W♥M

Apple in my eye

Read More Appleseed Cast The Appleseed Cast: When I first heard The End of the Ring Wars some two years ago, I was completely floored by the ingenious sound I heard -- here was a band, locked in the seemingly eternal debate over what defined emo and what ...

Read more Apple-related bands.

THE APPLESEED CAST
theappleseedcast.com

Deep Elm Records is releasing "Gold Limited Edition 3XLP" of the Appleseed Cast's Low Level Owl, Vol 1 + 2. No actual release date was given in their press release, only that it's "currently in production in the Czech Republic," but you can reserve a copy over at deepelm.com.

If you're a hardcore fan and missed out on the Silver Limited Edition (which sold out in eight days), then you need to get this Gold Limited Edition.

In the meantime, did you know that members from Appleseed Cast (Nathan Wilder), And Academy (Ryan Rodine), Paper Airplanes (Marcus Stoesz), and Solagget (David Lord and Sean Fanning) are in a Wichita collective called The Wonder Revolution.

This band not only feature a ton of band members, they also have a lot of music in them. They've threaten us with "three more albums in the works!"

Their album, Firefly, will be coming out December 11, 2012, via Air House Records.

THE HISTORY OF APPLE PIE
thehistoryofapplepie.com

I'll bet this band gets asked the question "what is the history of apple pie" a lot in interviews. I would recommend the band to brush up on your history lessons, just in case they are serious questions.

Anyway, The History of Apple Pie is from London, and their debut album, Out of View will be coming out January 29th, 2013, via Marshall Teller Records. In the meantime, you can hear a new preview song, "Glitch", over at Pitchfork.



What's even cooler than their British-sound is that Blur's Graham Coxon is a fan, having handpicked the band to support him at his recent HMV Forum show.

If you live in the UK, they will be on tour in February in support of Out of View.

Feb 01st Inside Out, Darlington (Free) Feb 02nd Victoria Inn, Derby Feb 03rd Stereo, York Feb 04th Soup Kitchen, Manchester Feb 05th Art School, Glasgow Feb 06th Dog & Parrot, Newcastle Feb 07th The Compass, Chester Feb 08th Cockpit, Leeds

Feb 09th West End Centre, Aldershot Feb 11th Bodega, Nottingham Feb 12th Undertone, Cardiff Feb 13th Joiners, Southampton Feb 14th Ballroom, Canterbury Feb 15th Green Door Store, Brighton Feb 16th 60 Million Postcards, Bournemouth (Free) Feb 17th U/S @ Thekla, Bristol Feb 19th The Old Blue Last, London (Free)

APPLESCAL
applescal.net

Applescal is a techo/DJ/producer from the Netherlands, and he just released a three-track pre-release for Dreaming In Key. With already three albums under his belt (under Yoshiba 87 and Applescal), at the age of twenty-four, Applescal can only grow as a music producer.

When he's not working on his music, he's part of the RTFKT outfit, a band/art/website that I just don't get. Also, seriously, who thought RTFKT stands for artifact? It's not even spelled with a 'K'!

Anyway, the three-track pre-release of Dreaming In Key is out now. You can listen to "Boys", featuring David Douglas, via Soundcloud.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

Kindle Fire HD, will you get one?

I've been interested in the iPad since its announcement. If you haven't jumped on board with the tablet frenzy, here are some more option: the Kindle HD 7" or 8". While most people will be happy with the $199 Kindle, if you're into reading comic books and magazines - then you have to go large. For $199, it's cheaper than an iPod touch, if you're looking for a "portable" music player. 7" will fit in large pockets, just don't wear those tight, tight jeans.

I wouldn't buy a 7" iPad version (if that's coming out). Remember, the size has to be large to display a whole comic book page without having to zoom in and out - so the larger the screen, the better. 10" is not exactly "portable", but it's the right size for a magazine page.

Anyway, Amazon announced their competitor to the iPad, so let's break it down with a side-by-side comparison.

