Mac music and audio software news, reviews, and tips

Skype's legal storm clears up

Juan Carlos Perez — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:28:00 -0800

Skype's cofounders have reached an agreement to withdraw their legal challenges against eBay and Skype's future majority owners.

Orb for Mac lets you stream your media anywhere

Lex Friedman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:20:00 -0800

A new Mac version of the popular Orb software streams music, photos, and videos to any Internet device, including iPhone

Novation Launchpad debuts

Jackie Dove — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:30:00 -0800

Novation has unveiled Launchpad, an easy-to-use audio controller that works with Ableton Live 8 performance software to let you create musical compositions.

Review: Studio One Pro 1.0.1

John Brandon — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:30:00 -0800

New kid on the block: StudioOne is a powerful new music creation and production app that rivals Apple and Avid offerings.

Is Spotify the future of music listening?

Kirk McElhearn — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:03:00 -0800

Spotify, hoping to make its way to the U.S. soon, lets you stream music to your computer or iPhone/iPod touch. Will it be worth the wait?

Verizon Media Manager streams photos, music to your FiOS DVR

Nicholas Bonsack — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:02:00 -0700

Verizon has released a Mac version of its Media Manager software, allowing FiOS TV customers to stream music and photos to their DVR set-top boxes.

iTunes 9.0.2 update blocks Palm Pre syncing, again

Dan Moren — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:15:00 -0700

In a startling case of déjà vu, Apple's recent iTunes 9.0.2 update once again blocks the Palm Pre from syncing with the software. Then again, maybe it's not very startling at all.

iTunes 9.0.2 update adds Apple TV 3.0 support

Jonathan Seff — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:49:00 -0700

The iTunes 9.0.2 update released on Thursday adds support for the new Apple TV 3.0 software, plus a new dark Grid view background option.

Mac News Briefs: Chronos rolls out version 8 of SOHO Notes, Organizer

Macworld Staff — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:18:00 -0700

Both the notes management and information organization applications from Chronos feature a slew of new features. Also, Sente announced a new version of its self-titled academic reference manager, while NetNewsWire, Delicious Library, Twitterrific, and Snowtape all saw minor updates.

All about iTunes windows

Kirk McElhearn — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:08:00 -0700

Whether it's adjusting the width of iTunes' interface, using multiple windows, or controlling how videos play back, there's a lot you can do with windows in iTunes.

iTunes launches new Twitter accounts

Dan Moren — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:46:00 -0700

The iTunes Store has created a quartet of new Twitter accounts to keep social networking users abreast of the latest developments in music, podcasts, movies, and TV.

Behind the cover of an iTunes LP

Scott McNulty — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:45:00 -0700

iTunesLP.net offers a glimpse into what makes an iTunes LP an iTunes LP and shows you how to make one.

Review: Word War for iPhone

Ben Boychuk — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:35:00 -0700

This game lets you flex your command of English as you and an opponent build words, letter-by-letter, until you can't build anymore. And who knows -- the game just might have some educational value too.

Review: Logic Express 9

Christopher Breen — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:30:00 -0700

Logic Express 9 packs a load of features into a mid-priced digital audio workstation application. As such it may be today's best musical bargain, albeit a sometimes challenging one.

First look: Popcorn 4

Jonathan Seff — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:01:00 -0700

On Tuesday, Roxio released the latest version of its Popcorn DVD and video conversion and burning software. Here's a first look at some of the new features.

Mac News Briefs: Logic Pro update enhances features, addresses stability

Macworld Staff — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:04:00 -0700

The minor update to Apple's professional music recording, editing, and mixing software allows Flex Markers to align and snap to MIDI notes, makes performing a punch-in recording with Replace Mode behave correctly, adds an option for latency measurement to he I/O plug-in, and causes TDM plug-ins to behave as expected.

