Mediamaster

Mediamaster
They are basically an online music locker. You upload your MP3s, and you'll be able to stream your music via their flash-based web-player on any internet connected PC. They also provide a widget, like the one I put on the side. You cannot "save" your MP3s back, obviously to prevent "piracy," or more likely to save the creators from lawsuits.

Anybody can play your music tracks fully via the widget through playlists. People can browse your library on the mediamaster's website, but tracks are limited to the first 30 second clip. Aside from the widget, the site also provide a .pls/.asx link so you can treat your playlist like an internet radio channel. As for uploading, you can upload by tracks, or drag-n-drop folders on the java based advance uploader. Note that there is an iTunes button in the advance uploader. Pressing this button will upload your whole iTunes library, so be careful.

Neat idea, although I wonder how long this will last. I can see Mediamaster being compared to services like live365. They can be considered as internet radio, and then come the licensing issues. We'll see how long this will last/be free.

K550i test

K550i test, originally uploaded by pika2000.

Test

Test

SE K550i, not supported by iSync?

My cellphone, although usable and built-in support with iSync, has seen better days and the battery seems to be shorter too. Time for a new phone. I decided on Sony Ericsson K550i. I was waiting for the iPhone, but the fact that it is locked and 2 year contract really turn me off. When I tried to sync my new K550i, iSync said it is not supported. Uh oh... Google to the rescue. At first, I found some sites actually charging you for the iSync plugin. Too bad SE doesn't provide a free iSync plugin, unlike Nokia. Fortunately, the community doesn't disappoint. Someone developed a plugin for the K550i, and made it available for download.
Thanks Paco. :)

Airport Express + AirTunes

Bought it so I can stream my music from my Macbook to my portable speaker in the kitchen. It works great, and very easy to setup. I've dealt with various wireless routers (D-Link, Netgear, Linksys, etc) and all of them are pretty difficult to setup. Most of them requires you to connect via ethernet first to configure them. For the Airport Express, I connected my Macbook wirelessly, set-up the Airport Express to join my current wifi network, input the encryption key, and voila. Click couple of checkboxes in iTunes, and I'm set to stream my music.

The downside is price. The Airport Extreme cost $100 retail a pop. Can be pretty expensive if you want to wirelessly put music eveywhere in your home. All I need now is a full-featured remote control so I can control iTunes wirelessly, complete with track display and ability to rate tracks. Maybe an iPod with wifi will do this.

Switched to Mac

Well, I've been using my Macbook on a fairly regular basis, and I don't really miss my Windows PC. Most of the key stuff have been transferred (iTunes library, photo library, email, contacts, calendar). Also, thanks to iSync, my cellphone syncs more seamlessly with my Mac than with my PC.

Does this mean I'm getting rid of my PC? No. Although I can always use bootcamp, I want to keep my Macbook as OS X only. I will still be using my PC for other stuff, like transcoding DVDs, ripping Audio CDs (EAC), Picasa for uploading videos to my Picasa web album, bittorrent and games.