Thursday, December 15, 2011
Friday, December 09, 2011
iPads, CD Ripping & Light Switches
One of our first CD ripping clients has become a regular client, I think I know my way around his house as well as my own. On Wednesday I was up and down stairs (yet again) re-installing Sonos software so his music system would work again.
In the train on the way back I was thinking in a brick & concrete London home, where wireless signals travel badly, Sonos is just too complicated for the average user. When it fails it takes ages to get it up and running again. So I was interested to read in The Times today their “Interiors Special” - 10 trends that hit in 2011, this came in at number 4 “The trickle down trend : iPad homes”.
“Not long ago a complex array of control gadgetry was de rigueur in expensive homes, but today anyone can control their music, TV, lighting and heating with an iPhone or an iPad.” A pundit then goes on to comment on the super-rich “The prime market has seen the importance of frivolous centralised electrics wither in favour of simple old-fashioned light switches”. gets my vote. Pay attention Sonos, you’re beginning to look frivolous.
In the train on the way back I was thinking in a brick & concrete London home, where wireless signals travel badly, Sonos is just too complicated for the average user. When it fails it takes ages to get it up and running again. So I was interested to read in The Times today their “Interiors Special” - 10 trends that hit in 2011, this came in at number 4 “The trickle down trend : iPad homes”.
“Not long ago a complex array of control gadgetry was de rigueur in expensive homes, but today anyone can control their music, TV, lighting and heating with an iPhone or an iPad.” A pundit then goes on to comment on the super-rich “The prime market has seen the importance of frivolous centralised electrics wither in favour of simple old-fashioned light switches”. gets my vote. Pay attention Sonos, you’re beginning to look frivolous.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Brentwood - Thailand Floods Hit
When clients ask for their ripped CDs to be returned to them on a USB hard drive I normally buy one in Brentwood High Street. For years I shopped in our branch of Dixons but they closed earlier this year so now I rely on Argos.
Argos has been patchy for technology supplies but they do have the advantage of being competitively priced. I’ve just walked in and picked a drive, but not yesterday - they had no disc drives at all. Not a single drive. When I got back I tried to order one from the Argos website but that wasn’t possible, none available for order either for collection in store or home delivery.
This afternoon I had to drive into London to collect CDs so I stopped off in PC World on the way back. Talking to one of their staff about the reduced stock of drives they had and he explained the problem. Apparently 90+% of the worlds supply of drives are made in a relatively small area of Thailand, and they’ve been hit hard by floods recently. He pointed to a sign rationing drives to two per customer until supplies are back to normal.
So, if you want your music files returned on a USB drive we might struggle at least until Thailand has dried out. Wonder if the BBC has a weather forecast for the Far East.
Argos has been patchy for technology supplies but they do have the advantage of being competitively priced. I’ve just walked in and picked a drive, but not yesterday - they had no disc drives at all. Not a single drive. When I got back I tried to order one from the Argos website but that wasn’t possible, none available for order either for collection in store or home delivery.
This afternoon I had to drive into London to collect CDs so I stopped off in PC World on the way back. Talking to one of their staff about the reduced stock of drives they had and he explained the problem. Apparently 90+% of the worlds supply of drives are made in a relatively small area of Thailand, and they’ve been hit hard by floods recently. He pointed to a sign rationing drives to two per customer until supplies are back to normal.
So, if you want your music files returned on a USB drive we might struggle at least until Thailand has dried out. Wonder if the BBC has a weather forecast for the Far East.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Sonos & High Quality Music
If you’ve seen our CD ripping blog you’ll know we had a panic when the installer of the Sonos system for which we’d ripped several hundred CDs, had pointed to a post on the Sonos website to say AIFF files were not supported.
Here’s a footnote. I was contacted by our client on Monday. He explained that he’d been listening to his music over the weekend and thankfully it was streaming fine. He’s happy, I’m relieved. So we’ll continue to rip CDs for Sonos users, into AIFF, Apple Lossless or into AAC or MP3 formats. With confidence.
Here’s a footnote. I was contacted by our client on Monday. He explained that he’d been listening to his music over the weekend and thankfully it was streaming fine. He’s happy, I’m relieved. So we’ll continue to rip CDs for Sonos users, into AIFF, Apple Lossless or into AAC or MP3 formats. With confidence.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Sonos Drops Highest Quality Audio
We don't always get it right, when we get it wrong the best thing is to hold up your hand and apologise. Then fix it. Which I'll have to do today.
We've been ripping CDs for nearly eight years, initially exclusively for iPod / iTunes configurations and more recently for Sonos. That part of our business has grown rapidly so today we have ripped CDs for many clients who don't even own an iPod. These music lovers have invested significant sums in their music so naturally they don't baulk at buying a large capacity NAS drive to store their music. Storage capacity isn't an issue in these cases, clients want the highest quality sound.
CD ripping for Sonos took us into new territory, that of uncompressed music. The best quality digital music is AIFF. It has the benefit of being entirely uncompressed, it's exactly as appears on the original CD plus the features of a digital "wrapper" that holds the album, artist, track data etc. Before I leapt into this with Sonos clients I made some checks.
First, I looked on the Sonos website where it clearly said they support AIFF files. Indeed I looked again earlier today and on the opening sales page for their music player's features it lists AIFF as one of the supported file formats.
Second, I rang Sonos and asked them. I got confirmation of what's on the website. So I went ahead with confidence and ripped a batch of CDs for our first client. When we delivered the NAS drive with its files (I think the first one was over 700 CDs) I connected the drive, pointed the Sonos software at it, and updated the library. My client flipped through his controller, hit play, and we listened as Verdi filled the house.
