A question I'm often asked at podServe is how much music should I put on my iPod? As in I'll sort through my CDs and decide which to put into my library. My answer is - all of it.
Today computers and iPods have such massive capacity that its quick, cheap and easy to have all your music in digital form. Having it all digital avoids the issue of whether deciding music contents on a CD by CD basis is the best way, if the CD you reject contains just one great track, think of what you're missing.
I just wish I'd taken my own advice. While ripping my collection I came across two CDs by Philip Glass, I know my wife loves his music but, well, I'd never got into it so I just skipped the CDs and pressed on with music I'm comfortable with. The easy choices. Well on Tuesday we went to Philip Glass's concert at the Barbican. I wasn't greatly looking forward to it but you can't deny Glass's position in modern classical music, and at around 70 there won't be many more chances for those of us outside America to hear him play his music.
From the first note I was held, right through to the dying last note. It was a brilliant concert, a great evening out and the music just wonderful. Finally I knew what I was missing. So there - do as I say, not as I do. Yesterday I dug out the CDs I'd previously skipped, put them into iTunes and I'm listening to them now.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
iPod Camera?
Just because it can be done, doesn't mean that you have to do it. Well that was one of my Mum's homespun disciplinary lines, sometimes I think computer people should have been brought up better. Technically it can be done, but should you do it?
A phone built into your iPod? There's talk that the next release of Apple's iPod range will add this to one or more models in the line.
Frankly I can't see the point. I can hardly see the point of a camera in a mobile phone, for me listening to music, talking to people, taking photos all live in their own boxes. If I listen to music I'm not going to want to whip out my iPod to take a snap of the underground station I'm passing through.
But .... the iPod touch? Having a camera in that does make sense. I love Skype with its video chat function, particularly using the camera built into my MacBook. If the iPod touch enabled me to log onto a wifi network at home, in MacDonalds or Starbucks, and then get in touch with friends and family well, that does make sense.
A phone built into your iPod? There's talk that the next release of Apple's iPod range will add this to one or more models in the line.
Frankly I can't see the point. I can hardly see the point of a camera in a mobile phone, for me listening to music, talking to people, taking photos all live in their own boxes. If I listen to music I'm not going to want to whip out my iPod to take a snap of the underground station I'm passing through.
But .... the iPod touch? Having a camera in that does make sense. I love Skype with its video chat function, particularly using the camera built into my MacBook. If the iPod touch enabled me to log onto a wifi network at home, in MacDonalds or Starbucks, and then get in touch with friends and family well, that does make sense.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Sony X Walkman
Years ago, long before podServe and any thoughts of ripping CDs, my kids loved portable music players. They were cassette tape based and everybody called them a walkman. We went through many units, some cheap some expensive, but they all snapped or collapsed in some way. Irrespective of how they met their end they were all called walkman and were replaced by another walkman even though I don't think a single machine was made by Sony.
Sony just owned the concept of portable music with their walkman brand. Along comes the Apple device and they had a mountain to climb, which they promptly did, so now a portable music player is known as an iPod. Maybe Apple have done a better job as most iPods I see on the Underground are actually made by Apple. Then this morning I opened my newspaper and there's two mentions of Sony. First, at corporate level, it seems they're not doing too well. Second, there's an advert from John Lewis for the new Sony X series Walkman. My mind went back to Sony's last revised foray into the portable music market with a device they dubbed the "iPod killer". How does this unit stack up?
Price- wise they're pitching this against the iPod Touch, and their 16Gb unit is on a par with Apple's 8Gb, same with Sony's 32Gb version. Both devices have a touchscreen, hang on - Sony's is 3 inches compared with Apple's 3.5 inch. That's a mistake, sorry Sony that simply hands buyers the first justification they need to invest in Apple. Nobody in their right mind opts for the smaller screen. If a device needs a screen bigger is better. Sony will warble about all sorts of things but nothing overcomes that extra half inch.
Buttons. iPods have a click wheel, the iPod touch has an indentation. Sony has a button with a label on it. Why? Maybe it's an on/off switch but to label it "Home"? What kind of imbecile do they think's going to buy this? You need to be told it's Home just once, everytime you see this again it's just patronising. At the top of the Sony there are more buttons - one switches on noise cancelling, the other is a volume rocker. Sorry Sony, this is just a sad reminder of all those tacky plastic cassette tape players whose failed buttons and switches consigned them to to dustbin. If you have a touchscreen that's the interface, stick to it.
The Sony has a hole. The hole says Reset. Oh dear, I would have to reset this thing? Of course I'd do that when it goes wrong. So thanks Sony for pointing that out. Apple don't have a Reset button, buyers will conclude their unit doesn't need to be reset.
The Sony is iTunes compatible, it says. I bet its not. I bet if I open iTunes and plug in this Sony iTunes will not synchronise my music library with it, not least because my music is in AAC format rather than MP3.
