iTunes 11 has been completely redesigned from the ground up. Development of iTunes has been stagnant the last few years so Apple needs to get this one right. Has Apple nailed it or is the new iTunes a mess? Read on to find out.
The interface of iTunes has been completely re-imagined. Everything is simpler and space is better utilized. In the previous version of iTunes, there was a persistent bar on the left where you can access playlists, albums, devices, and more. While it provided quick access to those features, most users didn't use them most of the time. Apple has scrapped this and has made the default album view take up the entire window.

Browsing by album is a pleasure. Click on an album and the tracks will show up below. iTunes also analyzes the color of album artwork to create a colored background for each individual album. It works well for the most part but the effect blurs the album art around the edges.

New in iTunes 11 is the "Up Next" feature, which is basically a fancy name for your queue. Add songs to your queue from wherever you are in the interface. You don't need to manage a playlist to arrange and rearrange the tracks to your liking.

Creating playlists is much improved. Instead of having to jump in and out a playlist to add and arrange tracks, playlists now have a dedicated pane on the right where you can manipulate tracks without having to jump around the program.

iCloud integration has also been tightened. Every track you've bought in iTunes will now show up in your music library, whether or not it has been downloaded. Click on it to download the album. User can now also stream directly from the cloud instead of having to download the track first. This also applies to all your TV and movies that were purchased in iTunes. There's also a dedicated tab for iTunes Match, Apple's music matching service to make all of your tracks available across devices, if they're available in the iTunes store.

The iTunes store has also gone through a redesign with featured content up top. Top lists are still there and are easier to browse. iTunes 11 will also allow you to access the iTunes store content from your music library, suggesting similar artists and tracks, without having to take you to the iTunes store.

The mini player has also been completely redesigned and is actually useful now. The mini player has gotten smaller but utilizes that small space much better than previous versions. Player controls will show up with you hover your mouse over the mini player. There's access to search and your Up Next queue can be manipulated from the mini player.

Devices now show up as a button at the top right. Clicking on it will take you to a detailed page where you can manage everything. Choose what you want synced, manage your apps, and even play music directly from your iOS device. Everything is easier to read and comprehend in the device tab.

The only thing missing from iTunes 11 is a music streaming service. iCloud gives users the ability to download tracks locally but not stream them. There is no subscription service in iTunes to compete with the likes of Spotify, Rdio, and Xbox Music. It's only matter of time before Apple releases its own music subscription service but it's disappointing that Apple didn't release it with iTunes 11.

iTunes is still one of the best media players around. It has gotten easier to use, feels less bloated, but is still missing a music subscription service.

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iTunes 11 has been completely redesigned from the ground up. Development of iTunes has been stagnant the last few years so Apple needs to get this one right. Has Apple nailed it or is the new iTunes a mess? Read on to find out.

Features

iCloud integration has also been tightened. Every track you've bought in iTunes will now show up in your music library, whether or not it has been downloaded. Click on it to download the album. User can now also stream directly from the cloud instead of having to download the track first. This also applies to all your TV and movies that were purchased in iTunes. There's also a dedicated tab for iTunes Match, Apple's music matching service to make all of your tracks available across devices, if they're available in the iTunes store.

The iTunes store has also gone through a redesign with featured content up top. Top lists are still there and are easier to browse. iTunes 11 will also allow you to access the iTunes store content from your music library, suggesting similar artists and tracks, without having to take you to the iTunes store.

Usability

New in iTunes 11 is the "Up Next" feature, which is basically a fancy name for your queue. Add songs to your queue from wherever you are in the interface. You don't need to manage a playlist to arrange and rearrange the tracks to your liking.

Creating playlists is much improved. Instead of having to jump in and out a playlist to add and arrange tracks, playlists now have a dedicated pane on the right where you can manipulate tracks without having to jump around the program.

The mini player has also been completely redesigned and is actually useful now. The mini player has gotten smaller but utilizes that small space much better than previous versions. Player controls will show up with you hover your mouse over the mini player. There's access to search and your Up Next queue can be manipulated from the mini player.

