Quick iTunes Note
Alright, so I refreshed my browser a couple of times during the MacWorld keynote speech to see what Apple was coming out with. I'm not concerned so much with the new laptop or iPhone stuff - it was the improvements to the AppleTV unit and iTunes that interested me. Apple getting into video-on-demand is interesting, as are the capabilities of the new AppleTV unit (for those of you with digital cable boxes, it's pretty much like the on-demand services you have right now - one step forward towards a la carte cable viewing as opposed to subscription?). It's also cool that some hi-def DVDs are going to include iTunes-ready digital files on the disc. This fulfills a pet peeve of mine - being able to get a digital backup of your media. With this, you can have a copy on your computer and your disc at the same time without technically violating the DMCA (even though I'd regard copying that media as well within your rights). The only drawback is the DRM on the iTunes files. Even if it's less restrictive than other DRM, it's still there. Baby steps?
It's also telling to me that iTunes skipped right over music this time around. Except for mentioning that it's offered wirelessly through AppleTV and such, there were no new announcements. Given that record companies are making the move towards Amazon (at least the majors), I'm curious to see if more music offerings at better bitrates and without DRM are in the cards. And don't forget, there's always Tunecore and CD Baby to get your music on these services.
New Podcast Up
Feel free to download the latest podcast-y goodness or listen to it at the site's new flash player.
I also recently received my copy of the "Second Life For Dummies" (which looks fantastic, BTW - full color!) just in time to hear about the ban on Second Life Banking. Wisely, the authors stayed out of this and hence, their work remains utterly current and relevant. Well played. It's terribly difficult to publish a book (a large, unwieldy depository of knowledge) about all things digital and Internet-related (things of a zippy nature that tend to make large, unwieldy depositories cower in fear of advanced obsolescence), and I think they did a wonderful job of sticking to the foundation of SL and offering helpful advice without getting into areas that could change at a moment's notice.
RTFM
I'd like to thank the good folks at Propellerheads (creators of Reason) for posting some extensive documentation on their website. The challenge of finding the instructions I needed in a 400+ page PDF more than outweighed the cost I would have incurred by putting my fist through a laptop screen. I'm still a little irritated at the workflow to edit clips in the sequencer, but I suspect that it's the newness of the procedure, and that learning the keyboard shortcuts might be in order.
Even the image of a punched laptop is making me sad. That tells me two things - first, that I'm thankful it never happened, and second, that I need a small vacation.
New Podcast Is Up
You can download the latest IMN Podcast from this link right here, or you can get it from the Flash player on the main site.
With Expert Podcasting Practices For Dummies
In the two years, we've tried a variety of methods in hopes of finding one that produced the best quality of audio in the shortest amount of time (co-host Steve Hayes and I have lives to get back to, after all). We've tried recording directly to a PC using Sonar Home Studio, recording directly to my Mac laptop using Garageband 4, recording to a hard-drive-based music workstation, and a flash memory recorder. We alternate at this point between recording to my laptop or the flash recorder, depending on which one is easier to grab at the time. Both have proven to be fairly stable solutions, barring user error (yes, that user would be me).
Post-production stuff like editing and file conversion is done on the Mac using Soundtrack Pro and a couple of freeware programs: Switch converts the AIFF file to a 128kbps mp3 file, and Musorg helps me edit the ID3 tag for each file. I used to use iTunes for both purposes, but I didn't care for the fact that I had to clear out the library each time I edited an episode. From there, I just SFTP the episode and the XML file for our RSS feed to the server, where it lies in wait for unsuspecting listeners.
In a perfect world, I'd have already upgraded to Logic Studio and use the new version of Soundtrack Pro 2 (my current version comes from the Final Cut Pro bundle), but that's dependent on the budget. And the budget is slowly shaking its head at new carpet and an upcoming trip to New Orleans, so I don't think I'll slide this by for awhile.
So that's the techie side. The planning and scripting part comes next week.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that we've used Shure, AKG and Blue Snowball mics. We've achieved great results with all three, although getting two Snowballs working at the same time required a little tweating in the Audio/MIDI section of the Mac OS - I had to create an aggregate device out of both mic and route the audio through there.
New Podcast Up . . .
The podcasting book is on the presses and should be out quite soon (they may even have my name up on Amazon soon), and IMN just put up a new podcast episode as well. Finally, I'm loading up the iPod with a bunch of new episodes for the Thanksgiving traveling season. It's fun audio time all around. It's kind of hard to get into the flow of "This American Life" unless you're in the car for a good long time, so this might work out well.
