Store your complete MP3 library for FREE

As you may have notice I keep looking for useful web 2.0 services.

I'm mainly interested by easy-to-use, nice and last but not least, FREE services.



I think that this one will interest some of you.

You may have experienced the total loss of your 10+GB of Music during one your HD formatting. (BTW needless to say how Windows sucks!)

Or maybe you want to listen to your music at work (headphones in your ears all the time may not look very appealing to your boss though)



In both cases, let me introduce MP3Tunes.

Their service is quite simple to understand: "Store all your music library and listen to it from everywhere"

So, what are the features of the service and how does it work?



First you sign-up (damn easy) and you download their software (they call it "The Locker")

Then you run the software, tell it where to look for your music and just click on the "Sync" button.

It started to upload your music on theirs servers. That's it.



Now you can log in your account from everywhere (with a Web access obviously) and then listen to your music within the browser with the embedded player.


There are some additional features that are compelling.

If, while browsing, you come across a music you like, you can pass the url (you do need to have a file which has is specific URL) to your locker and it would load the song in your library.
Once done you can listen to it anytime you want.

They actually give you a list of websites where you can easily find Music ;-)

For example, they team up with Sideload where you can get a lot of free music and loaded it to your "Locker" but also embed the track in your blog (just like RadioBlogClub).


They second thing which is really cool is that the Sync orks both ways.

That measn that all the music you've find on the web is Sync down to your PC music library.
Ok, there is nothing revolutionary since thanks to the Donkey you can download everything you need. But I like the simplicity of the process.

You find a nice song, add it to your locker and you dont have to think about it. Everything is done automatically.


There are some limitations of course.
First, you cant load files bigger than 10MB (actually you can but you need to upgrade to the Premium account which is not free).

It's not a constraining limitation for most of your library except of course if you have some Classical (that's 1.5GB I wont synchronised :-( ).



Another limitation is that, to access to your library from a mobile device you will need a Premium account.

But seriously, who will want to do that. I mean I have a 20GB mp3 player (Archos GMini 402) and a 2GB SD Card in my phone.

Why on earth will use a GPRS/3G connection for which I would be charged to listen to music?


When you sign in, you may wait 2 or 3 days to get the unlimited storage, but once it set up, everything just go nice and smooth.


So if you decide to give it a try, let me know about your impressions

Hard to catch up all the news!

I've been pretty busy lately. A lot of assignment, projects and presentations.

Oh BTW, you may wanna try Office 2007. This new version really rocks. I wouldnt had believe that I would have to say that one day to a microsoft software but, Congratulations.



But I'm digressing. The problem is that I've been away of my Netvibes for 3/4 days and I have to cope with this 300 news waiting for me>



Even when you skip those which are not so interesting around 50 remains.

The problem here is the connection speed. It takes ages to open a simple page.

Even if you learn to be patient (in general, you have to learn to be patient AND cool in Thailand, otherwise you dont last long), it's still quite irritating from times to times.



Some interesting news:

Techcrunch talks about jajah here, they reached their 2 millions users.
For the french audience, I'm translating the post in french for TechcrunchFR, it will be posted as soon as Ouriel will come back from his holydays.
I'm glad for them. It is said that they focused on Quality. It a very smart decision.

But they need to address the same issues in the southeast asia region as well.

Cause i'm starting to think about have a glance at the competition.

You can find my posts on Jajah et other VOIP here.
If you read the comments on techcrunch article you will notice that i'm not the only one who start to complain.


If you want a comparison of VOIP, check this article



Going back to my netvibes page. Wish me good luck

THE picture of Bangkok

 

Ok, the title can be misleading. But I really think that this picture can symbolize Bangkok.


Because is an inextricable mix of ultra-modernity and kind of traditionnal, old lifestyle.


You will find this modern building, a brand new subway, a crazy networks of roads and freeways, and as you can see, these nice,neat, clean subway stations (invaded by Advertising of course)

And side by side with the aforementioned building, you will see this kind of old building with funny colors.

And along the road, all these small shops, and the vans that you, litteraly, catch on fly.



I really like this mix.

As I often tell to my friends, Bangkok is this perfect mix of Paris and Douala.

Definitely the place where I want to be.


P.S: The girl on the ad is definitely hot.

Bangkok Skytrain

 

 

 

 

Here are some pics of the Skytrain of Bangkok. The name here is BTS

As you may guess by the name, it's an overhead brand new subway



The stations are large, almost too big, clean.

As I've already said in a previous post, the temperatures inside are kind of crazy.

It's OK during the afternoon, because the outside world is hot as hell.

but when the outside temperature start to fall with the sun, you find yourself starting to freeze.


The BTS is kind of expensive (for the thai standard).

Unlike Paris sub, here they still have the concept of zone (like in the RER).

And of course, you have 2 stations in zone 1, 1 in zone 2, 2or3 in zone 3 and the rest (about 12) in zone 4and 5.

Needless to say, the system is designed to make you pay the max. The prices range from 20 to 40 bahts (based on my personal experience).


Also, there is no way you don't pay the ticket. There are police agent at every stations and every gates.

So basically, you DO pay the ticket.


In all cases, the BTS is a must have in a city like Bangkok where the traffic jams are nightmarish.

I'll write about the circulation in Bangkok in a coming post.

One kind of Thai Mangos

 

 

 

This is how one kind of the thai mangos looks like.

It's totally
different from what we see in Africa where the inside is yellow.



You are supposed to eat that with the red sausage you can see on the pictures.

