Monday, March 26, 2012

How to Become a Librarian

Library Science and Information Management is a growing field that needs enthusiastic employees who are dedicated to preserving and protecting data in all its forms. You may not think of a High School Librarian's job as a highly specialized, challenging career, but you're wrong.

All schools employ librarians who select and order books appropriate for their school's student body and their current collection. As a High School librarian, you may find yourself requisitioning audio-visual equipment, new computers, or other materials pertinent to your school's educational program. Your day to day duties may change with the size of the library you work in. In very large libraries, you may work with a sizable staff that includes clerks or technical assistants. In more modest libraries, a head librarian man work alone. In High School, students begin to learn research techniques and as their librarian you are an indispensable resource.

You may hold orientation sessions for individual classes that explain the myriad of technical and traditional library resources available to students, or help individual students by suggesting specific sources. Most libraries have a selection of Audio-Visual and multimedia materials. Some are educational in nature, others, recreational. Perhaps a faculty member wishes to show a biopic on Vincent Van Gogh - it's your job to ensure that film is available for check out, and in working order.

Often in schools, librarians will set up attractive displays focused on a theme pertinent to their students' education. You may find yourself working on a selection of literature appropriate for Black History Month, or arranging a display of poetry to honor Emily Dickinson.

Of course, all this takes training, and attending a university accredited by the American Library Association is your first step. Earn a Master's Degree in Library Science or Information Management, and pick a specialty. You may decide that elementary schools attract you more than a traditional library or other academic environment, and many ALA certified colleges and universities have special programs to prepare interested students for Elementary Librarianship.

If you have a Bachelor's with a strong concentration in a specific field, like Art History, or Media Studies, there are also programs which offer Master's degrees that train you for work as a Media Librarian, or as a head of a museum's special collections. You can take additional courses in conservation to help preserve rare books, or sometimes earn a dual Master's degree in Art to aid your career.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Your Essential iTunes Album Artwork Finder

Today's young and hip generation make it a point to always keep themselves updated on the latest trends, whether in terms of clothing, accessories and even music. And iTunes has become a popular avenue for these youngsters to keep themselves knowledgeable on the most recent hits and releases from new artists. Almost every person I know nowadays owns an iTunes collection on their personal computer or laptop. The iTunes phenomenon has steadily become more and more extensive, thanks to the powerful hold music has over people.

If you are the proud owner of a serious iTunes collection, then you must definitely understand just how much time and effort is needed in order for it to be fully complete and organized. However, since a lot of us are much too busy to spend the day organizing our iTunes library, we often end up with messy music collections that need regular "cleaning." One specific problem in maintaining an organized music collection is missing album artwork. Having missing album art to be seen when your iTunes is in Cover Flow mode can be both annoying and frustrating. It can even be a source of embarrassment for some people. This is the reason why there is now a highly recommended iTunes album artwork finder on the market in the form of TuneUp Media.

TuneUp Media can be called the essential album artwork finding software for iTunes because it does its task quickly and efficiently while doing a whole lot more for your iTunes library. By simply selecting and dragging your selected songs to the analyzing area of TuneUp Media (which shows up at the far right of the screen when opened) and then pressing on the word CLEAN, you would have activated your personal iTunes album art finder already. Depending on the speed of your computer and the number of songs in your iTunes library that you wish to check, the process of finding cover art through the album artwork finder can range from a few minutes up to a few hours.

If you need more convincing, I would definitely advise you to try their product for yourself. They actually offer a free trial version which anyone can download into their computers. By downloading your free essential iTunes album artwork finder (which only takes a minute), you are entitled to momentary privileges such as 50 free artwork covers and 100 tracks cleans which you can use with your trial version. If I were you, I would take this opportunity to try a critically acclaimed product that has earned great reviews from multiple reliable sources. Since the offer is completely free, there is absolutely no risk involved.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

A Definitive Guide to Production Music Libraries

When the broadcast media has made its break, many promoters soon enough have understood and gauged the power of music to deliver a message. Soon enough they have realized a useful tool in their marketing endeavors, which is the inclusion of popular recording artists and their music. But, the compensation music owners have expected as the "units sold" shot up have also followed suit. This is when production music libraries came to life... the realization of a cost-prohibitive endorsement to advertise music of any kind.

The existence of production music libraries is mainly to provide media producers with a pre-recorded collection of music for license to be used in virtually any type of media... television, films, commercials, etc. One result is that the master rights (the physical recording) and the composition rights (the publishing side) will be conveniently done in a one-stop shop effort. The license fees may vary depending on what the producers seeks for rights (Free TV, Radio, Satellite) and also clearance (national, regional, local).

Generally, it's easy and straightforward to have a music licensed with production music libraries. This can often be done through a phone call or email. Since it's a one-stop shop for both Master and Publishing rights, licensing the music is simple with a preset rate cards. It's simply a matter of setting the goal to achieve great sounding. Then you get quality music less the stress of administering it and not breaking the back on a license fee for music.

The industry is totally different now as it has grown for production music libraries. It's important to also consider the the services the libraries offer, not just the quality of music. Technology plays a big role in this matter. Companies have realized that the "search and download" function is an important feature for users experience. Comfort and ease of using music search engines is of high importance to avoid frustration to finding good music. Buyers tend to be impatient and don't like spending too much time on the search.

Here are some other considerations in choosing production music libraries to search on. Does the engine have a project management function were you can store your selections? Does the library allow WAV/AIFF and MP3 downloads? Can you share your selections to a client without having to send huge MP3 files? Perhaps just email a link to the music in the library? How about music direction from a real person? It would be great if the production music library have that human intervention still, considering all those high-tech way of searching and downloading music.

