We've been getting great feedback to the music we're listening to while we're sitting here coding and designing away on our Bossa platform. So, instead of just listing album artwork on the right side of our blog, we made a little music recommendation site with the help of Amazon. They call it aStore.......but we call it Bossa Records. It gives us a great resource to showcase what we like to listen to and write a little bit about the music as well. Not only that, we're now even buying more music since the store does a pretty good job of recommending new music too!

Check it out and let us know what you think.

Bossa Records

Posted by Mike at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

iTunes 7 is loaded with new features that Apple hopes will enhance our multimedia experience, but the one feature that seems to now bog down iTunes the most though is Gapless Playback. Gapless playback means that there is no pause in playback between the end of one audio file and the beginning of the next audio file. Apple claims that this allows for playback of content with no gaps the way it was meant to be heard. People have griped for a long time that albums without gaps between songs sounded like it skipped between songs.

Some examples of gapless albums include:
* Most live and classical albums
* "Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd
* "Abbey Road" by The Beatles

Gapless playback is always on in iTunes 7 or later unless the Crossfade feature is turned on. If Crossfade is on, only audio files that have the "Part of a gapless album" option checked and are capable of being played gaplessly will play with no gaps.

The best default setting is to turn Gapless Playback off and adjust the crossfade to personal preference. Using the crossfade setting works best with Bossa as well.

Here's how to turn Gapless Playback off.

1. Open iTunes
2. Select all songs in your library - “Ctrl + A” on a PC - Apple key on the Mac
3. Right Click and select “Get Info” - It will warn you about editing all files
4. Check the “Gapless Album” box and set it to “No”
5. Click "OK" and your files should quickly update
6. To avoid even having to do this....don't upgrade past iTunes 6

Posted by Mike at 06:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been following discussions on quite a few music and tech blogs about adding additional tags to the id3's of your music so that you're not stuck with one genre of music for specific songs in your library. Currently there is only one option for the genre of a song. So, it's either Pop, or Rock or Electronic etc, etc. For example, you can't tag something Rock and Accoustic and Vocals. People mentioned making genre specific playlists or tricking iTunes into adding additional tags by using the comments section in the information area of the id3. They all work if you want to spend the time going through each of your songs or making a ton of very detailed playlists.

Currently there is only one program that allows you to MULTI-TAG your songs, and that's Bossa. With Bossa you can add as many tags as you want to a song, album or artist. The best thing is that Bossa will find tags online that other users are using for that song/artist/album and all you have to do is click on it and you've added it to your library as well. You can also make your own tags by simply typing it in.

The following image is a good example of multi-tagging a song in Bossa. I'm playing the Petter, Bjorn and John song "Young Folks" and I currently only have it tagged as "Indie". By going into the Bossa lab you can see all the other tags that are found online.

In the following image you can see all the tags that I've added to "Young Folks". By adding all these additional Tags or "Genres" I can make very refined or specific playlists and have "Young Folks" pulled into it. Before I added all the additional tags, "Young Folks" would only play if I ask for songs with the tag "Indie". Now it will also play when I list Swedish or whistling or downtempo or Scandinavian or any combination of these.

A song has a different sound or meaning for everyone, so placing it in one category is impossible. Bossa allows you to make the song your own and describe it exactly the way you want to.

Posted by Mike at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Almost daily I end up helping people with an iTunes issue they're having. Whether it's converting AAC files so that they can be played on non Apple MP3 players, or just importing songs from different folders into iTunes, people seem to need help getting around the iTunes interface. One of the most common problems I encounter is that people download iTunes and immediately start importing their music from cd's or older music folders into iTunes.

Now here's the catch.....iTunes has a default setting that imports all music at 128Kbps AAC. Can you imagine how surprised you'll be after you've spent the time to import all your cd's to your computer to find out that you're stuck with all your music files in AAC format and at 128Kbps? iTunes should ask you what default settings you would like to use when you download the program but it doesn't and that's a huge mistake on Apple's part. This is another reason that the anti-trust people are all over them in Europe. They do give you a choice, but you have to figure it out for yourself.

So here's a quick and simple run-through on what you should do with your iTunes settings before you import any music into your itunes folder:

1. Open iTunes and click on Edit - Preferences - Advanced - Importing.
2. Change Import Using to MP3 Encoder
3. Change Setting to at least 192Kbps. 320Kbps is near CD quality. If you have a large hard drive and you're importing a lot of music from your existing cd collection you should set it as high as possible.

