Tag: SUBSCRIPTION

Rdio, a streaming music subscription service, has just added a native Mac app to its web-based and iPhone-based players. Both web and mobile subscribers will be able to use the new Mac version of Rdio. The app offers easy access to your Rdio stations, top artists, queue and listening history. It's also slicker and faster than the existing Adobe Air app for Rdio, with none of the Flash issues ...

Apple's new in-app extortion subscription fee model hasn't made the company many fans since it was announced last week. Apple has further vilified itself by pulling Readability -- a longtime geek favorite -- from the App Store for violating the new in-app subscription rules. Readability is an odd target, especially considering Apple liked the script enough to build it into its Web browser as ...

Speaking rather frankly on IRC, Last.fm's co-founder Richard Jones has condemned Apple's move to grab 30% of content-based subscription fees: "Apple just f***** over online music subs for the iPhone." Jones' apoplectic outburst is just one of many, too. Rhapsody yesterday said it won't bow to Apple's subscription policy, and CEO of on-demand music streamer we7, speaking to paidContent, thinks ...

Apple has just announced that its recurring subscription plans will not only be available to magazine-type apps. Any content-based app, such as Hulu, Netflix or Spotify will be able to take advantage of Apple's App Store billing system. The plot thickens, though: Apple has mandated that all content-based subscription services must enable in-app sign-up. In other words, if Hulu Plus is available ...

Back in December, we posted a review of the shiny new Skitch 1.0, and part of that was a small bit of lamenting over the fact that once proud beta-testers were suddenly left with the choice of either paying for a subscription to Skitch Plus, or simply losing some of the nicer parts of their favorite screenshot app for Mac. Luckily, that choice was somewhat short-lived, as former users of ...

Readability is a popular web service which strips articles of all the surrounding ads and clutter and then formats them for easy reading. It's been integrated into several apps and even co-opted for Apple's Safari Reader. And now, Readability is going freemium and offering a paid monthly subscription offering extra features with 70% of the money going to support writers and publishers on the ...

Sony has announced the immediate availability of Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity, its subscription streaming music service, in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The service has been available in the UK since December, and it offers two subscription plans. The Basic subscription costs £3.99 per month in the UK and €3.99 in the four other countries, and gives you a virtual radio ...

Unlike Apple, Google still hasn't come through with its own digital content services for the Android platform. We've known for some time that a Google music service is being worked on, and now the Wall Street Journal reports that Google is also working on a "digital newsstand" for its mobile OS. Major publishers like Time Inc., Conde Nast, and Hearst Corporation have been approached, though ...

There's no shortage of screenshot apps out there, but for many Mac users Skitch has been an indispensable tool since its release in 2007. The Skitch team must have been working overtime recently, because years of beta status have finally come to a close with the release of version 1.0 -- which follows the recent redesign of Skitch.com. Along with the newly redesigned interface and added features ...

Bloglines, a blog subscription service controlled by Ask.com, announced in September that it would be shutting down. That changed today, when Bloglines and Ask.com owner IAC decided to keep Bloglines alive, but not under the Ask.com banner. Bloglines and its 2.7 million subscribers are being handed off to another IAC property, MerchantCircle, starting on December 1. MerchantCircle seems like an ...

Hulu has announced that it will start making its Hulu Plus subscription service available to anyone who wants to try it, removing the previously existing barrier of needing an invitation to subscribe. Hulu has also revealed that its service is now available on all 2010 Sony Bravia HDTVs, with more Sony connected devices -- including Blu-Ray players -- to get access soon. Last, but definitely ...

I installed Zune for the first time today (wow, it's pretty!) -- but that's not the news! Here's the news: you can now grab a 12-month subscription to Zune for the price of 10 months. It's $150 for the year (a saving of $30!) or £90 if you're from the motherland. Spotify is currently £9.99 per month, with no 12-month option. This lower price point, when accompanied with the ...

According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon.com has been pitching media companies on a streaming video subscription service that would compete with Netflix. Amazon has talked to NBC, Time Warner and Viacom about a service that would work on the Web, on mobile devices, and on Xbox 360 consoles. The service could launch in time for the holidays, and there's talk of bundling subscriptions with ...

Spotify is still not available in the US, but it's now available on Linux. The popular streaming music service is known for its mobile apps, but there's also a desktop version, and now Linux users can take advantage of it. Lifehacker says local caching isn't supported yet, meaning everything is streamed live. That might slow things down a bit, but it still works. The Spotify app is currently ...

Hulu Plus wasn't what a lot of users expected: they thought they'd be able pay to watch ad-free TV shows and movies, but ended up being offered a bigger selection and more platforms for a fee, instead. Well, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar says that ad-free Hulu is still a possibility, at a higher price. In response to criticism of the subscription-plus-ads model, where users essentially pay twice, he told ...