The Lean, Green, Music Machine – Spotify For iPad Is Here

The wait is finally over, the world’s coolest music streaming service Spotify finally has a native iPad app – Was the wait worth while? Hell yeah, as the app comes packing Retina graphics, a unique tablet-centric design and AirPlay integration.

Below are screen-shots of what has already become one of my favourite iPad apps.

 

 

 

 

Now Live – Appleissimo Music

As you all will know, we at Appleissimo are great fans of music, so much so that we have set up a separate blog, where you can share the music we are listening to.

 

The blog can be found HERE

To listen to the albums just click on the Spotify Play Button, alternatively you can click on tracks to listen to them individually.

Now Playing On The Appleissimo Stereo #4 28/03/12

The latest in our playlists has it all – The dirty laid-back grunge of Kurt Vile, early New Order, the guitar genius of Vinnie Reilly and Ronny Jordan – A classic from The Cure, U2 staying faraway but close and the dark sunglasses cool of The Jesus and Mary Chain.

You can subscribe to the playlist on Spotify by clicking on the link below

http://open.spotify.com/user/cfdj1971/playlist/18uvoSU2C2Xxn7FHBKwJAn

Spotify Announces 13 New Third-Party Apps

Some great new additions here to the Spotify App collection including offerings from Warner, Def Jam and Domino – We at Appleissimo are big fans of the existing apps especially those from Last FM, Top10 and ShareMyPlaylists and can’t wait to check these new ones out.

Here is the full press release:

Spotify launches next generation of music apps

Today Spotify is proud to present the latest, greatest batch of hot new apps – set to take your music enjoyment to a whole new level.

A total of 12 fantastic new apps, brought to you from record labels and distributors including Universal, Sony, Warner, EMI, Def Jam, Domino, Matador, [PIAS] and X5, are being unveiled today.

Want to check out complete album booklets in Spotify? Personalise playlists based on your Facebook likes? Delve more deeply into the history of legendary artists? Listen to the most popular Spotify songs on Twitter? All this and much, much more is coming to Spotify…

Incoming Spotify Apps include:

Classify: Classify opens Spotify’s doors to the world of classical music. Browse by composers, eras, moods, instruments or genres. A vast library of classical music is now intelligently organised for your listening pleasure.

The Complete Collection: Browse rich images, lyrics, and liner notes to learn more about iconic artists while listening to their music. Always wanted to know who wrote that Eminem song? Looking for the producer of your favourite beat? Use The Complete Collection to immerse yourself in music history while listening to legends you love! Subscribe to your favourite artists to learn more about their music. With the Complete Collection, you won’t miss a detail. 150 album booklets available at launch with many more coming soon.

Def Jam: For over 26 years, Def Jam Recordings has shaped culture and lifestyles by creating the very best in hip-hop, rap, R&B, and pop music. Def Jam’s new Spotify app will give you new experiences in music discovery and curation.

Digster: Digster has fresh playlists updated weekly. You can browse playlists by category, find playlists made by artists and match Digster playlists to your listening history and Facebook likes. When you find something you like you can play it in full screen mode. Perfect for a party or when you need to see what’s playing across the room while preparing dinner.

Domino: The Domino Spotify app is a discovery and listening destination for fans of Domino artists, the Domino label and the larger independent music community. Through the app, Domino leads the listener through its 20-year history by highlighting artist playlists, custom catalogue exclusives and commentary from their friends and neighbours in the world of indie.

Filtr: Filtr is a playlist app, which allows you to build playlists based on the music tastes of your Facebook friends, people who’ve accepted invitations to Facebook events, music genres, your Spotify playlists and favourite artists. On top of generating awesome playlists, Filtr also recommends existing and live updated editorial playlists based on what you like.

Hot or Not: Hot or not? You decide. Cast your vote on one of the two songs in the battle, either based on what you think is the most popular or what you wish to make popular. You’ll be rewarded with points and can earn badges as well as track your progress. Your voting will also contribute to the ‘Taste Maker’ top list based on users with the highest points score.

The Legacy Of: A visual feast. Dig deeper into some of the world’s most acclaimed artists with hi-res photos, curated playlists, handpicked albums, biographies and more. Delve into the catalogue of artists like Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Daryl Hall & John Oates and Stevie Ray Vaughan. New artists highlighted every week.

Matador Records: Matador’s app gives you the ultimate experience in new releases, tour dates, playlists and more. As well as keeping you clued up on Matador’s latest releases and tour dates, you can browse through the history of releases from Matador since 1992 – an interactive guide to music from the New York indie label.

[PIAS]: The [PIAS] app helps you discover the very best new albums and expertly curated playlists from the indie label. Updated weekly, you can now rely on trusted voices to introduce and recommend great music from both past and present.

TweetVine: TweetVine is a perfectly formed little app that listens to all the tweets on Twitter with the hashtag #NowPlaying and creates Spotify charts from the results! The idea was developed at a London Music Hack Day by brilliant coders Matt Larsen and Matt Schofield from Universal Music.

the warner sound: the warner sound features songs, albums, and playlists from Warner Music Group’s outstanding roster of artists including Green Day, Bruno Mars, Linkin Park, and Cee Lo Green, hot and emerging artists like Wiz Khalifa, Ed Sheeran, Kimbra, Birdy, and Fun, as well as legendary acts like The Doors, Grateful Dead, and Aretha Franklin. Additional features include genre-specific playlists, album of the day, family tree (where current artists are traced back to the classic roots), and artist-curated playlists from today’s hottest acts.

