audio posts

Grooveshark reaches deal with EMI, more big things just around the corner

by Lee Mathews Oct 13th 2009

I love my Grooveshark pro subscription - I paid for it a while back when the new VIP preview went live and I've never regretted it. With more new features rolling out and a major announcement today, the service keeps getting better and better.

Today's big news: EMI Music and EMI Music Publishing have come on board to "create a mutually sustainable deal which represents the future of digital music," said Grooveshark CEO Sam Tarantino.

In layman's terms: Grooveshark listeners now have access to EMI's massive catalog of tunes. In a brief phone chat with Grooveshark's Joshua Bonnanain, I got the distinct impression that this was just the start. While he didn't spell out any specifics for me (we love a good mystery anyway) I'm hoping that the ability to buy and download playlists is coming soon. I'd much rather use Grooveshark for my purchases than iTunes - Josh said stay tuned, wheels are turning.

Some added coolness for current VIPs: there are now half a dozen new themes available to use and added options for the now playing bar. You can choose either no cover art, or artwork in two different sizes. It's an awesome option, especially if you use Grooveshark on both small and large displays.

Reaching a deal with EMI is fantastic news - here's hoping other labels follow suit.

Tags: audio, EMI, grooveshark, mp3, music, online-radio, radio, streaming

Filed under: Audio, Utilities, Video, Web

MP32Tube makes uploading audio files to YouTube a snap

by Brad Linder Sep 28th 2009

YouTube may be an online video site, but that doesn't mean you can't use it to distribute podcasts, audio interviews, music (which you own the rights to) and other audio files. In order to upload an audio file to YouTube, you'll need to convert it to a video format by using software to add your audio to a video track, photo slideshow, or a static image.

But if you don't feel like taking the time to edit a video using desktop software, you can convert an MP3 file to a video file quickly and easily with MP32Tube, a web-based service that will create a video file for you and even upload the finished product to your YouTube account.

All you have to do is sign in with your Google Account (using Google's API), choose a background image, pick an MP3 file, and hit convert. A few minutes later the file should be available on your YouTube page.

[via Life Rocks 2.0]

Tags: audio, mp32tube, video, youtube

Filed under: Audio, Utilities, Video

Dirpy rips YouTube audio to mp3

by Jay Hathaway Sep 28th 2009

Some YouTube videos are really only worth it for the audio portion. I've seen tons of songs posted to YouTube with still images instead of real videos, and often wished I could just download the audio in one step. Dirpy lets you easily save the sound from a YouTube video as an mp3 for later listening, or save the whole video if you really want to.

One of Dirpy's best features is the ability to specify the portion of the audio you want to download by entering start and stop times, which really helps when you come across a video with a long intro. Dirpy also lets you set ID3 tags for your ripped audio files, so they're probably labeled in iTunes and other players. You can find videos to rip by searching on Dirpy or using the bookmarklet on any YouTube video page.

[via Lifehacker]

Tags: audio, dirpy, download, mp3, rip, youtube

Filed under: Audio, Apple

iTunes 9: no social networking, plenty of new features, breaks Palm Pre sync

by Jay Hathaway Sep 9th 2009

I guess those leaked iTunes 9 screenshots were fake after all. Apple has just released the latest version and, while it doesn't include the Facebook integration we were speculating about, there are some major improvements to syncing, the iTunes Music Store, and Genius. For iPod Touch and iPhone users, the biggest new feature is the ability to organize your apps and create custom home screens from within iTunes. We'll have a detailed look at these features soon, but here are the basics:

Syncing

If you have more than one computer on your home network, you can now share your iTunes library with up to 5 other machines. Previously, you could view and play music from shared libraries, but now you can import songs from other authorized machines, and play your purchased music on any of them.

The Music Store

The iTunes Music Store has gotten a nice facelift, and is now a bit easier to navigate. The big news is that both music and movies now have extras. New iTunes LPs feature album artwork, liner notes, videos and more, putting a digital spin on the gatefold covers from LPs of yore (do most iTunes customers even remember vinyl?). Movies also come with extras now, which should attract a few customers who held off making the switch from DVD because of the bonus features.

Tags: apple, audio, itunes, itunes 9, Itunes9

Filed under: Audio, Web services

Pandora's desktop app for subscribers gets an update

by Jay Hathaway Sep 2nd 2009

One of the many perks the Pandora streaming music offers its subscribers is access to the Pandora One desktop app for Windows and Mac. That perk just got a lot cooler, now that Pandora One 2.0 is out. It adds some features that are pretty essential to a good desktop music player, like easy access to your song history, and a progress bar. I'm not going to ask why it didn't have a progress bar before. Even if you can't skip around within songs in Pandora, it's nice to know how far into a track you are.

