Music, music everywhere, and a ton of programs with which to organize it. But how will you know which of the many iTunes-equivalents (if not iTunes itself) are going to be right for your needs?

If you're one of the many people using Windows' default music libraries to organize and store your files, stop. Just stop. There's so much more you can do beyond that-which-is-given by Windows Media Player's library features, it's not even funny. Conversely, if you're one of the people who clings to Apple's iTunes with a death grip by virtue of it being one of the first big music organizing tools to really "stick" amongst the general geek population... you might be in good hands. You also might be missing out on a ton of additional functionality, depending on what you're looking for and how you typically go about rocking out on your computer.

To keep the playing field fair, we'll look at three different applications in this ultimate guide to media organizing: iTunes, Songbird, and Zune. For those keeping score at home, that's one big solution from Apple, one big solution from Microsoft, and one big solution from the open-source community. There are certainly other options around--Foobar comes to mind as one such example. None are as comprehensive in their combination of features and/or customizability as these three, however. They're all easy to install and easy to set up, but which application has the features and usability that'll make it a hit?

iTunes

Apple introduced iTunes into the world at the 2001 Macworld Expo. At the time, it was fairly trimmed-down piece of software that was really only meant to do two things: play audio files and burn discs in a single program. Apple's app wasn't quite as slick as its chief rival, Windows Media Player 7. The latter built Internet connectivity into the usual list of media playback features to deliver a player that could not only burn and rip CDs, but also connect to Internet radio, surf online media guides, and download new skins for the whole application.

My, how times have changed.

Awesome

Apple Support: Duh. Apple's iTunes is the only media player/organizer that fully supports all the features of Apple's various handheld products. Other media organizers simply can't bypass the encryption Apple keeps between its products and its players.

Online Store: It's hard to deny the power of Apple's online store. With downloads of more than 8.5 billion songs, three billion apps, and one million video files since its inception, the iTunes Store is a veritable powerhouse of content in the marketplace.

Customized Data Dump: Want to list your music by the last time you accessed the file? Okay. You're your music by beats-per-minute? Sure! Want to organize your files by bit rate? Go ahead. iTunes comes with a full list of sortable options for listing your jams.

Powerful Playlisting: Automatically assign new songs to a playlist based on customized criteria you select. It's a perfect way to have a perfect, hands-free organization for your music library.

Unfortunate

Apple Authorization: Want to connect your app to your iTunes Store account? You only get five authorizations (and one do-over) per year. That's not much for a single computer user, but if you're running iTunes on multiple devices using one account, and forget to deauthorize your computers when reinstalling the OS, you're hosed.

Clunky Interface: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I can't help but feel that the iTunes UI is a bit kludgy. Throw in Apple's marketing efforts--like the Genius-based callbacks to the iTunes Store, as well as the entirety of the iTunes store itself--and the whole app just feels a bit out of its element on the Windows platform.

Lookups, Schmookups: Apple's iTunes isn't that good about looking up cover art for MP3s you've imported, even when the album seems pretty easy to identify-in my case, the Avenue Q soundtrack. If the ID3 tags aren't perfect, isn't there some kind of fancy technology iTunes can use to suggest a best-guess fix?

Lost Music? Lost Money: Delete a track you've downloaded from iTunes and you're stuck--unless you send a mea culpa to Apple itself, you'll have to repurchase the song from the iTunes Store.

Zune

Ahh, yes. Microsoft's answer to Apple's iTunes-if-we're-not-talking-about-Windows-Media-Player. Like iTunes, you won't be able to use the external-features of Zune with any device but... the Zune. Go figure. However, unlike Apple's iTunes, Microsoft has really hit one out of the park from an interactivity standpoint. Zune is easy to install and setup, and it works wonderfully with your preexisting music libraries in Windows. Provided you've dumped your music according to Windows' design, you won't have to go through any annoying re-importing via Zune.

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Interface: ‘nuff said. With beautiful backgrounds, fading windows that pop up and down, and awesome auto-collages of your entire library's cover art--to name a few--Microsoft's interface for Zune is simply amazing. It's responsive, it's artistic, and it's a lot more fun to navigate than any other music organizer out there.

