lame

iTunes is a convenient way to rip CDs into compressed audio files in Windows, but it certainly isn't the only way. LAME is an open-source encoder and is considered one of the best, if not the best, MP3 encoders available. It can be used with a free CD-ripping program called Exact Audio Copy (EAC) to create high-quality MP3s. Here's how:

Step 1: Download the Windows executable of LAME to a folder on your PC and unzip it.

Step 2: Download and install Exact Audio Copy. You'll need to have an audio CD in your optical drive … Read more

QR codes were effective when there was no context surrounding them. If you saw one subtly stickered below an enigmatic poster, there was an incentive to do some research and figure out what was going on. It was like a secret game. Now QR codes are no longer cool. They're everywhere. Corporations have stripped them of their street cred and now they're the advertorial equivalent of getting a "like" from your grandmother on Facebook. … Read more

Any Web publisher with a pulse knows that the best way to goose page views is to create a slideshow. Turns out it works in search as well.

Yahoo's search market share has been on a decline for several months, but the company has been promising a rebound over the last several weeks. And according to ComScore data released to financial analysts Monday, it delivered in April, gaining 0.8 percentage points of share to end the month at 17.7 percent of the market.

But several analysts pointed out that there's a catch: Yahoo's search gains … Read more

CNET has written several times over the years about Audacity, a free, general-purpose sound-editing tool. I've known people who have used it to manipulate sound for podcasts and the like. But I'd completely forgotten about it until today.

One of my colleagues been looking for a tool to split recorded audio presentations into portions to go with the corresponding individual PowerPoint slides. I thought Apple's GarageBand might work, but he found it too opaque, and our office (like most) is PC-heavy, which would have complicated efforts to train other folks on how to do this job.

Then … Read more

Here's a fun tool for play around with over the long weekend. It's called SuperLame, and it's a simple tool for adding speech bubbles over photos. It's missing out on some of the special effects found in other similar tools like Comeeko, but what it lacks in versatility it makes up for in flash and user experience. It's simply a joy to tag up a photo with captions, speech and thought bubbles. Best of all, the end result is total eye candy.

To make your own creation you can upload any old photo from your … Read more

Since its launch last November, the Nintendo Wii has made waves among retirees and new gamers.

Now, Nintendo's generation-transcending game machine is making waves in the literal sense.

According to this post on Joystiq, Norwegian Cruise Lines will feature Nintendo Wiis on all cruises. As this photo attests, they're talkin' big-screen action.

Judging how hard it is to find a Wii in stores, cruise ships will no doubt become a huge target for pirates. Marrrrrrrio!