Category: Spinnr

Poll: What’s your streaming music service of choice?

Abe Olandres Leave a comment

We’ve been noticing for the past several months that a lot of people we know have changed their music listening habits. Some have stopped from buying albums from iTunes while many have forgotten to download songs from torrent sites. It seems like music streaming services have changed people’s listening habits. So, we wanted to take a poll to see how far and wide the changes are.

The major players in the local market are Spotify, Spinnr, Deezer, Rdio and Guvera. We’ve tried all of them and know a number of people who’ve been using all on the list.

Spotify has partnered with Globe while Smart has Deezer on top of its own Spinnr (read: With Deezer’s arrival, what will happen to Spinnr?), Rdio is preferred by Chromecast users as it’s supported by the device, Guvera is fairly new and doesn’t seem to have something unique of its own.

So, let’s get it on with the polls — which music streaming service are you using?

Do leave a comment below if you have some thoughts on why you’re using your preferred choice.

The post Poll: What’s your streaming music service of choice? appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Poll: What’s your streaming music service of choice?

Abe Olandres Leave a comment

We’ve been noticing for the past several months that a lot of people we know have changed their music listening habits. Some have stopped from buying albums from iTunes while many have forgotten to download songs from torrent sites. It seems like music streaming services have changed people’s listening habits. So, we wanted to take a poll to see how far and wide the changes are.

The major players in the local market are Spotify, Spinnr, Deezer, Rdio and Guvera. We’ve tried all of them and know a number of people who’ve been using all on the list.

Spotify has partnered with Globe while Smart has Deezer on top of its own Spinnr (read: With Deezer’s arrival, what will happen to Spinnr?), Rdio is preferred by Chromecast users as it’s supported by the device, Guvera is fairly new and doesn’t seem to have something unique of its own.

So, let’s get it on with the polls — which music streaming service are you using?

Do leave a comment below if you have some thoughts on why you’re using your preferred choice.

The post Poll: What’s your streaming music service of choice? appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Panagbenga festivalgoers ‘Live All Out’ with Smart’s digital experience

PRNEWS Admin Leave a comment

BAGUIO IN FULL BLOOM. Street dancers parade along Baguio’s famous Session Road in front of festival-goers at the culmination of the city’s month-long Panagbenga Festival

 

Kicking off the summer festivities this 2015, wireless services leader Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) has once again leveled up the Panagbenga experience of festival-goers by bringing the Internet for all their festival needs, packed with fun activities, all-out parties, and digital experiences for everyone.

These activities have definitely made their #SmartPanagbenga memories one for the books, and worthy of hundreds of posts on Facebook and Instagram to share with friends and family all over the world, powered by the country’s largest mobile network.

Living it all out

 

LIVING IT ALL OUT. After the parades comes the party as Smart fires up this year’s Panagbenga Festival with the “Altitude Break” Live All Out party at Ampersand Bar

 

Firing up the Panagbenga experience were Smart’s “Live All Out” parties at two of the city’s prime bars, Spade Superclub and Ampersand Bar, where Smart subscribers who topped up their prepaid accounts or bought new Smart Prepaid SIM cards got the chance to enter the clubs for free.

Festival-goers partied all night long with some of the country’s best and most talented DJs, including Smart ambassadors DJ Ace Ramos together with MC Paolo who spun wicked beats for everyone during the “Altitude Break” party at Ampersand Bar on February 28th.

Smart Live All Out also hosted a string of parties at the Spade SuperClub on Kisad Road from Feb. 26 to March 1, featuring party sounds by top DJs such as Emil Angeles; Badboy Jeff plus MC Boo; Jet Boado; X Factor; Kimosave plus MC Jams.

Get inside the Smart Zone

But the fun didn’t stop for festival-goers after the Panagbenga parades of the weekend. At the famous “Session in Bloom” where visitors got to enjoy various booths lined up along Session Road from March 2 to 6, Smart subscribers experienced fun activities and got to take home exciting prizes at the “Smart Zone” booth.

