Free Online Mp3 Music Downloads

Free Online Mp3 Music Downloads
ipod Podcasting

Top 10 Place to Download Music Online
by Syd Johnson


You can legally purchase and download music from these major online music retailers.

1. iTunes.com - you can download music from this site which has one of the largest online catalogs. iTunes customers have bought over 200 million MP3 Downloads so far and it shows now sign of slowing down. Create online mixes, link to over 1,000 radio stations across the country, download music directly to your iPod or even purchase an iPod if you don’t have one. This music catalog gives you access to almost every music genre that exists. There are also free samples available on a regular basis. No mystery here. Apple lists the date directly on the front page so you know when to come back and download music for free. Free music on a schedule. Excellent!

2. Amazon.com has entire section of its site devoted to free music. Whether you’re looking for Pop, Rock, Ska, Reggae or Brazilian Samba music, you can download music samples from their the free catalog on the Amazon site. It’s not the largest selection but you can reasonably assured that the files are good quality, virus free and legal. If you find a few songs that you like, click over to the album and purchase it. Let's hope that they expand into the digital market so you can download music files directly to an mp3 player.

Independent musicians can put their own composition on the site with a virtual tip jar.

3. WalMart.com is the largest retailer in the world and fortunately they have created their own system to offer mp3 downloads online. Download individual songs or buy an entire album. They have a huge music catalog and single songs are slightly cheaper than iTunes. You can download music on this site for only 88cents per song. The current catalog has over 400,000 songs in many categories.

4. Download.com has it all, Rock, Pop, Classical, Reggae, Punk and more. Millions of online surfers turn to this site for their MP3 downloads. While you’re there, you can also check out their software and games section. Certainly one the largest and most comprehensive download sources online. As with Amazon, independent artists can register and upload their music.

5. BuyMusic - Download music from over 500,000 songs and as an incentive, they songs are cheaper than anyone else around at only 79cents per song on the lower end.

6. Rhapsody - You can download music directly to your CD for only 79cents per song. There is always some kind of promotion on the site . Right now, you can burn 5 CDs for free just for trying the service.

7. LaunchCast is an mp3 download resource, online music station, music video channel and music store. Channels are extremely organized so you can do the top 40 thing or click around for independent artists and cutting edge stuff.

8. eMusic - Download music from one of the largest independent catalogs on the web. You won't find a lot of to 40 hits, but there is a free trial period so go ahead and check it out.

9. MusicMatch - Download music, burn cds and even print custom labels and covers. There is a free version of the jukebox with ony the ability to play music, burn songs that you get online, or rip songs and store them on your playlist. The free radio service alone is worth the sign up. Create your own radio station playing only music from the artists and albums that you like. Excellent example of the personalized functionality that you can deliver in an online music store


About the Author
This article may be freely distributed as long as there's an active link to http://www.rapidlingo.com
Syd Johnson
Editor



You can download music from Wal-Mart in the digital music store
by Syd Johnson


You can download music from the Wal-Mart music store and start building your music collection on the cheap. Wal-Mart is the number retailer in the world, and they got that way by buying in bulk, and then selling at a huge discount rate to consumers. They have brought their business model online and now you can download music directly from the Wal-Mart website.

Currently singles are 88 cents each and you can still buy an entire album for about ten dollars. These files are legal music downloads from the best selling artist on various music charts.

Whether you’re looking for Country, Hip Hop, Pop, Rock or anything in between, you can find a single on the Wal-Mart web site. Their music store is very easy to navigate with all of the categories and top selling items listed on the right.

They also have a lot of compilations and collections. You can get some CD/DVD bundles which are the latest thing in the music world. Everyone from Ray Charles to Usher has recently released or re-released their CDs with so much additional content that it’s a DVD release.

This is where you can get extended versions or remixes of popular songs, as well as clips from tours, clips of the bands and of course, music videos.

If you are going to download music from Wal-Mart, you will need a copy of their mp3 player software. You can see the link on the right hand side of the music store that says music downloads or 88 cents downloads. At this time, only PC users can use their mp3 players and buy digital music files directly from the site.

