listen

Create custom soundscapes with Atmosphere Lite

Soundscapes can be used for a wide variety of purposes: to relax, to block out annoying noises, to set the mood at parties, and much more. Atmosphere Lite is an easy-to-use program that lets you create custom soundscapes or simply choose from a wide variety of presets. We think this program is a great choice for anyone who enjoys nature sounds but often ends up stuck in front of a computer instead of outside.

Atmosphere Lite has a simple, intuitive interface. The preset soundscapes include deep forest, rainy day, ocean night, thunderstorm, night stream, forest stream, dawn chorus, rainforest, ocean'… Read more

Facebook inserts 'listen' button on musicians' pages

The ways to listen to music on Facebook continue to grow. The social network launched a "listen" button on music artists' pages today.

On the top right corner between the "like" and "message" buttons on musicians' fan pages, users can click "listen" and be guided to songs on any of the music streaming services the user has signed up for, such as Spotify and Rdio.

This is different than the "listen with" buttons users can click when they see what their friends are listening too; those buttons were created by … Read more

Spotify extends free-play 'honeymoon' indefinitely

Spotify users who have taken advantage of the company's no-cost, no-limits listening won't be held to any new limits just yet.

The music-streaming company announced today that it will extend its "honeymoon for unlimited free listening" for an indefinite period of time. When Spotify launched last year, the company said that users would be able to listen to free, ad-supported music for six months. After that, they would have been subject to a 10-hour monthly listening cap.

Spotify's decision to extend the unlimited listening isn't necessarily a surprise, since the company has been doing … Read more

Jewe NetRadio is an ultracompact radio player

Jewe NetRadio is a free Internet radio player built on the JewelScript GUI library, the BASS audio engine, and parts from 7Zip and other open source freeware. It has an ultracompact, interactive interface and a minimalist design that is focused on playing music and other Net radio programming, without a lot of extras that you'll probably never use. It plays stations from 181.fm's playlist, but you can copy other playlists to the program's playlist folder to add more stations.

The minuscule, rectangular NetRadio interface is about as simple as a player gets; just a black background … Read more

Facebook launches 'Listen With' music button

Facebook is pumping up the volume on its Open Graph initiative by rolling out a feature that allows users to listen to songs with their Facebook friends.

The social network announced today the introduction of a "Listen With" button that lets users of music services such as Rdio and Spotify share the exact same song, at the same point in the song, via the music service. However, both parties will have to be registered users of the service.

A chat sidebar spotlights current listening opportunities with a music note. To listen, users hover their cursor over the user'… Read more

Taskbar tuneage with Max Tray Player

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

How to enable Private Listening on Spotify

We all have two or three playlists on Spotify we would prefer our listening habits of be left private. With the recent changes to Facebook and the new integration with the various music services, hiding your guilty pleasures has become somewhat of a hassle.

Up until now, the only available solution to prevent your music selection from being displayed on Facebook is somewhat permanent. Thankfully, Spotify has rolled out a Private Listening feature to its desktop clients, allowing users to temporarily stop their music selection from being broadcast all over the Internet.

To enable Private Listening in Spotify on a … Read more

Poll: Do you buy albums or songs?

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

Transcribe recorded audio with Listen N Write

Students, conference attendees, lawyers, and anyone who has to transcribe recorded audio should try Listen N Write, a free tool designed specifically for transcription. It doesn't use speech recognition or automatic transcription, and Microsoft Anna doesn't speak your text files out loud. It's simply a media player bundled with a text editor, but a media player with subtle but clever differences that make it a great tool for playing back recorded lectures and speeches (for example) and writing down what you hear. To begin with, the Skip arrows move the recording forward or back just a few … Read more