Look out iTunes, Spotify has just launched its new music download service in Europe. What’s more, the company that had been synonymous with music streaming will let you sync your downloaded MP3 playlist bundles to your USB-connected iPod classic, nano, or shuffle via a new “Devices” section of the Spotify app running on your computer. And listen up freeloaders, Spotify Mobile iOS and Android app users can now sync playlists wirelessly without a premium subscription. Here’s a quote from Daniel Ek, Spotify CEO, sure to create some angst in Cupertino:

“From today, Spotify really is the only music player you’ll ever need. Our users don’t want to have to switch between music players, but they do want to take their playlists with them wherever they go, on a wider range of devices, more simply and at a price they can afford. Now we’ve made that possible on one of the world’s most popular consumer devices.”

Spotify download prices for its nine million users of the free service (not premium subscribers) breaks down as follows:

• 10 tracks for €9.99 or €1.00 per track (£7.99 or just under 80p per track)
• 15 tracks for €12.99 or €0.87 per track (£9.99 / 67p)
• 40 tracks for €30.00 or €0.75 per track (£25 / 63p)
• 100 tracks for €60.00 or €0.60 per track (£50 / 50p)

All the new features will begin rolling out today as part of an automatic update. See the full press release after the break as well as a quick introduction video to get you started.

Continue reading Spotify launches music download service with iPod sync, puts iTunes on notice

Spotify launches music download service with iPod sync, puts iTunes on notice originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 02:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One day, Nick Risinger, a 28-year-old marketing director from Seattle, felt like he needed a change. So he quit his job, packed up six professional astronomical cameras, and hiked 60,000 miles through western United States and South Africa, taking 37,000 color pictures of the night sky. More

One day, Nick Risinger, a 28-year-old marketing director in Seattle, felt like he needed a change. So he quit his job, packed up six professional astronomical cameras, and hiked 60,000 miles through western United States and South Africa, taking 37,000 color pictures of the night sky. More

Within seconds of President Obama’s announcement late Sunday night that Osama bin Laden had been killed, streets around America were filled with countless people yelling the familiar “U-S-A” chant.

One day, Nick Risinger, a 28-year-old marketing director in Seattle, felt like he needed a change. So he quit his job, packed up six professional astronomical cameras, and hiked 60,000 miles through western United States and South Africa, taking 37,000 color pictures of the night sky. More

At only $195, it’s hard to deny that AMD’s new Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition desktop chip is a bargain. Its four cores hum along at 3.7GHz, the fastest base clock speed of any consumer CPU, and the unlocked multiplier should make it trivial for overclockers to push this beast to 4GHz and beyond. The 980 slides right into the same price point as the previous champ, the Phenom II X4 975, and knocks a few bucks off the former clock-frequency king. All of this seems like great news for AMD fans. Of course, if you’re starting from scratch and not just looking to upgrade an aging AM3 rig, keep in mind that only $30 more scores you the mid-range Core i5-2500K that consistently outperforms the 980, consumes less power, and also has an unlocked multiplier. Guess there’s always the graphics market if you care to see AMD being competitive. For the nitty-gritty on how its latest central processing unit stacks up, see the source links.

AMD’s Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition wears the gigahertz crown originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 May 2011 18:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Built-in webcams are becoming more and more common in computers these days, and in turn, they are becoming more and more of a liability. A Wyoming couple is now accusing national rent-to-own chain Aaron’s Inc. of spying on them at home using their rented computer’s webcam without their knowledge. Aaron’s also allegedly used a keylogger and took regular screenshots of the couple’s activities on the machine, leading the couple to file a class-action lawsuit in the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

According to the complaint filed on Tuesday, Aaron’s has been using a product called “PC Rental Agent” on its rent-to-own machines since at least 2007 in order to “surreptitiously access, monitor, intercept, and/or transmit electronic communications” made by Aaron’s customers. Created by a company called DesignerWare, PC Rental Agent is advertised as a way to keep track of rent-to-own computers and lock out customers who fail to pay. According to the lawsuit, the product was sold to Aaron’s under the guise that it was undetectable by users, and Aaron’s apparently conceals the fact that it has the ability to monitor customers’ activity when marketing its services.

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PC rental store accused of using webcams, keyloggers on customers

Scientists at CERN have announced that they’ve been able to trap 309 atoms of antihydrogen for over 15 minutes. This is long enough that soon, they’ll be able to figure out whether antimatter obeys the law of gravity, or whether it’s repelled by normal matter and falls “up” instead. It would be antigravity, for real.

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Scientists could be months away from discovering antigravity

Flying generally sucks, but it doesn’t have to be awful. If you’re willing to break a few rules and compromise your status as an upstanding moral citizen, the dark side has a few secrets to help you have a more enjoyable flight. More