Previously on the Tech in Me:
Whenever I needed to make a mix CD with some of my MP3s, I would always get pissed off because iTunes always puts the files directly on the root folder of the CD and ignores the folder structure that exists in the original music folder. This is very annoying especially because some 
MP3 players (like the ones built-in on car stereos) need that folder structure to organize the musics by artists or albums.
But now I discovered a small trick on iTunes that allows you to burn an MP3 CD maintaining all the original folder structure.
All you have to do is to build a playlist with the songs you want to burn (as you would normally do on iTunes) and then in the top bar in the musics list, click the "Album" tab until this one turns into "Album by Artist".
And that's it. Then all you have to do is click the "Burn MP3 CD" button on the lower right side of iTunes and your new MP3 CD will include the original folder structure.
You can also use a year-based folder structure on the MP3 CD. Just keep clicking that same tab until a "Album by Year" column appears.
Tip from Internet Duct Tape
UPDATE: you can see the full Steve Jobs keynote here.
The rumors were close and Steve Jobs finally presented the news on the Apple world (while the keynote movie is not available at Apple's site, you can read it at Engadget):
The first 5 days of the iPhone were interesting as some oddly enough news were coming up, so I guess it's a good idea to check how the news have evolved around Apple's phone experience:
The iPhone is out for 5 days now. Maybe it's a good time to check it out what's been going on during this time:
After Apple's CEO Steve Jobs said at D5 (check the entire interview at Engadget) that allowing iTunes to run on Windows was like "giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell", he was still able to share the stage with Microsoft's Chairman Bill Gates and have a friendly conversation/interview (check out the highlight video here).
The session started with a couple of nostalgic videos on the two businessmen when they were still able to work together.
The discussion then began with a simple challenge: each one would talk on what the other's biggest contribution was.
Jobs started by stating that the Microsoft top man "built the first software company in the industry" and that "the business model turned out to be one that worked very well for the industry. Bill was really focused on software before anyone else had a clue."
Gates first replied by stating that he is not in fact the author of the popular Fake Steve Jobs satire blog and then praised Jobs for pursuing the idea that the computer could really be a mass market idea and then for betting heavy again on the Mac.
After this nice exchange of complements, the conversation was not so peaceful. From this point on, subtle jokes and remarks were being pulled from both sides, as expected. The discussion on the "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC" ads was inevitable :-)
But all in all, it was a nice interview and it was nice to see that the couple that was able to "keep the marriage a secret for over a decade now" (Steve Jobs' words) doesn't regret anything about their difficult friendship/competition.
Jobs even ended the talk with a phrase of the "Two of Us" song by the Beatles: "You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead".
I've just received an email from Pandora stating that I'll no longer have access to their streaming services because I'm a non-US citizen (for those of you who don't know what Pandora is, check out their website here - but only if you're on US).
Pandora is a free on-line streaming service for music based on the tastes of the User. It's really simple to use, all you have to do is choose some artists you like and then Pandora will create playlists based on those choices, allowing you to know similar/related artists.
I already got to know 4 or 5 artists that were completely unknown to me and that are about to make me spend several 0,99€ on iTunes to buy their musics.
Now, can someone explain me how blocking non-US citizens will help the music (copyright) industry? What's the point of restricting use to a service that is, in fact, a good business model, which brings some revenue by helping Users discover new artists, thus spending more money on music?
Even though the restriction against users with foreign IP addresses can be easily removed by using some proxy service (such as ProxyBlind), it is still sad to see that the music industry is shooting itself on the foot.
Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, has recently "advised" the four major record companies to start selling songs online without copy protection software (also known as digital rights management - DRM) to avoid piracy.
Jobs said there appeared to be no benefit for the record companies in continuing to sell more than 90 percent of their music without DRM on compact discs, while selling the remaining small percentage of their music encumbered with a DRM system.
This is quite a huge position from the leader of the company that owns iTunes, the biggest music online service, and the iPod, the most successful MP3 player of the world. However, this turnover may have something to do with the problems that Apple has been facing in Europe regarding the pressure to make iTunes music compatible with players other than the iPod.
Source and Image: Washington Post I.T. Blog
