Details About The Output Power Specification Of Recent Audio Amplifiers

By Gunter Fellbaum

Modern amplifiers come in all shapes and sizes. Finding the perfect model for your application can often be tricky. There is a flood of different names and terms describing audio amps, such as "Class D" or "T-amp". Also, each manufacturer publishes a large number of specifications, including "SNR", "dynamic distortion" etc. In this article, I will have a closer look at one of the most fundamental of these terms: amplifier output power. This term is also known as "amplifier wattage".

If you are looking to buy an audio amplifier to set up your home speakers, you will often be confronted with a number of strange terms describing its performance. But how do these numbers relate to how the amplifier sounds and how are these to be interpreted? Let me now go ahead and explain the wattage rating of audio amplifiers.

"Wattage" shows how loud your amp can drive your speakers. Depending on your application, you can go with a small amp delivering only a few watts or a larger one delivering several hundred watts. Most home stereos only come with amplifiers that have a few watts power which usually is enough for a small room. If you plan to shake your walls then you obviously want to opt for an amp that has up to several hundred watts. Most amplifiers will have increasing audio distortion as output power increases. Therefore, you want to pick an amp that has higher output power than you will actually need. This will assure that you will never drive the amp into areas of high distortion.

Wattage is either given as "Watts peak" which means the amp can produce short burst of this amount of power or "Watts rms" which show how much power the amp can deliver for a longer period of time. In the past, vendors have usually preferred listing the "peak power". This number is higher than the average or "rms" power. However, "peak power" can often be misleading since there is no standard showing the amount of time that the amplifier has to be able to deliver this amount of power.

Today most amps will specify rms power which gives a better indication of the amps true performance. However, please ensure that your amp has enough headroom to avoid clipping of the audio. Having enough headroom is essential since music signals differ a great deal from sine wave signals which are used to measure rms power. Short bursts of high power are often found in music signals. These bursts will drive the amp into high distortion unless the peak power is high enough.

Please note that often the peak power of the amp will depend on the impedance of your speakers which is typically between 4 and 8 Ohms. Due to the limited amplifier supply voltage, the maximum output power will be half if you connect an 8-Ohm speaker of the peak power that the amp can deliver to a 4-Ohm speaker. Usually maximum power is specified for a 4-Ohm speaker impedance. However, ideally the manufacturer will tell which speaker impedance the power rating is being referenced to. Please note that some amplifiers cannot drive speakers with very low speaker impedance.

About the Author:

You can find more information about t-ampproducts as well as small amplifiers at Amphony's website.

READ MORE - Details About The Output Power Specification Of Recent Audio Amplifiers

A Few Significant Guidelines You Should Understand Regarding Cordless Loudspeakers

By Gunter Fellbaum

Modern cordless speakers come in all shapes and sizes. Finding the perfect model for your application can often be tricky. There is a flood of different names and terms describing loudspeaker performance. Also, each manufacturer publishes a large number of specifications, including "sound pressure level", "dynamic range" etc. I will give a short overview of the output power spec in order to help you better understand the meaning of this term and how they relate to the performance of an speaker.

Some of the terms which speaker manufacturers publish often are misleading and do not necessarily give a good indication of the actual performance of the speaker. Next I will explain the "wattage" spec of speakers. This spec is one of the most basic and perhaps important specs to understand.

"Wattage" shows how loud your speaker can sound. Depending on your application, you can go with a small speaker tolerating only a few watts or a larger one tolerating several hundred watts. Many smaller home speakers only can be driven with a few watts power which usually is enough for a small room. If you plan to shake your walls then you obviously want to opt for a speaker that has up to several hundred watts. Please note that many speakers will start distorting the audio once the audio reaches higher wattage. If you want to enjoy low-distortion audio then you may want to pick a speaker which will give you more wattage than you will actually need.

Some specs will give the wattage in "Watts peak" while others will show "Watts rms". "Peak" means that the speaker is able to tolerate the wattage for a short period of time only while "Watts rms" means that the speaker will continuously tolerate that amount of power. The peak power rating in the past often led to manufacturers showing large wattage ratings for small speakers. However, in reality those speakers would not be able to endure larger amounts of output power for larger amounts of time.