 

MAKING DIGITAL MEMORIES. The Panagbenga Festival goes digital with interactive photo booths stationed at Live All Out spots all across the city, giving revelers the chance to preserve their festival memories online

 

Those who bought a Smart Prepaid SIM card or topped up their current prepaid accounts instantly earned a raffle entry plus freebies, where they stood a chance to win a brand new Apple iPhone 6 from Smart.

Meanwhile, subscribers who registered to SPINNR, the country’s first and unlimited music streaming app, immediately entered themselves in a raffle where they had the chance to win tickets to the upcoming One Direction concert.

Digital Panagbenga

Those who braved the uphill trip to Baguio were able to get around the city and explore famous haunts thanks to the Baguio Guide mobile app for Android phones, developed by Cebu-based startup Innopub Media in partnership with Smart.

Apart from the section about the Panagbenga Festival, the app also features helpful information about the city. Articles on must-try food and must-visit places in Baguio, as well as the Department of Tourism-accredited tour guides and tour operators are also listed in the guide.

 

PROMOTING DIGITAL TOURISM. Panagbenga Festival revelers were able to experience a “digital” twist to their usual Baguio City tour thanks to interactive markers installed by Cebu-based startup Innopub Media in cooperation with Smart at various tourist spots around the city

 

In addition to the app, Smart and InnoPub have also deployed interactive tourism markers around the city that, when scanned or tapped with a phone, trigger the download of tourism and historical information about that certain place or structure.

Those who weren’t able to physically join the festivities, meanwhile, still got to experience Baguio in full bloom thanks to the online livestream provided by Sunnex in partnership with Smart, now on its third year. The livestream was proudly powered by Smart LTE, which brought seamless and uninterrupted coverage of the Street Dance Parade and the Grand Float Parade to viewers all over the country.

 

INTERNET FOR ALL. Third-generation Igorots at the Tam-Awan Village in Baguio enjoy mobile devices powered by Smart, the country’s largest mobile network, during the 20th Panagbenga Festival

 

Nationwide festivities

The fun is just about to start as Smart brings the exciting ‘Live All Out’ experience to various cities nationwide, after successful runs in Cebu City for the Sinulog Festival, Iloilo City for the Dinagyang Festival, and Baguio City for the Panagbenga Festival.

“Subscribers and festival-goers who are looking to join this summer’s most anticipated activities can expect a more exciting time with Smart, as we bring these ‘Live All Out’ festivities and digital experience to more areas around the country,” said Joel Lumanlan, Smart Prepaid Marketing Head.

With Deezer’s arrival, what will happen to Spinnr?

Ronnie Bulaong Leave a comment

Yesterday marks the official launch of Deezer in the country. But amidst the celebratory toasts and a promise of better things to come, we can’t help but wonder if this is the beginning of the end for SPINNR, a music streaming service which the MVP-led telco launched just last year?

Spinnr’s success story

Despite the fact that online music streaming is a fairly new thing in the Philippines, it didn’t stop Spinnr from making its way into the mobile devices of the inherently music-loving Filipinos which eventually led to it being hailed as the top music app in the country.

According to the data gathered by JANA (a mobile technology firm based in Boston), on May of this year, almost a third of the local respondents use Spinnr to listen to music on their smartphone. Meanwhile, other popular music streaming apps like Spotify and SoundCloud only account for 14% and 12% respectively.

Needless to say, the success that Smart has with Spinnr is nothing short of impressive. On the other hand, this begs the question why the telco still felt the urge to team up with Deezer, despite of the remarkable upsurge in usage of their home-grown music streaming platform?

Smart was only testing the waters with Spinnr

Prior to the official launch of Spinnr in the country, service providers under the PLDT umbrella has their own respective music-related services to offer their subscribers; Smart had Smart Music, Talk ‘N Text had MusikaTropa, while Sun Cellular had Sun Traxx.

We assume that after their respective music-related services failed to make a significant mark in the market, these MVP-led network providers decided to come up with a unified music streaming platform to see if they’ll get more success out of it. Hence, the birth of Spinnr back in October of last year.

