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This nice little free program automatically monitors any folder you tell it to for new music files. It then automatically adds any new music tracks to your iTunes library.
I read somewhere that you can tell a lot about a person by the music they listen to. If that’s true, then I guess you can also tell something about a person by the music they don’t want to listen to any longer. Music that for whatever reason they enjoyed at one time in their life, but no longer feel the same way about today. Music they don’t want even sitting in their hard drive taking up ones and zeros. There’s only so much room in a hard drive.
So here goes. Here is the music I will no longer have in my music library:
So there you have it. The music I will no longer be listening to. I honestly thought there would be a lot more I was getting rid of. I should really do this more often if for no other reason to remind myself just what I have. For instance, I forgot that I had acquired a massive collection of music from the Stray Cats. At one time I owned everything they ever put out on cassette tape. Even the stuff released in Europe.
I recently upgraded my cellphone to a Motorola RAZR. Not only is it the best cell phone I’ve ever owned, it does all sorts of neat stuff such as playing an MP3 file as a ringtone. I’ve been using the generic ringtones because I haven’t had a way of transfering an MP3 file to my phone. That was until this past weekend. I purchased a software package that allows me to transfer picture files to use as wallpaper and MP3 files to use as ringtones. It came bundled with a USB cable along with adapters for most cellphones.The software allows you to edit down a sound file to a more manageable size. I made a 20 second MP3 of the hook from BLACK HOLE SUN by Soundgarden and it turned out great. After that turned out so swimmingly, I decided I would try something else. I decided to convert over PUNKROCKER by Teadybears. It features Iggy Pop doing the vocals. It was used recently in a car commercial. I don’t remember which. I had purchased the song on iTunes. Every time the commercial would play, I would end up playing the song in my head. It’s a cool song.
When I tried to convert the file over to an MP3, iTunes informed me that I was not allowed because it protected.
I paid for this song. I can play it on my PC. I can play it on my iPod. I just can’t play 25 seconds of it on my phone.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a blight on civilized society. It’s an unnecessary obsticle getting between me and the music I paid for. If I want to hear, “well I’m a punkrocker, yes I am” every time my phone rings, I have to burn the song to a disc and then import the one-song disc back over as an MP3. What a waste of my time. And to think this is what I get for actually paying for the song instead of jumping on The Pirate Bay and downloading it.
Thanks. Thanks a lot.
Recently actors from the hit NBC television show Heroes picketed outside Universal Studios. Not the part that is a cheesy amusement park with the fake looking giant shark, but the part that is the actual movie studio. Someone from Comic Book Resources was on hand and was able to write about it.
Greg Grunberg, the actor that plays Parkman on Heroes said something interesting. This from the CBR article:
Grunberg characterized the AMPTP’s position on the issues “ridiculous.” “When a musician puts out a record that becomes a CD and then becomes an online digital download, they still make the same amount of money,” Grunberg said. “Why isn’t the same true for a writer?”
This is something I’ve heard said before. B.J. Novak, actor and writer for The Office said something quite similar in the YouTube video I linked to earlier.
It’s not true. The writers have been getting residuals on iTunes downloads all along. When the consumer pays for a download, the writers get their residual just like they would if the consumer paid for a DVD instead of a download.
I’m not sure if this misinformation is perpetrated on purpose or if it’s simply a case of the people involved not understanding the specifics. Most people that read about the strike or watch YouTube videos about the strike know about iTunes. Most of them have probably purchased media from iTunes. I’m sure it resonates with these people when they hear that writers don’t get paid from iTunes downloads they have paid for.
That doesn’t make it true.
The popular BitTorrent blog TorrentFreak has posted about Marvel and DC cracking down on the act of using BitTorrent to distribute scans of comic books peer to peer. They also mention that a person that uploaded scans to binary newsgroups on Usenet received a similar warning letter.
Those comic fans who get their fix from Usenet don’t escape supply problems either. A prolific scanner/uploader known as ‘Oroboros’ has revealed he’s done releasing comics on Usenet. He said: “I’m done with the newsgroup. I got a DMCA notice from my newsgroup service. I have no posting abilities. I can’t even post a message saying I have to stop posting. If anyone can get to the group, please let them know that I’m done. They have my IP address in the notice and this is my one stated warning.”
He can’t even post a message explaining why he wont be posting comic scans. That’s just nutty.
I have a hard time getting behind the whole “downloading comics is a crime” notion. I have a hard time believing that it is stealing. Unlike the act of downloading music or video files, downloading comics involves something that is not available to the consumer by legal means. If you want a digital scan of a comic book that you can read on your computer screen, the only place to get it is from other people on the Internet. I would have a much easier time believing that downloading last month’s issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN was a crime if I could legally purchase a digital scan of last month’s AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.
Marvel Comics is now experimenting with digital comics with their new paid service, Marvel Comics Unlimited. The name is a misnomer. The service is extremely limited. You cannot download comics and read them using CDisplay. You have to read them online and in your web browser using a clunky interface developed by Marvel.
The overall quality of the scans is limited too. Pages I’ve looked at were blurry and the text was hard to read.
I wish Marvel Comics would try to mimic the iTunes model. I’d like to be able to purchase digital comics like I do with digital music. Why wont Marvel Comics try to sell digital comics for 99 cents an issue?
Until they do, I guess I’m stuck buying comics the old fashioned way.