Nonetheless, while the rms rating will tell you more about the speaker's actual performance, be sure though that the speaker has a peak power rating which is substantially higher than the rms rating. This is because most likely you will be using the speaker to reproduce music or voice. Music and voice signals by nature always fluctuate in terms of their power, i.e. the power envelope of the signal will vary over time. The main reason is that music signals will have short bursts of high power which the speaker has to handle. Rms power is measured with a constant sine signal which hardly compares with a music signal in terms of the power envelope.

Usually the impedance of the speakers which you connect to your amp will determine how much power your amp can deliver. Speaker impedance is measured in Ohms. Typically speakers have an impedance between 4 and 8 Ohms. Amps have a limited output voltage swing due to the fixed internal supply voltage. As such the maximum output power of your amp will vary depending on the speaker impedance. The lower the speaker impedance the higher the maximum power your amp can deliver. Usually a 4-Ohm speaker is used as a reference.

About the Author:

You can get additional details about outdoor cordless speakers at Amphony's web site.

READ MORE - A Few Significant Guidelines You Should Understand Regarding Cordless Loudspeakers

FM transmitter for MP3 players

By Darcey McConnell

MP3 players continue to improve and advance as technology changes and improve. MP3 companies continue to add FM radios to their products as a way to give their consumers more ways to enjoy their favorite music. As time goes on, a greater share of the MP3 market includes FM radio. It can be difficult to sift through all of these MP3 with FM radio players to find the perfect MP3 player for you. If you are trying to find one to purchase, use these four separate search methods. If you use each method, you will be able to easily identify the right MP3 player for you.

If you go into multiple computer and technology stores, you will be able to find all of the different MP3 players that feature an FM radio. You can then talk to the people who work at these stores about all of the different types of MP3 players, and what they have to offer you.
This is a good first step, as it can help you to get acquainted with all of your choices. You will be able to see the features and the prices for all of these different MP3 players, and will be able to play around with them to get a feel for how they work.

Another convenient feature of this MP3 transmitter is the included remote control. The slim, compact remote is perfect for storage in your car's visor, and allows you to conveniently control the unit from anywhere in the car. You can play, pause and skip songs with the remote, and even change the transmitting station. When playing MP3s, this unit displays information about the song the song title, minutes elapsed, etc. It also has selectable equalizer settings to suit your musical preference.

The Digital Wireless Radio Transmitter wirelessly transmits music from youplayer to your car stereo. The digital tuner locks digitally into the clearest available radio station. Wide choice of channels allows you to tune your car stereo to the clearest FM frequency, and enjoy your music with full stereo sound and convenience. Receive calls while listening to music, just press "ANSWER" and music will pause to start your conversation through your car speaker. Supports called ID display and phone number report Built-in remote control with IRS function. This unit can support bluetooth function for iPhone 3G, iPhone and any other Bluetooth compatible device.

Finally, you should look at the company websites for all of the different companies that offer an MP3 that has an FM radio. You will be able to see more pricing information and more specific information about the technology behind the FM MP3 radio player. You want to make sure that you are getting information from every single angle possible. You want to know what professionals and regular consumers think, as this will give you a well-rounded image of the capabilities of every MP3 player. While it may require some work, this is the only way to truly find the best MP3 with FM radio player on the market today.

About the Author:

Want to find out more about mp3 radio #1, then visit Darcey McConnell's site on how to choose the best mp3 radio #2 for your needs.

READ MORE - FM transmitter for MP3 players

Buying Suggestions For Wireless Audio Products

By Gunter Fellbaum

A large number of wireless audio transmitter products have emerged over the years. They promise to cut the cord to your audio equipment. We will examine the impact of new technologies on the performance of these products. Also, we'll examine if they keep their promise of eliminating the cable clutter.

