Gadgets Blog

For those of you who grew up in the days where cassette tapes were all the rage and CDs proved to be more expensive than what our weekly allowances could afford, here’s a gizmo that will certainly bring you back through the good old days - the U Record Music Converter.

Simply plug this stylish silver box into your computer, hook up your cassette deck or record player and get ready to catapult your analogue music collection into the digital age. The software provided makes it easier than ever to transfer your music onto your computer, clean up those annoying hisses and import it onto iTunes (or any other music software you decide to use).

Sounds (pun not intended) like the perfect purchase for those who want to preserve whatever’s left of their analog music collection for all posterity. After all, isn’t it silly to buy digitally remastered versions all over again from the Internet (or whatever future medium it comes in)? The U Record Music Converter will cost £49.99 a pop.

While the world has long stopped worshiping VHS tapes, that doesn’t mean there isn’t anyone on this earth using VHS tapes in their hopes or offices any more. After all, many Third World countries that have yet to make the jump across the digital divide still rely heavily upon this analog format to store their favorite memories on video. Granted, finding a working VHS player these days is pretty hard to do so, and if yours is still working, take good care of it! The repair cost will be astronomical, where most repairmen would recommend you to pick up a new DVD recorder instead. For those who still have a working VHS player and a bunch of VHS tapes sitting at home, why not immortalize them for posterity in a modern digital format? This is made possible with Roxio’s Easy VHS to DVD for Mac - a choice combination of hardware and software.

All you need to do to convert your bunch of analog content into the digital format would be to hook up the included USB video capture device to a Mac’s USB 2.0 port, where it allows you to record from virtually any analog video source. Both S-Video and composite-video input cables allow for full resolution DVD recording from a plethora of ancient devices including VCRs, VCR/DVD combo players and analog camcorders like those archaic Hi8 and V8 models. When transferred over to DVD, the story does not end there since you will have the advantage of exporting it to iMovie for further editing. In fact, I remember walking past a photo shop just last night when it had a banner hanging outside, saying “Save is not safe!” - so saving all those analog VHS tapes might be folly in the long run, why not transfer them over to the digital format for added peace of mind? Roxio’s Easy VHS to DVD for Mac will cost you $79.99.

Press Release

“She loves me, she loves me not, she loves me…” At least that is what it feels like with the Microsoft Zune HD ever since rumors of it started flying around the Internet. Microsoft has just confirmed that the Zune will make its metamorphosis from caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly with the Zune HD - a new piece of hardware that will bring unprecedented levels of enjoyment for your portable listening and viewing experiences, and with it, hope that will place it in a viable position to at least threaten the iPod’s dominant position in the portable media player market.

What’s new with the Zune HD, you ask? Well, it will feature an integrated HD Radio receiver that enables users to tune in to higher-quality sound compared to traditional radio on the go. Users can also help themselves to the extra song and artist data broadcast by HD Radio stations in addition to extra channels from their favorite stations multicasting in HD. If you find that not according to your liking, there is always the option to switch to its HD2 or HD3 channels for additional programming.

Hardware-wise, you will get a spanking new bright OLED touchscreen display that allows you to flip through music, movies and other stored content with relative ease, where the 480 x 272 resolution on its 16:9 widescreen display works perfectly well to convey visual stimuli without being a pain to your eyes in the long run. A HD-compatible output also allows you to playback supported HD video files from the Zune HD courtesy of a premium HDMI audiovisial docking station straight onto a HDTV in 720p resolution - although this will require you to fork out more dough as the HDMI audiovisual docking station is sold separately. A full-screen Internet browser with multitouch support and Wi-Fi connectivity completes the list of features.

Press Release