LyricMaster

I wrote back in January about Songbird, an open source music managing program like iTunes for both PC and Mac. I still swear by it over iTunes by a mile, but now even more so since I learned about LyricMaster.

LyricMaster is an add-on to Songbird that automatically populates your Songbird screen with the lyrics to whatever song you are listening to. In the future I assume iPods will come with this type of capability. For now, though, I prefer this method of finding lyrics over the google search if only for the speed. LyricMaster seems to find my song's lyrics before the song even begins to play. Rarely has it been unable to find a lyric to a song, and if it does it's usually to a song that's really obscure. As a result I find myself subconsciously paying much more attention to what I'm listening to.

Here's a screen shot.

Songbird

One theme that will find a way to manifest itself at all costs on this site is opensource technology. Opensource computer programs can often ensure that the consumer is getting (often for free) a product that is tailored to their needs and not the needs of the program developer. Anyone can see the code and alter the code and create add-ons for programs when necessary, and with so many eyes on the code it can be molded in such a way that the programs' consumers will rarely be hurt in any way by the product.

Take for example Songbird, an opensource media player. When you update Songbird you get a better version of an already solid program. When you update its main competitor, iTunes, you get something like Genius which is really just out to promote the iTunes store so that you'll BUY MORE MUSIC. Plus, with Songbird you get integrated programs that tell you when your favorite artists are coming to town, shows you flickr streams associate with those bands, and even youtube integration which automatically pulls up relative youtube clips. It even comes with its own web browser that automatically pulls and organizes any songs from that might be available on various music websites and blogs and allows you to download those songs when applicable. Plus there's a lot of other optional add-ons I haven't even tried yet and handles an iPod as efficiently as iTunes itself.The whole thing is basically a one stop music experience and there's no reason not to use it (it imports your iTunes library automatically).

And oh yea, it's FREE.

Songbird