Tech NewsGadgets

Why It Still Matters Which Music Streaming Service You Sign Up For

Take a look at the music streaming services of the moment and you’d be forgiven for not seeing any major differences: They all offer access to around 50 million tracks on demand, they all give you recommended mixes of music, they all let you sync tunes to your phone for offline listening, and so on. … Continued

Tech News

Sprint Still Fails to Understand What ‘Unlimited’ Actually Means

Sprint, mirroring its competition, has engaged in some grammatical gymnastics with its new unlimited strategy, announcing not one, but two different unlimited plans, each with their own limitations. One might almost say they’re not unlimited plans at all, and instead amount to yet another attempt by carriers to squeeze consumers’ wallets. “Today we’re introducing Unlimited Plus—a feature-rich … Continued

Tech NewsGadgets

How to Download Everything from Your Favorite Streaming Services

Don’t let a long flight or a loss of signal get in the way of your music and video streaming: Just about all the popular services let you cache downloads for offline use, and Netflix just upgraded its download mechanism to be smarter—downloading the next episode of shows you are watching and automatically deleting the … Continued

Tech NewsBest of the Week

Best of Gizmodo: The EU’s Bad New Copyright Law, Microsoft’s ICE Contract, and Comic-Con 2018

The bad news: The European Union is moving forward with its potentially disastrous new Copyright Directive, a law that could have potentially sweeping repercussions for how open the internet remains—and yes, that means the continentals might be coming for your memes. The good news: There’s still time to kill it. But if you happen to … Continued

Tech News

How Tidal Got So Fucked

“If I gave two fucks – two fucks about streaming numbers, would have put Lemonade up on Spotify,” Beyoncé proclaims on “NICE” from her joint album with Jay-Z which they dropped exclusively on Tidal over the weekend. Unfortunately for those emotionally or monetarily invested in the streaming service, your sudden need to download Tidal quickly … Continued

Tech NewsPrivacy and Security

Tidal Says Its Streaming Numbers Aren’t Inflated, but If They Are, Hackers Did It

Tidal, the streaming music service that seems to have been doomed since launch, is investigating a possible data breach following allegations that the company has been artificially inflating its subscribers and streaming numbers for platform exclusives. Music Business Worldwide reported the company has enlisted the help of an “independent, third-party cyber-security firm” to look into … Continued

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Tidal Reportedly Late on Payments to Record Labels

Waves of bad news keep crashing down upon Tidal. On Wednesday Dagens Næringsliv, a Norwegian newspaper, reported claims from Norweign record labels that the struggling music service has stopped sending out royalty payments. Music Business Worldwide translated the article, which quoted record executives who said they haven’t received payments since October 2017. Sveinung Rindal, the … Continued

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Report Alleges Tidal Faked Streaming Numbers for Beyoncé and Kanye West Albums

Tidal, the Jay-Z-backed streaming service that is supposed to put artists first, might’ve gone a bit overboard with that mantra. The Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv reports that in 2016 the streaming service falsified and inflated streaming numbers for Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo and Beyoncé’s Lemonade albums. The disputed numbers in question were that … Continued

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Tidal Is on Life Support, Only Has Enough Cash to Last Another Six Months: Report

Tidal was supposed to be the one. A streaming service run by artists, for artists, featuring high fidelity audio and a business model that would share more of its revenue with the people that actually made the music. However, based on a report from Norway’s Dagens Næringsliv, Tidal may only have enough funds to last … Continued

Tech NewsApple

Streaming Music Services, From Most Screwed to Least Screwed

SoundCloud is fucked. On Thursday, the streaming music service mostly known as a place to hear podcasts and remixes from unknown DJs confirmed that it had taken $70 million in debt funding—basically a loan from various investors—in order to stay in business. It’s never a good sign when venture-backed companies have to raise money from … Continued

Tech NewsGadgets

Your Favorite Music App Has Higher Quality Audio Than You Think

Chances are you’ve signed up to at least one streaming service—but are you making the most of the best-quality music on offer? A quick audit of your apps can boost both streaming and downloaded bit-rates, so you’re always assured of the highest fidelity audio flowing through your pricy headphones to your eardrums. Which means you … Continued

Tech News

Jay Z Is Tech’s Hot New Investment Whiz Kid

Jay Z is launching a new venture capital fund with the help of his longtime business partner and president of Roc Nation, Jay Brown, according to a new report from Axios. The businessmen are expected to focus on seed-stage funding of tech startups, which is similar to what they’ve been doing for about five years … Continued

Tech News

Tidal and Sprint Create the Saddest Business Partnership Ever

In what might just be the saddest business deal of all time, mobile carrier Sprint announced Monday that it has acquired a 33 percent stake in Jay Z’s music streaming service, Tidal. Tidal is best-known as the Spotify-wannabe service “run” by artists. Not even a Beyoncé exclusive (that landed on iTunes a day after it … Continued

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Prince’s Estate Hates Tidal Just as Much as You Do 

Back in September 2015, Prince released his album Hit n Run Phase One exclusively through Tidal. At the time, the late musician lauded the streaming platform’s commitment to “the effort that real musicians put in 2 their craft 2 achieve the very best they can at this pivotal time in the music industry.” That all … Continued

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Tidal Lost a Ton of Money in 2015: Report

Tidal, Jay-Z’s struggling subscription music service, more than doubled its losses in 2015. According to The Wall Street Journal, Tidal lost 239 million Swedish kronar (about $28 million) last year. In 2014, before Jay-Z acquired the service, it lost 88.9 million Swedish kronar, or approximately $10 million. Despite these losses revenue was up 30 percent. … Continued

Tech NewsApple

Pandora Needs a Miracle, Settles for Questlove Instead

Pandora is trying valiantly to stay afloat in a sea filled with competitors like Spotify and Apple Music, and now the company has tapped music legend Questlove to help rescue it from the murky depths of irrelevance. Following the news the platform is trying to add an on-demand streaming component, the New York Times reports … Continued

Tech NewsApple

Kanye West Tweets Out Hot Tech Gossip

In June, Apple was rumored to be in talks to purchase Tidal, although a Tidal spokesperson denied those claims. This afternoon the king of tech, Kanye West, suggested those claims might be true on his Twitter account, urging Apple to “give Jay his check for Tidal.” We have reached out to Apple and Tidal regarding … Continued

Tech NewsApple

Apple Might Be Buying Tidal for Some Reason

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is in talks to acquire Tidal, also known as Jay-Z’s music streaming service that lets you listen to Kanye’s music a little bit earlier. The deal isn’t close to being done yet, according to WSJ sources. But if it is completed, Apple would presumably inherit the (supposedly) friendly … Continued

Tech NewsGadgets

Switch Streaming Music Services Without Losing Your Songs and Playlists

Sick of Spotify? Tired of Tidal? Annoyed by Apple Music? There’s no shortage of choice if you want to jump from one streaming music service to another, but don’t be too hasty. Before you switch sides you want to make sure you’re not going to lose any of your precious tunes along the way. Here’s … Continued

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Dances With Wolves Fan Videos Are the Best Way to Listen to Garth Brooks Online

All the Tidal talk had me revisiting one of my favorite artists, only to realize Garth Brooks does not have a single song available for streaming or download—except a couple of duets. He’s not on Spotify. He’s not on Google Music. In fact, the only way you can get Garth Brooks online is through his … Continued