28 Apr, 2009  |  Written by L  |  under Tech

Need a word processor but can afford Microsoft Word’s hefty pricetag?  Need to do some work with your photos but unwilling to fork over the small fortune it takes to purchase Photoshop? AlternativeTo has you covered.  This site provides alternatives to the most popular applications, both commercial and free.

 

The best part of AlternativeTo is the fact that you can vote on the suggested alternative and even make your own suggestions.

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25 Apr, 2009  |  Written by L  |  under Tech

 

 I recently discovered a new web-based music player that has quickly become my favorite.  It’s      called MixTape.me and I can virtually guarantee that it’s going to become your favorite too.  This web application was designed to look and feel like a desktop music player.  Using it, you can easily create and share playlists, listen to music, learn about music, and watch videos.  There’s several reasons why MixTape.me stands out but below I’ll tell you about the two that were the deciding factors in making this my new favorite music player:  the playlists and the interface.

 

 

Playlists

My favorite part is the site’s playlists.  Here’s why they are such a big deal:

  • Easily create playlists.  Once you search for the song you want, it’s as simple as drag-and-drop.  In fact, there’s a Quick Playlist drop box that makes it even easier than drag-and-drop.
  • Easy to share playlists.  Each playlist has its own URL, which allows you to send a link to all of your friends, regardless of whether they have an account or not.
  • Embed links.  Each playlist provides an embed link that allows you to post it on your website.
  • Easily discover new music.  In addition to displaying the popular playlists and recent playlists, it also displays the username who created the playlist.  Found a playlist you like?  Since you and the creator obviously have similar tastes in music, you can click on its name and check out what other playlists have been created.  You can also follow that user to check out ones created in the future.

Interface

What more description do you need.  Look at it.  It’s a slick interface that manages to pack a significant amount of features in but still leaves enough empty space to prevent it from looking cluttered, all the while maintaining the simplicity that allows new users to immediately become addicted (guilty here).

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