LegRoom.net Kick back and relax

I've added one more script to my software page. This shell script will convert audio files compressed with a lossless audio codec such as Monkey's Audio or Shorten to the FLAC. The key feature here is that instead of simply transcoding the file to FLAC, it'll preserve and migrate any tag information as well.

Additional details can be found on the Convert to FLAC home page.

Please also note that this is essentially an extension of the apetoflac script I posted last week to handle more input formats. Since this script completely supercedes apetoflac, I've removed all references to it from the apeinfo page and simply link to Convert to FLAC instead.

I've added a new application to my software page. Get Album Art is a PHP script that does exactly what you'd expect - it locates and downloads the CD cover image for any given album.

Details and download links can be found on the app's home page.

I made some significant updates to the RSS news feed for LegRoom.net. Among the changes:

• Feed is now fully RSS 2.0 compiant
• Each item now includes time posted
• Each item now includes its category
• Greatly improved the XSL transformation (used to define how the feed is displayed in web browsers
• HTML content is now rendered properly
• XSL should now render correctly in Mozilla/Firefox, IE, Opera, and Safari

The updated feed can be viewed here.

There's an interesting post on the Metroblogging New Orleans site today titled "The Road Back." It discusses a few recent articles in The Times-Picayune (the daily newspaper for the Greater New Orleans area) concerning the current economy, and the various difficulties encoutnered on a daily basis by those that have already moved back home. It's a pretty enlightening read, especially the newspaper articles. For convenience, I've linked to the articles below.

Post-Katrina New Orleans proves pricey
Wounded N.O. economy remains in coma
Some who returned to New Orleans consider leaving (not the T-P, but still worth reading)

I've updated my Bookmarks page. This list primarily consists of a new Music category, listing my favorite artists, unofficial fan websites, digital audio information, and various other resources. Feel free to check it out if this sounds like something in which you're interested.