Beat Stomper: Merging music and Gaming

I had played several music related games from the Google playstore before and Beat Stomper is one of those games I stumbled upon while watching a best android apps and games by  Howtomen (check out the video below)

The video was intriguing enough and I checked out the game on the playstore. It is quite a simple platform jumping game where you have to time your landing to get a higher score. If you manage to land on the power-ups, you get to be elevated to a couple of levels. The music can change as you progress to higher levels. This game is a free to play game and occasionally will show ads (nothing that turning off your WiFi or cellular data can't solve)

The game will suggest that you play it while wearing a headphone, and indeed it is best played with a headphone so that you can enjoy the background music and the female narrative voice that tells you your accomplishments. 

Overall, I would recommend this game to people looking to chill and waste their time on leisure games. 

To download the app click the link: Beat Stomper

To rate it from 1-5 stars:

Design: 4.5
Ease of use: 5
Game play : 5
Background Track: 4
Features: 5

Lost by Gareth Emery and Janet Devlin: A Spotify Discover Weekly Pick

My top Discover Weekly song for the week is Lost by Gareth Emery and Janet Devlin. It is a pop EDM category with somehow a progressive tune. Here's the lyrics for the song courtesy of musixmatch.com.

And there's no smoke without reason It's a sign there's something wrong In my lungs there's a poison

I've been breathing in too long 'Cause there's no I No I in We And there's no You, No You in Me Cause I've been burned Way beyond the third degree Cause your words are like gasoline You pour on the fire and the bridges you burned Led to our dreams It's just another thing that we lost When the spark turned into a flame And the flames grew much higher And my hope, faith, and every last desire Is just another thing that we lost in the fire Just another thing that we lost Just another thing that we lost Just another thing that we lost Ashes fall just like snowflakes That are warm against my skin You say that we could re-build this Wouldn't know where to begin Cause there's no snow And there's no rain To hide my tears To douse these flames Cause I've been burned Way beyond the third degree Cause your words are like gasoline You pour on the fire And the bridges you burn led to our dreams It's just another thing that we lost When the spark turned into a flame And the flames grew much higher And my hope, faith, and every last desire Is just another thing that we lost in the fire Is just another thing that we lost in the fire Is just another thing that we lost in the fire Is just another thing that we lost in the fire Is just another thing that we lost Just another thing that we lost Just another thing that we lost Just another thing that we lost Just another thing that we lost Just another thing that we lost

The thing I love about this song is the build-up tone produced by the piano and drums and the excellent mix of Electro editing. This has a relaxing tone and can give you a daily boost.
What do you love about this song? Do you agree or disagree? Leave a comment below.

The Pain of Longterm Headphone Use

Headphones are the best audio device to use when it comes to personal audio enjoyment. There best trait when it comes to delivering quality music is their powerful and big drivers that can really deliver crisp sound and powerful bass. Another trait is their ability to encircle your ears and cancel noises that can bother you and only feed your ears with sweet music.

There are 2 types of headphones according to connection. One is a wireless headphone that is usually connected via Bluetooth to your phone or audio device. It’s main advantage is that it eliminates the hassle of being limited by the wire and eliminates the accidental disconnections when the plug is pulled. Bluetooth headsets generally give you 10 meters of space from the connected device which is a long distance compared to wired headphones that give you at most 2 meters. On the other hand, wired audio devices can be connected to amplifiers that can totally elevate you to a whole other level compared to listening via Bluetooth.

Headphones usually comes with padding on the earpiece to provide comfort when you listen. However long term use of headphones can really put a strain on your ears because of the undue pressure exerted by the padding and the unbalanced distribution of forces into your ears.

So what should you look for when buying headphones and you intend to use them for longer duration but you want maximum comfort:

1. Check the padding. A really soft padding will be softer than your pillows. Although they are generally made of foam, the outside covering could also play a role regarding it’s softness. A soft leather will be much more comfortable compared to a regular synthetic leather.

Here’s a comparison between two types of padding and their leather coverings:

The soft padding is more compressible and is more comfortable to use over time.

This headphone has more resistance due to the synthetic leather cover for the padding.

2. Check the flexibility of the curve. A curve generally made of metal would be more rigid compared to that made of plastic. A rigid curvature will produce tension and it will be transmitted to your ears causing strain. So flex the headphones to examine it’s flexibility.

3. Ear coverage. Does it cover your ear totally or only some parts? A good over the ear headphones generally cover your ear and avoid causing strain on some parts while on the ear headphones can cause undue strain on some areas of contact.

In general it is always best to try on the headphones before buying one. Any sign of strain to your ears is already a red flag. Choose over the ear headphones and adjust the level of the headphones to the level that is comfortable to your ears. If you increase the level and the curve, the more comfortable it is in general.

What other tips can you give for buying or using comfortable headphones? Share it with me on the comments below. 