Also, since they are using their own music player you cannot import the tunes into the iPod. Right now, only music purchased through the iTunes store can be downloaded directly to the iPod. It’s weird but since there’s no universal format for mp3 players at this time, you have to use whatever player is support by a particular music retailer.

If you want to make your music portable, you can simply burn them onto a CD. Of course, they also have all the other excellent features you would expect from Wal-Mart, which is that they sell everything and at a great price.

Check back often as we continue to track the Wal-Mart music service. Hopefully they’ll partner with one of the commercial mp3 player companies in the near future and give you the opportunity to download your files to a portable mp3 player.

Overall, a great store with great musical selection. Very modern and up to date music catalog.



About the Author
This article may be freely distributed as long as there's an active link to http://www.rapidlingo.com
Syd Johnson
Editor



Podcasting by Colin Maddocks


If you are fed up with listening to your local FM station and the mass of inane adverts that punctuate each show, or, if you crave interesting spoken word programmes that are written and presented by excited, knowledgeable enthusiasts, then Adam Curry's "Daily Source Code" podcast may be just what your a looking for.

Adam is one of a rapidly increasing group known as "podcasters", whose shows are created to be heard on iPods or other MP3 players. Formerly an MTV video-jock, he is the man who created the "iPodder" program. Downloadable from www.iPodder.org, this easy to use software allows you to decide which audio feed you wish to subscribe to. This is then automatically added to your iPod or MP3 player to listen to when you decide.

The great thing about Podcasting is that it allows listeners to download their favourite shows automatically. There are now tons of "advertisement-free" radio channels for listeners to subscribe to, with more emerging every day.

Once set-up with a program like iPodder your favourite program downloads automatically whilst you sleep, so that you can listen to it on the journey into work the next day, or whenever it suits you. You are not tied to any schedule. It is true radio-on-demand.

When you visit ipodder.org you will see details of the latest podcasts and you will be able to easily subscribe to great shows such as "Coverville", a music show consisting purely of really interesting cover versions as well as the truly original, if not a little whacky, "Whole Wheat Radio" from Talkeetna, Alaska. (Where!!).

There are, of course, lots of shows created and presented by true Podcast enthusiasts and knowledgable techies, such as "The Engadget Podcast" and "IT Conversations". However, by mixing all of these topic areas you can end up with a true, custom-made audio experience that meets all of your listening requirements.

Podcasting is still in its' infancy and over the next 12 months you will see more and more growth in this unique field. Podcasting is a real example of a technology that simply could not have existed even 2 years ago and with just a little effort on your part over the coming months you could play a significant part in the development of this exciting and creative medium.




About the Author
Colin Maddocks is a web-based travel agent and marketeer running several, successful web businesses, including www.ipod-accessories-4u.com and www.instantholidays.com. He is particularly excited by new web developments in RSS Feeds and Podcasting. Colin has written many articles on web selling and technology.



Media Player Shootout by James Kendall


Whether you call them media players, jukeboxes, mp3 apps, music managers, or whatever - we all need a proggy to listen to our digital music with sowe decided that it was time to publish the Online Music Blog Media Player Shootout. For the sake of this article I am only going to discuss players you can get for free and I am not going to go into p2p apps.



So with that, lets dive right in. For my money there are are only 3 choices - Winamp, iTunes, or Windows Media Players - but I'll talk a little about RealPlayer 10 as well. All of these applications share baseline features - playing various media files, cataloging digital media, etc. We'll focus on things about them that are different.




Back in the day, we had Winamp, and it was good. Unfortunately the original Nullsoft team has all moved on and instead of the hacker cred that Winamp used to have back when Justin Frankel et all were on the job it is now just another corporate media player with a hazy future.



Winamp lost a lot of momentum that it had when it released a ( very ) bad Winamp3 - but with the release of Winamp5 they seem to be back on track - it is useable, responsive, and has a lot of plugins and skins created for it.



