Random Technology Musings
Only a fraction of my music shows up as being music?????
I didn’t have any photos ( though 2 video podcasts from TWIP) on there at all.
Same on my iPod Touch.
I belive this happened on holiday when I downloaded a few podcasts and synced them. My music library is stored at home so I didn’t have the full library with me when I synced on holiday.
Is this some sort of bug???
I’ve no idea what has happened?? Syncing it does not work!!!
Should I try a restore??
Well, not really:
Scoble has a post up suggesting that the RIAA is right and that we shouldn’t rip Cd’s.
1. Cause no one should copy Britney Spears, not to mention listen to her. The RIAA is doing us a service by making sure we don’t listen to her. Oh, and the RIAA is so brilliant that they brought us Britney in the first place (and now Hannah Montana) and that’s evidence enough that they are right and we should listen to them.
2. Because no one should be allowed to use music how they want. For instance, I hate using a CD player. Why? That requires me to get off the couch, find the darn CD and hope I put it away properly after that fun party, and then find the song I want instead of just opening iTunes from my couch and clicking on the right song. The RIAA is doing us a service by forcing us to get off the couch and get some exercise.
3. Bits have feelings too. Turning them from 0 to 1 hurts them.
4. They’ll force the kids to buy non-DRM music from the get go and not buy any CDs. Good for the environment! (My son, Patrick, says he only buys MP3’s or AAC’s without DRM now off of his online music stores).
5. This behavior will make sure people buy (or steal) music directly from bands. See how Radiohead did it. By doing that the price for music will go down thanks to fewer intermediaries. RIAA is just helping us get rid of them, which is good for everyone who loves music. See, they are on our side! I’m looking for a site that lets us do Vendor Relationship Management with bands. Doc Searls taught me about VRM. What is that? When we can get the company to do what WE want. Radiohead put the power of setting the price in OUR hands. Brilliant.
6. My son says that since they are making stealing music so dangerous (the kids are hearing the stories about parents getting sued for hundreds of thosuands of dollars) that they are getting paranoid about stealing music. So, what do they do instead? Have you heard of iPod trading? You will. Ahh, and we thought “sneaker net” was dead? Yeah, right. The RIAA brought it back.
On the plus side of this, I agree that music should NOT be copied to distribute. In other words, ripping music to a publicly accessible file sharing service or server is a no-no.
I mean it. We gotta remember that artist and records labels have to be compensated for all the work they do. And to ensure that they do, they have distribution networks set up – wether that is digital, CD, radio, etc.
So far so good.
I only buy CD’s. And I rip them for Personal Use. Let me emphasise that again- personal use.
And let be clear I have nothing against buying digital music off iTunes et al. The only problem is the DRM. Pure and simple.
DRM is the Black Death of the digital commodities industry today. When I buy a CD, I expect to be able to use the music across my home network, put it on my iPod and listen to it however I choose. The intrusion of DRM is nothing more than a source of frustration. So I buy CD’s to avoid the intrusion of DRM by iTunes and the like.
The limits of personal use are clearly defined. The barrier between personal use and piracy is just as clear.
So I propose the following: that the RIAA and the equivalent bodies in other countries trust the consumer.
Sounds radical. But think of this. Shouldn’t music and software companies be working together to find easier ways of identifying those who overstep the bounds of personal use? Instead of frustrating every Tom, Dick and Harry out there that want to enjoy the music, the pointy end of the stick should be firmly on those who overstep those clear bounds.
Amazon, eMusic – and to a lesser extent Apple- are trusting the consumer.
The RIAA just has to play catch up and face the music.
I’ve been listening to music too much and posting too little 🙂 .
The iPod Touch ( I prefer calling it the iTouch) is really good. Some songs come out sounding better than they do on my speakers on the PC (Ok, not the best available speakers – JBL Creature).
The web browser is really really good. The whole JavaScript thing doesn’t work ( which you would expect since it is a full version of Safari, I belive). I mean what on earth were Apple thinking??? How many websites do you know of that don’t have Javascript???? I use it all the time in developing websites. Even if it’s not for visual stuff, java script can be doing a lot of heavy lifting in the background ( take, dare I say it, Facebook Beacon).
Looking at Google Reader in Classic mode is an experience somewhere between being eaten alive and having an out-of-body-experience of the event – can’t decide which is worse. Trying to type and send an email in GoogleMail ( I tried), I found a strong urge to became a Chinese Citizen ( even the Great Firewall of China doesn’t stop Javascript) 🙂 . And by the way, I did finish the email and used by PC to find the addresses to send it to.
Though the Mobile mode is much, much better. I think its specially formatted for the iPhone/iTouch.