I also just bought William Gibson's "Spook Country" - tried waiting for the paperback, but I just couldn't make it. Couldn't wait for the Kindle, either. The addition of WiFi and the stature of Amazon to back this new device are intriguing developments, but I'm not sure the consumer adoption of the iPod has opened the door wide enough for a better, faster eReader. Hell, I was trying to dodge $10 for a hardcover. The $400 price tag is a bit much to justify, especially when I deal with folks every day who print off e-mail and PowerPoint presentation because they'd rather read them on paper.
This is another device that may take a generation to integrate, as folks get more used to reading off of a screen. And dealing with it when your book's battery dies.
More Book News . . .
I just finished the tech review of the Composing Digital Music For Dummies book, so all that's left now is the CD that goes with it. Even though I'm just the tech editor on this project, I'm still excited to see this book come out. I think it's got some great stuff in it, and the author has some great advice and insights. That just leaves the second edition of MySpace For Dummies and the Laptop Just The Steps For Dummies on the horizon.
And there's a new podcast available at IMN as well. If you don't want to download it, just play it out of the Flash player in the upper-right corner. Enjoy.
This fun little novelty will make your head hurt
At least that's what the Vinyl CD is doing for me. Maybe I'm just flashing back to the scene in "Austin Powers" where the needle drops on the CD and makes the god-awful noise. Or perhaps it's "The Simpsons," where a bird and a rat are tied together as a new "hybrid animal." I see the kitsch factor here, and it'll make a stellar promo piece or special fan club item, but otherwise . . .
At least people are experimenting, I suppose. They can't all be genius moves.
Geek Stuff
I've been playing with the new version of Quicksilver a bit (the site is down at the moment, and it's only useful to Apple users in any case - have I eliminated everybody yet?). It's supposed to improve the speed and productivity of your Mac by using keyboard shortcuts and triggers to speed up launching programs and automating tasks. I haven't gotten fully into it yet, but it seems handy. I'm having a hard time getting used to making it run, though - I don't like a lot of actions happening automatically at startup, and I'm already geared towards using the native OS functions. Lifehacker seems to have dedicated an entire server towards articles on this program, though, so somebody likes it.
Also, there's a beta site for the new version of IMN at our testblog site. Let us know how we can improve your local music experience.
Finally, the badass bassline of today is taken from P.O.S.'s "Kidney Thief," courtesy of a Fugazi sample, I believe. Seek and enjoy.
Give It Another Shot
So I did indeed get the new Radiohead downloads, and they left me . . . pretty much as I expected. Not bad, but I'm still not a Radiohead fan per se (by contrast, Roger and Zapp get yet another spin today). I did shell out some actual cash for another pre-order download today, though. Saul Williams has a new album coming out next week, and the combination of his work and Trent Reznor's production is a little too intriguing to pass up. The album is available for free, but I upgraded for the $5 mp3 files at a better resolution. I doubt this gets near as much attention (who remember who came through the broken door second?), but it's another step in a good direction.
Not cheap music, mind you, but artists controlling their own music and setting their own price.
I'm also curious to hear how Reznor's production works here. I'm fascinated by the technological aspects of his work, but more often than not the songs themselves leave me a little cold. With Saul Williams, he gets a very charismatic vocalist with a larger-than-life delivery, so it'll be interesting to see how these mesh.
I should also note at this point that as much as I love the new Reason, I'm still just creating ringtones instead of songs. Said ringtones, however, kick much ass.
Holding Off For A Bit
I was joking about standing in line for Leopard today, but I think I'm going to hold off for a bit before upgrading my machines to the new Mac OS X. Any operating sytem is going to have a few bugs in the initial release, and I think I'll let somebody else take the hit on finding them. It's usually a good policy to wait until some updates have been done before going ahead with an install, just to see what goes wrong. Toss in some resource-hungry software like audio recording, and it could get even worse. Sometimes, it's best to stick with what works until the benefits outweigh the risk.
I'm also waiting for a new hard drive for the laptop. Nothing is wrong per se with this one, but it's getting a little crowded (about two-thirds full). Considering I'm going to have to Boot Camp my computer soon to help me write a new laptop book for Wiley, there's a definite need for more space. I also need it to run at 7200 rpm for any music needs, and the 200 GB drives in that range are finally at a decent price.
Finally, the new IMN podcast is up. Enjoy.
The Bass Geek’s Twitter
- Free official remix of Meshell Ndegeocello's Petit Mort, great way to start a holiday weekend - bit.ly/KovHLb 6 hours ago
- Last night's rehearsal proved it beyond a doubt - I need one of them there smaller amps . . . 7 hours ago
- Seriously - this Memorial Day weekend will be too hot to do anything. At all. I wanna be this guy. youtu.be/K5JSWZXaKQA 8 hours ago
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- Lightning session at #stc12, then back home - thanks for everything, it was a great conference! 2 days ago
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