iCloud: Recovering Lost or Damaged Songs from iTunes 10.7

I was cursing iTunes for a while there.  Sometime this Spring during one of their updates, several of my songs got cut off at the end.  

Then, after I buying a song last week and having the song cut off halfway when trying to play it, I was not a happy camper.  Then, after running an update hoping that would work, Windows XP found a problem with iTunes and would shut it down every time I tried to open it.  I was PISSED!  After reverting back to an old version, I filed a complaint.  

Well, they must have fixed their update because they had me try it again and it worked, after updating to version 10.7 I was able to go into Purchases and in the lower right clicked 'Download Previous Purchases'.  This goes to the iCloud and shows you all the songs you ever bought, sorted by artist!  If you remove ones that are damaged don't work properly from your music library, then go to the iCloud, you can re-download them all.  Pretty cool stuff! 

Recovering iTunes songs from the iCloud: After removing the damaged songs, click on Purchases, then in the lower right click Previous purchases... (click image to enlarge)

Recovering iTunes songs from the iCloud:Find the artist of the song you want to retrieve, then click on the iCloud icon on the right.  This will only appear if you delete the song from your computer first.  Then, the song will begin downloading. (click image to enlarge)

I'm not a huge Apple fan, but I have to give them kudos for this new ability to recover your songs.  Previously if I lost a song, I would have to call them and put it up on my download list on the iTunes store.  Now, you can retrieve them yourself using the iCloud!

Playing music on your PC via your home stereo

I always thought this was a difficult task, however recently I have discovered that you can connect a PC that does not have stereo jacks in the sound card to your home stereo system with a mp3 adapter.  This is is a wire with a 1/8" or mini-stereo jack on one end and stereo jacks on the other.  They cost around $15, depending on the size you get.  Simply plug the 1/8" end into the earphone jack on your laptop or PC.  Then plug the other end into the input jacks on your stereo.  Play your favorite tunes with iTunes or whatever music program you use and it sounds awesome coming out of your stereo.  You could probably make it sound even better by investing in a good sound card but this works!

Since discovering this, I have taken my entire CD collection and imported it into iTunes.  Now I have any song that I ever owned at my fingertips.  No searching for CDs, etc.  I just pull up iTunes and I can find a song, album or artist easily with the search feature in seconds.