This is what your settings should look like:

Some basic settings to make your organizing and finding your music simple and easy

iTunes has some simple settings that aren't automatically set to default, which I find amazing. When you first start iTunes it will find music all over your computer. Whether it's on your internal hard drive, your external hard drive or a flash card, it will throw all your music into the iTunes library. The problem is that when you play your music it also needs to retrieve the music from those exact folders. So if you unplug your external hard drive or you take your flash card out of your computer, imagine your surprise that iTunes can't find your music!

One of the coolest features of Itunes is that you can have it organize all your songs in album and song folders and name the songs based on disc number, track number and song title. So now you can have all your music in one folder on your computer. Granted, you'll need a big hard drive if you have a lot of music on your computer, but everything's in one place and super easy to find.

This is what you need to do to set iTunes to organize your music on your computer:

1. Open iTunes and click on Edit - Preferences - Advanced - General.
2. Click on the tab that says "Keep iTunes music folder organized"
3. Click on the tab that says "Copy songs to iTunes music folder when adding to library"

Posted by Mike at 03:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We've been getting great feedback on the Bossa Automator. A lot of you are using the Automator function to let your music play on a schedule. We're hearing from people who are using Bossa in restaurants, retails stores, bars as well as at home. There are tons of different uses for the Bossa Automator and there are also lots of different ways to schedule your music in the Automator. You can really fine-tune your music schedule to play exactly what you want to hear 24/7....every minute of the day.

Schedule your music for every day of the week:

If you want to be in complete control of your music select the Daily Schedule in the Automator menu and program different music for every hour and day of the week. (You can even select music by the minute, but unless you're running a radio station, who really wants to get that detailed?)

Schedule your music for weekday/weekend:

If you want to run the same schedule during the week and a different one on the weekends, this is the menu setting you want to use. For example, if you have a retail store and want to play different music on the weekdays than your weekend or have different opening and closing times for weekday/weekend, this function makes scheduling in the Automator easy.

Automate your music for the same schedule every day of the week:

This one's really simple: every day the same schedule. If you're running a retail store/restaurant with the same opening and closing times 7 days a week, this is an easy one to program. Just program your time and the music/mix you want to hear and let Bossa take over.

Posted by Mike at 02:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Bossa Forums are live again. We had been getting complaints from people not being able to register to the Bossa Forums. We were getting hit with so much spam in our forums that we set the spam filter a little too high....high enough to exclude everyone from registering. It's all fixed now so when you have a chance visit the Bossa Forums for the latest in user posts about Bossa features, questions as well as tips and tricks.

Posted by Mike at 03:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

TAGGING YOUR MUSIC WITH BOSSA SELECTORS

We've been hearing from a lot of you who are really enjoying the multi-tagging feature that Bossa has with the Selector. Instead of having just one genre for a song, Bossa allows you to add tags or "Selectors" to songs. By adding additional Selectors to songs you can make a very refined playlist or mix. For example; if you have a Guns n' Roses song listed as "Rock" you can add Selectors like "Morning", "Vocal", "Guitar Solo"......basically, whatever you want. (If you need help coming up with names or categories, Bossa pulls other people's Selectors off the web for you. Just click on one you like and make it your own.) Then when you make a mix in Bossa you can specify Morning or Guitar Solo and it will pull that song into your mix. So this way you can make a mix of just rock songs with killer guitar solos, or rock song that you only want to hear in the morning. When you've made your mix, throw it into the Automator and set Bossa on auto-pilot so that your mixes play on a timer!

SEE WHAT YOU HAVE IN YOUR MIX

Another great Bossa feature is the ability to see all the Selectors that you have in a Mix. You can easily see what you have in a mix, add Selectors or take them out of your mix. Just click on the Lab icon on the left side of your mix and the Lab window opens showing you what you have in your mix. I want to add Reggae to my Mix, so I type "R" in the add new selectors box and you can see all the genres with the letter "R" that I have in my music folder. By clicking on the Reggae icon it's added to my mix.

SEE ALL THE TRACKS IN YOUR MIX

By clicking on the "Tracks" tab you can see all the songs you have in your mix. You can easily scroll down and dump any tracks you don't want to hear in your mix.

Posted by Mike at 07:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Darren Barefoot has published an interview with Bossa co-founder Barry Paul on his blog. It gives a bit more background about Bossa, where it came from and what we are trying to do with it.

