skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Whew. Over a week since the last blog...and I finally got Windows Live to allow my space to be public. For people who already tried to visit...sorry 'bout that. For everyone else...enjoy the riches. So, I wanna do a new section: The Download of the Week. I like to check on CNet, but...it can kind of drag when you get bogged down, and new discoveries or old favorites are sometimes hard to dig up (not to discredit Download central.) But I thought I'd choose my personal top pick of the week, which (thanks to the lack of file hosting on Spaces 
,) I'm going to be redirecting you to CNet's Download.com for. So: for this week, the winner is: Comodo Firewall Pro, which, although "Pro" is totally free, and, thought the little warning boxes that pop up are a bit trying, they lessen after a while, and can be turned off. CFP also includes a "Defense +," which is a low-end virus/malware scanner and protector, but still does a good job. All in all a very good product...4 stars, Comodo! ---------------- Now playing: Matchbook Romance - Monstersvia FoxyTunes
I have people tell me all the time that Internet Explorer is better than Firefox, but here's the truth: IE, compared to Firefox, sucks. Period. There's no doubt about it, Firefox is the all time champ. It's free, open-source, and oh-so-customizable that IE decided to rip it off! Tabbed browsing? Firefox first (ok so Netscape had it first, but Netscape was also Mozilla-essentially Firefox before it became Firefox.) Extensions? (They're called add-ons in IE, but still...) Firefox first! Themes? Well...this one is hardly fair since IE doesn't even have themes and skins yet. But most likely, they will, after the style of Firefox once again. Firefox even supports opening a tab with an IE emulator for content that is IE only. And it can view content that has to be specially formatted for IE (Microsoft's fault again.) aAnd if all this isn't enough...you just gotta try it out fo yourself. Download the most recent version of Firefox here, or get the the new beta (not as stable, but almost perfect) right here (just make sure you download the right language version- there are over 40 supported!)
I love listening to my music, and I need a good program to use, so here are some of my ratings and favorites.RealPlayer RealPlayer is an ok player; some people like it, some don't. Not one of my preferences, it can download YouTube videos to your hard drive for later watching (this is the main reason I use it), but it saves them in .flv format, so you need to play them in either RealPlayer or a separate flv player.iTunes iTunes is an all-around great media player, with its own format (AAC) for high quality audio, but it doesn't support wma, wmv, or any other Windows Media formats. It has the iTunes Store, with one dollar songs and 10 dollar albums, which are DRM protected but not uncrackable 
. Another catch is that all files must be imported manually (no auto-detection) and that it only syncs with iPods (no Zunes, Sansas, or Zens). EDIT: apparently iTunes can support unprotected wma's (and maybe folder watching.) My bad. Thanks mintz66 for pointing that out.Windows Media Player 11 Personally, the main thing I like about WMP is that it auto-updates folders you watch for media, so you rarely have to search for files after the initial run. The GUI isn't bad, but not great. The upshot is that it syncs with nearly all portable music players available, including my Sansa e250.WinAmp 5.53 WinAmp is one of the best options available, with playback support for both Windows and iTunes DRM formats, and scanning/auto importing music and videos, with iTunes-style Genre/Artist/Album sidebars for quick and easy searching. It, too, like WMP, will sync files to my Sansa and other portable media (flash drives, SD cards, etc.). It has a highly customizable GUI as well, making for an all around good choice.(J. River) Media Jukebox The Media Jukebox is a very good choice, with a very similar interface to WinAmp, and similar functionality. It will also sync to my Portable Media Drives, and has Last.fm and Amazon MP3's support built-in. Less squarish than WinAmp, though, it has soft lines and a nice look.FoxyTunes FoxyTunes isn't actually a media player, more of a remote for whatever player you use. It is an extension available for Internet Explorer and Firefox, and can control around 25 different Media Players, Including the ones mentioned above and more, like foobar2000, Rhapsody, Pandora, Last.fm, and XBMC. It. sits on the side of your browser and lets you control your music without having to minimize the browser.These are my top Media Players, if you have any suggestions or other Favorites, let me know!
