mp3

iPhone users now have another option for downloading songs from their device.

Amazon today launched its MP3 store for iPhone and iPod Touch users, allowing them to buy digital music from Amazon's 22-million song catalog. There's one catch, though. The purchases have to be made via the Safari Web browser, not through any of Amazon's apps. That means the process isn't quite as seamless as buying music through iTunes.

Amazon noted that music purchases are automatically saved to the customer's Cloud Player library and can be downloaded or streamed instantly from an iPhone, iPod Touch, … Read more

The first disc jockeys discovered that using side-by-side turntables is the best way to cue up tunes for broadcast or dancing. DJing has gone from a skill to a performance under the hands of today's turntablists, but you don't need to invest in a pair of analog decks to mix beats like the pros with VirtualDek 2.2. This digital music suite uses two virtual turntables with realistic action to make playing and mixing MP3s, WMAs, and WAVs nearly as easy as cueing up vinyl tracks with a stylus. With a central mixing panel, syncing, direct monitoring, scratching, … Read more

FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. It's a free, open source standard for compressing audio files. It's popular because it's lossless: Storing your tunes as FLAC files preserves their quality better than more "lossy" standards, including MP3s. While many media players handle FLAC files, plenty of portable devices don't. If you store digital music as FLAC files but your portable player doesn't play them, you'll need to convert them to MP3s first. For that job, you'll need a tool like PolySoft's Free FLAC to MP3 Converter. It's totally … Read more

This app makes it easy to experiment with your MP3 collection as though they were vinyl records. If you are not familiar with mixing music, have no fear, as DJPad MP3 DJ Lite is very easy to use and understand. It does have quite a few drawbacks, however.

Downloading and setting up DJPad MP3 DJ Lite works like a charm. After you download this app you are greeted with a virtual turntable image. The options are listed on the bottom of the screen and you may load two different tracks on the two opposing turn tables. The tracks can then … Read more

The LP was invented in 1948, and judging by the sales surge over the past few years, LPs won't be going away anytime soon. Amanda Ghassaei's "3D Printed Record" project demonstrated vinyl's continuing relevance in the 21st century. Years ago when I saw an early demonstration of 3D printing, I knew the technology would eventually lead to printing LPs, but now it's a little closer to becoming a reality. First, however, there are major sound-quality issues to overcome with 3D printed LPs (though they can play tunes with fidelity that's far below MP3 … Read more

Traktor Pro for Mac is a popular and highly regarded DJ mixing app for Mac OS X. It is available from many sources, and after the 30-day trial you have to pay $229 USD to buy a license. Traktor Pro for Mac installs easily.

While the price may seem high for a DJ mixing app, Traktor Pro has long been a standard for serious professionals and amateurs alike. Traktor Pro for Mac offers a two-deck interface that lets you cue up audio from two different sources and manipulate a virtual mixer to keep a constant stream of music playing. You … Read more

A great-sounding recording will sound its best only when it's properly mastered to LP, SACD, DVD-Audio, or a high-resolution file. Those formats will reveal the full glory of the music in ways that lower-resolution formats like MP3 or analog cassette always miss. But if you didn't have access to the high-resolution file to compare it with, a great recording will still sound pretty terrific as an AAC, M4A, or 320kbps MP3 file, because the recording's innate quality would shine through. On the other hand, a heavily compressed, processed and crude recording will always sound heavily compressed, processed … Read more

iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches get all the attention, but let us not forget the humble iPod Shuffle, the tiny clip-on MP3 player that's hard to beat for hiking, biking, running, and the gym.

Apple sells the Shuffle for $49, but for a limited time, Walmart has the fourth-generation iPod Shuffle 2GB and accessory kit for $39, plus sales tax where applicable. Shipping adds about $3, but you can avoid that charge by choosing store pickup or padding your cart to at least $45.

I should note that three of the seven available color choices are already out of … Read more

Samsung's latest Galaxy announcement, the pebblelike Galaxy Muse, is a stylish $50 media player that attempts to divert some of the iPod zeitgeist to Samsung's flagship phones.

Plug it into the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and the Galaxy S3, and the Galaxy Muse syncs with the smartphone, so you can access just your music without bringing the entire phone with you on a jog.

Available in the familiar Pebble Blue and Marble White options, the Galaxy Muse offers 4GB of storage and delivers up to 6 hours of music playback. While it might be easy to dismiss it … Read more