Thanks Darren

Posted by Barry at 02:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A lot of you have been sending us feedback about all the features you like in Bossa. The Automator and Lab are at the top of everyone's list, but the one function I go back to on almost a daily basis is the Generator. The Bossa Generator allows you to make a playlist that you're able to download to your iPod on the fly. The other day I wanted to put some music together for a quick, one hour mountain bike ride through the hills behind my house here in Hood River. I made a quick list in the Generator that included 15 minute blocks of Latin, Reggae, Dance and Electro Disco. Within seconds Bossa put my playlist together in iTunes and from there all I had to do was load it to my iPod and off on my bike I was.

This is what the Generator looks like when I made my playlist:

Here's the playlist I listened to on my bike ride:

Morenito - Stephane Pompougnac
Latin Track - Thunderball
Maria Moita - Nicola Conte Apresenta Rosalia De Souza
Almighty4 - Vibronics
Three Little Birds - Bob Marley
Horny Dub - Rootical Sound
Darker Shade Of Black - Jackie Mittoo
808 The Bass Queen (Queen of Bass Mix) - Swayzak
Waterman (Radio Edit) - Olav Basoski Feat. Michie One
Look On The Floor , Hypnotic Tango - BananaRama
Johnny Cash - Get Rhythemz DJ Paparazzi
Tigertron (Feat Factory Aire) - Le Castle Vania
The Electric Lady - Steed Lord
Sister Self Doubt 2 - Get Shakes

We'd love to hear how you're using the Generator to put together your playlists. Share what you're doing on our Bossa Forums under the heading: Your Mixes.

Posted by Mike at 09:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today we released a new version of the Bossa preview.

This is version 1030. We have made many changes "under the hood" to increase performance and fix some issues that have been brought to our attention during this preview period.

In addition we have extended the preview period until the end of the month.

This is a good time to talk about versions and the auto-update procedure in Bossa.

How do I know what version of Bossa I am running?

The version number can be found by starting Bossa, clicking on the "Settings" icon in the top right of the player window and then selecting the "About" tab. You should see a screen something like the following:

In addition to the version number at the top you will see some statistics about your music library.

Auto updating

Bossa downloads are small and quick. The auto update process is designed to be quick and seamless, you should be able to update your version of Bossa without interrupting your music playback.

New releases or updates are automatically picked up by Bossa and you will be notified the next time Bossa starts. You will see a message something like the following:

if you click on "yes" a browser window will appear to download the new version of Bossa. Save the downloaded file to your computer and run it when the download completes. This will quickly install the updated version on your machine. At then end of the process you will be asked if you want to restart Bossa. Click yes and Bossa will restart and continue programming your music from where it left off.

As always, if you have any questions with any of this use our new support forums or email us at support@mybossa.com.

Thanks

Posted by Barry at 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A lot of you have been letting me know how much you like looking at artist pictures in the Bossa Lab, but another great function of the Bossa Lab is the information tab. By clicking on information, Bossa automatically searches for the artist of the current song that's playing in Bossa through Wikipedia. As you can see in the image below, I'm playing "Safe from Harm" from Massive Attack. All the information about Massive Attack automatically gets pulled from Wikipedia into the Bossa Lab. Before Bossa, I would have to open my web browser separately to look up a song or an artist I was listening to. Now Bossa makes it all automatic. Do you hear a song you like and want more information? Want to see artist pictures? Want to see what other selectors or tags for a song people are using? It's all right there for you in the Bossa Lab. The Bossa Lab is just another way that Bossa lets you do more with iTunes.

Posted by Mike at 09:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As many of you noticed recently, Flickr changed some settings in their API which made the Bossa Lab search incorrect servers for artist pictures. Everything has been straightened out now so when you click on artist pictures in the Bossa Lab, pictures of whatever artist you are playing in Bossa will show up in the Lab window.

This is also a good opportunity to talk a bit more about the great functions built into the Bossa Lab. As you can see from the image below, I'm playing a Felix Da Housecat track and pictures of Felix are pulled up into the Lab via Flickr. These are all the most recent pictures that users have posted and tagged with Felix Da Housecat. You can click on each image to enlarge or simply sit back and watch them in a slideshow. When the next song starts to play in Bossa, the Lab will automatically retrieve new pictures of that artist.

