Sun - August 8, 2004

4G iPods have arrived - what I want in a 5G: Bluetooth and Voice Control

The 4G iPod has arrived, with a return to 1G and 2G style controls, but what of a 5G?

The fourth generation of Apple's iPod was released last week, along with supposedly greater supply of iPod minis. The full-size iPod "borrowed" from the mini the scroll wheel where all the action takes place for controlling the iPod's software.

I bought my 2G iPod (10GB) in December 2002 before it reached its current exalted status. It was a time when most people saw no point in its capacity to hold one's entire music collection, and long before the popularity of audiobooks and interviews in mp3 format. I now frequently download mp3s from sites such as Doug Kaye's IT Conversations where he features IT conference keynotes and regular IT discussions such as each Friday's "Gillmore Gang". This offers discussions on what's happening in Silicon Valley with various illuminators including authors of the "The ClueTrain Manifesto". I have permission to do this by the copyright holders so that gets around the silly Australian laws mentioned elsewhere in this blog.

I also subscribe to Shawn King's Your Mac Life which is broadcast here in Melbourne on Thursday mornings. I sometimes listen live, and other times set up the Powerbook and VCR to record the videostream for later playback. I also get notification from Audible.com when the mp3 recording of the show is available (usually 1am Friday). I then download the mp3 and import it into my iPod and listen to it when I am out walking or cycling. Interestingly, Audible.com keeps a marker as to when you last listened so you can pick up where you left off. This works on the iPod and in iTunes and indeed when you sync the two, the markers also sync up. Neat!

So with the iPod nearly two years old, and 10GB looking very measly with my unexpected downloading of radio interviews, including "Inside Mac radio" and "Webtalk", it's time to rethink the iPod and what I want in the next version - the 4G isn't yet compelling enough to purchase. I do want more space very soon, especially after stumbling on the Chicago Public Radio's archives, which, in the hosting hands of Gretchen Helfrich is a real discovery for me. If you like interesting discussions of an enormous range of topics and don't mind it getting a little academic, do yourself a favour and take a look at Gretchen's work. I use software to download the audio stream, then use iTunes to convert the resulting AIFF file (50 mins is almost 500MB) into a much smaller mp3, usually about 7MB. Other software, like Amoeba's Audio Hijack Pro, will let the streaming Real files be converted directly into mp3s and AAC files.

All this means is that I have to juggle the balance between favourite tunes and recent interviews to keep to my iPod's 10GB limit. Which also means that my iTunes library now exceeds the capacity of the iPod, so when the two are linked they don't autosync. I have to do this manually, adding and removing files that suit my current tastes and keeping to the physical limit of 10GB.

This offers a level of control some people would rather do without, preferring to let the iPod/iTunes combo do its thing and synch. without human intervention. Certainly, one of the criticisms of other digital media players is that they come nowhere near matching this ease of use.

Where I do see improvement is the extension of the iPod's useability. With the new scroll wheel, you can hold the iPod and locate tracks with one hand, principally using your thumb.

But ever since I started using the Sony Ericsson cellphones using Bluetooth to sync. to the Mac (calendars, contacts, internet connections) I have been thinking the iPod could have additional functionality built in.

For instance, my Sony Ericsson 610 phone allows me to control my Powerbook's Keynote or Powerpoint presentations, iTunes playlist, and other apps through the clever use of Bluetooth connectivity and Jonas Salling's innovative software, Clicker.

So first thing: the price of Bluetooth chips and Apple's embrace of this Personal Area Network technology (PAN) makes the iPod ripe for its inclusion. I'd like to see those white wires disappear, replaced by a device you can wear around your neck which allows for both headphone connection, and mic./headset connection to your phone via Bluetooth. When your phone rings, the music stops (just like it does with the Salling Clicker and iTunes). Hang up and the music starts up again.

I currently use an early model Bluetooth headset which either clips on or hangs around the neck with a lanyard and allows me to hear my music on my Mac. These units never turned out to be popular, but if you wear a helmet for bike riding they are a better choice than the all-in-the-ear Bluetooth units.

Second thing: The other technology the Sony cell phone employs comes into play after you have added a new contact. The phone's menus take you through various stages of information gathering, like your new contact's name, phone (choice of several), fax, email, etc. After you have saved, it then asked if you would like to add a Voice command.

