itunes 9
iTunes 9 Review
January 4, 2010
It isn’t that long ago that iTunes was simply Apple’s audio player. Somewhere to stash and organise your MP3 files and sync them with your iPod. That was pretty much it. Nowadays however, it manages your video files organising movies and tv shows, as well as podcasts, apps for your iPod/iPhone. You get the picture. The name iTunes really doesn’t do it justice anymore.
Many of you may have updated to iTunes 9 already, in fact you probably will have done after being prompted by the software update at the time of release. But in case you haven’t, or in case you’ve missed something, this is what’s new in iTunes number 9.
Continue reading »SonicSwap Review (iTunes Playlist Widget)
December 28, 2009
SonicSwap is described as an iTunes playlist widget. It’s an add-on to iTunes for OS X that provides extremely simplistic usability for even the beginners amongst us. The app features several useful features that all worked extremely well for me and best of all, it’s available as a free download from the downloads section of the Apple website.
Basically, the main feature of the widget is the simplification of the iTunes interface. It sits neatly upon your desktop and allows you to control your tracks and volume etc. without having to bring up the bulky and sometimes laggy iTunes interface.
I have to say, that it doesn’t feature such an attractive look as most other OS X apps, it just doesn’t follow the usual style of apps. However, its functionality is key and it delivers all that it promises. Ok, so you could just leave the iTunes mini player upon your desktop, it would provide the same basics, however, with SonicSwap, not only are the navigational buttons displayed, artwork and track details are listed too without taking up a sizeable chunk of your desktop.
Continue reading »Real Player SP Review (How To Record Streaming Video)
November 23, 2009
Hold back the vomit; it’s time for Real Player SP!
If you’re like me, something happened in your teenage years, when you lost your mind through a combination of hormones and white cider, and decided that it would be a good idea to install Real Player on your computer.
Back in the age of Netscape, when .rm (and all the other) files were competing equally with every other format out there, it was quite a reasonable, even necessary thing to have Real Player installed. Of course, that was then and this is now. With the advent of VLC Media Player and similar cross-platform products, Real’s stranglehold over the .rm genus of increasingly insignificant file types has all but disappeared.
Continue reading »How To Change The iTunes 9 Grid View Background Colour
October 31, 2009
When I checked Software Update to see if there was any new software available for my Mac, I wasn’t too surprised to see an iTunes update, v9.0.2, following the update of the Apple TV. When I was scanning the release notes, I saw something quite interesting…
“iTunes 9.0.2 adds support for Apple TV software version 3.0, adds an option for a dark background for Grid View, and improves support for accessibility”
Continue reading »iTunes 9: So What?!?! – Part Two: Steal, Innovate, Repeat!
October 4, 2009
It’s Bill time again! (it’s always Bill O’clock in my house). I think Bill’s expression here, is a combination of shame and lust. Anyway, on with the whinging about Apple…
I always take delight in posing this quesstion to Mac Monks: “Well if OSX is so reliable and fantastic, where are all the Apple servers then!?” Exactly. There’s only one word in networking, and that word is Windows.
In part one of my iTunes 9 review, I told you how rubbish media sharing was in iTunes 9 and I told you why, but you know what? It doesn’t even matter. iTunes is a great audio manager and a competent audio streamer, but it’s no media-hub. Windows, however, is.
Practical sharing in Windows is so simple, I can cover it a paragraph. Here we go then…
Continue reading »iTunes 9 Review: So What?!?!
September 27, 2009
What can I say to follow up on my iTunes 9 teaser? Well, the scary doll from SAW said:
“Ringtones at a breakthrough price of $1.29” “We’ve bumped podcasts over and given the slot to ringtones”
Because that’s what everyone wants isn’t it? Not free, informative podcasts, oh no. Fucking shitty 30 second ringtones that cost more than the whole song, that’s what we want! – Assholes.
Continue reading »iTunes 9: So What?!?! – The Teaser!
September 13, 2009
Ooo, colour me cross. I’m so upset, the “Star field Screensaver” is coming out of my ears, and a couple of other places.
If you haven’t seen the whoopty-fuck of an event that was this year’s steve-note, you can watch it here.
Continue reading »New Apple iPod Nano, Touch, Classic And Shuffle Announced
September 10, 2009
Last week we brought you the rumours surrounding the much anticipated Apple iPod event taglined “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it”, and today 09/09/09 we finally found out what what they were planning – and as it turns out we were half right!
Although the rock-and-roll quote and the fact that the date that coincided with the release of Beatles: Rock Band were red herrings, not only were the rumors about the camera true, but the additions to the iPod Touch and general software updates were also well predicted. So, with the Nano, Touch, Shuffle and Classic being changed here’s a quick overview of them all.
Continue reading »