Anyway, enough of the gripes. Digital Noise Cancelling is what sets this apart from Apple. I've tried DNC headsets - Bose for example - and they're fabulous. Sony have something here. All these units are, as described, portable and they play music. it's a modern miracle that they port all your music, thousands of tracks, but pretty soon you decide you want better sound. Who'd opt for inferior? We rip at twice the iTunes compression setting which delivers a step function improvement, but building digital noise cancelling into the unit, now that's a step forward. You don't have to do anything else, just use this device to improve sounds at a stroke. But will it overcome the other factors?
Here's the choice. Save some money, play MP3s, and get digital noise cancelling. Get a button ridden buggy black thing with a small screen. With a Home button. Or get a sleek white and chrome, bigger screen, button-less unit instead? With Apple's implied cool chic? yes, me too - the noise cancelling headsets are available as an extra. Invest. Sony - sorry.
Sony just owned the concept of portable music with their walkman brand. Along comes the Apple device and they had a mountain to climb, which they promptly did, so now a portable music player is known as an iPod. Maybe Apple have done a better job as most iPods I see on the Underground are actually made by Apple. Then this morning I opened my newspaper and there's two mentions of Sony. First, at corporate level, it seems they're not doing too well. Second, there's an advert from John Lewis for the new Sony X series Walkman. My mind went back to Sony's last revised foray into the portable music market with a device they dubbed the "iPod killer". How does this unit stack up?
Price- wise they're pitching this against the iPod Touch, and their 16Gb unit is on a par with Apple's 8Gb, same with Sony's 32Gb version. Both devices have a touchscreen, hang on - Sony's is 3 inches compared with Apple's 3.5 inch. That's a mistake, sorry Sony that simply hands buyers the first justification they need to invest in Apple. Nobody in their right mind opts for the smaller screen. If a device needs a screen bigger is better. Sony will warble about all sorts of things but nothing overcomes that extra half inch.
Buttons. iPods have a click wheel, the iPod touch has an indentation. Sony has a button with a label on it. Why? Maybe it's an on/off switch but to label it "Home"? What kind of imbecile do they think's going to buy this? You need to be told it's Home just once, everytime you see this again it's just patronising. At the top of the Sony there are more buttons - one switches on noise cancelling, the other is a volume rocker. Sorry Sony, this is just a sad reminder of all those tacky plastic cassette tape players whose failed buttons and switches consigned them to to dustbin. If you have a touchscreen that's the interface, stick to it.
The Sony has a hole. The hole says Reset. Oh dear, I would have to reset this thing? Of course I'd do that when it goes wrong. So thanks Sony for pointing that out. Apple don't have a Reset button, buyers will conclude their unit doesn't need to be reset.
The Sony is iTunes compatible, it says. I bet its not. I bet if I open iTunes and plug in this Sony iTunes will not synchronise my music library with it, not least because my music is in AAC format rather than MP3.
Anyway, enough of the gripes. Digital Noise Cancelling is what sets this apart from Apple. I've tried DNC headsets - Bose for example - and they're fabulous. Sony have something here. All these units are, as described, portable and they play music. it's a modern miracle that they port all your music, thousands of tracks, but pretty soon you decide you want better sound. Who'd opt for inferior? We rip at twice the iTunes compression setting which delivers a step function improvement, but building digital noise cancelling into the unit, now that's a step forward. You don't have to do anything else, just use this device to improve sounds at a stroke. But will it overcome the other factors?
Here's the choice. Save some money, play MP3s, and get digital noise cancelling. Get a button ridden buggy black thing with a small screen. With a Home button. Or get a sleek white and chrome, bigger screen, button-less unit instead? With Apple's implied cool chic? yes, me too - the noise cancelling headsets are available as an extra. Invest. Sony - sorry.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Sonos Solved by Support Superstar
It's a few years since the name Sonos crept into my business vocabulary. It is very much the home audio system of choice for our clients who want music all round the house. For most of our works its been an absolute dream, we convert our clients CDs, load the digital files into their iTunes library, Sonos picks up the tracks from there.
Happy iTunes, happy iPod, happy Sonos - everyone's happy.
From time to time though it does go wrong, so a couple of times I've had to reinstall the Sonos computer controller and reboot the music library. And in one notable case our client's system just stopped working. Anyway yesterday we were called in to sort out the pesky Sonos, once and for all. Three hours into the task and not getting very far I did more digging around the main Sonos website and found mention of support over internet chat. I crossed my fingers and hit the button. A few minutes later I was chatting to Gordon.
Gordon is my hero.