The major problem is that for all of it's features it is not much, if any, better then the two dominant media players that are tied to successful music stores iTunes and WMP. Additionally you have to pay $14.95 to get the pro version that add features that iTunes and WMP include for free. One of the bonuses of using Winamp is the ability to tune into all of the cool shoutcast radio stations.




iTunes is, of course, is the digital jukebox front end for the iPod and the iTunes music store from apple computer. The iTunes music store was the first to get pay for digital music downloads right and it still has the largest legal downloadable catalog on the net giving the iTunes jukebox a hefty advantage.



If you are using a Mac then it is a no brainer - you should be using iTunes as you media player, but even if you are using Windows iTunes provides an attractive alternative. The iTunes store is superior ( imho ) to the Windows Media based stores such as Napster and with the legendary Apple ease of use in full effect iTunes makes a great Windows based Jukebox. Noteworthy is the Apple Lossless codec that allows one to rip CD's to the ACC format that sound as good as the CD itself to our ears. On the negative side, the iTunes jukebox feels heavy on moderately powered PC's compared to Winamp or WMP. It runs a little slower, seems to use more resources, etc.




Last (of yea, except for RealPlayer... ) Windows Media Player 10 is one of Microsoft's best pieces of software and is some much better then the last generation of MS media players. The jukebox itself is stuffed with features such as its ability to monitor changes to your digital media files and update itself, simple sync and burn, ratings, and the auto tag features are all very nice.




One of the changes in V.10 is the ability to rip files if the format and with ( or without ) the DRM of your choice. You also get the ability to listen to Internet radio streams with WMP, and although they tend to be more corporate then the hip shoutcast radio you can still find some good music. WMP also features a lossless ripping of CD's but I was less impressed with the results then I was with Apples Lossless.



And finally there is RealPlayer. The free RealPlayer 10 is better then previous version although that is not saying much imho. It still takes over your file formats by default, tries to force you register, runs in the background (phoning home ?) unless you can find the settings to tell it not to - all of the problems that it has always have. I say stay as far away from Real as possible even if you can use "Harmony" to use your iPod with the Real store. While I may be being over critical of Real's jukebox - I do think that there are other alternatives that are less intrusive and have better feature sets.



All in all I think that either iTunes or WMP is a solid choice and far and away the best media players available. Winamp is a okay too as long as you don't need to rip music or burn it back to a CD - but it is worth the download and install just to listen to Shoutcast stations from time to time. Personally I use WMP at work and iTunes are home, so take that for what it's worth. I think that I like WMP a little better, but not so much that I would take the time to switch my iTunes set up at home.



About the Author
This article was originally posted on Online Music Blog and was written by James Kendall of Copacetix Digital Creation.


Podcasting 101 by D. L. Randolph


The World Wide Web is chock full of interesting and unique technological advancements that make life a bit easier. Podcasting is a new technical advancement that has recently become all the rage with computer users. Mixing the words "iPod" and "broadcast" to give this new method of sound file publication a name, podcasting has become exceedingly popular since Apple's iPod and other mp3 players have come onto the scene and worked their way into the pockets of tech savvy individuals. The idea of a podcast may be difficult to grasp, but think of it in terms of a radio program or a magazine subscription for audio purposes. Instead of reading your subscription, you listen to it using specific software.

The technology behinds podcasting is phenomenal and complicated, but can be broken into easy to understand bits so even the most non technical minds can marvel at the process. Audio files must be published to a website in order for individuals to access the files in order to download them on a computer or mp3 player. These devices have a program that can read these files and allow the individual to listen to the files. The same way digital video recorders (such as the ultra popular Tivo) records, transmits, and plays video images, podcasts players record and play audio transmissions. Podcasts are not just songs, they can be any type of audio recordings an individual wishes to hear. There are a great deal of podcasts available for interested individuals to subscribe just as there are a multitude radio stations that broadcast over the airwaves. Countries all over the world actively have podcasts started and are expanding their content. Popular Canadian broadcast show, "Quirks and Quarks" is currently podcast in addition to traditional radio broadcast. Similarly, programs in the United States and the United Kingdom are podcast to a number of happy subscribers.

