August 31, 2010

8 Free iTunes Alternatives


Herer are 8 Best Free Alternatives for iTunes for Windows. Using these iTunes alternatives, you can copy songs to your iPod, and easily manage it. By  Ishan  April 27, 2010
Note: Most of these will not work with iPod touch or iPhone, and you would have to stick with iTunes for that. I am planning to do some thorough research to find some software that works with iPod Touch. Subscribe to my updates to know when that happens.

Sharepod:

SharePod is unarguably one of the most popular alternative to iTunes. It is very light in size, and intuitive to use. Sharepod can copy songs, videos, playlists, and artwork to your iPod. You can even create backup of your ipod music library with Sharepod.
One of the best feature of Sharepod is that you can install it directly on your iPod, so you can run it on any computer that does not have iTunes installed.
Download Here.

Winamp:

Most of the people are not aware that they can sync their iPod using Winamp. Winamp is a very effective free alternative to iTunes. Apart from just managing your iPod, Winamp is a full fledged media player too. So, if you have any media player installed on your computer, you can uninstall that, and instead use Winamp. This one software will manage your iPod, as well as play all your music. You might need to install iPod plugin for Winamp, if Winamp does not works for you out of the box (Winamp does comes with iPod support built-in).  Here is a detailed tutorial that explains how to use Winamp with your iPod.
Download Here.

CopyTrans Manager:

CopyTrans Manager is another free iTunes alternative. CopyTrans Manager is one of the latest free iTunes alternative, so it supports newer versions of iPod too. It is supposed to support iPod Touch as well, but that was a hit and miss for me.
Download Here.

Foobar2000:

Foobar2000 is another interesting media player. A great feature of Foobar2000 is that it is extremely low in system resources, and functioanlity can be expanded by using variousplugins. Foobar2000 also comes with iPod support, and is a nice free alternative to iTunes.
Download Here.

SongBird:

SongBird is another good music player that comes with support for iPod. However, I wasn’t able to find anything on Songbird’s website for iPod, but their are tons of articlesin blogosphere that mention Songbird’s support for iPod. I will let you try if yourself.
Download Here.

Floola:

Floola is a free alternative to iTunes that lets you copy songs to/from your iPod. Floola works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Floola can be installed directly on your iPod to play it from any computer. Floola lets you copy Songs, videos, and Artwork to your iPod.
Download Here.

Poddox:

Poddox is another iTunes alternative to copy songs to your iPod. Poddox has a pretty nice, and easy to understand interface, that resembles the interface of iPod itself. Poddox does not supports iPhone and iPod Touch at time of writing of this article.
Download Here.

FroddlePod:

FroddlePod is another easy to use free iTunes alternative. It supports all versions of iPod except iPod Touch.
Download Here.
Source: http://www.ilovefreesoftware.com/27/featured/8-free-alternatives-to-itunes-for-windows.html


More free iTunes alternative players including Linux:


