Twitter Takes On Music Discovery, but Comes Up Short

Behind Twitter Music’s well-designed interface is a music discovery app that’s too limiting. #NeedsMoreCowbell
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Beats’ Jimmy Iovine on Steve Jobs, Spotify and Why He Can Make Subscriptions Work

Why can’t the tech guys make music subscriptions work? Because they’re tech guys, says the music kingpin.
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Facebook Pushes Out Gifts to All U.S. Users (Complete With Holiday Booze)

Time to make room under the tree.
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Microsoft Hits the Restart Button With Xbox Music

Xbox Music will start rolling out tomorrow on the game console, and will drop later this month on Windows 8 devices.
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Mobile Coding Start-Up Xamarin Lands $12 Million From Charles River, Ignition and Floodgate

The start-up is one of a growing number of software firms that aim to make it easier for businesses to develop mobile apps that run on multiple operating systems.
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News Byte

Rdio Head of Design Wilson Miner Goes to Facebook

Wilson Miner, the lead designer at streaming music application Rdio, has left the company for a design position at Facebook, according to a message Miner posted from his Twitter account on Monday. Miner was most recently responsible for a complete redesign of the Rdio web application launched at South by Southwest in March, and had been at the company for more than two years. Facebook also recently snagged two other prominent hires to work on design: Ex-YouTuber Margaret Stewart, and Elizabeth Windram, formerly of Quora.

On Valentine’s Day, Ol’ Fashioned Phone Calls Beat Video Chat for Long-Distance Love

There’s a reason Stevie didn’t sing “I Just IM’ed to Say I Love You.”
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Rara Sells Streaming Music to Everyone Who Hasn’t Heard of Streaming Music

Which is many more people than you’d think. Big question: Do those folks want to pay for music?
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SoundTracking for Android Adds Spotify, Rdio Streaming

Social music app SoundTracking is launching an Android music app — one that definitely flirts with Spotify and Rdio, but still doesn’t seal the deal.
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Hey Facebook, Where’s That Timeline and Open Graph You Promised?

Two and a half months after Facebook promised that a huge revision of its self-expression and sharing tools were coming soon, users and developers are still waiting.
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BlackBerry Launches Its $5 Music Service

BlackBerry Music: $5 a Month, 50 Songs