MAKE IT • STREAM IT SPECIAL WEAR IT • SING IT ISSUE RIP IT • PLAY IT ULTIMATE GET MORE FROM TECHNOLOGY DIGITAL 48 COOL PRODUCTS MUSIC COMPARED MP3 PLAYERS GUIDE HEADPHONES SERVICES SIRIUS VS. XM DJ GEAR HOME STUDIO HOW TO USB GUITAR SIMPLE STREAMING TIPS KARAOKE EASY WAYS ...AND MORE! TO TAKE IT ANYWHERE ROCK STAR SECRETS FROM FLAMING LIPS, DEVO, AND MORE! Master Your Music Play it. Share it. Rip It. Stream it. Sing it. Scratch it. Take it with you. Our 15-page guide shows you every way to enjoy digital music. BY MIKE KOBRIN WHAT’S INSIDE PERHAPS YOU SUFFER FROM THE SAME 64 MP3 players serious addiction that has gripped me for much of my 66 Subscription Services life: I have to have music with me at just about every 66 Devo’s Mark step of my day. I wake up with John Coltrane on my Mothersbaugh JBL On Time clock radio, sip my morning coffee while 67 Brian “BT” Transeau listening to NPR streaming from a Sonos ZonePlayer 68 Wireless Streaming Devices 80, and catch a morning train with my iPod nano and 70 Front Row versus Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 Pro earphones. Media Center At work, I dock my iPod and switch to the Sennheiser 70 Convert Your CDs PX100 headphones. Lucky for me, my job involves testing 71 The Flaming Lips 74 Music Clothes and audio gear, so I get to use a variety of software (iTunes, Headphones WMP, Musicmatch) and services (Rhapsody, Napster, 74 Satellite Radio Audible, Vongo) nearly every day while I’m at my desk. Compared On the following pages, we offer some tips and buy- 75 DJ How-To 77 Home Studio Tips ing advice for music lovers. And if you’re also a musi- 78 Recording Live Music cian like me, don’t miss our lowdown on setting up your 79 Fun Music Gear home studio or being your own DJ. 62 PC MAGAZINE AUGUST 22, 2006 Illustration by Joe Zeff AUGUST 22, 2006 PC MAGAZINE 63 Find an MP3 Player To Suit Your Lifestyle OU’RE PROBABLY WONDERING IF include FM tuners, voice/FM/line-in recording, port able music players will go the and photo viewing. A few players—both fl ash and way of the audio cassette, thanks hard drive—also have media card slots, giving you to increasingly music-capable cell potentially unlimited storage. Y phones. Not quite. Dedicated au- Which sounds better? Two important factors dio players are far from obsolete. are frequency response and output power. In test- MP3 players fall into two main categories: hard ing, I generally fi nd that both fl ash and hard drive drive and fl ash memory. Hard drive players range players have fl at frequency responses except in the from 3GB to 100GB, though most fall in the 8GB to bass, where they both usually have some weakness. 30GB range. Some newer fl ash players—one exam- Headphones, however, signifi cantly infl uence how ple is the SanDisk Sansa e270, which takes a swipe a player sounds. The earbuds bundled with most at the iPod with SanDisk’s iSheep campaign (www players are terrible, and I almost always recommend JUGGLE playlists and .idont.com)—currently top out at 6GB. But most upgrading (for suggestions, see page 68). swords simultaneously. players fall in the 512MB to 4GB range. Today’s MP3 players include a bewildering Chipsets are also evolving, especially in the fl ash variety of displays. OLED screens are now fairly player space. Though today’s fl ash players now play common, but while they save battery life and have back video, they currently max out at 15 frames per perfect viewing angles, they aren’t nearly as high- second. Manufacturers may try to beef up their resolution as LCDs. chipsets to handle 30-fps video, which would help Screen size seems to have settled down to smooth the jerkiness of video at 15 fps, but watching roughly 1.5 inches for fl ash players and 2.5 inches video on a tiny 1.5-inch screen is still not ideal. for hard drive players. Photos and very short video Hard drive players used to have better features clips are fine on the smallest screens, but longer (and more of them) than fl ash players, but that’s no clips and TV shows are defi nitely more watchable longer the case. Even the tiniest fl ash players now on 2.5 inches. HARD DRIVE MP3 PLAYERS Although bigger and heavier than fl ash players, hard drive players are ideal for storing all (or a good chunk) of your music collection, as well as for viewing photos and video. Apple iPod 30GB Archos AV 500 Cowon iAudio X5 Creative Zen Toshiba gigabeat S (with