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amazon mp3 posts

Filed under: Audio, Google, Android

Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store

Buying music directly from the Amazon.com MP3 store is one of Android's coolest features. Although it might not be the "killer feature" that some were hoping it would be, it offers a great way to get quality, DRM free music directly to your device. The only downside is that you have to download music over WiFi (the iTunes WiFi Store works the same way).

As a huge music junkie (my total collection, including digitzed CDs is probably about 2 TB in size -- and that's not 2 TB of FLAC either, that's 2 TB of mostly V0 LAME MP3s), Amazon's MP3 store is easily my favorite place to buy digitial music. Although it might not be making a dent in iTunes sales figures (here's a hint - get in more countries ASAP and start offering digitial exclusives like iTunes does), its increasing selection and weekly deals and promotions continue to make it the best game in town.

So how does the Android version of the store stack up? It hits the most crucial points, but it does lack some of the finesses that could make this a real mobile destination.

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Filed under: Google, Mobile, Android

Android: Hands-on with the T-Mobile G1

At long last, we finally got our hands on the first Android handset, the T-Mobile G1. Our buddies at Engadget already put together a kick-ass hardware review and they were nice enough to break down the software too. Now that phone is officially available and the Android Market is open, we can finally start to give this new platform the once-over.

I have been using the phone for the last four and a half hours or so -- and let me just say, the platform is slick. The hardware is certainly nice, but what really makes this thing sing -- and what we care about at Download Squad -- is the software.

The OS is fast and responsive. Running multiple apps doesn't seem to slow anything down at all. And although I have had a non-Android Market app crash on me a number of times, it hasn't affected the rest of the phone -- something I cannot say for my BlackBerry Curve.

Non-Android Market? Yup! Although the preferred and ultimately, probably the safest way to access applications is through Google's Android Market, you can download applications OTA (over the air) directly from developers after checking a checkbox in Settings > Application Settings.

I did this to use Twitroid a Twitter client for Android that is still in development.

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Filed under: Audio, Internet, Utilities, Linux

Amazon releases MP3 Downloader for Linux

Getting legal digital music is not the easiest task for Linux users. Sure eMusic's download manager has greatly improved in the last year and Amarok offers compatibility with Magnatune's limited artist and album library, but a native solution with a library similar to iTunes has just not been an option. Even Amazon.com's DRM-free MP3 store has had its limitations for Linux users, only allowing for individual track purchases but not discounted full albums.

Thankfully that has changed because Amazon has just released a Linux compatible version of their MP3 Downloader. Amazon has version available for four of the most popular Linux distributions: Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy, Debian 4 Etch, Fedora 8 and OpenSUSE 10.3.

After installing the program, users can then purchase a complete album (or only selected tracks) from the Amazon.com MP3 page. Purchased tracks can then be downloaded quickly from the Amazon MP3 Downloader, which can also playback the audio files. And because these are DRM free MP3 files, they should integrate easily with any MP3 player configured on your Linux desktop.

This is just another reason we think Amazon is approaching digital music distribution the right way. Not only are they not forcing users into buying a proprietary DRM format (nor are they charging more for not being DRM, as iTunes did for the first six months of their iTunes Plus program), they are making their service available to users on all platforms.

[via Digg]

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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