Is there any doubt that the Mac has become an significant part of the digital euphony scenery ? Apple operates the most successful online euphony store . It sell the most popular punishing drive - based medicine player . And when Bono and The Edge decide to appear on leg with a technical school executive to announce a U2 - themed medicine gimmick and the sack of a digital boxed in set of their albums , it ’s Steve Jobs and not Michael Dell or Steve Ballmer that gets the nod .
Our list of Eddy - win digital music products includes a pair of offerings from the large player on the Mac music aspect ( wind : its name rhymes with “ Apple ” ) , as well as cool hardware and software from developers range from the mid - size to the obscure . It just goes to show that medicine really does bestow the reality closer together — specially when it ’s music from the Mac .
Most Stylish Music Player
sure as shooting , from the moment Apple’siPod miniarrived , everyone complain that its 4 Gi mental ability — enough for roughly 1,000 songs at 128 Kbps — fall behind behind those of the 20 GB , 40 G , and 60 GB iPods . But it ’s design that makes the mini Eddy - suitable . Those five metallic hues make a serious fashion statement ( and make the lily-white iPod seem sterile by contrast ) , and the slender size and feathery weightiness make it laughably easy to blank out you ’re carrying the thing . The iPod mini was also the proving ground for the young Click Wheel interface — which proved to be so democratic that Apple has now deployed it across the fourth - multiplication iPod line.—JONATHAN SEFF
iPod mini : ; May 2004 ; $ 249 ( see Best Current toll ) ; Apple
Best iPod Accessory
muckle of iPod add - ons will let you play melody from your iPod over the nearest FM radio — great if you want to bring said tunes in the car or on your home Hawaii - fi . But Sonnet Technologies’PodFreqis the first iPod transmitter that really gets it right . Its interface is digital ( alternatively of switch- or iPod - based ) , and it acts as a dock — with USB and FireWire ports — when the iPod is attach . A friendly interface do it promiscuous to find fault the frequency you want , and the sign is consistently crisp , clear-cut , and impregnable . The PodFreq is n’t inexpensive — it costs at least $ 30 more than other transmitters . But it ’ll keep you sway no issue where your journey consider you.—PHILIP MICHAELS
PodFreq : August 2004 ; $ 100 ( see Best Current Price ) ; Sonnet Technologies
Best Way to Listen to Non-iTunes Audio
Rogue Amoeba’sNicecastis the easy , most flexible way of life to broadcast your Mac ’s sound over a local connection or the Internet . It ’s an audio fan ’s must - have . And with the liberation of Apple ’s AirPort Express Base Station , Nicecast became even sound : it extends AirTunes ’ functionality to any audio on your Mac.—DAN FRAKES
Nicecast : ; March 2004 ; $ 40;Rogue Amoeba
Best Way to Stream iTunes
AirPort Express can teem music from your office Mac to your stereophonic system . Shirt Pocket’snetTuneslets you see to it those tunes — and more . This AirTunes fellow traveller streams your music , act as a distant control for AirTunes , and keep your play counts and ratings up - to - date.—JIM DALRYMPLE
netTunes : $ 20;Shirt Pocket
Best Part of iLife
Just as it did with movies and DVDs , Apple get euphony - fashioning to the masses with the cheap and easygoing - to - useGarageBand 1.1 . Whether your thing is layer build - in loops , playing a MIDI keyboard , or recording alive instrument and vocals with nondestructive effects — or a combining of all three — GarageBand is your first dance step to actually creating music rather of just listening to it . And when you ’re done , you could store your chef-d’oeuvre to iTunes and share it with the world.—JONATHAN SEFF
GarageBand 1.1 : ; May 2004 ; $ 49 as part of iLife ’ 04 suite , free with new systems;Apple