You then say the name of the person (or their nickname), the phone repeats it back to you, and Presto! voice recognition and activitation capability. You can also add other comments if your contact has several numbers, so after saying their name, you can then say, "mobile" or "home" or "work", and the phone will ring that number. It's very useful for handsfree operation when driving.

Now if this technology can be incorporated into a cellphone which is half the size of the iPod, is there room left to include the chip and operating software to do this for iTunes?

So after you have imported a CD, why not have the software ask you to name it by Artist, Album and Track? Using the same Bluetooth headset you listen and talk with, why not search for your preferred song this way too? And allow this extra digital info. to be included in the file when you download it to the iPod.

So I might say, "Blue Eyed Peas" ..."Elephunk"..."where is the love" to locate this particular track, since I have several songs of the same name. If I have just one song with that name, I can "call" it up.

This voice activation doesn't replace the iPod's manual controls, since most will want tactile contact with the iPod, this being one of its most attractive features, almost on an emotional level, which other MP3 players simply can't match.

What do you think? Is there a place for both Bluetooth and Voice Activation on the iPod?

Would this be an "Apple" thing to do, or take away from the iPod's simplicity and purity of operation? It does one thing very well, although the addition of games and contacts mixes the picture. I wonder if Apple asked for these additions to be incorporated, or if the software maker PortalPlayer, offered Apple the capacity?

One final set of thoughts: Using the same technology would also turn the iPod into a very useful voice dictation device, which it already can to via Griffin's iTalk. So you could record your odd thoughts, or even your lectures or presentations for later playback or archiving. And of course because Bluetooth is PAN, you could share your iPod tunes with others nearby with equipped with bluetooth headsets - or would that be illegal in Australia?

(Update - August 10): There seems to be another surge of news coverage of the iPod, since the release of the 4G and its lowered price per GB. Some stories are from holdouts unwilling to be early adopters, and have come to the iPod party late; or they're covering Sony's attempts to develop its version of an iPod "killer"; or some article covers the fast developing iPod accessory after-market.

I wonder if Apple ever wondered just where and how far the iPod would go? Look at this page from Talking Panda. Here they feature exclusive iPod software for translating and speaking common phrases in French, Japanese, and Spanish. Not sure of how to say a word or expression? Bring it up on the iPod, see how it looks, and listen to its pronunciation. Very clever.

Another example of what David Noble wrote about in his seminal book, "Forces of Production: A social history of Industrial Automation" (1984). A quote of iPodic relevance:

"...close inspection of technological developments reveals that technology leads a double life, one which conforms to the intentions of designers and interests of power and another which contradicts them - proceeding behind the backs of their architects to yield unintended consequences and unanticipated possibilities" (p.325).

Seems to sum up the iPod for me! For more of Noble's work and to hear a conference presentation, head here.

Posted at 01:04 PM     |

Wed - August 4, 2004

Is it illegal to download your own CDs to the iPod - why Australia is a laughing stock!

How the iPod was singled out by the Sydney Morning Herald article confirms its iconic status...

Today's Sydney Morning Herald article (SMH is part of the Fairfax group of publishers, major competitors to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp . dailies) carries an article that looks like this:

Click at your own risk
August 3, 2004


Page Tools

Out of tune ... Apple's ads, show you how to copy music - with the disclaimer "Don't steal music."

Apple's iPod digital music player may be the hottest electronic toy in the world,
but it has almost no legal use in Australia, writes Julian Lee.

The article goes on to say Australia's copyright laws make it illegal to load on to your iPod any music tracks you have ripped even from CDs you have purchased through legal channels.

Here's what Lee's article further states:

Anyone who has copied songs from a CD onto an iPod or computer hard drive has fallen foul
of Australian copyright laws, which critics argue are failing to keep pace with technological change.
Copying music for personal use is generally OK in the US and Europe. But not in Australia.


"It's unlikely that the Australian Federal Police would investigate individuals for offences such as
illegally copying a CD," a police spokeswoman said. "However all cases referred to the AFP are
categorised and investigated as necessary."

Now why Lee decided on singling out the iPod is interesting (and why the photo showed an old 2nd gen iPod). Especially since it is only one of a huge number of mp3 players out there, including USB thumbdrives which not only act as storage units, but can actually play mp3s, mp4s, as well as FM radio.

So the irony is that you could listen to songs on thumbdrive's FM radio because presumably the station has paid the copyright holder for the "privilege" of playing their music -
I mean, the record companies would never pay the stations to boost their clients' products would they? That would be payola wouldn't it, and we we don't want to see a repeat of those days of radio station payoffs as in the 50s, do we now?

