mp3

Often, songs or remixes are produced on YouTube but are not available anywhere for download. For people who want to listen to the audio in their favorite YouTube videos while offline, MediaHuman YouTube to MP3 Converter for Mac turns these videos into portable MP3 files, but with mixed results.

Available as freeware, the program supports multiple audio formats and allows you to select the desired sound quality, although this is ultimately limited by the nature of the original YouTube video selected. YouTube to MP3 Converter's download and installation are smooth, with minimal load time and space required. Simplistic at … Read more

Depending on the source of audio files, the format may prevent some songs from working with different players, making it important to be able to convert files. Free WMA to MP3 Changer for Mac is a simple, but effective program that performs its limited functions well.

Available as freeware, Free WMA to MP3 Changer for Mac's small size allows it to install easily. There does appear to be support for the program, since it prompted for an upgrade to fix reported bugs. After a quick startup and the upgrade prompt, the program was up and running. Instructions for how … Read more

Spotify has been around for a good year and hasn't changed much; it's still one of our favorite applications for music on-demand and music library management. Taking cues from iTunes, Spotify integrates your existing music libraries with its own giant catalog of songs from artists all over the world. Where it trumps iTunes is that all the music is pretty much available to stream for free, with offline functionality for an addition ten bucks a month. In their in-app advertisements, claimss like "Piracy is overrated" are quite justified; it's seriously one of the most easiest … Read more

I've always had a soft spot for the iPod Shuffle. Tiny, simple, elegant, and able to clip just about anywhere on your person, it's arguably the best MP3 player ever for the gym, the treadmill, or the open road.

It's also $49. If you don't mind a knockoff, MidnightBox has an iPod Shuffle-like clip-on MP3 player (2GB) for $7.95, plus $3.99 for shipping. That deal is good today only, and while supplies last.

Details about this no-brand, no-name player are slim, to say the least. It's available in your choice of eight colors, … Read more

Zortam Mp3 Media Studio is an all-in-one program for managing your MP3 collection, editing song tags, searching for and adding lyrics and cover art, and much more. It accesses and edits a lot more information about your MP3s, including ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags. It's freeware, but when you install it, you actually get the Pro version, which is shareware. If you don't buy the Pro version, it reverts to the standard program after a three-day trial period. But some of the Pro features we can live without or already have tools for, such as Normalization, CD Ripper, and … Read more

Helpasoft's Mp3 Joiner is a free tool that joins strings of MP3 files together into a single file that can play continuously. The joined file is typically the same size as or smaller than the collection of separate files, and it preserves the sonic quality of the original files. Instead of using a file editor to cut and paste MP3 fragments together, Mp3 Joiner does it automatically and all at once. This compact tool's simple, step-by-step operation takes the guesswork out of the task. A registration code is required to use the program, but it's free, too. … Read more

Video-hosting sites like YouTube are also a great source of free tunes. Even if the audio quality isn't usually the best, at least you can hear the song you're searching for, maybe with a video of a turntable spinning the vinyl original. You can save the YouTube vid, but to play the tune on your MP3 player or add it to your MP3 collection, you'll need to extract the audio. That's easy to do, though: Just convert Flash videos saved from YouTube and other sites into MP3s. Generally speaking, you have two choices: 1) an all-in-one … Read more

An all-new Apple iTunes? No need to tempt us: We'll bite! The look is pure Apple, but the new iTunes 11 is also lighter, sleeker, and faster than the old app. It also comes with many new features and refinements, such as improved iCloud integration that lets you play your iTunes purchases right away on all your devices or pause play on one device and pick it right up on another. New Library Views clean up media collection clutter. Expanded views display album notes in place so you don't have to click back and forth. The new MiniPlayer … Read more

Many cell phones save recorded video and audio in 3GP container files, and not just phones on 3G networks; many on 2G networks do, too. While plenty of media players (such as VLC) can play 3GP files, a lot of people prefer to convert their recorded audio to MP3s for maximum versatility, as it's much easier to share MP3s and use them with other programs. Shiver's 3GP to MP3 Converter Plus freeware simplifies the task. It can convert even large 3GP files into MP3s without reducing quality.

This program's appearance is plain; it's hard to imagine … Read more