Not only does the Bossa Lab do a great job finding pictures, it also pulls artist information via Wikipedia, shows you what music you have in your mixes and finds tags online to help you with your song organization.

Bossa simply lets you do more with iTunes. Check it out at www.mybossa.com

Posted by Mike at 09:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Check out the Bossa Automator at work.

I just set up a new schedule for a really cool gift store here in Hood River called Twiggs. They have about 3000 songs on their computer but they are all different genres and playing their music on random wasn't making for a great shopping experience since they never knew what to expect next.

So this is where the Bossa Automator comes in. We set up a schedule of mellow down-tempo, jazz and easy listening in the morning and then picked up the pace as the day went along. As you can see from the Automator schedule pictured here, the Mid Day Mix from 2 to 5 pm features Dance, World, Downbeat and Latin music. Then at 5 pm it automatically changes to the Late Mix which includes Electronica/Dance, House, Breakbeat, Trance, Electro Disco and Breaks. Once the schedule is made and the Automator is running you don't have to do a thing. Bossa just pulls the music from your computer according to your schedule. For Twiggs, the schedule is set for every day they are open. Different opening or closing times are all set in the daily schedule. The music is on before anyone even comes to work and turns off automatically when they go home at the end of the day.

The Bossa Automator allows you to be in full control of your music. Check out the full scoop on the Automator at www.mybossa.com

Posted by Mike at 04:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Bossa - Lab - Selectors

One of the coolest features of the Bossa Lab is the ability to find Selectors for your songs online. Besides the ID3 tags that you already have for your songs, the Bossa Lab finds tags, or Selectors as we call them, that other people use for their songs. Check out the following image of the Lab that shows the Bossa Selectors of the Royksopp song that's currently playing in Bossa.

You can see the existing Selectors at the top. The song is by Royksopp. The album is Melody AM and the genre is Downbeat. Underneath you can see all the popular Selectors that the Bossa Lab found online. By clicking on an additional Selector you can add them to Bossa. As you can see in the next image, I added Lounge, Ambient and Norwegian. Now when I make a mix or a playlist, I have multiple Selectors for this Royksopp song. So if I make a Mix with just Norwegian music, I can select "Norwegian" and this song will play in that mix. Additional Selectors allow you to define and narrow your mixes and playlists much more precisely.

Posted by Mike at 01:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We've been getting a great response on the Generator function in Bossa. By using the Generator you can quickly make a playlist that's automatically placed in iTunes for easy download to your iPod. I made a quick playlist before a run this morning. I planned to run for about 2 hours so I selected some upbeat and fun music to keep me motivated during my run. I picked 4 different genres in 30 minute increments. As you can see from my schedule, I picked Dance, House, Trip Hop and Reggae for my playlist and then named the playlist "Run Mix" I saw the playlist being generated in iTunes and then downloaded it to my iPod and took off for my run. I don't think it even took 30 seconds from start to finish. Check out the set up in the Generator as well as the playlist it created.

"Run Mix"

1. We Interrupt This Program (Interrupted Vocal Mix) – Coburn - The Mix 2006 - Dance
2. Get A Life [radio Edit] – Freestylers - Get A Life - Dance
3. Tribulations (Tiga's Out Of the Trance Closet Mix) - Lcd Soundsystem - Twisted Disco - Dance
4. Come To Me - Holden & Thompson - Sasha Fundacion - Dance
5. Drop The Funk (Funk Distraction Mix) – Primo - Miguel Migs 24th St. Sounds - Dance
6. Sweet Troubled Soul (Richard Morel Vocal Mix) – Stellastarr - Sweet Troubled Soul - Dance
7. Pure (Mig's Remix) - Blue Six - House
8. Clubtools (Bob Sinclar Mix) – Jestofunk - House
9. Standing in my Suitcase - Olivier Gaudin - House
10. Wonders Never Cease (A chicken lips special 12" version) – Morcheeba - House
11. Song for Sharma - Soul Central - House
12. Five Man Army - Massive Attack – Collected - Trip-Hop
13. Inertia Creeps - Massive Attack – Collected - Trip-Hop
14. When I Fall (In Love) - Abacus and Esthero - Trip-Hop
15. She Makes Me Wanna Die (massive Attack Remix) – Tricky -Trip-Hop
16. Joy Luck Club - Massive Attack – Collected - Trip-Hop
17. Love Generation - Bob Sinclair - 2006 Fifa World Cup Hits - Reggae
18. Africa Unite (Will.i.am Remix) - Bob Marley - Africa Unite The Singles Collection - Reggae
19. Destination Unknown - Black Uhuru - The Dub Factor - Reggae
20. Dubolition - Kieser.Velten - Hi-Fidelity Dub Sessions Chapter Two - Reggae
21. Confrontation - Damian 'Junior Gong' Marley - Welcome To Jamrock - Reggae
22. What You Gonna Do - Horace Andy - From The Roots - Meets Mad Professor - Reggae

