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iPad 3 Release Date Rumors Point to March 2012 Release with A6 Features

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So the news is in about the iPad 3 release date announcement: AllThingsD said this week that Apple sources are pointing to an announcement in the first week of March 2012 to announce the "successor" to the iPad. That's for the iPad announcement, so what date will the iPad 3 release happen? Possibly as soon as a week after, AllThingsD speculates, but it's still up in the air.

“No word yet on a street date for the iPad 3 (assuming that’s what it’s called), though my guess is retail availability will follow roughly the same schedule as that of the iPad 2: Available for purchase a week or so after the event.”

The great guessing game right now is iPad3 features, and what we'll see: Siri, iCloud, enhanced iTunes options are all safe bets. iPad3 specs are a much bigger guessing game, with speculation happening around a new A6 processor and how powerful it will be (quad core processor or not?), what the new iPad 3 battery will be like (how much more life, and will it be a whole new thing?) and Retina Display. Ipad 3 specs have even theorized around two sizes of iPad, allowing it to compete in the smaller-sized tablet market that the Amazon Kindle Fire and Android tablets have worked on.

The Verge has posted a picture of the new IPad 3, saying “The image, which surfaced on the Repair Labs Blog, is said to be similar to the previous model's back (that's the iPad 2 on the left, iPad 3 on the right), save for changes which will allow for a larger battery, slightly reconfigured logic board, new cameras, and a different screen.”

This might also be a saga of the iPad 3 vs. the iPad 2, as in: will this be an iPad 2s or an iPad3? We all thought Apple was headed towards an iPhone 5 release date last year until the iPhone 4 successor turned out to be an iPhone 4s. We could end up seeing the same type of thing happening here ... the iPad 3 release date for 2012 could end up being an Ipad 2s, or some variation.

The iPad 3 price should be interesting to find out, because of the new iCloud and iTunes cloud-based storage model we saw with the new iPhone last year. Apple places itself as a premium product, but since iCloud storage allows us to buy an iPad with less 'local' storage space in favor of iCloud storage, we could see an iPad 3 price that's less than previous versions. That's the current wrap iPad 3 news and rumors. We also saw Steve Jobs' FBI file released this week, a long and interesting read, if you have time to go through 191 pages.

Visit the Spacelab Guide to Streaming Music Sites for more information on iTunes and other streaming music services.

iPad 3 Release Might Replace MacBook Air With Siri and iOS Features

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Anybody hoping for an ARM-based MacBook Air might have to wait ... possibly forever. The iPad and forthcoming iPad 3 release will probably get more attention. Apple Insider is saying:

"After meeting with Apple chief executive Tim Cook and chief financial officer Peter Openheimer, Citi analysts noted a strong iPad outlook leaving little likelihood of an ARM-based MacBook Air, vast growth potential in China, an indistinct future role for Apple TV, and the strength and importance of iCloud."

The craziness of rumors for the Apple iPad 3 release date go at a dizzying pace, the release date alone has gone through at least three different phases of rumors, while iPad 3 features and iPad 3 specs have ranged from heavy Siri integration, 4G wireless capabilities, the possibility of it being an iPad2s instead of an iPad3 (a la the old iPhone switcheroo from last fall where the iPhone 5 release date became and iPhone 4s release) and heavy iCloud and iTunes uses for music and videos via TV shows and movies. No matter what happens, an iPad 3 should have many features that allow for music consumption, whether it's MP3 and audio streams, live concert video like the Coachella web cast / live stream or just a daily watching of music videos.

CNET even contemplates MacBook Air going away, saying:

"Tim Cook reiterated his view that rapid innovation on the iOS platform (and mobile OS platforms in general) will significantly broaden the use case for tablets, eventually pushing annual tablet volumes above those of traditional PCs. We have wondered whether Apple might offer an ARM-based version of MacBook Air at some point; we walked away from this meeting with the impression that Apple feels iPad satisfies--or will soon satisfy--the needs of those who might have been interested in such a product."

New iTV Rumors Say Apple TV Set in 2 Sizes, Ready To Go

The latest Apple TV 3 update rumor speaks of an Apple TV set in two different sizes, now unofficially dubbed iTV, with Siri features for navigation and changing channels, Apple TV apps for unique content development and iCloud action, and possibly a new iPad 3 as a remote. Imagine the potential Apple TV vs Google TV fight that could happen at CES (although unlikely). Still, would be fun. Just sayin.

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New iPad 3 Features and Release Date: Siri, Battery Life, and Face Recognition

Let's look at new Apple iPad 3 features and specs that went down over the holiday break: a new iPad 3 in two sizes, extended iPad 3 battery life, face recognition to go with Siri voice recognition ... also iTunes Match & iCloud inclusion with an A5 processor chip. An iPad 3 release date is possible in early 2012, but is still rumor and speculation.