Devices now show up as a button at the top right. Clicking on it will take you to a detailed page where you can manage everything. Choose what you want synced, manage your apps, and even play music directly from your iOS device. Everything is easier to read and comprehend in the device tab.

Quality

Conclusion

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While comparisons with other similar services – such as Last.fm – are inevitable, Spotify has certain characteristics that make it stand out from the rest. You can search the entire Spotify music database in several ways (by artist, album, genre, decade, label brand…), create as many playlists as you want and share them with other users, and learn more about your favorite bands thanks to extensive, highly detailed biographies. Spotify also helps you discover new music through the “Related artists” and Radio service.

There are three types of Spotify accounts: Open, Unlimited and Premium. Free is limited to 10 hours of free ad-supported a month (approximately 200 songs) and lets you play each song up to five times. Unlimited has no ads and no playback restrictions. Finally, Premium includes high-quality MP3 (also with no ads or restrictions) and also includes an offline mode for playlists.

The one big criticism of Spotify was the lack of social features. Luckily the developers took note of this complaint and include a bunch of new social elements in Spotify’s next version – together with the Library, a centralized area from which you can manage your music collection – including Spotify’s lists and your own MP3 files, which you can now import into Spotify from your hard drive, your Windows Media Player Library or your iTunes library.

The brand new features included in the latest version of Spotify now let you manage and sync the music in your iPod, iPhone or Android. Also, the Spotify mobile app has been made available for anyone, and not just Premium users. Last, but not least, Spotify has launched its MP3 download service, thanks to which you can buy and download individual songs and also your custom playlists. The price depends on the number of songs you want to download – the longer the playlist, the less you pay for each track. You can pay with credit card or Paypal, though the latter is not accepted if you only purchase one song.

Just like a good wine, Spotify gets better with age. If you don’t mind the limitations in the Free version (or you’re willing to pay for the Unlimited/Premium one) it’s probably time to ditch your old desktop music player.

Spotify lets you browse, play, share and buy music, including not only your lifelong favorite bands, but also brand new styles and artists.

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Max Recorder is unique from the competition because of its integration with iTunes, ability to automatically segment recordings into individual tracks, ability to normalize the volume of recordings, and its ease of use.

An average Windows user that listens to music and watches music videos online.

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Nokia Music for Windows 8 is a desktop version of Nokia’s streaming radio service available on Windows Phone 7.5. Similar to Pandora and Spotify, Nokia Music allows unlimited audio streaming of “Mixes” categorized by artist or genres. You can also download Mixes for offline use or use Nokia Music for local music on your computer. While Nokia Music for Windows 8 has a $3.99 monthly subscription, there is a seven day free trial that includes all features.

How it Works

Nokia Music uses streaming Mixes which are similar to Pandora. You cannot select specific tracks for on demand listening. Instead, each Mix is a radio station that focuses on an artist or genre and provides similar sounding tracks. You can browse through Nokia’s premade Mixes or create your own. The default Mixes include various genres, top charting music, recommendations from popular musicians, sponsored music, and more. Nokia’s library is large and includes various genres of music, standup comedy acts, and songs from TV ads. If you are not a subscriber you will be limited to only 30 second previews per track, which is far too short. Subscribers will be able to listen full length tracks.

Creating your own mix is much more limited as you can only search by artists and not other categories such as genre or time period. You can also only add in three artists at most, resulting in a limited selection of music. On the plus side any Mix, premade or your own, can be downloaded for offline listening. Offline tracks are unfortunately disabled for non-subscribers. If you’re not satisfied with Nokia’s selection of music you can also use the app to listen to your own local files.

How it feels

The layout is comprised on large and medium sized tiles grouped into sections. The sections of Nokia Music include the track you are currently listening to, previously Mixes, default Nokia Mixes, your own creations, downloaded music, and local music. On the main track page there are buttons to display a song’s lyrics or open a menu with the band’s information. Depending on the artist, this can include a bio, image gallery, their Twitter feed, upcoming shows, similar artists, and Mixes they appear in. This is a wealth of information that will help you learn more about bands and discover new music.

