Tidy Songs – iTunes Library Janitor
Picture it. 6,000 music tracks in your collection, 200-some artists, 500-some albums. Strewn about your iTunes library like your 7-year-old’s room. But wait, you don’t have to picture it, do you? Because this, friends, is reality. Tidy Songs would have you believe it will selflessly slave over your music collection, scrubbing down the dirty tags and misspellings like some kind of clean freak. But can it live up to our demands?
Everplay – A New Compact iTunes Alternative
Apple’s iTunes, as we all know, is full-featured. This feature rich application, however, sometimes comes at the cost of being heavy on the system resources. Some would prefer a simpler application with less baggage to get the job done, and for them, there’s a new app in town. If you’ve got a hankering for a lightweight iTunes alternative, Everplay 1.0 could be your answer. However, there’s still a few things missing from this app. Read on!
Rock Band vs. Tap Tap Revenge 3: Battle of the Bands
Ever since Guitar Hero hit the home console scene back in 2005, music games have been all the rage amongst gamers and music enthusiasts alike. Tracing the iPhone’s roots back to the music-only iPods of yore, it seems only natural that the genre would eventually make its way to the iTunes App Store. We take a look at two of this season’s most popular music games for the iPhone and let you know which one we think is the real deal.
Rock Band coming to iPhone
It’s long been rumored, but today EA Mobile has officially confirmed that Rock Band will indeed be coming to the iPhone. Featuring 15 songs (plus an additional 5 that can be unlocked through play), Rock Band for the iPhone is attempting to recreate the living room rock experience as faithfully as it possibly can while still living in your pocket. Bluetooth multiplayer, World Tour mode, and the ability to expand your Rock Band library through dowwnloadable content will form the basis of what EA hopes will become the de facto music experience on the iPhone.
News: iTunes now accounts for 25% of all music sales in US
A recent study by the market research group NPD showed that digital music purchases continued their steady rise to market dominance during the first half of 2009. While that fact in and of itself isn’t all that surprising, what share of the overall music market iTunes now makes up is enough to knock the socks off even the most passionate Apple devotee: 25%.
That’s not 25% of the digital market — that’s 25% of the total market. This makes them the largest music seller in the US, beating out their closest competitor Wal-Mart, currently sitting at 14% of total music sales, by a whopping 11 points.
News: Did you catch the iPhone’s first streaming concert?
Apple isn’t the first company to get involved in live streaming of musical performances, but they are the first to try and put it in your pocket. This past Saturday the UK electronic group Underworld performed a concert live from Oakland, California, and for the first time ever you were able to watch this streamed live to your iPhone.
Ecoute Review: iTunes Simplified
Most people who have an iPhone or iPod sync it in iTunes. But what if you don’t want to use iTunes to listen to your music while you are using your computer? Ecoute, is the perfect application for this. Ecoute is a small app to browse and play music and videos in your iTunes library. You can browse artists, playlists, and much more and you can even play TV shows and movies.
How-To: Sync your Palm Pre with your iTunes Library
In our recent MacApper Podcast we discussed the iTunes 8.2.1 update that eliminated the Palm Pre’s ability to sync with iTunes. One of the Pre’s major selling points was it’s ability to masquerade as an iPod and sync natively with iTunes. If you’re a Pre user feeling left in the dust, or looking to buy the Pre, this is a simple way to get that sync back between your iTunes library and your Pre.
iTunes Introduces Digital 45’s
It may be hard for some of you to remember, but back in the day (or in your parents day for some of our younger readers) we didn’t buy our music on iTunes. We didn’t order a CD on Amazon, and we didn’t mark it for purchase on our satellite radios. We used to tie up our sneakers, head downtown, and visit the local record shop.
There was something magical about it. The small of the vinyl and cardboard. Grabbing a record by the edges so as not to scratch it. Dropping the needle. And of course, picking up a 45 in anticipation of an albums release. Now Apple wants to recreate this experience with Digital 45’s, virtual reproductions of classic singles on the iTunes Store.
SweetFM Review: A Not so Sweet iTunes Helper
The iTunes helper application has become a very popular class of application to develop for. Most developers, like the people behind CoverSutra and Bowtie, have been very successful in their attempts. But unfortunately it was only inevitable that a not so well designed one came along. I’m talking about SweetFM from choco moko.