video) With a very sharp, About the same size MicroPhoto The gigabeat S has a We awarded this next- widescreen 4-inch LCD, and weight as the 20GB The MicroPhoto’s color sharp 2.4-inch LCD, a gen iPod with video our a sleek brushed-alumi- iPod, the X5 has great OLED screen, good slim profi le, a nifty cross- highest rating because num casing, and a slim sound quality, broad fi le sound quality, feature shaped button array, it is stylish, easy to use, profi le, the AV 500 of- support, a handy USB set, and choice of good sound quality, and and the best at playing fers video recording and 2.0 port, 3.5mm line-in ten colors make it runs Windows Mobile. music and video. playback features that and line-out jacks, and a standout. Reviewed on page 30. 30GB, $299 direct are unparalleled. a DC power jack. 8GB, $199.99 direct 30GB, $299.99 direct go.pcmag.com/ipod- 30GB, $499.95 direct 20GB, $299 direct go.pcmag.com/ go.pcmag.com/ video go.pcmag.com/av500 go.pcmag.com/iaudiox5 microphoto gigabeats lllll llllh lllhm llllh llllm 64 PC MAGAZINE AUGUST 22, 2006 COOL MUSIC LINKS GARAGEBAND.COM This site is the “it ” destination if you want to discover new music or launch your yet- unsigned carport supergroup. You register, pick a genre, and review a song at random. Your review is scored and you earn points to redeem else- where on the site. The review is also sent to the band, which may ask you for specifi c feedback. PANDORA.COM Part of the Music Another important consideration is whether one Apple is rumored to be developing for the iPod. Genome Project, Pandora is a good way your player supports your music subscription ser- Wireless transfer is available via devices such as the to discover new music. vice. iPods work only with the iTunes Music Store, MusicGremlin MG1000 (go.pcmag.com/mg1000) but You create a station and players that carry the Microsoft PlaysForSure will be much more prevalent in 2007. And as fl ash by typing in a song or logo work (or should work) with download and memory prices drop, we’ll see greater capacities at artist you like. Then it subscription services like MTV’s Urge, Napster, lower prices, which will eventually spell the end of scans its music library and Yahoo! Music Unlimited (see page 66) low-capacity (8GB or less) hard drive players. for songs with similar attributes. As you lis- Sometime next year we’re going to see even Check out the players here to see if anything fi ts ten, just vote thumbs- more features integrated into MP3 players, such as your needs. And if you’re not sure what those needs up or thumbs-down Bluetooth headphone support, more sophisticated are, get some help from our online buying guide at to narrow down the recording capabilities, and new interfaces like the go.pcmag.com/mp3players.—MK results. FLASH MP3 PLAYERS These little beauties are perfect for the gym or for tossing into a pocket for your commute. Storage capacities are going up, as are features, such as line-in recording and FM radio. Apple iPod nano Cowon iAudio U3 Creative Zen V Plus Samsung Yepp YP-Z5 SanDisk Sansa e260 Apple wins again with The tiny U3 has good A good alternative to The YP-Z5 was the fi rst The e260’s style, per- the nano’s unsurpassed sound-enhancement op- the nano, the Zen V Plus 4GB fl ash player to sup- formance, and features interface, excellent tions and voice/line-in/ comes in several colors port PlaysForSure, but (such as a microSD slot, sound quality, and FM recording, and sup- and capacities (up to we’re more impressed PlaysForSure support, undeniable cool factor. ports many fi le types. 4GB). It also offers with its 30-hour battery and a user-replaceable 4GB, $249 direct Its screen can display features such as video life, large screen, and battery) make it the go.pcmag.com/nano photos and videos, but playback, FM radio, and good photo-viewing best non-Apple player llllh the quality is not stellar. voice/line-in recording. features. out there. 2GB, $219.99 list 2GB, $169.99 direct 4GB, $280 street 4GB, $229.99 direct go.pcmag.com/cowonu3 go.pcmag.com/zenvplus go.pcmag.com/ypz5 go.pcmag.com/e260 llllm llllm llllm llllh AUGUST 22, 2006 PC MAGAZINE 65 Music Subscription Services Why buy the cow when you can rent the milk? T’S BEEN 15 YEARS SINCE THE SOVIET MTV service called Urge all claim to have more Union fell and China started beating us than two million songs in the bank. Yahoo! current- at our own capitalist game.