GeekSugar

Connect To Your iTunes From Anywhere

GeekSugar — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:00:30 -0700

Sharing music online and getting access to my music collections from various computers has always presented a legal and logistical mess.

That is until YumSugar turned me on to Simplify Media, a site that lets you listen to your home iTunes library over the internet and browse and play your friend's music. It's a free service and works on both PCs and macs.

I love the fact that unlike some of the other sites I've used, you don't have to upload your music and it's legal because your files are streamed only within your private group.

Your group can be made up entirely of your own computers, for example home and office. You can also invite friends to join. Friends cannot burn remote songs to CDs, transfer them to an iPod or mp3 player, or access them when you are logged off.

Geek Tip: Getting The Ideal iTunes Equalizer Settings

GeekSugar — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 11:00:43 -0700

Here's one of those "always good to know tips" from Mac OSX Hints that may in fact make your music sound better with improved balance. These 'non-flat' iTunes equalizer settings are said to output the music the way it was intended to be listened to. To get started, open up your equalizer from the view menu and select "make preset." Call it whatever you'd like for future reference and set the levels, just like below, from right to left (while skipping the preamp section): db +3, +6, +9, +7, +6, +5, +7, +9, +11, +8 db. Make sure that the 'on' box for the equalizer is activated. The pic above will show you what it is suppose to look like. One thing I noticed is that it works well with external "high quality" speakers but not when you are playing music through your laptop. So if you just use your laptop for sound, it may be best to keep your settings on default.

5 Useful iTunes Tips and Tricks

GeekSugar — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:07:23 -0700

iTunes, iTunes, we all love iTunes! If you love iTunes even a fraction as much as I do, then these five tiny tidbits of iTunes tricks are sure to come in handy. From finding free movies to using a program that will clean up your music library, I've covered the basics and then some.

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Geek Tip: Fast and Easy iTunes Shortcuts

GeekSugar — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:00:05 -0700

I love learning quick shortcuts for various applications, especially when it means I don't have to use my mouse to adjust settings, etc. To quickly adjust the volume in iTunes, just place your mouse arrow over the top of the horizontal volume bar. Rather than clicking the bar to adjust the volume, just scroll up and down. Also, if you need to quickly pause a song, make sure your iTunes window is open and click your space bar. This will instantly stop your music. I suggest giving them both a try!

How to Copy Files to iTunes Without Saving to Your Hard Drive

GeekSugar — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:00:22 -0700

This weekend I wanted to copy some movies that I had ripped with Handbrake to my Apple TV, and to do so, I had to copy the movies to iTunes first from my external hard drive.

No big deal, except that usually when you copy things to iTunes, the files also automatically save to your internal hard drive - a huge pain if you have limited drive space there.

Luckily, I discovered a very simple tip to avoid an unnecessary new file being created and stored. As you're highlighting and dragging the file, just hold the option key as you're dropping into iTunes. The file will be referenced in iTunes and not copied to your actual hard drive.

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Geek Tip: Use TuneUp to Clean Up Your iTunes

GeekSugar — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:25:11 -0700

If you have an iTunes library that's missing a few beats (you know, like artist info, track names, and album cover art), then you must head over to TuneUp. 'Cause not only is it a drag to spend hours loading up your iTunes library with all your vintage (read: oh-so-early millennium) CDs that you just can't let go of (or albums that you've had burned to discs), but it's even worse to have to go back and enter all the track names and artist info. Now, TuneUp does all that work for you.

For a limited, free membership, you can have TuneUp whip 100 songs and 50 album covers into proper shape. But if your library is pretty expansive, you can do a yearly or lifetime membership for $20 or $30 and let TuneUp analyze and enter your music's data for life. But that's not all that TuneUp does. Find out about a cool bonus feature when you read more.

Besides filling in the blanks, TuneUp gives you concert alerts and reminders based on your music library, so you never miss a show by one of your favorite artists. And guess what? Alerts come free.

