7 posts tagged “ipod”
Microsoft, please cease all efforts to compete in the portable music player/online music store space. You're embarassing yourselves.
I remember a time, early on in the iPod's domination, when some bigwig or other at Microsoft slagged off the iTunes Store ecosystem, saying it didn't give customers choice. It didn't take them long to release the Zune and the Zune Marketplace, effectively copying the Apple model wholesale... albeit totally ineffectively.
Oh, and by the way, early on the Zune couldn't play files from Microsoft's partners' stores that used their similar but incompatible PlaysForSure DRM. Oopsies! Needless to say, the devices didn't sell well, but that may be because they were only available in the US, and looked like they were fashioned out of Bakelite.
Then when Apple announced that it was trying to get rid of the DRM the record labels had insisted on, Microsoft were caught on the hop and fumbled a response.
And now their latest bullshit. Now they're trying to put the boot to the iPod by saying their Zune Pass allows you to fill your Zune for less than iTunes allows you to fill your iPod:
http://www.zunepass.net/?WT.mc_id=Display-MMN#/videos
Many, many, many things they neglect to mention here.
1. If you cancel your Zune Pass membership, you do not own that music. You get ten songs free every month, and that's that.
2. They suggest that you can only fill an iPod with music from iTunes. I pay just ten bucks more than their Zune Pass and get 100 DRM-free MP3s from eMusic every month. I also buy CDs, with prices as low as $7 a disc - far less than the $1 per song they quote for the iPod.
3. Not all of the songs in their library are even available with the Zune Pass.
4. Song purchases are slightly cheaper with the Zune Marketplace, but you have to buy fucking point cards in blocks of 400 at a time to shop on their store. You can't use a credit card directly.
I'm not an Apple fanboy. I have many criticisms about their devices and software. However, Microsoft are constantly ragging on them while totally glossing over their own more abundant flaws. The Zune HD looks like an attractive piece of hardware, certainly compared to its siblings, but it is far too little, too late.
Why are you loyal to certain brands/stores? What keeps you coming back?
Sponsored by Microsoft Small Business.
I would say Apple gets more of my money than anyone else. It almost wasn't to be.
I used my first Mac back in 1996 - I think it was a Performa 6300 - for work and wasn't all that impressed. The classic Mac OS (version 7 I think was the latest one) was extremely slow, I think we only used it for Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark Express.
When the iPod got popular, I refused to buy into it. Partially because what is popular in consumer electronics isn't always what is best, and also because at the time I used a PC for which Creative's software integration was second to none. I got their Zen Jukebox Xtra.
It was around the same time that, recording my own songs as a hobby, I started hearing about Mac exclusives Garageband and Logic Express being worth my attention. Not wanting to spend too much on a system I may not use, I went for the low end Mac mini system.
It was this that kick-started my love affair with Apple.
My Zen Jukebox Xtra started to show a few weird behavioural traits as I filled it - it, being hard drive based, skipped and went crazy if I walked too fast. I decided to get a flash memory MP3 player for my daily commute, and now using a Mac, an iPod Nano was the best choice. Plus Jess had one and loved it.
I have bought...
- A 1.42GHz PPC Mac mini
- A 4GB iPod Nano
- A 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro
- An 80GB iPod Classic
- A 16GB iPhone 3G
- A 500GB Time Capsule
- Numerous accessories and programs
... and been extremely happy with all of them. They might cost slightly more than their rivals in some cases, but the build quality of their hardware is superb, and their software is designed for people who don't want to dick around during set up or hunt for options in obscure menus to do simple things.
I do think the "They just work" mantra is a little inaccurate, as I have still had issues, but having used every version of Windows since 3.1, as well as different distributions of Linux, I feel I have a good grounds for comparison when I say Mac OS X is the best consumer OS out there.
Other than Apple, my spending habits are as you'd expect of a 28 year old guy with a decent job and no kids - my clothes all come from GAP, Old Navy and band merchandise stands; I drink Starbucks; I eat a lot of Subway and Chipotle; I get a lot of my entertainment items from Amazon.com. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.
