PC World Philippines » MP3

Listen to FLAC audio files on iOS devices

Fei — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 23:00:07 +0000

By Kirk McElhearn
January 31, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO – Both iTunes and iOS devices support several digital audio file formats, including AAC, MP3, WAV, AIFF, and Apple Lossless. The first two are lossy, compressed formats (providing for small files), while the next two are uncompressed formats (resulting in huge files). The last, Apple Lossless, is a compressed-yet-lossless format. It falls somewhere in between in terms of file size, but doesn’t sacrifice sonic quality in the process (although debates rage about how much difference it makes).

If you’re a fan of lossless music, however, you probably know that Apple Lossless isn’t the only game in town. In fact, FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) has been around for almost a decade (whereas Apple Lossless came along a few years later), and is widely used for sales of live and some studio releases (check out the catalog list of Nugs.net’s Livedownloads site, for example), as well as classical music. And, using free software such as X Lossless Decoder (XLD), you can convert to and from FLAC.

Keep in mind that iOS devices have limited storage, and that FLAC files take up more space than lossy files; 250MB to 400MB per hour, compared to, say, 256-kbps AAC files, which requires about 115MB for the same amount of music. Also, music quality amy be less of an issue when you’re listening on an iOS device–your headphones might not allow you to hear the difference, and you’re often outdoors or in noisy environments. So whether or not it’s worth using FLAC on your iPhone or iPad is up to you. But if you have a collection of FLAC files, you might prefer to listen to them as is on your iPod touch or iPhone rather than convert them to a different format.

Neither iTunes nor any Apple hardware natively supports FLAC files, but there are apps that can let you listen to FLAC files on your iOS device: Dan Leehr’s $10 FLAC Player, and FastIntelligence’s Golden Ear (currently $6 at its introductory price of 40 percent off). Both are universal apps that run natively on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
For both of these apps, you’ll need to manually add the FLAC files to your iOS device using iTunes’ File Sharing feature. When the device is connected to your Mac, click on it in iTunes, then click on the Apps tab, and look at the File Sharing section. Click on the name of an app, then drag files to the field to the right.

When you launch FLAC Player, you’ll see a list of “collections,” which are groups of music organized by their album tags. You can edit the names, or tap on one to view its contents; tap on a track to start playing. FLAC Player also handles artwork, and you can add artwork via iTunes’ File Sharing as well, then apply it to individual tracks. Playback is as you would expect: the interface is similar to that of the Music app on your iOS device. You can also add text files to read while listening to your music: using iTunes’ File Sharing, add them to the app, and select them for the collection. These can be .txt, .pdf, or .doc files, with track info, lyrics, album notes, and more. While you can’t create playlists, you can add info to your files’ tags so they get grouped in collections; to do so, use a application like Stephen F. Booth’s free Tag metadata editor.

Golden Ear is similar to FLAC Player, but offers a number of esthetic options with “themes,” which, on small devices (iPhone or iPod touch) are merely colors for fonts and list backgrounds, but on the iPad these include a number of background pictures that, while attractive, can make it hard to read the names of tracks. Golden Ears doesn’t group files in collections like FLAC Player, though, and it’s difficult to choose from the single list of songs it displays. The app does, however, display artwork that is embedded in FLAC files, something that FLAC Player doesn’t do. Golden Ears also offers shuffle and repeat playback options, and supports cue sheets.

Both of these apps are bare-bones, being little more than basic players. Given that users aren’t likely to store a lot of FLAC files on their iOS devices, the lack of organizational features is a minor annoyance, but Golden Ear’s single list is highly impractical. It would be much better if users could create albums and playlists more easily, and, at least, search for files within these apps. Much more is needed to make either of these apps a serious music playback tool. But FLAC support is, on its own, a compelling feature for those who use this type of file.

