iTunesVolume (download link below) is an awesome little program that I found a few days ago via macosxhints. It has a number of features – the ability to start and stop iTunes, change the volume, rate the current track, and display the current track’s info and lyrics – all conveniently accessed from the desktop! My favorite feature, however, is that it displays the current track’s album artwork on the desktop (fully resizable). I love being able to see the album artwork of the track I’m playing, and I think that the desktop is a perfect place to put it, but few programs offer this option.
I’ve been using iTunesVolume for a few days now and it works well, always changing the artwork within seconds of changing tracks on iTunes. The display preferences are numerous – the three components can made transparent and not all of them need to be shown. I only have the volume controller and the artwork running, as seen in the screen capture below:
One caveat: activity monitor shows that this program seems to utilize the CPU more than it should. I didn’t notice any significant speed issues while I was using it, but bear that in mind if your Mac seems slower after installing it.
The author’s website is currently down due to overusage of bandwidth, but the program can be downloaded at this mirror until the site is fixed.
P.S. Jokes relating to Coldplay and The 40-Year Old Virgin will not be appreciated
I’m obsessed with this song really catchy song called “Längst Fram I Taxin” by Swedish rap group Snook. One of my friends who spent a semester in Sweden at Uppsala Universitet introduced me to it.
I have no idea what the song is about, what it means, just that it has something to do with a taxi. Listening to music in other languages is great because you can just concentrate on the sounds. I think the way that these guys dress and dance is so awesome – especially when all three are just chilling on top of the building. I also like the way that certain clips are played backward and forward a few times in a row, like a visual record scratching.
Here’s the music video, courtesy of YouTube (skip the first 30 seconds):
I haven’t been to a concert since seeing Jurassic 5 at Higher Ground two days before coming back to school. Actually I lie, the Spin Doctors came to our school for Yellowjacket Weekend in the fall, but since I only watched while they played “Two Princes” (their one hit song), I don’t really count it. So I was excited to go see Ben Folds last night in Geneseo, but also a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to handle two hours of his music. There’s only so long I can listen to songs that are overwhelmingly piano without needing a break, Billy Joel being the exception. No need to worry, though, the concert was really awesome. The show was sold out, but we had a really good spot about 20 feet from the stage. The audience was energetic and as Ben himself remarked, the acoustics in the gym were really good.
He played a good mix of stuff off of his new and old solo albums, and threw some Ben Folds Five stuff in there as well. Sadly, he didn’t play “Brick,” but he did play my second favorite song “Landed,” from the album Songs For Silverman. He got the crowd going for the instrumental part in the middle of “Army,” and also for his infamous cover of Dr. Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit.” He also covered “Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service, which has one of my favorite music videos of all time. Call me a nerd, but the way they set the silicon wafer manufacturing process to music and then put it in the much greater context of the universe at the end is genius.
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