AM and FM radio was introduced several decades ago and was the first type of wireless audio transmission. While still being popular today, FM radio is now being replaced by new technologies including HD radio, satellite radio and DAB broadcasts. A range of today's wireless consumer products cut the cord such as wireless surround sound kits, baby monitors, wireless microphones and Bluetooth transmitters.

Setting up speakers in another room and distributing music throughout the house are some of the applications of wireless audio. Many homes are not wired for audio. The technologies used today all have pros and cons as we will examine.

FM transmitters are using the most traditional technology in which audio is sent by changing the frequency of a radio-frequency carrier. This technology is called frequency modulation or FM. It is fairly simple to implement. Thus FM transmitters are very cost-effective. Also, FM transmission offers high range. As a result, most of today's 900 MHz wireless headphones use FM transmission. However, FM has some major drawbacks.

The first is the fact that the transmission will pick up noise and thus there will be some hiss or static. The amount of noise will actually vary depending on the location of the radio or receiver. This is due to the fact that the radio signal is bouncing off walls and will cancel itself out at different locations. This phenomenon is called multi-path fading. Using two antennae is one method some devices cope with this problem (diversity receivers). Another problem is that FM radios easily pick up interference from competing wireless transmitters.

Another technology which has gained popularity recently is called Bluetooth. Bluetooth was originally designed to connect computer peripheral devices wirelessly. Bluetooth will convert he audio into a digital format. This data is then broadcast via the Bluetooth wireless protocol. While offering high robustness against wireless interference, Bluetooth has several problems in regard to audio transmission since it was never designed with the purpose of transmitting audio. The first drawback is the limited range which typically would be 30 ft or less. The second problem is the fact that Bluetooth does not have enough space to transmit CD-quality audio and therefore the audio is compressed first. This compression will result in a loss of audio quality depending on the degree of compression. Bluetooth will introduce a delay or latency to the audio signal which is a problem for surround sound and video applications because the wireless speakers will be out of sync with the remaining speakers and video.

Terrestrial digital and satellite radio technologies offer high range but use extensive audio compression and have an audio delay of up to several seconds.

Another technology transmits the audio signal without compression digitally. This technology is used in wireless audio transmitters from Amphony. The audio signal will retain CD quality because no audio compression is used. The audio latency of this technology is less than 1 ms. Therefore it can be used for real-time applications such as wireless speaker kits in home theater setups.

This technology is fairly robust against radio interference from other wireless transmitters by using a method called forward error correction. Rather than using the crowded 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequency bands, Amphony products operate at 5.8 GHz and thus offer high robustness. An advantage over Bluetooth is the ability to send audio to any number of wireless receivers from a single transmitter. This is important for distributing audio to multiple rooms in the home.

About the Author:

Gunter Fellbaum has been designing audio and electronic products for over 10 years. You can find further information concerning wireless surround sound transmitters and other wireless audio products from Amphony's website.

READ MORE - Buying Suggestions For Wireless Audio Products

Iridium Satellite Phones Provide Throughout The World Coverage

By Anton Schrud

"After I arrive in the South Pole, I am going to deliver you having a consult my Iridium Satellite phone." Appears like an argument that could be created with the hero in the sci-fi novel, right? Even though it may possibly sound peculiar, satellite phones are not as foreign as you might believe. Really, they are the simplest technique to communicate from places which have little if any phone service from a lot more advanced sources as an example land-line phones and cell phones. Because of the character from your phone, you are in a position to actually make use of it to simply call all more than the globe you would like.

Determined by details printed regarding the Iridium Satellite's web site, this phone service is alone that gives reliable service all through the entire globe. They credit score this achievement for his or her constellation of 66 low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites. The web site states the business's particular program allows each and every location about the globe, even including all of the oceans and polar regions furthermore to airspace, to turn out to be very easily utilized by phone. The web site also signifies the Iridium phone program surpasses other satellite phone techniques simply because you may find no significant delays in details transmissions. Other constructive alternatives that come with this phone program range from your realization they use less power, generating battery maintain going more time. Iridium's fingers held phones will also be a lot more compact than people supplied by another providers.

