October 29, 2011

How to Rip to, Play and Split One-Album FLAC Files


Updated 27. September 2011 - 8:28 by arto65
 
How to Rip to, Play and Split One-Album FLAC Files?
Flac is the most well known lossless audio codec among audiophile communities. It allows you to archive CDs without any loss of quality. It is possible to rip CDs in one file per CD, instead of one track per song. Along with the one-album flac file, we will have a cue file containing the markers and tracklist.
To rip a CD we're going to use the excellent fre:ac (formerly known as BonkEnc). Click here to download.
Go to Options > General Settings, choose "Flac audio encoder v1.2.1". Choose your output directory. Check "Encode to single file" on the right. Then go to the tab "Playlists", and check "Create cue sheets". It is also possible to check "Encode to single file" and "Create cue sheet" on the main window.
 
You are now ready to rip your CD: click the "Add audio CD" icon, fill in the information, then click the "Start the encoding process" button.
Encoding with fre:ac

To play a one-album flac file, I recommend you use Foobar, an awesome audio player. Just open the .cue file with Foobar and enjoy the music! Click here to download Foobar.
Playing flac and cue with Foobar

To split one-album flac files into the actual songs, use Medieval, an excellent cue splitter. Open the .cue file with Medieval, choose the options you want then click "Split!". Click here to download Medieval.
Splitting flac files with cue files in Medieval CUE Splitter
Source: http://www.techsupportalert.com/How-to-rip-to-play-and-split-one-album-flac-files
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September 22, 2011

Pandora Upgrades Service - No More 40-Hour Cap



Popular music streaming service Pandora has finished beta testing its new HTML5 web 
interface and rolled it out to all users. At the same time they’ve removed the free-user cap of 
40 hours per month–listen for free as long as you want.
The new interface is a huge improvement over the old one; the transition away from Flash to 
HTML5 has increased speed and includes an interface update. If an interface overhaul doesn’t 
excite you, they also removed the cap from the free accounts–free users can listen to as much 
music as they wish. Upgrading to a premium account unlocks additional features and removes the ads.
You can read more about the changes at Pandora in their official announcement at the link below.
New Pandora For All [Pandora via Tech Crunch]


Below is the announcement from Pandora.com

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

New Pandora for All

Today is a big day for Pandora: after more than a year of planning, design, engineering, and beta testing we're launching an entirely new Pandora website.
In late 2010 we started with a clean sheet of paper, challenging ourselves to create a new internet radio experience that was fast, social, and easy while still being familiar to the tens of millions of people that listen to Pandora each month.
The result is "New Pandora" -- the same personalized radio experience you've enjoyed for years, wrapped in a new HTML5 look that makes it more responsive, easier to use, and better integrated with the friends and music lovers in your life. We also think it looks more beautiful than ever, but we're biased.
For the last two months we've been gradually rolling a preview of the new site out to our listeners, taking their feedback, fixing bugs and making improvements here and there. With all those little fixes and refinements in place, today we're rolling out the new site for everyone.
Some of our new features include:
Simplified Station Creation - Enhanced auto-complete choices and personalized suggestions make creating new stations and discovering new music or comedy more intuitive and personal.
Discovery of Music with Friends - Enhanced listener profiles and a new music feed offer a centralized place to find, like and comment on what friends and like-minded listeners are discovering and enjoying on Pandora. The music feed will roll out slowly over the course of the coming days. In addition to the prominent new "share" button, stations now have their own URLs, making it super easy for listeners to share favorite stations via Twitter, Facebook, or email.
Improved Control - Prominent and ubiquitous access to familiar player control buttons including Play, Pause, Thumbs-Up and Thumbs-Down icons helps listeners to easily personalize their music and comedy stations. A new shuffle feature also allows listeners to shuffle any collection of stations to add variety to their listening experience.
Enhanced Artist Information - An option to learn more about the music, find lyrics, read artists' biographies and expand the album art size.
Unlimited listening - We've removed the 40 hours listening cap - you can now listen as much as you want for free.
The new social feed will roll out over the next few days to everyone and we want to remind you that you control of how others see your Pandora profile page and listening activity. Here's a link to view and to edit your privacy settings. http://www.pandora.com/#/account/privacy
We'd love to hear what you think of our latest project. To let us know what you think, to get help, or to find answers please visit http://help.pandora.com.
Posted by Tom Conrad at September 20, 2011 1:26 PM
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September 3, 2011

Craigslist Search Engines

How to Harness Technology to Score Amazing Craigslist Deals

from the howtogeek.com 



Craigslist is a great resource for scoring local deals but only if you’re adept at using it. Today we’re taking a look at tips and  tools you can use to go from being a casual Craigslist user to a deal-scoring ninja.
Photo by Beatrice Murch.
You can save huge amounts of money by using Craigslist to score local deals. The site, however, is super Spartan and doesn’t lend itself to easy power use. Armed with the right tools, however, you can cull the simple text listings of Craigslist to find awesome deals. Read on to learn more.

