LAS VEGAS -- Carriers everywhere must be shaking in their boots at this one, as Microsoft just showed off live Netflix streaming on Windows Phone 7 at MIX10.
Live. Movies. Streamed. On Netflix. On your phone.
You can also browse the Netflix catalog and manage your queue, but being able to actually choose and watch movies on your Windows Phone is a serious game-changer. Seriously.
For those fed up with the glacial movement of Pandora on the Windows phone platform, a new alternative has hit the streets: Slacker Radio.
Showing up on various forums, the .cab and service is actually very, very polished. It is the official version, but SlackerRadio themselves have not published it on their site yet.
No compromises here as you get album images, lyrics, band bio, reviews and a wide selection of music to choose from. Audio quality is also extremely good, trouncing Pandora's 64kb stream. Plus they got that whole "let me power off the screen without disrupting the stream" thing.
Two negative's we've noticed: landscape support is not there and we've had a few songs cut out towards the end for some reason (not uncommon with Pandora either).
Of course, there is the free "basic" version which limits you to something like 6-skips per hour while the program steers you towards the "full" version with upgrade notices in parts. Likewise, you don't get all those lyric bonuses in the free version.
If you want the subscription, it's $4.99 per month (on a month-to-month basis) or $3.99 a month on a 12-month plan (billed monthly). You can also try out the subscription for 7 days for free. We suppose if streaming is your thing it's not a bad deal: the quality of the product is quite top notch. If you just like streaming your own music (as opposed to the jukebox, random streaming), give nanoGroove a shot.
Grab the file at XDA or scan the MS Tag below to automatically download it.
Edit: Whoops! And just as fast Slacker Radio has remotely pulled the plug. The app currently doesn't work and we have to wait for the fine folks at Slacker Radio to drop this app "officially". Sigh. [Here's their official reasoning]
GrooveShark, the streaming music on-demand site, is still going strong and while we've had a Windows phone client in the past (see our video review of GrooveFish), it was lacking some finesse and advanced features.
Enter nanoGroove, a full-fledged (though not officially endorsed) GrooveShark client that adds some nice bells and whistles. Although it costs a one-time license of $4.99, we think it's a fair price for a nicely polished application such as this.
Here are some of the features which it's free GrooveFish cousin is lacking
We've had no problem running it on our Touch Pro 2 or Treo Pro and of course you can't beat the sound quality of GrooveShark (it kills Pandora in that regard).
If we had any complaints it would be that the UI has a few extra steps than is probably needed (like having to refresh to pull down your playlists) and it is a little confusing to get songs to actually just play (first you search, then you add to the player, then you switch to player, then you hit play).
But overall we're very happy with it and have no problem surrendering $5 for it. If you want the time-limited demo, just scan the MS Tag or go to the NanoGroove site.
Check out our video review after the jump to see how it all works!
It's been quite some time since Resco has updated their Radio program (see earlier review), so it's no surprise to see them set their sights on giving it an overhaul.
So far, not too much has changed as can be seen below. There is still a limited selection of stations (you can manually import Shoutcast) and no way to search for new stations, in that regard, Kinoma Play is still easier with full Shoutcast integration. List of changes so far:
Still, if you just want a streaming radio app, Resco Radio is a beaut with its simplicity and speed (plus you can record streams, natch). It's running smooth on the my Touch Pro 2, so go and give it a shot and give the Resco team some feedback!
GrooveShark is an interesting free service that allows you to search for music (artist, song, album), stream it directly and even create playlists from your computer.
Now Barguast at XDA has created...wait for it...a free application that will do most of this from your Windows phone (he's constantly adding features). It's called GrooveFish (nice).
GrooveFish itself is an excellent application. Visually it matches GrooveShark and is quite pleasant to look at and furthermore it works very well (audio fidelity is way better than Pandora). It's simple: search, select and play. Heck, it'll even auto-pause on a phone call or when you remove your headset. Ability to create playlists and save favorites is coming in future versions.
But the big issue here is of course U.S. copyright law and GrooveShark: this is not just streaming a ShoutCast station but rather allowing you to stream on demand any song/album/playlist you create, which is a bit sketchy, legally speaking. To their credit they do have a way to notify them of DMCA violations and they will comply. But as this service becomes more and more widely known, you can bet you'll start to see your favorite tunes cooperatively pulled down from the site.
In other words, enjoy it while it lasts.
via 1800PocketPC
No two ways around it: This is pretty darn cool. The cats at PPC Geeks have hacked the Orb service into TouchFlo 3D, which as you can see above gives you one-button access to streaming video straight through the standard UI.
Get the full run-down here, and step-by-step instructions here.
Via wmpoweruser
Hulu and Skyfire still aren't playing together, but at least the video streaming site and the Windows Mobile browser are now explaining why.
Skyfire users have been wondering why Hulu videos are currently not playing in Skyfire. The answer is simple: Hulu has decided to block you from watching Hulu videos in the Skyfire browser, as part of blocking all mobile access to Hulu, as well as TV access such as with Boxee and PlayStation.
There is nothing wrong with your Skyfire browser, and you can watch other videos on the web.
As for Hulu? Well, Skyfire, that helpful bunch, points us to Hulu's reasoning.
For decades, the TV/movie industry has built its business model on a windowing strategy. Content rights are granted for limited time periods across specific distribution channels. For example, a movie starts in theaters, then moves to pay-per-view and DVD, then to pay-cable channels, later to broadcast, and so on down the line. Similarly, TV shows are available on TV first, then in repeats, then to DVD and possibly syndication, etc.
Distribution availability across platforms — theaters vs. TV vs. recorded media like DVDs vs. online streaming vs. mobile phones — was always implicitly or explicitly controlled in that world. But a few factors have made the barriers between those platforms more permeable: the rise of the web, increased broadband
availability, the ease of digitizing video, and the increase in the computing power of devices like gaming consoles, set-top boxes, and mobile phones.
However, in the near-term, the windowing strategy is still dominant in the business. Billions of dollars flow in across these different windows, and entire companies are organized around them. Nothing productive comes from flouting that reality (except to law firms who work on the occasional lawsuit).
Hulu did say "We do, however, expect these windows to converge over time. There's no way around that." Translation: It'll happen; we just have to figure out a way to make more money off of it. (OK, there may well be other licensing issues, too, but that's hardly sexy, now is it?)
How popular is Qik, you ask? Put it this way: The mobile streaming video service just secured about $5.5 million dollars in funding, as noted in a recent SEC filing, which you can read after the break, if you're so inclined. [via mocoNews]
Among the investors throwing in this time around are Quest Venture Parterners, some private investors and CampVentures.
If you haven't played with Qik yet, definitely give it a shot. It's a simple way to livestream video from your phone. We demoed it way back in the beta stages, and it's cool to see just how much it's grown since then.
One of the great reasons for using the Skyfire browser is because it could load just about anything on the Web, thanks to its proxy nature. No more. Hulu.com has shut out Skyfire (and the PS3, as well, apparently). As you can see above, you're greeted with the following message when you try to view a video:
Unfortunately, this video is not available on your platform. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Inconvenience? INCONVENIENCE?!?!?!? How will we watch our stories?!?!?!? (I'm at least getting audio out of the Firefox mobile Alpha 2. Anyone have any luck with any other browsers? IE6 Mobile?)
The good news for PS3 users it that there's a workaround. For us Windows Mobile types? Not so much. Might that mean a true Hulu mobile client, alluded to many, many moons ago, is finally coming?
Via Engadget
Qik, everybody's favorite live video streaming app, has been updated for Windows Mobile Standard.
Head over to d.quik.com to download the update, or do it from within your exisiting Qik application.
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