With each other with voice services, the Iridium company provides a number of other information transmission options. These options include a chance to send faxes, pages and information messages. These options allow you to stay in connection together with your small business or family members and trade details by any suggests you've to. Even though these phones are excellent for industries and corporations, they are also perfect for individuals. For instance, these phones are used by individuals from the U . s . States military when they are positioned in areas not incorporated in conventional phone support.

The phones will also be nicely suited for people within the construction market who're employed in places where you may find no phones in placement however. Satellite phones will also be nicely suited for use within emergency conserve or catastrophe places that land-line phones and cell phone towers are not working.

You will find also several other solutions to use these phones including journey reasons. Satellite phones are perfect for people in aviation or maritime positions simply because the phones function everywhere they could go. People on tv positions could also reap the benefits of satellite phones to make certain that journalists within the location to remain in touch making use of their home workplace. People within the mining, forestry furthermore to gas and oil fields could also delight in the toughness for any satellite phone. When you want to help keep in contact anywhere you may roam, or anywhere your function could just take you, you might be an awesome candidate to possess an Iridium Satellite phone. These phones can transmit messages actually throughout the world which means if you're regarding the North Pole, or up previously mentioned Australia, you will hold the capacity to interact with people whom you may have to speak.

About the Author:

Find out more info about iridium phone with my top recommended iridium satphone blog.

READ MORE - Iridium Satellite Phones Provide Throughout The World Coverage

Hints To Help You While Shopping For The Perfect T-Amp Amplifier

By Gunter Fellbaum

Audio amplifiers are available in a flood of different technologies and models. Choosing the perfect model for a particular application seems to be a daunting task. I will explain some basic amplifier terms and help you pick the best model no matter what your particular application might be.

Depending on your application, you may want to go with a source that already has a built-in amplifier. However, using a separate amplifier will give you more flexibility in choosing the model that best complements your speakers. Some of today's mini amplifier models are small enough to hide them virtually anywhere.

Most people will look at amplifier wattage first when choosing an amplifier. Output wattage is the amount of power the amplifier is able to deliver to the speakers. Driving low-sensitivity speakers (sensitivity is expressed in dB/W) requires fairly high wattage. Also, driving outdoor speakers or speakers in a large room will require higher amplifier power. You shouldn't use an amplifier with significantly higher output power than your speakers can handle. Overdriving your speakers can do irreparable damage to your speakers.

But don't be overly concerned about wattage. An amp supplying 20 to 50 Watts will give you more than plenty of power to sufficiently drive a speaker in any but the largest room.

Amplifier wattage is given either as rms or continuous power which shows how much power the amplifier can deliver continuously or as maximum or peak power which shows how much power the amp can output for short periods of time. You should choose an amplifier that has sufficient rms power, although 10 to 30 Watts should be plenty for most applications but has enough headroom for peaks that occur in music signals.

There are other parameters that are more important than wattage when selecting an amplifier. One important parameter is called total harmonic distortion or THD in short. Every amplifier will introduce some imperfections into the audio signal which is known as distortion and expressed in percent or dB. A high-quality amplifier will have a low distortion figure. Audiophile amplifiers will have distortion numbers of typically less than 0.05%. Consumer-grade amplifiers will have distortion figures of up to 10%.

Another figure related to audio quality is known as signal-to-noise ratio and describes the amount of unwanted noise the amplifier will add to the signal. Higher-end amplifiers will achieve a signal-to-noise ratio of at least 100 dB while consumer grade amplifiers will typically have a signal ratio of at least 80 dB.

The majority of today's amplifiers are based on a technology called Class-D which offers higher power efficiency than amplifiers based an Class-A or Class-AB technologies. High efficiency means that little power is wasted as heat which can make the amplifier fairly small. Some of today's mini amplifiers are no larger than a deck of cards. However, when picking a Class-D (digital) amplifier, be sure that the amplifier has low distortion and a high signal-to-noise ratio.