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iTunes vs. Spotify and Facebook Music

By now you've heard about Facebook Music and iTunes in the cloud (or iCloud), so what's the difference between the two?

iTunes in the Cloud and iCloud: What it Is
It was determined just before the iPhone 4S release date via an email slip that let it fly that "Once iCloud is set up, it stores your content and wirelessly pushes it to all your devices. For example, buy a song with iTunes on your computer, and it will appear on your iPod touch and iPad."

So iCloud is an in-the-cloud storage of music, photos and documents for Apple devices like iPad, iPhone or your computer (any kind, Apple or PC). It does this via a process called scan and match, meaning that Apple doesn't upload your songs that already exist in the iTunes library that lives in the cloud. With a library of 20 million songs available from Apple, most of your library is already in the cloud, and any songs that aren't in the cloud will be uploaded for you.

iCloud comes with 5GB of free storage, and iCloud pricing options are 10GB for $20/year, 20GB for $40/year and 50GB for $100/year for additional layers of service.

It should be stressed that the only streaming music available to you through iCloud and iTunes is the music you already own and music you purchase, a key difference between the iCloud experience and the streaming music services involved in Facebook Music.

Then you can listen via iTunes to streaming music from the cloud through an Internet connection, or a group of files that have been downloaded to your computer or portable device. There's a seamless media experience between these devices, so you're never stuck with music or video on a different device than the one you're using. It just works, as the saying goes.

Facebook Music: What It Is
Although Spotify is the lead music partner for Facebook Music, it includes the streaming music services Spotify, MOG, Rdio, Rhapsody alongside  internet radio player sites like Deezer, Slacker Radio, iHeartRadio, Earbits, Mixcloud, Songza and AudioVroom. The idea here isn't to create a Facebook Music player or app, but rather that everbody has a favorite streaming music service, and allowing the shared experience as a connective tissue" lets everyone use their preferred service while also comparing all of the services. Facebook Music launched back in September as part of the f8 Conference.

What it really comes down to is what you want out of your music experience: mobility of your iTunes library between your iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and computer with ease; or the ability to share your listening habits with friends via broadcasting what you're listening to and sharing music with friends via the streaming music services above. One lets you share with your other devices and the other lets you share music with friends.

Check out more news about music apps and streaming music on the Digital Music News page.

Researchers Can Track Skype / BitTorrent User File and User Location

Use a BitTorrent client or P2P to download music? If you also use Skype, you can be tracked and your location can be pulled from the results. Researchers have found a way to track you file sharing action and all sorts of other things, raising privacy concerns. If you use BitTorrent, and you've used Skype in the past three days, all sorts of things can be tracked -- including your IP address, determining your identity and finding out where your mobile phone has traveled.

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AOL Radio Relaunches with Slacker Radio, Apps Soon

AOL Radio and Slacker Radio have combined forces to create "AOL Radio powered by Slacker," a new version of AOL Radio. It's AOL on the front end, but is powered by the programming (digital and literal) of the Slacker Radio app, so one group brings the audience, and the other brings the technology. It's just recently launched, and features over 200 AOL stations that you already know if you're a AOL Radio player user, including indie, alternative and electronic music stations.

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Merlin and YouTube Deal Brings Independent Artists to Google Music Experience

Following quickly on the heels of the YouTube Merch Store, Google and YouTube have reached a deal with Merlin to include independent recording labels on licensing deals, one more way you can get paid as an artist. Earache, Secretly Canadian, Ninja Tune, Cooking Vinyl, Warp, Phonofile, Pschent, Morr Music, !K7 and Inertia are all in on the deal, among others. It covers 14,000 artists.

Which is one more step down the road to what is the looming Google Music announcement. Merlin represents a different group of artists than the mainstream group of Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music and EMI.  So it'll be interesting to see how this shapes up into the Google Music Beta. The music service was announced earlier this year, and lives at music.google.com.

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Spotify Offers New BlackBerry App Download for Premium Customers

The BlackBerry nation will be happy to know there's finally news of a Spotify app available to you for download. Spotify is rolling out a download of the app for users of Spotify Premium, the paid monthly subscription of its streaming music service and access to the Spotify library of around 15 million songs.

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Beatport is Getting with Spotify, Rdio and iTunes

With this Summer's explosive wave of streaming music services have come the argument that they don't offer enough indie music. Enter Beatport, the electronic music download site / distributor. Now Spotify and Rdio will include Beatport artists

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