KINDLE FIRE HD 8.9" 4G LTE	NEW IPAD (3rd Gen)
Size: 8.9 inches	Size: 9.7 inches
Price: $499	Price: $729
Display: 1920x1200 HD at 254 ppi	Display: 2048×1536 at 264 PPI
Speakers: Dolby audio and dual stereo	Speakers: Single grill
CPU: 1.5Ghz dual-core	CPU: 1 GHz Apple A5X
Graphics: Imagination PowerVR 3D	Graphics: PowerVR SGX543MP4
Storage: 32 or 64 GB	Storage: 16, 32, or 64 GB
Memory: 1 GB DDR2 RAM	Memory: 1 GB DDR2 RAM
Camera: "HD"	Camera: 1080p rear-facing
Battery: 8 hours (based on old Kindle Fire)	Battery: 10hr
Weight: 1.25 lb	Weight: 1.46 lb
Wireless: Dual-band/dual-antenna Wi-Fi, Bluetooth	Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS
LTE: $50 a year for 250mb a month	LTE: $179.88 a year for 250mb
Advertisement screensavers	No advertisements

Keep in mind the comparison is with the "new iPad", which was released one year ago. Apple has yet to announce a new, new iPad for 2013, but I suspect they will upgrade and surpass the current model.

Right off the bat
The LTE pricing is awesome. It's $50 a year to stay connected. Granted, 250mb is not a lot of data, but it's really useful if you just want to check your email or update your status, etc. On the other hand, the iPad is no-contract, so you can turn off the internet anytime you want.

No GPS on Kindle?
I don't think there's GPS services with the Kindle. I don't have the old Kindle, does that also mean no Google maps on the Kindle? The other bad news is that Amazon has their own app store, which isn't as big as the regular Android store… and less big than the Apple app store. Most games also appears on iOS before other stores - and they're generally cheaper (average iPad app price is $2.99).

Movie playback
I can't comment on the new Kindle - but the old Kindle Fire does not support softcode subtitles or multiple audio tracks. Even the first gen iPad will playback 720p content with softcode subtitles and multiple tracks. The new iPad supports 1080p content, but to be honest, because of storage issues, I downscale my Blu-Rays to 720p. Also, if you stream content within your home, 1080p does tend to choke, especially if you're using older Wi-Fi band (like the PS3's wireless).

Anyway, it should be interesting to play around with the Kindle HD when it comes out to see what it can and can't do. Right now, based on pricing and connectivity, the Kind HD is pretty hot. However, this could all change when Apple announce something this September 12th.

Other things to consider
Amazon does not support Epub, which is a popular e-book format. Amazon has its own DRM book format called AMZ, which no one else uses. Amazon also tout their prime service, but if you're an iPad user, Amazon does offer an iOS app.

Amazon puts "special offers" as a special feature. It's not a feature, these are advertisements. How would you feel if your computer's screen saver started showing Microsoft ads?

ALSO: Kindle Fire HD has a built-in HDMI out. You have to buy a $30 dongle for the iPad. I would imagine iPad4 will have its own built-in output.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

Currents vs Flipboard vs Pulse. FIGHT!

Looking for an RSS reader for the iPad? Perhaps one of these will work for you. While all of these are functional, personally, the winner for me is Currents because I need to access the latest feeds offline. But if you have unlimited 3G access, then go crazy! Please add our RSS or Atom RSS.

>>>

Free Category: News Released: Dec 08, 2011 Version: 1.0.0.938 Size: 9.3 MB Seller: Google Mobile © 2011 Google, Inc

GOOGLE CURRENTS
google.com/producer/currents

I've been playing around with Google's Currents iPad app. This just came out a few days ago and is their answer to Flipboard (see my thoughts on Flipboard for the iPad below).

So my thoughts on Currents is that I believe that Google just is NOT GOOD at design. The 'newspaper' layout is alright, but I wish I had more control over its setting - for instance, set the font to a different size.

Links to youtube videos will automatically show up in the article, the article is a folded in the middle layout (wish maybe there was a light line to separate to the two side, because as a creature of habit, I will read left to right, despite the break).

I think eventually, Currents will become "good enough" for me to ditch paying for a subscription to the Daily. At the moment, paying $60 a year for a daily newspaper/magazine is worth it for what I need it to do for me (keeping me updated on the events of the day on my breaks).

