records

Will the single kill the album?

Is an album a more substantial work of art than a single? Or is a well-crafted single all we need? There were always singles, but in the days before the Internet, fans were sometimes "forced" to buy albums to get the music they wanted, even when most of the album's tunes weren't great. The hugely entertaining "The Great Debate: Singles vs. Albums" held last Monday at the New Music Seminar in NYC covered the issue in depth.

Robert Christgau, one of the first generations of professional "rock critics," was there to defend … Read more

Review: Audio Memos Free provides a clean interface and basic recording tools

Audio Memos Free is a fairly basic voice recorder without a lot of frills or added features, but with a solid, smooth performance that will work well for most casual users. Power users might want more, but the voice recording and editing functions here are all well-built and make for a solid, well-rounded, free app that outperforms many other free voice recorders, including the built-in tool that comes on all iPhones.

When you first open the app you can immediately start recording. You can change quite a few settings, as well, including the amplification, normalization, name, and quality of the … Read more

Review: Jaksta Media Recorder for Mac downloads online video and audio files

Jaksta Media Recorder for Mac offers a one-stop shop for recording and downloading media files from your favorite Web sites to your Mac. The program pairs easy-to-use controls with functionality. The trial version only successfully downloads YouTube videos, but it does so with speed and no hiccups.

Jaksta Media Recorder for Mac doesn't require any setup and the program is ready to run from the start. Upon startup the user is prompted to enter the registration code, purchase the full version, or continue in demo mode. The layout is very straightforward, but has a quality feel to it. Few … Read more

Review: Easily record, save, and replay sound with RecordPad Sound Recorder

Fully utilized for voice recording, RecordPad Sound Recorder for Mac enables users to successfully record audio notes, interviews, announcements, or lectures. The application is available as free to try for 14 days with no apparent limitations.

During the installation of RecordPad Sound Recorder for Mac you will be prompted to download optional programs and an Internet browser toolbar, which you can easily opt out of. You should also uncheck the options to allow the program to change your default search engine and start page unless you would like it to. Once the program opens, you will be greeted with a … Read more

Could the world's best turntables come from New Jersey?

VPI has been making turntables in New Jersey since the early 1980s when Ronald Reagan was president, and everyone thought the CD would kill the LP in a few years. Well, VPI is still there and is currently experiencing a sales boom.

Harry Weisfeld has been at the helm since Day One, but he's about to step down and let his son Matt run the company. Harry will continue to design turntables and tonearms. He makes prototypes, listens to his handiwork, and then goes back and tweaks the design. I spotted lots of failed designs all over the factory, … Read more

Review: Record voice chat sessions and other audio with Audio Record Wizard

NowSmart Studio's Audio Record Wizard makes it easy to record sounds on your PC from a microphone, a file, or anything you can plug into your sound card, like a tape deck or TV. It's great for recording chat sessions because it can record sounds from two sources, such as a microphone and Internet feed, and save it all as one file in a range of formats (MP3, OGG, WAV, and FLAC). It can convert and merge audio files, manage MP3 tags, and perform other audio editing duties. Many of its tools are particularly suited to voice recording, … Read more

White House defends snooping of Verizon phone records

The White House is defending the decision to collect the telephone records of U.S. citizens by labeling it an anti-terrorist measure.

The move by the National Security Agency to gather the phone records of Verizon customers was revealed on Wednesday by U.K. newspaper The Guardian. A court's top-secret order forced Verizon to hand over information about domestic and overseas calls "on an ongoing daily basis."

The court order, which can be seen on The Guardian's Web site, forces Verizon to release all call details or "telephony metadata" created by the carrier for … Read more

Mars rover Opportunity hits new record for miles driven in space

The plucky little Mars rover Opportunity has proven itself to be the Marco Polo of space. This extraterrestrial robot has set the new record for miles explored by a NASA vehicle in a world other than Earth, according to NASA.

On its 3,309th Martian day on the planet, Opportunity drove 263 feet along the western rim of the Endeavour Crater and broke records by putting its total distance traveled on Mars at 22.22 miles.

The previous record was set 40 years ago by Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt when they visited the moon for a … Read more

Intel and McAfee join forces, the Counting Crows talk apps, and Firefox revs to v21

Every week, we compile the best new reviews, products, and features from the Download.com software catalog and blog, package them up in a tidy little newsletter, and e-mail it out to all of our lovely subscribers.

If you are a registered CNET member, you can sign up for the newsletter yourself (it's listed as "CNET Download.com Software Dispatch" under "Software News and Reviews"), or check back every Tuesday to read our latest roundup.

Top Download News and Features

Mozilla Firefox updates to version 21 with a new Health Report and additional Do Not … Read more

Review: Create and upload videos with Vimeo

While it's hard to imagine there being a real competitor to YouTube's dominance of the Web video market, Vimeo has quietly made quite a name for itself in the past few years. With billions of videos and a robust sharing platform that has been used by businesses and thought leaders alike, Vimeo is one of the top video sharing sites on the Internet and the mobile app for iPhone and iPad is a perfect representation of why.

When you first open Vimeo, you'll see what makes it so different. This is a site about creating great content, … Read more