Interesting news/reviews/deals from the portable audio market
PMC v2 allows OEMs to add support for more codecs: from Jason Dunn’s notes at the recent Mobius 2005 conference:
New devices will have user interface extensions that allow OEMs to add new menu items. OEMs will also be able to distribute new CODEC support via Flash ROM updates. This is a great update, because it [...]
iTunes MiniStore now disabled by default: a wise from Apple’s part, and nice to see they responded so quickly to the users feedback. Remember that the MiniStore feature and its default “On” mode, introduced in iTunes 6.02, raised some privacy issues. (Also: my apologies for the barrage of Apple-related news today.)
A test podcast created with the new GarageBand 3: created by fellow 9ruler Ryan—sounds great; cool and fun, as it should be. For a direct link to the podcast’s AAC file (3.7MB) (in case you don’t have the QuickTime plugin installed, or don’t want to load iTunes for the podcast’s feed), read my comment on [...]
GarageBand 3 makes podcast creation a snap:
In addition to being one of the best ways to make music on a computer, GarageBand 3 is now also a complete solution for creating professional quality Podcasts. Voices can easily be recorded using the built-in expertise of an audio engineer and Podcasts can be enhanced with radio-style sound [...]
Creative launched ZENcast which is actually two things, a site and an application. As a site, ZENcast is a directory of podcasts/vidcasts, similar to Yahoo! Podcasts. As an app, the ZENcast Organizer (requirements: Windows XP or Media Center, plus Internet Explorer) manages the transferring of podcasts/vidcasts to the user’s device (for now, it’s compatible with [...]
iTunes 6.0.2 is out: features easy video conversion to the H.264 format that the iPod video supports and allows wireless audio streaming to multiple AirPort Express receivers at once.
Also: sports an annoying “MiniStore”—for which privacy concerns have been fairly raised, since Apple didn’t bother at first to clarify what exactly it does a propos to [...]
Winamp vs iTunes vs MediaMonkey: no definite winner to be found, though he makes some good points for each app. Also, I like the idea for an “inbox” of music: ” Just like email, music that has just been downloaded (or whatever) should be separated from the main library, and then only at your discretion [...]
Libra allows you to create, use and manage multiple iTunes music libraries. I know more than a few people that’ll find this handy.
You usually get these kind of programs for Mac only, but this one’s got a Windows binary for us Bill-folks too (screenshot on the right of this post).
$10 shareware. [via]
Mac users/Creative Nomad owners (the 5 of you) your prayers have been answered, in the 4-letter goodness that seems to be XNJB.
XNJB is a Cocoa graphical user interface for Mac OS X for the Creative Nomad range of portable MP3 players.
As the owner of what is undoubtedly The Best. Portable Audio Player. Ever. (NOMAD Jukebox [...]
GYM, which stands for “Grab Your Music” allows you to browse, play and extract the tunes stored in your Network Walkman. Interface-wise it’s reminds me of a more plain iTunes minus the left “Source” column.The extraction thing is what’s the fuss is about here, since GYM seems to be the first piece of software that [...]