mp3

Change your music files with WMA to MP3 Converter

Ripping files with Windows Media Player usually leaves you with a hard drive full of WMA files that, unfortunately, don't work with many music players and are unnecessarily bulky. WMA to MP3 Converter changes them to the much more widespread and neater MP3 format that works with just about any audio player you can think of.

The program requires you to register at the time that you download it, which raises alarms. However, registration only asks you for some minor information and then a code is sent to your e-mail. Once you're in, the program uses an almost … Read more

Search and download your favorite MP3 files and play them via Easy MP3 Music Downloads Pro

This app not only provides an alternative environment for you to browse and play music, but it also allows you to pick off those music files directly from the Web. Easy MP3 Music Downloads Pro acts as both a download manager and a media player.

The starting interface of Easy MP3 Music Downloads Pro resembles the interface of Android's default music player app. There's the playlist, artists and albums section. Thus it is probably technically impossible for anyone to get lost in it. The basic functions are also quite the same. You can choose a music file from … Read more

A new challenger in the arena of YouTube converters

The RipTunes user interface is simple and straightforward. At the top are four tabs: Search, Library, Queue, and Ringtone. Search is self explanatory, Library is where you can view all downloaded files, Queue brings up a page showing current downloads, and Ringtone is where you can cut MP3 files to make ringtones.

The Search tab is where you want to go first. Inputting any artist name or song title will bring you to a new page. Overall the program works amazingly well downloading and converting to MP3. A typical song will take about 30 to 45 seconds to completely download … Read more

Infinite Jukebox: Your favorite song ... forever

It all started with Infinite Gangnam Style. For Music Hack Day Reykjavik, Paul Lamere, Director of Development Platform for the "music intelligence" company The Echo Nest, took Psy's "Gangnam Style" sensation to the next technological level. By breaking down the song into parts and matching similar parts in various patterns, he created a dynamic remix of the song that never ends. For Music Hack Day Boston last weekend, he modified and updated the musical algorithm to work with (nearly) any song, resulting in the webware app Infinite Jukebox, with the tagline "For when your … Read more

MP3 player buying guide

There was a time not so long ago when MP3 players were a hot and essential technology and Apple's best-selling product was the iPod. Now with smartphones and tablets, though, there are many other devices that make great music players. But even if the MP3 player's best days are waning, there are still a number of great products available. Here are our top picks.

iPod Touch

Apple's iPod Touch has been CNET's top-rated MP3 player for five years running. With a base model that starts at $199, it is not an inexpensive product, but the breadth … Read more

Convert audio files to formats the Mac can handle

Switch Audio Converter for Mac is a sound-file format converter that takes files in a number of formats and recodes them in formats the Mac can handle. As it's not available through the App Store at the time of review, we obtained our copy from the publisher's Web site.

To use Switch Audio Converter for Mac you can add files to the interface through browsing or by drag and drop. The Switch Audio Converter for Mac interface is straightforward. The dialog box shows a list of files to convert, their existing format and size, and any metadata associated … Read more

Download YouTube videos with automatic format conversion

MovieSherlock is a YouTube downloader for the Mac platform. When you see a YouTube video you want to save locally, you invoke MovieSherlock and it handles the download for you. MovieSherlock can convert formats, as well as provide search integration. The Lite version of MovieSherlock sells for $14.99, while two more-powerful editions sell for $24.99 and $39.99. There is no free evaluation version.

The MovieSherlock interface lets you type in the name of a video you would like to watch, and it will search YouTube for the content, download it, and launch it in a player. Converting … Read more

Drip.fm: Record club for the 21st century

If there's one thing music lovers enjoy, it's discovering new favorite artists, and there are now a wealth of online services that offer this. I was first exposed to digital music subscriptions in 1999 when They Might Be Giants released "Long Tall Weekend" via eMusic. It was one of the first Internet-only releases, and while listening to those files now shows the limitations of MP3 at the time, eMusic rebooted a concept that had fallen into disaffection: the "record club."

The first major record club began in 1955 by Columbia Records and was a way to sell music directly to the customer often with a "record of the month" suggestion. While the service and the others like it have faded from popularity, digital music sellers are now trying something similar.… Read more

How to rip music CDs to FLAC and MP3 at the same time

There are a lot of great programs available to rip CDs to MP3, AAC, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, etc., but most require you to re-rip your CD if you want to save the rip to a different file format. If you have a large CD collection, ripping your CDs twice could take an excruciatingly long time.

dBpoweramp for Windows (XP/Vista/7/8), is a very fast and accurate audio CD ripper that supports ripping to multiple encoders. If you want to rip your CDs to FLAC for archiving and to MP3 for use on an iPod or smartphone, dbPoweramp can … Read more