Allow me to introduce you to a band who ’s name suggests that they are by no means satisfied with staying in one place, they are cleverly named, Somewhere Else. Read the full story

1. Open iTunes.
2. Find the song that you want to make into a ringtone.
3. Listen to the song and find the part of it you want to use. The chorus may be a good place to start.
4. Write down the start and stop times of the clip.
5. Right-click the song and select “Get Info.”
6. Click the “Options” tab.
7. Type in the start time of your ringtone in the text box next to “Start Time” in the minutes:seconds (i.e., 2:01) format.
8. 

   Type in the end time of your ringtone in the text box next to “Stop Time.” Make sure the ringtone is no more than 40 seconds long.

9. Click “OK.”
10. Right-click your song again and select “Convert Selection to AAC.” Wait for iTunes to convert your song. It will create a duplicate version.
11. Right-click the ringtone and select “Delete.”
12. Click on the “Keep Files” button.
13. Find the file. It’s usually in your User folder under “Music > iTunes > iTunes Music” and under the band’s name. It will have an extension of m4a.
14. 

    Replace the m4a extension of your ringtone with m4r. You can either double-click slowly to rename your file, or right-click and select “Get Info” on a Mac or “Rename” on a Windows PC.

15. 

    Click “Use .m4r” or the PC equivalent when the system warns you that the change may affect the use of your file.

16. 

    Double-click the ringtone file. ITunes will automatically add it to your ringtones folder in your iTunes Music Library.

17. Connect your iPhone and sync your ringtones.  [via eHow]

The Lo-FI Resin Piggy Bank is one of those phones gifts that provides a teaching moment with children. Not only can you talk to them about your favorite songs by the very nature of the headphone style, but since it’s a piggy bank you can teach them about the importance of stacking those chips. For as long as they live, they will have some sort of relationship with money. Teach them how to save young and the chances only get better that it will be a healthy one.

SOURCE

Allow us to introduce you to a musical quartet currently making some noise on the Houston scene, The Niceguys. The group consists of an emcee (Yves Saint), 2 Producers (Free & Christolph) and a DJ (DJ Candlestick). Read the full story

HOCUS POCUS – Making Of Beautiful Losers from EXTERMITENT PRODUCTION on Vimeo.

Gift Giver from James Ramirez on Vimeo.

A little doodle by super artist James Ramirez, known as Fried Pixels.

Growing up in the not so privileged streets of Oakland, California lead to the development of a new street concept… ArtistiCreation. With the brand living by the motto, “creating something from nothing,” the designers used their impoverished conditions to motivate a creative movement, which essentially released them from the situation. Owners Marviel Underwood and Robert Ortiz, teamed up with self taught artist, Artie Giles on the logo design, “CreAtion” which stands for ArtistiCreation.

“We wanted to produce a brand that encourages people to create no matter what their circumstances are by being unique and thoughtful.”

With every design made specifically to reflect the lifestyles and emotions of the creators, ArtistiCreation believes to have adapted a swag that represents both a self made mentality as well as a sense of drive, regardless of the creative outlet.  Whether you are a musician, artist, writer or designer, ArtisitCreation wants to help you express yourself.

Lucky for one of you, ArtistiCreation wants to give away one shirt of the winner’s choice, a $30 value!

Here’s How to Enter: (this entry is mandatory)

• Browse ArtistiCreation’s shop and let us know what tee you would choose!
  

Additional Entries [leave a separate comment for each one]

• Comment on another non-giveaway post [comment below w/post name]
• Subscribe to this site via RSS.
• Friend us on Google Connect [see sidebar]
• Tweet about this giveaway (daily entry, can use the following [ NerdLike wants to hook up your wardrobe! http://nerdlike.com/kmmuv]
• Digg or Stumble this giveaway [leave your username in the comment]
• Fan us on Facebook [see the sidebar]

All giveaway winner’s from NerdLike’s 12 Days of Christmas will be chosen on Dec. 27, 2009. Good Luck!

I am pretty in love with Double Twist by DVD Jon. The program is the ultimate alternate to iTunes. Now only that, it syncs with practically ANY device. Half the reason iTunes is so huge is because everyone felt they had to get an iPod to get any sort of decent music management happening. Now it is about spreading the word.

With the inclusion of the Amazon music store, doubleTwist just raised its stock. Just the fact alone that Amazon’s music is often cheaper than iTunes is reason enough to switch. The DT interface is simplified version of  iTunes so the learning curve is almost non-existent. I would bet that after messing around in it for a minute or so, you would have a good grasp of how everything works.

As an added bonus, the latest release of DT supports the Nexus One Google Phone. The imaginary/next/vaporware/ phone of the moment.

[via doubleTwist] – Music only at this point

There has been so much speculation on the web about Apple buying this company called LALA. First reported by the NY Times, LaLa is a streaming music company that started as a CD trading site. There are so many speculations why, but the only person that really knows is Steve Jobs. And that is only if they were actually purchased. I am not going to speculate like EVERY one else on the web. I will just say that if it is true, look forward to some pretty cool changes to iTunes.

[Apple Buys LaLa]

For NPR Music’s Decade in Music coverage, they are giving music lovers the chance to create and submit their original tune. The catch is you MUST use one of these words in your song:

dog
firecracker
lamp shade
Japan
NPR (duh, of course)

The song can be any genre and any length.  Give it a try and stop by to let us know what you submitted.

Peeped at Monitor Mix