OK, hands down the iTunes Music Store is the number one online digital music store. I bet you knew that. Who do you think the number two online music store is? Napster? RealNetworks’ Rhapsody? Yahoo!Music? MSN Music? The new MTV/Microsoft Urge? Sony? Walmart? Well no, actually it is what some have called a small-time DRM free MP3 music store eMusic with only 75 employees.

The eMusic online music store features independent artists, has quietly overtaken their big name rivals that spent millions in advertising. eMusic claims their success mostly due in part to the iPod’s widespread popularity and the fact that MP3s play just fine on it. eMusic also claims “the consumer confusion over interoperable formats gives them a great advantage.”
Continue reading iTunes is Number One, Who is Number Two?…

Continue reading iTunes Tip #40: Browsing iTMS Like a Pro…

Two new solutions for running Windows applications on OS X, but unlike Boot Camp or Parallels, these solutions allow you to run them without using Windows at all. eWeek claims that as sales of Apple’s Macs expand, so does the number of ways to run Windows software on Apple hardware.

CodeWeavers CrossOver Mac is a commercial product based on the open-source DarWine program which is descendant of the Wine 86 project that uses no actual Windows code. The company has long had a Linux version that allows you to run Windows applications and now plans to release a Mac version in August. CrossOver will not run every Windows application, but it will be optimized for a set of tested applications, including Outlook, Project and Visio. CrossOver will only run on Intel-powered Macs. CrossOver has a Programs menu in the Mac OS X menu bar that lists Windows applications and stores files created by Windows applications in regular Mac folders.

Continue reading Run Windows Apps on Macs without Windows…

Apple has initiated a worldwide battery exchange program for certain rechargeable batteries that were sold for use with 15-inch MacBook Pro only from February 2006 through May 2006.

According to Apple the affected batteries do not pose a safety risk. You may continue to use your current battery until a replacement arrives.
Continue reading Apple: Battery Exchanges for 15-inch MacBook Pro…

Rogue Amoeba has released Audio Hijack Pro 2.7 today, which adds features that make it easier for podcasters to record iChat, Skype, Gizmo, and other audio chat applications. Audio Hijack Pro 2.7 is available for download at the Rogue Amoeba Web site, and is priced at US$32. The update is free for licensed version 2 users. Registered owners of Audio Hijack Pro 1.x can upgrade to Audio Hijack Pro 2 for a $10.

New in Audio Hijack Pro 2.7:

• Now record Skype, iChat, and Gizmo audio with a single click!
• Lyrics tag now available for recordings
• Enhanced the Recording Bin Preview function

RadioShark (AM/FM Radio) improvements:

• Improved tuning
• Manual tuning for increased precision
• Many more improvements and bug fixes

Key Features of Audio Hijack Pro:

• Record any audio to MP3, AAC, ALAC, or AIFF
• One-click recording of Skype, iChat, and Gizmo conversations
• Record when you’re not around with timed recordings
• Use professional quality audio effects to adjust and improve any audio, including support for VST and AudioUnit plugins
• Import cassettes and vinyl records into iTunes
• Support for Griffin’s RadioSHARK
• Fully Applescriptable
• Over 50 major new features added in version 2 and up!

Continue reading New Audio Hijack Adds Improvements for Podcasters…

Zune, Microsoft’s upcoming iPod/iTunes Music Store challenger will lose money for at least FIVE years, so says Robbie Bach, head of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “We think of this in the hundreds of millions of dollars of investment,” Bach said. “This is something that’s going to be a three-, four-, five-year investment horizon. It is something that is going to take time. This is not a six-month initiative.”

How many other companies could afford to spend all this money without any hard evidence of return on their investment? Not many! This is their monopoly money being used to hurt the competition as they have done for years. With all the businesses Microsoft is in, it is amazing that most of them do not make any money. The crown jewels for Microsoft has been the Windows/Office monopoly. Many of the other markets where Microsoft offers products or services, lose money, and yes this includes the Xbox. They can afford these huge losses because it has allowed them to keep the strangle-hold on the desktop. Microsoft has used this monopoly and “out-spending” the competition for years. It usually results in Microsoft being a dominate player, that is not always profitable, but keeping the monopoly alive. All the “real” money comes from sales or Windows and Office.