Download music from Souncloud

I've always wanted to download some tracks I listen to on soundcloud and the usual way of doing it was by checking the  description to see any links to spotify or a download link. That approach though usually requires you to follow the artist and like a page. Then I discovered soundload from the google play store. Soundload is a cool app that allows you to download the tracks you like from sound cloud simply by pressing the share button and selecting soundload. It is easy as two steps and you get your music into your music library via the soundload folder.

Here are some pictures of how you do it:
1. Play the song you like and press the share button.

2. After pressing the share button, select soundload and wait for the download to start in the background.

3. Check your soundload folder to play the music on your music player.

What I love about soundload is that it is easy and hassle free to use. This skips the previous steps of following the artist to be able to download a track. Sound quality is as good as the soundload quality.

Download the soundload app at the playstore for free.

Do you enjoy using soundload? Are there apps you use similar to soundload? Please leave a comment below.

Rating from 1-5 stars
Ease of Use - 5
Feature - 3
Sound Quality - 3

Coloud Pop: Is it good?

Coloud Pop, is a hip and tacky earphone, but does it deliver? I've been using coloud pops for almost 3 years now, and I a fan of it's good music quality. I bought mine for around Php 800+ ($17). Here are 2 of my coloud pops: 

What can it do?

• Tangle free design for the cables. Its unique locking design using the 3.5 mm jack and the flat cable design makes it easy to store and avoids tangling.
• Music Control. It has a control button with the following actions: 1 click: pause/play/answer call. 2 clicks: skip track 3 clicks: previous track
• Extra ear rubber fitting for better fit in 3 sizes.

Locking design for the 3.5 mm jack

All black coloud pop 

Black and Red Coloud Pop

Good ear fit with many rubber fitting sizes.

What's not to like:

• Apparently all wired earphones don't last to long. This one lasted me 8 months of heavy daily usage. The usual problem is the lost of sound on one side.
• The L shaped connector tends to get easily dislodged on my pocket compared to straight connectors. 

Should you buy it?

Considering it's price and performance, it is a good deal for the sound quality it can deliver. It is easy and convenient to store due to its tangle free system. Don't expect it to last a lifetime though as wear and tear can have its toll on this product.

To rate it from 1-5 stars:

Design: 4
Ease of use: 4
Durability: 3.5
Features: 3.5

Avicii: Top picks

One of my favorite DJ's is Avicii. The first song he made that I listened to was Levels, and the music video on that one was awesome. His compositions are really good and mellow to the ears. Anyway here are my top 5 Avicii songs for you:

1. Wake Me Up


2. Hey Brother


3. Waiting for Love


4. Levels


5. Taste the Feeling



What's your top Avicii song? Post a comment below.

Doss Asimom 3: Is it worth it?

In terms of Bluetooth speakers, Doss Asimom 3 is a neat device that can deliver good sound quality. 

I used mine for a couple of months and sadly this device is not a very durable one. In general you're better off using wired audio speakers for long term use.

Here are some reasons you should buy it:

• It is a neat device that can easily be stored for travel use.
• Wireless charging: the wireless charger can double as a wireless charger for your phone
• Charger power bank : you can use the wireless charger as a powerbank to charge your phone via a micro USB cable. Although it doesn't have that much juice, somehow it helps.
• Sound Quality is good. Good enough for a Bluetooth Speaker.
• NFC: you can also use NFC pairing. This device was way ahead of its time when it was released.

Here are some reasons you should probably consider buying other Bluetooth speakers:

• Wireless Charging battery expansion: In the long run, the battery on the wireless charger starts to expand. There is a simple fix to this problem though, here is the video of my repair tutorial:
• No alternative for charging if the wireless charger is destroyed unless you have a spare
• Wireless charger micro USB port can easily be damaged. I had mine repaired by a technician for about (Php 600 or $13)
• Dropping it can damage the device easily unlike the hurricane model which is design durable use. 
• It has 2.5 mm audio jack on the speaker, which means you need to find an adapter if the supplied cable is damaged. 

I had great time using this audio device. It was convenient and easy to use however its durability was in question and its greatest flaw was the wireless charging feature. 

To rate it from 1-5 stars:

Design: 4
Ease of use: 4.5
Durability: 3
Features: 4.5

Have you tried using this device? Leave a comment about your experience on this product. 

Tropical EDM August List

Tropical house or Tropical EDM is a laid back genre that is great to listen to when you're relaxing especially on the beach or by the pool.

Checkout my Top 5 recommended Tropical EDM for August.

1. Saltwater - 2015 Radio Rework by Nora En Pure

2. I Took A Pill In Ibiza - SeeB Remix by Mike Posner

3. Sunset Lover by Petit Biscuit

4. Tropic Love by Diviners, Contacreast

5. Paradise - Boehm Remix by Josef Salvat, Boehm

Stay tuned on this blog for more Tropical EDM monthly. Comment your favorite tropical house music below for your suggestions.