Most people im sure would probably agree that Apple’s iTunes software isnt a lightweight application. I was wanting to put together a great list of free alternatives to iTunes that are actually worth checking out.
Foobar 2000 – A digital music management program for Windows users. It works with Windows 2000,Windows Vists Windows XP and Windows XP 64 bit edition. To use this program you will need 32 MB of RAM and a display with at least an 800 X 600 resolution. This program is compatible with MP1-4, MPC, AAC, WAV, SND, WMA, Ogg Valis, WavPack, AIFF, CDDA, FIAC/Ogs FLAC and AU. It also supports full Unicode and Replay Gain. Other great features include third party development potential and keyboard shortcut that are fully customizable.
Froddle Pod – Froddle is not as feature rich as iTunes but it provides access to the main features that iPod owners need: It can copy music and videos from and to an iPod which is definitely the main feature that any iTunes alternative should support. The software can also backup and restore all data that is stored on an iPod. Another feature is music normalization for all or selected music on the iPod.
Songbird – Built on the Firefox platform and works with iPods and other media players. In addition to many great features, Songbird has a plenty of add-ons, and because it’s open source, clever programmers will be adding more as time goes on.
YamiPod An interesting iTunes alternative, because you don’t have to install it on your computer at all. Just copy it to your iPod’s hard disk and then you can manage your songs from any computer running Mac OS X, Windows or Linux.
Winamp – Sometimes called the grandfather of Windows music players, Winamp is a full featured music manager, with integrated iPod support and will even play iTunes protected files if QuickTime is installed.
Amarok – A great iTunes alternative for Linux and Unix users. It works with a wide variety of portable music players including: iPod, Creative Zen players, iRiver iFP and T players, Nomad players, generic MTP players and generic USB players. Some of the features that this program has that you are going to love include: album covers, wikipedia integration, last.fm integration, superior visual effects, lyrics support and music tracking capabilities.
Banshee – Linux users are going to enjoy what Banshee has to offer. This free download allows you to do everything that you want to do with your digital music. You can import music, organize music, play it back, share it and rip it on a CD. This is a great program for people who love their music and who want to actively manage it.
Cog – Most people using Mac OSX feel that iTunes is the best option because it was designed for this platform. However, Cog is worth a look for Mac users, because it addresses many of the limitations that iTunes has. It can be used with the following file types: Ogg vorbis, Monkeys Audio, MP3, Wavpack, Apple Lossless, FLAC, Musepack, AAC and WAV/AIFF. Some of the features that make it a worthy alternative to iTunes include: gapless playback, auto updating, preferences, Growl support, global hot keys, seeking, feedback forms, last.fm support, and smart shuffle.

August 30, 2010

How To Back-up Your iTunes Library

Backup your iTunes Library having your iPod connected:

At the risk of making my Windows readers feel like second-class citizens, please follow the first four steps outlined in the instructions for Mac users.

Once you’ve done that:

1. Double-click on the My Computer icon on the Desktop.

2. Locate your iPod in the window that appears and select it.

3. Choose Folder Options from the Tools menu in the My Computer window.

4. Click the View tab in the Folder Options window that appears.

5. Look for the Hidden Files and Folders entry. Below this entry enable the Show Hidden Files and Folders option and click Apply to reveal the hidden files.

6. Dismiss the Folder Options windows by clicking the OK button.

7. Double-click the iPod’s icon in the My Computer window.

8. Sorry about the return to second-class citizen status, but please follow steps 8 through 10 in the Macintosh instructions above.

9. Once the Music folder is on the Desktop, right-click on the folder, select

Properties from the contextual menu, uncheck the Hidden option in the Attributes area of the General tab, and click Apply. In the Confirm Attributes

Change window that appears make sure the Apply Changes to This Folder, Subfolders, and Files option is checked and click OK.

The folder and all the items in it are now visible and can be dragged into the iTunes library.

Note that although the music files bear a seemingly incomprehensible four-letter title (AHLK.m4a, for example) when viewed outside of iTunes, their titles will appear properly once you’ve brought them into iTunes.

More-Refined Methods

Scan sites such as 
hotfiles.com and versiontracker.com and you’ll discover that there are a host of utilities designed to pull music off your iPod and onto your computer. Some are more sophisticated than others—allowing you to copy not only the music the iPod carries, but its playlists as well. Here are a few of my favorites.


Another useful free utility for backing up your iTunes library is iDump:





iDump will allow you transfer your songs off your iPod to a PC, iDump does come wrapped in installer but you can simply drop the .exe in the root directory on your iPod and run it from there.

Connect your iPod and run iDump and you'll have access to all your songs, select the songs you want to transfer then pick a destination directory and how you would like your songs to be named. And then sit back and transfer all the selected songs to the PC.

You can download it here: 

http://www.softpedia.com/get/IPOD-TOOLS/Multimedia-IPOD-tools/iDump.shtml


Also worth noting: 09-02-2007



How To Recover Your iTunes Library from Your iPod

If your computer crashes and all you have left of your iTunes collection are the files on your iPod, you can use these instructions (found on the Apple forums) to recover your entire iTunes library.