About the Author:

Gunter Fellbaum has been developing audio and electronic products for over 10 years. You can get further information concerning t-amp models as well as stereo amplifier from Amphony's website.

READ MORE - Hints To Help You While Shopping For The Perfect T-Amp Amplifier

A glimpse at the newest wireless headphone models.

By Gunter Fellbaum

This overview of current headphones will help you pick the right one from the overwhelming flood of styles and models of corded and wireless headphone products.

There are many different designs and styles of headphones on the market starting with in-ear headphones as being the smallest headphones, some of which have a bracket that is worn around the ear. These type headphones can easily be stored in a pocket. They are often bundled with iPods or MP3 players. The next size up are lightweight headphones that sit on the ear and are connected by an elastic frame. This headpiece either sits on top of the head or wraps around the neck. If your budget is tight then you should probably focus on these types of headphones. They are the least expensive of all models. Some models provide insulation from external noise to some degree.

Medium-end headphones are an option if you are able to spend a little more and offer better sound quality. The earpieces have ear cushions to improve the wearing comfort. These ear cushions are either located on your ear or around your ear. Many people prefer the second type since there is no pressure on the ears. If you feel you would like to go with this type of headphones, you will then need to decide whether to go with an open, semi-open or closed design. An open design means that the audio can penetrate from the transducer to the outside and also cross-couple into the other earpiece. While some people feel that an open design sounds light, a closed design will tend to absorb exterior noise more and provide better insulation between the two earpieces.

Most of today's headphones are so-called dynamic headphones. Dynamic refers to the type of transducer that is used. The second more expensive type which requires special headphone amplifiers are static headphones.

Wireless headphones eliminate the headphone cord. Bluetooth headphones are another option to consider. Bluetooth headphones are a type of wireless headphones which are designed for Bluetooth-enabled devices. Such devices include cell phones. The operating range is typically only 30 ft or less. Bluetooth headphones do normally not offer audiophile sound quality.

Other wireless headphones often work at 900 MHz and use FM transmission. These headphones are the least expensive wireless option. More advanced digital wireless headphones work at 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz. FM wireless headphones have noticeable hissing and audio distortion. They are also prone to interference from other wireless devices.

Digital wireless headphones, such as Amphony headphones, encode audio data prior to the transmission. This makes this type of headphones superior in terms of sound quality. Digital wireless headphones are also fairly robust against interference. Some digital wireless headphones work at the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band. This band offers less competition from other wireless devices compared to the 2.4 GHz band.

About the Author:

Gunter Fellbaum has been developing audio and electronic products for over a decade. You can get further information about wireless head phones from Amphony's website.

READ MORE - A glimpse at the newest wireless headphone models.

Make More Money On The Internet with Webinars

By Kathryn P. Tripp

With all of today's technological advancements, the manner in which we market and sell services and products on the Net, specifically in the IM niche, is always shifting. Not that long ago, sales letters were composed mostly of text. Today's sales letters utilize fancy graphics applications and first-rate copywriters. One of the chief problems is keeping abreast with all these advances; lately, it's the arrival of the video sales letter with which we need to deal with. One more challenge that face internet marketers is the rising awareness of the public to all of these methods and it has become more challenging to keep potential clients from clicking away from what you have to offer. This article takes a look at a new and more effective approach to online sales, the "webinar".

It's been long established that the first thing you must do is get people to feel they know you and trust you. As more people compete in the online marketing niche, that trust has become threatened with the release of some questionable products and the claims that come with them. The issue is, how can those of us who take pride in providing useful products of real value be heard amidst all the dishonesty and junk? This is the reason webinars have become such an invaluable tool for numerous internet marketers. In essence, a webinar is an online presentation to which you are invited by the product creators themselves or one of their affiliates.

If you have experienced this already, it's likely that the webinar was a live event at a set time of the day. Usually, the host share tons of free information and access to various marketing tools, while building the participants' respect for him and his services. There may be more than one person presenting where a marketer is introducing an individual who has a new method or product that he believes could benefit his subscribers. You can expect some kind of special offer to be made towards the end of a webinar; these oftentimes do very wellas the participant has come to trust the presenter and will accept his explanation of the value of his products or services.