Play Your iTunes Files on Windows Media Player

So you just purchased a new media device and it uses Windows Media platform to playback stored media files. You just copied your media files from your iTunes unto your new device but playback show you that the file format is not supported, hence the files won't play. Fret not! There are many methods of how to convert iTunes files into Windows Media files.

Although a seemingly easy task, converting downloaded media files into player acceptable format can turn out to be such a chore for some users, this should not be the case.

Method One - For non-ACC format files:

For files that are not purchased or downloaded from iTunes, following these simple instructions will convert the media file automatically.

• Open your Windows Media Player.
• On the 'Library' tab click, 'Add to Library'
• Select the 'My personal folders' option and click 'Ok'
• The files should be added to your Windows Media Player

Method Two - third party converter:

However, media available on iTunes can only be downloaded in a format called AAC. Currently, Windows Media Players does not support this format. If the above instructions are used, the Player will search for the media files and find them but the ones bought from iTunes store will not add to the library. The files would then have to be converted using any media converter.

There are a lot available over the internet, some which are free. Browse the web to choose suitable ones and follow the instructions to download, install, convert and enjoy your new device like it was intended to.

Method three - iTunes built-in converter:
Files available from iTunes used to come in two versions - the plus (indicated with a '+'sign before the price of the song) and non-plus version. File with the '+' version, are premium quality and can be converted easily without charge whereas, those without the '+' sign can be converted with a 30cent charge each.

All files available on the iTunes are now in the '+' format so this worry is eliminated and are compatible with various media players. This is how to convert iTunes files into Windows Media Files format using the iTunes.
• From 'Edit preferences' go to the General tab
• Select the 'Import Settings' option and set it to use an encoder compatible with Windows Media - an MP3 or WMA would suffice, and click 'Ok'
• Select 'List View' and the select all items in your library
• Select the 'Advanced' option and choose with format you want, e.g., MP3
• The file conversion begins when you click 'Ok'.
• Open the Windows Media Player and from 'File', select 'Add to Library'. The player then searches for the media files on your computer and adds them to the Library.
This method only works if you purchased media files from iTunes or converted the songs to '+' iTunes for a 30 cent charge.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

iTunes Cleanup - An Essential Step to Having an Organized Music Library

ITunes is one of the most popular media players in the world. Getting your music fix with iTunes is suppose to be an easy and intuitive process. Downloading the songs you want and listening to them whenever you feel like it is how it should be. However, many people seem to have a different experience and require the help of an iTunes cleanup tool or software package. This way your iTunes experience will be the way it should be since you will be able to keep track of your albums and songs without and organizational hassle.

Most people think that cleaning iTunes is hard and incredibly time consuming. This is not entirely true. If you need a good cleanup tool and music organizer, there are several downloadable cleanup programs that you can use. The problem though is finding the right tool to cleanup iTunes effectively and automatically. For me using an automatic iTunes cleaner is a must with my massive library. Before selecting a cleanup tool for my iTunes I made sure to do my research first.

Things you need to look for in your iTunes cleanup utility:

1. The cleanup tool must be at least in the top three list of iTunes organizing software.
2. Compare all cleanup tools and organizer depending on your needs.
3. Compare their prices depending on their features and after sales support.
4. How much time would each cleanup take to fix your music library?
5. What additional features can you get from the iTunes cleanup plug-in aside from organizing and fixing your library?
6. Which cleanup tool has the most positive review from reputable sites and sources?
7. Which organizer has the most success stories from the users themselves? Stories from friends and relatives who have tried using the tool must be taken into great consideration.

Purchasing an iTunes cleanup program can make your life easy, but choosing the right one can be difficult if you don't do enough research. Once you have address all the things mentioned above, you will likely be more confident in choosing a cleanup iTunes tool. One of the most revered music management tools today is by far a program named the TuneUp Media Companion. This digital music organizer seems to have all the things you want to fix your music library and more. There are several features that make TuneUp media extremely popular among iTunes user. One is that it will fix mislabeled song with incredible accuracy. Yes that's right, and you can do this automatically with TuneUp media.

Contrary to what most people are saying, you don't need to fix song names manually. You need not spend hours and hours of your time listening to the songs and changing the names one by one. This can be done within just a few clicks when using TuneUp. Second, you can finally see album covers the way you want them to be and not just the musical note that appears often. With TuneUp media, your albums are all organized and you can choose which art cover you want for your album. Third, TuneUp Media allows you enhance your music listening experience through Tuniverse where related videos and articles are posted while you are listening to your favorite artists.

Check Out This Amazing iTunes Plugin

Thank you for checking out this intensive review of Tuneup Media. I will explain how this program works, along with a detailed description of its accuracy and speed. If you are tired of your iTunes library being a mess with song titles such as, "Track01, track02" etc., then Tuneup media is just what you need. Tuneup can fix every song title in your music library almost instantly. Make sure you don't forget to check out the current Tuneup Media coupon code after you read this review.

Tune Up Media Review

The first thing you are probably wondering is how Tune-up cleans up your iTunes library. In a nutshell, Tune up scans the first few seconds of each song (that you specify) and matches the sound clip with their extensive database. Then the database will return the correct song name, artist name, and album title to your iTunes library. This whole process only takes a few seconds per song and is extremely accurate. The Company boasts an 85% accuracy rate. Personally, I have many songs in my iTunes library that are not very popular, and TuneUp has matched approximately 95% of them correctly.

Since Tuneup requires an internet connection, using high speed is ideal for the program to function as smoothly as possible. Also remember to take into account the processing speed of the computer you are running iTunes and Tuneup on. The higher the internet speed and computer processing speed, the better the outcome will be for you. In my experience, using this program was a breeze, however I do have a computer with 4 gigs of R.A.M. along with a high speed internet connection.