tune

A new update to iTunes on Thursday adds two new features to Apple's MiniPlayer and improves performance for users with large libraries.

Version 11.0.3, which went out as a free update on Mac and PC, has a new feature that lets you tweak the MiniPlayer to show album art with the player controls hidden. When you mouse over the player, the controls fade back into view. It also brings back the MiniPlayer progress bar, one of a handful of features Apple took out in the jump to iTunes 11.

Other changes include now showing album art in … Read more

In a fast-moving world, we often find ourselves struggling to keep track of everything that is going on around us. With Scheduler for Mac, users can now manage their daily events efficiently and without much hassle. The app also allows the user to set a schedule for launching their apps, documents, and scripts, automatically.

Scheduler for Mac is free to try but needs to be registered after a 30-day trial period. A license code will be sent to the user free of charge after simply providing a name and e-mail. The installation of the app is quick and easy and … Read more

Thanks to video games, karaoke is more than just a barroom activity, and StarMaker Karaoke makes it more accessible than ever with a robust, feature-filled app that is a lot of fun, despite its relatively high cost of entry.

StarMaker Karaoke with Auto-Tune is exactly as it sounds, a karaoke app that allows you to sing along to your favorite songs on the iPad. You can record each of the songs as you sing them and even turn on Auto-Tune or Magic Tune to really take your song to the next level. Combined with guide vocals, background vocals, headphone recording, … Read more

For some audiophiles, Counting Crows and The Wallflowers will forever be associated with the mid-1990s--along with Netscape Navigator, Hotmail, and of course, Windows 95. But don't call their joint summer outing a nostalgia trip. Velvet-tongued Counting Crows vocalist Adam Duritz, hot off the heels of The Outlaw Roadshow (alongside a slew of new indie bands), prefers to view his comparatively intimate Wallflowers double bill as a much-needed respite.

Other than sharing a decade, the comradely combos have shared previous tours, a track (Duritz sang on The Wallflowers' "6th Avenue Heartache"), and even a producer (T-Bone Burnett, back … Read more

Microsoft on Friday said users shouldn't expect a version of Apple's iTunes that's been specialized for Windows 8's new Metro interface "anytime soon." Though if you've been paying attention to the battle between the two companies, it should come as no surprise that Apple's dragging its feet.

iTunes is an immensely popular piece of software on the PC, and has been since Apple ported it over from the Mac in 2003. There were always two key reasons for that: one was selling content from the iTunes Store, and the other was providing … Read more

Microsoft Windows 8 users will likely get access to all the most popular apps in Apple's iTunes store. But it's doubtful they'll get iTunes anytime soon, according to a recent interview a Microsoft exec gave to CNN Money.

Tami Reller, chief financial officer of Microsoft's Windows division, said that by the holiday season the Microsoft will support the most popular apps in Apple's App Store in its own app store. Microsoft now has more than 60,000 apps available, and users have downloaded about 250 million of them.

But the one app that is likely … Read more

The iTunes Store holds thousands of free podcasts, but what if you're an Android kind of person? That Apple is tempting, but don't bite; adapt! Androids who are also Pod People can simply download and play iTunes podcasts on their alien devices. It's easy, thanks to apps like Wagachat's iTunes Podcast Search. The name describes this free iTunes browser for Android: It searches iTunes for free podcasts that you can download and play or share on your little green robo-phone. Like the podcasts, themselves, Podcast Search is free, though it displays banner ads in your notification … Read more

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Musicians who create their own songs may need an application to track their collaborations. TuneSmith for Mac allows these users to monitor copyright, deadlines, and submissions of their original songs, but it lacks additional capabilities that would be welcome with this type of application.

Installation of this freeware program was complicated because the downloaded folder had several files that could be installed, although it eventually loaded quickly once the proper one was selected. A formal tutorial would have been a good addition, since TuneSmith for Mac's menus were difficult to interpret. The three main menus divide the program according … Read more