Online radio has become one of the most popular media applications on the internet.  There is no shortage of ways to tune in and listen to stations from all around the world, but recording streaming media usually requires a separate application.  Now thanks to Antenna, an Adobe Air application, there is a way to find, tune in, and record internet radio all in one app.

To install Antenna, you’ll first need to have the Adobe Air framework installed.  Think of this as similar to Microsoft apps that first require Silverlight or .NET installed.  Download Adobe Air and then Antenna to get started.

The Antenna app comes with a unique user interface that integrates a world map to display the location of stations from all around the globe.  If the map is problematic, you can locate stations by country flag as well.  You can locate channels by country or genre, and double click a channel name to begin streaming it.

Once you locate an internet radio station you like you can begin streaming it.  Once streaming click the “Record” button and it will go from white to red to indicate that recording has begun.  Click it again to stop recording.  From here you can also rate internet radio stations.

Antenna is an easy to install app that that doesn’t take up a lot of space.  There are alternatives available, but none are as feature-rich as the Antenna internet radio app.  It’s compatible with Windows XP, Vista, and 7.  You can download it, along with Adobe Air, from this website.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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Plex, the popular media center and media server software, has been available for some time on Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, and Android, but now they have finally released their Windows Phone app.  The app became available in the Marketplace on March 30th and is selling for $4.99, but users can try it for free.

Plex can stream your personal collection of movies, videos, music, and pictures to your device over WiFi or the cell network.  It also handles a wide range of file formats.

“The Plex application allows you to use your Windows Phone to browse and play your media (video, photos and music) using the Plex Media Server installed on your PC, Mac or Linux system. You can also view online media from a variety of sources.”

The mobile app requires that you have Plex Media Server running on one of your computers in order to stream your personal media to your Windows Phone handset.  You can download Plex from the Marketplace.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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These days everyone has need for a program to allow our computers to easily burn CD’s and DVD’s.  Of course, Windows has this ability built right into it, but it can be done in easier ways with other software.  While most of us are looking for an easy way to burn a DVD these days, CD’s also are still in use in the tech world, and Easy CD/DVD Burner can handle both easily and quickly.

With Easy CD/DVD Burner you can burn audio CD’s, burn movies to DVD, and even work with .ISO files.  .ISO files are image files of software and movies that have been ripped to a computer hard drive.  Other features of Easy CD/DVD Burner include:

Just recently they updated to version 5.1.  While it’s a minor update, users and those looking for burner software will want to make the jump to the latest version.  Easy CD/DVD Burner is a free program that can be downloaded from Koyote.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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I tried out Rdio a while back, when it was still in  Beta, and I liked it, but not enough to tear me away from Pandora, and more recently Google Music.  However, in recent weeks I have received several emails from them telling me my account has been credited, and while I assume this is just a ploy to get me back to their service, I decided to actually take a second look and see what was new and changed.

We hope you discover great, new tunes

Rdio is still offering a free streaming plan, but the that plan is still limited, and after logging in to my account I still couldn’t seem to find exactly how much “credit” I have received.  There doesn’t actually seem to be a way to find what the free plan actually allows for – “A generous number of streams per month for a limited time.”  The paid plans are still available as well, and that is what they are using to pay for the rights to all of this music.

There actually doesn’t seem to be much that has changed.  The service is solid and worth having at least a free account with.  You can browse and play any song or complete album you want and it still has the social features that allow you to follow your friends and share music back and forth with them.

Rdio is a fine service – the music is all there and the streaming works well.  However, until they are a bit more up-front about their free version, as in how much you actually get and what you have left as the month goes on, I will stick with the Google Music – Pandora combination that has been working for me quite well so far.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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VLC Player, the popular open source media player from VideoLAN which can play virtually any video format, has finally released version 2.0, known by the name “TwoFlower”.  VideoLAN calls it the “most important new version of our VLC media player.”  Their Player has become a staple app for almost every computer user who is in-the-know, mostly because it plays almost every format without the need to install extra codec packs.