Sten Garmark, Director of Platform at Spotify, says: “This is going to take music enjoyment to a whole new level. These Spotify Apps offer something for everyone, from ways to discover music both old and new, to amazing imagery and apps simply there to entertain!”

He adds: “The potential for Spotify Apps is just massive and we can’t wait to see what people are going to blow us away with next.”

Now Playing On The Appleissimo Stereo 13/03/12

Here’s the 3rd playlist for your listening pleasure from all of us here at Appleissimo HQ – Acid-Jazz legend Ronny Jordan provides the smooth and Chairlift bring the NYC cool with a retro flavour – Linda Ronstadt and Mary J provide the voices, while Joy Division and The Jesus and Mary Chain the alternative vibe.

You can subscribe to the playlist in Spotify by clicking on the link below.

http://open.spotify.com/user/cfdj1971/playlist/2eIRhGevtNYnVSriPGOY6h

The Ultimate Apple Music Playlist – Songs From Events, Adverts And Presentations

This is superb – A Spotify playlist comprising all the songs Apple have used in their TV commercials, events and presentations – They are all here!

Click on the link to subscribe.

http://open.spotify.com/user/stevenixon/playlist/0Tq2gpFMJA74nf4X80BiJo

Now Playing On The Appleissimo Stereo #2 05/03/12

Time to brighten up a dreary Monday with the 2nd playlist from us here at Appleissimo HQ. Today’s mix includes those still-crazy Beastie Boys, a beautiful song from Eleanor McEvoy, the best band in the world Radiohead and criminally under-rated 80’s rockers Diesel Park West – The playlist receives a latin flavour from guitar wizards Rodrigo y Gabriela and Buena Vista Social Club strutting their stuff at Carnegie Hall.

As always you can subscribe to the playlist on Spotify.

http://open.spotify.com/user/cfdj1971/playlist/4qx9lNHSiLaugIka9nLkMz

Now Playing On The Appleissimo Stereo #1 27/02/12

We at Appleissimo HQ are a friendly bunch and wanted to share with you all on a weekly basis, the music currently rocking our stereo. So here’s our first playlist for your listening pleasure, now available to subscribe to on Spotify – It’s an eclectic mix including Saint Etienne early 90’s cool, Jamie XX working his magic with Gil Scott-Heron, classic Floyd and some California Soul.

http://open.spotify.com/user/cfdj1971/playlist/5CDcVcyLgwW8tSYJMKBtav

Get The New Spotify Update With Gapless Playback And Crossfade Today.

Spotify today announced 2 new significant features to it’s music streaming service, Gapless Playback and Crossfade.

Gapless Playback lets the tracks you are listening to flow seamlessly, one to the next, without that annoying 2 second silence inbetween. This feature will be fantastic when you are listening to albums that were meant to be heard in their entirety, such as any by Radiohead, or PInk Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ which has recently landed on Spotify.

Do you fancy yourself as a DJ? Well the crossfade feature will appeal to you, as it allows you to fade out one track as you bring another in.

Spotify say the update will be coming real soon, but if you are like me and want these features today, you can download a preview version here: (Mac – Win)

The full list of features for this release are:

• Gapless playback (‘on’ by default)
• Crossfade support (‘on’ via Preferences)
• Faster artist browsing
• New save and restore feature for ‘Now Playing’
• Improved Subscribe, Buddy List and Favourites options
• Drag & drop fixed on Windows
• ‘Hide purchase buttons’ option (Premium-users only)
• ‘Offline Mode’ via Spotify menu

Enhance Your Spotify Experience With Top10

I love Spotify, I think it’s an excellent way to listen to music you already love and to discover new stuff. Last November the music streaming service opened it’s platform to 3rd party developers, and gave them the tools to create plug-ins (apps) to further enrich the user experience.

My personal favourite of these plug-ins, is an application called Top Ten, which allows users to create top-ten lists of almost anything – For example, this could be your top 10 songs for relaxing or your top 10 songs of U2, the options are endless. Think of the old mix-tapes you created as a teenager but with a modern twist

To create a playlist is easy, first of all you give it a title, let’s say Radiohead – Then you fill the list with content by dragging and dropping songs onto it. The song you select as the number 1 track is given 10 points, the 2nd, 9 points and so on.

After your 10 songs are selected, you get the opportunity to share it with your Facebook friends – If you would rather not, you can skip this step and go straight to create. Once done the top 10 is published within the app and across the Spotify platform. A really cool feature is the ability to see lists in the same category created by other Spotify users. If you like what you see, you can subscribe to these playlists and vice-versa people can subscribe to yours. You can also search for lists by other artists or by keywords.

The great thing about music is that it’s a social activity and a means for bringing people together. Top 10 understands and taps into this, making it easy for users to create and share their music in a contemporary way. With apps like Top 10 building on the already great Spotify experience, the service seems destined to go from strength to strength.