DRM Free Music

Many top sites have been offering DRM free online music for a while! We own the music after downloading it!That's great!

These sites, include the likes of Amazon, eMusic ,Rhapsody and even Wal-Mart .Yahoo also offers a yearly subscription based service called MUSIC Unlimited for only $5.99 per month. That’s quite a reasonable way to have a lot of music at your fingertips but then,the site allows you to download music onto an mp3 player only if you pay an extra $.79 along with your subscription.

Another advantage is that these sites offer speedy delivery,that is, very fast transfer downloads once you approve of the purchase and also their other important feature is the selection of music available.

Following the footsteps of the above mentioned sites,ultimately, one of the major last bastions of DRM music also finally gave in! Sony BMG offers DRM free music, but only to customers via their retail store and it can only be bought using 'album cards'.

Finally, the greatest news of all! Apple, the last major retailer of DRM-encumbered music has also announced, that all iTunes music will be going DRM-free. Some 8 million songs and music videos are already available DRM-free, via iTunes Plus.
This is great news for music lovers! :) Cheers!

Copyright © 2009 Laila Rajaratnam. All Rights Reserved. Read more Entry>>

All about DRM

I would like to explain in a nutshell, what DRM is all about, without going into elaborate details!

Well, what is DRM?

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management and it is a protective software that limits you from doing things of your choice .For instance,when you purchase DRM music,

• It can curb your choice of music player
• Control how many PCs or digital music players on which a track can be played or transferred
• Curtail the number of times the file can be burnt to CD,DVD or memory card

Thus, if you buy a song from Itunes, it will only work on an Ipod , or if you buy a song from the Zune Marketplace, it will only work only on a Zune ! Moreover, DRM is also known as ‘copy protection’.

Next,What is DMCA?

DMCA stands for Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which can be a legal liability for you if you break the DRM or distribute the tools to break DRM, in order to burn CDS.

What are DRM licenses?

DRM licenses are media usage rights which categorizes how, where and when you can play the media. If you lose these licenses or media usage rights, you will not be able to play your purchased tracks till you get the licenses again!

Thus DRM and the DMCA, is sort of danger to your rights! Before buying DRM music from any service, be absolutely certain about the limitations of the music you purchase. You also need to understand an important pointer about DRM music..‘You have bought it, but they still own it’


Copyright © 2009 Laila Rajaratnam. All Rights Reserved. Read more Entry>>

Wi-Fi or Wireless networks

What is Wi-Fi or Wireless Networks ?It is a technology that accesses internet at high speed called broadband without the need for cables. It uses short range radio waves to transmit internet connection in all directions.Wi-fi is used at home, offices and public places like airports, cafes and malls called Hotspots.

To access the network you need:

• Wireless pc card to be installed in laptops or pc

• Routers to set up the network

As the routers and cards are sold unencrypted with standard password, the network is left unsecured which other Wi-Fi users can get connected without identifications or passwords .

Hence,you should take certain precautions to your network from intruders:

1. Each wireless router is sold with the manufacturers default user name, SSID (Service Set Identifier), password, and IP address for easy installation. These passwords should be changed immediately before they are connected to the network, to reduce the possibility of getting connected to a casual user's laptop which is configured to connect to any available network.

2. Your Wi-Fi network by default broadcasts its name to all wireless users within range and must be disabled to be made invisible to intruders.

3. Turn on the encryption. Without the key, encryption will not allow anyone into the network.

4. There are two types of encryption standards :Wireless Equivalent Protocol (WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Access(WPA). WPA is more secure than WEP as WPA has a powerful security technology with 128-bit encryption keys to ensure the network's privacy and security.

5. Enable Media Access Control (MAC) address so that only computers with the specific MAC address will be authorized to access the network. But then, you must specify the addresses that are to be allowed.

Furthermore, to prevent radio signals from transmitting through the walls,"Wi-Fi proof paint" can also be applied to the walls. Finally, internet users must protect their computers by installing anti-virus software and personal firewalls to avoid being impersonated by unauthorized users.

Copyright © 2009 Laila Rajaratnam. All Rights Reserved.

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Convert YouTube Videos to Flash for PowerPoint presentations

Flash movie files which has the .SWF extension are small in size and hence, they are perfect to use in PowerPoint presentations and on Web sites as well. Flash movies are animations and are usually produced in the program Adobe Flash , tho’ certain other programs can save or export their finished products in a Flash movie format.

To convert YouTube videos to Flash for PowerPoint presentations you have to:

1. Download YouTube videos to your computer
2. Then, convert the downloaded YouTube videos to Flash format .

There are many softwares available to download and convert these YouTube movies, but ,I use this amazing tool from dvdvideosoft.com which does everything you need and much more.They have many free softwares, but you can select just the following programs from the list.