As for the Currents, I will say that it's easy to setup and add my own RSS. I added W♥M right away and that worked out just fine.

Good: Offline is automatic and downloads are done in the background. Syncing up images takes longer to download, but it's worth it when you're in an offline area.

Bad: Requires a Google login. Sure, we all have a google account, so the sting isn't that painful (plus your library will sync across platform, so if you're using Currents on Android, it will remember what you're reading). Also, it crashes a lot. Also, it's UGLY.

Free Category: News Released: Dec 08, 2011 Version: 1.7.1 Size: 8.6 MB Seller: Flipboard, Inc. © 2010-2011 Flipboard Inc.

FLIPBOARD
flipboard.com

People are calling this the "social magazine" and it finally came out on the iPhone and iPod Touch this month. Also rolled out is an updated version to their iPad edition.

What I immediately like is that it looks good. Their "partners" have custom RSS and setup, making it look even better and prettier on the iPad.

Adding W♥M's RSS is a bit of a hassle, it found our twitter account right away, but finding the typepad website was a no-go. I had to manually type in the full address.

Offline access can be done via instapaper or Read it Later, but this requires you to open up the article and flagging it to read later. This is cumbersome, why isn't there a "download all" option?

Good: It looks pretty, oh so pretty. It's fast. They have an eye for design, unlike Google.

Bad: Offline reading is annoying, it requires an external additional login and you have to manually find articles to flag for offline.

Free Category: News Updated: Oct 21, 2011 Version: 2.6 Size: 5.2 MB Seller: Alphonso Labs Inc © 2011 Alphonso Labs Inc.

PULSE
pulse.me

Pulse kind of disappeared in the background, despite having won the Apple Design Award for 2011.

Their goal is to make news reading "fun and engaging", which, unfortunately means "social", which equals: you need a Facebook account. Sure, most of us have a FB account, but I'm not looking to share what I have read, I have spent too much time deleting social news in my timeline. So, yeah, I don't trust and I don't use any FB plugin whenever it's offered.

While they want you to create a login for a ".me" account, I found that I can still click on 'save' without having to register.

Good: Gridlike design, good use of images. Retains original RSS format, which is a plus for me (as it does not randomly remove tables and CSS).

Bad: Relies too much on images, feeds without images looks AWFUL. Does not offer a "newspaper" layout. Like Flipboard, you need to open a page individual for offline saving, no "download all" option.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

Kurt Cobain: The Graphic Novel

There's never been a more exciting time to be a Nirvana fan than now, 20 years after Nevermind was released.

I remember the first time I saw Nirvana on Spin Magazine (all of last month, Spin Magazine celebrated its anniversary) and Rolling Stone Magazine, and pretty much everywhere else. They were really HYPED. But you know the first time I heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and not able to understand what the heck Kurt Cobain was saying, it wasn't like any song I've never heard! History was made.

Anyway, Nevermind got a special 2-disc release last month, but super fans will probably want to pick up the deluxe 4-CD/1-DVD edition. I think it retails for about $50, a little too rich for my blood. Besides, I already bought the album when it was originally released.... still, who would blame me for lusting after its packaging with rarities, b-sides, and alt mixes.

Can't get enough Nirvana? Gibson Guitar had just announced its upcoming release of Krist Novoselic Signature RD Bass! This Signature model can be seen on various Nirvana tours in 1991. One thing to expect is that the bass guitar will be massive, quote Novoselic "I play Gibson RDs from the 1970s and it's incredible to now have my own signature model. This is a big bass! I am 6'7" tall and these long-scale beasts fit me physically. You've got to pound those heavy grunge riffs and you need the weight to do it. At the same time, there's plenty of fretboard that accommodates the finer runs and fills higher on the neck." The guitar is a wee bit expensive (over $2,000), but if you're a fan... more details on gibson.com

$5.99 Category: Books Updated: Oct 18, 2011 Version: 1.1 Size: 132 MB Language: English Seller: Musicroom.com © Music Sales Limited You must be at least 17 years old to download this app. Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Read More iPad I really don't understand why people really, really hate this thing. Haven't you ever used your iphone and wished you had a bigger device? I'm sorry, but watching movies on a small screen on your phone is not a great experience.

