Pandora

Apple Music hit another milestone after winning top honors in a J.D. Power customer satisfaction survey. According to the study, Apple Music beat out competitors including Pandora, Spotify, Google Play, Rhapsody and others. The 2016 Streaming Music Satisfaction Survey found that streaming music listeners were most satisfied when sharing playlists and following other users. J.D. Power describes "Social" as the key battleground for streaming music providers.

iOS users can now wake up to their favorite musical artists thanks to Pandora's new alarm clock mode. Version 5.1 of the Pandora Radio app not only brings a refreshed design for iOS 7 and some bug fixes, but it also adds the option to set an alarm using your favorite radio station.

Users can set the new alarm by navigating to the settings section of the radio station they want to use. The Alarm Clock configurations are at the bottom of the page in the "CLOCK" section under "Sleep Timer". Just tap the Alarm Clock bar to set the time, station, snooze length and volume. Your Pandora app will then alert you when it is time to wake up.

Predictions of Pandora's demise at the hands of iTunes Radio are premature according to the results of a recent survey. The report, cited by AppleInsider, was produced by investment bank Canaccord Genuity. The company explained that iTunes Radio and Pandora can peacefully coexist, while taking "tremendous share" away from broadcast radio.

As it turns out, while 72 percent of those surveyed had installed iOS 7, only 40 percent of that group had tuned into iTunes Radio. When it comes to ditching Pandora entirely for Apple's new service, eight percent were in that category, with 44 percent listening to both services equally. So why are iOS 7 users sticking with Pandora, despite the integration of iTunes Radio into the stock Music app?

Pandora continues to improve its streaming music app for Apple devices with yesterday's release of version 4.4. Now available on the App Store, the latest Pandora Radio app on iOS incorporates several improvements. With Apple's own iTunes Radio service looming on the horizon, Pandora and other streaming music services have been working overtime to polish their offerings.

Regular Pandora users will notice the addition of an automatic pause when muting your device. This feature is handy when silence is needed, making sure that none of your favorite music is missed. When returning to Pandora the song can be resumed. Playback buffering has also been improved, which means that in situations without the greatest data connection the music will not be interrupted as easily.

Swell Radio is a new talk radio streaming app that promises to make finding and listening to news quicker and easier on your iPod or iPhone. The app works like Flipboard for news radio, allowing you to flip through various news clips from popular outlets such as NPR, ABC News and ESPN. The app's large buttons and swipe motions make it easy to use while exercising or performing other tasks.

Swell allows you to share your favorite clips with your Twitter followers or Facebook friends even if they don't have the app, and you can also bookmark your favorite clips so you can listen to them later. The app also features the ability to breakdown content by specific topics like News, Technology, Comedy and so on.