Feed Flipper has been designed by Adam Schlitt to overcome this problem. It can convert any iTunes podcasts into a valid RSS feed that can be integrated into any feed reader or podcast viewer. Best of all – at least for most users – is the fact that Feed Flipper is an online service which means it will work with all operating systems and web browsers.

The basic principle is the following: Feed Flipper uses a base url and several parameters to turn an iTunes podcast into RSS feed. Here is the developer’s description of the options:

Creating your Feed Flipper RSS URL is easy! To start, copy the base URL:

* http://picklemonkey.net/flipper/convert.php?
Next, add your feed and any desired options to the end of it:

* &feed=URL – Your iTunes podcast URL
* &return=count – Sets the number of articles to display. (0 for all). If omitted, 20 is assumed default.
* &sender=text – Sets the sender of each RSS item to the specified text
* &senderprefix=text – Begin the sender of each RSS item with the specified text
* &subject=text – Sets the subject of each RSS items to the specified text
* &subjectprefix=text – Begin the subject of each RSS item with the specified text

The most basic option for users is to use the base url with the &feed=URL parameter like in the following example:

http://picklemonkey.net/flipper/convert.php?feed=http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=109573938

This creates a valid RSS Feed for the Japanese 101 Podcast that is available in the iTunes store. The only problem that some users might have with Feed Flipper is the fact that everything depends on the availability of the script on the developer’s website. It is not possible to update feeds if this is temporarily or even permanently unreachable. It can also happen that Apple changes a core setting in their iTunes store which could lead to the program not working anymore. The developer has fixed those problems in the post however.

All information to use Feed Flipper are provided above. The developer’s homepage can be accessed here.

There is however a very easy and straightforward way to create a US iTunes account without having to add a credit card or any other means of payment during the account creation phase. The famous None option will be selectable during account creation. Start by visiting the iTunes store. Make sure you are in the United States store. If you are not scroll down to the bottom and change the store to United States. Access the App Store that contains applications for the iPhone. Select a free one from the list of Top Free Apps and click on the Get App link in the detail view. The next window is the login window with the option to create a new account.

Click on the Create New Account button and on Continue in the next window. Accept the license agreement and click continue once more.

Now fill out basic account details, like the email, username and password of that account and click on Continue again.

After that the screen with the payment information and address will appear. Select None as the payment and fill out the address information using a address in the United States. The easiest way to do that is to search in Google for hotels, e.g. Miami hotels, New York hotels and use the address of the hotel as the address.

Verify the email in the last step and you are set to use the US iTunes account. Here is a quick recap:

• Open the United States iTunes store
• Download a free iPhone application
• Select to create a new account
• Enter username, password and email
• Select none option and add a US address with matching zip, town and street.
• Verify the email

This should work from any country. If you got problems or tips let us know in the comments.

Some users probably prefer not to pay any money for the account because they just want access to the free contents and never make a payment in the store. The good news is that it is possible to use used coupons as well to create a free US iTunes account. Gift certificates could later still be used to add money to the account in case a purchase has to be made.

The benefits of having an US account are access to free songs which are updated regularly, to better promotions and music, movies or tv shows that are not available in other iTunes store yet.

The first thing you do is to download the iTunes software and install it. Once that is done start it and locate the Redeem link in the top right Quick Links menu.

This will load a page with a form that accepts coupons and gift certificates. All you need to is to paste a coupon code into the form and click on Redeem to send it to iTunes. Coupons can be found here or here.

The iTunes software will throw an error message if the gift certificate or coupon is no longer valid. That however is not a problem at all. Return to the homepage by clicking on the home icon in the upper left corner of the iTunes store.

Once the homepage has loaded it is time to create the account. You can do that by clicking on the Sign In button on the upper right corner of the iTunes store. It offers you login possibilities and a button to create a new account. Click on that button.

Click continue on the welcome page and accept the terms and conditions of the iTunes store in the second. This finally leads to the account creation page.

Enter your details on that page and continue to the next and final step of the account creation.