A Brief History of Craigslist and Some Safe Shopping Tips

Although eBay is often lauded as being something akin to a giant garage sale, in reality Craigslist is quite a bit closer. For the unfamiliar Craigslist is a simple classified web site that began, way back in 1995, as an email distribution list created by Craig Newmark  to service the Bay Area. A year later he created a web site to centralize the listings. Since then it has grown quite a bit, but has changed very little in appearance since the early days. Craigslist is a hyper-local classified system where in people can list goods and services for sale, personal ads, job listings, apartment rentals, and more. Anything you might find in a traditional newspaper classified section (and then some!) can be found on Craigslist. We’re framing the following tools in light of you wanting to search for deals on physical goods; in most cases, though, you can just as easily adept them for rental listings or other Craigslist postings.

Unlike more traditional newspaper listings Craigslist is, essentially, totally unregulated. The community self-polices by flagging problem entries (scams, illegal listings), but for the most part it’s a buyer-beware market. Staying safe and not getting ripped off is pretty easy, however, if you follow some common sense guidelines.

If it’s too good to be true, it probably is (and it’s probably stolen). People selling $100 iPads are either selling stolen iPads or they want to club you with a tire iron and take your $100 (or both). Don’t meet potential sellers on Skid Row at 2 AM. Unless the person is selling an item that can’t easily be brought to a public place (like a hot tub currently attached to their deck), avoid going to their home. If a situation seems like it’ll end up with you getting robbed, it probably will and you should reconsider. Always be prepared to walk away from a deal; if a guy said the used bike was $200 and when you show up he insists it was actually $300, hit the road. You can read more tips directly from Craigslist in their avoiding scams and personal safety sections.

Finding the Loot



A brief history and some safety tips aside, it’s time to find some loot. Craigslist is packed with loot. Even the small metropolitan Craiglists have so much stuff: electronics, tools, bikes, car listings, furniture, musical instruments, and more. It’s free to list things so people have very little reason to avoid listing anything and everything they want to offload for cash.
The basic Craigslist interface isn’t the greatest for finding things quickly, however. You’ll spend a lot of time reading links and a lot of time clicking through them to get additional information. If you’re trying to keep an eye on multiple areas of interest on Craigslist, especially if you’re trying to look at multiple local Craigslists, you’ll get frustrated pretty quickly. Craigslist was designed for simple listings not for complex searching and tracking.
Fortunately various developers have jumped in to create a Craigslist experience that the base system doesn’t provide. The first thing you want to do is to supercharge your search experience. If you’re trying to keep an aggressive eye on collectible cards, vintage bikes, iPads, or game consoles you’re going to need to go beyond simple manual searches. You want one of at least three things in your Craigslist search tool: better access to photo listings, cross-Craigslist site searches, and—ideally although not all search tools have it—some notification method. Let’s take a look at some some of the power user tools you’ll want to put in your deal-hunting tool kit.

Search Tempest: Search Tempest—seen in the screenshot above—offers a plethora of handy Craigslist search tools. You plug in a zip code, some keywords, and a search radius and it will search all the Craigslists that fall within that search radius. You can then check through the listings for not just the most local listing but for all listings that fall within your search radius. You can toggle on image thumbnails—with mouse-over enlarging–and mashup your searches against a map to see how far you’ll be driving to get the loot. You can also set up RSS feeds for any of the custom searches you create.




Crazed List: If you want to search multiple Craigslists but not necessarily limited by a perfect radius, Crazed List allows you to cherry pick just those USA and  global locations you want to use. This is handy if the geography of your locale makes a perfect “200 miles from here” radial search impractical or if you’d like to search locations where a friend or relative of yours can pick up the item on your behalf. In addition you can set a minimum and maximum price window. You can either search on Crazed List or use Crazed List to generate RSS feeds for your searches in your target locales. The only down side to Crazed List is that you need to use a web browser, such as Firefox, which allows you to disable referrers (this limitation applies only to the web-based search, not to the generation of RSS feeds).

CraigQuery: Similar to Crazed List, CraigQuery searches multiple Craigslists from around the USA. Unlike Crazed List you don’t have to do any mucking about in your About:Config browser file to gain the full functionality of the site. You can select multiple regions, search by keyword and set a minimum and maximum price window. CraigQuery automatically thumbnails listings with images.

Craigstoolbox: Available for both Firefox and Chrome, Craigstoolbox is a tiered-price extension. The free basic package offers enhancements to the Craigslist experience such as 15 inline images per search and a favorites system, the $9.99/year version adds in unlimited inline images and Carfax and AutoCheck integration, and the $19.99/year version adds on to that with SMS and email notification tools. You can achieve the same functionality offered in Craigstoolbox for free by cobbling together additional tools but if you want an all-in-one solution, it might be worth the premium.

Typo Buddy: Typo Buddy is a one trick pony, but it’s a handy trick to have in your deal hunting toolkit. Typo Buddy searches Craigslist (and eBay too) for variations on your search term—typos. If somebody puts a listing on Craigslist for a “playstaytion”, for example, nobody searching for “playstation” will find it. If you search your local Craigslist with Typo Buddy, however, it will plug in variations of PlayStation like “playsation”, “playstaytion”, and “playstaion”. No, we didn’t need to try very had to think of those variations, those are all typos from our local Craigslist that Typo Buddy found.