Social Interaction: Since Zune ties into your existing Microsoft Live account, you gain access to a wealth of awesome social features that you don't normally find in music organizers. Track what you're listening too, message your friends and see what they're listening to, and gain mini-achievements for your rocking out!

Home Page: That's right. The Zune software comes with its own "You just loaded the app" page that gives you quick access to bands you've selected to care about, music you've recently imported, and Smart DJ mixes that--in theory--should give you the same kind of sound as the band you've selected.

Unfortunate

Limited Ripping: You can only rip tracks from CDs to a WMA or an MP3 format. That's not a lot of choice.

Zune Pass: Microsoft is really pimping its Zune Pass service all over the software. While admittedly neat--unlimited access to all music on the Zune Marketplace for $15 a month--I don't need it thrown in my face every time I'm trying to play a song or mix.

My Library? Zune Marketplace? Whenever you click on related links to what you're listening to, you might be pulling up a preview track from the Zune marketplace instead of an actual related song--e.g. clicking on Sara Bareilles when listening to Ben Folds could get you a 30-second preview of "Gravity" instead of an actual Bareilles song in your library. Zune needs a way to restrict recommendations to offline-only.

Long Loading: I'm currently sitting at 2.5-hours and counting just for Zune to make a Smart DJ mix of my files. While this will hopefully offer stronger musical recommendations than iTunes' default "eh, whatever" DJ service, you'll want to make sure you enable this functionality... a few days before your party.

Crazy networking: Streaming audio files in iTunes is a breeze--just click on a shared computer and play away. Zune requires you to go through Windows Media Extenders. Admittedly, this opens up your software to more devices for playback. However, it's a bit more involved of a process than iTunes--also, no Zune remote software for your device or wireless speaker connectivity.

Songbird

Open-source, here we come! The third entrant in the "best music organizers ever?" category is its only open-source creation. Thousands of developers--ranging from Mozilla Firefox geeks to Winamp hackers--have descended upon this application in hopes of providing an awesome third-party solution to the predominant media tools on the marketplace. Have they succeeded? Yes and no. Unfortunately, some of the program's faults are elements that don't really have an open-source solution.

Awesome

Add-ons: Right off the bat, Songbird prompts you to install a number of awesome add-ons that take this music organizer light-years beyond its closed-source competition, including last.fm integration, a built-in lyrics auto-downloader, and a concert-tracker to tell you when artists in your library are on tour. Excellent.

Tabbed-browsing: Ahh, now you know it's an open-source program. In all seriousness, Songbird's tabbed-browsing-friendly interface does help you look up information on-the-fly, as these tabs serve as a built-in Web browser analogous to Mozilla Firefox.

File-formats: You'll be hard-pressed to find a music organizer that supports more file formats than Songbird, including: MPGA, MP3, M4A, M4V, MP4, M4P, M4B, Ogg Vorbis, Speex, AAC, WMA, WMADRM, FLAC, LPCM, ADPCM, and AMR.

Skinnable: Don't like how Songbird looks? Change up the look at a whim by installing a new skin overtop the program's core!

iTunes integration: Sorry, Zune. Songbird works alongside your existing iTunes configuration, enabling you to pull up your playlists from that program into this one. It's a great trick if you're still on the fence about switching from one to the other

Unfortunate

Video: Not gonna' happen. Songbird is the only media organizer on this list that can't play video files

64-bit: Sorry, Windows 7 x64 enthusiasts. The current version of Songbird (as of this article's writing) doesn't work perfectly in your 64-bit operating system. That means no Aero support and, worse, problematic disc burning functionality.

Not very speedy: Clicking through menus and selecting options in Songbird feels like you're wading through molasses. This could be a direct result of the program's lack of 64-bit support (confession: That's how I was running it on my system). Or, at least, here's hoping--this app is s-l-o-w.

Limited device support: Although Songbird will sync up with devices like the Palm Pre and Motorola's Droid, and a few other handheld audio players, it employs workarounds to sync with Apple devices and won't sync with a Zune unless you go hunting for add-ons.

