Freeware of the Moment: XLD

I recently stumbled upon some old hard to find albums in FLAC format (open-source, Creative Commons types of things I can assure you). Roughly 3.75 gigs worth of music. The beautiful thing about it was that it was all properly tagged and had album art. A beautiful find indeed.

The problem came when I wanted to add these albums to iTunes so I could then add them to my iPod. This of course meant that I would have to not only convert the files to a format playable by iTunes (AAC or MP3 or WAV, Apple Lossless or AIFF if I want to be fancy) but also add tags and album art all over again when using my usual method of choice.

Prior to this, I had been using the shareware version of Switch, a pretty good program even in its shareware version. I was hitting a snag however: Switch would keep crashing on some of the files. Plus I still had all these files that I would have to tag all over again. Thus the Google search began. My criteria, as a Poor Mac, was that the software I needed should be free, possibly open-source, and that it should look good and just work.

A quick Google search turned up XLD - X Lossless Decoder. It is free (donations encouraged, and I will donate when I am not-so-Poor), you can take a look through the source code if you're into that sort of thing, and it works really really well. I took 17 tracks (about half a gig worth) and outputted all to 320 kbps AAC in under 2 minutes. A LOT faster than my previous method. Oh and it kept all tags and album art. There isn't much to the UI. If you're using it, it's there, if not it isn't (which you could either love or hate but works well in this context). You only see the necessary progress bars for the files as they are being converted and when it's all done the windows disappear. There are lots of preferences and output formats (MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, OGG, Apple Lossless to name a few). You can rip CDs, export wavs and flacs with .cue files to CD, batch change, edit metadata, output to several formats and add to iTunes.

XLD is awesome. It's fast. It has features I haven't played with yet, but so far, everything has been working flawlessly. The only caveat I have encountered is that there is no support for Windows Media Audio, which I am sure there is some Mac user out there that will be thoroughly pissed. Not this one though, I can easily over-look this short-coming. Did I mention XLD is free? Oh and it works with Mac OS 10.3 and up. So for all you Poor Macs out there, you can run this on your G3. Huzzah!

A parting thought: John Cage when quoting Sri Ramakrishna said "...music is a means of rapid transportation to life everlasting". XLD is a means of rapid conversion and decoding for your music, so make of that what you wish.

Get it here: XLD

Stop the Presses - Gizmodo has video of the next iPhone!

Image via Gizmodo.com

Hell there isn't much else to say really but from what we can see in the video the new iPhone will have:

• Front facing camera.
• Larger rear camera with flash.
• Micro-SIM card (much like the iPad 3G)
• Separate volume control buttons.

Also noticeably different from the current generation of iPhone, this iPhone does away with the rounded plastic and replaces it with a sleek glass/metallic finish that reminds me of the original iPhone (which to this day I'd love to get my hands on one).

Head over to Gizmodo for the full run down on the next iPhone. As for me, now I'll have to bide my time before I switch over to AT&T and get this sexy piece of kit for myself.

Microsoft Shuns Sexy Hipsters

Recently Microsoft unvieled a spot for their Kin series of feature phones which included a plethora of hipsters frolicking in all their ironic glory. Yesterday, Microsoft pulled the spot over perceived "sexting" message in the ad.

It's sad really. Microsoft pulled the ad for no reason other than a consumer watch group had a problem with a hipster showing too much man cleavage and then sending a picture to an ironically giddy fauxhemian beauty. Hell I would've pulled it because 20 seconds into the ad I had no clue they were sellin a phone.

So the question is: was the ad risqué or was it blown out of proportion?

Update: Below is the original in all it's ironic glory.



Microsoft via Gizmodo

FIRST!

It's official; the first college/university to offer an iPad to their students is Seton Hill University in Greenburg, PA.

Beginning Fall 2010, EVERY full-time student can get a free iPad- the biggest tablet since Moses. Under the university's Technology Advantage Program, full-time are encouraged to pick up tech in hopes of encouraging tech awareness and advanced learning.

We say it's not a bad deal.

via TUAW


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Site To See - Ask El Jobso

The world is full of questions: What's the meaning of life? Will I get that promotion at the job? Is he the father?

Well now our favorite billionaire CEO can answer these and all your questions on www.askeljobso.com

In the immortal words of El Jobso: "You're welcome."

via Gizmodo

Prerelease OS X Build in the Wild?