But not wanting to lay all of its eggs in one basket, Smart was still on the lookout for a reliable music streaming platform that the company can bank on should Spinnr takes a turn for the worse. This explains why the telco inked a deal with Deezer back in March of this year, just nearly five months after launching Spinnr.

Now that Smart has two music streaming platforms, the question still remains: What will the telco do with Spinnr?

Keep or Let go

Theoretically speaking, teaming up with Deezer may prove beneficial for Smart because it will complement their existing music streaming platform. Furthermore, by keeping both platforms active, Smart gains the upper hand against its archrival (Globe Telecom) and its own streaming service (Spotify) in the battle for music streaming supremacy in the country.

But as favorable as it may sound for Smart to keep Spinnr, while doing business with Deezer at the same time, we think that the telco is better off just dumping their own music streaming platform in favor of their new found partner. Here’s why:

Expansive music library. Deezer has a more extensive music catalogue (30 million as of April 2014) than Spinnr
More bang for the buck for consumers. Deezer offers extra services (My MP3, HQ Audio Quality, Availability while travelling, etc.) that are missing on Spinnr.
Global presence. Deezer is available in 182 countries.
Free advertising. Smart can take advantage of Deezer’s ad-based business model for non-premium accounts to slip in a few ads.

Furthermore, dropping Spinnr means that Smart can allot more resources in marketing and boosting brand-awareness of Deezer to the consumers.

Final thoughts

At first, it seemed counter-intuitive for Smart to forge an alliance with Deezer, especially considering that the “Live More” network already has good thing going with their own home-grown music streaming platform.

But despite of Spinnr’s success in the local scene, Smart cannot rest on its laurels because of the fact that there other more established music streaming services Spotify and SoundCloud breathing down its neck.

That’s when Deezer comes in. With its global presence and more polished music-related services, it opens up new doors for Smart and allows the telco to maintain its commanding lead over its rivals. And as the battle for the best digital music streaming service in the country heats up, Smart may have finally found their weapon of choice in Deezer and may soon let Spinnr go.”

The post With Deezer’s arrival, what will happen to Spinnr? appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Smart officially launched Deezer in the country

Ronnie Bulaong Leave a comment

Today, Smart Communications Inc. has formally announced their exclusive partnership with Deezer; a web-based music streaming service which originated from Paris, France.

Smart and Deezer entered a “strategic and exclusive partnership” agreement which both companies signed back in the latter part of March. According to the official press release, Smart will benefit from Deezer’s expansive music catalogue which will then solidify their place as a “formidable player in the entire mobile ecosystem.”

During the early stage, Deezer will only be offered to Smart postpaid subscribers, but the MVP-led telco claims that the service will eventually be available for Prepaid subs as well.

Existing Postpaid consumers can sign up for the music streaming by choosing one of three available Deezer packages listed below:

Deezer Daily – Php25
Inclusions:
> 1-day access to Deezer Premium+
> 10MB of data allocation for streaming
> 25 SMS

Deezer Weekly – Php125
Inclusions:
> 1-week access to Deezer Premium+
> 50MB of data allocation for streaming
> 125 SMS

Deezer Monthly – Php250
Inclusions:
> 1-month access to Deezer Premium+
> 100MB of data allocation for streaming
> 250 SMS

Meanwhile, prospective Smart Postpaid subscribers can automatically include Deezer Premium+ on their subscription by choosing one of the three new UnliSurf Premium Plans. Below are the monthly allocations of each of these postpaid plans:

UnliSurf Premium Plan 1175
Inclusions:
> Unlimited access to Deezer Premium+
> 99 SMS, 9 Minutes of Voice calls
> Free Sony Xperia M2

UnliSurf Premium Plan 1675
Inclusions:
> Unlimited access to Deezer Premium+
> 120 SMS, 60 Minutes of Voice calls
> Free Nokia Lumia 1020

UnliSurf Premium Plan 2175
Inclusions:
> Unlimited access to Deezer Premium+
> 200 SMS, 150 Minutes of Voice calls
> Free Samsung Galaxy S5 or Sony Xperia Z2

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