Meanwhile, I have the new Kurt Cobain: The Graphic Novel iPad app for review.

Just to give you a little background, I love comic books. I've started collecting since 1985 with Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 (I maintain george-perez.com). I am an old-timer, I still prefer printed comics, but I do understand that the medium is moving towards digital.

Anyway, Kurt Cobain: The Graphic Novel is basically a comic book app, reprinting Omnibus' Godspeed - The Kurt Cobain Graphic from 2003. While the pages are readable, I wish they'd gone in and digitally clean up the colors or make it more vibrant, because it just look like they scanned the artwork. My other gripe is that the application requires iOS 5.0 to run the software. Don't really understand why it needs iOS 5, there's nothing fancy about the graphics or anything.

The comic book is basically a biography of Cobain, from his childhood to his eventual suicide. I was kind of surprise how the writer (Barnaby Legg) and artist (Jim McCarthy) paints this picture that Cobain was like Jesus Christ - at least playing with the cross and angel wings images. I know that during Nirvana's final tour, they played a lot with the religious elements, but according to the comic book, these things were with Kurt Cobain when he was a boy).

If you're familiar with Comixology, the Kurt Cobain: The Graphic Novel works the same way - you can tap on an image and it will zoom in the panel... making it easier to read (especially on an iPhone or iPod). I recommend reading it in vertical mode on your iPad for the best experience.

The only extra feature is that get a rather long introduction, which goes uncredited (I am assuming the writer Legg wrote it), and a "About" page talking about the source material (Godspeed - The Kurt Cobain Graphic).

If you're a hardcore Nirvana fan (and over 18 years old), you should consider picking up this iPad app. If you want to take one step further, the printed Godspeed - The Kurt Cobain Graphic can be purchased at musicroom.com for £9.95 (the iPad app is cheaper at £3.99).

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Steve Jobs: 1955-2011

This Day in Music

This app is designed for both iPhone and iPad $2.99 Category: Music Updated: Aug 06, 2010 Current Version: 2.1 Size: 62.0 MB Language: English Seller: Musicroom.com © Music Sales Limited / Neil Cossar Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1 or later

Comcast strikes again. I don't know what their problem is, but lately, I've been having nothing but connectivity problems. The latest is my router now shows "no connection", but I can plug an ethernet cord directly from my computer to the modem and it will work. Tomorrow, I'll go ahead and buy a new N router (my current model is a G), so hopefully this will solve the problem.* If only there are internet competition in my area, I would switch internet service immediately! Unfortunately, I'm stuck at the moment.

So update: I won't be going to SXSW this year, the band I was going to tag a ride with decides they were going on tour before and after SXSW. That's fine, all the money I'll save, I'm looking to get another four third camera. I kind of want the new iPad 2, which is being released this Friday, but since I already own the first generation iPad, I'll probably skip this version. If they put on a higher resolution screen, I'll definitely splash out, I guess two cameras isn't enough to make me want to upgrade.

So, speaking of Apple, here's a music app for review: This Day in Music.

The origin of this application is that it is based on a thisdayinmusic.com, which started in 1999. Taking all that data from the website, they published a book and eventually this iPhone/iPad application.

Like the This Day in Led Zeppelin, this application works the same way. Although it runs on the iPad, I've decided to use the application mostly on an iPod Touch 4 - which may be a bit of a mistake. The sound used on the quiz uses the ring tone phone, so even if you turn the regular volume all the way down to zero, you still hear the guitar noise! On the iPhone and iPad, there is an external switch which mutes phone sound, there is no such button on the iPod Touch. The workaround this is to go into your settings and under "sounds and alerts" turn this to mute. After all that was sorted out, the quiz seems to go on and on, as far as I know, it doesn't end. The problem is that you don't know how well you do with a finalized score - but I thought I did pretty well.

The information that I wasn't excited about were the charts news, the auction dollar amount, and occasionally non-music people (for instance, I think Andy Warhol was on one of the dates). What I did like are musician birthdays, deaths, and photographs.... which the application offers plenty of.