Recover your iTunes Library:

1-After getting your computer up and running again, re-install iTunes

2-Start with the iPod disconnected from the computer & open iTunes

3-Go into iTunes Preferences – this blocks iTunes from seeing an iPod connection; leave the preferences window up and running

4-Connect the iPod to the computer, wait about 15 seconds before continuing

5-Open "My Computer"

6-On the Tools menu, Folder Options, View tab, enable "show hidden files /folders"

7-Open the iPod icon in "My Computer"

8-Open the "iPod_Control" folder

9-Drag the folder called "Music" to somewhere on your computer’s hard drive

10-After the copy completes, right-click the new "Music" folder on your hard drive and select "Properties"

11-Clear the checkmark next to "Hidden"

12-Close that explorer window

13-Eject the iPod from the System tray "Safely Remove Hardware" icon. (This icon looks like a small gray rectangle with a green arrow floating above it.) 14-

14-Right-click & select ‘Safely remove..’, then click ‘Stop’ in the next window, OK in the next window, and then Close to complete the ejection.

15-Disconnect the iPod from the computer.

16-Go back to iTunes, cancel the preferences window

17-Go to the File menu, choose "Add folder to Library: and find that "Music" folder you copied over from the iPod to your PC

18-Your iTunes library should now be restored!

To recover your iTunes Playlists

1-Download this program: http://otto.homedns.org:8888/iTunes/iPodGetXML.zip

2-Put the iPod into Disk Mode or otherwise access the iPod as a drive.

3-Make sure you can see hidden files

4-Go to the drive and the iPod_Control folder and find the iTunesDB file.

5-Copy the file to your PC.

6-Put the copied iTunesDB file in the same directory as this program, then run the program. It’ll read the iTunesDB, get all the playlists, and create an XML file for each one.

7-Now just import those XML files into iTunes to recreate the playlists.













Source: http://www.sarahintampa.com/sarah/2007/09/02/how-to-recover-your-itunes-library-from-your-ipod.html

10 Sources for Free Textbooks

How to Find Free Textbooks Online


Ten sources for free online textbooks

By , About.com Guide

Going to university is expensive, and textbooks can make the bill go even higher. However, you don't have to break the bank to finance a good education; there are plenty of places on the Web where you can find and download free online textbooks for nearly any class available. Here are ten sources on the Web you can use to find free textbooks freely available to either download and print offline or view online in your browser.

1. Use Google

The first place to start when looking for a textbook is Google, using the filetype command. Type in filetype:pdf, followed by the name of the textbook you're looking for in quotes. Here's an example:
filetype:pdf "history of anthropology"
If you don't have any luck with the book's title, try the author (again, surrounded by quotes), or, you can also look for another type of file: PowerPoint (ppt), Word (doc), etc.



2. Open Culture

Open Culture, a fascinating repository of some of the best content on the Web, has assembled an ongoing database of free textbooksranging in subject from Biology to Physics. This list will be updated on a regular basis.
MIT has offered free, open courseware for several years now, and along with these free classes comes free textbooks. You'll have to search for specific classes and/or textbooks on the site in order to find what you're looking for.

4. Textbook Revolution

Run by students, Textbook Revolution offers free textbooks organized by subject, license, course, collections, topic, and level.

5. Flat World Knowledge

Flat World Knowledge is an interesting site that offers textbooks free of charge, mixed with other applicable resources that serve as supplements. All of the books are free to view online.

6. Online Mathematics Textbooks

Professors from the Georgia Institute of Technology have collated an impressive list of online mathematics texts, ranging from calculus to mathematical biology.

7. Wikibooks

Wikibooks offers a wide variety of free textbooks (over 2000 at the time of this writing), in subjects from computing to social sciences.

8. Free Digital Textbook Initiative

From the California Learning Resource Network, the Free Digital Textbook Initiative offers a good selection of free textbooks suitable for both high school and college students.

9. Curriki



Curriki isn't just about free textbooks, although you can find those at the site. Curriki offers a fantastic array of free educational resources, anything from science kits to novel studies.

10. Scribd

Scribd is a huge database of user-contributed content. Sometimes you can get lucky and find full textbooks here; type in the name of your book into the search field and hit "enter". For example, I just found a textbook about quantum physics mechanics.