Category Archives: iTunes

Installing YamiPod on Linux: a multi-platform, very versatile iPod Manager

YamiPod is a freeware application to efficiently manage your iPod on Linux. It can be run directly from your iPod and needs no installation. It also has extra features such as rss news and podcast support, remove duplicates, easy notes editor (with multipage support), songs synchronization, playlists export, a built in music player and much more. It has been translated in 12 languages.

On Linux, the installation is really simple:

  • have at least one song on iPod
  • copy the libfmodex audio library to /usr/lib (you need root privileges). You’ll find this file in the package you’ve downloaded
  • mount your iPod somewhere inside /mnt or /media with read/write access
  • make sure you have the df command installed, which is usually part of any standard linux distribution.

To run YamiPod just double-click on YamiPod’s binary.

Using YamiPod is also so simple when you want to Copy  Music to iPod: Drag&drop files into the song listbox. You can even drag and drop folders, YamiPod will add all valid music files found in sub folders.

In the window that will appear you’ll be able to assign song information (title,album name, artist…) for each single file or setting them for every file ticking the All checkboxes.

In Playlist tab you can select:

  • Destination: select a playlist where to add all dragged songs.
  • Lyric filename: how lyric should be named.
  • Create playlist from folder: this will add all songs in a folder to a playlist named as the folder. For example if you dragged a folder called Music with 2 subfolders: 70’s and 80’s containing various files. Files in 70’s will be added to a newly created folder called 70’s. Files in the other folder will be added to a playlist called 80’s.

In Advanced tab you can select:

  • Auto capital first letter: will titlecase all song tags.
  • If duplicated: what to do if song exists on iPod.
  • Get song info by path and filename: if your song tags are missing but you named and placed your song following a particular order, you can tell YamiPod to get song tags out of filename a path.

Tips:
Holding SHIFT while dragging will add songs to currently selected playlist. If you’ve selected multiple songs to add you can quickly edit next (previous) song information by pressing ALT+down (up). AddThis mp3 link

Deezer.com: free legal music to listen and “use”!

DeezerThis week, in our Linux page we post a brief review about deezer.com a French website which offers free music to listen or use in your website. Using deezer.com is very simple: you have to create a new account (just few personal data -email, country…- are required) and you can start to listen to your music. The audio quality is good and we haven’t found any problem also after many hours of broadcasting. Moreover Deezer has a special feature which allows you to directly insert your favourite playlist (with an included player) in your blog (all this is free). Last but not least you can buy and download the songs you like using the integrated iTunes feature. Good site, good free features! AddThis

Vista and freeware: two extremely different (often not compatible) ways of thinking!

Windows VistaDuring the last week, we received some comments about the difficulties that some users (Bob Titus, for example) have in using freewares on PC with Vista installed. Unfortunately, till now we have not found a possible solution for this matters. Somewhere on the web, we read that the architecture of Vista strongly limits the possibility to install “independent=not verified” software because the main goal of this new OS is the security; in few words Vista prefers not to risk with “independent” (not verified but often free) softwares. We are not experts so we prefer don’t tell you our personal ideas about Vista, we simply prefer to remind you that, for example, Apple “recommends, however, that customers wait to upgrade Windows until after the next release of iTunes which will be available in the next few weeks”. For this reason Apple launched the iTunes Repair Tool for Vista 1.0. We personally think (and hope) that in a couple of months new versions of the freewares we normally use (and introduce you) will be launched. Another possibility could be a multi task “repair tool” or a “passport” which will allow all us to continue using freewares and decide ourselves how and how often we want to take risks from “independent” software. If someone knows one or more solutions, please, let us know (at the moment, I am so disappointed that migrating definitively to Linux is the only solution I have in my mind)!

Update (21 Feb. 2007): We suggest to use Windows Vista Update Advisor before upgrading to Vista. This small Microsoft’s software allow you to know how many freewares (if any) will not be compatible with the new OS after the upgrading. The Update Advisor seems to work properly and it could represent a more conscious way to decide if and when upgrade to Vista.

Update (22 Feb. 2007): Today we found some extra information about Vista compatibility on the Microsoft website. Microsoft released an official list of compatible softwares for its new OS. The softwares are divided into two different categories: “Certified for Windows Vista” and a more generic “Works with Windows Vista”. Unfortunately these lists are dramatically short if we consider the huge amount of software (and freewares) we normally use everyday. Moreover, Microsoft released also the Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0 for users who want to check deeper the “impact of operating system updates” before upgrading to Vista.