Bluedio Hurricane H Turbine: Practical Price, Great Performance

Bluetooth headsets are great gadgets for audiophiles. The Bluedio Hurricane H Turbine in particular is the cheapest Bluetooth headset you can buy that can really deliver. I bought mine from Lazada at Php 1895 ($41) but amazon has a cheaper price at $29.

What are it's features:

• It uses Bluetooth 4.1 technology which is much more efficient that the previous versions.
• Equalizer app. This is a must download for Bluedio users which allows you to maximize the device. Download the app here: http://wap.bluedio.com/t2.html .Click the Andriod Icon to download the APP.
• 3.5 mm jack: If you run out of battery simply connect the 3.5 mm jack cable or if you want to share music to another headphone/headset or even a speaker simply connect it to the port.
• 40 hrs of music playtime. This device packs serious juice. It even came charged with 70% battery and it took almost a week of playtime to drain it. This puts you at ease when you travel.
• Audio sharing: be it another Bluetooth headset or another wired headset.
• Comfortable fit. 

The package comes with a neat box with the Bluedio serial to verify its authenticity on their website. 

Package Box

Package contents: Micro USB Cable, 3.5 mm Jack cable

and Bluedio Hurricane H Turbine Headphone

Dislikes:

• Long time use can strain your ears. 
• Really loud sound that leaks if you put it on max volume. Don't use it when someone is seating near you as it might inconvenience him/her
• Fragile plastic design: Do not seat on it or drop it. It's connection at the adjustment portion is made of plastic unlike the T2 model which is metal, this makes it brittle.

 Likes:

• All the feature mentioned above
• Excellent music quality. Use the equalizer app to fully maximize the device.
• 3.5 mm jack: It means I get to use it even without power.
• 57 mm driver: packs a powerful base

 Overall this is a great product worthy of recognition at it's price point. A good mid range headphone that can really deliver.

To rate it from 1-5 stars:

Design: 4
Ease of use: 5
Durability: 3.5
Features: 5

Spotify: Switching from downloading to streaming

With the advent of streaming media and faster internet connections paired with unlimited access to the streaming library not limited to your phones storage capacity, it seems like music streaming us the way to go.

Spotify is the clear leader in the Philippine market (only Php 129) today, offering cheaper prices on some markets, even comparing it to the price of buying 1 box of pizza for a month.

I had tried spotify free for a couples of months and found the service to good, so i subscribed to premium. The pronise of adfree streaming and creating your own playlist and saving it offline so you could listen to it anytime was the deal maker. It means I could enjoy high quality music wherever I go and I have full control.

Here are some features that makes spotify great:
1. The weekly discover weekly playlist just for you. This is the best feature of spotify which gives you a playlist of suggested songs based  on your listening habits. This feature keeps expanding my library weekly. I enjoy listening to new songs that are in sync with my personal preferrence. This absolutely makes monday more lively and awesome.

2. Offline Save (Premium). As described earlier, this allows you to save your playlist and bring it with you anywhere you go without the hassle of connecting online. This is a perfect feature if you are traveling to save data and battery at the same time.
3. Duplicate songs prompt. If you saved the same songs on the same playlist, it will automatically warn you. This is a neat feature compared to using windows media player which used to allow duplicate songs in my playlist and library which is a constant pain to me.
4. Share songs. A clip of the song you like  can be shared on social media like twitter and facebook. This allows your friends to listen to that clip since player is integrated in the social media unlike just posting links.
5. Share your playlist, see what your friends are listening to realtime. This is a social integration feature in the app that allows you to see what your friends are listening to and even see their playlist if you have the same taste in music.

6. Radio. Allows you to play a playlist or broadcast in to your friends. It even adds suggested music on the playlist.
7. Recommended songs based on playlist ( PC ). This suggests more songs for the particular playlist you are on.
8. Tons of playlist. Although the browse category displays only the popular ones, there is a massive library of playlist to choose from.
9. May song categories. If you want to listen to retro music, simply select decades category and listen to the songs of the past. My personal favorite is the edm category. There is also blues, jazz, classical, rock, rnb, christian songs, comedy etc. Whatever drives your fancy, spotify has it, except for taylor swift songs :-(

10. Local files integration(PC), yes you can listen to your saved songs on your local drive via the spotify player.
11. Play music on 1 device and controll it either with your pc, tablet or phone. This is a great feature for me. I usually connect my tablet to the amplifier, then control spotify via my phone or pc wherever I am at home.

There are more features to spotify that you should discover. I'll be posting more of this next time. Feel free to leave a comment about your experience using spotify. If you haven't tried spotify yet, download it via the app store/play store.

To rate it from 1-5 stars:

Design: 4.5
Ease of use: 5
Visualizations/Album Art: 4.8
Video Playback: NA
Features: 5

Download Spotify