So if you're an avid Winamp user (or you're just fed up with iTunes), and the recent announcement of Winamp coming to a close has you looking for another media player, you'd be surprised on some other very good options out there.
MediaMonkey:
If you were to ask one of my friends, he would go on about how MediaMonkey is the best thing ever. Although that may be influenced with the fact that the icon has a picture of a monkey on it. Anyway, this media player supports playing MP3, AAC, OGG, WMA, FLAC, MPC, APE, and WAV files. It also can adjust volume levels automatically using ReplayGain and MP3Gain. The easiest part about transitioning from Winamp to MediaMonkey is that you can directly your ratings, playback information from Winamp, straight into MediaMonkey, so you don't lose any of your data. And, if you're lazy and don't want to keep adding music into your media player, no problem, MediaMonkey automatically monitor's the user's hard drive to ensure that any changes are automatically updated in the library. And if you're part of the population that's just sick of iTunes, you can even sync your iPod, iPhone and Android device with MediaMonkey instead of having to use dreaded iTunes (if you don't know why iTunes is bad, just Google it, there are many articles that explain why it's bad). There are many third party add-ons that support MediaMonkey, so there are many other features that MediaMonkey can support, you just need to dig a bit to find them and learn how to install them.
http://www.mediamonkey.com/
MusicBee:
This is a less-known solution but very-light weight and simplistic. MusicBee supports MP3, AAC, M4A, MPC, OGG, FLAC, APE, Opus, TAK, WV, WMA and WAV. Something that MusicBee does which is pretty awesome, is the ability to encode your music to and from all supported formats. So if you don't want to overload your iPod or MP3 with FLAC files, you can easily convert them to MP3 files or whatever file you desire. MusicBee also supports ReplayGain and file organization. Some may find this odd, but it also features web browsing. Yeah that's right, web browsing, right from the media player. Additionally, there are skins that can change the look of the player, and some winamp visualizers that can also be installed.
http://getmusicbee.com/
foobar2000:
Foobar2000 can either be the best experience with any music player ever, or the worst experience, depending on how patient you are with it. Foobar is a completely customizable music platform, and is also my personal choice for music playback. Foobar supports MP1, MP2, MP3, MPC, AAC, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC/Ogg FLAC, ALAC, WavPack, WAV, AIFF, AU, SND, CD, Speex, and Opus. Now that's a lot of files. The great thing about foobar, is that no two people will have the same layout, unless they of course copy each other. On the foobar website, people can download plugins which they can easily install and display on their interface. For example, if you want a lyrics scrolling down with the song you're listening to, you can download that plugin and have it on the interface. There are tutorials on how to get started with foobar and I highly recommend using this program (along with any of the programs suggested here).
http://www.foobar2000.org/
If you're on OS X, then here are some options for you as well. I have no experience with any of these programs, but I'm sure they all will be better than iTunes.
http://mashable.com/2013/07/31/alternatives-to-itunes/#_
So get out there, and enjoy music they way it is meant to be enjoyed!
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Monday, November 11, 2013
Battlefield 4 Review
So now that Battlefield 4 has been out for quite sometime (and I'm not popular enough to get an early copy), I can finally give my verdict about this game.
Before I start praising or criticize this game, let me share some experiences that I've had so far. Battlefield is known for its interactive maps, breaking buildings, blowing up tanks and vehicles, and the famous skyscraper falling to the ground. The BF4 beta only had one map, and everyone was amazed that a huge skyscraper is able to be brought to the ground, and to follow it up, the map was then filled with debris, making it harder to see and more challenging to the players. But, that's not all EA had up their sleeves in this title.
In one of the maps, there are a bunch of little islands. Players can use attack boats, helicopters, or just stay on foot to travel around this map. After a while, a monsoon will start, and the waves get much bigger and it gets harder to control a boat. But that's not all. Eventually, a "battle cruiser" like ship (I don't know the technical terms. A REALLY BIG SHIP) washes on shore and will kill everything in its path. Unfortunately (but fortunate for me) an enemy attack boat was in the way of this beast. So here's this boat trying to shoot me and then a boat probably 500 times its size is coming from behind it. And BOOM, the attack ship explodes as the huge ship runs into it and washes on shore. Literally, I was in awe. It was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen in gaming (so far), and that happened on the first day I played the game!
