April 25, 2010
J RIVER MEDIA CENTER 15
Long time readers know that periodically I mention J River Media Center, the program I’ve used for many years to organize my embarrassingly large music library. If you’re not familiar with the program, then please go read my write-up a few months ago, where I tried to make it clear who it might appeal to – and more importantly, who should not consider it. Anything that touches your music library, your photos and your videos should not be taken lightly!
Development has begun on J River Media Center 15, as the company continues to add […] continued
January 18, 2010
GROOVESHARK
Grooveshark is an online site for streaming music – a free service for finding artists and albums and listening to them on your computer. The albums have been uploaded by regular folks and by this time the library available for streaming is remarkably large, including big hits and obscure rarities, official releases and unauthorized concert recordings.
The web site is fast and streamlined and advertisements are unobtrusive. Streaming starts immediately and sound quality is surprisingly good.The music can’t be saved and can’t be transferred to an iPod; this is for your computer only.
The question I can’t answer […] continued
November 13, 2009
J RIVER MEDIA CENTER 14
What software do you use to listen to music on a computer?
Most people use iTunes. A few lonely folks have gotten the new Zune HD and use its software. Still others use Windows Media Player. All of them are just fine. They’re very attractive and they handle basic functions to help you buy and listen to music. If they make you happy, don’t change!*
Some of you are outgrowing those programs.
If you’ve accumulated a large music library, you’ve probably realized that iTunes and the others are terrible at handling collections of more than a few hundred […] continued
August 31, 2009
THE GOOD ENOUGH REVOLUTION
Wired Magazine has delivered more insightful articles in the last couple of years than any other magazine, offline or online. Take a few minutes to read a fascinating piece in this month’s issue, “The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple Is Just Fine.”
Traditionally when we pictured high quality products, we’ve always understood that they were the products with the highest fidelity or the most power or the most features.
Right in front of our eyes, in more markets than you expect, there is a transformation underway: the products that are succeeding are the ones that […] continued
January 1, 2009
MICROSOFT ENDS 2008 WITH A CRASH
A heartwarming story for the end of 2008! On December 31 every owner of a 30Gb Microsoft Zune woke up to a crashed device that couldn’t be started. (The Zune is Microsoft’s competitor for the iPod. Only 14 people own them, so this isn’t all that significant except that it makes Microsoft look so deliciously boneheaded.)
After reports of the glitch started flooding in to Gizmodo and other gadget web sites, Microsoft started scrambling for an answer and eventually turned up a software bug related to leap years. The official answer: avert your eyes, don’t ask a […] continued
October 6, 2008
SLIMMING DOWN ITUNES
Apple’s software for Windows has been causing problems on more and more of my clients’ computers. I’ve been wrestling with bluescreens caused by iTunes, file extensions hijacked by Quicktime, and now I’m suspicious that an uninvited service has been causing problems in Outlook.
An iTunes installation includes far more than a music library that syncs to your iPod. There are multiple services and kernel mode drivers and program addins, with very little of it included in any disclosure or presented with any options. Apple also installs its “software update” framework, which it has used to install additional unrelated […] continued
October 5, 2008
REPORT ON RIAA LAWSUIT STRATEGY
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has put together a fascinating article summarizing the history and effect of the RIAA’s five-year battle against online music sharing. The conclusion is compelling: every single move made by the recording industry has backfired. The RIAA has filed more than thirty thousand lawsuits and threatened even more people, turning public opinion overwhelmingly against the RIAA and the labels, and has accomplished nothing.
“The RIAA’s lawsuit campaign against individual American music fans has failed. It has failed to curtail P2P downloading. It has not persuaded music fans that sharing is equivalent to shoplifting. It has not
[…] continued
September 29, 2008
GOOGLE ANDROID
T-Mobile introduced the first cell phone based on Google’s Android operating system to much fanfare a few days ago. Although Android has some interesting features and much promise, I don’t expect to see anyone holding the T-Mobile G1 in Sonoma County for a while, since T-Mobile is a fringe player with limited coverage up here (and certainly no connection anywhere nearby to its high speed 3G data network).
Android is a work in progress; comparisons to the iPhone are inevitable and at the moment Android comes up a bit short, but it’s early to make any decisions. […] continued
September 22, 2008
AUDIO & VIDEO MYSTERIES
A few final thoughts about file formats for audio and video and how that affects a Vista Media Center Extender. This is the place where strong people are humbled and the whole project can be brought down with screams of frustration. I can only touch on a few of the myriad details.
There is a single overriding principle that you can put to use right away: make a conscious effort to avoid any file format that is locked up with any DRM (digital rights management, the schemes used with “licensed” content to prevent you from making full use of it), […] continued
September 22, 2008
THE MEDIA CENTER COMPUTER
Running a Vista Media Center Extender in the living room requires a computer in the house running Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate. Your home computer can send your photos and music to the living room without working very hard, so it’s quite possible to use the same computer that you’re using at your desk.
There is a caveat, though. The most important trick for a Vista Media Center Extender is delivering TV shows to the TV, and your home computer probably isn’t ready to do that without an extra bit of hardware to plug in the Comcast cable and […] continued