This means listening to the same music which you ripped to the thumbdrive would be illegal, according to Lee's news report. In fact, just putting it on the thumbdrive is an illegal act, even if you purchased the CD. Indeed, it essentially means that here in Australia, what you own is the CD raw plastic material, including the crystal box, and the paper on which is printed the sleeve notes - and that's it! That's all you get for your $30 and of course the privilege of playing the CD as often as you like until it wears out. If that's the case, how about charging a little more and creating the CD on a CD-RW so that when I get tired of hearing the music, at least I own a CD I can use to back up my data, my movies and whatever else I created on my own.

Of course, if it is an iMovie I created I'm not supposed to burn it to my CD-RW if I used commercial music as a sound source, unless I downloaded it from the iTunes Music store or the local Telstra or SonyConnect online stores, which of course, are not Macintosh compatible.

Is this madness or what?

So the iPod was singled out because, as I have blogged before, it owns the public's attention when it comes to portable digital music. Would we see the iRiver or Creative Zen products mentioned by such an article? No, because it would be so ho-hum, and who cares anyway? But use the iPod, and you'll get people sitting up and paying attention.

OK, so the iPod is popular, iconic, and an object of desire, a status symbol according the owner certain characteristics in our status anxiety-conscious society.

And it's probably in the hands of many a lawyer, judge, doctor, psychologist, police officer, politician and football star. As well as a few musicians too.

So given the Australia Federal Police says "all cases referred to the AFP are categorised and investigated as necessary", let's refer a few cases to them.

I think a few well-known Australians gathered from the ranks mentioned above should walk in en masse to AFP HQ with their iPods and ripped music they purchased (bring receipts too), and present themselves ready to be charged under Australia's current copyrights laws. This law needs to be made a mockery of, to be shown to be out of step with contemporary standards and norms, and bring the copyright issue right up to the recording companies. We might have to forget about the pollies since we are in an election year and they may risk loss of their rights to stand once more for federal parliament if charged (but would gain enormous public support).

But I don't think the other well known Australians would have much to lose except their iPods which would be confiscated for examination. And do the AFP really want to get involved in these "crimes"... gosh, I wonder if even suggesting a bunch of well-known Australian march on the AFP could see me charged with incitement offences?

Humorous sidebar: One of my professors asked me for some help ripping her purchased CDs to her iPod, as some were giving her trouble. So I gave her clear instructions including info. on compression protocols, playlists, etc, using iTunes. So, did I encourage her to commit illegal acts, or did she breach the university guidelines for appropriate internet use by encouraging a student to to show her ways to breach the law? Crazier and crazier!

Actually, maybe we should forget the famous Australians and just get anyone who has an el cheapo MP3 player with their purchased music to present themselves en masse to the AFP and say, "what do you want to do to us? Prosecute now or just forget about it!" Naturally, we better include some 5 and 6 year olds and their "Bananas in Pyjamas" music they got last birthday or Christmas, just to give the media hounds a few more picture opportunities. Hmm, I wonder how many record company execs'. children would fall into this category?

The recording companies lost this battle a long time ago, and are playing at sniper games. They are stifled in their ability to put the MP3 cat back in the bag, unless they come up with a better user experience, as Steve Jobs (get well soon!) said he wished to do with Apple's iTunes Music Store. I mean, what a risk the Stevester took! "We will charge you US99c for music you can get for nuthin'!"

Huh?

Yep, Apple will make the music sampling and download experience so simple, so easy, so transparent, so foolproof, and so satisfying, that the average punter will say, "my time is worth more than 99c per tune to get my chosen music onto my PC or Mac or iPod. Virus free, reliable, and legal."

So here in Australia we play "wait and see pie" until Apple Australia completes its negotiations with local music companies. I think as soon as Steve recovers, goes off to Paris to release new G5 iMacs (and please, Keynote 2.0!), he ought to come to Australia (after all Steve Balmer and Bill Gates have blown through recently if only to shore up deals with Telstra who were threatening to go Linux and open-source).

Come on down, Steve, take a vacation here, have a chat to our local musos over a nice cuppa, and do some arm-bending. Then come to the local Mac support group and have another cuppa and chat.