You're probably thinking why would you buy this application, when the information is available for free on their website. And I say to you, sometime you may have internet connectivity issues, like I am experiencing, and having all the information already on the iPhone is a much better experience.

BONUS: On this Day, March 9th:

1966: Beach Boys started recording 'God Only Knows', which becomes a UK no 2 when released as a single with 'Wouldn't it be Nice'

1977: The Jacksons' CBS show airs for the last time on US TV finishing at the bottom of the ratings

2010: Lil Wayne is sentenced to a year in prison at New York's Rikers Island jail complex after pleading guilty to gun possession. The charges were linked to his arrest in 2007 when a gun was found on his tour bus.

* UPDATE: New Belkin N router fixed the problem. Uploading files larger than 100mb still seems to be an issue (modem turns blinking red lights when I upload 100mb), had to reduce video size from 150mb to 62mb - I will repose the video later. If you're impatient, check back at vimeo.com.

vu () ♥ www.thisdayinmusic.com

Blues Writer

Blues Writer is an iOS application from Musicroom.com, designed to aid blues musicians, whenever inspirations hit them. After playing around with the recording process, I would have to say that this isn't meant to replace actual polish recordings, just an idea to revisit later or perhaps share with friends and family.

Like most Apple applications, prices are pretty cheap, it's only $1.99 on iTunes. Please note the massive download, which is disallowed over 3G on your phone, so I suggest downloading it on your computer and syncing it (or connect to a reliable wifi connection).

This app is designed for both iPhone and iPad $1.99 Category: Music Released: Dec 21, 2010 Version: 1 (iOS 4.0 Tested) Size: 365 MB Language: English Seller: Musicroom.com © Music Sales Limited

Creating a new song is pretty painless, you just click on New Song and you're sent to the "Write" section, which is basically just a notepad area. If you're stuck on finding a rhyme, the application also comes with Schirmer's Complete Rhyming Dictionary. I found that the dictionary display is too "busy" and chaotic for my taste.

You can either use your own iTunes songs or use one of the 10 instrumental tracks included. In about ten minutes, you've just recorded your first Blues Writer song. It was pretty easy.

Currently, the only option for exporting your creation is to use Soundcloud, but maybe they can add more option in a future update. As a reviewer, I can't say that I was very good at this whole creative process, but I did give it a go. You can hear the "song" I made on soundcloud.

I can't say I'll recommend this application to everyone, it's strictly for people that are serious about jotting and quickly recording songs "on the go", which means for iPhone or iPod Touch 4 users. Can't really see if this will fit into the lifestyle of an iPad users, since iPads aren't generally that portable. If you're just into music, you don't have to use the "blues" soundtrack, I can see this easily fitting into freestyle artists.

vu () ♥ blueswriterapp.com

This Day In Led Zeppelin

This app is designed for both iPhone and iPad $2.99 Category: Music Released: Jan 17, 2011 Version: 1.00 Size: 86.2 MB Language: English Seller: This Day in Music Apps LLP © This Day In Music Apps 2011 Rated 12+ for the following: Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later

Much like those documentary-type books, such as Queen Live: A Concert Documentary and The Smiths: The Visual Documentary, the iOS application, This Day In Led Zeppelin, is chock-full of details about the band, courtesy of This Day in Music Apps. While this kind of trivial information is cool for fans of Led Zeppelin and trainspotters alike, I find that if you have little or no interest in the band, that this application will be completely useless to you. If you love this band, keep reading:

The pricing is perfect, considering that this is a universal application for both iPhone and iPad. Although I will admit that the iPad option wasn't really thought out, that this application was really designed for the held-held iPhone or iPod Touch. Some clues: this application doesn't do landscape and images are still pretty tiny, with no option to expand to a larger version. The larger images isn't going to be deal breaker, in fact, I can understand why they'd want small images, because I'm assuming there are about 365 images (which could explain why the application is a large 90mb download). I do like that the images are randomly displayed.

As for the meat of the product, you get a trivia about Led Zeppelin based on the day, broken down by various years. For instance, this day in Zeppelin (January 31^st), LZ played their first of two nights at the Fillmore East in New York in 1969 and in 1975 they played Detroit Michigan (with the set list information). The nice thing about this is that you can skip around, so if a particular day is important to you (like, say, your birthday), you can read what LZ were up to that day.

