Optimize Your Web

Most of you have heard of Pandora and Last.fm I hope.  I am here to tell you how to get the most out of them as you can.  What’s better than hearing the music that they play?  Hearing whatever song you want, when you want.  Now make sure you read the legal notice of this program (it’s made in Denmark), but The Last Ripper can rip the mp3 streams from Last.FM.  Now it currently stores each song in a folder organized by Artist then Album and then all songs in that album are renamed in there.

Sounds great right?  Well it is, but of course there can be improvements.  I for one, would like to be able to change how it stores the song (I would want one big directory with just the artistname-songname.mp3) but that may be something implemented down the road.  Basically, once you input your username and password for TheLastRipper, it connects and you’re off to search for an artist/song/album that you like and it records anything that comes up (unless you have it recorded before, and then it skips it).

Regardless, Last.FM (and hence TheLastRipper) and Pandora can be a great source of music, even if you don’t want to rip the songs.  For me, I like how Pandora groups together music when you search for something.  The only thing for those that want to record the streams is that there is not an easy to use Pandora stream ripper available.  If anyone has heard of anything, please let us know, as I am sure we are all interested.

While trying to obtain my MCTS and then soon after that my MCPD, I have found a good combination of training methods that I previously wrote about here.  First, I have a background in Java (not an expert, but I know the syntax and actually received a minor in my undergraduate studies in Computer Science).  I also know some html, css, javascript, and php.  So while I am not proficient at any of these, the fact that I can get by and know about them puts me ahead of someone starting from scratch

If anyone is in my position, I think this information may help you.  First, before you sign up for any classes, make sure you are familiar with whichever language you choose to focus on (I am choosing C# due to the close relationship of syntax with Java).  I have received two books to teach myself what I need to know before I go to any class or do any practice tests.  These two books are: MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-536) Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Application Development Foundation and Programming Microsoft ASP.NET 3.5.  The second edition for the Self-Paced Training Kit you can pre-order, but I am not able to wait for it to be released.  Start off with the Training Kit book, and then move on to the ASP.NET book because of the way they are structured and the indepthness of the first one.

To go along with these books, I would suggest purchasing a membership for at least a year to the site LearnVisualStudio.Net.  It has been highly recommended by some .NET Developers that I know and it looks to have a very large amount of tutorials already made, as well as ongoing videos.

After I get a good grasp of the material from these 3 sources, I am going to take a practice test to see how I fare for the 2 exams for the MCTS.  If I feel the need, I will take a class for each exam (I believe they are 2 or 3 days long) and give feedback to those that are interested.  If you have any further websites or learning sources, feel free to post them in the comments.

After having to reformat a friends machine, I figured there were people who need a little guide or a list of helpful hints to guide them on their way.

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