A few other problems with Lee's SMH article: 100 million tunes have been dowloaded, not bought from Apple's site. Millions were given away free in competitions and freebies. Also, the psychologist who had a friend who legally downloaded iTunes music files and emailed them to him from the US. Hmm...not sure that's exactly legal either. The US friend could be running a risk there, unless of course they've gone halves in ownership of the iTMS account.

Posted at 02:00 PM     |

Tue - May 18, 2004

Eurovision - over for another year! Congrats to Ukraine!

It was very early Sunday morning when I flopped into bed, and learnt that Eurovision 2004 final was about to begin.

But after listening for a while, and watching the excellent video stream on the websiite, fell asleep, only to wake up in the morning to discover Israel had not made the final cut, and the eventual winner was Ukraine. You can locate the list of entries and listen to their songs here .

So congratulations to Ruslana and the Wild Dancers, and next year's contest should be very interesting to see how it incorporates the changes made to 2004's competition.

And if you interested in the history of Eurovision, its famous television commentator, Des Mangan, has written its definitive history in a book entitled, "This is Sweden Calling".. Here is what Australian Bookseller says about the book at its homepage:

"Everything you wanted to know about Eurovision but were laughing too hard to ask! Viewed by 600 million people in 35 countries, Eurovision is the world's biggest and most watched song festival. Just a decade after WWII, it brought the people of Europe together to celebrate their belief in love, hope and appalling pop songs. Much more than a song contest, it's become a cult event. Stars are born during the spectacular show and the event has produced some legendary names and icons of kitsch: Abba, Bucks Fizz, Gina G., Sandie Shaw, Celine Dion, Secret Garden and Lulu. This is Sweden Calling is your indispensable guide to almost five decades of Eurovision - the winners, shockers, hosts, politics, trivia - everything you've ever wanted to know about Eurovision."

Posted at 12:29 AM     |

Fri - April 2, 2004

Thu - February 19, 2004

iLife 04, Middle Park, and a little education....

I finally got to install Apple's iLife software suite on my new Powerbook 15 yesterday. I had to drive to South Melbourne just on the edge of the CBD to pick it up. This updates the free bundled productivity software - movie-editing, photo storage, music, and DVD production. As well as the music creation software, Garageband. Lili plays piano so it will be interesting to see what happens when we install a MIDI-keyboard.

On the drive home, I stopped by a cafe in Middle Park, a bayside suburb adjacent to the Melbourne Formula1 Grand Prix circuit - the race is in a few weeks around a man-made lake known as Albert Park lake.

The Middle Park cafe sits next door a local wine store, but it was too early to sample its wares. But having passed by the cafe on a bike ride a few weeks earlier I wanted to sample its coffee. My regular Friday morning bike riding cadre is always in search of the best coffee in Melbourne - so far the coffee at St.Kilda's Leroy cafe in Acland Street can't be beat. Unfortunately, the service can be a bit wonky, and despite being customers for more than a year, the best we get is our coffee preferences remembered. I suppose that's OK, and maybe if it was the other way around, we would tire of overly-friendly staff.

US readers need to know that "waitstaff" here are paid very well, and tipping is not necessary. Most people just leave change, or there is a central tip bowl for loose coins. You don't see people calculating tips based on the bill total - people just round up usually.

Anyway, to make a short story long, I ordered my usual coffee, a skinny latte. Lest you think me a trendy, I need to let you know I have been drinking lattes since the 1960s (!) when my late father introduced me to such coffee drinking (when the rest of Australia was drinking Nescafe instant). We would go to St.Kilda's Leo's Restaurant

I would would drink from latte glasses - he would have an espresso (a strong short black).
I was a little too young to understand, but he grew up in Havana, in the thirties before leaving for NYC in the forties. Drinking coffee was a significant past-time in pre-Castro Cuba, and growing coffee has been a major part of the Cuban economy in the past.

Of course, later on coffee drinking became very trendy to be mercilessly ridiculed in Steve Martin's "LA Story".
You don't remember the scene? Courtesy of the IMDB database, here is the dialogue:

Guy with neck-support: I'll have a decaf coffee.
Trudi: I'll have a decaf espresso.
Movie critic: I'll have a double decaf cappuccino.
Policeman: Give me decaffeinated coffee ice cream.
Harris K. Telemacher: I'll have a half double decaffeinated half-caf, with a twist of lemon.
Trudi: I'll have a twist of lemon.
Guy with neck-support: I'll have a twist of lemon.
Movie critic: I'll have a twist of lemon.
Cynthia: I'll have a twist of lemon.