1. Free YouTube Download

2. Free Video to Flash Converter

First, download and install the programmes

A new shortcut will appear on your desktop, called Free Studio Manager. This shows the complete list of programs that are available from dvdvideosoft.com. You can just install only these two programs , by simply clicking on the appropriate link.

To download YouTube Video

• Open the YouTube downloader.

• Paste the URL of the YouTube video in the Input YouTube URL text box.

• A file path and default file name will be entered automatically in the Output to: text box.If you want to select a different folder click the Browse button and type a new file name for the video.

• The program will mechanically add an extension of .AVI to the file name. You can choose .FLV file extension if you wish.
• Click >Download .
  

The new video file is downloaded to the folder you selected .
That’s it!

This .FLV or .AVI video file still cannot be embedded into PowerPoint. You have to convert this downloaded YouTube video to a SWF file, which is the format supported by Adobe Flash.

Now convert the downloaded video to SWF File Format

• Open, Free Video to Flash Converter .

• Click Browse and locate the YouTube video file you downloaded.By default, the program will complete the Output Video file text box. Browse to a different folder if you want.
  

• Using the Formats drop down list, make sure to select SWF as the file type

Optional: Click >Trim , to select a specific portion of the YouTube video to convert, if you wish.

By default, the box is checked beside Show HTML example file after conversion. This will save your converted video also as an HTM file, and will open a browser window showing the video. You may choose to skip this step by removing the checkmark.

• Click the Convert button

Your video file is converted to SWF file.

Done! Your YouTube video has been converted to flash format ready to be embedded in your PowerPoint presentation! :)

Copyright © 2009 Laila Rajaratnam. All Rights Reserved.

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Convert PowerPoint Presentations to Word Documents

Lets say that you have made this amazing Powerpoint presentation! You want a second opinion from your know-all friend or may be your boss is in another city and wants to take a look at it before the big presentation day. May be ,this is a business presentations which ought to be approved or edited by others in your company .So then ,how do you send it for review? Sending the Powerpoint by mail is so very cumbersome as the file size will be huge because of the graphics, music etc. inserted. So, what do you do? Simple! Convert it to word document and mail it. Convert PowerPoint to Word? Yes, it’s possible and moreover it is a very quick and easy process! :)

Open your PowerPoint presentation:

• PowerPoint 2007 - Click on the Office button > Publish > Create Handouts in Microsoft Word

• PowerPoint 2003 - Choose File > Send to > Microsoft Office Word


The Send To Microsoft Office Word dialog box will open.

You have 5 options for the page layout.

Choose which ever suits you.

Since,after the conversion , the Word document will contain thumbnail versions of your slides, you can choose the page layout option best suited to you!

Important note:
This is also a quicker way to create printed handouts for the audience to jot down notes during presentation!



When PowerPoint converts your presentation to a Word document there is also the choice of Paste or Paste Link . Here is the difference:

• Choosing Paste will simply create the handout in the style you have chosen.

• Choosing Paste Link will create a handout in the style you choose as well,but,if the PowerPoint presentation is edited later,the next time you open the word document , the Word also has those changes!

When done,Click OK.

Your presentation will be converted to word document with the slide thumbnail on one side and your page on the other box!


That's it!Done!You can use these converted documents either as printed handouts or you can mail them to whoever! :) Read more Entry>>

Embed YouTube Videos in PowerPoint -Offline Mode

There are 2 options to incorporate YouTube videos into your Powerpoint presentations:

1. You can link the YouTube videos (you will need a good internet connectivity to view this presentation).A step by step tutorial is available from here.
2. You can download and embed the YouTube videos (by this option you can view the presentation offline)

Though the first option is so easy, the second option is safer and more reliable as you do not need internet connection and moreover,you need not even bother whether the internet connection speed is good or not!
There are many methods to download YouTube video to your computer and then embed it in Powerpoint slides, but the following method is so very very easy!

All you have to do is to use an online converter, type in the URL of the YouTube video, convert the file to windows media format and save it to your hard disc.Thats it!

• First, go to http://www.mediaconverter.org.

• The Conversion wizard will appear.

• Type the URL (web address) of the YouTube video.
  

In the next step, choose the file type to convert to.You should choose wmv(windows media format)

In the next step, you can choose whatever additional options or you may just skip this step.

Now, the conversion wizard downloads your file.


The last step is to click the Download Now button.

Now save the video file to wherever you want to, preferably to the same folder which contains your Powerpoint file ,in your hard drive.


To embed this video to your Powerpoint slide-

Open your Powerpoint presentation
Choose Insert –> Movie from file
Click the video file and click OK.
That's it!Your video file has been embeded in your powerpoint slide.
Choose your options like start automatically or when clicked.
Then right click on the movie and select edit movie object and choose more options of your choice.Done!That's it!

Copyright © 2008-2009 Laila Rajaratnam. All Rights Reserved. Read more Entry>>