Downloading, streaming, or encoding music and movies.
Media
Can I still buy an MP3 player?
Episode 1443
Martin fromMartin wants to know if he can still buy MP3 players. He wants to bring his music with him and doesn't want to stream it. He also doesn't have a lot of storage on his phone. Leo says that there are still some available, though the category is shrinking. SanDisk has the Clip, which has 16GB of space. It's around $30 and is very simple. Search Amazon and he'll find a lot of them, mostly Chinese made.
What's the future of DVD and USB drives?
Episode 1439
Carey fromCarey wants to know what the future holds for DVDs and thumb drives. Leo says that DVDs are going away as people are preferring to stream more than playing them on optical drives. But Leo says that USB is going to be around for quite awhile.
How can I create a subscription audio service?
Episode 1436
Daniel fromDaniel wants to make an audio only subscription feed for his subscribers. Leo says that Spreaker is one option. They have a subscription plan that will lock out people if they don't pay. He can also roll in ads.
How can I control my mp3s in the car?
Episode 1432
John fromJohn has a new car and it doesn't have a CD player. It has a USB plug instead, but the music just jumps all around. Leo says that most car makers expect you to keep your music organized and play it from the phone. John's Corvette uses Apple CarPlay so his iPhone will interface with it really easily and he can play all his music via the iOS Music app. He can just tell it to play an album and it will play it. Or he can even tell it to play with no pauses between tracks, shuffle, create playlists, genre, and more. It's wide open in terms of options.
How can I use my tablet as a switcher for live streaming?
Episode 1431
Chris fromChris needs an app to create a live stream on a budget. Leo just saw a great tool on both Android and iOS that uses camera phones and Wi-Fi to connect and then uses one device to act as a switcher. He should check out Switcher Studio. It does just that, but it's currently iOS only. Cinemaker is another one. It also is just for iOS, but the Android version is coming soon. Chris could also look into Manycam.
Why are commercials so loud?
Episode 1425
Dave fromDave wants to listen to podcasts but he gets frustrated by how different the volume is from show to commercial and back. Rich says that's a common problem and he can get an app that equalizes the podcasts he listens to.
How can I rip a vinyl LP?
Episode 1424
Angelo fromAngelo wants to be able to rip old LPs and save them as MP3s. What is a good turntable out there that can handle that? He's getting overwhelmed with the choices. Rich says that ION Audio is the king of these, with the ability to rip to a computer or straight to a flash drive. That's where he'll want to go, and they're not that expensive.
Can I listen to an iBook audio book on another platform?
Episode 1423
David fromDavid wants to know if he can listen to an audio book with his iPhone as well as his Android phone. Leo says he should, unless Apple does something different to them when buying them off iTunes. But if the audio book is from Apple's iBook Store, it's copy protected with the ePub format. He would need to strip it in order to play it on another platform. There are programs and plugins that do that, but they tend to be fly by night. TunesKit has one called iBook Copy for Mac. It has a free trial.
How can I get ripped music onto my iPhone?
Episode 1418
Mike fromMike has ripped a bunch of CDs to a USB stick for his car, but how does he install them onto his iPhone? Leo says there is an import command in iTunes under the File menu. Then he just needs to point it to his USB stick. iTunes will then import them. Under preferences, he can also choose options that will enable iTunes to manage the library.
Total Solar Eclipse Will Occur on August 21, 2017
Episode 1412
The total eclipse is coming in about a week and Leo says nobody should ever, ever look at it directly with the naked eye. For tips, check out eclipse2017.nasa.gov.