Viewing websites that don’t run on JavaScript or gracefully handled the fact that Javascript was off was pretty good. I think the lack of Javascript was one of the main reasons that Youtube is a separate application on the iTouch.
Don’t even get me started on Flash support…
The integration with iTunes direct from the iTouch is a gift from heaven itself, from His Steveness to his faithful Apple flock 🙂
Change that to an iTouch Comic and it would be perfect.
Youtube works seamlessly as well.
Now, the Syncing experience is something else. If I plug my iPod into my laptop instead of my PC ( keeping in mind I originally used my PC to Sync the iTouch), I get asked if I want to erase my iTouch and sync new music to it. Now my library is exclusively ripped CD’s that I’ve bought myself. Shouldn’t iTunes recognize that I already have music from the library ( both my laptop and PC use the same iTunes library out of a shared network location on my server) and shouldn’t it allow me to add, change or delete the playlists/music on my iTouch???
Now if there was a way to sync shared library music (i.e from iTunes running over the server and sharing its library) to my iPod, there wouldn’t be this problem ( if there is, please post a comment. Thanks).
Podcast subscriptions work great. Already subscribed to Scott Hanselmann.
Can’t complain about anything else. the design is great. the interface is supurb. Take how the screen gently coasts to a stop when you’ve finished scrolling. The whole flipping thing is really great. I’m getting used to it and its quite responsive when you know what to do.
My mother was using it quite well with out even being told what to do. She still asks me about emails.
Can’t wait for the SDK to come out. I’m assuming that the iPhone SDK is also for the iTouch. Can’t wait till I can say: “Pimp my iTouch”.
Dear Steve:
We hold these truths to be self-evidently pie in the sky, that all bloggers are created equal, that they are endowed by their Computers and iPhones with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are lots and lots of Links, [JavaScript, Flash] and the pursuit of AdSense Dollars
PS added in the bit about Javascript and Flash myself.
Does Steve Jobs have knack for designing things, or is it just me????
After ranting an raving here and else where about how I’d never buy an iPod unless DRM was sorted out, guess what? I Went Out and Bought One.
The Glasgow Apple Store is quite something. I was really impressed since I’d never been to an Apple store. All the customer space is given over to Display models. There were iPhone between each iMac, MacBook, Apple TV, etc. The only retail items on display, as far as I could tell, were the iPod/iPhone accessories and the software. To get anything you ask one of the assistants who will get it for you from the back of the store. this works really well since it allows customers to focus on the devices. You can see Apple Design throughout the store.
And I still can’t belive the sheer size of the 24″ iMac. It literally defies belief. I’ll put it this way, getting out of the store is far harder than getting in to it.
Picked up some earphones to go over my ears rather than inside them ( I can’t stand the standard earphones). And the guy got my iTouch. Purchasing was painless. The place felt like Steve himself had trained the staff and approved the decor.
And now my iTouch is charging after registering with iTunes. The one thing that really got me was that you can’t use it out-of-the-box. You need have an Internet connected PC running the latest version of iTunes and you can use it only after you have registered it.
Since my library is mainly WMA files and stored on my Windows Home Server, I installed iTunes on the server and set it to work re-encoding my library and putting it in a dedicated iTunes shared folder. Fortunately I only have about 2000 songs so its not a lot *(Mind you, iTunes seems to have made it mind up that there are only 791 songs in said library. Hmmmm) . Its been running an hour and done nearly 400 songs, so a few hours and then I can sync music to my iPod Touch.
Setting up Wi-Fi was painless insofar as I needed to change my key to make it slightly easer to type on the iPod because of the keyboard. The keyboard isn’t bad at all. In fact its a lot better that I thought it was after reading various blogs on the subject. You can very easily hit the wrong key the first few times that you use it, but it quickly grows on you, and you get better and better at using it.
I’m impressed at the minimal packaging of the iPod. The earphones had more by at least an order of magnitude.
The other thing is I strongly suggest you get a case. It looks rather fragile in the sense that it can be easily scratched. So I’m picking that up next week from said Apple Store.
All hail his Steveness…… 🙂
I might make this a regular thing.
Greenpeace, as I live and breathe, by Grabthar’s hammer, by the sons of Warvan, I shall see your offices and ships destroyed. I shall see you crushed and driven before me. I shall hear the cries and lamentations of your women.
If it doesn’t work, remind them of the Rainbow Warrior and call the French. Way to go, Steve.
I’d never say this in public but the fact is we would never let anyone from Apple attend a NASCAR event without a hazmat suit. Formula One, fair enough, that’s a different situation. Different audience. More in line with the Apple image. NASCAR? One hundred percent Windows users.
Random Musings 
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