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  • Microsoft Calls the Kettle Black

    When Microsoft opened up the MSN Music Store the other day, there was a comment about Apple and how their system is “closed”. This was given as a reason that MSN is better.

    “iTunes has done a great job of helping to elevate the [digital music] market,” said Christine Andrews, lead product manager of MSN. “We’re different because Apple is a closed system. If you want Apple, you have to use the iPod. A lot of people want choice and we offer that.” [macnn.com]

    So let’s see. My choice is use iTMS and an iPod, or buy a whole second computer in order to use the MSN Music Store. Let’s be honest, they’re both closed in different ways. IMHO MSN’s is more closed because I can’t even use it on my computer. Though I wouldn’t hate Apple if they opened up access to their DRM a little bit. Given their market share I think they can afford to let people use a few other players. There is still a market for flash players that aren’t that expensive.

  • iTMS Update

    The other week i wrote complaining about the iTunes Music Store. After going back and forth with support a few times I finally got a nice note from their technical support team saying to check back in a few weeks while they fixed the tracks I wanted. I just went and checked the store to see if they were still listed and Lard – Last Temptation of Reid isn’t even listed anymore. Also, they’ve removed the short version of Original Sin from INXS – The Swing.

    Good job so far. Now we’ll wait and see if that Lard album ever comes back.

  • OS X mySQL tools

    I have a few different tools I use for managing MySQL on my OS X server. I’ve always been a fan of phpMyAdmin and have also used something called CocoaMySQL. But I was recently in a situation where I didn’t have those available and needed something quick. After searching around some I discovered dbSuite Admin Tools X, a very nice piece of donationware for OS X and Windows for working with your MySQL server. The big bonus it has over CocoaMySQL is that it has user management built in (something I’m sure it will have eventually). These folks will be getting a little bit of a donation from me on my next round of payments.

  • A Blast From The Past

    gameSample.gifYears ago when I was in college there were a few games for the Mac that were quite cool. One of them was Solarian II. It was kind of like Galaxian with really cool sounds. Thankfully, it’s now been ported to OS X and it’s just as frustratingly cool as it was back then. I think I may even cough up the $10 for it once I get done with the trial runs.

    Now, we just need are new ports of Arashi, Crystal Quest, Shufflepuck Cafe (remember the opponent who’d get drunk as he lost?) and Airborn (Hopefully I can find links to old pages with pictures of these). Now that I think of it, there were a ton of really simple fun games for the Mac back then. I remember the little DA version of Tetris that I’d waste hours playing when I was working in the computer lab.

  • NetNewsWire 2.0

    After not being able to talk about this for ages I can finally say NetNewsWire 2.0 rocks. Tonight Brent released the beta of NetNewsWire 2.0. I’ve been using betas for the past few months and he’s been doing a pretty kickass job. You can check out the What’s New page, read the Change Notes, or just go and Download it.

  • Original Sin – INXS

    Cover of INXS - The Swing
    The other day I posted about the Apple Music Store and how I felt they were misrepresenting what they sell. While out shopping yesterday, I found a copy of the CD I wanted to buy, The Swing by INXS. So in honor of that, I’m posting the actual version of Original Sin (aac) from the CD (though other folks had also gotten it to me).

    I also happened to check back at iTMS to see if the listing was still incorrect, and it was. So here’s the question I have. How should Apple handle this kind of thing? Should they pull it from their site till it is fixed? Or just let people keep buying it? The first seems like the correct answer.

    I think the reason this is annoying me so much is that I had a similar issue with an audiobook I bought there. In the middle of the second file it suddenly jumped a bunch of chapters ahead, and in the third file, it jumped back. So it had obviously been encoded out of order. Yet when I called customer service on it, they just credited me back, and then didn’t change the version online, it was still available. It makes me wonder how much they really pay attention to problems.

    Anyway, enjoy the song.

  • More Proof That iTunes Reads Minds

    I just fired up iTunes because I wanted to listen to some music, but also wanted to hear one song in particular first. So I hit shuffle and then searched for the song. The scroll bar barely moved and I noticed that it was the second song in the shuffle. Coincidence? I think not.

  • A Little Bit of Forgiveness for iTMS

    But only a little bit because they didn’t get it all right. I have a few different bands I’ll search for on iTMS every now and then to see if they’ve made it into the store. An old favorite, Lard, had shown up a few months ago, but it was missing the album I really wanted: The Last Temptation of Reid. On that point iTMS has done well.

    On the other hand, when I go to select the album to buy. It gives me an Unknown Error and tells me to try again later. DAMN YOU APPLE FOR TEASING ME!

  • iTunes Music Store Inaccuracy

    I was poking around in the iTunes Music Store early this morning and discovered they had The Swing by INXS. I was quite psyched since that is one of my all time favorite albums. I remember my high school roommate and I used to have it playing on shuffle play all night long many many times. I clicked to add it to my shopping cart and did some more browsing. When I was done I was just about to click on ‘Buy Now’ when I noticed something. The version of “Original Sin” they have as part of the album is the wrong version. The listed time for the track is 3:46. According to allmusic.com, the actual length of the track is 5:19, which sounded more like what I remembered.

    The most annoying part of this is that I’ve had my eye out for this for ages and it feels like it is almost within my grasp. Maybe I should ask around to see if any of my friends have it.

  • The new Imac

    I have to say that I really like the look of the new iMac.

    Update: Gizmodo has a really slick picture of them on the showroom floor.