audio

I covered the best-sounding new digital recordings last Sunday; this time it's the choicest new vinyl.

'The White Stripes' Most tracks are stripped down to the basics, just Jack White on vocals and guitar, and Meg White's minimalist drum kit. An amazing debut record, not exactly an audiophile classic, but it wins points for emotional honesty. It feels right, and White's analog loving roots are on full display.

The Pastels, 'Slow Summits'A beautiful new record from an old band. These pretty, melodic, but definitely not pop tunes unfold one after another before your ears. The thing … Read more

Google's music-streaming service All Access launched last month during I/O. The service, similar to that of Spotify or Slacker, allows Android users to create radio stations or stream entire albums directly on an Android device.

Streaming isn't a new feature in the Google Music app, as you have been able to stream music library stored in the cloud service for a while now. But All Access has increased the amount of streaming, and thus increased data usage.

Google on Thursday updated the Android Music app, which now allows you to choose the audio quality streamed through the … Read more

Audio Memos Free is a fairly basic voice recorder without a lot of frills or added features, but with a solid, smooth performance that will work well for most casual users. Power users might want more, but the voice recording and editing functions here are all well-built and make for a solid, well-rounded, free app that outperforms many other free voice recorders, including the built-in tool that comes on all iPhones.

When you first open the app you can immediately start recording. You can change quite a few settings, as well, including the amplification, normalization, name, and quality of the … Read more

I get to hear a lot of headphones. Don't be jealous, most of them are different shades of awful. Some are so bad I yank them off my head in a few seconds, some are just cheap copies of famous headphones, and some are built like crap. The Griffin Technology WoodTones jumped out from the pack: they're beautiful, they're comfortable, and they sound great.

True to their name they're available in Beech, Sapele, and Walnut. Handling these $99.99 headphones, I found the real wood earcups make for a very different feel than the more typical … Read more

SMPlayer gives you all of the playback support of more popular downloads with an extra touch of style. It has a sleek menu that's loaded with features and some really cool playback options. Setup isn't the easiest thing in the world, but the robust download is worth the time you have to put into it.

As you might expect, this is a bigger download that will take a minute or two on slower connections. The app's installation will try to swap your home page and search through Bing if you're not careful, too. Once you've … Read more

Headed to the beach? The campground? The shower? Gotta love a battery-powered Bluetooth speaker for those and other destinations.

But which one? Jawbone's Jambox is arguably the best-known, but at $129.99 (down from $179.99), it feels a little pricey. Thankfully, there are more affordable alternatives.

Like this one: Today only, and while supplies last, Tanga has the Urge Basics Soundbrick portable Bluetooth speaker for $33.99, plus $2.99 for shipping. It's available in your choice of colors: white, blue, red, and pink.

Urge Basics? Nope, I never heard of 'em either. But check this out: … Read more

NowSmart Studio's Audio Record Wizard makes it easy to record sounds on your PC from a microphone, a file, or anything you can plug into your sound card, like a tape deck or TV. It's great for recording chat sessions because it can record sounds from two sources, such as a microphone and Internet feed, and save it all as one file in a range of formats (MP3, OGG, WAV, and FLAC). It can convert and merge audio files, manage MP3 tags, and perform other audio editing duties. Many of its tools are particularly suited to voice recording, … Read more

When a Bluetooth or AirPlay speaker crosses the $500 mark, you expect to be impressed. Yes, it has to sound good, and yes, it has to look good, but it also has deliver just a little something extra to make you throw out reason and spend more than you probably should on a wireless speaker.

The Cambridge Audio Minx Air 200 ($600) is an undeniably nice speaker, but it doesn't quite feel worthy of the asking price. Its strongest suit is its refined design, with a clean look that blends into most decor without drawing attention to itself. The … Read more

Apple and the George Lucas-founded audio-and-visual tech firm THX are attempting to settle a patent spat between the two companies, recently filed court documents revealed.

A legal filing late Tuesday noted that the two companies were "currently attempting to resolve this matter outside of this ligitation," Bloomberg reports.

THX filed its suit against Apple in March, accusing Apple of infringing on a patent covering sound direction from small speakers. In its complaint, THX said Apple's iPhone 4, along with iPads and iMac computers, were using that technology without a license, and were causing the company "monetary … Read more