One of the drawbacks of podcasts is the element of time. Whereas traditional broadcasts take place real time, thus allowing them listener interaction, podcasts are time shifted. Again, like Tivo, individuals can stop, pause, rewind, and fast forward through podcasts; whereas listeners to traditional broadcasts do not have this luxury. Podcasts in general should not be used as a method to contact or provide warning to listeners, as the receiving individual may fast forward over the message or pause the podcast before ever hearing the warning. Additionally, podcasts do not have the luxury of listener interaction since the concept of time does not apply. Even with these downfalls, podcasting is an excellent choice for individuals who wish to use their iPod, computer, or mp3 player to listen to an audio program. Podcasts will become more widespread as the technology and audience advances, so listeners will have greater opportunity to hear whatever it is they desire!

Copyright 2005 by D. L. Randolph. All rights reserved.


About the Author
Looking for information about podcasting? Go to http://www.apodcasting.com . About Podcasting is a Podcast Information Directory and Resource Site which provides a consolidated listing of the best Podcasting sites in one easy to navigate location.


Podcasting: Internet Radio On Demand... and MORE! by Jim Edwards


© Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved http://www.thenetreporter.com

If you haven't heard the term "podcast" yet, you will.

It's about to blow the world of online audio through the roof as every Tom, Dick and Shirley can now operate a high powered Internet Radio station providing on-demand audio (and shortly, video) with nothing more than a microphone, simple software, and a little imagination.

Just like cable TV in the 1980's gave smaller networks and individuals a voice on television, podcasting gives individuals a voice (literally) through online audio.

Podcasting is actually the audio form of "blogging," where individuals share their thoughts in writing over time on a dynamic webpage known as a "blog."

With blogging, subscribers and other blog publishers subscribe to and cross promote each other's content by linking to and writing about each other.

With podcasting, the author shares his or her thoughts in audio form (MP3) and subscribers download and listen to the audio either on their computers, burn the files to CD, or transfer the files to one of the increasingly popular portable MP3 players.

In fact, the term "podcasting" draws its name from the iPod, created by Apple Computers.

Initially you might think the only people podcasting are geeks and computer nerds, but that's not the case.

If you imagine "talk radio" meets "free cable access" then you have and idea of what pocasting is now and how it could evolve in the future.

Right now, any idiot (like me) with a microphone and something to say can create an online radio show.

This type of access to media that reaches a world-wide market enables smaller, niche publishers to develop a world-wide following that just isn't monetarily feasible in traditional mass-media.

That means talk shows like "Chihuahua Breeding" or "Motorcycle Fashion Weekly" that could never hope to afford air time in a local market, can now develop an audience on the Internet.

Log on to PodCastAlley.com to peruse a wide range of available shows on everything from dog training to wine selection and tasting tips (one of the most popular).

Despite all this potential power, podcasting remains in an infancy stage right now.

But, the Internet has always proven in the past that a powerful but simple technology will always find a way to make itself felt quickly.

All it needs to explode is a few people to lead the way and show exactly how to use the technology to entertain and educate subscribers.

I also think two worlds will evolve for podcasting program publishers, just like cable vs. network television.

Some content will remain free (network TV), while some subscribers will gladly pay for more specific "niche" or pay-per-view content (cable TV).

As the quality of the programming increases along with more widespread acceptance of the tools necessary to consume the content (MP3 players and portable video players), podcasting will grow to stand beside other mainstream media.

It won't happen overnight, and it won't penetrate every market, but as members of the "global village" seek to find and feel a connection with like-minded individuals, regardless of their physical location, podcasting provides a cheap, powerful, and innovative solution for that basic human need.



Simple "Traffic Machine" brings Thousands of NEW visitors to your website for weeks, even months... without spending a dime on advertising! ==> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com


About the Author
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or affiliate links...


Google Contest - Nigritude Ultramarine by S. Housley


Nigritude Ultramarine
Search engine optimization experts are having fun with Google. Experts, with DarkBlue.com at the helm, are holding a contest to determine how Google really works. Experts are competing, with the goal of optimizing a webpage for a non-sensical phrase: 'nigritude ultramarine'. On May 7th, the day the terms 'nigritude ultramarine' was announced, typing the phrase into Google generated no search listings. Search engine optimizers hoping to define themselves as industry leaders are all vying for the number one spot. Others see the contest as an opportunity to test theories and experiment without jeopardizing existing traffic. Some webmasters are leery at staking their professional reputation on a contest with an undefined number of participants.