It's not flashy, but the most exciting new thing in Pandora 2.0 is the shorter time between songs when you skip or give the thumbs-down. Volume settings are also persistent now, so you get the same volume every time you start the app. And, by the way, Pandora One is an Adobe Air app, so it'll run on Mac and Windows.

[via Mashable]

Tags: audio, music, pandora, pandora-one, streaming

Filed under: Audio, Beta, web 2.0

Streaming music site Grooveshark previews new look, features to VIPs

by Lee Mathews Aug 25th 2009

Grooveshark is an excellent streaming audio service, and one of our favorites here at Download Squad. Yesterday, they announced early access to a redesigned Grooveshark 2.0 for VIP users.

The interface has been revamped, and long gone are the days where I had to upload missing tracks. Grooveshark's library is massive, and I've been able to find bands that I once dug out of the Camelot Music sale bin. My long-lost Mind Bomb CD, missing since high school? No problem, Grooveshark's got it now.

Songs you locate via search can now be added to your library with a simple click (instead of having to upload them yourself). Drag-and-drop playlist editing makes re-ordering tracks a breeze. The player itself has been improved as well, with better caching and the ability to seek - just click the spot you want to skip to. Sorting options have also been added, and they make finding tracks and organizing your library and playlists even easier.

Currently there are four shiny, new skins available to choose from. The chalkboardish Tutorial provides helpful pointers for new users, though the new Grooveshark is intuitive enough to use that you probably won't need any help.

And it's still a great deal - $30 per year gets you a VIP account with no commercial interruptions, and even us geotarded Canadians can enjoy the goodness.

Tags: audio, grooveshark, music, playlists, streaming

Filed under: Audio, Video, Web services

Recordr is a quick, web-based way to record audio or video

by Jay Hathaway Aug 16th 2009

Recordr is an extremely easy way to make audio and video recordings of yourself online. It only takes one click to record from the Recordr website or by using a bookmarklet. It's extremely lightweight, with no registration or download required. In fact, Recordr doesn't even require a webcam - you can make audio posts without one

Recordr is even more bare-bones than YouTube. It's got no editing or commenting features, just recording. The only social features are quick links to share to Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook. Something this simple isn't going to fit everyone's needs, but it could really come in handy if you're on a computer with no recording software, and just need to dash off a video for the web.

Tags: audio, record, recordr, video, webcam

Filed under: Office, Productivity, VoIP, Web

Real-time collaboration is simple with Team Apart

by Jay Hathaway Aug 10th 2009

Sometimes, the best people for a job can't all assemble in the same physical location. That's not a problem when everyone's working independently, but even the best remote coworkers sometimes need to have a meeting. Team Apart makes that possible, with really simple real-time collaboration features including audio/video chat and whiteboarding.

It's easy to invite people to your Team Apart workspace. In fact, you just have to send them the URL. Once everybody's in the room, you can chat via webcam and take notes on a shared real-time notepad. You can also share photos and documents, and Team Apart will store them in your virtual workspace. Team Apart is still in beta, with limited invitations available, but it looks like a simple and effective solution to some of the problems of remote collaboration.

Tags: audio, collaboration, real-time, team-apart, video, whiteboard

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Microsoft

Microsoft and ReverbNation giving away 1,000 MP3s - and they don't all suck

by Lee Mathews Jul 27th 2009

I'll admit I felt a little dirty after visiting MySpace for the first time in years, but I had a good reason. There's an announcement up at www.myspace.com/Windows with some good news for free music fans.

In partnership with ReverbNation, they're giving away more than 1,000 free MP3 / M4A audio tracks. The goodies are all available at www.reverbnation.com/windows, and unlike a lot of massive audio giveaways there are plenty of good tracks to be had.

I was excited to find tracks from Skindred, Bif Naked, Fishbone, and Reverend Horton Heat (among others). While my taste in music might not jive with yours, don't fret - there's plenty to choose from. You can view the whole catalog or browse by genre - Alternative, Electronic/Dance, Hip Hop, Jazz, Latin, Pop, and Rock.

I'm never one to argue with good, free music, even if it means having to visit MySpace once in a while. Want to stay in the loop? Add Windows as a friend on MySpace - or just check back every so often if you'd rather not blow the dust off your profile.

Tags: audio, downloads, free, m4a, mp3, music, myspace, reverbnation

Filed under: Audio, Developer, Utilities, Mozilla, Browsers

Jetpack 0.4, now with audio recording and page mods

by Jay Hathaway Jul 22nd 2009

Jetpack is Mozilla's new favorite power tool for customizing the browsing experience. As Lee has explained here on Download Squad, Jetpack makes creating Mozilla add-ons easier, allow developers to build using HTML, CSS and Javascript. The latest Jetpack release, 0.4, includes APIs for audio recording and encoding, as well as a page modification API.

Audio can be recorded directly to Ogg-Vorbis, which is the sound format of choice for Firefox 3.5's audio tag. That means you can allow recording and embedding, straight from the browser and all within Jetpack's APIs. There's a voice memo demo you can check out to get an idea of the way these features can be useful.