Philips GoGear lets you enjoy your music on the move

Jon — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:51:45 +0000

Philips brings top notch sound quality and stylish, intuitive, ultra-mobile design with its new suite of Go Gear portable media players, designed to fit the specifications of the most discerning music fans. Each device in the new Go Gear collection offer users complete multimedia playback functionality. The new Full Sound technology restores sonic details lost in compressed music formats, allowing listeners to fully experience the music they love.

Philips GoGear LUXE

MP3 player with Bluetooth headset

Clip and click to always stay tuned and connected. The chic Philips GoGear LUXE MP3 player fastens like an accessory so you can wear your music. Switch from music to calls on your Bluetooth mobile phone and view caller ID – at a touch.

Philips GoGear Aria

With FullSoundTM and premium headphones

Enjoy an unrivalled sound experience with Philips GoGear Aria AV player featuring FullSoundTM. A real joy to use, you can download online videos to the player and easily navigate content on its two-inch full color display.

Philips GoGear Muse

With FullSound2TM and noise cancellation headphones

Philips GoGear Muse portable AV player features FullSound2TM technology and noise cancellation headphones for exceptional sound and inspired music enjoyment on the go. Plus, viewing videos is a joy on its three-inch QVGA color display.

Philips GoGear Opus

With FullSoundTM and premium headphones

Enjoy unrivalled sound on the Philips GoGear Opus portable AV player featuring FullSound TM. Prepare to be entertained on the go – download online videos and then view them on the cool 2.8-inch QVGA color screen.

Philips GoGear Vibe

Small size, big entertainment

Philips GoGear VIBE portable AV player packs big entertainment in a superbly small design. Its 1.44-inch full color display shows off album art and folder view ensures easy file navigation and organization.

Philips GoGear Spark

With FullSound TM to bring music to life

Philips GoGear Spark MP3 player makes it hip to be square, Album art makes the player glow while your songs are empowered by Philips patented FullSound TM technology. Show off your player with your photos as the screensaver.

Philips GoGear RaGa

With robust aluminum finish

The sleek Philips GoGear RaGa MP3 player sports a sturdy aluminum design, making it highly wearable and durable. Enjoy up to 27-hour playback of your favorite MP3 and WMA music, and tune in to FM radio for more music options.

Philips GoGear Mix

Full color display for easy navigation
With handy built-in clip

Clip on your music and go! The Philips GoGear Mix MP3 player lets you transfer files speedily with push-out USB – no cables required. Enjoy easy navigation on its full color display and 25-hour music playback with its embedded battery.

Let your ears decide: the Philips GoGear MP3 player is a tough choice to beat

Jon — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:21:17 +0000

You can tell when people are really into music by the way they listen. You’ve probably seen them on the train, in the park, or seated in coffee houses-people who’ve been transported, oblivious to the world around them save for the sounds only they can hear. They sit with their eyes closed, headphones to their ears, their heads nodding in a steady rhythm, lips softly mouthing the lyrics to the songs playing on their music players. In those moments, there’s only you, your music player, and a song.

The new line of GoGear media players from Philips are made for those kinds of moments. If you are any kind of music fan, you will know the importance of having a portable MP3 player to keep you company as you move through the day. And if you do have one, the question remains- ‘does the quality of your favorite music go with you, or is the full sound experience left at home?’

Letting your ears decide

Other MP3 players were created with a promise of superior sound quality in the palm of your hands. That’s great and all, but how many of them actually go beyond these proclamations and back it up with something that not only lives up to expectations, but exceeds it further than you can imagine?

The Philips Go Gear with FullSound was created with exactly that in mind. It’s not so much as making promises but actually delivering on it. That’s precisely what the Philips GoGear does. It delivers.

Its sleek and stylish interface makes it a fashion accessory in itself. But most importantly, it’s got all the features you’ll ever want from a portable MP3 player. The GoGear offers an intuitive user interface for fast and easy navigation, which you can also customize. As you discover new favorites and get bored of old ones, you can easily browse your music library and still control your music playback, thereby making every listening moment a new experience.

