If you consider that iTunes is a bloated and slow software, you should know that there are some alternatives available. In this article we are going to share five alternatives that you might want to consider for transferring your music onto your iPod.

The first one in the list is Foobar2000, about which we’ve wrote an article several days ago. We like it because it does not consume a lot of the system’s resources and it can be customized in a lot of ways. In order to make it work with the iPod you must install several free components: iPod Manager and Nero AAC Codec.

An interesting alternative to iTunes would have to be CopyTrans Manager which is a free software that will give you the possibility to transfer songs from the PC to the iPod, iPhone or iPod Touch. The install process is fast and easy and after launching the program you can connect your device. You have the possibility to add playlists to this software and after that synchronize them with your iPod. The program allows you to add/delete music, podcasts, videos and others as well. You also can listen to the music saved on the iPod through the speakers of the computer if the device is plugged in. Also at your disposal is a standalone version that can be installed on your iPod. Songbird is another alternative to iTunes that we find interesting and ever since it came out it has evolved greatly. If you leave the default settings during the installation process it is going to work with the iPod without making any further adjustments. While you are setting it up remember to import the iTunes library. You have the possibility to choose to automatically synchronize all of the music or you can synchronize selected playlists manually. With Songbird you can also drag & drop songs from the music stored on your computer to the iPod. The program also comes with several other features, plugins and various skins that you might want to try. We also have to mention MediaMoneky as a good alternative to Apple’s iTunes which will work out of the box with your iPod. It is capable of playing a long list of audio formats, such as MP3, FLAC, AAC, APE, and others as well.

Last but certainly not last in our list of iTunes alternatives, we find a simple program called SharePod which is a handy tool for transferring music and videos to and from your iPod. All you have to do is highlight the songs that you want to transfer and after that select a location on the HDD. You also have the possibility to import the songs to iTunes. Another great feature is that the program does not require an installation so you’ll be able to use it directly from an external hard drive or a thumb drive. After the songs are copied you’ll be able to move them anywhere you prefer. It also comes with a basic media player so you can listen to the songs that are stored on the iPod.

If you are bored with Apple’s traditional logo on your Mac, you might want to change it for something new and refreshing. Since there is no easy option in OS X for you to change this logo, you will have to use a software created just for this, changing the OS X boot logo. You will need an Intel Mac (obviously!), BootXChanger and the image/photo to change the logo to.

The first step that you have to take is to download for free an application called BootXChanger. Once the download process has ended you will have to install the app by simply dragging it to the applications folder. There are some chances that when you run this software for the first time you will be prompted with a warning saying that the app was downloaded from the Internet. If so, you have to click on open in order to continue.

When you are selecting a photo there are several guidelines which you should keep in mind. First of all, .gif and .png files support transparency so if what you want is for the background to match the screen, you have the possibility to use transparency. Remember that animated pictures are not going to work so select only static ones. The original logo of OS X measures 90 x 90 pixels so it is preferable that you select an image or a photo that has the same dimensions. You still can use larger pictures but probably these have to be resized and are not going to fill the entire screen. If the photo that you have chosen is too big, this will most likely be ignored so no image is going to be displayed. To install the new photo you’ll have to drag it from a finder window into BootXChanger and after that click on Apply so that the program will make the suitable modifications. When prompted, you will have to provide the username and password to continue with the process. After that you should restart the computer to make sure that the logo has been changed. With BootXChanger you also get several samples that you might want to consider for replacing the standard logo. We should note that with the help of this program you have the option to modify the background color to something that will suit the new logo better. If you don’t like the new custom logo that you have installed, you can always click on default image in order to restore the original Apple logo so that everything will go back to normal as it was before you started using BootXChanger.

Most likely there are other programs available that you can use in order to change the boot logo in OS X but BootXChanger is probably the easiest to use as it only takes a couple of seconds to make the transition to the new logo. In addition, getting back to the original logo is done easily. You can use such programs to make a practical joke on one of your friends, modifying their logo without them knowing, hoping that they will appreciate this joke.

If you read a lot of articles on the Internet and you want to make your reading experience easier by not having to scroll so much back and forth or skipping between the numerous pages, you have the possibility to transform the web browser into a veritable book with the help of Safari Reader.

The fifth version of Apple’s web browser has introduced several useful features, one of which being the Reader Mode. While you are reading an article on the Internet using Safari, you will notice that there is a Reader button located on the top right corner of the browser’s address bar.

If you click on this button Safari is going to open the article that you are reading in a great viewer overlay which is going to the article look a lot like as if it was on print. This Reader pane is going to hover over the article, and it swooshes in with an appealing visual touch when it is opened. Keep in mind that you will still have the possibility to view the images of the article as normal, plus you’ll be able to zoom, e-mail, print an article by using the small toolbar which will hover when you are at the bottom of this Reader pane.If the article that you are reading is a long one and it is split in several pages, Reader is capable of automatically loading all of the pages so that you’ll be able to read this article seamlessly. However, we noticed that this feature doesn’t seem to work on all of the websites, but it still is a great tool to have. In order to return to the main page you will have to press the Esc key or you can click on the X in the Reader popup toolbar. You can also go back to the main page by clicking on the Reader button located in the address bar, the one we’ve talked about earlier. You also can tweak Safari Reader to make it work better for you, and you can add various features and fonts to make it more appealing. You can download and install a theme for Reader. Most of the themes that you will find are saved as a .zip file so you will have to extract the file before adding the theme to Safari. You will also have to do a backup of the Reader’s original theme. To do this you will have to exit Safari and after that in Windows you must go to this address: C:Program Files (x86)SafariSafari.resources. Now, go to the Reader.html and modify its name to something else, like Reader_old for example. Due to the reason that the Program Files is a protected folder, you will have to approve the rename of the file in question.