CraigsEasy: CraigsEasy is a free bookmarklet designed to enhance your on-site Craigslist searches. When you’re looking at the search results on your local Craigslist you can simply hit the “Easy” bookmarklet from CraigsEasy to convert the search listings into an image gallery. It’s fast and resistant to being shut down by Craigslist as it’s just a bookmarklet that acts upon the search results you’ve already loaded up.

Setting Up Loot Notifications




Having good search mojo is only half the Craigslist battle. The other half is beating the rest of the deal hounds to the punch. Most people list stuff on Craigslist because they want to get rid of it and make a buck or two in the process. If you can get to them first and make them a decent offer, you can have the loot in your hands before the suckers you beat out have even sat down after work to check Craigslist. The faster you respond the more likely the person is to say yes to your offer, the faster they say yes the faster you can get the item, and the faster you get the item the less chance they have to wait for better offers and turn you down when somebody else offers more money.
Photo by Johan Larsson.

There are three common ways you can receive notifications: email, SMS, and RSS. Which one you select is dependent on what kind of setup you spend most of your day with. If you have a smart phone with automatic email updates, email is a handy and information rich solution. If you have an older phone you might be stuck with SMS updates only. RSS feeds are also a viable choice for smart phones with an RSS reader—this would be a great time to use the new widget feature in Google 
Reader for Android. If you’re at a desk all day you can, of course, use email or RSS just as effectively; mobile solutions are superior, however,  if you really want to stay totally on top of listings. One thing to keep in mind, even if you find an email-only solution you can always set it up to email your phone using cell-provider email gateways.

Previously mentioned Search Tempest and Crazed List support custom RSS searches. It’s worth noting that Craigslist has native RSS support, but third party search tools usually make it easier to grab RSS feeds for multiple custom searchers. The pay version of Craigstoolbox supports both email and SMS notifications.
In addition to the aforementioned solutions, you can set up notifications using the following tools:

HEYCRAIG: HEYCRAIG is a simple search-to-email notification tool. Visit the site, plug in your search terms, your email, and the city you want to actively search in, and HEYCRAIG will send you an email every time a match for your search terms is listed on that local Craigslist.



NotiFinder: Like HEYCRAIG, it enables email notifications. Unlike HEYCRAIG, it supports variables like which category you want to search, minimum and maximum price, and how often you want to be notified (instantly, daily, weekly).

CraigsNotifica: A free Android-based solution that actively monitor Craigslist with custom search parameters and than alerts you via audible ring, vibration,  and/or flashing LEDs when a match is found.

CraigsPro+: For iOS users, CraigsPro is an inexpensive ($1.99) solution that makes searching Craigslist and setting up notifications a breeze. Custom searches can be converted into search agents with customized notifications (sound, vibration, and push-style icon updates).
Armed with the above tools to provide blanket coverage via email, SMS—remember to use the email-to-SMS trick if need be—and RSS, you’ll be first in line to respond to new Craigslist postings. Even if you don’t end up scoring every deal that the notifications alert you to you still benefit—because you’ve got an active eye on the price of things in your area you’ll become better at spotting excellent deals and making offers that will be accepted quickly.

Source:http://www.howtogeek.com/59458/how-to-harness-technology-to-score-amazing-craigslist-deals/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=200411
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August 24, 2011

Ten awesome ways to find new music online


From DownloadSquad.com by Erez Zukerman (RSS feed) May 30th 2010 at 11:00AM

We all have the need for music and rhythm is one of the most basic human needs; and as we evlolve, so evolve our ways of hunting and gathering this precious commodity.


















In this post, I've gathered 10 great places to expand your musical horizons: free, legal ways to discover music online, which work everywhere (not only in the US or in Europe)!
Not all of the sites below actually let you listen to music – they are not all players; but they can all help you find the next big thing, or just a tune to groove to.

Let's get started!

Uvumi

Uvumi is one of my favorite players in this space. You probably won't find much music you already know there; it's a community for budding artists, which lets them put their music online, be discovered and get direct feedback from their listeners.
I've covered Uvumi in detail, but if I had to sum it up in brief, I'd have to say that what impressed me most about the site is how well-managed it is. Marshall (the guy behind the site) seems to be taking both the listeners and the artists really seriously, and there's a true sense of community once you get into it.

YouTube Disco

When was the last time you listened to some music on YouTube? Probably sometime today or yesterday, right? It's something most of us do on a routine basis, and there's a whole cottage industry of mashups which use YouTube as a music repository and dish out recommendations.

And then there's Youtube's own Music Discovery Project. It's pretty much what you would expect, and it's certainly worth knowing about.
To see eight other ways to find and listen to music online (and a bonus mention!), keep on reading after the fold.

Bandcamp

Bandcamp


Bandcamp seems to be geared more towards the artists than the listeners, but it's still awesome. It is meant to be used as a "band homepage", and lets artists showcase their work and sell (or give away) their music using a very slick, sophisticated interface.
One recent addition to Bandcamp is the tags page, which lets you browse music by genre or physical location (in case you'd like to see the band live).

The Hype Machine

The blogosphere remains one of the most prodigious sources for music recommendations. After all, people like talking about music. There seems to be an endless amount of music blogs, both large and small, and some also embed single tracks along with their reviews.