As an added incentive for search engine experts and webmasters to participate and work their magic, DarkBlue.com is giving away an Apple Mini iPod™ and a Sony Flat Screen Monitor to anyone who can take their page to #1 for the phrase 'nigritude ultramarine'. The contest is scheduled to run for two months and will conclude on July 7th, 2004.

Magical Phrase
The phrase generating the frenzy, 'nigritude ultramarine', is likely to bring out the best and the worst in optimization tactics. The black magic optimization techniques that are suspected in having sites banned from Google are likely to be exercised, along with tried and true optimization practices. Immediately after the contest was announced experts snapped up hyphenated domain names and began tweaking their text. Many experts were surprised to see how quickly 'nigritude ultramarine' made its way into the Google's listings, with new listings appearing daily it is clear that the contest is well underway.

The experts will be at the mercy of Google and any new algorithms implemented over the course of the next two months. Experts will have to anticipate and update on a regular basis, to ensure that they are able to obtain and retain a strong listings.

Results
The results of the contest are unlikely to have any lasting effects, as Google will likely implement filters that will prevent search engine experts from reaping the rewards of any tactics that are found to be effective. Regardless the sense of adventure and a method of testing Google are intriguing.




About the Author
About the Author -
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com , and http://www.small-business-software.net


One of the best free music download program is the iTunes juke box.
by Syd Johnson


The iTunes free music download program is great because of the incredible amount of functions that you can perform with the music. Another important thing is that the iTunes jukebox works well on both PC and Mac computers. So here’s our quick guide to some thing that you can do with the iTunes jukebox.

1. Share your music – You can share your music with up to five different computers in your house. Just click on share music to setup your authorizations. The other computers need their own copies of the iTunes jukebox to see your preferences.

Once their copy of the music player is turned on, you can play music from your computer and have it piped through your entire house. Or, they can simply go through your collection and listen to some of the tunes in your collection.

2. Burn Music – You can burn as many CDs as you like from this free music download program. iTunes does not place any restrictions on the amount of music that can you can burn, and now they are offering the opportunity to print out a customer case for your CD.

You don’t have to rely on magic markers to label them and keep track of the songs on the playlist. Create your own customer mixes and more. It is very easy because the player uses your own computer as a guide. It burns CDs at the highest possible rate supported by your computer.

3. Discover Music – you can go through the billboard charts that track the top selling Rap, country, Hip Hop, Adult Contemporary and Alternative hits and more. Once you’ve browsed the selections, if you see an item, you buy the songs or the entire albums directly through iTunes and sync it up with your iPod player.

This is one of the best music deals that you will find online.



About the Author
This article may be freely distributed as long as there's an active link to http://www.rapidlingo.com
Syd Johnson
Editor


Ringtones Explained - Monophonic, Polyphonic or Whatever Phonic Rings Your Bell
by Lillian Fuller


Downloadable Ring tones - The Latest Trend

What can you say about ring tones? NOTHING…except that cell phones capable of downloading ringtones are the newest “must have” item today! One of the fastest growing features today is ringtones, especially downloadable ones! There are other downloadable items available on the Internet too like Java Games. Various wallpapers and screen savers are hot too but by far the most popular feature requested is downloadable ringtones.

The cell phone and their various ringtones have become status symbols. Ringtones show that you’re up to date and happening. You can even take a test that defines which ringtone best suits your personality. You can truly display your lifestyle and certainly your musical taste on your sleeve.

This article will describe briefly what ring tones are, what’s currently available and what the future holds. It will also suggest a caveat to consider prior to downloading the multitude of formats of available on the market. Prices are low and the sky’s the limit, so read on.


Just What Are Downloadable Ringtones?

A Caveat Before You Buy!

What’s Available?

A Brief Glimpse At Ancient History.

Ringtones – Where Do We Go From Here?

Other Products Available On Ringtone Websites

What Can You Say About Ringtones

Just What Are Downloadable Ringtones?