This was an interesting one that PMB picked up from TUAW. On the 19th a very lucky owner of a 27-inch iMac checked their pending software updates only to see ***PRERELEASE**10.6.3 on the update list. With a brave "oh what the hell" they downloaded a future release (just made available to developers on 3/19/10).

Curious to hear about what bug fixes were made, what improvements to the overall experience if there were any... Just so many questions. TUAW reader, if you're out there, drop a line.

iPod Nano 5th Generation: 6 Months In

It has been 6 months since the iPod Nano 5th Generation was released upon the Apple faithful. This line of iPod was graced with the "one more thing" introduction, that thing being the addition of video camera to the Nano line. Many had expected this to grace the top of the line iPod Touch. With that expectation, the Nano and the lack of an iPod Touch with video camera, was written off as a disappointment. 6 months later is this still true?
Physically the device is similar to its predecessor. The Nano 5G has, aside from the video camera, an FM tuner and pedometer added to the mix. Externally, the enclosure was revamped with a polished aluminum finish and the screen is slightly bigger as well. All in all it is a pretty significant step up from its predecessor.
The Nano is a great device. For me it is a really great size, about the size of candy bar style cellphone but thinner. Personally I'd kill for a phone this size, and my current Sony Ericsson T700 is just slightly larger. Listening to music and watching videos is par of the course for iPods, so if you have owned a previous iPod you already know what to expect. If you've never owned an iPod this thing will wow you.
Like most (all?) iPods that have come out to date it retains that great hardware feel. It is not heavy but it feels heavy enough in your hand to feel sturdy. After 6 months of near daily use, without a case or screen protector, it's still looking good. The screen is surprisingly resistant to scratches as is the polished aluminum finish. The placement of the camera, behind the click-wheel takes some getting used to though.
For those unfamiliar with the iPod UI: It is really easy to use, has eye-catching UI effects like Coverflow, and the album artwork looks really good as well. The accelerometer can be a bit unresponsive at times, or too sensitive at others. This is one thing that can take some getting used to but isn't enough to be a dealbreaker. The album art looks good when you're listening to your tunes, so naturally photos look just as good. You can sync photos from your iPhoto library or from folders with photos in them. All through iTunes of course. You can sync contacts and calendars as well. The standard iPod fair. Where it varies slightly is that you can sync the videos (and voice notes) you took using the iPod using the camera (or just microphone for voice notes) back to your Mac. The videos can be synced through iPhoto and the voice notes go to iTunes. All are accessible via the finder as well in case you don't want to sync.
The defining feature is the video camera, and that is probably what everyone is most interested in a review of this iPod. I think it is pretty good. About as good as a good-but-not-great cellphone camera. I do find it easier to use than the camera on my phone, since it turns on faster than my phone's camera. If you have a typical dumphone where the camera is buried under menus (mine isn't so bad in that respect) it would be much faster to use the Nano for video than the typical dumbphone. Sadly this thing does not take still images but it does have snazzy effects. Here is a brief example of what video looks like:

Our tagline is "when you can't afford to buy crap". With that in mind is the 5G worth buying, especially now halfway through its life cycle? There are a few things you must ask yourself. Do you want/need a new iPod right now and don't want a Touch? If you own a 3rd Gen Nano, this is a significant step up, but you should probably hold off til September. If you own the 4th Gen, definitely hold off until September. Or if you are a student, at least wait until the back to school Apple store deals where you get the free iPod (if you don't want a low-end Touch). Another thing to consider is that getting an iPod Touch so late in this cycle is probably a bit more unwise. The next iPod Touch will most likely be faster, thus having a longer overall life because it would be compatible with future OS updates by at least a one generation cushion more than a current Touch. Secondly, it was rumored last September that the current generation iPod Touch would have a camera, which it currently does not. More than likely it will have one by the fall. If you're in desperate need of an iPod, say you accidentally dropped yours in the toilet and need a replacement ASAP, then you might as well get this now as a "hold me down for the next few months" iPod before getting an iPod Touch. If you own an iPhone this definitely makes for a great backup iPod. The 5th generation iPod Nano, while a great device, this late in the lifecycle it may be best to buy it if you need it but keep in mind the September iPod refresh cycle.