itunes

MediaMaster takes your music library online

MediaMaster is a Web-based jukebox service that launched last week. MediaMaster gives users free storage space to upload their tunes and listen to them anywhere they have Internet access. The interface is clean, simple, and intuitive--if you're used to iTunes or Windows Media Player you'll feel right at home. Users can upload their tunes with two uploaders, a simple one for a few tracks and an advanced version that lets you simply drag and drop files from file folders right into the uploader.

Once your tracks are uploaded, you can create and manage playlists, rate individual songs, and … Read more

Apple TV: First impressions

UPDATE: Full review (with hands-on video) now available.

Today we got our first in-person look at the Apple TV since its unveiling back in September of 2006. Company representatives were showing it off at a Manhattan hotel suite and gave us a loaner to do our own hands-on testing. While we conduct a full review, here's our first impression--and a video of our own Rich DeMuro diving into the box for the first time. … Read more

Walt loves Apple TV

Gadget godfather Walt Mossberg is first out of the gate with a review of the Apple TV, and he likes what he sees. It seems that Apple's first A/V product designed for the living room worked exactly as advertised. Over 10 days of testing, Mossberg (and colleague Katie Boehret) was able to stream the iTunes-based music, video, and photos from six computers--three Windows PCs and three Macs--without a hitch. Even more impressive was the fact that the video streaming was stutter-free, even though he was testing with an older 802.11g wireless router rather than the state-of-the-art 802.… Read more

SpotDJ lets users spin tales

Bridging the gap between podcasting and music discovery is SpotDJ, a Web service and iTunes plug-in (download SpotDJ for Windows or Mac) that lets listeners record audio clips, or "spots," about their favorite songs or musical artists.

The site has the grassroots appeal of letting amateur DJs like Greg expound upon the libertarianism of Oingo Boingo while also providing inside information from artists themselves, from The Donnas to Taylor Hicks. I recently was lucky enough to be given a tour of the service by CEO and co-founder Kevin Barenblat.

Essentially, SpotDJ analyzes your iTunes or iPod playlists and … Read more

Apple TV slips to March

Shipments of the Apple TV have been delayed until mid-March, according to media reports confirmed by CNET News.com.

The delay is neither surprising nor particularly problematic. With less than 72 hours left in the month of February, the possibility of hitting the announced release window was becoming increasingly unlikely. That said, a March release for Apple TV would only be two to three weeks late and still within the Q1 2007 span originally mentioned when the product was initially announced last fall (under the "iTV" moniker).

In other words: take a deep breath, fanboys. The Apple TV … Read more

Wal-Mart joins downloadable movie battle

Wal-Mart is joining the fray of movie download services today. Its new store (which is mysteriously unfriendly to Firefox) features movies from all six major studios including Disney and Sony--two studios that have a long history of proprietary use and ties to competing download services.

Films range from about $13 to $20 and can be watched almost immediately depending on your connection. Movies are managed and played through a custom player that runs only on Windows PCs. You also can watch the movies in Windows Media Player. Like the iTunes Movie Store, titles released on DVD will be available … Read more

iTunes plug-in finds good concerts

It's early February. Do you know where your favorite band is?

iConcertCal does. This free iTunes plug-in for both Mac OS X and Windows scans your iTunes library and lets you know when the bands you listen to are coming to town.

After installing iConcertCal, the iTunes visualizer becomes a calendar that lists local concert dates for bands in your library. Clicking on each listing in the calendar lets you buy tickets, and changing the city and state brings up personalized listings for other cities.

Since a co-worker sent out a link to this free plug-in last week, I'… Read more

FoxyTunes Planet gets music discovery right

The team behind the popular browser extension FoxyTunes is hard at work on a new mashup site that integrates the music controls of FoxyTunes with an aggregation tool to give you more information and media about your favorite musical artists and new discoveries.

Each FoxyTunes Planet artist page has several customizable widgets. There are Flickr photos, YouTube videos, albums for sale from Amazon, and even various Internet radio stations such as HypeMachine and Last.fm where you can listen to the band's other songs. If you're like me, you might be listening to a Shoutcast feed on iTunes … Read more

Apple planning Super Bowl Beatles ad?

There will, of course, be a football game played on Feb. 4. But we all know half the audience just watches the Super Bowl for the ads, and that's something Apple might be counting on.

The Toronto Sun reported Wednesday that Apple could be ready to announce a three-month deal for Beatles songs on iTunes via a commercial during this year's Super Bowl. Classic Beatles songs have not been available on iTunes while Apple and Apple Records--The Beatles' label--have tussled in court over a trademark dispute. To this point, The Beatles have actually resisted any online music service, … Read more