This week in our Windows Phone developer interview series we're joined by David Hamilton, CTO and Co-Founder of Pepper. We took a quick look at Pepper from a recent Windows Phone User Group meet-up and were intrigued by both the idea behind the app and the vision for future cross-platform development. So what's the deal with Pepper and how did it come to be? We threw Hamilton a set of...
Microsoft is set to unveil a sneaky preview of its upcoming service at this year's E3 that will replace Zune, according to unknown sources familiar with company plans. The new service, code named Woodstock, will add a few more nails to the Zune coffin and continue Microsoft's move from the Zune brand to either the Windows or Xbox umbrella. The sources also revealed that the service...
Wouldn't it be useful if you were able to join a music-focused community on your Windows Phone, which would enable you to search, filter and attend music events? An app and service called Pepper aims to provide such functionality. Launching on Windows Phone (iOS, Blackberry and Android ports on the way), Pepper brings a new social network to the platform. Finding live music events near...
The 7digital team have released an official app for Windows Phone which joins the iPhone, Blackberry and Android. The 7digital app allows users to log into their account and synchronise purchased media to their device. The massive online store is integrated so purchases can be made while on the go enabling the discovery, purchasing and enjoyment of music when not at the PC. With...
Nokia has released an updated for their Nokia Music Windows Phone app, which is available to Lumia handset owners. The music streaming app was recently bumped to version 2.0 and introduced a few UI and audio improvements. Fast forward to 2.1 and we've got a published change log detailing the following: Overall performance and responsiveness Nokia Music Unlimited – only...
While Nokia appears to be on an OEM app updating spree, the Finnish manufacturer has also included their Nokia Music app for Windows Phone, which has now been bumped to version 2.0. This follows both Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive that were both recently updated. Nokia Music enables Lumia Windows Phone owners to listen to genre mixes, and is the manufacturer's attempt to provide consumers...
We previously looked at Air Pick Voice (check out our in-depth post for more information) at the January WPUG meetup and it left us highly impressed. The concept enables the user to control music playback on a PC with a Windows Phone app. Not only that, but streaming functionality is present allowing playback to be achieved on the smartphone. APV has since been rebranded (for a second...
It's been awhile since we looked at iHeartRadio, the popular radio app available across devices and for the web. It was in October that the app went to v3.0 and received Mango support and a few days ago, version 4.1 hit the Marketplace bringing a nice make over with some bonus features on board. Gone is the grey photo background and instead we have just pure black with red text. The UI...
A while back we took a look at the Windows Phone app easyRing. easyRing is an app that allows you to download custom ringtones to your Windows Phone. It was a nice, simply app at the time but has since been updated and given a name change. easyRing is now easyRing&Music, adding the capability to play/download music, as well as creating custom ringtones, to the Windows Phone app. The...
WpFandora is a unofficial Pandora client for your Windows Phone. The app comes in two versions, a free ad-supported version and a $2.99 ad free version (WpFandora Pro). The music app is laid out nicely and as long as Pandora doesn't break their public API, the app ran smoothly. I'm not a big Pandora user but WpFandora came across as a simple, easy way to channel your Pandora stations to...
Although we're fans of Zune (or LastFM) on our Windows Phone, on occasion we get the request for a Google Music (music.google.com/) client. While we're not holding our breath for an official app from Google anytime soon, there's no reason why devs can't do it on their own. For those who don't know, Google allows you to upload your entire music library to the cloud and gives you the...
A few weeks ago, Grooveshark.com announced an HTML5 version of their music-streaming site which made many of us excited--after all, IE9 on Windows Phone is all about HTML5. But alas, the first to complain that their browsers wouldn't play anything were Windows Phone users despite attention paid by the web developer for Grooveshark, James Hartig. In fact, he detailed his experience in a...
We really don't have any idea who Flo Rida is nor how popular they may be but it's still nice to see some Windows Phone product placement. Eagle-eyed reader Benjamin C. caught the Nokia Lumia 710 being briefly shown around the one-minute mark in the video. You can clearly see the Nokia branding as the user hammers out a Tweet using the official Twitter app for Windows Phone. Sure, it's...
Skydrive is a great resource for your Windows Phone for off-device storage and Cloud Music is a handy app to tap into any music files you may have stored in your Skydrive account. We first mentioned Cloud Music some time ago when the developer was looking for beta testers. Well, Cloud Music is now available over in the Windows Phone Marketplace and in giving the music app a try, it's...
The ability to play your music via voice command was something that Windows Mobile users were accustomed to back in 2006. To not have the ability to say "Play <insert artist>" on a Windows Phone in 2012 is a bit absurd but we'll assume that something had to be cut for those 500 new features in Mango. However, an app is now available that fulfills this task: Speak To Play by...
Not content with your Windows Phone speaker for audio playback? Looking for a compact, external speaker for your Windows Phone? We may have just what you're looking for over at the WPCentral Accessory Store with the Naztech Mini Boom Speaker ($18.95). The compact speaker isn't much larger than a golf ball, can act as a stand alone MP3 player, and comes in three color choices (pink,...
Yet another cameo by a Windows Phone has surfaced. This time in a MTV Video Premiere from the music video "We Are Young" by the group fun. Around the 0:29 mark you'll see a bar patron texting on her Windows Phone (an HTC Titan I believe). Then in a fit of rage she hurls the phone into the air and a slow motion bar fight/food fight ensues. We're not sure if a stunt double was used in...
If you're a fan of the free "sound hosting" site SoundCloud, you may want to sneak a peek at Music Cloud. From the developers of SuperTube, Free Ringtones and SuperMusic comes a new way to get music and sounds from yet another site. The app itself is well designed and has a ton of features, including background downloading, streaming, manage your SoundCloud account, listen to favorite...
![Sneak Peek - 'Radio Controlled' for Pandora [Video]](https://www.windowscentral.com/sites/wpcentral.com/files/styles/w250h188crop/public/postimages/4213/rcontrolled.png)
There are a few Pandora apps in the works by 3rd parties and we have our hands on one of them that's just wrapping up beta testing: Radio Controlled by Bushwood Studios. Based off of the MetroPandora SDK by Justin Angel, which was recently updated to fix the broken APIs, the app has some very nice polish to it--great graphics, fast loading and a unique use of a giant Live Tile within...
There will always be an ongoing debate about which is better--SkyDrive or Dropbox--to which we really don't care to take sides on. All we know is people like options and DropBox is quite popular, so we're a bit pleased to see StreamBox7 land in the Marketplace today. The app is simple enough: drop some music into your Dropbox root folder, fire up the app, login and you're music will...