The new version features faster decoding, the ability to open even formats, a new rendering pipeline, higher quality subtitles, and new video filters to enhance your videos.  The new version also has completely reworked Mac and Web interfaces and improvements in the other interfaces to make VLC Player easier than ever to use.  Other new features include:

• With faster decoding on multi-core, GPU, and mobile hardware and the ability to open more formats, notably professional, HD and 10bits codecs, 2.0 is a major upgrade for VLC Player.
• Twoflower has a new rendering pipeline for video, with higher quality subtitles, and new video filters to enhance your videos.
• It supports many new devices and BluRay Discs.
• It features a completely reworked Mac and Web interfaces and improvements in the other interfaces make VLC easier than ever to use.
• Twoflower fixes several hundreds of bugs, in more than 7000 commits from 160 volunteers.

You can download the the latest version of VLC Player from VideoLAN.org.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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Today XBMC, the maker of perhaps the finest HTPC alternative to Windows Media Center, announced that they have moved one step closer to their next big release.  XBMC 11.0, called “Eden”, has reached Beta 3.  XBMC, which stands for “Xbox Media Center”, brings all of the features of Windows Media Center, but has some additional features, plus it can run on other platforms like Mac, Apple TV, and Linux.

In their latest release, XBMC claims to have “fixed playlist issues, altered some misbehaving Library buttons, provided a little more control over the way movie sets are scraped, and cleaned up numerous other small bugs.”

Perhaps the bigger news in Beta 3, though, is the new XBMCbuntu.  With XBMC now being built on the LXDE desktop environment, it now has a built in browser and Flash player, and can run all of the normal Ubuntu Linux programs.

“On top of the many bug fixes though, we are pleased to officially announce the first beta of XBMCbuntu. With this beta release, we have chosen to slightly shift the focus of the pre-built XBMC Live install. In the past, XBMC Live was optimized for a pure set-top box experience. In the switch to XBMCbuntu, we are pushing to a more traditional ‘buntu approach that emphasizes first trying and then ultimately installing XBMC onto the local machine.”

You can download the XBMC Eden Beta over at their Download page, and you can read the entire announcement on their Blog.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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Most people think of Google as a search company, but their primary source of revenue is actually advertising.  It permeates everything they do – there are ads in the search results, they sell ads to advertisers through AdWords and publishers through AdSense, and much more.  Last year they made their first tentative steps into the entertainment business with Google TV, which met with a less than ideal response, although that is beginning to change.  Now it appears Google in beginning to test a new entertainment device.

There’s a real possibility that this is nothing more than the next generation of Google TV, but at this point it all seems a bit mysterious.  Google has filed a request with the Federal Communications Commission to test a  WiFi and Bluetooth enabled device in the homes of employees in four different cities.  From the FCC request:

“Google is developing an entertainment device that requires testing outside the laboratory environment. The device is in the prototyping phase and will be modified prior to final compliance testing. … Users will connect their device to home WiFi networks and use Bluetooth to connect to other home electronics equipment. This line of testing will reveal real world engineering issues and reliability of networks. The device utilizes a standard WiFi/Bluetooth module, and the planned testing is not directed at evaluating the radio frequency characteristics of the module (which are known), but rather at the throughput and stability of the home WiFi networks that will support the device, as well as the basic functionality of the device. From this testing we hope to modify the design in order to maximize product robustness and user experience. Utilizing the requested number of units will allow testing of real world network performance and its impact on applications running on the device, so that any problems can be discovered and addressed promptly.”