Continue reading Microsoft: Our Monopoly Dollars At Work…

Flip4Mac allows playback of Windows Media files (.wma and .wmv) directly in QuickTime Player. With this release Intel Mac users can now smile and be happy.

Are you having a problem playing video clips from certain websites. Flip4Mac may be your answer. See OS X Tip #113: Fix Website Video That Will Not Play for more information.

No one really knows if Steve Jobs will be introducing the anticipated replacement for the PowerMac at the World Wide Developers Conference on Monday, August 7, 2006. Or if it will sport a new Blu-ray drive. Apple users like to stay ahead of the curve, so they can expect to see the new Toast 7 w/ Blu-ray Drive support bundled with the retail versions of Blu-ray recorders shipping soon.

The price tags for a new Blu-ray recorders are still hovering around $750 and it still may be a bit more time until these prices drop. It will be very interesting to see if the new Mac Pro offers Blu-ray as a build-to-order option if it is introduced at the WWDC.
Continue reading Toast 7 Ready with Blu-ray for Macs…

E! Entertainment Television are now available for purchase and download on the iTunes Music Store. This includes new weekly episodes of the second season of hit series “The Girls Next Door,” which debuts July 30 on E!, “The Soup,” “Dr. 90210,” as well as all new episodes of “The Simple Life: ‘Til Death Do Us Part” for $1.99 per episode.

Earlier in the week, Apple announced a similar deal with Warner Bros. which included the popular sitcom “Friends,” “Aquaman,” “Babylon 5,” “The Flintstones,” “The Jetsons,” and “The Best of MADtv.” I think Apple understands that “content is king” and keeps bulking up the iTunes video lineup.

Elgato Systems released EyeTV 2.3 today with added support for Apple’s Front Row and the Apple Remote. I have been using EyeTV to record television programs and EyeHome for a long time. This will be a welcome addition to my Mac. Now I have a true Personal Video Recorder. Other enhancements in this update include a full screen menu, improved editing tools, playlists, single click burn with Toast, Windows Media exporting, and more. EyeTV 2.3 is priced at $50 US. This update is free for current version 2 users.

The integration of EyeTv and Front Row is not as seamless as I would like, but this is a big improvement over the “old” way of using EyeTV. This integration allows me to use the Apple remote to control all of EyeTV functions. You have to start EyeTV first and the Front Row full screen menu then becomes available. I would love if Elgato could have “hacked” Front Row to have an EyeTV menu directly in Front Row and could start EyeTV from there. But the new version is still a nice improvement. I guess we will have to see if Apple ever decides to do their own PVR to get a tighter integration.
Continue reading EyeTV Adds Seat to Front Row…

SIPphone, Inc developers of Gizmo Project and Six Apart, Ltd., a leader in blogging software and services, announced a partnership today for Six Apart’s LiveJournal users. They will provide a preferred voice and instant messaging client optimized for use with LJ Talk, LiveJournal’s just-announced instant messaging and voice service. The co-branded “Gizmo Project for LJ Talk” software will enable LiveJournal friends to call each other for free, send instant messages and see each other’s online presence. Read Sipphone’s press release.

Gizmo Project recently announced free Gizmo-to-landline or cell calls in 60 countries to keep pace with Skype. Six Apart is also the company that has TypePad, MoveableType and a new blogging service called Vox.

Continue reading OS X Tip #114: Stop Monitor From Dimming too Soon…

With the Net Neutrality debate raging on many users are concerned about ISP’s packet shaping and how well their network is setup for making calls over the Internet (VoIP). Brix Networks, a company that develops monitoring tools for VoIP says that the quality of VoIP calls is going down. This may be due to bandwidth constraints and more services running over the same pipe on the Internet. It will be interesting to see how the big telcos controlling the backbone of the Internet and ISPs handle these issues, now and in the future.

There are now some websites that provide tools to measure the connection speeds and QoS for VoIP and VideoIP calls for your connection. These maybe particularly helpful when traveling and you want to use VoIP or video conference from your laptop.
Continue reading Test Your VoIP and VideoIP Connections…

First Madonna and Pearl Jam, now Metallica. One of the most outspoken bands against digital music and pirating has been Metallica vowing to never allow downloads of their music. Well I would like to say welcome! What’s next a special Metallica iPod?

