Soundcloud, first birthday and news

Happy birthday Soundcloud! The Berlin-based company has just announced some nice improvements/changes to its service.

What’s new?

– some slight naming changes (PRO is now Premium)

– clouds are cheaper: there’s a new Lite Premium account (€29 per year) and the price of the yearly Solo, Pro and Pro Plus accounts too has been lowered (now it’s €79, €250, €500). This new pricing structure seems much more rational and inviting than the original one, I guess we’ll see many new users on the platform soon (reminder for Soundcloud’s team: don’t forget to improve the service’s bandwidth/stability). Here you get an overview of the new prices/features

– minutes instead of tracks limit: the number of the tracks uploaded is not a problem, their timing becomes the most important criteria. Well, to all the hardcore and oneminutesongs bands, it’s time to join Soundcloud 😉

– two new players: a lovely, minimal one (a simple ‘Play’ button alongside a single text line for the name of your track) and the Artwork player that focuses on the artwork, logo or image that you uploaded with a particular track or set (you can choose among different sizes and colors, to let the waveform fit nicely into your artwork).

– greatly improved stats: well, if you love numbers and graphs (or if your label’s boss has hired you for this job), this is for you

– private track sharing via secret link: a long awaited basic feature, with some nice additional touches (you can now control if you want people to comment or your tracks or not, hide the stats around your track and make comments only visible to yourself)

– last but not least, the iPhone Soundcloud App. It’s already available at €0,79 or $0,99.

Ok guys, but one thing is missing: where’s Soundcloud’s 1st birthday party?