As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we’re now producing episodes of the Macworld Podcast each and every week. This gives us the freedom to experiment with the format, keep on top of current events in the Apple and technology worlds, and produce shorter episodes when they seem warranted.
With all that in mind, I break away from the usual interview format and instead, monologue about a few things on my mind. Those things include Apple and its autumn music event, Chinese media converter spam, and the wonders of GarageBand.
Download Episode #206
• AAC version (11.2 MB, 22 minutes)
• MP3 version (10.5 MB, 22 minutes)
Show Notes
A couple of story links from the first monologue: Apple purchases Lala music service and my first look at the Rdio music streaming service.
I named names in regard to those media converters companies and brands that have spammed our forums recently. If you have an aversion to spammers and the wares they peddle, here’s a handy list of companies to avoid:
- 4Easysoft
- 4Media
- 4Videosoft
- AirproSoft
- Aiseesoft
- Aunsoft
- AVAide
- AVCWare
- Brorsoft
- Cucusoft
- Daniusoft
- iFunia
- iMacSoft
- iSkysoft
- Joboshare
- Mac DVD Ripper Soft
- Topmediasoft
- Wondershare
- Xilisoft
You should take any recommendation you find in a forum or on a questionable Website for this kind of software with a very large grain of salt. These and similar companies have saturated the Web with this kind of loathsome advertising and it’s often difficult to discern the truth. Generally speaking, if one of these utilities is packaged in a very generic looking “box” and has a cartoonish interface (or looks like it was ported from Windows), avoid it like the plague. It’s a poorly designed tool that performs a job you could do far more easily (and less expensively) with something like HandBrake, RipIt, VideoMonkey, or one of a handful of Firefox extensions.
You can find The Incomparable Podcast on iTunes as well as on its home Website.
And finally, there are ways to learn an instrument with your Mac other than GarageBand. See Learn to Play an Instrument for other resources.
To subscribe to the Macworld Podcast via iTunes 4.9 or later, simply click
here. Or you can point your favorite podcast-savvy RSS reader at: http://rss.macworld.com/macworld/weblogs/mwpodcast/
You can find previous episodes of our audio podcasts at Macworld’s podcasting page.
Have any feedback on this podcast? Send me an e-mail; audio comments in the form of an AAC or MP3 file are particularly welcome. You can also leave us a message at 415/520-9761 if you’d like to have your comments included in a future podcast.