Ringtones are the sound that a regular or cell phone makes when it’s rings. Early ring tones were simple chimes and on later models, a combination of chimes. Limited numbers of ringtones were available and mostly consisted of different patterns of tones or chirps. An example of one of the most infamous ringtones was the ominous” ring ring…ring ring” that is reminiscent of Todd Beamer’s last telephone call on 9/11. You can hear that ringtone featured as an intro to Neil Young’s famous song “Let’s Roll.”

Ringtone technology developed quickly and has progressed a lot since that song was recorded. Originally, you purchased a cell phone and had a choice of monophonic ring tones that produced a one note song. The number of songs was extremely limited and downloadable ring tones were simply an Engineering student’s good idea.

Because of lightning speed technology and numerous service providers, one of the latest and greatest features available today is downloadable ringtones. When you’re surfing the ‘Net you’ll find plenty of sites offering tones by today’s hottest musicians; you can pick monophonic, polyphonic or true tone formats. More on that later.

A Caveat Before You Buy!

The first thing you need to know before you select, buy and download a suitable ring tone is if your cell phone is up to date enough to utilize this feature. Like everything else in technology, cell phones have evolved very quickly. As a result the cell phone that you purchased just a year ago may not have the ability to fully access the type of ring tone currently available. So make sure you check. Re-read your manual or call your service provider to find out. It’s possible that you can upgrade your phone for a reasonably low fee.

What’s Available?

Ringtones are divided into three formats.

Monophonic

Polyphonic

True Tone or Real Tone

To understand this type of technology, a person needs to have a physics/mathematics background and understand musical composition. Luckily, all that is needed to know is what types of ringtones are available and what they sound like. The following is a description of three types of ringtones, monophonic, polyphonic and true tone. Most websites offer samples of each and once you hear an example, you’ll know what type you’ll want to use on your cell phone.

A) Monophonic Ringtones
Some of the first cell phones came equipped with the capability of having a one tone ringer. “Monophonic” is the simplest of ring tone technology that uses a midi format. This “one note wonder” changed ringtones. Gone were the chirps and chimes; now you could play a song. A monophonic ringtone is single notes playing a song. You can recognize your favorite song but it sounds a little lame. Most monophonic tones are offered free of charge because of more full bodied tones now available, but if you’re trying to make a statement, however, read on.

B) Polyphonic Ringtones
Polyphonic ring tones also use midi technology but the tonal quality is richer and has more depth. This is because polyphonic ringtones can play up to 40 notes or more. A quick example is the sound produced when Windows XP® starts up. It reproduces the sound of an orchestra playing a note rather than one instrument playing the same note.

Polyphonic with its richer tonal quality sounds better than monophonic but when compared to MP3 quality it sounds pretty weak. Midi format may be adequate for basic ringers and great for greeting cards but if it’s real sound that you want for your cell phone, keep reading.

C) Truetone And Mp3’s
The future of sound for ringtones seems to be hifi quality. The real tone or true tone ringtones that can be downloaded onto your cell phone are equivalent to an MP3 player quality and sounds a little like an iPod.

True tone technology will allow the user to hear recorded voices such as Austin Powers announcing “You’re phone is ringing, baby, yeah”. This recording is so convincing that people will be looking for Mike Myers. Songs like Outkast’s “Hey Ya” and the Starsky and Hutch theme song are downloadable as well. With a built in microphone you can record your own or someone else’s voice. True tone ringtones will even mimic a real old fashioned telephone ring. How’s that for retro?

A Brief Glimpse At Ancient History

In the almost ancient past, cell phones came with one ringer and no features at all. Wall paper was something that decorated your home and SMS was unheard of. Cell phones were big and cumbersome and used only by the elite or as marketing gurus put it, “Early Adopters.” Very few people owned cell phones because of the size and expense.

Digital technology changed all. All of a sudden a lot of people were buying and using cell phones. This was confusing because every time a phone rang, everyone in the room started to rummage through their bags and pockets to answer it. A unique sound was the answer and that is how ring tones of every description came into being.

Ringtones – Where Do We Go From Here?