After you have done this you must copy the Reader file that you have downloaded and unzipped and paste it in that Safari.resources folder. You will have to agree once again to do the file transfer. Now you will notice the new theme once you open up Safari Reader, while some of these themes also come with new tools for the aforementioned bottom popup toolbar.

In this article we are going to talk about what you have to do in order to reset a forgotten password in a Mac OS X-running computer. The first method that you have is to use the Install Disk that came when you bought the computer. Get yours (if you still have it) and insert it into the computer.

After you boot off the disc you’ll have to select the language, and after that the OS X is going to prepare the installation environment.

Now you have to click on the Utilities menu and after that select Reset Password. You now have to select the volume with the account you need to modify the password for. The account will be chosen from the drop down and you must enter the new password along with a password hint in case you forget the password again. While you are here and taking into consideration that you have modified the password, you might want to reset the Access Control Lists (ACLs). After you are done, you can save and do a restart of the computer. Now you will be able to log in by using the new password. There is another method that you might consider and some are saying that it is easier. You can boot the system into Single User Mode and after that delete a file which tells the operating system that the first boot setup has run. In order to boot into Single User Mode, you will have to reboot the system while you are pressing & holding the Command and S buttons right after you hear the startup gong. After you have managed to boot into Single User Mode you’ll have to mount the volume that you need to get into. The next step that you have to take is to remove that file we’ve mentioned earlier. To do this you will have to type the following: rm -rf /var/db/.AppleSetupDone. Now you have to boot the system by typing “reboot”. After you boot the system it is going to act like it is booting for the first time after you have installed the OS and you will notice the Welcome screen. Once you reach the screen in which you will be asked if you already have a Mac, you will have to select “Do not transfer my information now” since you are not interested in transferring any data.

After you reach the screen where you are asked to enter your Apple ID, you have the possibility to hit the Command and Q buttons simultaneously in order to get rid of the rest of the prompts. Time has come to create a new Administrator account. After you have reached the Thank You screen you will be done with this part of the process and after you hit Go you will be directed to your new account. Now, you must go to System Preferences and next to the Accounts pane. You will have to choose the account that has the password that you would like to reset and then click on Reset Password. The next step is to enter your new password and if you want, enter a password hint as well. Now you will be able to login to the account by using the new password.

If you are like us, you probably are always on the look to improve your efficiency so we thought that in this article we will explain how to open applications and find files faster while running OS X. Rather than digging through your many folders, you might consider using Quicksilver which will allow you to find what you need by using a few key strokes, performing the same commands that would normally take a lot more mouse clicks.

Once you open Quicksilver you are going to be presented with an introduction, and you’ll have to press Continue. As you would expect, you will have to agree with the licensing terms and hit on Continue once again. You will also be prompted with some recommended plug-ins which you might want to include.

The first thing that you have to do is activate Quicksilver and this is done by default by hitting Control(^) and Space. “Catalog Update” refers to the interval in which Quicksilver is going to scan for updates for the apps, as well as the other sections you have the software searching for. Now you’ll also notice an additional introduction to Quicksilver which offers a basic overview of what it has to offer and what you can do with it. After the setup is complete, Quicksilver is going to open with the default theme as well as standard color options. One of the things that you can do is open up an URL in your standard web browser. You must type the URL and then tab to the second panel in order to discover what your options are. Some examples include moving that object to the trash, copying the search object and other as well. The arrow is going to drop down an options menu. Go to the Preferences menu and in the Guide panel you will be able to go through the support resources located on the left side, while the right side is where you can access the table of contents. In the Application menu located in the Preferences section you can find options such: start at login, warn before quitting, enable advanced features, show icon in dock, show icon in the menu bar. In additional, there are several other options available like checking for updates.

In the Triggers page you have the possibility to configure the key commands to trigger the actions, while in Custom Triggers you are able to set these up in order to open apps or to handle system tasks such as activating the screen saver when you press command + option + s. We should mention that there are several pre-made triggers that come as default with Quicksilver. In the Catalog section you will find all that is indexed so all that Quicksilver can search within. If you don’t want it to search for some of the items in here, you will have to uncheck these from this panel. To rescan you can hit command + r or you can simply wait for Quicksilver to initiate a rescan of the catalog. The plug-ins panel is going to let you use the application within modules and programs. The more addons you install, the less clicks of a mouse you will have to do. All things considered, Quicksilver is a great way for becoming more efficient since rather than attempting to find apps using Finder, you’re able to type the app.