The Download Blog

FoxyTunes inserts a music player control panel into the Status Bar of Firefox and Internet Explorer, eliminating the scramble to switch windows so you can skip that Barry Manilow ditty you forgot to delete from your collection. The interface is easy to use and is highly customizable.

When opened, it shows a navigation array with buttons for Play, Pause, Mute, Next Track, Last Track, Volume, and the useful Show Player, which brings your music player to the front. There's also a Hide Player button, as well as a music Search tool, keyboard shortcuts, skins, and a mini player that places the application controls on your desktop as long as your browser is running.

Supported players include iTunes, Winamp, RealPlayer, XMPlay, and Last.fm, as well as nearly two dozen others and a "custom player" option. Lyric and album art searches are complemented by skins, native music discovery, and automatic ''Now Playing'' inserts into your blog posts and Twitter feed. FoxyTunes' strengths are in the depth of available features plus the level of customization. Its weaknesses? Only that you'll wish all add-ons were this good.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

I've often said no matter how good a piece of software is, there's someone out there who can make it better. Sometimes a third-party add-on can be so simple that I can't figure out why the developer didn't think of it in the original program. Then, of course, I wonder why I didn't think of it myself. As the great inventor Thomas Edison once said, "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Well, here's to an idea for which I should have donned the proverbial overalls.... Read more

FoxyTunes' latest tweak adds a button to your Web-based e-mail client that lets you inform your recipient of your latest audio distraction.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

How long does it take you to type, "Now Playing"? And how can FoxyTunes, the popular browser extension, help?

Switching windows to your desktop's MP3 player takes up precious nanoseconds, too. Even worse, you might have to physically move and actually get up and look at your stereo. In the average e-mailer's day, that could add up to hundreds of thousands or even millions of seconds.

... Read more

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Although Power Downloader spends a considerable amount of time in the field chasing down bad guys, part of his job is not quite so glamorous. For all the time traveling around the globe, he still ends up putting more time into research on the Web, hoping he'll find the leads he needs to capture sneaky criminals. To make the job of Web research a little less tedious, Power listens to his favorite music.

To help him stay focused on the research at hand while listening to music, Power Downloader uses FoxyTunes. With this Firefox extension installed, Power can switch songs on the fly without ever leaving his browser. The simple interface sits neatly in the lower right-hand corner of his browser window, letting him skip songs, replay his favorites, and find out general track information about the song that's playing. When it's time for a break from his research, he can click one of the buttons to get to FoxyTunes Planet--a great online resource that quickly finds YouTube videos, song lyrics, torrents, and other useful information about the current track.

Anyone who spends a lot of time doing research on the Web knows that a little music can make all the difference. With FoxyTunes installed, Power Downloader can still get his work done without interruption, and the background music may give him the extra stamina he needs to crack the case.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Mozilla Thunderbird is chock full of potential. Though it's as extensible as Mozilla's more famous browser, Firefox, Thunderbird lacks the same fanatical user support. A year from now, Thunderbird could be the emerging standard for e-mail software or just another fringe e-mail client.

Part of Thunderbird's eventual success will depend on the quality of third-party add-ons that enhance features and allow users more functionality and customization options. Though there's not nearly as many add-ons for Thunderbird as there are for Firefox, here's a quick guide to seven of my favorites so far.

(Credit: Mozilla Calendar Project)

Lightning--Thunderbird without Lightning is like a hawk without tail feathers. Actually, it's more like a wingless hawk. It's that essential. Everything may look OK, but you know there's something important missing.

Lightning integrates the Mozilla stand-alone calendar app, Sunbird, into its mail client. It doesn't provide full calendar functionality like you get with Microsoft Outlook--not yet, at any rate. But with nightly build updates and extensive community support, it's hard to not look at Lightning as a gift from heaven.

One of Lightning's strong suits is that you can import your calendar from Outlook. I've recounted that in an earlier blog post, which I gleaned from the experts at MozillaZine, so today I'll be briefer:

In Outlook, set your calendar to the mm/dd/yy format. Go to File/Import and Export and choose Export to a File. Choose "Comma Separated Values (DOS)" and save, then import that CSV file into Thunderbird under Calendar/Import. You can now make appointments, receive event invites that will contain calendar links, and set alarms. Lightning still can't send out event invites that contain calendar links, but the support forum promises that feature is coming soon.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Provider for Google Calendar--A plug-in for a plug-in sounds like the kind of nested application that only a programmer could love, but the inelegantly named Provider for Google Calendar serves a very useful purpose. When installed in conjunction with Lightning, it gives the user bidirectional access to Google Calendar, meaning you can update a shared calendar from either Thunderbird or the Google Calendar site.

By using the RSS feed for your Google calendar, you can make changes to it in Lightning, which allows you to keep your calendars separate and color code them, making managing multiple calendars a breeze. A graphic (and chatty) explanation of how to sync the two can be found here.

(Credit: ReminderFox)

ReminderFox--For those who don't need the full power of Lightning, ReminderFox is a simpler plug-in that sets off an alarm for a specific event or date that you've entered. You can't schedule complex meetings with your boss, his cat, and a fourth party via speakerphone; it's only for you and the things you need to remember. Nine customizable tabs provide a wealth of options, from color codes and categories to alarms and date formats.

ReminderFox also has a built-in To Do list, as well as the ability to create more lists for things you want to track, such as "Movies You Want to Rent (But Always Forget to Write Down)". Both the Reminder list and the To Do list can be imported or exported, and a quick search feature makes finding items easy.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

MR Local Tech Install--This powerful tweaking add-on also comes in a Firefox flavor. Most important, it adds a Restart button to Thunderbird, circumventing the need to close down and then restart manually. However, there's also a strong element of back-end customization: MR Local Tech Install allows you to easily configure in which directory extensions live and which options appear in your context menu, making it an essential add for gearheads.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

FoxyTunes--Another crossover from Firefox, this add-on provides controls for your favorite music player that are embedded in the Thunderbird interface. It's very flexible, supporting more than two dozen different players. FoxyTunes has a range of skins that can be repositioned anywhere in the Thunderbird frame, and it now also includes a Web-based music-discovery feature.

Contacts Sidebar--The Contacts Sidebar makes your address book accessible from the left-hand side of the Thunderbird interface, and can be accessed with a simple hot key. It supports all the standard Thunderbird address book features, and gets my strong endorsement simply for making it much easier to access my contacts list.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Enigmail- -If you're the kind of person who is worried about the government hacking your e-mail while you sleep, or if you know the inherent value of having your e-mail encoded, Enigmail wraps your private messages in the protective blanket of OpenPGP. Combined with Thunderbird's built-in S/MIME protection, your security concerns should fade away. You should note that the cryptographic functions require GnuPG, which is not included in the install file.

Do you use any add-ons for Mozilla Thunderbird? What are your favorites? Tell me in the comments.