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Archive for the 'Music' Category

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How to add album art to iTunes

February 20th, 2010, 7:46 am by

Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. And don’t forget to stop by the Gadgetress’ home for the PC Club, at ocregister.com/link/pcclub, to find out how to ask a question and read past answers.

QUESTION: I ripped CDs to my PC and they are all in the WMA format. Many of the CDs ripped brought with them album art which shows when the folder is viewed in Windows Explorer.  I downloaded iTunes and it found and converted the music to iTunes format. What’s missing from the conversion is the album art from the CDs that were previously ripped to the PC. Is there any way to convert or get the album art loaded into iTunes music? I’d like to do this before loading music on to an iPod.

PC CLUB: First of all, ripping a CD is another term for extracting the music tracks from the CD onto your PC. Even though the common term is to rip or extract, nothing is removed from the CD. I can’t tell from your question how you ripped your CDs but you most likely used the Windows Media Player (WMP). WMP does download album art as soon as you begin the ripping process. iTunes, on the other hand, does not. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Music • Stump the PC Club • • • • • | 1 Comment »

All about iPods and organizing music, Part 2

January 11th, 2010, 2:34 pm by

Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. And don’t forget to stop by the Gadgetress’ home for the PC Club, at ocregister.com/link/pcclub, to find out how to ask a question and read past answers.

This is Part 2 of a 2-part article on iPods and managing your music, pictures and videos. This covers copying of music, pictures and videos to and from your iPod. Read part one: “All about iPods and organizing your music library, Part 1.”

How to copy music to your iPod

There are a few ways to get music on an iPod. Here are two methods:

Use the iTunes library

  1.  
    1. Open iTunes and click File, Add Folder or Add File to Library
    2. Browse to any location on your hard drive or external hard drive and click Add Folder (or select files)
    3. Plug in your iPod now or prior to step 1, it doesn’t matter
    4. Select the Music link under your Library
    5. Create a new Playlist if desired and drag the newly entered songs to the new or existing Playlist.
    6. You can now drag songs from the Library onto your iPod. You may want to create a new Playlist first. Just right-click you iPod icon and select New Playlist.

The above method assumes that you are managing your iPod manually.

Skip the iTunes library Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: iPods • Music • Stump the PC Club • • • • • • • • • | Comments Off

SLEEspot: A cheaper iPod? How about this 16 GB MP3 player

August 18th, 2009, 4:00 pm by

SLEEspot: Gadgetress intern Sandra Lee spots a tech deal daily.This month, Gadgetress’ summer intern Sandra Lee is posting a tech bargain, tip or fun fact every day at 4 p.m. Short, sweet and simple: It’s the SleeSpot!

iPod Touch-iPod Schmutch. I can’t afford a $299 MP3 player! But I may be able to swing one from Coby for $75. The Coby MP815 has 16 GBs of storage, a 2.8-inch wide screen, plus FM radio. Coby MP815 16 GB MP3 playerRight now, it’s $35 off at electronics site JR.com and ships to Orange County for $2.95. ~ Sandra Lee

Got a tip for the SLEEspot? Tell me about it at slee@ocregister.com or Tweet me @sleespot.

Posted in: Gadgets • Music • • • • | 1 Comment »

Get iTunes on a phone that’s not an iPhone

September 24th, 2008, 2:13 pm by

Alltel Wireless announced  today that it added a service allowing its users to listen to their iTunes music collection on 10 Alltel cell phones. 

But it’s not Apple’s iTunes.

Instead, Alltel is offering nuTsie, a music service that allows people to share their iTunes libraries and playlists on their mobile devices. 

A closer look at the service reveals that nuTsie stores an index of your iTunes library on its server. It doesn’t store the actual song files. Instead, when you play a song on the phone, nuTsie checks its own library to see if it has the same song. If it doesn’t have your favorite album, you’ll have to wait for them to add it.

nuTsie also has a few social-networking services, mainly sharing playlists with friends and strangers to get exposed to new music.  

It’s an interesting concept for people who really love and organize their iTunes library. But you’d think that those folks would carry their iPod around all the time anyway.

And a drawback for freeloaders is the mobile service costs money (the PC-based version is free). Alltel users who don’t mind paying the $4.99 per month or $19.99 a year can download the application right on their phone at the “Alltel Shop.”

Alltel phones that work with nuTsie include the MOTORAZR V3m and V3c, the MOTOKRZR K1m, the MOTORAZR2 V9m and the MOTOROKRTM Z6m, the LG AX565, The Wave by LG, the LG AX8600, Samsung Muse, the Alltel Hue by Samsung and The Wafer by Samsung. More are on the way.

nuTsie is also available for the Blackberry for $19.99.

