Music

Ever notice how some song titles are too long to fit on an iPhone or iPod touch display? The iOS Music app simply truncates the text and adds a trailing elipsis at the end. Now thanks to iOS 5 you can actually view all of the track information with this simple tip.

When you're interested in seeing the whole track name, just hold down on the track listing and a black pop-up box will appear. Inside this box will be the complete track title without any abbreviation. Once you lift your finger, the box will remain open until you tap the screen again.

Sony officially launched its Music Unlimited app for the iPhone in New Zealand on Monday. The app should be available in the U.S. and other supported markets soon. It is free to download and offers two paid subscription options: a $4 Basic plan and a $10 Premium plan with 30-day free trial. The music streaming service was previously only available to Android and PlayStation 3 owners.

The Basic plan grants you access to all the basic channels, while the Premium plan offers access to Sony’s full catalogue plus other goodies (see list of Premium features below). Spotify users should know what to expect. The Sony Music Unlimited app is compatible with the iPhone and iPod. It's also compatible with the iPad but it's not optimized for the device.

Apple is rolling out its iTunes Match service to several new countries today, including Austria, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Slovenia. A full report on the launches was first revealed by MacStories. Even though iTunes Match is now live in Italy and terms of service have been changed to include Match in other countries, Apple has yet to update its official iTunes Match availability document.

iTunes Match was first launched in the US in November 2011, followed by further rollouts in December and January. The service is now officially available in 37 countries around the globe including Australia, Brazil, the UK and others. Although Japan was rumored to be getting the service in February, Apple has yet to launch it there.

Talk about convenience. A new jailbreak tweak called HeadphoneLauncher automatically brings up a media dock when the headphones are plugged in. The tweak can be configured using settings to provide access to multiple apps directly from the lock screen.

You can decide exactly which apps you want to appear in the lock screen launcher after the headphones are plugged in. Once the tweak detects the presence of headphones, these app icons pop up along with standard media controls (play, pause, etc).

The ability to stream music from your iPhone directly to speakers or an AirPlay-enabled device like the Apple TV is one of the perks of iOS. Some music apps, like Pandora, include a handy AirPlay button that makes turning on streaming simple. So how do you get other music playing applications on the iPhone to use AirPlay?

Just because the app developer didn't include the AirPlay button directly in the app interface doesn't mean you're out of business. Apple has included a default AirPlay switch in iOS along with volume controls on the multitasking dock. Accessing AirPlay from any music app is possible as long as your AirPlay-compatible devices are properly configured on your Wi-Fi network.