Some technical websites declare that the cell phone of tomorrow will replace the MP3 player of today. This will be possible once a dual use battery is invented that can hold a sufficiently long enough charge. The power would last more than a few hours and be easily recharged. The “techies” declare that memory capabilities must be enhanced so that the user can download and store hundreds of thousands of songs. This isn’t that far off, in fact an MP3 player being replaced by a cell phone is considered possible within 5 years according to most technical websites.

Other Products Available On Ringtone Websites

Sound mixers and Recordable Devices
A 2002 Motorola cell phone came with an audio mixer that could harness the hundreds of musical instruments in a midi format. This cell phone has greatly evolved and allows you to program special effects. Effects include echo and reverb to name just a couple. You can program your own ringtone, download it onto your phone and then enhance it with the above hifi effects.

Wall paper and Logos
Many cell phones are used to connect to the Internet and also do double duty as palm pilots. This has necessitated a larger screen and with that you need special wall paper. You can choose from a multitude of assortments. Your favorite logos are also downloadable. Logos of every sports team are available.

Java Games
Whether you’re waiting for the dentist or the bus, passing the time is far quicker by playing a computer game. Java games are available from the same websites that offer huge assortments of wallpaper and ringtones. Google the word Java Game or Gamer and there’s lots of websites sites to choose.

SMS (Short Message Service)
ICQ (I Seek You) was the pioneer of the SMS technology and still remains on the cutting edge of SMS technology. ICQ is pretty advanced and still progressing. It offers the availability of staying in real time communication and allows a large address book. As part of the ICQ community, there are message boards, chat rooms and user lists available. ICQ also offer unique ringtones as well. SMS Google is catching up quickly and now provides the user with the option of text messaging a query directly to its web site using a cell phone.

What Can You Say About Ringtones

So there you have it, what can you say about ringtones? It seems in today’s wireless world and with cutting edge technology, quite a.bit. Gone are the days where a single bell chime or as Lily Tomlin put it so well: “one ringy dingy, two ringy dingy” had to sound to get your attention. Today the choices are endless so shop around for what suits you best in your own unique ringtone. Stay in touch!


About the Author
Lillian Fuller is a talented and successful freelance writer providing tips and advice for consumers about free cell phones, cell phone plans and cell phone ringtones.


Say bye-bye to Illegal music downloads? by Syd Johnson


Both Napster and Microsoft Music Service are working on new way to get customers to download music file to their iPod and otherportable mp3 players for less than $1 per song. Actually, significantly less. Both of these music service are working on a way allow customers to downloads as much music as they want as long as it goes directly to an iPod or similar portable music player.

This is great news for customers who still think $1 per song is too steep. Although the price model words for one song, 10 songs or even 100 songs, it starts getting outrageous when you go by factors of ten. If an iPod holds 10,000 songs and you want to fill it up, you would have to spend $10,000. Most people can fill up the iPod in less than a year.

Unfortunately, they probably won’t spend $10,000 on music, in any single year. So, what you could have is a legal product, the iPod, being used to hold thousands of illegal songs because the space is there. (assuming the iPod would be open later on to all mp3 formats.)

Napster has a workaround

Napster is the first to announce that it is working on a subscription model that would allow it’s user to pay a cheap subscription fee with no restrictions on how many songs they can download. By their estimates, a user can probably download 10,000 songs for about $180. Unfortunately, the Napster system does not work with the iPod so customers can only take advantage of this offer if they purchase either of two Napster approved portable mp3 players.

The Microsoft model would also allow customers to download a significant number of files for less than the average cost of $1 per song. Microsoft is another company that is also locked out of the iPod. They will distribute the songs via Microsoft approved portable mp3 players.

This new pricing model is radical change for the digital music industry. This came about because the success of iTunes has highlighted all that is good and bad about the ways music is sold online.

It shows that customers will buy online and they will browse through digital catalogs for individual songs rather than entire albums. But, it also shows that a lot of work needs to be done to make the mp3 security codes and portable players more compatible. If Apple continues to dominate the portable mp3 player market with the iPod, then customers will only have three choices:

1. Subscribe through iTunes because they want the iPod

2. Hack the iPod which Real Network is doing already

3. Or, ignore the most reliable portable mp3 player out there and deal with having a few files on their computers or on another less prominent player.