Now I won't get into the single player too much, as people usually buy this game for the sake of playing online. Needless to say, this game is a difficult FPS to master. Especially if you're transferring from Call of Duty (which is fine, we're just glad you made the change). The recoil form the gun feel like there's a lot more than Battlefield 3, which I love. It gives a bigger challenge to get kills and provides a more realistic and rewarding experience.
Something new the Battlefield 4 offers is the hardcore mode. If you were to choose a hardcore server, the first thing you will probably notice is that the mini-map is turned off. This may frighten the new Battlefield players, and to be honest, if you're new, stick to the regular mode just to learn the maps and to get comfortable with the game first. The second thing you might notice is that there are no crosshairs. This is expected in a hardcore game, because, well, it's hardcore, and there shouldn't be a crosshair in the middle of your screen. Then there are the little thing that you wouldn't notice right away. Things like players have less health (about 50-60%), no health regen is available, there's no ammo count and reloading makes you lose the rest of the bullets that were in that clip, on some servers, spotting has been turned off and of course there is friendly fire.
Overall, the experience of Battlefield 4 is amazing. The graphics are stellar, the game play is solid, the sound is unbeatable (honestly people, the sounds of this game is the BEST sound of any shooter game), and most importantly, the game is a lot of fun. Hours can be lost with this game, and it's definitely worth checking out.
Please, if you haven't already, subscribe to my blog/ RSS feed and keep coming back for computer or video game related content.
Before I start praising or criticize this game, let me share some experiences that I've had so far. Battlefield is known for its interactive maps, breaking buildings, blowing up tanks and vehicles, and the famous skyscraper falling to the ground. The BF4 beta only had one map, and everyone was amazed that a huge skyscraper is able to be brought to the ground, and to follow it up, the map was then filled with debris, making it harder to see and more challenging to the players. But, that's not all EA had up their sleeves in this title.
In one of the maps, there are a bunch of little islands. Players can use attack boats, helicopters, or just stay on foot to travel around this map. After a while, a monsoon will start, and the waves get much bigger and it gets harder to control a boat. But that's not all. Eventually, a "battle cruiser" like ship (I don't know the technical terms. A REALLY BIG SHIP) washes on shore and will kill everything in its path. Unfortunately (but fortunate for me) an enemy attack boat was in the way of this beast. So here's this boat trying to shoot me and then a boat probably 500 times its size is coming from behind it. And BOOM, the attack ship explodes as the huge ship runs into it and washes on shore. Literally, I was in awe. It was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen in gaming (so far), and that happened on the first day I played the game!
Now I won't get into the single player too much, as people usually buy this game for the sake of playing online. Needless to say, this game is a difficult FPS to master. Especially if you're transferring from Call of Duty (which is fine, we're just glad you made the change). The recoil form the gun feel like there's a lot more than Battlefield 3, which I love. It gives a bigger challenge to get kills and provides a more realistic and rewarding experience.
Something new the Battlefield 4 offers is the hardcore mode. If you were to choose a hardcore server, the first thing you will probably notice is that the mini-map is turned off. This may frighten the new Battlefield players, and to be honest, if you're new, stick to the regular mode just to learn the maps and to get comfortable with the game first. The second thing you might notice is that there are no crosshairs. This is expected in a hardcore game, because, well, it's hardcore, and there shouldn't be a crosshair in the middle of your screen. Then there are the little thing that you wouldn't notice right away. Things like players have less health (about 50-60%), no health regen is available, there's no ammo count and reloading makes you lose the rest of the bullets that were in that clip, on some servers, spotting has been turned off and of course there is friendly fire.
Overall, the experience of Battlefield 4 is amazing. The graphics are stellar, the game play is solid, the sound is unbeatable (honestly people, the sounds of this game is the BEST sound of any shooter game), and most importantly, the game is a lot of fun. Hours can be lost with this game, and it's definitely worth checking out.
