Beats Audio acquires steaming music service MOG

Beats Audio has acquired streaming music provider MOG, finally putting to rest rumors that such a deal was in the works. The companies revealed the news to USA Today although terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

Beats reportedly spoke with several music services but ultimately selected MOG based on their commitment to fidelity. Beats President and COO Luke Wood told the newspaper MOG was the first service to offer their entire catalog in 320Kbps. He also noted they were committed early on to being accessible through multiple access points as evident by their deals with LG, Samsung and BMW.

MOG currently offers streaming music through their website and on Facebook for free. An unlimited ad-free version is available for $4.99 each month while unlimited portable downloads can be had for $9.99 per month. Their service is similar in function and pricing to competitors Rdio and Spotify.

There’s no word yet on what exactly Beats has planned for MOG but the most obvious first step would be to offer an extended trial or discount of MOG service to Beats customers. MOG founder and CEO David Hyman said the acquisition will provide a true end-to-end music experience.

GigaOm reported in May that the deal was valued around $14 million. A source close to MOG came forward to the publication after their story ran, saying the final value was significantly higher but keep in mind that this all happened two months ago. The price could easily have gone up or down since then.

Spotify challenges Pandora with free radio on iPhone, iPad

Music streaming service Spotify has announced it is adding a free radio feature to its iOS appthat will compete with the likes of Pandora, Slacker and Songza. Previously only available to desktop users, the feature will enable both free and premium Spotify users to create unlimited radio stations based on specific artists, songs, playlists or albums and stream them from an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

Those under the $9.99 a month plan won’t hear any commercials and will be able to skip as many songs as they like, while free users will hear two to three minutes of commercials each hour and can skip about six songs every 60 minutes. Also, although Spotify Radio will be available for free and premium users in the US, it will be limited to premium subscribers only in the remaining fourteen markets Spotify supports.

The company is betting that free, ad-supported radio will attract users who can turn into paying subscribers later. The model is also cheaper to operate because it doesn’t require agreements with record companies — which Spotify has for its on demand service — thus royalty rates are lower and set by Congress.

Spotify has about 3 million paying subscribers globally and 10 million registered users worldwide as of November 2011.  Pandora, which was founded in 2005 and has yet to expand outside of the US, has 150 million registered users with 49 million listening within the last 30 days.

Apple's iTunes music, movie stores arrive in Latin America

Apple has officially flipped the switch on its iTunes Store for music and movie content in 16 Latin American countries. According to a statement posted on the company's website, the store will include local and international music across all major and independent labels, with a catalog of over 20 million songs at launch, plus over 1,000 movies available to rent or purchase -- there's no mention of TV shows in the press release.

Specifically, the iTunes Store is launching in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela.

Pricing is similar to their U.S. counterpart, with most songs and albums going for $0.99 and $9.99, respectively. One possible caveat is that prices are currently in U.S. dollars and users are required to fund their accounts with international credit cards. MacRumors reports that local currencies for Latin American countries are expected to arrive at some point next year -- possibly within the next six months.

Additionally, Apple is making its iTunes Match service available to Brazilian users for a yearly fee of $24.99. This marks the first time a country outside of the United States gets the cloud music locker service, which allows them to re-download purchases as many times as they like from the iTunes cloud. The company launched iTunes Match in mid-November and said it’s working to roll out the feature around the world.

Great news for Apple users in Latin America. And while it's taken the company nearly eight years to enter the market, at least they're still arriving ahead of music streaming services like Spotify or Rdio -- unless you skip geographic restrictions using a proxy or VPN service, of course.

Your favorite music and streaming sources

Music is among the most primitive forms of entertainment and self-expression, with the oldest confirmedmusical instrument -- a bone flute -- dating back at least 35,000 years, and it's believed the human voice, hand clapping and other bodily-derived noises were used to produce rhythmic melodies long before then. Fast forward to the present day and we have instant access to millions of songs spanning thousands of genres and sub-genres containing everything from blue dudes wailing on PVC pipes to CGI pop stars (for better or for worse).

With the advent of smartphones and streaming services like Spotify and YouTube it's never been easier to drown out a boring conference with your preferred tunes. With that, we want to ask: what's your favorite music and how do you access it? Feel free to share your favorite genres, artists and songs (links must be legal). I can't say I have a particularly favorite genre, though I tend to favor music without vocals -- anything from classical to electronic. That said, I've probably listened to Pink Floyd's "Animals" album more than anything else in my collection