Google Play Music

I have been enjoying Google Play Music for about a year now. It has been an enjoyable experience, a flawless experience. I'm not a huge fan of Google, but I really love this service. You are able to store 20,000 songs in the cloud for free! You are able to play your music through your browser or through the Android and iOS apps.

Google offers an All Access service for $9.99 a month which gives you unlimited (All Access) playback of every song in the store. Google has a nice music collection, although I'm not quite sure where it places against iTunes (which I never use anyway). You are able to perform a search and easily and quickly find what you are looking for. All Access also allows you to play an “Instant Mix” for an artist, song, or album. This plays a random playlist of music related to the artist, song, or album.

This is most of the features that Google Play Music offers. There are many more, like a free 30 day trial of All Access for new users. I mainly use this for a backup of my music because I’m beginning to listen to the original files stored on my computer. As I said earlier, there are apps for Android and iOS which allow you to stream your uploaded music.

Google has been making many changes lately, including the music service. Previously, you were only allowed to download each song/album 3 times on the web, but now you aren’t limited. I think that this was a great move, allowing me to use it more for backup.

What do you think of this service?

Do you use a different service that is similar? 

Scores Hardly Get Old, What To Play Music On

Hello there,  I have neglected my blog again.

I listen to so much music, and I have been strayed away from listening to single tracks from albums that I have added to my playlist of favorites. I am building  playlists on Google Play that I have shared publicly of what I believe is the best music in films, video games, and trailers. When listening to a film score, though, I believe that it should be enjoyed all together. I am starting to play entire albums, which is more time consuming (especially when you have a complete score) but it is worth it.

I have stopped listening to music with lyrics almost completely. Songs in scores like Frozen are still part of what I continue to listen to. Music with lyrics can get old very fast, but scores hardly get old. This is all my opinion on things, and though all people are different, not all may agree with me. What is your opinion on scores vs. lyrical music?

What do you use to listen to music? It could be a phone, tablet, computer, mp3 player, etc. I usually listen to music on my Dell Venue 7 Android tablet ($149.99 at the most, running version 4.3) playing through the HMDX JAM Bluetooth speaker ($49.99 at the most). , I bought it so that I could access my music in the cloud in a more portable fashion. When I am working on things, I use my computer (some Lenovo desktop dinosaur running Windows 8.1).

Now, Android vs Apple has brought up the question: Which one should I buy?
If you are buying it for music, I would suggest Android. Android is able to play basically any music format (I don't know which formats it can't play) AND you can add more music with an external Micro SD card (Most devices running Android support it).

I have found some fantastic mp3 players from two different companies. One is called Astell&Kern, the other is Fiio. You can see their products below. Although they are quite pricey, so I suggest an Android tablet if you are on a budget. These truly are the best portable music players you probably can find.

Astell&Kern AK120 Portable High-Fidelity Audio System - $1,299.00

Astell&Kern AK120 TITAN Portable High-Fidelity AudioSystem - $1,499.00

Astell&Kern AK240 Portable Hi-Fi Audio System (Silver) - $2,499.00

Astell&Kern AK100 Mark II High-Fidelity Audio System andDAC - $799.00

Astell&Kern AK100 Mastering Quality Sound PortableSystem (Black) - $699.99

Fiio X5 Portable High Resolution Music Player and DAC - $349.00

Fiio X3 Portable Music Player - $199.00

The AK240 by Astell&Kern has 256GB of internal storage with support for a 128GB Micro SD card. The X5 by Fiio has dual Micro SD card slots that support up to 128GB each, and the company said it will increase with each firmware update. 

Headphones

What headphones do you use to listen to scores? I have the Apple EarPods, which are okay. I didn't like the sound of them at first, but I have adjusted to them and they don't sound as bad anymore. I have done some research and come across the site WireCutter.com which gives a great review on cheap pairs of earphones that you should buy on a low budget based on your needs: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-headphones-under-30/

The verdict is the Panasonic RP-TCM125 Ergo Fit which you can get on Amazon.com HERE. This pair apparently sounds much better than most headphones out there (even some $100 ones), and they are only about $7-15 depending on whom you buy them from. If you can get past the cheap design, they are worth a buy.

What are your favorite headphones (or earphones)?

The Amazing Spiderman 2

I am so excited about the release of The Amazing Spiderman 2. This title is composed by Hans Zimmer and a few others including Pharrell Williams. Hans Zimmer had a few contests in the past months in excitement for this score. I hope that this ends up becoming what I'm eagerly expecting. This score is expected for release on May 2, 2014. Here's a preview from the score that I found:

Another score that I think will be great is Maleficent by James Newton Howard. This is expected for a release on May 30 of this year.

I’m listening to How to Train Your Dragon right now by John Powell, so I am also very eager for the release of the sequel, also done by John Powell. I don’t think that we should expect this score until June though.

Tha's a Wrap by Thomas Bergersen

Thomas Bergerstein recently released a nice and long song. It's about ten minutes, but it sounds great, I almost wish it was longer. You can listen to it below. He also allows you to download it for free here (right click and select "save target as"): http://www.thomasbergersen.com/Thomas_Bergersen-_-That%27s-A-Wrap.mp3

Contest: Soundtrack Giveaway

I was thinking about beginning a giveaway of a physical CD. What do you guys think of this? What soundtrack would you like to win? Send me your ideas and I will consider them. If you share this with your friends, I'll try to earn you extra entries into the contest when it happens.

Transformers: Age Of Extinction

Steve Jablonsky has done an amazing job on the current three scores in the Transformers trilogy. I have the complete and/or expanded versions of them, so there's a ton of music to listen to there. I haven't quite listened to all of it yet, but I will soon (along with posts about them, of course!)

The fourth installment is set to release on June 27 of this year, and, of course, Steve Jablonsky has come back to compose it! Are you excited for this next score?