Get More Out of Your PC

Record Radio Onto Your MP3 Player

Do you rush home to catch Rush Limbaugh? Do you adore Al Franken, but always miss his show? No need to panic: With the Radio Shark, a $50 USB radio receiver, you can record AM and FM radio shows to your PC and listen to them at your leisure. You can even skip the ads and copy the shows to your MP3 player. Just install the Radio Shark and the software that comes with it, and then set it to record your programs; it can record them on a daily, weekly, or other schedule you specify. For Internet radio, Replay Radio is a $50 program that automatically records streaming audio to your PC, saving it for later listening as MP3 files.

To copy the shows to your MP3 player, locate the folder that the software uses to store the recorded shows: In the Radio Shark software, click Preferences, Location; in Replay Radio, click Settings and look at 'Save output files to this folder' under the Folders tab. Next, start Windows Media Player 10, and choose File, Add To Library, By Monitoring Folders. Select the recordings folder, and WMP will automatically add the recorded shows to your music library, ready for uploading to your MP3 player. If you're using an iPod, iTunes can't automatically add the new files, but you can import them by selecting File, Add Folder To Library, and then choosing the folder that stores your radio recordings before you reconnect your iPod. If you prefer, you can set Replay Radio to automatically add the recordings to iTunes: Go to the main screen, right-click any of your scheduled recordings, and select Properties, Output, Add to iTunes Library.

Calibrate Your Colors

Does Auntie Doris seem greener than usual? Does Uncle Bob look pale? If the photos you view on your screen are a little off, you might need to recalibrate your monitor.

The first step is to use the International Color Consortium (ICC) profile for your monitor, which Windows uses to represent colors accurately on your screen. Your ICC profile is on the CD that came with the monitor (you can also download it from the manufacturer's Web site). To adjust your monitor's color, right-click a blank area of the Desktop and select Properties. Under the Settings tab in the Display Properties dialog box, click Advanced, Color Management. If no monitor profile is listed there, click Add and select the profile. Next, download and run the free Monitor Calibration Wizard utility. Step through the wizard and apply the profile it creates.

If you want more accurate color, buy a calibrator. Devices like the $149 Pantone Spyder2 analyze the color the monitor displays. These devices aren't cheap, but graphics professionals rely on them to calibrate their monitors. And if Auntie Doris still looks a little green, well, it's probably just the leftover salmon she had for lunch.