Sunday, June 01, 2008

iTunes is much more than a digital music jukebox. It's capable of handling many different tasks involving digital media. Some of iTunes' most popular features include buying music and vidoes online, burning CDs, and syncing files with your iPod or iPhone.
But one of the lesser known functions hidden within iTunes is the ability to
convert audio files.
Why would you need to convert an audio file? Converting audio file types can be useful in many different situations. Here are a few examples:
- You have an AAC file in iTunes that's not compatible with your Zune that can play MP3 and not AAC files.
- A WAV file needs to be emailed to a client for approval but it's too big. You need to convert the file to an AAC so it's small enough to easily send via email.
- You are making a music video and want to use a song you got online as the soundtrack. However, the editing program won't import the song because it doesn't support MP3 or AAC.
- You need to remove the DRM (Digital Rights Management) from an AAC song you purchased from the iTunes Store (see step #7).
Many programs that convert audio files into different formats are pretty complicated and usually cost money. But not iTunes. iTunes is simple, fast and best of all... free.
Tutorial: Converting Audio File Formats in iTunes
methodshopLabels: itunes, tutorial
UPDATE: YouTube has reworked their site in response to this article. If you get an error when trying to download a YouTube video, please try some of the plug-ins and scripts listed in step #3.YouTube.com is a great resource. Not many sites allows users to freely upload, view, and share video clips like
YouTube does. YouTube even lets users easily post videos on their blogs and personal web sites. But because anyone can upload a video clip on YouTube, copyright violations are rampant.
In an effort to prevent the widespread distribution of illegal copied video files, YouTube encodes its video files in the
Macromedia Flash format, which prevents viewers from downloading files and making digital copies.
Here's a
step-by-step MethodShop.com tutorial on how to rip video files off YouTube and convert them for an iPod Video, Apple TV, iTunes or iPhone. This trick will work on Mac or PC using Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer.
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methodshop.comLabels: apple, tutorial

Red eye. What a pain in the ass. I have so many great photos in my iPhoto Library which have been ruined because of red eye. Sometimes I use the red eye tools
iPhoto or Adobe Photoshop to fix problematic images, but unfortunately they don't always do a good job.

Luckily red eye is very easy to fix manually in Adobe Photoshop (
US,
UK). You just need to know how. Here's a
tutorial on how to remove red eye using Adobe Photoshop 7.0 or higher.
Tutorial: Remove Red Eye In Adobe Photoshop
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The iPod’s Alarm Clock is nestled among other features like Calendar and Notes under the iPod’s Extras menu. While you may already be familiar with many of the iPod Extras (especially Games), the Alarm Clock is largely an under appreciated feature.
Whether you prefer to be woken by the scream of a rock star or the French horn in a classical symphony, the iPod’s Alarm Clock can help you open your eyes every morning with style!
Tutorial: Waking Up to the iPod Alarm ClockBeSocial:
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methodshop.comLabels: ipod, tutorial

Can't get enough of your favorite TV show or movie? Why not take it with you on your Sony PSP? The internet is full of PSP encoded video files ready to be downloaded onto your Sony Memory Stick. But you have to know where and how to name the files in order for the PSP to read them properly.
Here's a short tutorial that expalins
how to add videos to your Sony PSP.

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methodshopLabels: psp, tutorial