Wednesday, April 28, 2004

Apple Releases iTunes 4.5

New features include...

- Free Downloads/Single of the Week
- iMix - Publish Your Playlists
- Music Videos Page
- Movie Trailers
- Radio Charts
- Party Shuffle
- CD Insert Printing
- Wish List
- Import WMA Files (Windows)
- Lossless Encoder

Now you can give up to 5 computers access to songs you bought on the iTunes music store for personal use, up from 3.

Download it here.

Today's free song is "My Hero" by the "Foo Fighters" you can download that here.

Happy Birthday iTunes Music Store!


The iTunes Music Store turned 1 today. Here's how the store's looking at 1 year old...

More than 700,000 tracks
Find out what’s playing on more than 1,000 radio stations
View movie trailers
Use your AOL account
Watch music videos
View the iTunes Music Store in a separate window
Share music with up to 5 Macs and PCs
Publish an iMix on the store
Tell a friend about an album via email with cover art
More than 5,000 audiobooks
Save store previews in a playlist to purchase later
Allowance accounts
Gift certificates
Quick Links
iTunes exclusives
Download today's free download. "My Hero" by the "Foo Fighters" Here.

Bold = new with iTunes 4.5

I was among the first to use the iTunes Music Store (immediately after its release) and over the past year I've purchased a total of 250 songs. That's roughly $250 which is $235 more than I spent in the previous 5 years on music. It's no wonder that iTMs is the most successful of the online music stores.

Happy Birthday iTunes Music Store... and many more to come!!

Friday, April 23, 2004

Craig's Official Camcorder Buyer Advice

A question was posted on the TiVo forum that I frequent... "I have a baby due in 3 weeks, should I buy a camcorder?"

I replied a couple times and since then I've received a BUNCH of e-mails asking me questions about camcorder buying and video editing so I decided to put together a few thoughts here so if you're in the market for a new video camera it will at least point you in the right direction.

* THE FORMAT *
The format you want is MiniDV. MiniDV is the only way to go according to many. (you get more brand choices than with Sony's Digital 8 format) And if you plan to edit the video there is nothing easier... firewire cable from camcorder to computer and import.

* DECIDE ON A PRICE RANGE *
Decide how much you want to spend. There's no real point in researching the current $1,500 cameras if you can only spend $600 on yours.

* THE RESEARCH *
My camcorder is currently a JVC. I'm about up for a new one. I'll hopefully buy a new one later this year. When it IS time to buy, I will go to camcorderinfo.com to decide on which one is the best for me. Decide if a 1 chip or a 3 chip camcorder is right for you and remember that if you plan to shoot a lot indoors, the camera's low light performance is what really counts! The large the chip (CCD) size the better the low light performance.

DO NOT buy a camcorder for it's "Still Image" Features. They all look like crap and they're not worth the extra money. If you want to take good still pictures, buy a Digital Still Camera... the vast majority of which will look better than a crappy camcorder still.

* THE WARNING *
If you DO plan on editing all of your video with a Mac/PC.... DO NOT BUY A CAMCORDER THAT BURNS DIRECTLY TO DVD! It's compressed down to MPEG-2 (quality loss) and MPEG 2 isn't an editing format. (more quality loss and time wasted converting it to an editable format.)

* VIDEO EDITING *
Video Editing is highly addictive! Especially on a Mac using Final Cut! Whatever your computer preference, you can create DVDs to send to friends & family. You can edit down the footage so it's not boring or edit it down so it's actually viewable by your parents/in-laws so they don't SEE or HEAR anything they shouldn't!

It's amazing how many different things you can do with the SAME footage! I've created a video for the us... the parents. (kids growing up), I've created a video for the kids that's goofy and makes them laugh, a lot of it has to do with timing, and the music you add over it.

Here's one of my first (and last) iMovies... (not kid related... it's VEGAS baby!) No one wants to see the whole 2+ hours of crap I shot, so I made this little video of our vegas trip and one of the dog...

Here's a link that might be of interest...

http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/exhibits/1000019/RESOURCES.html

Thursday, April 22, 2004

Up yours Real!!

As you may or may not be aware... RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser has been whining because he wants Apple to open up the iPod to other music services... mainly THEIRS!

In early April Glaser sent an e-mail to Jobs proposing that the two companies join together in the digital music business against Microsoft. Glaser pretty much threatened to switch support to Microsoft if they didn't come to an agreement. Great article here. Apple leaked the e-mail to the New York Times brining this to public light.

Steve Jobs publically responded today stating...

"To be honest, it's just not worth it," Jobs said, noting that RealNetworks has made a number of overtures to Apple and adding that Real's music service has been "less than successful."

I agree... I say screw RealNetworks. They were on the top of the streaming media game back in the day but as competition began they were soon the loser. I agree with Cooper's article... RealPlayer is an inferior (and I'll add bloated) product that's riddled with ads we don't want and secretly 'calls the mothership' constantly! And to top it off... people want to OWN their music NOT rent it per a subscription based system like RealNetwork's.

Read the full article here.

Wow... I never thought this would happen...

From MacNN

AOL opens email access
Starting today, AOL customers can begin accessing their email from any IMAP-supported third-party email program, as opposed to having to use AOL's software.

Instructions on how to set it up... here.

I've tested it in Panther's Mail program. It works like a charm!

It's about damn time!

Update: It appears we can receive the e-mail just fine in OSX's Mail but we can't send out. This is AOL's fault and it doesn't appear they care.

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Disney music FINALLY on iTMs


The catalog of Walt Disney Records, including soundtracks from Disney’s classic animated films and Disney/Pixar’s computer-animated films, is now available exclusively on the iTunes Music Store through Sep 30.


This is great news! I'm guessing after Sept 30th, they'll open it up to other music services.

Read the full Joint Press Release here.

Friday, April 16, 2004

Leo is BACK!!

"I'm very pleased to say that thanks to your overwhelming show of support and to a strong desire on both our parts to come to an agreement, TechTV has improved its offer and I've decided to climb back aboard the good ship Call for Help.

I'll be back on the air starting next Tuesday, April 20.

The future is still a little cloudy, however. Comcast assumes ownership of the channel a few weeks later and I have no idea what will happen after that. I am certain they've been impressed by your support for the show, however, and if that doesn't convince them to keep it on the air, I don't know what could."

Read his blog entry here.

Off to see Kill Bill Volume 2

If you need more convincing that it's a must see....

Check out these reviews...
CNN Review, Roger Ebert, Rolling Stone

See the trailer here...
http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/kill_bill/volume_II/trailer/

iPod Mini users report static problem...

"Apple is aware of a few, isolated reports online of iPod mini audio static," said an Apple spokesman on Monday, adding that iPod minis come with a one-year warranty and 90 days of free technical phone support. "If a customer has any technical issues, they should contact AppleCare."

Article Here.

Thursday, April 15, 2004

It pays to be rich!


This is John Travolta & Kelly Preston's house in Florida.

Travolta uses the planes to go to work when his sets are close enough, and comes home everyday.


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