As I previously mentioned, some of this data is a little far-fetched, like do I really need to know the birthday of Deborah Bonham (sister of the late drummer John Bonham)?

But wait, there's more, you get a few extras with this application: Trivia, Quiz, Song Notes, Store and Extras. The later two will take you out of the application, so I'll just only briefly mention the first three. The Trivia are basically recycled data from the "On this Day" information, I think in random order. The Quiz is fun, you aren't told what the right answer is and it's only in session of 10 questions per quiz (also random questions). The highlight is the Song Notes for me. Much more information than any liner notes, this drills down from album details to facts about each song. Of course, I looked up "Stairway to Heaven", which is their most popular song in the US (despite having never been issued a single in the states). The song was so popular that it was played on terrestial radio over three million times. Just to put that in perspective, they said that if you played all three million back-to-back, it would run for 44 solid years.

Anyway, a delightful program, This Day In Led Zeppelin is recommended if you like Led Zeppelin. It is doing well in the iTunes UK and I'm holding out for a This Day in The Smiths.

vu () ♥ ledzeppelin.com

The funnest iPod ever.

AE & Prozax - Clamato Fever (Menu) AE & Prozax Read More iPod Applications http://weheartmus... Guess what? I have an iPod Touch Second Generation. I love it. I mostly use it for an internet de...

FREE STREET FIGHTER II HD REMIX SOUNDTRACK
I'll have to admit, I was pretty good back in the days of Street Fighter II as Guile or Ryan/Ken. I saw that the "HD Remix" game finally made its way to downloadable Playstation Store (incidentally, I tested out "Home" and although it looks fantastic - but what exactly is the point?).

The game, as a download, is very expensive at $14.99, more than most PS1 games! Come on, Capcom, there's no cost of manufacturing to order discs, this should be priced at $8, that's reasonable. If you're not going to buy it, like me, you can get the next best thing: a free downloadable soundtrack.

The only downside is that they want you to do the torrent thing, and if you don't have a torrent client, you'll have to download each track individually. It's a painfully slow task (I mean, it's not too much to ask them to zip all 66 files in one big file, you know?)

The soundtrack is more electronized/modernized, but you'll recognize most of these songs - even if you haven't heard these in years.

The next few items are all for tips for your iPod Touch, since I have been spending a lot of time with it.

Shozu

UPDATE YOUR VOX WITH YOUR IPOD
Although Six Apart did developed a mobile version for their TypePad, there's no Vox support. In fact, if you read the reviews, people are complaining that it's "free, but not free"... since you need a paid typepad version to get some millage out this application.

Well if you're looking for a free iPod version, check out Shozu! I did some tests here and it looks pretty decent for a mobile updater. There's some drawbacks, like the limit of number of words you can write! Weak!

Pownce users should check it out since you guys are into the moblogging thing.� It's free, so if you don't like, just throw it out.

Italk

TURN YOUR IPOD INTO A PORTABLE VOICE RECORDER
This is quite easy to do, first you'll need an iPod/iPhone-compatible mic (this means the plugin needs to have a mic and stereo headphones in the same jack). Something like the cheap Philips iPhone Microphone Adapter for $10 will work. You'll also need to get the free version of Griffin's iTalk Recorder (don't bother paying for the "professional version", which is the same software but no advertisements).

Audio recording is so-so, but you get what you pay for I reckon. Supposedly you can transfer the audio files to your computer using their syncing wifi software. Unfortunately it does not seem to work for me. I got it to connect to my iPod, but the file I drag-and-drop just turns up as a folder instead of a file. Perhaps it's just my computer's securities?

Fring

TURN YOUR IPOD INTO A PHONE
Using the same mic as above, download the free Fring on the iPod. There are several VOIP option on Fring, but the one I'm using and I found best of all, is Skype. If you already pay for Skype out, you can now call regular telephones, if you're using the free Skype version, you are limited to only other Skype users.

I found in my testing that the audio is poor (possibly due to cheap mic), and there is a slight delay - but otherwise usable.

