Tag Archives: ipod

iTunes 10 (Windows) review – worth the upgrade

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It was announced yesterday that Apple would be releasing their newest version of iTunes in the early hours of this morning. And as if by magic, the Apple Software Updater today alerted me that a new version of the software was available. So I’ve downloaded it, given it a spin and here’s what I have to say.

If you’re just a casual user of iTunes, you probably won’t notice any huge difference except from the new design and interface. They’ve replaced the CD logo with a new logo of a music note. The general UI of the program has been changed quite considerably. I quite like it, but I think this new approach to listing my music library looks very untidy.

Thankfully, I use the album cover view to see my music, so that won’t affect me hugely.

The biggest new feature to the program is the new “Ping”. Essentially, it’s just a copy of last.fm with the ability to like, review and follow artists/songs that are of interest to you. You can then share this with other users that you happen to be following. The software will give you up to date information from the artists you are following.

Personally, I quite like the feature. I’ll find it very useful for “discovering” new music as Apple like to put it. However, I think it’s sad that Apple are so desperate for ideas that they have to go and copy a concept that already exists. I much prefer last.fm’s approach and I think Apple will have a job getting people to convert to their idea.

I happen to think performance has improved considerably with the new version. Even with a dual core 2.8ghz processor and Windows 7, iTunes 9 still seemed to be pretty sluggish. The new version appears to load up pretty quickly and navigating through the software seems to be much more speedy. Gone are the days when you have to wait several seconds for iTunes to respond to you clicking a menu option.

Other than that though, there isn’t really much the casual iTunes user will notice. The store hasn’t really changed much, except for “Ping” integration. The iPod management is almost identical to the old version, with exception to a tiny bit of new design.

Overall, I’d go grab it. It’ll probably be essential to upgrade soon anyway. You can get it from apple.com/itunes or from the Apple Software Updater.

Backup your iPod/iPhone for free – SharePod

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Just a quick post to say I’ve just found an interesting little application. If you want to backup your iPod or iPhone’s music tracks, you usually have to pay for some commercial piece of software.

However, I’ve just found an app called SharePod. It’s totally free and will backup as many tracks as you want (purchased or personal) to your specified destination.

Go and grab it if you want to rescue any tracks from your iPod or iPhone.

Cloud Unlimted Music review – unlimited public wi-fi for the iPod Touch

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Get unlimited wi-fi for your iPod Touch at a tiny price

I recently subscribed to The Cloud’s iPod Touch service, dubbed “Cloud Unlimited Music”. It is a service designed specifically for the iPod Touch and gives unlimited browsing and downloading at The Cloud’s wi-fi hotspots for just £3.99 per month.

I decided it was worth it as it is handy to have instant internet access in many public train station. The company’s hotspots can be found in many public places – such as train stations, pubs, hotels, restaurants and as most O2 stores. Considering the small price, I can head out and just catch my emails or finish a download.

I’m really impressed at how well the system works. I signed up and added my debit card as payment, and then 2 days later (today) headed out to my local town to try it out. I walked into an O2 shop and tried to connect. Straight away I was on the net – no need to log on or anything like that.

You don’t need to log on because the system works by checking your iPod’s MAC address rather than a username or password. When you sign up, you provide your device’s MAC address and your account is locked to that code. By doing this, it means that you no longer have to log on when joining a hotspot.

In addition, I was also really impressed at the speeds. My local O2 store gave me a download speed of over 8 megabits per second (which is more than twice the speed of my home broadband).

So overall, I’m very happy with it. It’s great value and works very efficiently. If you need wi-fi access for your iPod Touch in town – this is for you.

Spotify for the iPod Touch/iPhone approved by Apple!

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Great news Spotify fans! The company has posted on their blog that Spotify for iPhone (or the iPod Touch) will become a reality.

The mentioned in the post that “the lovely people at Apple” had approved their software and that the app would soon be available on the app store.

It’s not all good though – as I may have mentioned already in previous posts – as the app will only be usable by premium members of Spotify, so free users won’t get the benefit of the app.

Still, I’m sure it will encourage plenty of people to upgrade to premium membership, which will be great for Spotify.

Thanks Apple, that’s the news we’ve all been waiting for! I can’t wait to see the Spotify app on the app store.

A nice app for the iPod Touch – Spawn – create colourful pictures

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I’ve recently been playing on a cool little app on the iPod Touch called Spawn. The free and paid versions are available from the App Store for download, so go ahead and give it ago.

It allows you to take cool screenshots of wonderful, colourful images. Here are just a few I’ve made…

You can view my full library of images I’ve taken with Spawn here on Flickr.

Have fun with it!