Tech Stuff 4 You

In a monumental decision today, EMI announced that they will sell DRM free music on iTunes. Gizmodo has a nice write-up on what this means as far as the RIAA’s fight against piracy and all that c*ap.

So… holy crap. EMI is releasing their music on iTunes without DRM. This is great news! And not only that, but they're offering it at twice the quality of the DRM'd equivalent. This is a huge step forward for the online music marketplace.

So how does this affect our movement against the RIAA? On the one hand, EMI is still a member of the RIAA and the RIAA is still suing college students and invalids. On the other hand, this is a huge test of the DRM-free music market, and it's one of the most important times to buy music in years.

Read more after the jump. DRM-free iTunes, the RIAA Boycott, and You

Thank god they didn’t call it iComplete.

Cupertino (CA) - Apple announced today that it will begin lowering prices of complete albums by 99 cents for each song that users have already downloaded.

Individual music tracks are priced at 99 cents, though users can also purchase complete albums, sometimes at discounted rates. The new "Complete My Album" service will mark off 99 cents from an album's price for every track that the user has previously purchased from iTunes.

Users will have 180 days from the purchase of a song to get 99 cents off any album that includes that song. The discount from an individual track can only be applied to one album.

"With Complete My Album, iTunes is giving music fans the best of both worlds -- the ability to discover great new music by buying just the single and a credit toward the purchase of the complete album," said Sony BMG president Thomas Hesse.

Did you go get an Apple TV as soon as it was released? Pre-ordered maybe? Are you the kind that can’t let things be and like to ‘improve’ your electronics by applying ‘hacks’ to them? Gizmodo has the top 5 hacks for your Apple TV hacking pleasure.

1. Boot Apple TV from an External USB Drive

2. Get Apple TV to Run XviD files

3. Bump up Apple TV’s Hard Drive

4. Make Front Row look like Apple TV

5. Get Apple TV to Work on Your Old Boob Tube

Read more at Gizmodo's Top 5 Apple TV Hacks

AppleInsider.com is reporting that all Nike shoes will be iPod compatible by the end of 2007. I guess it is helping their sales, although there are a bunch of hacks on the web to use Nike+ technology with any pair of shoes.

Nike Inc. said last week that it plans to make its entire line of running shoes compatible with Apple Inc.'s iPod nano line by the end of this year.

The comment was made Nike president and chief executive Mark Parker on Thursday as the shoe maker released its third-quarter results, saying it had a soft year with some specialty mall retailers.

More at appleinsider.com

A nice list of iTunes Add-Ons for PC and Mac users on Helpero.com

Some of the plug-ins listed:For Mac users:

For Mac users:

Synergy
Synergy is a tiny little app that puts basic iTunes controls in the menu bar, for playing, rewinding, fast-forwarding audio tracks and displays real-time track information in a small floating window. You also can assign system-wide hot keys for controlling iTunes without the mouse. You can find settings for configuring the spacing, visibility, and style of the control buttons, as well as for configuring what track information Synergy will display.

Fetch Art for iTunes
This small program works by grabbing the cover art from Amazon's music listings so you don't have to search for it manually. It allows you to preview the art that was found and add the art you want to iTunes.

iTunes Monitor
One of iTunes's greatest features is its ability to share music across a local-area network. iTunes doesn't provide much information about who is connected or what is being shared.
This utility monitors iTunes to provide a solution for this inconvenient.

iPodRip
iPodRip allows you to get the most out of your iPod. You can transfer music from your iPod back to your iTunes Library, listen to music directly on your iPod -saving valuable disk space, plus much more. iPodRip gives you flexibility importing songs of any file type including MP3, AAC, Audible.com, and Protected AAC. It is available not only for MAC, so if you want you can download a PC version from here.

RadioLover
With RadioLover you can: record internet radio streams as individual MP3 songs, schedule recordings of your favorite daily or weekly shows, record multiple radio streams at the same time, split and organize recordings by song, time or size.

>>>For PC users:

Volume Logic
Volume Logic is a sound enhancer that improves the sound quality of your iTunes music playback. Volume Logic offers a range of presets for different types of music, as well as a bass boost adjustment.

EvilLyrics
EvilLyrics is a very useful application that will find lyrics to the currently played song and displays it in tiny window.

G-Force
“G-Force is the most dynamic and sophisticated, yet entirely artistic, music visualization available - and it keeps getting better.”
Some of the features include Advanced mathematical engine with millions of visual effects and and that you can add your own visuals.

EyeJamz
“EyeJamz for iTunes adds an exciting visual dimension that greatly enhances the enjoyment and the usefulness of your iPod and iTunes.”
You can easily download free Album cover art, load Album Cover Art to your iPod and then display them while your iPod plays your favorite music.

FoxyTunes
This application simply places a small audio control panel at the bottom of your Firefox browser, letting you perform actions such as playing a song, rewinding, and adjusting the volume without accessing the iTunes.

Top 10 iTunes plug-ins.

Engadget has the first nice collection of pics I have seen of the Apple TV being un-boxed. Did you get one? What do you think of it?

Apple TV un-boxing.

After months of pre-orders and waiting, Apple is finally shipping Apple TVs. According to the Apple online store, new orders will ship in 3–5 days.