music

It's a common problem: your point-and-shoot camera's microphone picked up nothing but wind while you were at the park shooting a video of people flying kites. The solution? Wipe over the track with music. But putting licensed music over the videos not only requires video editing software, but also the digital rights to publish. YouTube has rolled out a new service called AudioSwap which hopes to quell both of those problems.

To use AudioSwap, just pick a video you've uploaded and browse the provided audio list. You'll get a preview right away, and with the click … Read more

Just because a cable lights up, that doesn't necessarily mean it's smart. To wit, Evergreen Japan has developed one that "dances to the rhythm of the music you are listening to," Gearfuse says, but doesn't do much of anything else except maybe keep you from getting run over by a car at night. They also require a clunky battery box to provide power, diluting whatever cool factor they manage to muster--which probably isn't a huge loss.

The idea of a "smart cable" has always seemed weird to us. (Where do they keep their brains?) But that's essentially what SoundTech is promising with its "LightSnake" line, which lights up in glowing green when in use.

The company is touting these USB cables as simple tools for garage guitarists and other amateur musicians who don't want to mess around with complicated recording equipment. (Even its name sounds like a rock band.) Dubbed a "sound card in a cable," the LightSnake requires no drivers and will work with a variety of … Read more

We're not terribly fond of retro designs, as we've mentioned before, but the "Retro Console Music System" does get high marks for effort. Unlike other items that just slap an old analog face on some digital innards, this system at least tries to integrate its new players into a unique hybrid design that still looks distinctly like something from yesteryear.

Unfortunately, it doesn't update its music technology far enough. Although Chip Chick notes that it includes a CD changer, turntable, radio, cassette decks and two-way speakers (what, no 8-track?), the $300 system doesn't appear … Read more

The Barenaked Ladies, the Canadian pop group that's churned out radio hits like "One Week" and "Old Apartment" over the past decade-plus, might have a user base that's slightly older than the average MySpace user. But that hasn't stopped them from gaining a particularly tech-savvy reputation: recently, they've become somewhat of anti-DRM figureheads. Their latest video, "Sound Of Your Voice," will undoubtedly add to that buzz. It doesn't feature the band at all, but rather a whole bunch of popular YouTube personalities lip-synching to the song. Among those featured … Read more

Usually when we see so-called luxury items, they're often fairly standard products that have just been plated in gold or covered in crystals--serving only to make them ugly, as well as expensive. A distinct exception, however, is the work coming from Russia's innovative Gresso.

The company came out of nowhere last fall with a stunning phone made of gold and African Blackwood, generating a lot of interest but offering scant details about features and availability. But now it's preparing to release an MP3 player made with similarly rare materials, and Gresso isn't being quite so … Read more

Here in Manhattan we have all these overpriced, semi-trashy, "see and be seen"-type nightclubs that routinely show up in the pages of Us Weekly. They all have one thing in common, aside from the price-gouging on bottle service: each one inevitably features some kind of luminescent gimmick inside, be it a giant tank of jellyfish or a light show on the ceiling. Well, if you can't get enough of that stuff, here's a set of speakers that will bring nightlife into your home--the I-Lit, which feature pulsing colored light to the beat of your music (… Read more

Originally announced back in September, the Nokia 5300 XpressMusic phone was only available Stateside if you bought an unlocked version for well over $300. T-Mobile is going to announce Wednesday at 3GSM that starting February 28, the carrier will sell it for $99 and a two-year contract.

It's a good price for a phone that CNET Reviews was pretty impressed by: it's a GSM/GPRS/EDGE slider phone with Bluetooth support, has a 1 GB SD card slot, 1.3-megapixel camera, standard 2.5-millimeter headset jack and an adapter for the headphones of your choice. That way you … Read more

>> Microsoft sticks with Hotmail name. First it was Hotmail, then it was Windows Live Mail. Now it's Windows Live Hotmail. Will people still call it plain ol' Hotmail? Probably. The name change is reminiscent of the Cingular/AT&T debacle of late. Microsoft is choosing to keep the Hotmail moniker in its upgraded e-mail service, despite the vastly different interface.

>> Verizon breathing new life into Mobile ESPN. The Web-to-phone service that was originally offered as an MVNO and got axed less than a year later has been resurrected by Verizon as a part of … Read more