At 5am this morning, the alarm went off, and it was action stations to get up, ready and out of the door by 6pm. We managed it, got a cab almost instantly and checked our bags in at the airport super-fast.
Our first flight was from Chicago to Puerto Rico. The flight itself was fairly uneventful - Jess slept and watched Ratatouille, I listened to Roxy Music, The Stills, Matthew Sweet and The Dirty Projectors while playing Ultimate Mortal Kombat on the DS and Klondike (solitaire) on my iPod. So basically no change.
I didn't realise how green and gorgeous Puerto Rico was. The views as our plane landed in San Juan were gorgeous and I wanted to just stay there. It really was pretty, with large expanses of forest. We got some gross, overpriced thing that was called an empanadilla but was basically a cheese pastie, then headed to our second flight.
We were on a tiny plane that took forever to take off but not quite as long to land in St Croix. The airport was quaint in a "it smells like burning chicken poop and there's not much there" kinda way. We went to the baggage claim hall and while Jess' bag had arrived, mine was on the plane behind us. Just as I got it, our friends Amber and Shannon arrived.
Shannon sorted out the rental car while the rest of us waited for their bags. They weren't so lucky - their bags were on the 9pm plane and we were told they would be delivered to our resort instead. We got in the car and after a stop to get me some sandals and Shannon some shorts, we took an extended route to the resort.
We are right on the north coast of St Croix. We only have to walk for a couple of minutes and we are standing in the Caribbean. We did that tonight, just stood on the beach and let the waves wet our feet. I can't wait to see it in the daylight.
I've said it before, but the recording industry is run by a bunch of backwards cowboys.
The Recording Industry Association Of America are up to their usual tricks, suing Arizona resident Jeffrey Howell for being a dirty, rotten pirate. His crime? Copying his 2,000 CDs to his computer. 2,000 CDs he bought. Legally.
The outcome of this case worries me. As someone who owns a lot of CDs (although not 2,000), I would not have been able to move to the US had I had to bring them all over the ocean with me to listen to them. Being able to copy them all to a hard drive that fit into my minimal luggage was a godsend; and being able to have my entire collection on my iPod is vital to me.
Our good friends at the RIAA are trying to suggest that even that is a horrible violation of copyright law. This baffles me for many reasons, but not least because one of their main four members - Sony BMG - is, as I said in a previous post, a subsidiary of one of the major manufacturers of a variety of devices that allow for the copying and playback of copyrighted music.
I cannot vouch for Jeffrey Howell, but I don't make my music collection available using file sharing software. I share a handful of songs using this blog, but almost always telling people to buy the albums they come from (and my playlist tool features Amazon links for every song for that reason). And they're trying to suggest I and others like me are common criminals.
One forum I visit said the RIAA might as well just subpoena the millions of people who own iPods. I would write to them to recommend this, but they and several of their members make it very difficult to contact them online.
If you're reading this and work for the RIAA, I would love to talk to you - as a fan of recorded music - to explain why your current strategy of vilifying music fans is only going to further the sales decline you're witnessing right now. You can cling desperately to the old world all you want, digital audio is the future and consumers aren't going to re-purchase their music digitally when there is no valid reason for them to do so.
Update: Turns out Howell is being sued for illegal filesharing after all, but the RIAA is still going off on this whole "ripping your CDs is illegal" thing.
The title is pretty apt right now. It's taken from the song 'Unravel' by Bjork (which featured on Homogenic, one of my all-time favourite albums) that Radiohead recently covered on a webcast.
Original...
Radiohead cover...
Jess returns home in two days, we've been apart for four, and it's a very strange sensation. After all that cross-Atlantic bullshit, I hoped we would never spend ridiculous amounts of time apart ever again. Not that a week is very long, but I miss that stinky cheesehead.