Create a central media library

Kirk McElhearn — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:47:00 -0700

With a Mac, iTunes 9, and Apple TV, and an HDTV, you can access all of your audio and video content from the couch. Here's how.

iTunes competitor doubleTwist gains Amazon MP3 store

Dan Moren — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:19:00 -0700

Media software doubleTwist has added access to the Amazon MP3 store in its latest update, allowing you to purchase music from within the app.

Make it even easier to add media to iTunes

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:31:00 -0700

Learn how to make it even easier to use the new Automatically Add to iTunes feature in iTunes 9.

RIM releases official BlackBerry desktop software for Mac

Dan Moren — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:11:00 -0700

After a long wait, RIM has released BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac, allowing users of the popular mobile platform to sync data with their Macs.

Mac News Briefs: PDFpen has new OCR engine

Macworld Staff — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:25:00 -0700

PDFpen 4.5 uses version 15.5 of the OmniPage OCR engine, which should improve accuracy in the PDF editing program. Also updated on Tuesday were Typinator, RealBasic and Real Studio, VideoFlash Converter, and Djay.

See selection info in iTunes 9

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:23:00 -0700

See the size and play time of selections in iTunes 9

Editing (or not) iTunes genres

Christopher Breen — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:54:00 -0700

No, you can't edit the list of iTunes' pre-defined genres. But you can deal with the countless custom genres that clutter your iTunes library.

Control the behavior of the green button in iTunes 9.0.1

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:02:00 -0700

Would you prefer that the green button in iTunes 9 shows the mini player, or that it maximizes the window? With this hint, the choice is yours.

Cleaning an iTunes library

Christopher Breen — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:20:00 -0700

Is your iTunes library full of duplicates, tracks from misnamed artists and albums, and albums lacking artwork? These tools can help.

Report: Palm chided by USB group for iTunes shenanigans

Dan Moren — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:38:00 -0700

BusinessWeek reports that Palm's letter of complaint to the USB Implementers Forum backfired, turning the organization's scrutiny onto Palm itself.

Apple updates Logic Pro, Logic Express

Philip Michaels — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:06:00 -0700

Logic Pro 9.0.1. and Logic Express 9.0.1 both improve stability of the music creation applications while tackling bugs and adding other enhancements.

iTunes 9.0.1 update restores 'maximize' button behavior

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:48:00 -0700

Released Tuesday, Tunes 9.0.1 fixes a number of issues -- the most obvious of which is a quick reversal of decision on the functionality of the green "maximize" button which now functions as it did prior to iTunes 9.

New GarageBand Lessons include Rush, John Legend

Dan Moren — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:23:00 -0700

Apple's added a trio of new artist lessons to its Garage Band Lesson Store, including a pair by Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson.

Using smart playlists with nested conditionals in iTunes 9

Kirk McElhearn — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:02:00 -0700

New in iTunes 9 is the ability to create smart playlists with multiple conditions in them. Here are some cool ways to enjoy the new feature.

LittleSnapper shines at screenshot management

Aayush Arya — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:30:00 -0700

LittleSnapper is a handy utility for taking screenshots, but it really shines at managing them. It's like iPhoto for screenshots.

Stream audio from any application with Airfoil

Kirk McElhearn — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:04:00 -0700

With Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil, you can send audio from any app on your Mac to speakers around the house.

MOTU releases Digital Performer 7

Jackie Dove — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:55:00 -0700

Mark of the Unicorn has released Digital Performer 7, an upgrade to its audio workstation software, featuring a variety of additions and productivity enhancements, including a new suite of modeled guitar effects plug-ins.

Review: iTunes 9

Dan Frakes — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:04:00 -0700

iTunes 9 aims to make it easier for new users to bring in media and start enjoying it, while providing some of the most-requested features for existing users. In most respects, it succeeds, although it's not without drawbacks.

iTunes gains Automatically Add to iTunes feature

Aayush Arya — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:24:00 -0700

With iTunes 9, Apple has brought the ability to have the software automatically monitor and add media content from a folder to the library. The only thing is, its usefulness may be limited.