Not Lame at All: How to Import CDs Without Losing Any Quality

GeekSugar — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:00:06 -0700

Audiophiles, take note: Did you know that there is a world outside of iTunes when it comes to ripping your CDs? Instead of simply using iTunes to import your music, you can download LAME (the worst name for the coolest download). I can't say I've ever noticed, but apparently you lose a bit of the sound quality when you rip to iTunes, whereas LAME is a "loss-less" encoder, so you retain the sound quality when you convert your tunes to MP3s.

Available for Linux, Windows, Mac, after you download LAME, you'll have to open it when you want to rip a CD, but you will still be able to use iTunes to listen to it. Sit back with your favorite album and a glass of wine to enjoy this generation's version of snaps, crackles, and pops!

Pepsi Apologizes For "Scoring" iPhone App Via Twitter

GeekSugar — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:44:00 -0700

I don't necessarily consider myself a feminist, but I know a sexist product when I see one. Remember the Slide to Unlock tee or the stripper pole Wii game? Yeah, those were awesome.

So when I heard about Pepsi's Amp Up Before You Score App that hit iTunes this week, I had to chuckle. I knew it was only a matter of time before the backlash hit - and oh, the backlash did in fact, hit. The app, which is meant to help you "score" with women, categorizes women into different types, and provides pickup lines, tips, and insights to each type - from sporty girls to cougars - and even provides a note section where you can list your successful hookups with names (and whatever details you can remember) so you can brag to your friends later.

Not surprisingly, Pepsi Amp issued an apology on their Twitter account, but have yet to pull the app from iTunes. I'm glad that Pepsi sees the error of its ways, however, maybe it's just me, but doesn't the female public as a whole deserve an apology that consists of more than 140 characters?

Geek Tip: Tag Your iTunes With Moody

GeekSugar — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:02:08 -0800

Similar to what we experienced with Musicovery, where you search web radio according to your mood, Moody allows you to tag the tunes you already have by the way they make you feel.

Tags are color coded and their names are customized any way you want them to be. Have tons of Al Green? He might be a little more towards the red end of the color spectrum, under the "Gettin' in the Mood" tag if you know what I mean. Whereas, Daft Punk might be a yellow "Lets Dance!" tag. It's all up to you! You can even label your tunes as you listen, so you don't have to sit for hours tagging photos when you should be doing other, more productive things - like reading geeksugar, of course! Moody is free and available for iTunes on OSX and Windows.

How-To: Create Slideshows and Movies For Your Reception

GeekSugar — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:05:10 -0700

If you haven't noticed, it's wedding season here on the Sugar Network and I've been busy telling you how to keep up with your own wedding website, pick out the perfect photographer, and manage all those photos - yours and your guests - after the big day. This week, we're moving into the wedding planning stages, and today I'm talking about slideshows. But this isn't the after-the-event, it-was-such-a-beautiful-day slideshow, this is the slideshow you play during your reception, usually packed with photos of you and your betrothed throughout your relationship together.

Although I've already given you some tips on what you should consider when putting together your slideshows, you may not know where to begin once you have all your photos chosen. If you don't have a Mac (I know I've talked your ear off about the simple joy of iPhoto), you can still make professional-looking slideshows and videos with your PC. Who woulda thought, right?

Find out what software you should consider, and what to do with those stacks of (nondigital) photos when you read more.

If not all of your photos are digital, it's OK - you can scan your photos, get them onto a CD and ready for uploading just by toting them down to your local Walgreens (or similar drug store that offers photo developing). And you're on your way to getting all your treasured pics into a slideshow.

Once you have all your photos uploaded to your computer, all you have to do is choose your software to start putting it all together. With any of these programs, you can arrange your pics, choose your (optional) background music that will play during your slideshow, and will even let you add in video clips if you want to switch things up. My first love is iPhoto, mostly for its ease of use and ability to export to not only a DVD but to your website, mobile phone, and iTunes to enjoy later.

But for you PC users out there, software like DVD Picture Show, My Memories Suite, and MediaShow 4 will get you the same great results, accommodates photos and video clips, and will export online or to a CD/DVD.

Do you have a photo program you'd like to recommend? Let us know about it in the comments below!

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