The sausage is made of sugar, shrimps and fish sauce. It's kind of salted though.

It's actually good, but I prefer eat the mango alone.


This kind of mango tastes a little bit like guava.

Oh this reminds me that I should show you how guavas look like here.

But this is another story.

Today was a good day

Today was a good day (actually yesterday but it doesnt matter).

I went to a very nice restaurant in Bangkok.

The name of the restaurant is "Once upon a time".

Very nice place, delightful atmosphere, very good food.

The adress is 32 soi 17 Pethburi Road, Pratunam.



I took some photos but with a friend digital camera so I'll post them as soon as I get them.

I dont have enough time to blog on this now (its 3:30 AM).But I will later on blog on that with pictures of courses.


Another thing that makes this day cool is that it was one of my closest friend birthday.

I know we kind of lose contact, but you know that you've got a special place in my life.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you.

And to celebrate, this song is dedicated to you.




Bill Withers, "Just the two of Us", a great classic.

So click play and enjoy.

Song of The Day: 2 Pac

People who listen to rap know that when we talk about rap, there's no other starting point than Tupac Shakur, the greatest rapper of all time (sorry Biggie).



It has been a while since I didnt take the time to listen to one of his album.

So I just had this tought minutes ago, "what the heck, I'm gonna drop two of his songs on my blog".

And that's what I'm doing right now



It's hard to decide which ones of his several great songs, I think I should avoid the most famous ones and make you discover the two faces of 2 Pac angel vs Devil.

So here comes the first one.

As usual, I'll start with the groovy one.

"You wonda why we call you bitch" from CD2 of the Album All Eyez On Me released in 1996.
One of the best album ever, and the first double-disc rap album ever. Dont restrain yourself just because of the title, there is a real (true BTW) story behind.








The second one is of course the calm one.

I love this song. It cheers me up when I feel blue.

The title is "Live goes on" and it pretty much speaks by itself. It's from the same album but on CD1.






And because I cant hold it, this is the bonus song.

Title is "Unconditional Love" which is just... Actually just press play.






We do miss Tupac as he was far above the current level of today rappers.

To find more about him, here is a nice article on his life.

Avoid International Roaming...

Unless you are insanely rich (or using a company telephone).

I've foolishly called France a couple of times using my french SIM card.


You may wanna know before you do that,that you will be charge 2.6 euros /minute if you call from Thailand.

I wish somebody has told me that before I placed this 20 min call.

It was for a good cause (saying Happy birthday), but I would have make it slightly shorter.


So now you know how much it costs to place a call from Thailand to France using a french SIM card.



BTW my mobile provider is Bouygtel.

Jajah Mobile and its shortcomings

I've already blog about Jajah.

Two days after my first post on Jajah, they send me a mail to tell me that they appreciate my post.

They also respond to one of my wish which was, being able to download Jajah mobile application for a Windows Mobile 2003 device.
This is what I'll talk about.


So, my request was actually to be provided with a way to use jajah when I'm not at home.

Their answer was actually the best one: Jajah mobile A web based form accessible with a simple browser.

So I jumped to the URL they gave me, log in and start using this system.

Needless to say that I was delighted to find all my profile informations and contacts on this mobile-specific website.

I bookmarked it, so I was able to place an international call for as low as 3cts (euros) within 2 clicks. And that's just great!


But they are some shortcomings.


First, I definitely think that Jajah need to really work on the quality of the communication. This stands for every calls no matter what mean was used to initiate the call.

I don't say that the quality is bad, but it's sure not constant enough.

Some calls do have a great voice quality, but some others are not so great.


The biggest disappointement I have is the fact that most of the times, it takes 2 or 3 attempts to get an actual communication.
Too often the first attempt fails because one end doesnt ear the other one.

If this is Ok when I call a europe landline number (around 3cts/min), it's almost intolerable when I'm calling a mobile in Africa ( 18cts thrown away for each attempt).

When I just want to pass an information, which typically will last 2 min, spending 1.5 euros, 70% for nothing is just not an option.


So Jajah if you read this, fix it. And you will enjoy happy customers who will spend more money using your system.


Secondly, they have a problem which is mobile specific.

When you initiate the call with the browser, you are using the GPRS connection which cannot be carry on along with a call.

So what happen too many times, at least here in Thailand, is that when Jajah will call you, they will fall in your voicemail because the GPRS connection is still active.

It's funny because they problem is due to the fact that Jajah is actually too fast.

So I suggest that they implement a kind of short timed delay before placing the call.



Overall Jajah mobile is an interesting service, especially in Thailand, where the prices are the same for mobile and landline calls (that's a topic I'll cover later).


But they are still some issues that needed to be adressed, rather sooner than later.

Weather News (Bangkok vs Paris)

My friends keep telling about the weather in Paris.

They did have snow on Monday, Rain on Tuesday, and of course a very cold weather on top op that.

The funny thing is that they were starting bragging one week ago about the nnice weather they had.


Since some have expressed some "concerns" about the weather here in Bangkok, let me dissipate your worries.

You do have a very nice weather here.

Temperatures has been lower since 2/3 days, so we do have a nice 26/28 during the day.

Today was slightly hotter though, we have something around 28/30 degrees celsius.


Yesterday was the first day that I spent entirely without air conditionning in my room.

The main advantage is the silence. The AC in our rooms are quite old systems so they tend to make some noise.

Nothing unbearable, but I do think that it affects somehow the quality of my sleep.


So to all the people living in West Europe, if the weather over there makes you feel depressed, you may want to come and spend some time here.