Computer Support Blog

The rise of digital music on the Internet has made a mainstream conversation out of the conflict between business and art.  Musical artists have made a very public stand against music distribution methods that deprive them of their rightful royalties and income.  Many of the record labels have resisted endorsing digital music distribution channels that do not give the label a cut and the recording companies have been very litigious in protecting their interest.  Following the fall of Napster, iTunes and Amazon.com rose as primary channels of music distribution on the Internet.  But now, there is Spotify and given its success at generating interest, revenue, and industry support, it looks like Spotify may endure where other similar services have not.  Spotify is the vision of Daniel Ek. Read more »

The digital music revolution has been criticized by many audiophiles; people who love sound and music.  The main complaint that most audiophiles share is that the quality of digital music files is severely lacking when compared to records, compact discs, and live musical performances.  Many of the companies that are devoted to creating hardware that presents audio recordings have worked hard to overcome the quality issues of most digital music files.  Much of their hardware is designed to help you get the most out of your digital music collection.  Bang & Olufsen is one of the companies audiophiles trust and the Beosound 5 Encore is part of the reason why. Read more »

As technology companies try to homogenize virtually all of their products, it is very easy to distinguish the professionals from the amateurs who simply enjoy the novelty of new gadgets.  A professional photographer does not want to take photographs on their smartphone.  A professional filmmaker does not want to rely upon a laptop computer to make their feature film.  In a similar vein, professional interviewers and musicians do not rely upon equipment that does eighteen different things; they utilize digital voice recorders.  One of the premiere digital voice recorders on the market is the TASCAM DR-100mk II. Read more »

Serious audiophiles know that the era of digital music has begun as a real mixed bag.  While digital music has made an immense library of music available in a way that virtually assures it will be accessible indefinitely, many times the basic audio files are not the highest possible quality.  When one does have a great system and appropriately dense music files, one frequently runs into the problem of having inadequate peripheral audio hardware.  Fortunately, companies like Klipsch exist to solve that problem.  One of the most impressive solutions to mediocre sound quality from digital music devices is the Lou Reed X10i Signature Edition Headphones. Read more »

Not everyone has the funds or interest in an Apple iPod.  In fact, there is a decent population – especially of active, athletic, individuals – who wants to be able to listen to music, but does not want to run around with hardware that costs hundreds of dollars.  For sure, Apple has attempted to win over that demographic with their iPod Shuffle.  But for those who might not want the hassle of making an iTunes account or being sucked into the Apple culture, there is the MPaxx 940 MP3 player. Read more »

One way for consumers to evaluate the quality of a product, especially after it has been on the market for a little while, is to compare the price of the item new to the price of used versions.  Consumers will generally not pay full price – or even close to full price – for an item that has been pre-owned.  However, high-quality products that are in limited supply and are an exceptional value at their new price will often have a price in the used marketplace that is remarkably close to the price of the item new.  When consumers are willing to pay virtually the same price for an item new or used, it is a ringing endorsement of the quality and longevity of that product.  By that standard, the Altec Lansing Orbit Ultraportable Speaker is a cool electronic device that music enthusiasts remain very excited by. Read more »

One of the nice things about having so many forms of audio and visual media in a standard-style format is that eventually, someone comes along and creates a single device that reads many different media.  Compact discs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray discs are all essentially the same size and shape, but run on very different hardware. Purely digital media files only need the proper CODECs to render them, regardless of whether they are audio or visual files.  The future of the home entertainment system is starting to look far less bulky.  Instead of having several independent devices, you might be able to convert everything to a single media player, like the TVIX HD M-7000. Read more »

With recent advances in computer technology – both industrial and personal computers – it has never been easier to use your computer to produce musical compositions.  The best musical tools for digital music production are flexible, versatile and have hardware that helps to eliminate noise.  It is a boon to find a system that has all of the important attributes of a great digital music recording tool that also is portable.  The Fast Track Ultra is one of the few audio interfaces that is portable and powerful! Read more »

No musical artist produces a track with the idea that the ideal format upon which it will be presented is a digital music player.  Digital music files often compress sounds, limiting the range and even editing out the richer tones of a composer’s work.  Musical artists today produce music to be heard over speakers at concerts and stereo systems and outside where the music can resonate and breathe.  While you cannot easily improve the quality of digital music files, you can easily upgrade from earbuds.  The Yamaha PDX-11 is one such speaker system that gets you closer to the sound the artists intended! Read more »

Since the fall of Napster, many legitimate digital music companies have sprouted up.  One of the most successful so far has been Spotify.  Spotify has a partnership with Facebook which allowed the company to easily promote its service and provide Facebook users with hours of free digital music each month.  The partnership between Spotify and Facebook was a great strategic move for Spotify; the digital music company attributes three million new subscribers to the Facebook connection.  Spotify is looking to build upon that by growth by spreading a similar Spotify widget throughout the Internet. Read more »