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Apple's iTunes software takes a lot of criticism from CNET readers. It's a gigantic memory hog of a program that attempts to do everything from downloading iBooks (e-books) to synchronizing apps with your iPad. For a piece of software named for its music playback capability, that feature seems to be a diminishing part of iTunes' appeal.

But groan all you want, iTunes is still one of the most popular ways to play music on your computer.

If you're one of the millions who get your daily music fix through Apple's ubiquitous software, here are a few … Read more

3D Music Player Pro gives you some interesting options for enriching the sound of your music, and it does a pretty good job with only a few flaws. Upon launch, use the plus-sign button in the upper left to add a couple of songs from your music library and test the various effects. Once they're queued up, you can play a song and then touch the 3D Sound button to hear the basic audio enhancements in the app. We noticed a difference immediately in our testing, with the app adding a much fuller and warmer sound to our music.… Read more

Just about every home theater receiver comes with an automatic speaker setup and calibration system: Denon, Marantz, and Onkyo feature Audyssey; Pioneer has MCACC (multichannel acoustic calibration); Sony's is called DCAC (digital cinema auto calibration); and Yamaha's proprietary system goes by the name YPAO (Yamaha Parametric Room Acoustic Optimizer). The systems handle the basics like determining the sizes of all the speakers, setting speaker and subwoofer volume levels and the speaker-subwoofer crossover point, measuring the distances from the speakers to the listener, and checking that all of the speaker cables are correctly hooked up. Some autosetup systems also employ equalization to balance the frequency response of all the speakers, and they try to minimize room acoustic problems.

To accomplish these goals, the systems send test tones through all of the speakers and the subwoofer, and they all use a microphone to capture the sounds of the speakers. Autosetup is a great idea, but there's no guarantee you'll have a perfectly adjusted home theater sound after the test tones have run through all of their beeps, whooshes, and thumps. The volume levels of the speakers may not be perfectly adjusted, the speaker-to-listener distances may be inaccurate, and the subwoofer volume may be too loud or too low. In the worst cases, the autosetup sounds worse than doing no setup at all.

These malfunctions can be caused by a number of things: your room may not be quiet enough, microphone placement can have an effect, or your subwoofer's built-in volume control may be set too low or too high. I'd recommend checking that all of the speakers are wired "in-phase," meaning red/+ and black/- connections are consistent at the speaker and receiver ends. Some autosetup systems check the wiring, but try to get it right in the first place.

I recently met with Chris Kyriakakis, Audyssey's CTO and founder, to talk about new developments at Audyssey, and while I had his ear, I brought up my concerns about autosetup problems. He followed up with a list of tips that generally apply to most autosetup systems. There's a lot of useful information about Audyssey setup on the company's Web site.… Read more

We last heard of Spracht with the Spracht Aura BluNote Bluetooth speaker a few months ago, but it looks like the company has ventured into the headset category with the Spracht Aura EQ.

The Aura EQ has a distinct design with angles and lines that remind us of the Egyptian pyramids. It has quite a number of features as well--dual microphones that can be switched and focused, the ability to pair with up to eight devices, a built-in six-band equalizer, and an array of ways to cancel out pesky background noise.

It also has a capacitive touch volume control (you … Read more

That's right, I said it. You want to know why Steve Jobs doesn't include advanced EQ settings on the iPod? It's because he thinks you're a drooling baby who can't be trusted not to mangle your own music. Considering how few of you care enough to slap a decent pair of earbuds on your MP3 player, he may have the right idea.

Truth is, in this iPod-dominated world, most listeners aren't aware of all the cool sound-enhancement technology being developed for non-iPod MP3 players. For those who yearn to take your music to new … Read more

In addition to unveiling a trio of new Rokr phones, Motorola announced today the U.S. availability of the Motorola Rokr EQ7 and the Motorola Rokr EQ5 portable speakers. The Bluetooth accessories allow you to wirelessly play your music or take speakerphone calls from a compatible cell phone like the Motorola Rokr E8 and can be purchased directly from Motorola or at electronic retail stores.

The Motorola Rokr EQ7 features four JBL speakers and noise- and echo-reduction technology for better sound quality during phone calls. While it's Bluetooth-enabled (A2DP), there's also a 3.5mm audio cable included in … Read more

When I first saw Motorola was releasing something called the Rokr EQ3, I thought it was a phone. Instead, the Rokr EQ3 marks Motorola's foray into the portable speaker market. The EQ3 is a compact little speaker that folds up to a smaller and more portable size. It's not a Bluetooth speaker though; you'll still have to use the regular ol' 3.5mm plug, which is great for MP3 players, but not so convenient for most cell phones that still use the 2.5mm jack, so you might want to spring for an adapter if you want … Read more