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Manage iPod and iPhone music and apps with CopyTrans

iTunes is the default program for managing all of your Apple devices, but it's certainly not the be-all and end-all for managing your iPhone or iPod content. CopyTrans promises an easy, smart, safe way to transfer and back up your Apple device content, and it delivers.

To ensure a positive user experience, CopyTrans offers help from the get-go with a pop-up window that gives you links to its online User Guides, Getting Started Guide, and video demo. But thanks to its simple but functional user interface, we really didn't need the documentation. With our iPhone 4 plugged into … Read more

How to manage your iTunes subscriptions

When you subscribe to a magazine or a service such as Netflix or Hulu Plus using your iTunes account, the subscription will keep auto-renewing until you turn it off. Turning off auto-renew, essentially canceling your subscription, only takes a few taps or clicks; you just have to know where to look.

There are two ways to manage your subscriptions in iTunes. You can use your iOS device, or you can use iTunes on your PC or Mac.

On your iOS device, launch the App Store and make sure you're viewing the Featured tab. Scroll to the bottom, tap on … Read more

iTunes Terms of Service gets the RapGenius treatment, hilarity ensues

RapGenius was created for those of us who just might not be urban enough to understand what the hell Li'l Wayne is rapping about or what specific kind of "gas" 2 Chainz is "smokin' on."

The site is basically a huge wiki intended to explain the lyrics of any and all rap songs, and since the entire Internet is invited to participate, there are naturally a few Justin Bieber songs up in the mix as well. But lately, some non-music entries have been uploaded to the site, including the Terms of Service for iTunes, which has already begun to be annotated to hilarious effect.… Read more

Money and musicians: Rdio's new artist-payment model

One of the creators of Skype has announced a new addition to his digital music service Rdio.

Janus Friis says the Rdio Artist Program is designed to give musicians a better alternative to iTunes Match or Spotify, where some complain that commission rates based on the number of times a song is streamed leaves an artist with almost nothing.

With Rdio, uploaders earn $10 for every new subscriber they lure to the service. The platform pays artists to share both music and recommendations on social-networking sites including Facebook and Twitter -- promoting the company as well as themselves.

San Francisco-based … Read more

Woz: I wish iTunes could run on my Android devices

Apple ported iTunes to Windows, so why can't it do the same for Android?

That was just one of the comments made by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in a Q&A on tech-news site Slashdot yesterday.

Although he and Steve Jobs built Apple from the ground up, Woz has remained technology neutral, enjoying hardware from a variety of companies and competitors. As an Android device owner, he'd like to see Apple enter that arena as well.

"If you remember, we ported iTunes to Windows," Woz said in a response to one question. "We now … Read more

Apple's Ping officially closes, disappears from within iTunes

Right on schedule, Apple has closed up shop on its failed music-meets-social networking experiment Ping.

The closure, which was quietly announced from within iTunes last month and slated for September 30, is simply a removal of the feature from within iTunes software, as well as the iTunes Store. Users who attempt to click on the link get an error message and are sent to the Apple Store home page.

Any playlists users made within Ping have been converted to iMixes, Apple's publishable playlist format. Meanwhile, Ping users lose their followers and people they were following with the closure.

The … Read more

Apple apparently fixes bug that stifled iOS app downloads

Apple iOS users can once again download apps, music, and other items without being trapped in a Terms & Conditions loop.

Yesterday, people posting in Apple's Support Communities and elsewhere started complaining that they couldn't get past the new Terms & Conditions screen. Recently updated, this screen requires iOS users to agree to Apple's lengthy list of service requirements before they can download items.

Despite agreeing to the terms, users kept seeing the same screen pop up over and over again, stopping them from downloading new apps, music, books, movies, and TV shows.

But as of this … Read more

Q&A: MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week readers wrote in with questions on PDF files appearing black in Safari, whether one can copy the password tools from the OS X installer drives to a working OS X volume, iTunes not reading discs it just burned, and how to tackle a system always going into hibernation instead of sleep mode. We welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: Black PDF files in Safari MacFixIt reader … Read more

The 404 1,139: Where we nap our way to the top (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Neil Young introduces his own Pono audio system, could rival Apple.

- Stop showing me your stupid Internet face.

- Top face pullers gurning for the UK title.

- Life-sized pictures of Google Street View screenshots printed and wheatpasted IRL.

- Nerdy art uses computer messages to poke fun.

- If you have time tomorrow, check out Field Trip Day for Android users across the country.

- Connect with Ty Pendlebury on Twitter.

Bathroom break video: People acting irrationally to a telephone.… Read more