Nation

7.17.08

TuneUp

Even revolutionary inventions can be dramatically improved by after-market accessories -- iPods get a huge boost from better, non-Mentos-like headphones, and while baseball caps're great, until beer holders and tubes they were impossible to drink out of. Turbocharging your iTunes, TuneUp, just launched.

Created in SF, Up's an iTunes plugin that both streamlines the mess you inevitably create by sourcing music online and, without opening your browser, connects you to a wealth of resources for whatever you're listening to. To explain: first, it'll perform a diagnostic, pulling up dirty tracks ("Track 07", "Unknown Artist", Notoreus Big, etc), comparing them to a database of over 90 million songs, then spitting back correct titles/genres/artists/etc -- though you're free to ignore these if you insist Maroon 5 belongs under "Hard Rock". Up'll also help you augment your digital collection: "Cover Art" hooks you up with album covers, while "Now Playing" displays live YouTube vids and links to band merch on eBay/Amazon; meanwhile, "Concerts" susses out your taste, then links to Ticketmaster, StubHub, eBay, and Upcoming for both pending shows and local events that jibe with your music -- at bars, clubs and, in desperate cases, elevators.

Your options are three: there're no-max annual and unlimited services (both under $20), plus a free version that gives you 500 cleans -- because while cars are awesome, that $20 could go towards some even awesomer rims.

Sort your sh*t at TuneUpMedia.com