Anyway, while I am sampling the coffee (OK, but not enough to cause us to change course Friday mornings), I open the Powerbook, read the iLife install instructions (this is a Mac, so there is really nothing to read) and install from the DVD.

Nothing to do while it's installing except sip the coffee, and read the newspaper. Most cafes of this ilk in Melbourne now supply the various daily newspapers (there are at least three) and magazines, just to keep you in the cafe a bit longer, and order a second coffee. Since coffee is easily the most profitable thing they sell, it's not a bad idea for them to supply reading material.

As I'm doing this, the cafe owner walks by and spots the open Powerbook.

"Is that an Apple?"
Yep.
"Hmm...they look really nice, don't they? I think I want my next computer to be one like that, but they're expensive aren't they?"
Well, Apple laptops start around $1800 and go up to over $5,000 - depends what you need.
"I need to run the accounting software for the cafe - we use Quickbooks Pro, so that's why I bought an IBM laptop for $3500".
I see - well, you do know QuickBooks Pro as well as MYOB are available on the Mac, the latter is localised for GST and they easily swap files with their Windows versions?
"No, that's news..."
Sure - but you know the best part? (I'm sure he thought I'd now go on about ease of use, industrial design etc.) It's stable, there are infrequent system software updates, great spam filtering and no viruses.
"What - no viruses?!"
That's right - so far, none for the Mac's current version of the system software.

Well, this guy couldn't believe it. You could see his mind ticking over how different life would be without having to worry about incessant system patches (he still used dial-up), and avoiding the latest virus, or the weekly/daily anti-virus updater to download.

Somehow, Apple doesn't want to toot its horn too much on this one, and so far you won't see Apple Marketing mention its comparative virus immunity.

The Apple user community on the other hand discusses this frequently, especially when we think about how we feel we're paying a little to a lot extra for our hardware.

Having used both systems (Mac and Windows) for a few years, and watching the Windows box accumulate annoying spyware, adware, pop-ups and generally grinding to a halt (only to have to reinstall the system software as a final resort), I know I don't mind paying the premium.

My guess is, with a latte at about $3 a pop each day, over a year that's the difference in outright purchase cost between an Apple laptop and a Dell.

Frankly, I would rather not go without the latte or the Apple. Call them simple life pleasures.

Life is too short to waste time fighting 17 year old virus makers, or the Russian mafia spyware/spam makers.

Posted at 10:11 AM     |

Mon - February 9, 2004

Tue - February 3, 2004

One year anniversary of Challenger loss

It's hard to imagine where the time has gone, but it's been a year since we lost the astronauts, and for Israelis and Jews, Ilan Ramon in particular.

I tried at the time to make sense of this loss, and the impact it had on many of us. To do so for myself, I created a video memory of Ilan, using web-based videos and pictures, and Israeli folk dance music of relevance. You can see it on the IFD video page here.

I recall on the Friday after, flying to Sydney with a patient on her first flight after many years of avoiding flying, following a very unpleasant incident on an international flight. We had worked on this flying project for quite a few sessions, and she was ready to fly. So with her fiance, we flew successfully to Sydney. While there for a few hours, I went off to Bondi beach where a friend (actually Dudu Barzilai's best man, Yori Bargil) had an internet cafe. Yori looks a little like Rikud Hashana (line) winner, Eyal Eliyahu, and you can see him with Dudu dancing here.

Yori had just installed some wireless connections at his cafe, and I spent the afternoon gazing out to the Bondi waves while composing my tribute to Ilan using the newly released iMovie 3 software from Apple. It took a a few hours, and then some more to produce the video you see now.

After I published it on the web, and informed the Rikud list of it (those were the good old days of Rikud), I received some very heartwarming emails from friends, colleagues and strangers, about the video. How it touched them, helped them, reminded them and somehow affected them.

Emails from Gaby Almog and Eileen Weinstock were particularly warm. Others, more locally-based, couldn't understand why I had done it - but then again they didn't "get" the dance video page either, so no bother there.

Still, the video remains on the website, gathering viewers, perhaps even more now that we pass the anniversary. I found it important to do, gratifying to receive positive feedback, and it opened up for me the power of the video and music media I use on a daily basis to tell a story. More about how I will be doing that in another way, tied to my current studies in Knowledgement Management, another time.

Posted at 05:41 PM     |

Sun - January 25, 2004

Dionne Warwick in concert - and six degrees of separation!