If everything went well you should now see the page where you can select a payment method and enter the address of the account. The payment method has to offer None as one option for this to work. If that is the case choose none. Now you need to enter an US address in the last step to create the account.

The zip code, state and city have to match. Everything else does not. Just select the location of a friend or relative to be on the safe side but it is practically possible to enter any information you like.

The account will be created in the last step and the contents of the US iTunes store are now available.

This brings me to a pretty neat site that someone recommended. The site is call kissthisguy and it is basically an archive of a lot of misheard lyrics. The site name is itself taken from a misheard line in the Jimi Hendrix song ‘Purple Haze’ though there is a separate page explaining that this is a deliberate mistake by Hendrix.

Anyway, back to the site. You can browse for misheard lyrics by artist or song name. Lyrics are available from the old greats like Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, and Elvis Presley to newer acts like Coldplay, Britney Spears, etc. The lyrics themselves are submitted by ordinary visitors to the site so it’s not uncommon to find one song with ten misheard lyrics contributions by visitors.

Kisstheguy is purely for fun purposes but it actually has a bunch of stuff. To begin with, anyone can submit lyrics to the site. Site visitors can also vote on whether they think a particular song’s lyrics are funny or not. The votes are compiled together to give you the 50 funniest song lyrics. The list is updated regularly so it keeps changing.

If you want, you can sign up for their ‘Lyric of the day’ feature and you will receive a funny song lyric everyday, in your email inbox. Another great feature about this site is the iTunes connection. Every song on the site has a link to the iTunes page from where you can purchase the song. I don’t have iTunes installed so I couldn’t test this feature.

I quite liked the site. It is definitely worth visiting when you’re feeling down or you have some time to kill and don’t quite know what to do. Go check out the site and let me know if you found your favorite song’s misheard lyrics.

A bit of trivia for you. When you mishear a word, it is called as a mondegreen. The term was coined by the author Sylvia Wright and has been used ever since.

The possibility to download drm free music is live and several websites examined the new files that were downloaded after a purchase has been made. As Arstechica puts it: “We started examining the files this morning and noticed our names and e-mail addresses in the files”. This information is however stored in all songs that are downloaded from the iTunes store, not only in the drm free songs.

While it has not been a real concern before it could become one now. I don’t think that a lot of users will purchase music at the iTunes store and then add it to their p2p folder to share it with the world. The professional groups that release mp3 albums get their albums before store release and spread it world wide in a matter of minutes which means that they will not use the iTunes store to get hold of the music.

Someone who purchases the music will probably share some of the songs with close friends but definitely not spread it beyond that. It could be that some that lack the technical knowledge will move the music from the store into a folder that is shared in a p2p network.

What I want to say is this. It is highly unlikely that a lot of users will spread the drm free music into p2p networks. My concern is that other users might get hold of the songs and spread them. What if someone hacks your computer or finds your mp3 player and adds them to his p2p shared folder ?

Will you be responsible if millions of users share songs with your name in them ?

You are probably asking how Tunecore is making any money with their service ? This is easy to answer, Tunecore charges fees for certain actions. You do pay a $0.99 per song per album delivery charge and $0.99 a per store/service per album delivery fee. Both are one time fees. There is furthermore a annual $9.98 per album maintenance and service fee. So you can expect to pay $20-$30 for an album in the first year and $10 for all the other years after the first. Not that much if you consider the possibilities.

The process to upload songs to Tunecore is relatively easy:

1. Start with a free, no-obligation account
2. Add an album at your My Discography page
3. Choose your stores. (iTunes etc)
4. Add album cover art
5. Add songs
6. Upload your album
7. Get your money from your My Account page.

I suggest you take a close look at the faq which answers many questions that you might have right now. It is also possible to get CDs pressed or t-shirts for your band. I really can’t say much about the prices for the CDs, if anyone knows more about this please comment on this. New bands should take a look at the marketing and promotion tips which is a must read if you are serious about using the service.

found at tutorialninjas