One of the things I found out is that Sonos has a diagnostic facility. Using the main controller facility you create a file which you send to Sonos. As the file is submitted you get a code number, I sent that to Gordon and in a few seconds he had some suggestions. With his help we got the malfunctioning hand controller back working, loaded the latest software in the main Mac, updated the software in four of the five Zone players. In a few moments of joy I blasted some Bach over the rooftops of London.
Along the way I learnt a few mini-lessons that I think will help me should we be faced with this knotty problem again. First, update the controller software running on your PC or Mac. Then use that to load music into the Sonos library and maybe link into internet radio stations. Make sure that works properly.
Second, tackle the nearest Sonos device first. This is the unit that has to be hard wired to your router. Its should be an easy matter to press the mute and volume up button which reboots the unit. Check with the Sonos desktop controller to make sure this unit has been found. I'd also suggest moving the Sonos off its default channel, I think I put this on 1 rather than 6.
Sonos runs its own network in which each Zone Player links to the next. It doesn't matter how well your home wireless network works, how good the signal is, Sonos ignores this and does its own thing. Sadly its own little world can be screwed by your home mobile phone, the baby alarm or a radio doorbell. Hence try to get it away from any likely source if interference. Having got the first Zone Player working move onto the next closest because that's daisy chaining the network around your house.
This is what we did, progressively updating each Zone Player software as we went. We also updated the software in the handheld Sonos controller. Having spent a couple of hours getting to this stage we hopped round the house in minutes setting the other three units. When we got to the last unit we could see where the problem was - simply no signal this far down the house. On previous visits we'd started here and tried to solve this unit's malfunction, obviously a hopeless task that was never destined to work.
We were left having to explain only one thing to the client. Why did it work originally and not later? Well, Zone Players are brick like units. They don't look great on display in a very well decorated house so my client had them tastefully put away in purpose built cupboards with nice, close fitting doors. Add soft furnishings, carpets, rugs - the signal that rattled round the empty house just gets soaked up in a furnished home. So the final part of the solution has to be installing a Sonos Bridge unit, this doesn't play music but it boosts the signal, I hope, enough to reach the far rooms of the home.
Thanks Sonos, I understand. And thanks Gordon, wherever in the world of Sonos you may be.
Happy iTunes, happy iPod, happy Sonos - everyone's happy.
From time to time though it does go wrong, so a couple of times I've had to reinstall the Sonos computer controller and reboot the music library. And in one notable case our client's system just stopped working. Anyway yesterday we were called in to sort out the pesky Sonos, once and for all. Three hours into the task and not getting very far I did more digging around the main Sonos website and found mention of support over internet chat. I crossed my fingers and hit the button. A few minutes later I was chatting to Gordon.
Gordon is my hero.
One of the things I found out is that Sonos has a diagnostic facility. Using the main controller facility you create a file which you send to Sonos. As the file is submitted you get a code number, I sent that to Gordon and in a few seconds he had some suggestions. With his help we got the malfunctioning hand controller back working, loaded the latest software in the main Mac, updated the software in four of the five Zone players. In a few moments of joy I blasted some Bach over the rooftops of London.
Along the way I learnt a few mini-lessons that I think will help me should we be faced with this knotty problem again. First, update the controller software running on your PC or Mac. Then use that to load music into the Sonos library and maybe link into internet radio stations. Make sure that works properly.
Second, tackle the nearest Sonos device first. This is the unit that has to be hard wired to your router. Its should be an easy matter to press the mute and volume up button which reboots the unit. Check with the Sonos desktop controller to make sure this unit has been found. I'd also suggest moving the Sonos off its default channel, I think I put this on 1 rather than 6.
Sonos runs its own network in which each Zone Player links to the next. It doesn't matter how well your home wireless network works, how good the signal is, Sonos ignores this and does its own thing. Sadly its own little world can be screwed by your home mobile phone, the baby alarm or a radio doorbell. Hence try to get it away from any likely source if interference. Having got the first Zone Player working move onto the next closest because that's daisy chaining the network around your house.
This is what we did, progressively updating each Zone Player software as we went. We also updated the software in the handheld Sonos controller. Having spent a couple of hours getting to this stage we hopped round the house in minutes setting the other three units. When we got to the last unit we could see where the problem was - simply no signal this far down the house. On previous visits we'd started here and tried to solve this unit's malfunction, obviously a hopeless task that was never destined to work.
We were left having to explain only one thing to the client. Why did it work originally and not later? Well, Zone Players are brick like units. They don't look great on display in a very well decorated house so my client had them tastefully put away in purpose built cupboards with nice, close fitting doors. Add soft furnishings, carpets, rugs - the signal that rattled round the empty house just gets soaked up in a furnished home. So the final part of the solution has to be installing a Sonos Bridge unit, this doesn't play music but it boosts the signal, I hope, enough to reach the far rooms of the home.
Thanks Sonos, I understand. And thanks Gordon, wherever in the world of Sonos you may be.
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