After my last update, I napped ahead of going out for the midnight screening of Donnie Darko. I met Jason, his boyfriend Brad and their friend Valerie at the cinema. We weren't sure who else was coming, so after fifteen minutes, we headed to a nearby bar where we bumped into Laura and Mike. After a few drinks, Laura and Mike stayed on while the rest of us went to see the film.
It was a different version to the version I own - there was extra footage and better explanation of the bizarre plot. Having not seen the film for a long while, I really enjoyed it and it was worth staying out till 2.30am for. Especially as it reminded me of how much I love 'Head Over Heels' by Tears For Fears. I had also forgotten who was in the movie - Donnie's girlfriend Gretchen is played by Jena Malone (if you haven't seen the film Saved!, do it); one of the two bullies - although not the one named Seth - is played by Seth Rogen (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad, Knocked Up); and crazy Christian teacher Kitty Farmer is played by Beth Grant, who was the pageant official in Little Miss Sunshine and Ralph's mum in My Name Is Earl.
Yesterday, I spent much of the day in bed - playing Command & Conquer 3, napping, watching Comedy Central. Doing as little as possible pretty much. I went to sleep quite early, waking (randomly) just in time to watch Metalocalypse before dozing off again to my iPod. My only contact with the outside world all day was when I ordered in some Thai food.
Tonight it'll be more of the same, but tomorrow I'm going out for dinner with Josie and Gaz and Wednesday I get Jess back.
Led Zeppelin will finally offer their music online starting next month. Of the music you buy, about how much of it do you download and how much do you buy on physical formats (CDs, vinyl, etc.)?
I almost exclusively buy music on CD, with the odd song as a download, and the odd vinyl by bands I obsess over.
As far as I know, none of the download services will replace your music if your hard drive gets wiped; vinyl is a pain in the arse to transfer to other devices (and I don't buy the audio quality myth - CD sounds better to me); and MiniDisc is a footnote.
CDs are portable, easy to back-up, sound great and can be played back on far more devices.
As for Led Zeppelin, I love them to pieces ('When The Levee Breaks', 'Going To California' and 'Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You' = <3) but come on, why the hell are these older acts taking so long to get their music online? There's plenty of luddites out there who want to listen to their old LPs but can't figure out how to cram 12" of vinyl into that new-fangled iPlayer thingy. You should be exploiting their technophobia.
I liked no more than 1/3 of their first album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. It didn't help that I refused to buy into the hype and excessive praise the band were receiving - I certainly didn't think the lyrics were anywhere near as good as they were made out to be, I guess people thought they were more real because he says "in't", "owt" and "mardy".
A co-worker ripped the new album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, for me to listen to so I could work out whether it was worth buying. I may not have enjoyed all of the first album, but the songs I did like were fantastic - 'Riot Van' and 'A Certain Romance' especially suggested the band are capable of great things.
Finally putting the album on my iPod, I listened on my way home from work yesterday. The first four songs didn't really grab me all that much, they seemed like more of the same but not quite as catchy. Around five songs in, though, things pick up: 'Fluorescent Adolescent' is a catchy, Elvis Costello-esque meloncholy pop number with some great vocal melodies in the outro.
The album continues on this new-found surge of brilliance. 'Do Me A Favour' opens with a tribal rhythm and features some gorgeous, evocative guitar - all twangy reverb. The remaining songs, even at their most danceable, give little glimpses of a subdued, darker vibe. It's there beneath the spiky guitar assault of 'If You Were There, Beware', the beat driven lament 'Old Yellow Bricks', the shimmering '505' and the oddly syrup-free ballad 'Only Ones Who Know'.
For me, the worst part about this album is that there are a list of references all on the tip of my tongue but I can't get them out because they've made them all their own. There's elements of Joy Division, Echo & The Bunnymen, early The Cure and all those other great post-punk bands from the early '80s. It also evokes the cinematography of movies like Hal Hartley's Unbelievable Truth.
So yes, while the first four songs are listenable, the other eight would make an amazing album on their own.