What’s more, the new GoGear combines Philips’ renowned expertise in music reproduction with the power of new generation technology. The new FullSound technology restores the sonic details that music compression loses. It enriches the music signal, so what you hear is the full sound- with every nuance of emotion and every detail of musical genius put back where it belongs.

If you’re still clamoring for more, then here’s an extra treat. The Philips GoGear MP3 Player also comes with its own specialized earphones, specifically made to complement the experience of the FullSound technology. These earphones are tailor-made to follow the curvature of the human ear and it’s ergonomically suited to drown out every sound that isn’t coming from the MP3 player.

The best part of having a Philips GoGear MP3 Player is the freedom it gives you. Whether you’re in a coffeeshop or backpacking across Western Europe, the only form of company you’ll ever need is the Philips GoGear MP3 Player.

In this day and age of technological one-upmanship, there have been a lot of MP3 players that have promised the world to its consumers but have failed to deliver. For Philips, promising is out of the question. As a matter of fact, it sticks by the motto of ‘letting your ears decide’.

And once you do let your ears decide, you’ll surely become that guy in the coffee shop lost in the GoGear experience, and the rest of the world will become the guy at the other table wishing they had one for themselves.

Convert iTunes Store music files

blogadmin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:14:19 +0000

By Kirk McElhearn

Macworld.com

February 17, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO – One of the biggest announcements made by Apple during the recent Macworld Expo was the news that, soon, all music sold by the iTunes Store will be free of digital rights management (DRM) restrictions. Currently, some 80% of music sold on the iTunes Store is without DRM, with the remainder to follow by the end of March.

While this frees up iTunes Store purchases for playback on other devices, or with other software, there may still be a hurdle if you don’t use a compatible device, or if you want to use these files with Windows software. For the music files sold by Apple are in AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) format. (Contrary to what many believe, this is not a “proprietary” format owned by Apple, but rather part of the MP4 specification.) But not many devices support AAC. Aside from Apple’s offerings, Microsoft’s Zune, the SanDisk Sansa, several Sony devices (the PlayStation Portable, Walkman and some phones), the Sonos Digital Music Player, the Squeezebox, and some other devices can play back AAC files. A handful of player programs support AAC, but not some of the most commonly used Windows programs such as Windows Media Player. But nearly every digital music player can play back the more ubiquitous MP3 format, as can most home DVD players and car stereos (via MP3 CDs).

If you want to take advantage of the vast catalogue of music available on iTunes (while Amazon.com has a broad selection, iTunes still has many exclusive albums, or albums with bonus tracks, and, in some areas, has a wider range of music), why not buy AAC files and convert them to MP3 if you want to use them on non-Apple devices? Some people think it’s heresy to convert music from one format to another, but, in reality, if you convert a 256 kbps AAC file to a 256 kbps MP3 file, you won’t hear any difference or degradation.

Converting these files with iTunes is pretty simple. Choose iTunes: Preferences, click the General tab, then click on the Import Settings button. If you have never changed the default settings, this will be set to AAC Encoder at 128 kbps (what Apple calls High Quality). Choose MP3 Encoder from the first menu, then, in the second menu, choose Custom, then 256 kbps. (Use this bit-rate, which is the equivalent of the iTunes Plus AAC files’ bit-rate so you lose as little quality as possible.) Then click OK twice to save your settings.

Next, create a playlist with the tracks you want to convert. Select them all, then choose Advanced: Create MP3 Version. iTunes will take a few minutes (depending on how many tracks you’re converting), and will make you new MP3 versions of your files. In order to find which they are–they’ll be filed together in your library with the originals–check your Recently Played playlist, or create a smart playlist where Kind Contains MPEG and Date Added Is today’s date, in the form 1/20/09. Next, Control-click on one of the tracks and choose Show in Finder. If iTunes organizes your music, you’ll find all the tracks for a given album in the same folder; just spot the MP3 versions and copy them to another folder or device.

