Tag Archives: multimedia

New iPods, New iTunes, No Subscription Music

New iPod TouchAs reported by Apple blogs and news sites such as Macworld and TUAW, Apple unveiled new iPod Touches, new iPod Nanos, and new iTunes 8.0, along with the new Genius Recommended tracks and playlists, HD content to watch on your computer, as well as the return of NBC programming.  New toys, new shows, new games, bla bla bla.  Yay for Apple.

Whoop-de-crap.

What’s the one feature I’ve been waiting for since I got my Mac two years ago?  What’s the one feature people had been predicting with more certainty than ever?  What’s the one feature that didn’t get unveiled today?

That would be the iTunes Unlimited Subscription service.   That was a no-show today, leaving my hopes dashed and my Parallels-Windows-Rhapsody setup firmly in place, and not going anywhere.  I would love to go “all Apple”, but I remain enamored enough with the concept of subscription music that I won’t get a shiny new iPod until they decide to try subscriptions.  And no, I don’t think the new Genius feature is any sort of substitute.

Oh well.

iTunes Subscriptions Finally a Reality?

Among other things predicted by this post TUAW is suggesting that on September 9, Apple may introduce a subscription model to their iTunes software.  I’ve posted plenty of times about what I think of the idea of subscription music (see the Related Posts below if you want to see for yourself), and any of you who have read any of them know that I think the concept is a great idea.  I still use Rhapsody, and I still complain about having to boot up Windows on my Mac through Parallels so I can sync music to my non iPod media player.

Rumors like this have been circulating for years, but this time around there seems to be definite evidence that Apple has actually been negotiating with record labels for such a service.  If this rumor proves true, here’s one guy that will be running out to buy an iPod as soon as he can afford one!

Anybody else heard anything about this?  Do you have any opinions about subscription music?

Adobe Photoshop Express

Adobe has just released Photoshop Express as a Beta. For now, it is a web based application that not only provides very basic photo editing and enhancing abilities, but also 2 GB of storage for your photos.

In order to take it for a test drive, I signed up for an account, and posted some pictures from our San Francisco trip in 2007. Overall, it looks like it has some potential. Anyone who uses services such as Flickr, Photobucket, Facebook, or Picasa (which I reviewed earlier) should at least take a look at this.

Some pros and cons I initially found after a quick test drive:

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More Thoughts on Rhapsody (Or, Why Can’t iTunes Do Subscription Music?)

I’ve posted a lot about subscription music in this blog, making sure to include my opinion about it in general, and also relating my initial experiences trying the Rhapsody music service, after being dumped there from MTV’s soon-to-be-defunct URGE service.

(Actually, this subject has so dominated this blog so far, that the title “Reluctant Geek That Mostly Whines About Subscription Music” would not be inappropriate.)

After further “normal” use of Rhapsody, and a multi-day ordeal involving the reinstallation of Windows XP on my MacBook Pro, I can now give you further thoughts on Rhapsody, with the added fun of trying to use it on a Mac machine. If I had to sum it up in one phrase, it would be this:

Why, oh why, can’t iTunes do subscription music?

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Why Subscription Music is a Good Idea (Or, Is There Life Without iTunes?)

In a previous post, I lamented the impending demise of a music subscription service that I use and enjoy. I also warned you that I would be posting about why I think subscription music is a good idea. I’ll give you three guesses as to the subject of this post.

Um, no. It won’t be about the advantages of organic dog food. Good guess, though. Read More »

Trying the Rhapsody Service: First Impressions

In a previous post, I had grieved over the impending loss of the URGE music service, but grudgingly decided to give the service to which us URGE users were being dumped – Rhapsody – a try. Well, as they said in Groundhog Day, “Rise and shine campers, and don’t forget your booties ’cause it’s cold out there today!” That quote has nothing to do with anything regarding Rhapsody, but I still think that’s a funny line. Yes, by the way, I have tried Rhapsody, and I have for you today, hot off the presses, my own “Rhapsody Report”.

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Cool Plugin for iTunes: Share Music Over the Internet

Here’s an interesting tool that I found while reading an article on TUAW (that’s “The Unfficial Apple Weblog” for the uninitiated). Yes, it’s already been blogged, reported, reviewed, probably upgraded twice, and blamed for global warming by now. What can I say? I guess that’s why those guys get paid for what they do. They find stuff first, while bloggers like me simply regurgitate information to our tiny little spheres of readers. So, really, this post should begin with the phrase, “In case you don’t already know…”

Moving on…

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Managing, Sharing, and Mapping Your Photos with Picasa

So, What is Picasa?

First of all, these days, if you’re still managing your digital photos by way of tedious and endless trees of directories, shame on you. Besides quickly becoming unmanageable for thousands of photos, there’s too many good tools out there that make viewing, managing, and even minor editing of your photo collections easy, intuitive, and even – ahem – fun. I guess.

All you Mac users should already know better. There’s a little program that came with your computer called “iPhoto”. Use it! Now! (No, wait. Finish the post, first.)

One tool I used to use while I was still an unenlightened Windows user was a program called “Picasa” – which, since it showed a lot of potential and usability, was immediately bought by Google. Picasa is basically the Windows version of iPhoto. Once installed on your machine, it scans your hard drives for all of your photos and videos, and creates a library of them within Picasa. Once you have your library initially imported, your life will already be ten times easier than before, because now, all of your photos are presented to you in an easy-scrolling, see-it-all-at-once sort of flow. On the left side will be a list of all the folders on your hard drive, which you can click on for quick access.

The best feature of Picasa that, when I first began using it, had me dancing, singing, and rolling on the floor in silly giggles, is the ability to create albums, and assign your pictures to them. These albums are independent of the folders and files, thereby freeing you from the tyranny of the folder tree!

Get it? This means that if you have taken scores of pictures of sea gulls in flight over the years, and have them spread out over multiple folders, you can now select them all in Picasa, and assign them to one album. Now, you can see hundreds of the little feathery creatures at once, without having to find them all in your extensive pile of directories.

Anyway, I really don’t want to get too involved in describing Picasa. I had to say something about it, though, because the main point of the post is built on it.

Try Picasa out when you get a chance. It good. You like. Download here. (This will open a new window.)

Moving on… Read More »

Losing the Urge

I’m losing my Urge. I can’t tell you how disappointed that makes me.

Don’t worry. It’s probably not what you think. No, this concerns something all glitzy and technological, with a large helping of music thrown in. Ah, yes: computers and music – my idea of the perfect post. Now, to the problem at hand.

As a recent and enthusiastic convert to the Mac platform, I rarely need to fire up Windows. Mac OS X is just too nice. Unfortunately, there are two instances that are important enough to run a Windows install through the Parallels virtualization program. The first is for the little bit of .Net development work I continue to do on the side. The second, though perhaps not as important to paying the rent each month, is profoundly more important to me, and was the sole reason I decided to install Windows on my MacBook at all.

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