Finding a time for a webinar can be tough , since you may be dealing with people from all parts the world. It is possible to schedule more than one time for the live webinar but today it is typical to post a replay of the webinar for people who could not attend. One way to increase the number of folks who attend the live webinar is to offer something special to those who do, something beyond what will be available through the replays. Indeed, the idea of providing replays of live presentations is new to the world of webinars, and would look like a good idea. While these do not benefit from live interaction, you can have these set up to sell for you on a regular basis without the need for you to be there. Also, this overcomes any worries you may have in presenting live or any technical problems that can come up at a live event.

Obviously, webinars are a fantastic new tool for all Internet marketers. Take the time to become familiar with the procedures and you'll be well on your way to more conversions and sales.

About the Author:

William R.Heid writes about Earn More Cash Online with Webinars along with Mother of the Groom Speech.To know more about Mother of the Groom Wedding SpeechesClick here.

READ MORE - Make More Money On The Internet with Webinars

Wireless FM Modulators - A Convenient Technology

By James M. Boersma

In general there are two devices, the wired and wireless FM modulator, which convert audio from your iPod or MP3 player into RF signals that are then sent to your automobile's stereo system and played on an unused FM station. Typically, the modulator functions as a wired device, but there are quality modulators that are wireless.

The problem is most people don't fully understand the differences between the two products. A lot of people would say that the hardwired setup is the best; that may not be true though.

In my opinion, wireless technology is almost always the best option. Usually having something permanently installed results in unnecessary headaches when a repair or modification is needed.

To prove my point, let's first examine the process - and potential problems - of having a wired FM modulator permanently installed in your car/truck:

1. You need to first remove your radio from your vehicle without damaging the car so you can connect the FM modulator

2. You'll need to splice the proper wires (which may be quite difficult or confusing for a first-timer) and connect them with the correct wires from the car with electrical tape.

3. You'll also have to put it all back together after your done - hopefully - connecting it properly.

4. You'll have to go through the hassle of uninstalling the product should you decide you don't want it, or if the modulator stops working for whatever reason.

5. Since it's permanently installed, that means it will be inconvenient for someone leasing a car or looking to sell.

6. Since it's permanently installed, switching between multiple vehicles is not possible.

Since most of these wired FM modulators are installed in hard to reach places, it is very inconvenient to fix or repair them if they break down.

Wireless FM modulators will allow you to avoid all of these hassles; as it is a portable wireless device that requires no tricky installation. Additionally, it provides you with the multiple options for utilization, whether in your automobile or at home.

When shopping around for a wireless FM modulator, it's important to avoid a cheap, low quality modulator. Usually you'll find an abundance of $15 or $20 modulators that look like little toys you would buy for a toddler. These will give you terrible audio quality and considerable interference. But if you know what to look for, you should be able to find a high quality FM modulator that you'll be very happy with.

In addition, a wireless FM modulator provides you with the following benefits:

1. The modulator can be used in virtually any location and with nearly any audio source.

2. It can broadcast on any frequency between 88.1 and 107.9.

3. Microphone plug-in, automatic gain control, volume and mute control, ability to switch from mono to stereo, preset frequencies that allow you to easily switch between favorites and a manual on/off switch.

4. A wall adapter, USB, cigarette lighter and batteries can all be used to power the device.

5. The capability to broadcast your audio up to 150 feet, just about the maximum allowed by the FCC.

Having the freedom to use the wireless FM modulator in multiple locations make it a tremendously convenient product. With audio quality that rivals a wired FM modulator, there is really no reason to limit yourself to one vehicle. A wireless FM modulator gives you many more possible uses and is a breeze to set up and maintain.

About the Author:

Ready to enjoy your MP3 player in the car? Read the full rundown on why our Modulator FM is such an outstanding wireless modulator. Also, check out the Whole House FM Transmitter 2.0 and judge for yourself why it's truly the best FM Transmitter available.