Warner Brothers has also added some of their shows to the iTunes Music Store. The six shows include Friends, Aquaman, Babylon 5, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and The Best of MADtv. There is now over 150 TV shows available in the iTunes Music Store and there are rumors the full length movies for rent will soon appear.

Microsoft made some announcements in order to impress Wall Street and stockholders last Friday. Microsoft’s stock has been stagnate for over five or more years, and dropping lower of late. They started a media side show about yet another so-called iPod-killer. Vaporware so far, as nothing is actually available and no date for release has been confirmed. Why announce something before it is available you may ask? Maybe to take the spotlight off the real issues.

The real news is that Microsoft announced on Friday that quarterly profits dropped 24 percent which would hurt an already slumping stock price. In an attempt to make Wall Street and stockholders happy and ignore this fact. MS announced plans to buy back up to $40 billion worth of its stock through a $20 billion tender offer and a five-year share-repurchase program. These buy backs rarely yeild the intended result on Wall Street.

A friend of mine who loves everything Microsoft, a few years ago called Apple’s iPod “a toy” with no business or future value, totally ignoring the success it has brought Apple and its stockholders. Why I bring this up is this friend of mine is a guy who claims to be a “all knowing” in the stock market. Well I will say here, that “TOY” has had quite an impact and the iPod halo effect is real. Just ask Michael Dell when he isn’t ignoring the obivious. Dell is now trying to copy Apple and dip their toe in retail stores after losing consumer market share. Windows Vista being delayed so long sure has not helped Dell!
Continue reading Microsoft Buy Back $40B in Stock and Zune…

Skype has released version 1.5 beta for Mac OS X. It has an improved streamlined user interface that better complements the Mac environment as well as adding a preview version with video conferencing capability.

This version of the Skype client features support for Apple’s iSight cameras, Philips, and Logitech cameras allowing the ability to make video calls Windows clients.
Continue reading Skype Video in Mac 1.5 Beta…

As expected, Apple has released a wireless version of the Mighty Mouse. The new bluetooth version is now available for $69, that is $20 more than the wired version.

The new wireless Mighty Mouse requires Mac OS X v10.4.6 or later and runs on one standard AA battery or two batteries, you decide. The wireless Mighty Mouse’s tracking engine is based on laser technology that is said to deliver 20 times the performance of standard optical tracking wired version Mighty Mouse.

The tracking will probably be better than the wired version of the Mighty Mouse due to the laser tracking technology added to this new bluetooth version. I have never been a fan of the Apple Mighty Mouse and have said so on this website calling it the “Mickey Mouse” and getting beat up on my Mac fanboys.
Continue reading Apple Mighty Mouse Loses Its Tail…

Skype calls will soon be available without a computer on four new WiFi Phones from Belkin, Edge-Core, NETGEAR and SMC. The devices come with everything built-in to connect to Skype via any personal, business or free public WiFi access point that does not require browser authentication. These phones will be only useful with “open” WiFi hotspots, home networks, and company wireless networks that are setup to allow for their use.

• Belkin WiFi Phone for Skype (F1PP000GN-SK)
• Edge-Core WiFi Phone for Skype (WM4201)
• NETGEAR WiFi Phone for Skype (SPH101)
• SMC Wi-Fi Phone for Skype (WSKP100)

The phones are said to be easy to set-up and use with automatic synchronization to a Skype account your contacts. Users of the new phones will also be able to check who is available to talk.
Continue reading Four New WiFi Phones for Skype…

Apple has launched a website with a list of applications that offer support for .Mac. One the only reasons I use .Mac these days is because some of the applications I use such as Transmit, SoHo Notes, and Yojimbo leverage .Mac for syncing. Maybe Apple is feeling the heat and wants to show a good reason to renew your .Mac account. I have been a user of iTools that preceded .Mac and a longtime .Mac user. Lately, I have been wondering out loud if I should keep the $99 a year service as Google and others give me many of the same features for free.

If you are a web developer, Firefox and its many extensions can be your best friend. I thought I would provide a list of extensions that are very useful. Of course these are all free Firefox extensions. Most will work on all the same platforms Firefox does, except were noted. These extensions are definately worth your time investagating, some of them I consider “must-haves” for web developers. The ones in bold are my favorites.
Continue reading Firefox Add-ons: For Web Developers…