Right clicking on Mix will provide buttons to download the track, buy it from Nokia’s store, or remove it from the front sections. The options menu includes changing accounts, updating subscriptions, providing feedback to Nokia, troubleshooting, and permissions. Settings allow you to adjust audio quality based on your connection type (Wifi or mobile), permission to send personal data back to Nokia, display wallpapers, and if the app runs is allowed on the Lock screen. Nokia Music subscriptions are relatively new, yet the amount of options is surprisingly plentiful.

Quality

Nokia Music’s wide selection of music and comedy is very impressive. The quality of streaming audio is decent at 192kbps for all tracks. Downloading music is generally fast, although you can suffer delays and pauses in streaming if you download several Mixes at the same time. Music with offensive lyrics are either listed with a clear “Explicit” icon or are completely censored with more broadcast friendly versions. The latter is very surprising for an online streaming service. In most cases all of Nokia’s library is clean and there is no setting to listen to adult versions.

Accessing Nokia’s library requires either a Nokia account or Facebook along with a monthly subscription fee; this is also on top of the normal Microsoft account to run the app. Surprisingly, if you sign up with Facebook Nokia Music will not update your activity or provide any form of social linking. Without a subscription you will be limited to short 30 second clips and cannot download music.

Final word

Even though you need a subscription and cannot access on demand music, the app still provides an amazing selection of music and comedy as well as the ability to download Mixes. The amount of additional data about artists and lyrics helps to connect you to the music. Try out Nokia Music’s free trial to listen to a diverse assortment of music.

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Toastify is a little application that adds some tiny features to Spotify.

After installation, it runs alongside Spotify to do two things. Firstly, it makes a slick pop-up message appear over the System Tray with the artist and track title.

Aside from this visual addition, Toastify adds universal keyboard controls, so using the play buttons on your keyboard work regardless of whether Spotify is in the foreground or not.

There are no configuration options, unless you want to get involved with editing the XML file in the program folder. While the two features are neat, the addition of a blue Toastify icon in the System Tray is unnecessary, because it doesn't do anything. It's a beta product, so should be used with a little caution, although in our tests it was perfectly stable.

Until a future version of Spotify offers these features, Toastify will please hardcore users, and its pop-ups are certainly attractive.

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In this early beta version of Hypegram, you are given a very simple, well designed yet slightly spartan interface. You have the option to browse music by "Popular," "Latest," "Loved," "Subscribed," and "Twitter". You can also search for an artist or track name.

While the Hype Machine has limited streaming from their website, there is no limit using this application (at least for now). This is a great music streaming service and app for discovering new artists and remixes by artists. There are plenty of remixes and mash ups available.

Hypegram is still in very early beta so there are plenty of issues and missing features. While Hype Machine's site supports Twitter and Last.fm integration, Hypegram doesn't have either feature baked in yet. There's a Twitter tab in Hypegram but it's not clear who Twittered the songs. No Last.fm integration means no scrobbling to the popular song tracking service.

Hypegram also doesn't feature any type of normalization of songs so some songs play much louder than others. This wouldn't be as much of a problem if there were a volume slider in the app but there isn't. You'll have to adjust volume using the system's volume slider.

There are other little quirks with Hypegram like the fact that the "album art" is pulled from the specific blog post so some art is not relevant to the song at all.

Overall, Hypegram is a great, stable beta for music discovery. If you want to stream songs you know you want to listen to, there are services like Spotify, Grooveshark, Pandora, and Last.fm. Hypegram has a long way to go but they're off to an excellent start.

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The Windows 8 Music app has seen quite a few revisions since the first beta release of Windows 8. Now it has matured and morphed into a strong Spotify, Pandora, and Rdio competitor.

Microsoft's attention to interface translates here with a beautiful, full screen photos when browsing the Microsoft music store. Artist bios and discographies are presented with large album art covers. The entire interface is built for touch with big buttons everywhere.