These are songs that are in my music library. The Bossa Generator just pulls the songs out of the library and randomly creates playlists according to the specs I placed in the Generator. It's that easy!

You can post your playlists on the Bossa Forum under "Your Mixes". See what playlists other Bossa users are creating and keep up to date with all the latest tips and tricks in the Bossa Forum as well.

Start Generating!

Posted by Mike at 03:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We've been working hard on Bossa for over a year now and we're excited to launch the first trial version.

The Bossa player is unlike anything you've experienced on your computer before musically. Bossa works with iTunes to give you new ways of viewing your music and selecting what you want to hear. Besides playing your music, Bossa will Generate playlists for you that you can download to your iPod. Bossa can also Automate your music for you, so what you want to hear comes on when you want to hear it. The Bossa Lab allows you to download Tags and Selectors for your music, check artist pictures of the music you're playing as well as information about the artists through Wikipedia.

This is our first trial version and we would love to have you try it and give us any feedback.

To download or read more info on Bossa go to: www.mybossa.com

Cheers,

Barry and Mike

Posted by Mike at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's another sneak preview of one of Bossa's features:

Easily create playlists to download to your iPod

Generate a timed playlist by specifying what you want to hear and for how long.
Bossa can create a playlist for you anywhere from 15 minutes in length to 24 hours! Click and drag the slider to set the length of the playlist you want. Then click inside the Generator to set specific timed events for your playlist.

Here you can see that the first hour “Dance” is selected. Then 1 ½ hours of the “Killer Mix” which includes the genres; Alternative, World, Reggae, Downbeat and Electronic. The last 1 ½ hours it’s music from the unnamed mix consisting of other genres.

When you’re done selecting the music you want in your mix, click “Generate” and your playlist will be generated in iTunes. From there you can easily load it onto your iPod or play it in iTunes.

We'll be releasing a beta version very soon. Sign up to get the latest information www.mybossa.com

Posted by Mike at 12:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Check out the newest Bossa "Automator" function.

The Automator is Bossa’s built-in Timer – Let Bossa turn your music on and off.

Schedule your music when you want and how you want. With the Automator you can play a timed event of any genre, artist, album, mix or any combination of these any time of the day. Any time of the week.

Here you can see that the Automator is programmed to run the "Killer Mix" from 1 to 4PM on Tuesday and the "Slow Mix" from 4 to 7PM. You can make any combination of schedules 24 hours a day. The Automator plays your music and turns you music on and off. All you have to do is schedule it and let it run! It's that easy.

Check www.mybossa.com for more information on all the Bossa player features.

Posted by Mike at 02:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Mike at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's a "Sneak Preview" of the new Bossa music player. Bossa allows you to take total control of your music.

Here are the 4 main functions of Bossa:

Automator – Bossa’s built-in Timer

Schedule your music when you want and how you want. With the Automator you can play a timed event of any genre, artist, album, mix or any combination of these. You can schedule each 24 hour day in 5 minute increments or group a whole week of schedules. With the Automator enabled your music is on autopilot. The Automator: Music on on-time/Music off on-time.

Generator – Bossa’s Playlist Generator

Generate a timed playlist by specifying what you want to hear and how long. Bossa will automatically generate a playlist that will play in Bossa or you can download to your iPod. Choose artist, genre, album or any combination.

Mix – Select a saved Mix

The Mix is the archive of all your saved mixes in Bossa. Click on the mix you want to listen to in the Bossa player. Click on the mix for easy selection in the Automator or generator

Selector – Select your Music

The starting point of Bossa. The Selector allows for easy navigation to select what you want to hear. Bossa starts and the selector plays your specified mix. Just click and play another artist, genre, album, mix or any combo. Click further into the Selector and create and save mixes for even easier playback or retrieval for the Automator and your iPod.

Sign up for more information and features about Bossa as they become available.

Posted by Mike at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)