(If you often change from one format for ripping your music from CD to another when converting files, you might want to use Doug Adams’ Quick Convert script. It lets you convert tracks using your choice of encoders, then restores your encoding preferences after conversion.)

So the above technique works for iTunes Plus files, which are DRM-free, and which allow you to convert them to other formats. But what if you have older iTunes files with DRM? You can’t use the same technique; iTunes will tell you that can’t convert protected files to other formats. So the trick here–which is a bit time consuming–is to burn your music to CD, then rip it from the CD in MP3 format. Don’t bother ripping at a bit-rate higher than 160 kpbs (iTunes files with DRM are 128 kbps, but it is commonly agreed that AAC files are better at lower bit-rates; using 160 kbps for MP3 should retain the same level of quality). You’ll then be able to have DRM-free files to use on other devices, while you wait for the true death of DRM.

Convert Your iTunes Purchases to MP3s

blogadmin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:13:00 +0000

By Rick Broida

PC World (US)

January 21, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO – As you’ve probably heard by now, Apple just announced plans to ditch DRM for good. That means all songs you purchase from iTunes will arrive on your PC without the usual copy-protection shackles.

However, this doesn’t give you carte blanche. Because Apple still encodes songs using the proprietary AAC format, your downloads won’t play in many phones, PDAs, MP3 players, and so on.

Fortunately, it’s fairly easy to convert iTunes Plus purchases (i.e. the DRM-free versions of songs) to the universally compatible MP3 format. Here’s how.

In iTunes, go to Edit, Preferences, General. Click the Import Settings button. Change the Import Using option to MP3 Encoder. In the Setting field, choose Custom, and then set Stereo Bit Rate to your desired setting (I recommend 256 kbps or 320 kbps). Click OK three times to exit the various windows.

Now you’re all set to convert any iTunes Plus download to the MP3 format. To do that, right-click the song and choose Create MP3 Version. Wait a minute or so and presto: iTunes plops an MP3 copy of the song into your library.

Note that you’ll have now both versions of the song in your library, so you’ll have to do a little housekeeping.

The bigger downside is that converting from AAC to MP3 necessarily involves some loss of audio fidelity. Not much, but if you’re a purist, you may want to skip iTunes altogether and buy MP3s outright from a store like AmazonMP3.

Turn Any MP3 into an iPhone Ringtone

blogadmin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:11:34 +0000

By Rick Broida

PC World (US)

January 06, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO – Back when I was a Palm Centro owner, I used the excellent freeware app MiniTones to turn Brendan Benson’s “Spit It Out” into my ringtone. But when I upgraded to an iPhone, I discovered that iTunes charges 99 cents for ringtones–even if you already own the song.

My cheapskate nature doesn’t allow for that. (It’s not the money, it’s the principle of the thing.) So I decided to “roll my own” iPhone ringtone, which turned out to be a fairly easy process.

Start iTunes and find the song you want to convert. (It must be an MP3.) Right-click the song and choose Get Info. Click the Options tab. Check the Start Time and Stop Time boxes, then enter times for each (no more than 30 seconds apart, the maximum length for a ringtone). I used 0:00 and 0:30, respectively, as “Spit It Out” has a perfect ascending lead-in. Click OK, then right-click the song again and choose Create AAC Version. You should immediately see a new 30-second version of the song. Drag that version out of iTunes and into the folder of your choice. Delete the 30-second version from iTunes and undo the Start Time/Stop Time changes to the original. Open the folder containing the 30-second AAC file you dragged out of iTunes, then change the file extension from .m4a to .m4r. Double-click it and it immediately gets added to iTunes’ ringtone library. Finally, sync your iPhone. When it’s done, you can head into the settings and select your new ringtone.

That’s all there is to it! What song(s) will you assign to ringtone duty? Leave a comment and nominate your favorites. Meanwhile, have a happy new year! I’ll see you back here in ’09.