songs

iTunes 10.6 for desktops (Windows | Windows 64-bit | Mac) just dropped, and it can handle the very same 1080p movies and shows that are now streaming through Apple TV. Users of the popular media manager should also be happy to know that via the new iTunes they can now redownload purchased movies through iCloud.

In addition, the updated app comes with improved song matching, as well as better album artwork handling, downloading, and display. And it includes a bug fix for an issue that had some users experiencing skips while playing songs from iCloud.

Sony's sad security song isn't finished yet.

Hackers have reportedly broken into the music label's servers and downloaded Michael Jackson's entire 50,000-track catalog, including many songs that have never been released, according to a report in Britain's Sunday Times (behind paywall). Sony purchased the catalog in 2010 from Jackson's estate for $250 million--billed as the biggest recording deal in history.

"Everything Sony purchased from the Michael Jackson estate was compromised," a source told the newspaper. "It caused them to check their systems and they found the breach. There was a … Read more

Anyone who plays a lot of music on their PC knows that convenient controls could be the single most important feature. It's hard to imagine a more convenient arrangement than Max Tray Player's taskbar control suite. This free media player places the most frequently used buttons on the Windows taskbar, right where they should be. With Play, Pause, Stop, and Media buttons always accessible, it's the most convenient setup we've tried. Max Tray Player's compact pop-up controls and display windows let you access its playlists, settings, and displays when you want them, as well as … Read more

Continuing this week's unofficial deals-under-$10 theme, let's talk cheap tunes.

For a limited time, Amazon is offering 129 one-hit wonder MP3s for 69 cents each. (That's the promotion's landing page. If you want to see the choices in list form, click here.)

You've probably heard most, if not all, of these songs on the radio, which is still the place where one-hit wonders are born. And maybe you even bought an entire album just to get one song--only to be disappointed by the rest of the tunes.

Heck, maybe you've long harbored a … Read more

Black Castle Software's Song Mixer is a free music manager that makes it especially easy to create playlists and party mixes out of multiple file libraries and locations. You can browse, play, rip, copy, and organize your tunes for burning, or take advantage of its advanced randomization and "mood ring" features to let Song Mixer create playlists based on your preferences. It's based around some familiar open-source tools, such as LAME, WGET, and Free DB, with appropriate credit given, too.

Song Mixer's colorful interface and friendly fonts give it an old-school look and feel that … Read more

Usually when I see the words "free music," I expect a smattering of indie tracks from artists I've never heard of. And that's exactly what I expected from Google Music's free songs promotion on Android Market.

Boy, was I wrong.

Google Music is giving away more than 100 tunes from the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Joss Stone, Busta Rhymes, Modest Mouse, John Mayer, Elvis Presley, and Kenny Chesney.

Don't have an Android smartphone or tablet? No problem. As long as you have a Google Music account, you can download all the tracks you want.… Read more

When you think you've seen every variation on music management software, along comes a new one like Songview. It's a free "worship song display" program, though you provide the songs. It includes a slideshow and PowerPoint presentation maker, and a built-in Bible feature that can access a wide range of texts. It automatically produces a song use history for CCL licensing and offers congregation alerts, fade in and out, and slide editing during live displays, making it ideal for clergy and lay users who prepare worship services and programs. It's easy to learn and free, … Read more

Not every album is a song cycle or designed to be listened to as a complete work of art. But the songs were more or less recorded in the same time frame, and someone tried to create a musical flow, from one song to the next.

Some musicologists cite Frank Sinatra's 1958 album, "Only the Lonely," as the first "concept" album, for its sustained theme of late-night moods and melancholy. There were probably earlier pop song cycles, but it was definitely the Beatles' "Sgt Pepper" and the Who's "Tommy" that … Read more

MetatOGGer is a free MP3 tag editor that's easier to use than to say, at least in English. It automatically tags your MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, WAV, WMA, and other audio files by analyzing each song's sound fingerprint and comparing it with the MusicBrainz online archive. It also automatically finds lyrics for songs at the LyricWiki site. Of course, it incorporates a media player, making it a good choice for your main music program.

MetatOGGer's clean, ultrastylish interface will be immediately familiar to anyone who's used a recent Office app like Outlook or Word, with its … Read more