This is all great news for digital music fans, but we’ll have to wait and see how the recording industry responds to this cheap-for-all music model.

Is it sufficient to bring back the revenue streams that songwriters and singers have been losing to totally free services such as Kazaa and Grokster? No one knows.



About the Author
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Syd Johnson
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Media Player Shootout by James Kendall


Whether you call them media players, jukeboxes, mp3 apps, music managers, or whatever - we all need a proggy to listen to our digital music with sowe decided that it was time to publish the Online Music Blog Media Player Shootout. For the sake of this article I am only going to discuss players you can get for free and I am not going to go into p2p apps.



So with that, lets dive right in. For my money there are are only 3 choices - Winamp, iTunes, or Windows Media Players - but I'll talk a little about RealPlayer 10 as well. All of these applications share baseline features - playing various media files, cataloging digital media, etc. We'll focus on things about them that are different.




Back in the day, we had Winamp, and it was good. Unfortunately the original Nullsoft team has all moved on and instead of the hacker cred that Winamp used to have back when Justin Frankel et all were on the job it is now just another corporate media player with a hazy future.



Winamp lost a lot of momentum that it had when it released a ( very ) bad Winamp3 - but with the release of Winamp5 they seem to be back on track - it is useable, responsive, and has a lot of plugins and skins created for it.



The major problem is that for all of it's features it is not much, if any, better then the two dominant media players that are tied to successful music stores iTunes and WMP. Additionally you have to pay $14.95 to get the pro version that add features that iTunes and WMP include for free. One of the bonuses of using Winamp is the ability to tune into all of the cool shoutcast radio stations.




iTunes is, of course, is the digital jukebox front end for the iPod and the iTunes music store from apple computer. The iTunes music store was the first to get pay for digital music downloads right and it still has the largest legal downloadable catalog on the net giving the iTunes jukebox a hefty advantage.



If you are using a Mac then it is a no brainer - you should be using iTunes as you media player, but even if you are using Windows iTunes provides an attractive alternative. The iTunes store is superior ( imho ) to the Windows Media based stores such as Napster and with the legendary Apple ease of use in full effect iTunes makes a great Windows based Jukebox. Noteworthy is the Apple Lossless codec that allows one to rip CD's to the ACC format that sound as good as the CD itself to our ears. On the negative side, the iTunes jukebox feels heavy on moderately powered PC's compared to Winamp or WMP. It runs a little slower, seems to use more resources, etc.




Last (of yea, except for RealPlayer... ) Windows Media Player 10 is one of Microsoft's best pieces of software and is some much better then the last generation of MS media players. The jukebox itself is stuffed with features such as its ability to monitor changes to your digital media files and update itself, simple sync and burn, ratings, and the auto tag features are all very nice.




One of the changes in V.10 is the ability to rip files if the format and with ( or without ) the DRM of your choice. You also get the ability to listen to Internet radio streams with WMP, and although they tend to be more corporate then the hip shoutcast radio you can still find some good music. WMP also features a lossless ripping of CD's but I was less impressed with the results then I was with Apples Lossless.



And finally there is RealPlayer. The free RealPlayer 10 is better then previous version although that is not saying much imho. It still takes over your file formats by default, tries to force you register, runs in the background (phoning home ?) unless you can find the settings to tell it not to - all of the problems that it has always have. I say stay as far away from Real as possible even if you can use "Harmony" to use your iPod with the Real store. While I may be being over critical of Real's jukebox - I do think that there are other alternatives that are less intrusive and have better feature sets.



All in all I think that either iTunes or WMP is a solid choice and far and away the best media players available. Winamp is a okay too as long as you don't need to rip music or burn it back to a CD - but it is worth the download and install just to listen to Shoutcast stations from time to time. Personally I use WMP at work and iTunes are home, so take that for what it's worth. I think that I like WMP a little better, but not so much that I would take the time to switch my iTunes set up at home.




About the Author
This article was originally posted on Online Music Blog and was written by James Kendall of Copacetix Digital Creation.