When you go play a track, Windows Music greets you with a full screen of media controls and a wall of randomly generated album art in the background. You can bring up media controls from anywhere by swiping down from the top bezel or right clicking with a mouse.

While the inclusion of Xbox Music is welcomed, Microsoft really needs to create a cross platform solution in order to woo non-Windows users with its excellent music subscription service. Windows 8 users will get 6 months of free music streaming and an ad-supported service after that.

Music for Windows 8 is a solid music player that's friendly to the touch and offers a great music subscription service with Xbox Music.

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If you've ever hooked up your laptop or desktop to your television, it can be a pain to try and control it from all the way on the couch. You could use a mouse and a keyboard but that isn't ideal. Flutter aims to help users control their computers from across the room.

Flutter requires your computer to have a webcam attached so that it can read and recognize gestures. At the time of this review, Flutter only has the ability to play/pause music by holding up your hand in a "stop" motion. Flutter supports popular video and music players like VLC, iTunes, Windows Media Player, Spotify, and many more.

In use, Flutter is disappointing. Many of our gestures didn't work and controlling music was sporadic. It's a shame that this alpha version doesn't even support skipping or going to previous tracks. While the concept of Flutter is great, its execution leaves much to be desired. There are simpler solutions to play and pause music, including many apps for smartphones that act as a remote for your computer.

This early alpha is too limited to recommend for daily use but Flutter's development will be something to watch if they can nail down accurate human gesture controls.

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There are plenty of options for streaming internet radio but iHeartRADIO brings something different to the table: local radio stations. There are a ton of major cities listed in iHeartRADIO with most major radio stations available for streaming.

If you don't want to listen to local radio stations, you can also queue up your favorite artists and have a personalized radio station of similar artists. When a track plays, you can like/dislike, which helps iHeartRADIO's music engine to learn more about your musical tastes. It will take while before iHeartRADIO starts generating playlists that appeal to you.

There is also a setting for music discovery that is user adjustable. Users can choose between 'Familiar,' 'Mixed,' and 'Less Familiar' to aid or lessen music discovery. This is handy if you're in the mood for similar artists or if you're feeling adventurous.

The streaming quality of iHeartRADIO isn't bad but it's also not impressive. Competitors like Spotify and even Pandora sound a bit better and less compressed. Still, iHeartRADIO's excellent features and service are more than enough to make up for it.

Overall, iHeartRADIO is one of the best internet radio streaming apps available.

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If you're unfamiliar with it, Pandora is a music streaming service where you tell the program what songs, artists, or genres of music you like and it'll create a custom radio station for you based on your preferences.

Using the Music Genome Project, Pandora will analyze the musical content of the song or artist you vote that you like, and it will play other music that shares some of the defining qualities.

Unlike the web-based version, the Pandora Pokki app doesn't require you to create an account to enjoy music from your desktop. You must also be located in the United States to use the service however. If you do want to register and have Pandora remember your music preferences, the process is free and simple.

You can create stations based on a song, music genre, or specific artist. If you don't like the music comes up on your station, just click the thumbs down button and the app will take that into consideration for future suggestions.

The advertising on the side of the Pandora app can be annoying. You also won't be able to avoid radio ads in between certain songs. Also, if you're interested in listening to specific songs, you're probably better off opting to giving the Spotify desktop app a try.

Pandora is a great music streaming and discovery service, made even better by its integration into the Pokki platform.

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Spotify Chrome Extension makes it quick and easy to listen to a quick sample or track from any artist you choose. You can sort search results including by name, artist, album and popularity. Once you have chosen a song, Chrome asks for permission to open Spotify the first time you use but after that, it's very quick. It isn't much quicker than copying and pasting an artist name into the Spotify search box but it does make things a bit easier.

Spotify Chrome Extension is a useful add-on for Spotify and music fans.