If you don't use Fring for its voice feature, it also doubles as an IM Client - works with Aim, Messenger, Yahoo, etc.

Joost

WATCH TV ON YOUR IPOD (WELL SORT OF)
Get Joost on the iPod/iPhone and you'll be watching full episodes of really old televison shows. Don't bother browsing through their menu, the best way to find something is to do a search on the application. As for the shows that I'm interested and have seen on Joost on the iPod is Macgyver (wow these shows aren't very realistic), V, and Jericho.

Unfortunately the software is buggy, and it's not uncommon to have the software crash on you. Very annoying when you're 80% into the show and it crashes. Quality and audio is decent, watchable, but by no means a replacement for the big television or computer monitor. I just hope they improve stability.

I just wish Hulu was on the iPhone! Please make this happen!

Kaiser Chiefs on iPod

 

Kaiser Chiefs - I Heard It Through The Grapevine

GET VIDEOS FOR YOUR IPOD
Using keepvid.com or various ways to download youtube videos, you can them as *.FLV (flash video). If you are super lazy, you can install Real Audio and it will offer "Download This" as an option over any Flash video.

Once you have the videos, you can get the free iPod Video Converter to convert any video file to an iPod compatible format.

So there's this legal question about downloading music videos. To me, these are promotional videos, they are meant to be seen by many people as possible... and why would anyone care how you watch them, as long as you're watching them? And obviously you love it enough to want to permanently add it to your iPod to watch forever and ever.... Besides the videos you download off youtube is often pretty low quality.

Apple sells music videos, which I think is way overpriced at $1.99 per video. I recommend buying a music DVD you love and ripping it yourself, since you'll stil have a higher quality version on DVD as a backup.

As an example, here is the video for Kaiser Chiefs (kaiserchiefs.co.uk/myspace.com). The latest video and single is called "Good Days, Bad Days" and features what looks like it's stop-animation. I think it comes off as sort of choppy. If you like all-things-rocknrolly, they are a bit energic live, from what I remembered of them in 2007, so be sure to check them out in 2009:

01/19/09 Columbia Halle Berlin
01/20/09 Tonhalle Munich
01/21/09 Palladium Cologne
01/23/09 Rockhal Luxembourg
01/24/09 AB Brussels
01/25/09 AB Brussels
01/27/09 Zenith Paris
01/28/09 Transbordeur Lyon
01/29/09 Razzamatazz Barcelona
01/31/09 Coliseum Porto
02/01/09 Coliseum Lisbon
02/02/09 La Riviera Madrid
02/05/09 Alkatraz Milan
02/06/09 Volkshaus Zurich
02/07/09 Gasometer Vienna
02/09/09 Alter Schlachthof Dresden
02/10/09 Phonixhalle Mainz
02/12/09 VEGA Copenhagen
02/13/09 Sentrum Oslo
02/15/09 Sportshalle Hamburg
02/16/09 Heineken Music Hall Amsterdam
02/22/09 Trent FM Arena Nottingham
02/23/09 Sheffield Arena Sheffield
02/24/09 NIA Birmingham
02/26/09 Corn Exchange Edinburgh
02/27/09 AECC Aberdeen
02/28/09 Metro Radio Arena Newcastle
03/02/09 MEN Manchester
03/03/09 Echo Arena Liverpool
03/04/09 CIA Cardiff
03/06/09 Wembley Arena London

HOW TO REMOVE AUDIO BOOKS FROM MUSIC
Finally, as a tip for audio book listeners, you may want to check out MP3 to iPod Audio Book Converter. This wonderful free software converts your audio book MP3 into the correct audio book format, and you can put it in as one big long file. You may ask why you would want to do this, well the answer is simple: since all MP3s are considered as music files, when you put your library to shuffle, occasional an audio book file will pop up! Since audio book files are treated differently, you won't see these in normal music now. Unfortunately, these M4P files aren't universal as MP3s, so you may want to keep your original MP3 files.

That's it for now, if you've got a great iPod tip, please let me know. Software developers, please consider doing more with downloadable maps (that does not require internet access)! I will pay (but not over $10) for a great Minneapolis/Minnesota map with bus or train information. That's not asking too much is it?

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