With a half dozen friends, off we trotted to see and hear one of music's great divas....

(Foreword: A number of links in this blog entry link to Apple's iTunes Music store, for you to hear 30sec snippets of music I refer to with a (T)...so you will need iTunes installed which you can download freely here.)

I have always been a fan of Burt Bacharach's music, if not Hal David's lyrics, which so often were written for stage plays. Perhaps that's why some feel slightly funny out of the stage context. Perhaps too they also reflect the seemingly simpler times in which they were writ, the 60s.

I saw Bacharach in concert in Melbourne in the 70s, with tickets I won in a newspaper's competition. (Bacharach had been in Melbourne previously in 1965, writing arrangements and playing piano on tour with Marlene Dietrich. He also headlined in Las Vegas, and his drummer, John Gates, has a fascinating webpage where you can hear actual live tracks from that season here!) Later, I was able to go backstage with a friend I invited on the freebies, to briefly meet Bacharach who was attired in his classic white turtleneck sweater he wore on the cover of "Close to you".

(Those days of going back stage, which I first did when Carol Channing was here to do "Hello Dolly(T)", seem so long ago now, and impossible to do unless you know someone. Bit like no longer being able to visit a plane's flightdeck to meet the crew, an inspiring activity now halted in Australia following 9-11. I fondly recall the sensation of being in a 767 jumpseat seeming to float over the runway threshold even when landing at 200 km/h).

"Close to You (T)" was the song Dionne Warwick (which she pronounced as War-wick, and which in Australia we pronounce as Worrick) began her 90min concert at Melbourne's Crown Casino on Saturday night.

About 800 people took a trip down memory lane with Ms. Warrick - a kind of sentimental journey - with applause at the introduction of each song as the audience recognised one hit after another.

The biggest applause came for her extended version of her classic, "Heartbreaker (T)", composed by the BeeGees, a favourite with the audience who identify the BeeGees as Australian, even though they were born in the UK.

There was plenty of audience participation encouraged, and even the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra got a chance to sing along. (Weird personal connection post: My mother at Friday traditional night dinner, told me that her neighbour was excited to be going to the concert as a member of the Orchestra, playing the violin. A Russian, she was also excited when the Orchestra last year went to St. Petersburg as part of a major series of concerts to celebrate the city's birthday. And I had a little to do with that too having helped an integral member of the orchestra ensemble deal with fear of flying issues...talk about six degrees of separation!)

Overall, the concert allowed Ms. Warwick to display her exceptional musical talents, which due to illness, looked last year as if she might lose them. And the last few years have not been kind to her in other ways, as this article explains.

Did she sing as well as her recordings? No, one could hear definite changes, and she didn't sing some of the more challenging Bacharach-David songs, like "Promises, Promises (T)" or "Reach Out for Me (T)". But she killed the audience with her version of "I Say a Little Prayer for You (T)", sung with her son, David Elliot. Although I have to say Aretha Franklin's (T) remains the definitive version of that song for me. And I thought having a small backing vocal group would really have added a lot to the concert - certain songs seemed to cry out for some harmonies.

Now living in Brazil, Ms. Warwick also sang some Jobim classics (T), and revealed she is working on a "Duets" project, where she has invited 40 or so friends to choose their favourite Dionne song to sing with her. She unashamedly, to the thrill of the audience, dropped some names of her friends: Stevie Wonder, George Benson, Elton John, Destiny's Child, Kenny Rogers and others. The concept has been done before, but the double CD which will eventuate ought to be popular.

Seeing her live was a thrill. Sure, if you just like the music you can hear it on your hi-fi or iPod. But nothing comes close to hearing the artist live, and those who try to make their concerts sound just like their recordings turn in boring concerts.

It reminded Lili and me that we really should take more opportunities to see our favourite performers when we can. I still feel a glow of warmth when I recall seeing Sinatra live in concert in Hawaii in the 1980s when he still sang very well. Petula Clark is heading here soon, so perhaps we will continue our trip down memory lane with her. Although I sometimes feel when you see an artist for nostalgia value you are merely helping them make an extension to their house, or pay some debts incurred by trusting the wrong manager. Not that this is the case for Ms. Clark! (But it is for quite a number of talented showbiz types).