The Hype Machine takes a large chunk of this teeming community and aggregates it into its own interface, letting you see who's talking about what, and most importantly you can listen to audio tracks right on the site.

Grooveshark

Grooveshark is my go-to service when I just want to find one song and check it out with minimum fuss. When someone mentions a track which sounds interesting, I just fire up Grooveshark, search for it, and hit Play. Of course, that's just one way to use this incredible service.

Deezer

We've somehow never covered Deezer before, which really should be remedied. Deezer is based in France, but the interface is available in English, Italian, German and Spanish as well. It's similar to Grooveshark in that it is a Flash application which lets you quickly find the music you're interested in, and they also have a Radio feature.
Selection seems to be smaller than Grooveshark, though; in searching for some Ben Folds tracks, all I found was weird karaoke mixes and some MIDI files (!).

Musicovery

Mosicovery

Musicovery presents an interesting tradeoff. The interface is really nice, but the sound quality is horrible (at least for the free service). While they claim paid subscribers get to enjoy "Hi-Fi" quality, I was unable to test this. What I could test was an interesting, if somewhat crippled way, to discover music using a canvas of associations, and an intuitive way to specify what you're looking for.

You dial in a genre, and then specify how upbeat or mellow you want your tunes to be, and Musicovery then dishes out surprisngly accurate results. But if you're serious about using this service, you should really go for the Pro option – their free service is kind of bare-bones.

Mufin

Mufin is actually one of the most amazing services on this list; I just discovered it now myself while researching for this feature, and it is simply awesome.
While the web service seems a tad generic (how unique can you be in this space, after all?), their desktop player is amazing. I'm strictly a Foobar2000 guy, for years now, but this player is good enough to make me think of switching.

It takes your music library and neatly catalogs, and lets you easily find similar tracks and email tracks (or actually, links to those tracks on Mufin's site) to your friends. It's an incredible memory hog (271MB on my system, holy cow!) but it's simple, fast and responsive.
They also have a Pro version which seems quite interesting. It has a feature which displays your entire music library as an animated cloud of tracks, which you slice and dice on-the-fly to find just the music you want. There's no trial available for the Pro version, but I have contacted Mufin to see if they'd be interested in a review. If they are, we might just do a giveaway, too.

... this is definitely one to wait for!

Allmusic

It seems like Allmusic has been around forever. This is actually one of the first music discovery services I have ever found online, and it's been going strong for years.
Allmusic features a mind-boggling mass of detailed artist and album reviews, painstakingly cataloged by mood, genre, style, theme, running time, and more. The reviews are long and comprehensive.
While you won't find full tracks on Allmusic, you can listen to short snippets. It's mainly a great way to discover artists somehow related or similar to artists you already know, so you could then go and hunt down their music via other means (or buy it on Amazon via Allmusic).

Muxtape

Remember Muxtape? Back when the service started, it was about free-for-all playlist sharing. Of course, the big labels would have none of that, and gave the service quite a thrashing.
Muxtape then went on hiatus, and came back as a service aimed at indie musicians and smaller bands who wish to share their music with the world. It's kind of like Bandcamp with an added dose of hipster-juice. Muxtape's player remains one of the most innovative and simple online players I've ever seen.

Bonus: ExtensionFM

Now that you've found all of this music online, you may want a nice way to catalog it. ExtensionFM may just be that way. While it won't work with all of the services above, it's a great match for The Hype Machine, and might also work with Bandcamp (tell me in the comments if it does). I recommend you read Lee's detailed review, but in a nutshell I can tell you it's a Chrome add-on which automatically collects and catalogs all of the music you find online, and does it very nicely.

p.s – in case you're wondering why I never mentioned Last.fm, it's because just about everybody knows about it, and because it's just not that good anymore now that it's so restricted (in my opinion).

Got another site or tool you use to discover awesome, new music online? Let's hear about it in the comments!

Source:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/05/30/discover-find-new-music/
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August 20, 2011

7 Websites For The Music Lover To Find, Discover & Learn About Music

7 Websites For The Music Lover To Find, Discover & Learn About Music

posted on July 5, 2011 by


In this article I will show you music websites to find songs you like, discover new music, and gain a deeper understanding of music as a whole.

MTV Music Meter

The MTV Music Meter ranks over a million artists and allows you discover what is hot in the music scene right now. The ranking is not only based on album sales, but also on how many times they are mentioned on the social networks, in blog posts, news articles, and streams. Click on the little pull-down button to expand more information for the respective artist.


music websites

MTV Music Meter apps are available for the iPad, iPhone, and Google Android.
The MakeUseOf Directory has previously profiled MTV Music Meter.

TuneCrank

Maybe you’re totally not into mainstream and the radio stations generally just bore you. If you are always on the lookout for new talent and the latest independent trends, you should check out TuneCrank! It finds, ranks, and streams the best independent music, including touring bands, buskers, and anyone else who is frank enough to upload their music to the site. You can vote for songs and share your favorites with your friends.
online music websites

We have previously profiled TuneCrank in the MakeUseOf Directory.