READ MORE - Wireless FM Modulators - A Convenient Technology

Advice for getting music for your iPod.

By Brian Fuller

Listeners of the free online music services AOL Radio and Yahoo! Launchcast are now building and expanding their iPods automatically by using a new recording tool called iGetMusic.

Building a free iPod music collection has traditionally been a tedious task. Ripping tracks from a CD and converting the tracks to MP3s would be the most commonly used method. Title and artist meta data would then be added manually as the final step or by using a download service.

This traditional approach has changed more recently as more and more users are downloading tracks from online retailers such as iTunes or P2P networks. Aside from P2P downloads not always being legal, downloading individual tracks takes a significant amount of time. Having to manually enter track information, searching and then downloading individual tracks for hundreds or even thousand tracks will take a large amount of time. In addition, the record industry, plagued by ever falling sales, has flooded P2P networks with fakes in an attempt to slow illegal downloads.

To simplify this task, internet radio rippers have become more widespread, such as StreamRipper as a legal alternative to P2P downloads. These programs help automate the process. However, the biggest problem with internet radio rippers is that they are unable to produce cleanly cut tracks since online broadcasters will cross-fade between individual tracks. Thus each song will miss a portion at the beginning or end to remove the cross-faded section. These rippers use the meta data broadcast by online radio stations to determine the beginning or end of each track in order to split tracks. Broadcasters, however, are deliberately varying the time when the meta data changes in relation to the beginning of each track. As a result, in order to get properly cut tracks, a user will manually have to process each track which will take a significant amount of time.

A new recording tool from Amphony called "iGetMusic" avoids the drawbacks of these traditional approaches by extracting tracks from free online radio services such as AOL Radio and Yahoo! Launchcast, which each offer hundreds of music genres. This application will run in the background and store each song that is being broadcast by these online music services into a directory of choice. Each track is properly tagged by iGetMusic with title, artist, album and genre information which allows organizing tracks in iTunes and other music organizers. The tracks saved by iGetMusic are full length, i.e. do not miss anything at the beginning or ending. Having properly tagged songs is important when trying to play songs from a particular artist or album.

After starting iGetMusic, a user will start one or several browser tabs and tune each tab into the desired music channel. iGetMusic is able to extract the songs from any number of browser tabs in parallel thus greatly increasing the recording speed. In practice, the maximum recording speed is only limited by the speed of the internet connection and the speed of the computer. This means that several thousand tracks can be created in a single day. iGetMusic will recognize which songs already exist and not record any duplicate songs.

Another feature is the ability to automatically save album covers. These covers can be displayed in a media player such as Winamp or on an iPod. Further, a user can create a blacklist with the names of artists that iGetMusic should not record.

Given the large amount of tracks that can be generated by iGetMusic, storage capacity of an iPod is a limiting factor. An iPod nano, for example, will store up to 16 GBytes of data. That will theoretically will hold up to 4000 MP3s depending on the audio quality or bit rate. To help increase the amount of songs that can be stored on an iPod, iGetMusic uses the new AAC Plus (M4A) audio format which cuts the size of each track in half without sacrificing sound quality compared to the MP3 format. This means that an iPod nano can hold up to 8000 tracks generated by iGetMusic. The drawback is that some older MP3 players do not yet support AAC Plus files. As a remedy for these players, iGetMusic allows batch conversion of the tracks into MP3s using a 3rd party converter.

About the Author:

Find additional information about finding free iPod music as well as iGetMusic from Amphony's website.

READ MORE - Advice for getting music for your iPod.

A glance at the most recent wireless surround speaker kit products.

By Gunter Fellbaum

A new trend is the appearance of an increasing number of home theater systems with cordless speakers or a separate wireless surround sound kit. As multi-channel audio still is a fairly new phenomenon, older homes are not prewired for surround sound, especially with the most recent trend of 7.1 surround systems. As such a wireless option appears to seem like the logical choice. But are these wireless surround sound kits reliable enough for real-world applications and do they get rid of the dreaded cable clutter?

