Think you can tell the difference between CD quality music and compressed MP3s? This simple test can prove once and for all whether storing your music in lossless is worth your time (and hard drive space).
So you’ve picked out the perfect pair of headphones, but they sound a little flat and quiet coming from your computer’s crappy built-in audio. Here’s a little gadget that will make those headphones sound much better.
If you own one of the smaller MacBooks, you’ve undoubtedly cursed their quiet speakers hundreds of times for being inaudible when you really need them. Boom is a menu bar app that will boost your Mac’s volume past its default maximum point.
You can record high-quality video on just about anything with a screen these days, but the built-in microphones on these devices aren’t always up to par. If you want to make your own, Instructables user Snaffle J Bean shows off a simple method that only requires a couple parts and $US15.
We’ve discussed a few ways to record Skype calls in the past, but they tend to be pretty hit-or-miss. As long as the audio is the only part you’re worried about, CallNote can record your calls and then save the audio file to your Evernote account immediately as soon as it’s finished recording.
Windows/Mac/Linux: Free, open-source, sound-editing program Audacity has been updated with a few new features. The most notable include improved effects, a ton of new keyboard shortcuts and a handy automatic crash recovery mode.
iOS: Voice Brief is a handy little app that pulls news, weather, and other information from the web and stores it on your iPhone (or other iDevice). When you want an update, just ask the app and it will provide one in audio format. It’s a nice way to get started in the morning.
Mac: Pausing and restarting music isn’t exactly the hardest thing to do, but if you find yourself away from your chair, you have to move to the keyboard or mouse to stop playback. Flutter is a Mac app that allows you to pause and restart your music in iTunes with a hand gesture.
Music-hosting service SoundCloud makes it easy to share your voice, music or any other audio with a few clicks. It’s great, but sometimes you’re desperate to actually download and save a track from SoundCloud. This handy bookmarklet, courtesy of github user pheuter, adds a Download MP3 link to any track on SoundCloud.
Android: n7player isn’t the first music player for Android promising a “revolutionary” music-listening experience. Hyperbole aside, the app delivers with a really unique and interesting interface that a number of other players could learn a lot from.