Images from nuTsie

nuTsie Related: 

From Gadgetress:

 

Posted in: Music • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

Musical gadgets at Anaheim NAMM convention

January 17th, 2008, 5:40 pm by

The annual music products fest in Anaheim started today and, from the looks of Anaheim reporter Adam Townsend jamming on drums in the photo at right, the show is fun for participants and journalists alike.

Our Anaheim bureau is blogging live from the convention, so I’ll send you to their blog for all the details, including lots of video. In the meantime, here are some facts about NAMM:

  • Last year’s show reached the highest level of attendance ever at 84,695. The show is not open to the public.
  • The acronym, NAMM, originally stood for the National Association of Music Merchants, but has evolved to an international association including both commercial, retail members and affiliates. Therefore, the long form of the name is no longer used, and it is simply known as NAMM, the International Music Products Association.
  • This year’s count of 1,559 exhibiting companies sets a record for the four-day gathering.

Related articles:

Posted in: Music • | Comments Off

iPhone buds, e-mail security, Drone Tactis and laptop from O.C.

December 21st, 2007, 6:01 pm by

ultimateiphoneIrvine’s Ultimate Ears announced today its first voice-integrated product, earphones designed to work with the iPhone.

The$149.99 super.fi 4 vi earphones in “gunmetal silver” (at left) can be used, like all other earphones designed for the iPhone, to answer a call with music fading in and out just for the phone call. A pause button on the phones also allows users to pause media programs like YouTube and iTunes, skip through songs and answer or end calls.

Another Irvine company, Iophase Inc., this week announced a new version of its e-mail security product, Advanced Email Scrubbing 2.0. The program works to keep spam and viruses away from users and the update includes an updated interface and the ability to automatically find and quarantine spam that the user can still choose to retrieve. The program is priced on a domain basis, with $22.95 per domain and 20 cents for each user.

And the third Irvine company to release news this week was Atlus, USA, which announced Thursday a new game, Drone Tactics, for the Nintendo DS comingDroneTactics out March 25. Players create and command an army of drones fighting against the Black Swarm army.

The final O.C. gadget this week is from BenQ, with United States headquarters in Irvine. They announced Monday a new class of laptops — the dual-screened Joybook Q41. The laptop is the first to offer VoIP (voice over internet protocol) functionality — allowing users to make calls over the Internet right from an auxiliary display. The laptop also has a 14.1-inch UltraVivid widescreen, a 2.5-inch auxiliary display, a Intel Core2 Duo processor and Microsoft Windows Vista operating system.

Posted in: Audio • iPhone • Music • • • • • • • | Comments Off

Another bluetooth headset adds SRS HD sound

November 28th, 2007, 1:00 pm by

Bluetrek ST1

Santa Ana’s SRS Labs is putting its HD sound into ModeLabs Technologies Bluetooth headset.

This comes two weeks after the HD sound was added to IOGEAR’s headset .

The ModeLabs headset is called the Bluetrek ST1 and uses flexible rubber arms to fit around the neck. The ST1 is compatible with any Bluetooth-enabled product that plays music (such as MP3 players and computers).

“We chose to partner with SRS because they have a proven track record as one of the leading audio solutions providers and our products cater to the tastes of style-conscious consumers and tech-savvy enthusiasts who want the best audio experience possible,” said Henri-Nicolas Olivier, Chief Executive Officer for ModeLabs Technologies.

Posted in: Cell phones • Music • • | Comments Off

Boosted brings music through tin cans

November 28th, 2007, 9:00 am by

Irvine’s Boosted, owned by Boost Mobile, has announced a limited edition tin can speaker set.Tincan1

The Boosted Tin Can Speaker Set draws inspiration from, what else, but the simplest form of communication … two tin cans and a piece of string.

The speakers work with all types of music devices (MP3 players, computers, video game consoles and more). This first set of tin can speakers is designed by street artists MINT & SERF (east coasters Mikhail Sokovikov and Jason Wall) and MAINFRAME (Dean Bradley).

Tincan2Battery-operated, the speakers are intended to represent “coast-to-coast communication and brand inspirations including grassroots interest in art and music.”

For $99.99 the speakers can be yours. Find them at Monkey King (Los Angeles), Rotofugi (Chicago), Yoyamart (New York), Cardboard Spaceship (Santa Cruz), Plastic Chapel (Denver) and Urban Outfitters Online .

Posted in: Music • • | Comments Off

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