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Freeware Disk Tools: Error Check Your Music Storage

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Find out about some of the best free disk tools for quickly checking for errors on CDs, DVDs, hard drives, and other storage media types that make up your music collection.

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iTunes LP: A Virtual Way to Enjoy a Vinyl Album?

Friday May 4, 2012
iTunes LP Logo

The problem with just purchasing and downloading an album from the majority of online music services is that it's typically not a very interactive experience -- most digital music fans simply listen via computer speakers, or earbuds connected to their MP3 player / PMP. When the novelty of your new album purchase has subsided, there's nothing much else to keep you entertained. There's no bonus material you can thumb through such as liner notes, lyrics, photos, etc., as with physical products like vinyl records and audio CDs (to a lesser extent).

To try and recapture the experience of owning physical albums like vinyl, Apple invented their iTunes LP format to fill this gap in the market. The company also added more modern multimedia benefits (almost DVD-like) to their iTunes LP standard such as: interactive menus, music videos, animated lyrics, etc., that obviously can't be done with a physical product like vinyl or cassette tape.

Even though iTunes LP albums on the iTunes Store are still relatively thin on the ground, it still remains a great way to collect 'must have' digital albums that contain a lot of additional content on your favorite artist or band.

For more information on what the iTunes LP standard has to offer, and what you'll need to fully enjoy all its content, read our iTunes LP article that goes into a lot more detail.

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Sticky Shed Syndrome: Digitize Your Audio Cassettes Before it's Too Late!

Wednesday May 2, 2012
Cassette MP3 Player

Before the invention of digital audio formats such as MP3, compact audio cassettes were a very popular way of listening to music in the 80s and 90s -- you could either purchase per-recorded albums or make your own customized mixtapes (like playlists) by recording onto blanks. They were small, portable (just like MP3 players / PMPs), and could hold quite a lot of songs -- a C90 for instance can hold up to 90 minutes of music which is more than an average audio CD can store today! However, the sound quality of analog tape couldn't compete with the superior digital sound that the compact disc offered and soon went out of fashion.

If you remember these days, you may still have some stored away somewhere. The problem is, the older they get, the worse the recorded audio on them will become. Unfortunately, the magnetic tape inside them (just like in a VHS or Betamax cassette) will eventually deteriorate -- often referred to as Sticky Shed Syndrome (SSS). This describes the condition where the magnetic oxide layer (that holds the audio) gradually drops off. This is caused by the deterioration of the binder that holds these magnetic particles onto the backing material. If you have rare recordings, or hard-to-find original music tapes, then it is advisable to transfer them to a digital format such as MP3 before the effects of SSS damage goes too far.

If you're not sure what setup you'll need to convert audio cassettes to digital audio files on your computer, why not read our equipment checklist for digitizing cassette tapes via your computer's soundcard.

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Last Minute Music Gifts: Instantly Send Music Credit via Email

Friday April 27, 2012

If you've forgotten a birthday, anniversary, or other type of celebratory event, and need an instant gift before your lapse of memory lands you in hot water, then have you thought about buying music credit? Physical music gift cards that you can pick up from many stores these days are great, but you don't always have the luxury of time.

Luckily, a growing number of digital music services now offer the facility to purchase music credit which can be quickly sent via email. Purcasing an iTunes Gift Certificate for example allows you to give someone credit via email or even print out a certificate that you can present in person. Redeeming an iTunes Gift Certificate then gives the recipient credit on their iTunes Store account that can be used for purchasing songs, apps, audiobooks, movies, and more.

Other major online stores that offer an instant way of sending credit include: Amazon MP3 (Purchase/Download), Pandora Radio (Pandora One subscription), Slacker Radio, Wal-Mart, and others.

Read our Top Digital Music Gift Cards guide for more information.

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Will the Next Major Release of iTunes be More Socially Interactive?

Tuesday April 24, 2012

Rumors about what might be built into the next major release of iTunes (version 11) have been circulating for some time now, but will Apple improve on its lack of social interactivity? The iTunes Store is a stellar place to buy just about any type of digital media product (music, videos, apps, etc.), but from a social point of view, it isn't all that engaging. Facebook on the other hand has now quite a few major digital music services on-board such as Spotify, MOG, Slacker Radio, Pandora, and others, with a great social networking platform to back it up. Current social interactions for the iTunes Store consists mainly of product comments and social music networking via the iTunes Ping platform.

However, this shortfall in social interaction could soon change. Apple's acquisition of the Chomp application is well suited in addressing the discovery/sharing deficiency -- for apps at least. According to PC Advisor's round-up article, "the search software has a proprietary algorithm that learns the functions and topics of apps, as well as ties to Facebook and Twitter for sharing app reviews." There is also the chance that Facebook could be finally supported in iTunes Ping, the report goes on to say.

At the moment there's no definite date set for the release of iTunes 11, but social interaction is one area that Apple would be wise to keep in mind considering the threat that Facebook poses in the digital music space as well as future social trends.

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