I’ve been trying to learn more about the Writers Guild of America (WGA) writers strike. Much of what I’ve read or heard about the reasons for the strike seem to be contradict other things I’ve read or heard about the strike. I found a list of points at the WGA.org website. Here’s a quick summery of the main sticking points:
If you go back and watch the YouTube video I posted the other day from the people from The Office, what they say in the video seems to contradict the information found on the WGA website. B.J. Novak, actor and writer for The Office, says that every time he meets a new viewer to The Office, they are watching it on the Internet or on DVD. I’m assuming that when they say they were watching it on the Internet, they were downloading the episodes from iTunes. Only recently did NBC start streaming episodes from free. The inference is that Novak and the other writers aren’t getting paid for the episodes on the Internet or on DVD.
That’s not true. If money changes hands, the writers are getting a percentage.
NBC has launched something they call NBC Direct. It allows viewers to watch complete episodes of most NBC shows. I guess NBC chose to do this as a result of their recent blow up with Apple iTunes. NBC chose not to sell their programing through iTunes, or iTunes chose not to sell NBC programing. I honestly lost track of which came first.
I’m watching the newest episode of The Office. Though it’s just as funny as the first time I watched it, it’s a real pain in the ass to view. The episodes have enough DRM to choke a goat. You have to use Internet Explorer 6 or 7 to launch the player. NBC Direct does not support Firefox. You also have to be a Windows XP or Vista user. If you are an Apple user or a fake UNIX (Linux) user, you are out of luck.
It also features paid advertising. Annoying paid advertising. Every commercial break shows the very same stupid commercials. The good people from Lipton evidently want me to know that the way I look at tea will forever change. That’s good because the way I currently look at tea is that it sucks. My view on tea can only get better. With that said, Lipton seems to think that I will now like tea because they have placed their tea in tea bags shaped like pyramids. That’s not the way to make me change my opinion on tea.
If they want me to like tea, they need to figure out a way to make it taste just like coffee.
Other then showing why the WGA writers are on strike, I don’t see why NBC decided to launch this crappy service. It’s clear NBC plans on making money by featuring content on the web. It’s also clear that they need to realize they will need to actually pay the very people that create this content. Also, putting cumbersome restrictions on customers forcing them to watch content a certain way will only turn away customers. I should be able to put content on my iPod and watch it where and how I want. Because of NBC’s restrictive DRM, I cannot do that.
Apple has removed NBC Universal television episodes from the iTunes Store.
The move follows NBC’s decision to not renew its agreement with iTunes after Apple declined to pay more than double the wholesale price for each NBC TV episode, which would have resulted in the retail price to consumers increasing to $4.99 per episode from the current $1.99. ABC, CBS, FOX and The CW, along with more than 50 cable networks, are signed up to sell TV shows from their upcoming season on iTunes at $1.99 per episode.
Personally, I think even $1.99 is actually a bit too pricey for TV episodes that you can watch for free on television. But $4.99 for a 22 minute sitcom? Thats just silly. Its especially silly when you stop to realize that this was free money for NBC Universal. These were television shows they produced for their network. Allowing Apples to then go and sell the shows on the iTunes Store after they had already appeared on their network was a win-win for NBC Universal.
Greed and stupidity are a dangerous mix.
Its not like people wont be downloading NBC Universal programing. They just wont be paying for it. People will simply download NBC Universal television shows on bittorrent.
Link (marketwatch.com)
NBC Universal, the No. 1 supplier of digital video to Apple’s online iTunes Store has notified Apple that it has decided to not renew its contract to sell of television show downloads on iTunes. Supposedly NBC Universal wanted to have more control over how the television shows were sold to consumers. They evidently didn’t like how consumers had the option of paying $1.99 to download an episode. They wanted to force consumers into purchasing an entire season of a television show.
I’m a big fan of the iTunes $.99 music downloads and $1.99 television program downloads. I appreciate the ability to purchase only the media that I want. If I want to watch the first of Heroes, I shouldn’t have to purchase the entire season. That is what NBC Universal wants the power to do. They want to be able to force consumers into buying product they may not want.
What NBC Universal did is really quite laughable. This was free money for them. Apple was selling product that they had already used for programing on their television networks. They didn’t produce anything new for the iTunes Store. It was stuff that had already gone out over the air or through the cable. People were actually paying for media content that they themselves had been distributing for free. Leave it to NBC Universal to screw that up.
Greed is an awful thing. Now people who want to download digital episodes of The Office, Heroes, and Battlestar Galactica will have to do it the old fashioned way - they will have to bittorrent it.
I started listening to audio books on my iPod. Our local public library has a massive collection of full, unabridged books on CD just waiting to be checked out and imported to iTunes.
This past week, I listened to Brad Meltzer’s The Book of Fate. I enjoyed listening to it. The only problem I discovered was that unlike a podcast, my iPod would not remember where I left off. I would have to do a lot of hunting for the exact place I left off when coming back to listen to more. I eventually got to the point where I would write down on a yellow sticky the file and the time mark where I left off.
There had to be a better way.
I started poking around iTunes and I think I found out how to make it so my iPod remembers where I left off. While looking at each individual album (CD) in iTunes, group highlight the audio files. Hold Ctrl+A if you are a Windows user. Then right-click your mouse button while pointing to the highlighted files. A drop-down menu will appear. Select Get Info located at the very top.
A box will appear with all sorts of options to choose.
Located at the very bottom of the box is Remember Position. Check the box and change it to Yes. Now all the files you highlighted will be bookmarkable in iTunes and on your iPod.