Please, if you haven't already, subscribe to my blog/ RSS feed and keep coming back for computer or video game related content.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Logitech G710+ Keyboard Review
The Logitech G710+ is a mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches. For those who aren't familiar with switch types, brown switches have a tactile bump to let the user know that the key has been registered. This is generally good for typists because when you get used to the keyboard, you don't need to push the key all the way down to register the key, thus have more stamina when typing.
Some gamers tend to prefer Cherry Brown switches as well, because they enjoy that "bump". Personally, I enjoy brown switches for typing. It's really good knowing exactly when the key is registered. But everyone has their own preference.
The Logitech G710+ also includes white illuminated keys, all of which are individually lit with their own LED. I always love illuminated keys. It may be because I game in the dark a lot, but even when I have light, it's always a nice touch.
There are also 6 programmable G-keys, otherwise known as macros. There's also three different profiles, so essentially, you have 18 programmable keys. There's also a volume scroll wheel, and dedicated media keys. Media keys are the best thing since sliced bread. It makes changing volume, pausing and changing songs a lot easier when in game or whatever you're doing on your computer.
Logitech has arguably the best software for their peripherals. Logitech Gaming Software is extremely easy to use and has everything you could possibly want. Every game can be set up with a different profile, meaning the G-keys on the left of the keyboard can be programmed to be specific for a particular game. So my macros for WoW won't interfere with my extra key bindings for Skyrim.
The keyboard also features a Windows lock key, or a gaming profile as some may call it. All this does is lock the Windows key so that if it gets pressed, the start menu won't open and you won't accidently exit your game. I love this feature on any keyboard. But that's because I actually never use the windows button, so I always have this feature on.
A small little feature that some may enjoy is the different colored, and different lighting profiles for the WASD keys and arrow keys. These keys are grey instead of black, which outline them very well, and have a separate profile. This means that if you only want to illuminate the WASD and arrow keys and have everything else dark (or vice versa), it can easily be done with the 5 different lighting intensities.
Overall, this is a solid mechanical keyboard. For fans of the brown switches, I recommend this keyboard. However, there is one little catch to this keyboard. It's hard to keep clean from dust and fingerprints. But if that's not a big deal for you, then by all means, this keyboard is fantastic.
Some gamers tend to prefer Cherry Brown switches as well, because they enjoy that "bump". Personally, I enjoy brown switches for typing. It's really good knowing exactly when the key is registered. But everyone has their own preference.
The Logitech G710+ also includes white illuminated keys, all of which are individually lit with their own LED. I always love illuminated keys. It may be because I game in the dark a lot, but even when I have light, it's always a nice touch.
There are also 6 programmable G-keys, otherwise known as macros. There's also three different profiles, so essentially, you have 18 programmable keys. There's also a volume scroll wheel, and dedicated media keys. Media keys are the best thing since sliced bread. It makes changing volume, pausing and changing songs a lot easier when in game or whatever you're doing on your computer.
Logitech has arguably the best software for their peripherals. Logitech Gaming Software is extremely easy to use and has everything you could possibly want. Every game can be set up with a different profile, meaning the G-keys on the left of the keyboard can be programmed to be specific for a particular game. So my macros for WoW won't interfere with my extra key bindings for Skyrim.
The keyboard also features a Windows lock key, or a gaming profile as some may call it. All this does is lock the Windows key so that if it gets pressed, the start menu won't open and you won't accidently exit your game. I love this feature on any keyboard. But that's because I actually never use the windows button, so I always have this feature on.
A small little feature that some may enjoy is the different colored, and different lighting profiles for the WASD keys and arrow keys. These keys are grey instead of black, which outline them very well, and have a separate profile. This means that if you only want to illuminate the WASD and arrow keys and have everything else dark (or vice versa), it can easily be done with the 5 different lighting intensities.
Overall, this is a solid mechanical keyboard. For fans of the brown switches, I recommend this keyboard. However, there is one little catch to this keyboard. It's hard to keep clean from dust and fingerprints. But if that's not a big deal for you, then by all means, this keyboard is fantastic.
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