Jog.fm

Music can be a great motivator for your workout. Not only will it be more fun, chances are you will actually work out longer and do better. On Jog.fm you can get a fresh mix for your exercises, whether you’re running or lifting weights. You can either enter the time of your workout or browse for popular music

online music websites

Jog.fm also is available for the iPhone.
We have previously profiled Jog.fm on the MakeUseOf Directory.

8bitcollective

online music websites8bitcollective is a repository and file sharing community for chiptune-related media. Chiptune is synthesized electronic music that is typically produced with sound chips of old computers and video game consoles. All media released on 8bitcollective is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.5 license and can be downloaded, shared, and remixed legally for non-commercial purposes.
We have previously profiled 8bitCollective on the MakeUseOf Directory, and in the Sound Sunday edition of February 6th this year I featured a sampler album from them.

HeardOnTV

There are some great apps out there that let you find music by simply humming a bit of the melody. However, if you’re entirely unable to get the melody right, here is an alternative to find tunes played on popular TV shows. You can find songs that appeared on shows like Grey’s Anatomy, One Tree Hill, or Cold Case. The site can be browsed by show, artist, and some movies are included, too.

music education websites

We have previously profiled HeardOnTV on the MakeUseOf Directory.

MapOfMetal

If you’re interested in finding out how different styles of Metal and associated genres, such as Hard Rock or Punk Rock are connected, check out MapOfMetal. The site provides an interactive tour through the sub-genres and their history, also exploring the musical characteristics of the genres. While you’re reading the little summaries, you can listen to sample tunes for each genre.

music education websites

Also check out the MapOfMetal profile on the MakeUseOf Directory.

Theta Music Trainer

Do you have a good ear for music and/or would you like to improve it? When you go through the ‘training’ provided at the Theta Music Trainer, you will gain a better understanding of the music you hear every day. Through games you can sharpen your sense of pitch and tone, unlock hidden patterns in music, and strengthen your music theory skills.

music education websites

Theta Music Trainer was profiled on the MakeUseOf Directory. The site was also mentioned in Saikat’s article 10 Interactive Learning Websites For Some Fun & Games With Music.
If you liked this article, you should also look into the following:
Where do you get your music kick online?
Image credits: Ladyann

Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-websites-music-lover-find-discover-learn-music/
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Edit & Record MP3s with MP3DirectCut


Edit & Record Compressed MP3 Files Without Decompressing With MP3DirectCut


posted on June 22, 2011 by

mp3DirectCut is a freeware audio editor and recorder that can work with compressed MP3 files. It allows you to cut, copy, and paste audio bits or change the volume without decompressing the audio file. In other words, you can edit your MP3 files without a loss of quality. Moreover, you can record MP3s and auto-detect pauses to cut and ID3 tag a file.

The Interface

mp3DirectCut has a clear interface, which provides easy access to all key features. Editing and playback buttons sit at the bottom of the window, navigation in the middle, topped by the MPEG audio data waveform.

compress mp3 file

Just underneath the menubar sits a list of smaller buttons that provide one-click access to further editing features, including ID3 tag editing or moving selection by frame. If you’re unsure what a button will do, hover with the mouse over it for a tooltip clue.

compressing mp3 files

A Closer Look

When you open, edit, or save files mp3DirectCut may show a note, such as the one below. Similar tips can be found throughout the program. This is a great feature for new users, as the notes highlight important points and guide the user.
compressing mp3 files

mp3DirectCut is very intuitive to use. You can edit mp3 files using the mouse, menu, buttons, or keyboard shortcuts. For several actions there is more than one way to get to the same result, making it easier to find it right away. As mentioned above, if you’re unsure what a button does, just have a peek at the tooltip.

compressing mp3 files

For example you can change the volume of an MP3 file or only a section by dragging the grey grips of a cue up or down or click the keyboard shortcut [CTRL] + [UP] or [DOWN]. The brown color indicates that the volume was adjusted. You can then jump to the next cue to the left or right using the respective key in the navigation window or by clicking the keyboard shortcut [CTRL] + [LEFT] or [RIGHT].

mp3 compression

To summarize, the program is straightforward and easy to learn using trial and error. If you’re stuck, there is always the user manual that you can consult. You can also find the link under > ? > Manual.
So to conclude, let me just highlight the…

3 Best Features

These are the best features as I see them.

Editing Several Files In Parallel

File > New program window will open an additional instance of mp3DirectCut, allowing you to edit several audio files in parallel.

High Speed Recording

With > Special > “High speed” recording you can record 33 rpm longplay records with 45 rpm playback and also set other grabbing speeds as needed.

Pause Detection… & Saving Split File

So you recorded an entire LP and now you want to split it up into single MP3 files? Go to > Special > Pause detection, and adjust the settings. When the tool is done adding the cues, close the Pause detection window.
You now need to change the cues to mark the end of a file. One after another, click each cue and go to > Edit > Names and part properties (or click the respective button), where you need to check > Cue. When you have done all cues, go to > File > Save split to save every region beginning with a cue to a new file.

compress mp3 file

If you need more help figuring out this program, know that mp3DirectCut comes with a good user manual, which also features a list of keyboard shortcuts and command line options.
Looking for more MP3 editing tools? Have a look at these articles:
What are your favorite features or what do you think is missing in mp3DirectCut editor? Please share your impressions in the comments.

Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/edit-record-compressed-mp3-files-decompressing-mp3directcut/
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Music Streaming With Spotify




Music Streaming With Spotify: What You Get For Free


posted on July 25, 2011 by


Spotify landed in the U.S. last week, and it should make music service providers like Apple slightly nervous. Like other streaming music services, including Radio.com, MOG.com, Rhapsody, Pandora, and Last.fm, Spotify allows you to listen to music over the Internet without the hassle of downloading MP3 files and backing them up.

Unlike other streaming services, however, Spotify offers an ad-supported free option, which makes millions of albums and songs available to you through the Spotify desktop client. You’re not limited to pre-selected playlists like Pandora; you can pick and choose single tracks and entire albums for a full listening experience.
Let’s explore what else you get for free and what you don’t.

spotify music

The Free Plan

First off, at this point Spotify is an invitation-only service for the free plan. (Go here to submit your email.) You can sign up for an Unlimited or Premium plan to begin the service immediately. The difference between a free account and the paid plans are of course pretty significant. First off, if you go with free, you need to get used to the ads. They’re everywhere in the Spotify player, both audio ads and visual displays.

streaming spotify music

And to my huge surprise, when you‘re listening to say an album, Spotify even interrupts your listening with a brief commercial break and other Spotify announcements. In the course of writing this article, I got over six interruptions as I listened to a Miles Davis album.
However, by the same token, putting up with ads can mean a huge savings in your music budget. If you have a good Internet connection, the audio quality of Spotify is quite good.

Spotify Player Features

The Spotify Player connects to your Spotify account and is similar to Apple’s iTunes music player, the former, however, is not as well designed, in my humble opinion. The Spotify jukebox opens as a music browser displaying New Releases and a feed of shared music by your friends on Facebook and Spotify.

streaming spotify music

The social networking Feed for Spotify can be very useful because depending on the friends you choose to be a part of your feed. It means they become your virtual DJs and you can become theirs; for the music choices of your friends will likely help you discover new music you don’t have in your collection.
The similar Rdio.com service for example takes better advantage of the social networking approach, for when you open its player or go to the website, you’re presented with a “Heavy Rotation” of songs and albums by friends in your network. You can also choose friends beyond your Facebook account.
Another useful feature in Spotify is the ability to star/favorite individual tracks and albums. Though you can’t rate songs with 1-5 stars as you can in iTunes, it’s nice to be able to quickly label you favorite tracks and access them with a single click.

streaming spotify music

If you become a heavy Spotify user, you’ll be happy to know that the application links all your local MP3 files so that you can access your existing downloads and playlists from within the Spotify player. Unfortunately, however, Spotify doesn’t include smart playlists, in which can create automatic playlists based on rules you set.

The other features you get with a Spotify account is the ability to share what you’re listening to with your friends on Facebook and Twitter; access to the MP3s you already have downloaded in your computer; and 14-day access to your Spotify account while you’re visiting another country.

Screenshot822

If you’re not a huge music fan, a free Spotify account is a pretty significant savings. Most importantly, it means a lot less music files taking up memory space on your computer drive(s). This is the main reason I use Rdio.com.

Search Features

The biggest annoyance for me with the Spotify application is not being able to browse music by categories or genres. Spotify provides a single search box that retains your search history. Spotify though includes a useful Overview, Biography, and Related Artists feature.



The Related Artists category is a great way to discover similar music artists and tracks right from within the application.

Upgrades: What You Don’t Get for Free

If you want the full Spotify music experience, you will have to pony up $4.99 or $9.99 for the Unlimited or Premium features respectively. The upgraded accounts mean no ads. I must say that if you think you’ll become a heavy user of Spotify, the ads may become very annoying especially while listening to your favorite music.
An Unlimited account means no time limits on listening to music; the ability to share tracks and playlists with your friends; the ability to play and organize your own music files; and unlimited travel access to your account when you’re in another country.



The Premium plan gives you all the above, plus the ability to access your account on your cell phone, listen to music offline, and get enhanced sound quality. The premium option also allows you to enjoy Spotify music directly on your home stereo devices (e.g, Squeezebox, digital TV, Sonos wireless music system), no computer needed.

My Recommendations

You didn’t ask, but since I’ve been a heavy user of streaming music services for a while, starting with the now defunct (no thanks to Apple) Lala.com, and presently with Rdio.com ($5.00 or $10 per month), I would recommend shopping around and trying out a few other streaming music services before deciding on Spotify.

spotify music

The number one reason I’m staying with Rdio.com, for example, is that their desktop player features are a little better than Spotify‘s. I don’t like that you can’t browse by genre in Spotify. Also, in order to access your Spotify account on another computer, you must download the Spotify player. There is, as far as I can tell, no online Spotify application. And finally, the Spotify app doesn’t include a History feature in which you can locate tracks you have previously played.

All streaming music services come with a free trail period. I would recommend trying out a few before subscribing to Spotify, which doesn’t provide trial access to its full feature plans.
Let us know what you think of Spotify. Are you already hooked? Give us your feedback.

Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/music-streaming-spotify-free/
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August 12, 2011

101 Free Online Alternatives to Popular Desktop Software

By , About.com Guide
Many of us are quite familiar with the suites of office tools that come with our computers, and in fact, we use them every day for a wide variety of word processing tasks. However, the Web offers many free online alternatives to these (sometimes quite pricey) software packages that work just as well or better than their offline equivalents. Here are one hundred and one free online alternatives to popular desktop software packages, ranging from slideshows to email managers to document creation to file management.

1. Word Processing

  • Google Docs: Free online office suite that offers document processing, spreadsheets, even work collaboration.
  • Acrobat: Create PDF files, convert files, and make forms.
  • PDFescape: Free PDF form editor within your browser; can also use it to fill in PDF forms online.
  • OpenOffice: Free open source productivity package that is similar to Microsoft Office.
  • AbiWord: Simple word processing program; multiple people can collaborate on one project.
  • Zoho: A free online word processor that works within your Web browser. Share, collaborate, edit, create.
  • NumSum: Create and share Web spreadsheets.
  • Writer: Simple writing utility meant to encourage concentration and focus.
  • CKEditor: Web-based text editor.
  • NeoOffice: Full office suite for Mac users.

    2. Communication

    • Meebo: Centralized dashboard for several different instant messaging programs.
    • TokBox: Live group video chat anywhere, anytime.
    • faxZERO: A free fax tool you can use on your computer (covered more fully in Five Ways to Send a Free Fax Online).
    • Google Voice: A centralized online space for phone calls and voice messages.
    • OoVoo: Free video chat from mobile to mobile, mobile to computer; up to six people at once.
    • eBuddy: Web-based instant messaging that works on any computer; integration of all popular chat programs.
    • Scanr: Mobile-based scanner, fax, and printer.
    • Pidgin: Instant messaging plugin for simultaneous chat networks.
    • TinyChat: Free chat and video conferencing.
    • Trillian: Chat client for computer and phone.

    3. Presentations

    • Sliderocket: Easy to use with many of the same features as PowerPoint.
    • Prezi: Create high quality presentations completely online.
    • ScreenCastle: Free screencast recorder you can use to film activity within your browser.
    • Vcasmo: Multimedia presentation tool with a wide variety of interactive features.
    • Empressr: Presentations with photo, music, audio, and video; can embed anywhere on the Web.
    • Animoto: Slideshows from videos and photos.
    • Flixtime: Video slideshows with sophisticated graphics.
    • PhotoPeach: Free slideshow utility.
    • SlideShare: Share your presentations with others.
    • Screenr: Instant screencasts with a Web-based screen recorder.
    • Storify: Make slideshows using social media content.
    • Vuvox: Produce videos using your own multimedia.

    4. Security

    • ESET Online Virus Scanner: Finds and removes threats; not intended as a full security suite, but a good option.
    • LastPass: Keeps track of all your passwords in one convenient, secure location.
    • VirusTotal: Identifies suspicious files or URLs.
    • ClamXAV: Free virus scanner for Mac computers.
    • Virscan: Free Web-based file scanner; upload a file and it will scan it for infections.
    • Avira: Free antivirus protection program for home computers.
    • Avast: Free protection against viruses and spyware.
    • AVG Rescue CD: Helps you identify deep-rooted virus/spyware infections and get your computer working again.
    • MalwareBytes: Scans your computer for spyware, malware, and viruses.
    • Microsoft Security Essentials: Free antivirus protection from Microsoft.

    5. Image and Video Management and Manipulation

    • Aviary: Similar to Photoshop; all sorts of image manipulation/editing tools here.
    • JayCut: A free online video editor.
    • Splashup: Free image editor and photo manager.
    • SmugMug: Free photo management tool.
    • Vixy: Download videos and convert them into playable formats for your computer.
    • Miro: Converts video files for playback on computers and mobile devices.
    • Talon: Instant screenshot utility; also available as a Firefox add-on or Google Chrome extension.
    • GIMP: Offers many of the same features as Adobe Photoshop; free image editing program.
    • Pixlr: Online photo editor with menu of advanced effects.
    • Rsizr: Re-sizes images fast.
    • FotoFlexer: Advanced Web-based photo editor.
    • Picnik: Browser-based photo editor with menu of special effects.

    6. Organizational Tools

    • Evernote: Jot notes, take pictures, and organize your thoughts and online life in one place.
    • Springpad: Save, organize, and remind yourself with Springpad's easy to use interface.
    • Toodledo: Type in what your day looks like, and Toodledo organizes it into a personalized to-do list.
    • Toggl: Tracks time spent on task so you can more easily bill it.
    • iClippy: Captures data from anything you copy and paste (text, video, images) and puts it in one convenient place.
    • Zootool: Organizes all your Web bookmarks into a searchable index.
    • MyNoteIt: Geared towards students; a great way to organize notes and share with others.
    • Remember the Milk: Management of all online or offline tasks.
    • The Online CEO: Color-coded, point-based task management.