And it reminds me too of why we go to dance camps. There is still nothing like learning a dance from its creator, then passing it on to others when you teach it yourself. Learning from video is fine - for what it is - but there is something thrilling about learning a dance you just know will become a classic and recalling you were there when it was first shown at a camp. It might not have taken the very first time it was shown, but by the end of the camp, after it has been danced most nights, and it's the dance everyone is talking about - e.g. MM 2002's "Amarine" - you know you were a part of something a little special in the world of IFD. Perhaps a visit one year to the Karmiel festival will really drive home the "you have to be there" philosophy to me.

Now I realise that that is a big leap of logic from describing listening to the likes of Dionne Warwick live, but every so often I do try to find the curious links to the world I inhabit, as a way of making sense of it. And I don't need the late unlamented Psychic Friends Network to do it!

Posted at 12:28 PM     |

Fri - January 16, 2004

Aussie telco Telstra releases its own Music Store - but no iPod for you!

Following an annus horribilis for its email outages in 2003, Telstra's BigPond tells iPod users - "Screw You!" We're a Windows Media Player oufit, so go jump! But you can learn about the new Bigpond Music store on an Apple iBook!"

Telstra is Australia's major telco, supplying landline, mobile, cable, ADSL and dial-up internet access, as well as having a half-share in the most popular cable TV company, Foxtel.

I was an early adopter of Telstra's BigPond cable internet service when it was the only show in town (we are talking of 100MB per month limits before charging for excess MB downloads.)

Poor management and overpriced services saw me jump ship to its only cable competitor, Optus, when I had the opportunity. Here in Australia, with the introduction of ADSL to compete with cable, there is a price war for broadband access underway.

Telstra has just released its Music store, one of the first for Australia. Apple says its iTunes music store is coming here sometime in the first half of the year.

So this morning I accessed the Bigpond music site, on a borrowed G3 iBook 14", with OS X Panther and Safari as my browser. Accessing the Bigpond Music store URL here (notice it is not a .au domain for worldwide access), I noticed the following dialogue box drop down from my browser, after the site attempted to see what version of Flash was installed.

Not a very good start, but there are always means to get around these problems. But then straightaway, another dialogue box drops down, here:

That's funny, the link on the same page as the Bigpond music store shows a link to Microsoft's Windows Media Player, and there in their glory (ahem!), are the Mac OS versions (OS9 and X) to download! In fact I have the latest version for OS X (WMP9) installed here on the iBook! Looks like not all Windows Media Players are created equal, after all!

This is not a good start of course, but given it is BigPond (other parts of Telstra are known to offer better customer satisfaction, and my landline is a Telstra, not Optus, line), I'm neither surprised nor disappointed.

But the news is that by ONLY using Windows Media Player, all flavours of the #1 MP3 player, the iPod, are not supported. In principle, that angers me, but....

Well, that's a commercial decision on the part of BigPond, no doubt worked out with the support of Microsoft whom Telstra have been giving hard time to lately by entertaining the idea of moving some server solutions to Linux.

Still, I wanted to see what else there was to the Bigpond store, so found the way to access the homepage. Once there, it seems if you subscribe to Bigpond, you pay AUD1.49 per song, while non-subscribers pay about 40c more.

That's double what US iTunes users pay, and given the Aussie dollar is worth about USD0.77, that's a steep conversion. It's not as if there is a special delivery fee or transport costs involved!

So, I looked around the Bigpond site a little more, and came across its Flash tutorial, showing how to use the store.

Here is the first picture you see when you access the tutorial:

Hmm, (as I put on my best Jerry Seinfeld querying voice), if I'm not mistaken, and perhaps I may be, isn't that an incompatible Apple iBook our curious friend is holding?

And to add a little more devilry to the picture, the ad agency has reversed the picture so the CD tray and power connector is on the left, and the Apple lid logo has been left off.

Here is the real McCoy for comparison:
The CD tray is on the right, and there is the Apple logoon the lid.

Still, even a lowly Mac user can access the tutorial which is quite a nifty Flash demonstration.

As you progress through the tute which shows you how to listen to samples and set up accounts, it uses some local and US artists as examples. Now (back in Seinfeld mode), I may be mistaken again, but perhaps Telstra knows something the rest of us don't know about Santa Barbara criminal justice, but if I'm not mistaken one of the albums used in the tute is Michael Jackson's, "Invincible". Really....?

Well, even if the music store doesn't work out for Bigpond, at least they hired an advertising agency which matches Apple's sense of humour in advertising (Warning: Mac injoke). Oh, by the way, Windows NT users face the same restrictions as Mac users - so no downloading at work for you either!

