itunes

Apple may be tuning up a new streaming-audio format that handle varying degrees of quality.

Citing an anonymous source, U.K. news site The Guardian reported yesterday that the format would offer "adaptive streaming" to iCloud users, automatically choosing between low-quality and high-quality sound based on the bandwidth and amount of local storage.

Users with lots of bandwidth could listen to a studio-quality recording, while those with minimal bandwidth would get more standard digital quality.

The source reportedly told The Guardian that Apple has reached out to a music studio in London to create audio files to tap … Read more

Beat Hazard Ultra is a unique dual-stick arcade shooter that uses music from your music library to create the pace of the game. Each song in your music library has a unique rhythm and flow and as the power builds in a song, Beat Hazard Ultra sends more enemies for you to blow away. Even if you have no music on your iOS device, the game lets you choose from several Internet radio stations to stream the musical backdrop of the game. The graphics are worthy of note, too; this game has so many blinking lights and colors that there'… Read more

A number of iTunes users are reportedly receiving refunds after having their iTunes Store accounts cleaned out by thieves, with the underlying issue of how it happened remaining unresolved.

The firsthand stories are a little disturbing to say the least. Users posting on Apple's Support Community have been reporting that their iTunes accounts and information have been hacked, resulting in gift card and other purchases and changes to their personal information.

According to a report from The Global Mail, Apple's iTunes accounts have been susceptible to hacker attacks for some time. Users have been complaining for more than … Read more

Syncing your iTunes library to an Android device is easier than you may think.

DoubleTwist is a two-part application that can allow your iTunes (Windows | Mac) library to journey into Android land (and back) with ease. One part of the application, including a media player for your convenience, runs on your Android device. The other runs on your computer and automatically locates your iTunes library and populates its own list for syncing. Read on to find out how to set this up.

These instructions will cover the Windows setup.

Step 1: Download DoubleTwist for Windows and DoubleTwist for Android.

Step … Read more

iTunes U lets people download college courses with all the included materials, and study a subject on their iOS device.

As a recently released product there are currently not many courses to take at iTunes U (about 30 at the time of release), but it's pretty easy to predict the app will probably gain more traction as we approach the fall when classes resume for a new year. Of the courses offered, many big-name schools have contributed their coursework including Yale, MIT, Harvard, and several others.

The interface for the iTunes U app shares the look and layout of … Read more

An AirPort Express will let you listen to iTunes over your home stereo speakers. Airfoil is an application that takes that simple functionality and turns it up to 11. The iTunes-AirPort Express combo is perfect for listening to iTunes on your nice stereo, but what if you want to hear music from a browser-based app like Pandora? Or Sirius Radio through an app like StarPlayr? Or work with audio from your Elgato EyeTV? Airfoil lets you send audio from any application (even your system audio) to your AirPort Express, so you can use your stereo for anything from RealPlayer and … Read more

You just want to listen to some good music.

At this point, music lovers and listeners now have 10 scrillion ways to listen to music online. But where to start? Do you patiently upload all your music to Google Music? Do you check out what your friends are listening to on Spotify? Rdio? Mog? Pandora? Which ones are free, and which ones cost money? Or do you just forget about online music and just go back to listening to CDs (assuming they'll even be around in a couple of years)?

I'll be focusing on on-demand music services where … Read more

Accessing your iTunes library from other computers and iOS devices is the chief benefit of iTunes Match, but it's not the only benefit. You can use iTunes Match to upgrade the low-bit-rate tracks in your library to 256kbps AAC files.

After subscribing to iTunes Match and letting it back up your library, all you need to do is create a Smart Playlist to round up all the songs in your library with bit rates less than 256kbps, take the leap of faith of deleting those files, and then use iTunes Match to download 256kbps versions of the songs you just deleted. Here are the steps required to perform this audio upgrade:… Read more

After weeks of speculation, Apple finally launched iTunes Match yesterday. For $24.99 a year, iTunes Match grants you access to a copy of your iTunes library stored in the cloud. Subscribing to and setting up iTunes Match is a snap; all you need is patience commensurate with the size of your iTunes library.

First, make sure you are running the latest version of iTunes. On a Mac, go to iTunes > About iTunes to see which version you are running. If it's not version 10.5.1, go to iTunes > Check for Updates to download and install the latest version. On a PC, you can access the About iTunes and Check for Updates menu options from the Help menu.… Read more