No streaming: Want to share your library to other computers on your network? Not with Songbird, you won't!

The Wrap-up

So which music player should you go with? All three. No, really. There are compelling reasons to pick any of these media organizers--your personal "best match" really depends on your use scenarios. For a no-frills audio experience with super-fast sharing capabilities and a powerhouse store of content to purchase, you'll want to hit up Apple's iTunes.

If you're looking for a bit more flair for your rocking out and prefer to synchronize your tunes with more than just computers, Zune is an excellent choice that bridges a beautiful aesthetic with excellent, recommendation-based functionality (provided you don't mind the constant links to Zune's store).

And, naturally, if you're looking for features that you simply can't find in either app, Songbird is your ticket--its powerful add-on database extends the capabilities of this application light-years beyond what you'll find in either iTunes or Zune. The downside? You can't stream your audio and, honestly, the program feels a bit sluggish.

Have you heard of XBMC, the open-source, multi-platform media frontend? If not, you soon will as we put the finishing touches on a related how-to guide with plenty of advanced tips and tricks, but in the meantime, check out what resourceful modder Richard Wileman managed to do with his old Xbox.

We're talking about the original Xbox here, the little black box that most of us have long since retired. But rather than toss his up on Ebay or Craigslist, Wileman pretty much redesigned the unit from the ground up, sticking the Xbox's guts into an aluminum chassis and giving it a few other upgrades.

There's a full size 2.5-inch hard drive, a new DVD drive, an IR port, and even a little LCD to help keep tabs on the playlist.

Check out the pics here.

Image Credit: Richard Wileman via Engadget

Unfortunately for OK Go, there's little to no chance that any of their music videos are going to go viral again and get 50 million hits, because as lead singer Damian Kulash puts it, "you can't embed diddlycrap." In an open letter to fans, Kulash offers up a lengthy explanation as to why the decision was made, why it sucks, and why it's a good thing (for some). Oh, and there's an apology thrown in there as well.

"We've been flooded with complaints recently because our YouTube videos can't be embedded in websites, and in certain countries can't be seen at all," Kulash starts off. "And we want you to know: we hear you, and we're sorry. We wish there was something we could do. Believe us, we want you to pass our videos around more than you do, but, crazy as it may seem, it's now far harder for bands to make videos accessible online than it was four years ago."

Kulash goes on to describe record labels as a sort of necessary evil which front all the money to distribute and promote albums, press CDs, make videos, and everything else that "adds up to a great deal more than we have in our bank account." So it's the labels' right to cash in everywhere they can. After all, "they need new shoes, just like everybody else."

That doesn't mean OK Go agrees with EMI's decision, and on the contrary, Kulash says, "It's a decision that bums us out. We've argued with them a lot about it," to no avail, obviously. So "in the meantime, the only thing OK Go can do is to upload our videos to sites that allow for embedding, like MySpace and Vimeo. We do that already, but it stings a little. Not only does it cannibalize our own numbers (it tends do do our business more good to get 40 million hits on one site than 1 million hits on 40 sites), but, as you can imagine, we feel a lot of allegiance to the fine people at YouTube."

Read the entire open letter here.

Image Credit: Gizmodo

It was announced earlier this month that YouTube would soon allow uploading of HD content in 720p and 1080p, and that time has come. Would you have guessed that a Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody would be one of the first 1080p clips to find its way onto YouTube?

You can view the video here and switch between 720p and 1080p at any time. While perhaps not dramatic or always obvious, there's a definite difference in quality noticeable in the finer details. Switch between the videos in full screen to see what we're talking about, or take a gander at these screenshot comparisons Gizmodo posted.

Have you found any other 1080p videos on YouTube worth watching? Post a link in the comments section below.

Living up to a promise made several weeks ago, the Roku Channel Store is now open. Unfortunately, rumors that the open platform for delivering content to Roku boxes would include support for Hulu turned to out to be false, at least so far. According to an article in Playboy magazine, "Hulu support is coming," but the video site wasn't among the first ten channels released, which includes Pandora, Facebook Photos, Revision3, Mediafly, TWiT, blip.tv, Flickr, FrameChannel, Motionbox, and MobileTribe.

