Posts tagged music
Singing About Songbird
Mar 31st
Note: This article is syndicated at made this for you.
When it comes to media management, iTunes is a staple for handling my music library. A self-professed music junkie, I need a library that’s seamless to navigate, highly organizable, and can accommodate a limitless amount of files in a variety of formats.
I don’t infrequently tie my needs to any particular brand or product line. Although I love Apple products and require them to function on a daily basis, I try to switch it up whenever possible by incorporating tools and technologies from a variety of sources.
And I thought nothing could top iTunes until I discovered what Songbird can do.
Songbird offers the basic functionality of iTunes – unrestricted file capacity and unlimited playlists, navigational ease, import/export options; but tricks it out on many levels.
The open-source software offers total customization of your audio player. It offers plug-ins called “add-ons” that pull in bonuses while your music plays like concert info, data from last.fm, Shoutcast radio, and more. The MashTape add-on looks for related content like photos, video, and reviews from your bands by pulling in data from Flickr, YouTube, and Amazon. Online digital music store 7Digital recently partnered with Songbird to offer full integration. The store, currently in beta, will offer 320 kbps DRM-free MP3 downloads. They also promise to offer custom recommendations in the future based around what you’re playing from your library.
With all of these features, Songbird is a serious contender in becoming a viable alternative to iTunes. The only major downside is that Songbird doesn’t seamlessly connect to AirTunes allowing wireless playback from Songbird to a home stereo. A quick fix is a tool called Airfoil from Rogue Amoeba (the same company that created Audio Hijack). Although it will set you back $25 it seems to do the trick.
Songbird is an open-source, fully customizable music player built on the open-source media framework Gstreamer. You can participate by hacking on the software and trying out new builds before they’re released. A developer Recipe Book offers code snippets for “Featherers” to tinker with.They sell some pretty kick-ass t-shirts too!
Contribute: http://getsongbird.com/contribute/
Get Songbird v 1.1.1 now: http://getsongbird.com/
New Music: Hearts of Palm UK
Feb 23rd

I first heard these gals a few years ago and automatically assumed from the name that they’re from the UK. Alas, they’re local – to me at least – the band is from the Los Angeles neighborhood Echo Park. Which is fabulous because it means I can hopefully catch them live at some point in the near future.
Get the I Flow EP free at RCRD LBL
Hearts of Palm UK on MySpace
new music: Hajen
Dec 10th
Hajen is a brilliant young singer-songwriter from Sweden. Her impassioned singing style is timelessly earthy and warm and I can’t stop listening to her on my way in to work this week.
A bunch of great artists have been emerging from the region as of late (Little Dragon is one of my faves). I also recently covered Fredrik who happens to be Swedish too. There’s a music blog devoted to Swedish music named Swedesplease that’s really great if you’re into learning more about the scene. Check out a cover of Hajen covering Dylan’s Moonshiner below (you can also watch on her Myspace page).
Hajen – Moonshiner from KNOPPAR Sweden on Vimeo.
Hajen on MySpace
Vote for my photos at Wired.com
Nov 7th
Wired Magazine is having another photo contest - and this time the subject is music. Submit your photos here or check them out and submit your vote. Note: my pictures are towards the end!







