Byte by Bite

Transfer any music you own to your computer

by Marv Dealy

Reader Brian Louks of Sonora writes to ask “Months ago, you mentioned a device that allows you to convert cassette tapes into digital files on your computer. I saved the article but have since lost it. It’s amazing how many people ask me about this technology. Do you have this information? I’d appreciate any help. By the way, I have a Mac – ps, I love your column.”

I went to Cyberguys.com to see if they even still had the USB turntable available that I’d talked about last June and didn’t find it. What I found was even better than the USB turntable – this little doohickey will hook up any analog music source to your computer so you can transfer the music. And it works with both Windows and Mac computers.

I refer to the Behringer U-Control UCA202 USB-audio interface, product # 702540. Find it at www. MusiciansFriend.com, search for the product number above. The device, which only costs thirty bucks, got a 8.32 out of 10 rating by 25 user reviews, and looks pretty dang easy to use.

The website says “With the ultra-compact, bus-powered Behringer U-CONTROL USA202 interface, you can link your Windows or Mac computer with any audio gear. There is no setup or special driver needed. Simply plug the interface into an available USB port on your computer and get into the groove.”

“The UCA202 provides 2 analog inputs and outputs, as well as an additional S/PDIF optical output for direct digital conversion. The stereo headphone output with dedicated level control lets you monitor both input and output. And the cherry on top is that the U-CONTROL download area offers a huge software package for recording and editing.”

There is also a PDF manual available for you to review at the MusiciansFriend.com website where I found this little goodie, as well as a link to additional manufacturer’s information. Looks like a winner – hook this little thing to the Line Out jacks on the back of your stereo and the USB end into your computer and off you go – anything you can play on your stereo you can record to your computer. That of course doesn’t give you license to hand copies of that old Led Zepplin song around on CD or DVD or to email to a friend, but we’re not going there today.

YouTube – now a Mexican gang battlefield

I ran across a startling story of how rival Mexican drug gangs are using videos on YouTube to taunt each other at TheDailyReel.com. The story’s author, Liz Miller, writes “when popular Latino singer Valentine Elizalde was gunned down after a concert in Reynosa, Mexico last week, plenty of people online saw it coming, thanks to a YouTube photo montage of bullet-riddled bodies set to Elizalde’s hit song ‘A Mis Enemigos’ (‘To My Enemies’).”

“The video, originally posted three months ago, was meant to taunt supporters of the Gulf drug cartel, which is currently feuding with the rival Sinaloa cartel over smuggling routes into the United States – Elizalde, who is from the Sinaloa region and wrote a song in tribute to the Sinaloa cartel leader, is considered to be a victim of that conflict.”

“Since his death, Elizalde has been both mourned and mocked online, Sinaloa and Gulf supporters exchanging taunts via YouTube comments. There's even a clip of the deceased Elizalde on the autopsy table, shot with a cell phone by morgue attendants, laughter audible in the background. Whether these online conflicts flare into more real-world violence remains to be seen, but in the meantime it's fascinating to see one man's website become another man's weapon.” (http://www.thedailyreel.com/news-opinion/news/mexican-gang-feud-plays-out-on-youtube)

As a blog at Wired Blogs says “It was just a matter of time before YouTube became about more than gummy grandpas, pugs that think they’re blenders and crazy women dancing in serial killer masks.” (http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2006/12/mexiandrugcarte.html). What are your kids watching on YouTube today?

Yahoo no longer most visted website

Thanks to Myspace, Fox Interactive Media has taken over first place for the most page views on the Internet from Yahoo, who has held the top position since the black plague swept Europe in the Middle Ages. An article at RedHerring.com by Scott Martin says that their accession to first place proves that the $580 million paid for MySpace last year is paying off for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. (http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=20173)

The numbers of visits each month to both sites are staggering – 38 million to Yahoo during last November, while 39.5 million visited one of Fox Interactive Media’s sites (primarily MySpace.com). That many eyeballs get the attention of advertisers, who while they are increasingly moving advertising dollars to the Internet currently spend nowhere near the total they spend in other media, such as TV, radio and print.

This means there is room for more advertising space out in cyberland than just on Google, which continues to score success heaped on success almost entirely on the basis of advertising dollars.

Friday freebie

It’s appropriate that with the shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station and NASA on the march to open up new opportunities for realtors and developers on the Moon by the early 2020’s that we have a space-related freebie today, and thanks to faithful readers number one and two (hi, Mom and Dad) we have the link to a free astronomy picture of the day from NASA and a bunch of other people. Check it out at http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod – you’ll find some amazing pictures each day with explanations below of what you’re looking at. At this writing, the page shows two side-by-side shots of what is apparently evidence of running water on the surface of Mars. The archives include such amazing photos as a mosaic of astronaut Harrison Schmitt running on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 17 mission. Lots of star and other cosmic stuff, too, such as the Cat’s Eye Nebula and an incredible shot of the Milky Way taken over Utah.