"The Roku Channel Store turns the Roku player into the world's first open platform designed specifically for the TV," Anthony Wood, founder and CEO of Roku, said in a statement. "Now content producers and distributors -- from single person shops to billion dollar corporations -- can deliver their content directly to consumers without having to go exclusively through cable operators, satellite networks, or TV affiliates."

Roku said a free SDK is available upon request, which would allow developers to add to the Store's selection. As for the Channel Store itself, it's also free and is being distributed through automatic upgrades within the next couple of weeks. No Roku owners will be left out in the cold, as the Channel Store works on all Roku devices, the company said.

Image Credit: Roku via Gizmodo

Microsoft has announced that the company will begin rolling out Bing Videos, which combines video clips from several different locations and offers them all on one page.

Continued here:
Bing Brings Hulu, YouTube and MSN Video

For some unknown reason YouTube has decided to make possible real-time searches of comments. Seriously? Comments are the thing you avoid on YouTube, expressing either gross immaturity or venting some real, and ofttimes inappropriately placed, anger. If there is a good thing about YouTube comments is we’re subjected only to a few of them--and they are easily ignored.

So why do this? Marshall Kirkpatrick, of ReadWriteWeb, suggests that companies might find it useful--to track the things that people are saying about them or their products.

After reading some of searched comments I’m not so sure companies would want to know what people are saying. Not the people posting on YouTube anyway. Give it a try. Type in any innocuous term. Count down how many entries until you read something obscene or vulgar (or worse). In my few searches I didn’t get past the top five.

Image Credit: YouTube

It's too early to tell if a deal is in the making, but YouTube is at least talking to several major movie studios about the possibility of streaming feature films as rentals, CNet reports.

Studios said to be discussing licensing agreements with YouTube include Sony, Lions Gate Entertainment, and Warner Brothers. But at least one studio exec who claims to be familiar with the talks said no deals are imminent and that having these discussions isn't out of the ordinary.

"Why wouldn't the studios talk to YouTube," the exec said.

Why wouldn't they, indeed. With over 100 million viewers, streaming rentals has the potential to be a win-win proposition for both the Google-owned site and the movie studios. It would also be cause for concern for other streaming services, like Hulu.com and Crackle.com.

Facebook has a long ways to go before its video service comes anywhere close to serving up the same number of videos as YouTube (1.2 billion per day), but the social networking site did reach a milestone that's nothing to scoff at - over one billion video views last month, CNet reports. All tallied, Facebook now claims four times more video views than members.

Pretty impressive, considering Facebook Video launched just over two years ago in June 2007. Even more impressive is that the service took just two days to implement. A promotional video describes how a pair of engineers, Soleio Cuervo and Chris Putnam, came up with the idea to add video to Facebook and the 40 hours spent coding the service.

"One product that I worked on was video, and I remember thinking to myself, 'Having just a video camera built into our laptops, wouldn't it be great if you could just record a video and send it to someone,' your mother for Mother's day or to your girlfriend just to wish her a good night, not blasting a video across the entire Internet," Cuervo reflects.

Later on, the ability to upload higher quality videos and embed Facebook videos on other websites would both prove instrumental in boosting video views.

If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em, and most would agree that Netflix has grown too large (and too strategic) to beat. So who wants to buy them? If you believe the latest rumor, Amazon wants to buy the online DVD rental service, news of which has sent Netflix stock soaring to the highest it's been in 11 weeks.

"There's heavy call buying and the stock is up on renewed takeover talk, with Amazon being mentioned specifically," said Fred Ruffy, the senior options strategist at WhatsTrading.com. "It's pretty typical of speculative buying."

While Netflix and Amazon both compete in the Internet video business, not everyone is convinced a takeover makes much sense. Michael Pachter, an analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities, points out that Amazon has distribution centers all across the U.S., meaning the company would have to collect sales tax in those states. Should that happen, subscribers would likely end up footing the bill.

As expected, both Amazon and Netflix said they don't comment on rumors or speculation.