AMPArtwork Agent 100% CPU Usage in Mac OS Catalina – *Fixed

I held off upgrading to Catalina for a long time. I was hanging onto a few 32bit only apps and also I’ve experienced trouble in the past with new OS iterations. As we have reached 10.15.5 I decided to take the plunge and upgrade. We are running a few Macs in the house. Both MacBooks support Catalina natively, but my iMac is a 2009 model and as such is technically unsupported. I’ve been upgrading my 2009 iMac for a few years using the DosDude patch and it has always worked perfectly. The upgrade of the MacBooks went great, and even the iMac seemed to be coping well. Read More....

Soundpeats Q12 Headphones and Apple Music

SoundPEATS Q12 Bluetooth Wireless Headphones Review

Over the last few weeks I’ve been trying out the new SoundPEATS Q12 bluetooth headphones. I already own a pair of the Q30 headphones which I use a lot with my Laptop and iphone. I wanted a more compact pair to grab on the go & use with my Apple Watch.

I’ve got a Nike+ Apple Watch Series 3 with Cellular and I tend to use my watch a lot to listen to music on the go. It means I can keep my iPhone in my pocket or backpack & not worry about being disturbed. It’s also amazing to use the apple watch to work out. I already use the fitness trackers on the apple watch, but now combined with the SoundPEATS Q12 headphones I can listen to music and track my workout. Read More....

Tidal Desktop Spinning Disc GUITidal Desktop Spinning Disc GUI

Apple 256kbps AAC Vs. Tidal HiFi Lossless

Before I get into this, let me just say that this is my own opinion, based on music that I like & using the kit that I currently own. I’m by no means an audiophile & I don’t pour thousands of pounds into my home hi-fi kit. I’ve been trying to find the best combination of streaming & local storage of AAC to suit my needs & these are my findings.

Over the last few months, I’ve been trying out Apple Music, Spotify Premium, Amazon Music Unlimited & Tidal. I also have my own music collection which is ripped to iTunes. My own collection is around 26,000 tracks, ripped from CD in Apples 256kbps AAC codec format using iTunes. I combine this with iTunes match both to backup my collection on apples’ servers in case of a disk failure & also to give me access to my music on my Apple & iOS devices. For years this has served me well & is a habit I will keep, but I was definitely interested in new music discovery so ventured into the world of streaming services. Read More....

Soundpeats Q30 bluetooth earphones box

Soundpeats Q30 Bluetooth Wireless earphones Review

I’ve been looking for a pair of Bluetooth earphones for a while now. I wanted a pair with a short wire attaching the two buds as I often take them out to stop and chat with people when walking around the city. With my wired apple earbuds, I normally run them up under my T-shirt and out at the collar so I can take them out and let them hang from my neck.

This single requirement has put me off Bluetooth and wireless headphones for a while until I came across the Soundpeats Q30 wireless earphones. Read More....

Apple Earpods

Apple EarPods with Remote and Mic

This week a good friend of mine gave me a pair of Apple EarPods with Remote and Mic. He was sent a replacement iPhone 5S to replace a faulty unit and they sent it retail boxed with another set of EarPods so I was given the new pair. The ones I currently use are the ones that shipped with my iPhone 4. They are now pushing 4 years old & still in perfect working order. In fact since my first iPod in 2006 I’ve never had a set of Apple Headphones go faulty. They are great quality & pretty much indestructible (I still have that original pair from my iPod I bought in San Francisco back in 2006). Read More....