Rakuten OverDrive’s Libby reading app is now compatible with Apple CarPlay, said the company Tuesday. The Libby app lets users with a library card listen to audiobooks for free. Once an audiobook is borrowed and on Libby’s shelf, users can access and control the title through CarPlay for play through the vehicle's speakers. The app is also available for Android Auto.

Helm Audio is shipping its TWS 5.0 true wireless earphones, it said Wednesday. The $129 earbuds have Bluetooth 5.0 with range up to 60 feet, Qualcomm’s aptX Bluetooth codec, auto-pairing, auto-charging and 6-8 hours of play time, said the company. Smart buttons allow users to control music tracks, volume and phone calls and to access a voice assistant, it said.

Vinyl Weekend is returning to Barnes & Noble Friday, promising limited-edition releases, in-store specials, discounts and giveaways, said the retailer Monday. It began taking preorders for an exclusive color version of the soundtrack for Blinded by the Light, inspired by story, words and music of Bruce Springsteen. Stores and bn.com will offer 10 percent off all vinyl and 30 percent off Crosley turntables and accessories during the weekend, it said. Promoted items, exclusives largely for their vinyl color, include Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual; Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Chronicle: 20 Greatest Hits; Danny Elfman’s Dumbo; Ingrid Michaelson’s Stranger Songs with two bonus tracks; Woodstock Three and Four compilations; best of collections from Roberta Flack, Sonny and Cher, and Dionne Warwick; John Coltrane’s Lush Life, Elvis Presley’s Good Times, the Miles Davis Quintet’s Cookin' and Ringo Starr’s Rotogravure.

Sony Electronics expanded its noise-canceling headphone line with a true wireless model, it said Friday. The WF-1000XM3 ($229) has dual noise sensor technology that works with the company’s HD noise-canceling processor QN1e to “catch and cancel noise” by creating an inverted sound wave that offsets background noise. A newly developed chip allows left-right simultaneous Bluetooth transmission, enabling left and right earbuds to receive audio content, rather than the conventional left-to-right relay Bluetooth transmission, said the company. The new chip, coupled with an optimized antenna structure, results in a “highly stable connection,” it said. A tri-hold design is said to hold earbuds firmly in place with three supporting points for the ear, and a high-friction rubber surface ensures a stable fitting. On a full charge, the headphones offer six hours of power with noise canceling on; the charging case delivers an additional three charges, it said.

True wireless is “rapidly cannibalizing other in-ear form factors,” especially in low- and mid-price segments, reported Futuresource Friday. True wireless is “here to stay” and is projected to comprise two-thirds of in-ear headphone market value in four years, it said. The headphone subcategory had 223 percent year-on-year unit growth and 188 percent revenue growth in Q1 amid “fierce competition,” said the research firm, and “the race is on” for manufacturers to deliver smaller form factors that still deliver features including waterproofing, noise canceling, no wires and voice, with “decent audio quality.” Apple’s market share in the segment exceeded 80 percent last year, but more brands are now releasing true wireless models, leading to “inevitable erosion” of the AirPods’ share, it said. Improvements in battery life will help adoption and enable vendors to incorporate more features such as active noise canceling and wake word technology, it said. Sony is offering noise canceling in true wireless earphones, Amazon is reportedly planning a true wireless model this year, and Google and Microsoft are expected to enter the market to extend the reach of their voice assistants, said Futuresource. Outside of traditional music uses, the researcher sees an uptake in true wireless headphones among users with hearing loss. Ninety percent of people with impaired hearing don't own a hearing aid, it said, expecting many of those with mildly impaired hearing to take to true wireless products to enhance their hearing and avoid the “stigma and costs” of wearing traditional hearing aids.

Ams Audio Technology, an Austria-based sensor supplier, introduced a digital noise-cancellation technology for true wireless earbuds. A drawback of “loose-fit” earbuds is the ability for external noise to leak into the ear, said the company. Its ams digital audio technology platform offers “automatic leakage compensation,” adjusting for air leakage between the earbud and the ear in real time, it said. The company’s vision is that earphone makers will let users choose which types and sources of external noise to block out and which to hear, it said. Its automatic preset selection technology lets manufacturers configure desired noise cancellation settings optimized for different types of ambient noise, and they can develop earbuds that will automatically switch from one mode to another depending on the type of noise it detects, it said.

Yamaha announced home-theater-in-a-box systems built for 5.1-channel surround sound and Bluetooth streaming Tuesday. The YHT-4950U ($499) and YHT-5950U ($599), packaged around Yamaha receivers that can be purchased separately, are due in stores in July, and include five speakers and a powered subwoofer. The YHT-5950U integrates Yamaha’s MusicCast technology, which delivers music-streaming services over Wi-Fi to the system and to other MusicCast speakers in a home. The step-up model also supports Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri voice control; Alexa and Google control require Echo and Google Home smart speakers.

Amazon Music launched on Xfinity X1, Comcast said Thursday, the first time the service will be available directly on a TV via a pay-TV provider. It rolls out over the next few weeks for broadband customers and will be accessible alongside live, on-demand and web content, Comcast said. Amazon’s music service is also available on the $5-per-month Xfinity Flex (see 1903210038), Comcast’s recently launched internet-only service that includes a streaming TV box and voice remote. Xfinity X1 and Flex customers can say “Amazon Music” into their voice remote to browse, discover and listen to “millions of songs and thousands of playlists and stations,” it said. Last year, Comcast and Amazon launched Prime Video on X1. Meanwhile, iHeartRadio pushed radio in a Thursday announcement, saying the medium continues to reach more people daily than others, citing an Ipsos study. Broadcast radio reaches 85 percent of consumers, more than other audio channels including social media (68 percent) and live TV (56 percent); it has twice the daily listening of streaming services, reaching 69 percent of consumers vs. streaming music’s 34 percent. Millennials and Gen Z listen the most at more than 18 hours per week and 2.6 hours per day. Most audio listening, 65 percent, is outside the home and 65 percent of that is done in the car. The rise of smart speakers has made radio “more prominent than ever in the home,” it said, with smart speaker owners spending 47 percent more time listening to radio 8-10 p.m. than listeners without smart speakers. The study, done by Ipsos for iHeartMedia in March, surveyed 6,016 consumers 13-64 who listen to at least one audio platform once a week. Podcast listening is up 48 percent among 12-24-year-olds, said iHeartRadio, citing an Edison Infinite Dial study.

Swedish fashion technology company Happy Plugs introduced its third-generation true wireless headphones Wednesday at $89. The Happy Plugs Air 1 earbuds have Bluetooth 5.0, 3.5 hours’ listening time on a charge, one-hour charging and a sweat- and splash-resistant design, said the company. The plugs offer 14 touch commands to manage volume, take phone calls, control music and access Siri and Google Assistant, it said. Preorders began Wednesday, with shipping slated for July 5.

Klipsch bowed two premium Bluetooth sound bars said to be on par in sound quality with its Reference series speakers. The Bar 48 ($499) is a 3.1-channel model with a dedicated center-channel speaker, wireless 8-inch subwoofer and surround-sound codecs including Dolby Digital and Digital Plus, DTS and DTS-HD. Optional Surround 3 speakers are $249 a pair. The 2.1-channel Bar 40 ($299) comes with a wireless 6.5-inch subwoofer, Dolby audio decoder and virtual surround modes. Additional models for the line will be announced in the fall, said Klipsch Wednesday.