PixlBit

Good morning Pixlpeeps. It is Friday which means later on today after running a couple of errands I will be heading out to the local mom and pop shop to check out their stock on traded in CDs. Hopefully I find some new stuff that fills holes in some playlists and maybe take a chance on a couple of items I never heard. I do know that I will buy a new CD from Barnes & Noble because of my current project, more on that in a bit. Last week I said I would do a mini review on the Android phone I bought last week, the Coolpad Canvas and I will but I will also write about what I am doing with my small travel laptop. If this isn't your fancy I understand and if you want to check out the latest Hot Wheel pickups or what random dollar bundles I bought just scroll past the nerdy stuff. Cool? Alright let's get started.

 

Project Travel Laptop

So last week I wrote about what my plans are for my travel laptop and my converted Android phone that is now a music player, well after I wrote that there have been some changes to my plan. After being a little frustrated with the fact that I couldn't sync play counts from GoneMad with Musicbee unless I used the Last.fm app, I found something interesting. There was an app called iSyncr where I could not only sync my iTunes music that is in AAC format, but I could also get play counts and playlists from iTunes on my Android device. This is a huge plus because I don't have to rip my CDs into mp3 and I can get more use out of the Android Music Player. The question is what do I do with the Travel Laptop. Instead of going with mp3 format I thought it would be the perfect time to dive into ripping my CDs to FLAC. FLAC is a lossless format that is supposed to be an exact copy of my CDs. I've been wanting to do this for awhile because at some point I would like to setup home streaming, and at some point buy a high fidelity portable music player. Because of this I wanted to get a head start on ripping my collection and I know that the Android Music Player could play these files. My plan of attack is to buy another micro SD card for my FLAC files, and have one for my AAC files. Hopefully this works and I can just swap out cards in the music player to suit whatever my needs are. 

I am still using Musicbee for the default player on the Travel Laptop but instead of using the regular version I installed the portable version of the application and it lives on the external hard drive. This way I can move the FLAC hard drive between computers and still be able to sync and have my music in one spot without having to worry about moving everything if I buy a new laptop. 

 

The iSyncr app

While I am ripping my CDs to FLAC I have moved my main playlists to the Android Music Player (I'm just going to call it AMP from now on) using iSyncr. This app talks to the iTunes app via a desktop app and I am able to sync playlists, playcounts, and songs from iTunes to the AMP. There is a free version that syncs one playlist and 100 songs or you buy the $10 full version. There is also a music player for iSyncr called the Rocket Player that is an additional $4 but I just use the built in music player in iSyncr. Syncing music is actually simple, on the phone you have two options

 

Wifi or through USB. Ripping with both I think is a little slow but its going through a couple of programs so it isn't that bad

 

I created Android specific playlists and during the syncing process it loads 3 tracks at a time so ripping playlists that are over 1000 songs will take a couple of hours. When completed the app will give you a summery of what it did

 

And this is what the finished product looks like

 

I like this app, and it makes it easy for people to move files over from iTunes especially if they stopped using an iPhone. I tried using purchased tracks and the AMP played them without any problems. $10 is a little pricey for an app but it let's me listen to my iTunes content without having to buy an Apple player.

 

Chris Reviews The Coolpad Canvas

 

Over a week ago I bought this phone for $50 at Best Buy. I thought it was a hell of a purchase because of these specs

Quad-core 1.4GHz processor and 2GB RAM

5.5” Touch Screen

16GB Internal Memory

Micro SD Slot

Android 7.0 Nougat

Not bad for a $50 phone. It's not a flagship by any means but if you need an inexpensive phone that gives a lot of bang for your buck this is it. The phone itself is a little smaller than my phone the iPhone 6s Plus. It is also a bit lighter. The screen is nice and bright

 

I am currently using the Nova Launcher because I couldn't find the option to remove the Google Search Bar on the top of the screen. The phone does have physical face buttons, and the volume rocker and power buttons are in the same locations as my iPhone. The back facing speaker is loud but when you lay the phone down on a table it becomes muffled.

When launching apps there seems to be a one second lag. Now this isn't really a problem but when I compare it to my phone, the apps launch immediately. Connecting blue tooth devices also seem to take longer than normal and the reach just isn't as far as compared to my phone. It seems like my phone has three times the reach. 

I don't know if all Cricket Phones do this but the start up animation is really loud. It's not a deal breaker but just be aware of this.

When I bought this phone I was told by the nice employee at Best Buy that since I wasn't going to use it as a phone I would have to set it up on Wifi and so far I haven't had any problems. The only thing is that I have a no sim card icon by the battery.

Overall for $50 the Canvas feels like a solid buy. It plays my music apps, the games I installed have no problems and I like using this device. If you need a phone and are on Cricket check it out. I think the Canvas might still be a Best Buy exclusive.

 

Pickups

Games

From Walmart's random clearance endcaps (my store has them at two random spots in the electronics section) they had a ton of Lego Dimensions including this Level Pack for $10

 

I really need to update my Lego Dimensions so I can play.

 

Some Steam love

 

These games came out to I think $7. The Dollar bundle has 10 games? I've been playing Bang Bang Racing which looks like an updated version of RC Pro Am on the NES ¾ angle where the camera follows the race track. That was the most expensive game at $2.49.

 

Music

 

I bought DJ Khaled's Grateful 2 CD version from Best Buy because I liked the tracks from Rihanna and Bieber. I'm not really a Khaled fan because he always yells “We Da Best” but I really enjoyed this album. Well I enjoyed the first disc. Second disc not so much. A lot of these songs are on my Summer Playlist.

 

Lego

From Toys R Us

 

My store hid these so for a week I thought they were sold out. Batman comes in a plastic case.

 

Hot Wheels

A Trip to Walmart I was doing my usual searching through bins and I thought I was standing with reseller guy because he was also digging through the bin but as we were talking he was telling me about how this was a hobby he shared with his son. He was looking for Mazda's and Datsun's and I told him I was looking for Batmobiles. We talked about our hate of reseller guy and I told him to check the local Dollar Tree because nobody goes there. Anyways I found these items after he left

 

More ZAMAC cars. I will open the water damaged car. I also hung up some cars that I liked but already owned on the overhead price (I think there was 2-3 Batmobiles and Dom's Ice Charger along with a handful of Lamborghini Countach's) At the random display in the grocery section I found these cars

 

I couldn't find the guy I was talking to because I would have given these to him. There was a couple more so I bought two, and I picked up another one of these

 

I'll open this one. The final Hot Wheels find was at Target

 

How cool is this? It's a Steve Caballero Hot Wheel.

 

Alright Pixlpeeps I am off to continue rippinng CDs before I head out to find some new music. Have a good weekend!

 

That's all for now, more later!

-Chris

 

For song of the week this is the song that was stuck in my head so I bought the Khaled album. Have a good weekend