    7. Calculators, Graphs, and Financial Management

    • Mint: Similar to Quicken, Mint offers one of the most robust financial management dashboards on the market.
    • Instacalc: For any mathematical computation you might need. Includes scientific notations.
    • Gliffy: Create free diagrams, graphs, flowcharts, and technical drawings.
    • Web 2.0 Calc: Scientific calculator with standard functions.
    • Create a Graph: Easy online graphs for simple projects.
    • GnuCash: Free accounting software for home and business use.
    • Hourly Rate Calculator: Helpful for freelancers who are trying to figure out how much to bill clients.
    • Buxfer: Free online money management with an intuitive dashboard.
    • Yodlee: Track spending, pay bills, and control your budget.
    • eCalc: Scientific calculator available online and as a download.

    8. File Management, File Sharing, File Conversion, and File Organization


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August 4, 2011

Free Music Websites

It is getting harder and harder to find free stuff on the web. But the great web authors at About.com are hard at work finding out such things for us. Below is their great list of free music websites. For many of us having the music on our music players is preferred. But many times leaving the song mix to websites like Pandora, Shoutcast, Boomer Radio, and local radio stations on the web is easier.

Top 5 Free Music Download Sites

By , About.com Guide
Sites with an extensive selection of free music downloads are the dream of any serious pop music fan. Unfortunately, legal downloading of most mainstream pop music requires purchasing the song in question. Many of the top sites offering music for purchase will offer an occasional song for free download, or you may pay a monthly subscription for a wide access to music. However, there are a number of web sites that promote lesser known pop artists or classic pop recordings by allowing free downloads of hundreds or thousands of songs. These are five of the best of these sites.

1. Jamendo

Jamendo logoCourtesy Jamendo
Jamendo opened its doors in 2005. It is based in Luxembourg but is a multilingual site accessible to users around the world. The music available is free to download and licensed through Creative Commons and Free Art licenses. Over 32,000 albums are available to download. The site incorporates tags and reviews to help find music. It also accepts donations to artists and has implemented a system to give 50% of advertising revenues to participating artists.
More Info

www.iMesh.com

2. Free Music Archive

Free Music Archive logoCourtesy Free Music Archive
The Free Music Archive was launched in April 2009. The site was launched by Jersey City radio station WFMU, but personnel from additional radio stations and labels serve as curators for the music in the archive. The site describes itself as "a social music website built around a curated library of free, legal audio." It currently hosts over 22,000 songs.  The New York State Music Fund has assisted in financing the creation of the archive. The Free Music Archive also provides the opportunity to donate directly to compensate participating artists.
More Info

3. Dogmazic

DogmazicCourtesy Dogmazic
Dogmazic is a free music download manager based in France. It was created in 2004 and maintains a database of work by roughly 2000 artists. The site does not carry advertising.
More Info

4. Internet Archive's Audio Archive

Internet Archive's Audio Archive logoCourtesy the Internet Archive
The Audio Archive is a sub-project of the Internet Archive, a project which aims to collect and make available archived "snapshots" of Internet content for access to researchers and the public in general. The Audio Archive is a collection that includes audio books, news broadcasts, and old time radio shows as well as music. The music collection numbers over 50,000 recordings all available for free download. Among the treasures included are live concert recordings of the Grateful Dead, Warren Zevon, and Smashing Pumpkins.
More Info

5. CC Mixter

CC Mixter logoCourtesy CC Mixter
CC Mixter is a social music site that encourages remixing to create new musical content. A key component of that mission is making available a library of over 10,000 samples that can be freely downloaded and then used, with tools made available on the site, to create entirely new musical compositions.
More Info



Free Music Download Sites

By , About.com Guide
Free music on the Web really does exist; as long as you're willing to listen to music other than what's on the radio and top 40 (for the most part). Here are a few places on the Web where you can find free music to share, listen to, and download onto your computer or mobile device.
  • del.icio.us system:filetype:mp3: I came across this nifty little trick a while back; you can find all the mp3 files tagged at del.icio.us this way.
  • Pandora: I was in on the beta testing of Pandora and I LOVED it. You can create as many specialized radio stations as you want on Pandora, and it will evolve to your specified changes. Right now I have a George Winston, David Wilcox, and a Mindi Smith station. Sweet!
  • Internet Archive: Audio Archive: an absolutely mammoth collection of all styles of music.
  • NPR in Concert: Full concerts by various top artists, they've got James Brown and Sinead O'Connor on there right now.
  • Earplug: Earplug is a twice-monthly email magazine dedicated to electronic music in all its incarnations. Every issue features a hand-picked selection of music news, cultural spotlights, tip sheets, CD reviews, and original features, as well as previews and reviews of important festivals and live events across the globe.
  • Amazon Free Music Downloads: All sorts of eclectic music on here, not only from independents but mainstream artists as well.
  • Soundclick: One of my most favorite sites to find some good tunes; each artist has their own page within the Soundclick network.
  • GarageBand: Again, another great place to find emerging artists, and each artist has their own web page, forums, etc.
  • JazzPromo.com: hundreds of unique independent jazz CD's here. The free stuff is all here.
  • Mutopia:All music in the Mutopia Project is free to download, print out, perform and distribute. There are now 579 pieces of music available!
  • AMClassical: free classical music mp3 downloads; a wide variety of styles available.
  • Mozart250: this site is in Danish, but you can download lots of great Mozart pieces here.

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