Looking at available wireless surround sound kits, you will notice that most of them, such as the products from Rocketfish or LG will connect two speakers to a wireless receiver unit. As a result, such systems, while eliminating the speaker cable from the front of the room to the rear, do not really eliminate speaker cable but only reduce it. As such products with separate wireless receivers for each speakers, such as the product from Amphony, offer a much cleaner solution since each receiver can be attached directly to the speaker of choice.

The big question is: do these wireless systems have any impact on audio quality? When choosing a wireless surround sound kit, one should prefer a system where the audio is transmitted digitally. This will ensure that the signal does not pick up noise during the transmission. Another consideration is the quality of the audio amplifier inside the wireless receiver. A good-quality amplifier will have minimum audio distortion and high efficiency. Also, picking a small-size wireless receiver will help hide it from view.

Another issue to consider is that in a home theater setting is that the sound to all speakers should be in sync with the video and also in sync with each speaker. Some wireless units such as the Rocketfish will introduce a delay in the signal, apparently to cope with interference. As such you should investigate how much the signal travelling to the wireless speaker will be delayed. The Amphony product however specifies a delay of less than 1 ms which should be low enough for pretty much any real-world application. Finally, how reliable are wireless speakers and wireless surround sound kits?

But how well do these wireless kits work in a real-world scenario? One of the biggest concerns should be interference from other wireless devices. In the US, wireless devices are restricted to a limited number of frequency bands. Especially the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequency band are increasingly crowded by WiFi, Bluetooth and an array of other devices making interference more of a concern. Picking a system working at an alternate frequency band such as the 5.8 GHz band would naturally reduce the impact from competing devices.

In addition to connecting rear speakers in a home theater setting, another useful application of a wireless surround sound kit is setting up speakers wirelessly in another room in cases where installing speaker wire between different rooms presents a challenge or for setting up speakers in your backyard within minutes. The applications are endless.

About the Author:

You can find additional information about stereo speakers from Amphony's website.

READ MORE - A glance at the most recent wireless surround speaker kit products.

FM Modulator For My iPod

By James M. Boersma

Listening to an iPod when on the go is something that is important to my everyday life. Ever since portable CD players came out, I've been hooked on always having portable music with me. My day would seem bland and boring if I were to listen to the radio for an extended period of time.

iPods took portable music to a whole new level. The stylish nature of the iPod and all other Apple products makes their customers extremely loyal. Apple products are usually easy to use and feature intuitive menus and operating systems. Using an iPod when driving in the car is a great way to make the morning drive less mundane. In an older car there may not be a quick and easy way to hook it up though. An easy way to solve this problem is to purchase an FM modulator.

Most of my friends think that wired FM modulators are the best way to connect an iPod to your car stereo. I, however, think my friends are crazy. Ripping apart my dash to hook up my iPod is not something that sounds desirable to me at all. I don't have any experience with wiring or electrical installations, so the thought of wasting a Saturday trying to install a modulator sounds pretty stupid. A wireless unit that I don't have to install seems to be the better choice.

The best wireless FM modulators are able to transmit over any frequency on the public FM band. A quality wireless FM modulator will also be compatible with any audio source and be able to broadcast that audio for up to 150 feet. Here is an example of a good wireless FM modulator.

Sites like eBay and Amazon are a good place to do product research. The feedback on these sites will usually tell you whether or not you're purchasing a quality product. Of course their is always going to be a few people who trash a product even if it's great, but as long as most of the comments are positive you can bet it is a good product.

Wireless FM modulators give you many more options than a wired unit. Being able to use the modulator in multiple vehicles and other locations like your home is a huge advantage. Wireless units are also much easier to use and setup because they require no extensive installation like a wired FM modulator. All in all a wireless FM modulator provides more bang for the buck.

About the Author:

Ready to enjoy your MP3 player in the car? Check out the full report on why our FM Modulator is such an outstanding wireless modulator. Also, check out the Whole House FM Transmitter 2.0 and judge for yourself why it's truly the best FM Transmitter on the market.

READ MORE - FM Modulator For My iPod