Oliver Siodmak's Rants & Raves

I have been using iTunes on my Mac and PC for years but it was not until this past week that I actually contributed back to the iTunes community by creating and uploading my own iMix to iTunes.

iTunes allows you to organize, share and listen to music on your computer. The iTunes program is downloadable for free from Apple Computer. Once installed, you can use iTunes to puchase downloadble music and audiobooks from Apple’s iTunes store as well as convert audio CDs to music files that you can store on your PC. Once you have music files (i.e., MP3 files) on your PC you can organize them into playlists. What is great about using a computer to manage your music collection is that you can create numerous playlists that meet your needs. Once you have created a playlist, you can share them with other iTunes users by exporting your song list up to the iTunes store. Once uploaded, any iTunes user browsing the iMix section of the iTunes store can view my iMix and opt to purchase one or more of the songs I have listed in the mix.

The iMix I created is called Enjoyable Background Tunes and it is viewable in the iTunes store.

John R Chang has written and revised a very helpful article on how to configure your Mac to use your GSM Cell Phone as a modem. While this article is written specifically around configuring your Mac to use the phone, you can also configure your Bluetooth enabled PC to do the same.

Before you use this option make sure you are on an unlimited GPRS data plan with your cell phone provider. While this method of communication will allow you to access the internet it is not the same as a good WiFi hotspot. If you plan to spend a lot of time surfing web site, get a big cup of coffee and have a lot of patience.

This communications method is recommended if no other internet connectivity options are available (i.e., WiFi, EV-DO, etc.) and you are not expecting to upload large files.