The page mod API makes it easy to implement Greasemonkey-style modifications to web pages. Some code examples are posted, including a little page mod that blacklists a site for a set amount of time to deter proscrastination.

Tags: API, audio, firefox, jetpack, mozilla, recording

Filed under: Audio, Video, Macintosh, VoIP

Skype 2.8 Gold for Mac adds screen sharing and more

by Jay Hathaway Jul 22nd 2009

Skype 2.8 Gold, the final version of Skype 2.8, is now available for Mac users to download. The list of impressive new features for the popular phone app includes screen sharing, improved audio and video quality, and Skype Access, which is a way to pay for wifi hotspot access with your Skype credit. There are a few cosmetic changes to the UI as well, which

Screen sharing has been in Skype Beta for a while, and it works pretty well. The ability to share just part of your screen is a nice touch, and could especially come in handy for presentations. Skype Access - which is currently only available for Mac users - gets you past the annoying signup process for many paid wifi hotspots. Instead of entering your information and your credit card number, you can just pay with your previously purchased Skype credit. Even better, you only pay for what you use, which means an end to paying for a full hour when you only need a 20-minute session.

Tags: audio, phone, screen-sharing, skype, video, voip

Filed under: Audio, Windows, Commercial, Freeware

Winamp revs up discovery features in new release

by Lee Mathews Jul 1st 2009

Years ago when I was first using Napster on a then blazing-fast dual-channel ISDN connection, WinAmp was my media player of choice. It's come a long way since the early days, and gone from being used by those in the know to the go-to player of more than 84 million people worldwide.

When I finally updated from my trusty old RCA Lyra to an iPod Touch, I quickly downloaded WinAmp again and let it go to work on my library. Autotagging, organizing, and syncing was a breeze.

Tonight, version 5.5.6 arrives and brings with it beefed up discovery and social features thanks to the Orgler plugin. Orgler has been available separately since May, but it's now included as part of the main WinAmp download.

Similar to Last.fm scrobbling, the plugin keeps tabs on your listening and allows WinAmp to provide discovery features. Tracks you play are automatically added to your AOL Music profile page (here's mine - keep in mind I only activated the Orgler this morning). Streaming tracks aren't currently supported, though that will likely appear in future releases. Don't feel like sharing? It's not required, so just change your options in the Orgler preferences.

Tags: audio, mp3, music, player, winamp

Filed under: Audio, Fun, Web

KissTunes: make music online, with your keyboard

by Jay Hathaway Jun 30th 2009

KissTunes is an online service that makes it easy to play and record music using your computer's keyboard. It offers three different instruments, and all the home row keys (and a few from the row above) represent notes. You can save your song, along with any comments from friends, as a .kiss file that will open from the KissTunes on any computer.

The "kiss" in KissTunes probably refers to a show of affection, but it could also very well stand for "Keep it Simple, Stupid!" KissTunes isn't a complex compositional tool, and it's not aimed at professionals. It's more akin to a greeting card, except instead of sending cheesy canned music, you play and send the music yourself. Obviously, this isn't going to revolutionize the Internet, but it's a fun idea.

Tags: audio, keyboard, kisstunes, midi, music, record

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux

Stream your iTunes music on the web using pulpTunes

by Jay Hathaway Jun 10th 2009

If you've been looking for a way to stream music from your iTunes library on the web that "just works," you should give pulpTunes a look. With pulpTunes, it's extremely easy to set up a stream at a private URL, and even password protect it. Even better, it's available on all platforms.

The basic premise of a web server for your music is pretty cool, but pulpTunes throws in a lot of other iTunes-ish perks, including AAC support, album art, and iTunes DJ support. You can also download songs from your iTunes, or share a direct link to a song or playlist with your friends. That's a lot of features for an app that's so simple to set up.

[via AppScout]

Tags: audio, itunes, music, pulptunes, server, streaming

Filed under: Text, Education

Wordnik: don't call it a dictionary

by Jay Hathaway Jun 8th 2009

Wordnik is a bit like a dictionary, in the sense that it collects words and their definitions, but it aspires to be more than that. Users contribute example sentences, audio pronunciations, images from Flickr and more, so you can really get a good idea of how and when a word is used. There's also a thesaurus-plus "related words" feature, which shows not only synonyms and antonyms, but other words that are used in a similar context.

Wordnik isn't exactly Wiktionary, but it does accept user contributions of just about anything you can think of about a word. The combination of images, audio and contextual clues would also seem to make it a better dictionary than most for non-english speakers, and its library contains a weighty 1.7 million words. Since it's laid out better than most dictionary sites, and also incorporates definitions from some of the better ones, it wouldn't be a bad move to replace your current favorite online dictionary with Wordnik.

Tags: audio, definitions, dictionary, wordnik, words

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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