Tuesday, May 19, 2009 11:00AM - By Morelli
TuneUp, an iTunes plugin that provides artist names, genres, track numbers and cover art for you music collection, is launching a new user interface today with some added features. Since its launch in 2008, TuneUp has over 200,000 registered users, and you can try a free version of the software at tuneupmedia.com.
Launched in 2008, the plugin does what you don’t have time to do: it homogenizes your entire iTunes library. The free version corrects 100 songs and downloads 50 album covers, but the “Gold” version, purchased for $30 or for an annual subscription of $20, give you unlimited access to the Gracenote Global Media Database of more than 100 million songs.
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Friday, May 15, 2009 11:00AM - By Morelli
Penny Arcade is usually a gaming webcomic, but today, music is the focus after Microsoft aired a new commercial for the Zune Pass, which gives you unlimited music for fifteen dollars a month. The catch? If you stop subscribing to the service, all of your music gets erased. Penny Arcade says it best in today’s comic: “It’d be like you murdered all of your favorite artists.”
Granted, since a few major deals in Nov. 2008 (press release), the Zune Pass lets you choose ten songs to keep every month for your collection, but if you stop paying, the “obliteration” of the remainder holds true. Penny Arcade writer Jerry Holkins owns a Zune, and said that the new marketing campaign is “dumb”, while the rest of the internet is more intent on bashing the new face of Microsoft’s Zune, Wes Moss, and his lack of musical credentials. Watch the infamous advertisement after the jump:
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Tuesday, April 28, 2009 1:00PM - By Morelli
Last year, a noncommercial, public Internet ‘wiki’ site operated by OdioWorks called BlueWiki was shut down after Apple lawyers claimed (pdf) that discussions on the site constituted copyright infringement. BluWiki users shared information about making other music platforms, like Songbird, Banshee, Rockbox and Winamp, workable on the iPhone and iPod instead of Apple’s iTunes.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has now partnered with OdioWorks to file a lawsuit against Apple for stifling free speech on BluWiki in order to restore the discussions on the site. Apple is obviously trying to maintain iTunes as the exclusive platform on the iPod and iPhone, but hobbyists and tinkerers should be able to share their thoughts on community sites like BluWiki.
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Thursday, April 2, 2009 11:00AM - By Morelli
Barack Obama’s aide has reported that the president gave the Queen of England an iPod, containing video and photos of her 2007 trip to Virginia and Washington, DC, in 2007, as well as some Broadway show tunes and accessories.
When Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited the White House last month, he gave Obama a pen holder carved from the timber of an anti-slave ship. Obama returned the gesture by offering a DVD box set of American movies, which didn’t work on European players. The British press had a fit, as you can imagine.
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Wednesday, February 18, 2009 9:30AM - By Matt Unangst
Think back to all of the times you’ve really wanted a speaker, but have not had one handy (does this really happen?). Have you ever wished that you had one attached to your keychain (do you really have time to think about that?)? Now your prayers have been answered. Firebox.com has released a micro speaker for MP3 players and cellphones that is designed to be attached to a keyring. The new speaker is designed for use with iPods and can be recharged, when you run out its 8-hour battery, via USB.
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Tuesday, January 27, 2009 6:00PM - By Morelli
The Nokia 5800 is literally changing the market. Since its European launch in October 2008, the Finnish manufacturer announced over 1 million units shipped, showing that mobile phones might soon be replacing popular mp3 players, like the iPod, for music listener’s needs.
Featuring excellent sound quality and easy access to digital content, the Nokia 5800 drew crowds for its UK launch, with hundreds of people lining up at the Nokia store in London on Friday. For music lovers, the phone has 8 Gigabytes of memory, roughly 6,000 tracks, and sports two built-in stereo speakers. Continue Reading
Friday, January 23, 2009 3:00PM - By Morelli
Apple iPods hit a new record for sales over the holiday season, Ubisoft announces a new ‘cross-platform music-based game’, and Time magazine gives the lowdown on the music industry crisis. Check out today’s tech round up… Continue Reading
Thursday, December 18, 2008 3:54PM - By Morelli
If you’re in New York and happen to own an iPod, count on paying an ‘iTax‘ for every song you download.
The Guardian reports that Governor David Paterson has slapped a 4% tax on “digitally delivered entertainment services” next year to help tackle the financial crisis. Music, video and e-books will be hit with higher taxes as part of a larger effort to close the state’s $15.4bn budget gap.
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Wednesday, December 17, 2008 5:17PM - By Ryan C
Music lovers can be a hard bunch to shop for, and with the holidays being as hectic as they are, we here at BeatCrave thought we’d make things easier for you with our list of twelve items sure to tickle any music lover’s fancy. We’ve got things for the cost-conscious and the spendthrifts alike, so take a look before you waste an hour and a half rifling through mall shops and only come away with a previously-owned “Hannah Montana” CD.
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