The test will be carried out in Mountain View, CA, New York City, NY, Cambridge, MA, and Los Angeles, CA.  The test period will run from January 17th until July 17th.  That means it will likely be quite some time before we get any real information on what this product is.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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Today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Boxee announced that they are teaming up with social networking powerhouse Facebook to bring TV to your Timeline.  Boxee has always been built to allow users to share their video recommendations with friends, but this is their first foray into real social networking.  Boxee started as a computer and Apple TV app, but expanded into their own set-top box a while back, and are now going to offer their new Boxee Live TV.

The TV app for Facebook will allow users to share what they are watching in their Facebook Timeline, as well as discover new videos from others.  When the app is installed on your Boxee Live TV, and you begin watching a live TV show, it can post this information to your Facebook Timeline after two minutes of viewing.  Before you panic about a potentially embarrassing post, don’t worry – the app needs your permission to do this.  If a friend clicks on your shared link then they are taken to a new landing page that Boxee has created with more information about the show including the episode and season information.  They can then save the show for later viewing or add it to their favorites.

The app is opt-in and changes can be made from your Facebook Application Settings page.  As for the new Boxee Live TV, they said they plan to begin shipping it in the third week of January.

Boxee Facebook Live TV Integration from boxee on Vimeo.

Source: Boxee

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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One of our favorite web apps of 2011, Media.io, has issued a major update for the new year.  Media.io is an online tool for converting audio files that can easily turn your music from MP3 to WMA or from any one format to another easily and for free.  We reviewed it a while back and you can check out our hands on here.  Since that review the developer has continued to update the program with more and more functionality.

Media.io developer, Johann, has done a great job of updating the app, as well as it’s audio files capability, and he has now added more functionality to convert all of your music and audio files. New updates include the ability to share music and audio files, language updates, and better uptime.  A full list of the updates added are included below.

• You can now share media.io with your friends using ShareThis. Personally, I’m not a fan of 3rd party widgets and I had to clean up ShareThis’ widget to make it less invasive to your privacy and to make it load faster.
• Korean translation. media.io is now available in Korean.
• Romanian translation. media.io is now available in Romanian. You might ask yourself “why Korean and Romanian?” – it’s got to do with the love media.io gets from particular countries.
• Less resampling. To compensate for flaws in oggenc, I was resampling files to 44100 Hz on the old VPS. This has now been removed, resulting in better quality Ogg Vorbis files.
• Performance improvements. It might seem hard to achieve, but I’ve found one or two tricks that make media.io load even faster worldwide. Every second counts.
• 100 % uptime in December 2011. While not really a new feature, the server media.io runs on has been rock solid in December with absolutely no downtime measured by Pingdom.

With all of the improvements it has become even easier to convert your music files from one audio format to another.  Audio.io was one of the coolest web apps we found in 2011.  It’s free to use and is compatible with almost every music format.  If you have audio files that you would like to convert then head over to media.io to get started.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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XBMC, the media program named after Xbox and Media Center, has become popular over the past several years as a great free alternative to it’s namesake, the Windows version of Media Center.  Aside from it’s free price tag, XBMC is also popular because of it’s great functionality and ability to run on multiple platforms like Windows Mac, Linux, and Apple TV.

On December 24th XBMC announced a holiday gift for all of their users.  XBMC version 11.0, known as “Eden”, has been released in Beta form for everyone to begin using.  It ran a bit behind schedule, but XBMC promises that “The sheer number of new features, platforms, and improvements to nearly every facet of the XBMC experience found within Eden are nearly too numerous to count”.

New features in version 11 include Addon Rollbacks, improvements to the XBMC default skin (confluence), speed increases, a better library, better networking support, better handling of unencrypted BluRay content and structures, adjustable display refresh rate in OSX (to match the already available feature in Windows and Linux), AirPlay support, an upgraded weather app, plus a bunch more.  In addition to those improvements, XBMC also announced that Eden will be available for two new platforms – the Apple TV 2 and the iPad.

If you are already an XBMC user, or if you are looking for an alternative to Media Center, then you can head over to the download page to get Eden and see what you think.  You can check out a screenshot of the new Eden home screen below.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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