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Capturing sounds from your computer isn't as straightforward as it should be. Maybe there's an audio clip from a video you'd like to use or if you'd like to record part of a song to turn into a ringtone. Streaming Audio Recorder makes it easy and allows you to record any sound your computer produces.

The first thing most people will do with Streaming Audio Recorder is try to record streaming music from programs like Spotify and Pandora. While recording these songs "over the air" is illegal, Streaming Audio Recorder will work and captured streaming audio just fine. Streaming Audio Recorder limits users to 128 kbps recordings, which is on the low end of acceptable audio quality. Streaming Audio Recorder can also pick up sounds from your mic, if you have one connected.

There is a built in music search feature, which pulls up tracks and artists. This feature didn't work for us as we were repeatedly given "403 Forbidden" errors. While this feature is nice, it seems like an afterthought and it seems to pull tracks from all over the internet.

The trial version of Streaming Audio Recorder is pretty full featured but has a couple of limitations. There will be a five second nag screen you have to wait through before using the app and using some of its other features. Users will also be limited to recording a maximum of 3 minutes and can only download one track at a time.

Streaming Audio Recorder works well for recording system audio but its music search and downloading features are little more than an afterthought.

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Back in the days of cassette tapes, it was much easier to record songs played over the radio. Nowadays, it's a bit more difficult but RadioZilla aims to make radio recording simpler for the digital age.

Open up RadioZilla and you'll see a list of music genres on the left side. Each one expands to become more specific. There is no search. Click on a radio station that looks good and RadioZilla will begin streaming. If you hear a song that catches your fancy, you can hit the red recording button or hit the "save" button, which detects when a song ends and will stop recording automatically.

Unfortunately RadioZilla is a big headache to use. Many, if not most, of its radio stations simply do not work. There is no error message other than "cannot connect." Radio stations are also sorted improperly. Stations in the 'Classical' section feature stations that played classic rock and romantic love songs instead of classical music from the romantic era.

Overall, RadioZilla is a great idea with poor execution. With streaming services like Spotify, there's really no need to record a low quality song from a radio feed.

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There are lots of music apps out there, and although some of them are really good, there are definite drawbacks. Spotify's free version is limited, Pandora's not available outside the US...the list goes on.

The good

Not so with Freemake Music Box. This application uses a powerful search engine to seek out free, legal music for you. It doesn't specify where it finds this music, exactly, but it does guarantee that you won't get into trouble for listening to it. Freemake Music Box doesn't require any kind of sign up, which is another plus to this music streaming app.

When you search for music with Freemake Music Box, you'll get a list of results in the main interface. You can filter results by artist, track and album. When you play a track, a video will appear in the lower left-hand corner - you can hide this video if you want. Freemake Music Box also supports playlists - just add a track to a playlist by right clicking on a song and picking Add track to playlist.

The bad

Free music is always good, and Freemake Music Box is a great attempt, but it's still in the early stages of development and has some definite weak spots. The main issue is the quality and availability of music. Loading tracks can be very slow, and although all tracks are well labeled, you sometimes click on one, only to find that a completely unrelated track plays.

Of course, this is generally related to imperfect tagging of uploaded videos and tracks, and isn't Freemake Music Box's fault, but it still interrupts the listening experience. If you pick a track only to find that something else plays, you can right-click to skip to the next version of the song - but there's still no guarantee that it will be the right one.

Freemake Music Box is an interesting proposal and worth a download if you want free music. Just be aware that it has some serious limitations.

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- Busca canciones, escúchalas online o descárgalas en tu equipo. - Descarga tus álbumes favoritos con un solo click. - Compártelas con tus amigos a través de www.downtify.com. - Reproductor integrado. - Visualiza el bitrate y la duración de la canción antes de descargarla. - Mantén ordenada tu biblioteca mediante listas de reproducción. - Compatible con Windows (2000, XP, Vista y 7), Mac OS X y Linux ya que se encuentra desarrollado en Java, por ello es necesario tener instalada la máquina virtual de Java en tu equipo. - Traducido al inglés, francés, alemán, italiano, catalán y gallego. - Gestor de actualizaciones que te avisará de nuevas versiones.

