Software

Beyond TV Version 4.8.1 Released

Snapstream has released an update to Beyond TV, the software-based PVR application. Their focus continues to be ease of setup, ease of use and powerful PVR functionality. This version, a free upgrade for existing BeyondTV customers, includes the following significant new features: Record by saved, keyword searches (like Tivo) Frame by frame playback Conflict notifications … Read more

Mac TiVoToGo: Roxio Responds

Earlier this week Roxio released Toast 9, the only officially supported TiVoToGo decryption method on the Mac. I raised some concerns that v8 still seemed to have difficulty with some content transcoding leading to audio/video sync issues and wondered if v9 corrected or inherited these issues. I’ve exchanged a few emails with TiVo and Roxio … Read more

TiVo Deskstop 2.6 Arrives

TiVo Deskstop 2.6 has arrived right on schedule: TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced TiVo® subscribers can now watch video content from the Web directly on their television sets. Through an updated version of TiVo’s Desktop Plus PC software, users can now … Read more

Roxio Toast Updated. But Does It Work?

Roxio has released Toast 9 but, as my headline questions, does it work… with TiVo? Last fall both Toast 8 and Popcorn 3 began experiencing issues in conjunction with TiVo’s Fall Software update. As I mentioned in early February, the Roxio team seemed to think they had a solution for the TiVoToGo file conversion audio/video … Read more

Firefox 3 Beta 4 Arrives

I’ve been using an early version of Firefox 3 Beta 4 for a few days (Beta 3 before that)… And while it seems like we’re making progress, I’d suggest waiting for a release candidate – unless you’re a developer or enjoy living on the bleeding edge (like me) and are prepared for the numerous crashes … Read more

Amazon Does Linux; Nine Inch Nails Does Download Discount

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This time we’ve got real, as opposed to potential, Amazon news… They’ve released a Linux MP3 Download Manager for their DRM-free music service. Ubuntu 7.10, Debian 4, Fedora 8, and OpenSUSE 10.3 systems are covered. While you don’t necessarily need the software app to download individual tunes from Amazon, the Downloader provides an efficient interface and supports downloading entire albums. As you can see from the screengrabs, I’ve gone ahead and installed it on Ubuntu and purchased the new Nine Inch Nails “album” (36 tracks) for $5.

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Mac OS X XM Dashboard Widget

I recently discovered a very nice XM gadget for Windows Vista, but wondered if a Mac OS X equivalent existed. Well, Google showed me the way to Tim Glenn’s XM Dashboard widget. It’s not as polished as the Vista gadget, but works fine in streaming music via your online XM account without going through a … Read more

Automatically Embed Album Art Into MP3 Collection

If you’re anything like me, you’ve got a large collection of MP3 music files on your hard drive(s). Some of my MP3s were acquired from places like iTunes and Amazon, while others were ripped from my CD collection. The end result is a pile of MP3s – some with album art, many without. At home … Read more