Update (January 29): The Age technology editor, Garry Barker, did a piece in its TV guide describing Telstra's music store, and its decision to go with the Microsoft proprietary standard:

"Justin Milne, now head of BigPond and architect of the dominant Australian ISP's recent move into downloadable music, says that Microsoft's software monopoly, and its all but limitless money, will win it control of the online music business, not just in Australia but worldwide."

So the message is - why wait, be absorbed now, resistance is futile. David never beats Goliath, does he? For caving into, and thus supporting monopolist behaviour, Justin Milne deserves a fiscal fraask in pisk. I hope his venture gets creamed but good!

Posted at 01:18 PM     |

Sat - January 3, 2004

Sat - December 27, 2003

Fri - December 26, 2003

Sat - December 20, 2003

Fri - December 12, 2003

The Insurance Man Cometh...

Progress on a replacement Powerbook...but unapproved as yet. And more on the iPod...

My insurance company's contracted assessor visited to day to assess my worthiness to have my stolen goods replaced at their cost.

My Powerbook was a nominated insurance item, meaning an premium was charged so that it would be replaced, if damaged or stolen, at an agreed upon cost. Ironically, even though it was the topline model at the time of purchase in July 2002 (directly from Apple) the replacement will cost the insurer (if my claim succeeds) about $2000 less than insured value. Just goes to show my how quickly PCs improve and become cheaper at the same time.

In some ways I don't mind the delay as the rumours are swirling on Apple websites that new upgraded Powerbooks are just around the corner, less than a month away, to perhaps coincide with MacWorld in San Francisco.

My Digital video camera wasn't a specific item, but even then, the maximum I can claim - about AUD700 less than I paid in 1999 - will still get me a model that easily exceeds the specs of the stolen model.

The assessor was a friendly-enough chap who I hope approves my claim to the Insurer. He seemed as surprised as I was that my second generation iPod which I left on the chair near the Powerbook wasn't lifted as well.

Good for me too, since it kept about 2500 mp3 tracks - many of them dance music. Otherwise I'd have to spend hours and hours re-burning CDs or downloading mp3s from various sources.

With the iPod, it's just a matter of hooking it up to the Powerbook replacement via its Firewire connection, and the 'book will suck up the songs into iTunes at a song a second. So I can leave it for about 40 minutes and the transfer will be completed, with all the song details (kept in "tags" noting choreographer, album, title, style, etc.)

Actually, this is a rather long-winded way - hey, that's why it's a blog - to bring attention once more to the iPod. In the last few months, this little beasty has achieved enormous public awareness, riding on the coat tails of the digital music legal download scene. Here, Apple has led the way such that its iTunes music store has been named Product of the Year by Fortune magazine.

And there are now dozens of companies jumping on the bandwagon to open rival stores and market rival mp3 players. But it's been argued no one has yet matched or come close to matching the double whammy of Apple's iPod and iTunes combo, especially now that iTunes is available for Windows. If you run Winamp or one of the anemic mp3 players that come with WIndows, you owe it to yourself to look beyond Windows Media Player and see how simple software can be better. Oh yes, iTunes is free, burns CDs, converts between various audio files at very high bit rates (others make you pay to upgrade from their free software which burns at low-fi bit rates).

I have been thinking of updating my second gen, iPod to the current model, up from 10GB to 40GB as well as software improvements. But you know, I'm a snob when it comes to this stuff. Anyone can walk in and plonk down their doh and get a current model. But I have a certain pride in saying, "Hey, I saw the light early" (OK, a year ago) when I got my second gen. model, which was a big improvement on the first model which was only 5GB and had a moving and not very reliable spinwheel. And a year ago, it was interesting to see people making twits of themselves by not "getting" the whole iPod mentality, while others were....

The other cool thing about the iPod is listening closely to IFD music and actually hearing all the nuances one doesn't attend to when dancing... little musical riffs, background vocals, instruments, etc. Makes you really appreciated the music much more, I have to tell you... And it makes those long trips across the Pond of 14 hours plus so much more bearable.

You're going to see many more people walking around your city with little white earbuds in their ears after this festive season is over...and especially if rumours are true that a low-capacity but inexpensive iPod will be released at MacWorld which will send the Dell and Nomad players of the world reeling and wondering how to keep up with Apple innovation. In New Zealand it's called, "wait and see pie".

Posted at 08:34 PM     |