Su velocidad, su total gratuidad y su sencillez de uso. Es portable por lo que no son necesarias engorrosas instalaciones, además es rápido y ligero. Al estar realizado con Java es compatible con todas las plataformas que soporten la máquina virtual.

Usuarios sin conocimientos avanzados y amantes de la música. Aquellos que se hayan sentido decepcionados por el cambio de política de Spotify encontrarán en Downtify Pro el sustituto perfecto.

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The default Windows notifications are terrible. Windows can only display changes one at a time and only for very specific applications. Snarl remedies Windows' poor notifications with their application and API for developers to integrate into their applications.

Snarl is easy to install and is completely open source (free!). After installation, system changes like the clock and network are automatically registered with Snarl to show notifications. There are a ton of options in Snarl's settings to allow the user to change behavior as well as look and feel. You can also download more themes and plugins for the program.

While Snarl supports popular applications like foobar, Pidgin, iTunes, and Spotify, it's complicated to register applications with them. For example, you have to download an extension for foobar to get it to work with Snarl. Growl for Mac, meanwhile, automatically picks up on any new application that supports its notification protocol, which would be nice to see on this Windows version.

Overall, Snarl is a great replacement for the default Windows notifications, but it could use some work making it more user friendly.

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Music subscription service, Rdio, has released a dedicated desktop application that perfectly emulates its web interface. Manage your music library, create playlists, and explore new music. Rdio subscribers can also sync their music to their devices using the app. Lastly, all of the popular and recommended music charts are still available for perusal.

One of the great things about Rdio is its social network integration. It supports Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm. Social is really where Rdio separates itself from competitors like Spotify. You can follow people on Rdio and have their music activity show up in your feed. It is a great way to discover new music and to see what your friends have been listening to. You can even create a collaborative playlist with your friends.

One interesting feature of the Rdio desktop app and the Rdio web interface is that the desktop application can scan your iTunes collection so that your iTunes library will show up in Rdio's interface. Rdio still acts as a music streaming application, but you can also send tracks to be downloaded to your mobile device if you pay for the monthly plan.

There are still a few areas that Rdio could improve upon, like including more artists. Its library is not as extensive as Spotify's. It would also be nice to see a section for lyrics.

Overall, Rdio's desktop application retains all of the functionality of its web interface while providing a couple of improved features like iTunes matching.

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This means that with Replay Music you can literally save a copy of all your favorite songs on your hard drive, whether you listen to them on Last.fm, Pandora, Spotify or MySpace, to name a few. Besides downloading the songs, Replay Music also includes automated tools to detect silence between songs and identify the track you’re recording.

Replay Music is really simple to use: all you need to do is make sure the program is already active when you start the music source you want to record. Then, press the Start recording button and let Replay Music do the rest: recording the song, converting it to MP3, identifying if possible and adding the corresponding ID3 tags.

You’ll find a few configuration options in Replay Music to tweak the recording quality, select folders to store converted files, change the recording volume or set up the file’s naming template, among other possibilities.

Replay Music is an easy, quick way to save your favorite music from online streaming services as MP3 files on your hard drive.

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Spotify is already a fantastic music player. Integration with Facebook makes it even better when it comes to interaction between users. If you're eager to see what's up next when it comes to new Spotify features, you'll want to give Spotify Preview a look.

Spotify Preview features ideas and projects Spotify's developers have created, usually for fun or in their spare time. These projects aren't technically supported by Spotify so it's possible they may be removed or not work properly. If they become popular enough through user feedback on Spotify Preview, it's possible they might become real features on Spotify in the future however.

Some of the biggest additions in Spotify Preview include personalized radio, crossfading songs and gapless playback, which gives users the ability to seamlessly listen to tracks without silence in between songs.

Test reveal that the program itself seems relatively stable as well, which is a big plus for people who want to try out new features but don't want to deal with frequent crashes.

Spotify Preview is a great way to try out the newest innovations the Spotify developers have come up with.

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