Entries in iPod (4)

Monday
May102010

Slacker Radio Crowned King of Music

DateMonday, May 10, 2010 at 3:38PM

I've beening using an iPod of some sort or another for a few years now to enjoy my favorite tunes.  Before my iPod era, I spinned CD's and before them cassette tapes.  I only handled a few 8-track tapes when I was very, very young but they weren't mine.

Now streaming radio music is about to overthrow everything that has come before (for me anyway).  I can actually see not buying as much music from iTunes for sure.  Even a collection of my favorite music has become stale over time and newer music costs money.

Of course the best versions of streaming internet radio cost money too.  I'm currently using Slacker Radio Plus for $47.88 a year ($3.99/month).  The "Plus" adds the following features over the "free" version: ad-free listening, unlimited skips, mobile station caching and complete lyrics.  The key feature for me is the mobile station caching.  During the night or anytime, I can have the mobile app version of Slacker Radio (not the iPod Touch version yet) download a number of stations: as much as my phone's memory card can hold.  The next day, I can go anywhere and play the stations back without a Wi-Fi connection or a cellular signal.  All the while, I'm discovering new songs without having to pay for each and every one of them.  There is even a search to go straight to a particular song or artist.  Also, unlike radio I can sneak a peek of what each next song will be if I want and there is the skipping song feature I mentioned early.

I've tried Pandora Radio, Last.fm, Rhapsody and others but to me Slacker Radio is the best.  I'm not interested in listening to news or sports on the radio (I have the internet) so even Sirius XM is going away.  I've beening using Sirius XM's mobile app on my iPod Touch to stream their stations over Wi-Fi but their monthly price is too high.  I have a XM Radio satellite antenna and receiver connected to my A/V system but don't see any reason to keep it because I can simply connect my iPod Touch with Slacker Radio app to it instead.  Oh and my Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray player has Slacker Radio on it too.

Try the free version of Slacker Radio and you will not be disappointed.

RECOMMENDED

AuthorWesley Hester | CommentPost a Comment |
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Wednesday
Mar172010

Mobile Air Mouse Pro: HTPC Couch Control

DateWednesday, March 17, 2010 at 4:08PM

Instantly transform your iPhone or iPod touch into an air mouse, trackpad, and wireless remote for your computer! Sit back and surf the web, browse your photo library or control your music player from the comfort of your couch. Our air mouse uses the built in accelerometer to translate your hand motions into mouse movements on your screen. It can also operate as a trackpad, allowing you to control your computer with a single finger. Suddenly your iPhone has become an essential part of any home theater PC and a presenter's best friend. Using an innovative application notification system, the iPhone will always know what applications are running at any time and show the appropriate keys for that program, providing you with a single screen for controlling ALL your media and web applications. Source

For the price and the tagline above, Mobile Air Mouse Pro is a bargain and works well to control my HTPC.

Features

  • Accelerometer based mouse
  • Trackpad with vertical and horizontal orientation
  • Media keys with volume and eject controls
  • Web keys
  • Application switcher/launcher
  • Application notifications
  • Unlimited custom media and web remotes with scripting capabilities
  • Remote keyboard with modifier keys
  • Function keyboard with arrow keys
  • Oversized numeric keypad
  • Programable hotkeys (can be set to run a program or keyboard combination)
  • Scroll pad
  • Multitouch gestures (supports scrolling & right click)
  • Remotely wake up and put your computer to sleep
  • Password protection
  • Custom sensitivity settings
  • Foreign language keyboards
  • Supports Bonjour or static IP
  • Works over Bluetooth PAN (requires carrier support, currently not available on AT&T)
  • No screen size limitation. Works with multiple monitors
  • Works over WIFI, no line of sight limitations
  • Built from the ground up for Mac and Windows

RECOMMENDED

AuthorWesley Hester | CommentPost a Comment |
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Sunday
Mar142010

iTunes Library Transferred

DateSunday, March 14, 2010 at 6:54PM

I made a backup of iTunes library (music, movies, videos, pictures, podcasts, games and apps) located on my aging HP zd7005qv Windows XP laptop (8 years old).  It was around 92GB in size: required 24 blank DVD+R's and 4 hours to complete.  Restoring the backup onto my new Acer Aspire Revo 3610 and 1.5TB Seagate FreeAgent external hard drive took another 4 hours.  Syncing both my 4th generation iPod Nano and 3rd generation iPod Touch took another 2 to 3 hours.  To summarize, it took a long time.

Playlists, play counts, ratings, etc. were all recovered as they were meant to.  They didn't show up until the finish of the very last disc.  Syncing the iPods took so long because they can only be synced to one library at a time.  So they both had to be erased completely by iTunes and "rebuilt" from the ground up.  Finally, after about 11 to 12 hours everything was done.  Or so it seemed.

The Genius Mixes are not working.  I'm going to try to delete them and create new ones.  Also, the art work of several albums were lost.  I have entered several pieces of album art myself during CD imports over the years that are still there but some just don't stick around.  I'll have to download and install them again.

I will be looking into getting a Blu-ray burner for future backups.  Hopefully it will only require 4 to 5 discs per backup.

AuthorWesley Hester | CommentPost a Comment |
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Thursday
Feb252010

Website Redesign: Again

DateThursday, February 25, 2010 at 10:37AM

I've decided to welcome in the new year with a website redesign.  I am finally moving away from Microsoft FrontPage which has been discontinued for quite some time now.  I've moved to Squarespace which is even easier to learn and use.  Furthermore, I can now easily edit the website and add content from any computer with an internet connection or using an iPod Touch app.  Before, I was locked to the one computer I have with FrontPage installed on it.

I hope everyone enjoys the new look and blog format.  I for one already enjoy having an even easier and quicker way to make updates.  As my "free" time dwindles down to almost nothing and news hits constantly, every little bit helps.

Goodbye old site, you served your purpose well.

AuthorWesley Hester | CommentPost a Comment |
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