Stream, Share, and Manage Your Music with CloudTune
Last Updated on Tuesday, 10 January 2012 04:50 Written by Alan Tuesday, 17 January 2012 07:00
The average person’s music collection has moved from album to CD to MP3′s on a hard drive and finally into the cloud. iCloud from Apple, Amazon Cloud Player, and Google Music provide plenty of space to store music you own, but with streaming services like Pandora, Last.fm, and Spotify it seems many users don’t even need to own a music collection. However most of us are looking for a blend of a cloud stored collection and streaming of songs we don’t own.
A new service called CloudTune, which just recently entered Beta, is looking to provide that blend, along with a healthy dose of social thrown in. It doesn’t quite work like the true cloud storage services the I previously mentioned, so don’t rely on it as backup for your music collection. It does, however, provide some nice touches that you won’t find in any other service that I know of.
Once you have downloaded and installed CloudTune you will need to log in to your account or create a new one.
Next you will have the opportunity to import your songs from Last.fm and VK.AUDIO. If you choose no, but change your mind later you will still able to do this, so don’t fret over your decision.
Now the app will search your computer for music and populate your library. It’s quick, but if you have a large collection then this step could take some time. Once it’s done your local music will be displayed in the main panel of the screen.
Whenever you play a track it’s automatically added to your library and will then be available even if you’re offline. The search is a bit less obvious if you are using the app for the first time. Click the large blue cloud and music note at the top left of the player.
The left column of the player provides options for your library, favorites, and to get recommendations. You can also share songs via Twitter and Facebook, find the music video on YouTube, search for the lyrics, buy from iTunes and change your settings. The bottom provides the album art for your currently playing track.
CloudTune is free to install and use. To get it, just head over to the CloudTune download page. It’s a fast download and it’s easy to set up and start using, You can be streaming and sharing your music in 5 minutes.
Fav.tv Mixes Guide Data and Social
Last Updated on Sunday, 25 September 2011 02:00 Written by Alan Saturday, 8 October 2011 07:00
There are many sources for TV guide and news information on the internet. Fav.tv has been around for a while as a mobile app where it provided guide data, but it has now moved to the computer and expanded into the social realm. You can sign up for a free account to get all of the features, but if you don’t want to do that, you will still find lots of useful information.
The homepage gives a synopsis of shows on that night, episode previews and clips, and you can even check out what your friends are watching. The top menu gives simple access to Shows, News and Guide.
Creating an account is free, and allows you to get a lot more use out of the site. When you set up your account you can add your favorite shows so that information on those shows is always at your fingertips when visiting the site.
You can add shows to your news stream by following the show’s page. You can also find schedules for new episodes, IMDB data, Fav.tv fans, and a lot more.
When you click on the Guide, after adding shows to your favorites, you will be presented with a schedule for the week that lets you know when your shows are on. You can click on an episode to get a more detailed description. You can even have this guide displayed in your calendar if you are using iCal, Google Calendar, or Outlook. Some people may not want that type of information clogging their calendar, but it’s a great option for those who do need that type of reminder.
Finally, there are mobile apps available for Android and iPhone. iPhone is where this all began, and it has grown remarkably fast over the past couple of years. Add the mobile app for your device to get the most out of your account.
For TV addicts this app is a must-have. For the casual viewer it’s still a nice addition to keep you up-to-date on what’s on and when, as well as news about episodes and recommendations based on what you like and what your friends are watching. Best of all, it’s all free.
Delicious is Moving, Save Your Bookmarks
Last Updated on Thursday, 15 September 2011 09:41 Written by Alan Friday, 16 September 2011 07:00
We know there are still Delicious users out there, and probably quite a few of them. As you may remember, a while back Yahoo had a fire sale and Delicious is now owned by AVOS. The official takeover is scheduled to happen on September 23rd. However, all users have to take a step to save their data. Yahoo will not share any user data with AVOS without the user’s permission.
In order to ensure your data stays intact and makes the transition to it’s new home, you will need to visit the Delicious Transfer page and enter your name and click the “I Agree” button. That’s all you will need to do to ensure you won’t have problems after the transition takes place.
Once you have followed this simple step you should receive am email confirming that your data is safe, at least for the time being. We can’t predict what the future will hold for the service.
Hooray! Your data can now be moved along with Delicious.
Thanks,
Delicious
AVOS, the company that acquired Delicious, is the latest venture of YouTube founders Steve Chen and Chad Hurley. The site will remain under it’s own name and URL, but hopefully will again see some innovation.
