mp3

Need MP3s? Get your Fre:AC on

To test the latest version of Fre:AC, the free, open-source audio converter, we had to uninstall the previous version since we were already using it to create high-quality MP3s. The BonkEnc Project's Fre:AC (smile when you say that, pilgrim) is the best tool of its type we've yet tried for ripping, converting, and encoding MP3s with the best possible audio quality, including LAME. Fre:AC also converts files between different types of MP3 encoding with minimal loss. Suppose you have a large collection of tunes in an odd (OGG?) format. With Fre:AC, you can convert … Read more

Get $3 off any MP3 album at Amazon

So you're planning to buy "Now That's What I Call Music, Vol. 43." Hey, I'm not here to judge.

I am, however, here to save you three bucks. If you click fast, you can score a free $3 MP3 voucher good for Amazon's MP3 store.

(Don't worry if the voucher comes up showing Oakland County, which is where I live. All you need is an Amazon account that's been set up with a valid credit card, and the voucher should work.)

Just to clarify, that code you'll eventually get is good … Read more

MP3InfoEditor looks good but has functional issues

You probably think of your MP3s as songs, and so they are, usually. But they're also data files, and they contain a lot of information; some of it you can edit. Moo0's MP3InfoEditor lets you edit that information, including Artist, Title, Album, Year, and more, including a Comments field. It can read and write data in a huge range of text-encoding formats (the default Character Set is UTF-8; UTF-16 and UTF-16BE are available, too) and apply data to files in batches. With drag-and-drop and a Keep on Top option, it seems ideal for editing large numbers of files … Read more

It's easy to tell good MP3s from bad with MP3 Checker.

Any kind of data file can be corrupted, but your MP3s are especially vulnerable to damage and corruption since there's a lot of them, they tend to hang around for years, and all kinds of programs handle them. MP3 Checker is a simple, free tool that scans your MP3s for any kind of corruption, as long as it's data corruption; it can't tell good music from bad, only good files from bad. With drag-and-drop and file quarantining, it's fast, easy to use, and safe.

MP3 Checker is a simple tool with an appropriately simple interface: a … Read more

Get a $17.50 music credit with an eMusic subscription trial

eMusic is the little music service that could.

The company has been around since just about the dawn of the MP3 era, yet it's rarely mentioned in the same breath as Amazon and iTunes or Rhapsody and Spotify. Heck, it's rarely mentioned at all.

And yet it chugs along, offering one of the better deals on music downloads you'll find anywhere. In fact, if you sign up for a free 14-day trial, the deal just got a little sweeter.

Specifically, when you register for an eMusic subscription, you'll get a $17.50 credit, which is good … Read more

iTunes Match vs. Amazon Cloud Player: What's the better option?

With Amazon's recently updated Cloud Player service, music fans now have one more way to store and stream their tunes from the cloud. It bears many similarities to Apple's iTunes Match, but after playing around with both services I can attest to some clear differences, as well. If you're looking for some guidance on which service is a better fit for your music collection, you've come to the right place.

iTunes Match Cloud Player Free option n/a 250 songs, scan & match, purchases do not count against total Paid option $24.99/yr, scan & … Read more

MakerBot branches out from 3D printing with MixTape

MakerBot is best known for its 3D printers. Would you have predicted an MP3 player for its newest product?

The MixTape is available in two iterations. The $25 MixTape Kit, aimed at those who already own a 3D printer, includes the guts of a basic MP3 player. Simply print out the enclosure using the plans on MakerBot's Thingiverse site, plug in the electronics, and you're ready to upload your music.

For those without a 3D printer, MakerBot will sell you a pre-assembled MixTape for $39.

The actual specs of the MixTape MP3 player are modest. It has 2GB … Read more

Duplicate music woes? Let iTunes Match clean up the mess!

Years ago, I went digital with my music. I ripped all my CDs, bringing everything into Windows Media Player. I didn't start with the iPod. The Rio Karma was my main MP3 player. Over the years, my music library moved from computer to computer. It migrated into iTunes (and into iPods, iPhones, iPads....). It gained new music from purchases or the occasional rare CD that I'd buy. And my music got really messy.

I shouldn't really care that somehow, I ended up with two or three different copies of the same songs. What does it really matter, … Read more

Android won't save media players

Sony pulled off a surprise yesterday when it added the Android 4.0-powered F800 and E470 to its popular and long-running Walkman series of personal media players.

It isn't Sony's first Walkman to run Android (in January the company unveiled the Z series) nor is Sony the first company to use Android for media players. Samsung and Archos, for example, have used the OS, with the Galaxy Player 4.2 being Sammy's most recent example.

Yet, for all the success that Android smartphones have reaped, there are no top-selling media players running Google's OS at its … Read more