Bugs & Fixes: iTunes 9 and Safari mix it up

Ted Landau — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:10:00 -0700

Apple rolled out a new version of iTunes this week, and with it have come a pair of problems -- one related to Safari and the other involving the new Genius Mixes feature.

Mac News Briefs: Western Digital revamps Mac drives

Macworld Staff — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:22:00 -0700

Western Digital unveiled redesigns for its My Passport and My Book hard drives for the Mac. Also, a number of companies rolled out software updates that added compatibility with Snow Leopard on Thursday. iWebTemplate has seven new templates for use with iWeb. And EditShare's product line is now compatible with the recently updated Final Cut Studio suite.

Home Sharing: At last, iTunes library synchronization

Peter Cohen — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:30:00 -0700

Home Sharing finally brings real iTunes library synchronization to computers in the same household. Peter Cohen has had a chance to step through the process and brings this report.

Hands on with iTunes 9

Nick Mediati — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:06:00 -0700

PC World's Nick Mediati takes an in-depth look at iTunes 9.

Apple's iPod and iTunes updates

Christopher Breen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:35:00 -0700

Apple updated its iPod line and rolled out a new version of iTunes 9 on Wednesday. Macworld's editors are on hand to make sense of these announcements.

Better navigation, iTunes LP highlight iTunes Store makeover

Peter Cohen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:58:00 -0700

The iTunes Store gets a significant makeover in iTunes 9.

Summary: Camera-equipped nano highlights Apple's iPod changes

Philip Michaels — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:52:00 -0700

Get all the highlights from Apple's press event Wednesday, including new iPod nanos with built-in video cameras, a price cut to the iPod touch, and new versions of iTunes and the iPhone OS software.

Apple introduces iTunes 9

Peter Cohen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:34:00 -0700

iTunes 9 is introduced today for Mac OS X and Windows. Here are the breaking details.

Avid releases Pro Tools Essential bundles

Jackie Dove — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:30:00 -0700

Avid has announced three new Pro Tools Essential bundles—hardware-software combinations that target consumers and hobbyists who are interested in musical composition, editing, and production, or who want to create and share music, podcasts, narrations, and other audio content. The packages are: Pro Tools Vocal Studio, Pro Tools Recording Studio, and Pro Tools KeyStudio.

Mac News Briefs: BIAS updates SoundSoap Pro

Macworld Staff — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:16:00 -0700

Version 2 of the audio noise reduction and restoration plug-in boasts adaptive noise reduction features. Also Tuesday, Flying Meat updated its VoodooPad note-taking software and Letter Opener led the latest round of updates for Snow Leopard compatibility.

What to expect at Wednesday's Apple event

Jonathan Seff — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:21:00 -0700

This year's edition of Apple's fall music event takes place on Wednesday. Jonathan Seff looks at some of the announcements that could occur when Apple executives take the stage.

Apple to kill Palm Pre iTunes media sync again?

Al Sacco — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:50:00 -0700

CIO's Al Sacco wonders if Wednesday's Apple event means an iTunes update that could once again leave Palm Pre users without the ability to sync music files via the Apple software.

Producing the Macworld Podcast

Christopher Breen — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:30:00 -0700

A step-by-step look at how we create the Macworld Podcast.

The Macalope Weekly: Good kitty, bad kitty

The Macalope — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 07:00:00 -0700

The Macalope realizes it's 'he said/he said' when it comes to the Snow Leopard launch, but when it comes to Flash and AT&T, there's plenty of blame to go around.

Mac News Briefs: SkypeCap adds Snow Leopard support

Macworld Staff — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:31:00 -0700

The Skype video and audio capture tool wasn't the only application to add support for OS X 10.6. A pair of programs from Chronos added Snow Leopard support, as did AJA Video's line of Kona video capture cards. Panoweaver 6 for the Mac also debuted Wednesday, while Audio 2 DJ is now available in stores.