apple’s review procedures for new and updated iPhone applications.
Specifically, Jobs stated several times on both occasions that 95% of all incoming apps get approved for the App Store in seven days. Those that don’t, he added, tend to violate some ground rules… → Read More
We’ve written about digital music startup Rdio a bunch in the past, starting from when we found out Kazaa, Skype and Joost founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom were involved in setting up and funding the business through their investment firm Atomico Ventures.
We noted how they were silently assembling a killer team, and took notice when an early iPhone app landed in the App Store that… → Read More
Rdio, the upcoming music streaming and download service backed by the founders of Skype, Kazaa and Joost, may not be taking public beta registrations just yet, but it already has a free iPhone application live on the App Store that you can download right now (iTunes link).
The app, which apparently went live yesterday, was first spotted by the folks over at Music Ally.
Since it requires a login… → Read More
Niklas Zennström, half of the infamous duo that started companies like Kazaa, Skype, Joost and Rdio, took the stage at the Le Web conference this afternoon to talk innovation in Europe and the lessons he’s learned as a European entrepreneur for the last 9 years.
Zennström said he found it encouraging to find that so many European entrepreneurs and startups are busy building innovative things in… → Read More
I wasn’t kidding around when I wrote that Rdio, the latest online music venture backed by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis – the original founders of Kazaa, Skype and Joost – was assembling a killer team by hiring away top talent from some of the most promising startups in the digital music space while still in stealth mode.
The latest name to surface on LinkedIn is that of Wilson Miner, a… → Read More
A month ago we were criticizing MOG for over promising and under delivering with their new All Access music service. Our chief complaint was that the service wasn’t free, which was the original vision.
Today though, we reported that the odds are against Spotify launching for free in the U.S., and MySpace Music may move to a subscription model. Suddenly, MOG may be right in the thick of things… → Read More
Now that they got what they wanted – a renewed stake and board representation in the Skype that will be spun off eBay soon – the Scandinavian duo Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis can divert more of their attention again to the latest Internet venture they’re putting their weight behind: Rdio. The yet-to-launch digital music startup was first talked about publicly a couple of weeks ago in a New… → Read More
Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, the two European entrepreneurs and angel investors who famously co-founded companies like Kazaa, Skype, Joost and JoltId, have played an instrumental role in setting up and funding a new music startup called Rdio, the NYTimes reported earlier this morning.
Little is known about the ‘secretive’ startup, and its website reveals nothing but the logo at this point. → Read More
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