Since then I've lost track of the number of Sonos / AIFF configurations we've worked with, all without issue, until yesterday. We ripped just over 650 CDs for a client but the signal drops out. Some tracks play fine, then another drops out. Frustrating and not what anyone wants. My client went back to the installer and he's replied quoting one of the Sonos FAQs - this says that while AIFF is "supported" it is not "recommended". There's a footnote at the bottom of that page which says -
Sonos does not recommend choosing AIFF files for your library because of AIFF's outdated metadata support. You can acheive the same audio quality by using FLAC or Apple Lossless, both of which fully support metadata and album art.
The installer is interpreting this as if "not recommended" means the same as "unsupported", and is refusing to help our client any further. Where does this leave us?
For my client it means I'll have to say sorry, admit that I'd not seen this example of weasel words, and possibly challenge the installers interpretation of the footnote. I will gladly offer to convert his music into Apple Lossless. Enough of my problems.
What does this mean?
Staggeringly it means Sonos no longer supports the highest quality audio. Nobody who's really into music is going to accept anything less than the best. Sure, Apple Lossless is very good, but it's not the best.
If you want music streamed at its best (uncompressed) Sonos has ceded the ground to other suppliers - Apple will stream AIFF all day long, as will better systems such as Crestron. Future home entertainment demands aren't going to be for more compressed formats so unless Sonos can address this they're going to struggle.
What does it mean for you, if you're planning to buy a home audio system? Talk this through with your installer but get an unequivocal statement about AIFF before you sign on the dotted line.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Christmas is coming, it's voucher time.
I’ll admit it, I’ve lost track of time. We’ve been so busy these last few weeks it’s been heads down, nose to the grindstone, backs to the wall. Just didn’t look at the calendar. CD ripping like crazy.
We have several amazing clients but one I think of each year is the lady who has bought a Christmas voucher every year for four years. On Monday she rang to remind me what time of the year it is, yes, it’s voucher time. This year we’ve added a bit of a twist, the chance to secure a 10% discount simply by paying in advance. You can take the discount either by paying that bit less for the voucher or by having an extra 10% of CDs ripped by us. Alternatively we’ll bill you after the project is complete.
Click here to read more about our Christmas vouchers.
We have several amazing clients but one I think of each year is the lady who has bought a Christmas voucher every year for four years. On Monday she rang to remind me what time of the year it is, yes, it’s voucher time. This year we’ve added a bit of a twist, the chance to secure a 10% discount simply by paying in advance. You can take the discount either by paying that bit less for the voucher or by having an extra 10% of CDs ripped by us. Alternatively we’ll bill you after the project is complete.
Click here to read more about our Christmas vouchers.
Friday, October 28, 2011
NAS plus Wi-Fi Spells Trouble
How time flies, about a year ago we undertook a large CD ripping project for a client, around 600 CDs into AIFF format. He is a teacher, which has nothing to do with the fact that he was planning to put all his music onto a NAS drive.
Why a NAS? Mainly because he intended to buy a Sonos system and the NAS would enable him to access his digital music without having to leave his computer on. With young children he's prefer to be able to switch his computer off in the evening so his small children wouldn't be disturbed. He couldn't decide whether to go for a simple single drive NAS or a RAID based system. We decided the best thing to do would be to put his music onto basic USB hard drive, he could then copy that across to the NAS drive when he'd bought it.
He rang at the beginning of the week. It's half term and his homework was to copy the music onto the NAS drive. I know its a long delayed project but he'd changed jobs, you know how time flies. Two days in and he was having problems.
The NAS drive has a USB port and he'd hoped he'd be able to simply copy back from the USB drive into the NAS. That isn't a facility supported by this unit. Those I've looked at only allow the USB port to be used to copy off the NAS and onto a USB as a backup. I'm sure someone, somewhere, will add this feature but so far as I know not just yet. He'd found that out not just from the manual but by trying to make it work. So on Monday he connected everything up and started the process of copying the contents of the hard drive across. It was going badly.
His USB drive was connected to his laptop, which connects wirelessly to his router, and that connects directly to his NAS via an ethernet cable. He felt confident the process would go smoothly as he has a swish router with the latest N level data transfer rate. By late Tuesday he was running out of patience. He'd been forced to abandon several copy runs (just seemed to hang with no observable progress), as the data transfer process got underway there were protests from kids and wife, the task seemed to kill the network. Worst the progress bar, when it moved, did so very slowly. He despaired that he'd actually get all the data across before the half term holiday was over. He rang for help.
First thing to have in mind is the amount of data that needs to be transmitted. There's the music, plus the overhead of the many commands and acknowledgements that are built into any network operation. Wirelessly this is much slower than over ethernet, and there's the additional overhead of traffic conflicts, interference with the signal, bodies walking around. Massive data transfer over the airwaves are exceptionally slow. You really need to ditch the Wi-Fi and go with a bit of blue cable. As a rough guide I'd expect a wireless transfer of this amount of data would take around 150 hours. Yes, that's a lot of hours.
Valuing domestic harmony, and seeing the horizon of the end of the holiday fast approaching he brought both drives over here and we did it across our network. I set it to run at about 18:30 and it was done before 09:00 the next morning. The first prediction from the progress bar was 14 hours but I think the final stop watch would have been short of that. We used an ancient Belkin router, if we'd done it across the new Apple router that's sat there waiting to be configured I'm sure it would have been faster.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
NAS, USB and Wi-Fi
I’m putting up a longer entry on our Blogger site so I’ll be more concise here.
CD ripping can be slow, but nothing compared to the time it takes to get digital music files onto a NAS drive. So, if you’ve got a lot of music be prepared as it is likely to take many hours.
Remember that the published speed of your Wi-Fi was written by the marketing department, in real life data transfer rates are much, much slower. It simply isn’t worth the trouble to try to load a NAS drive over a wireless connection. Too slow, too prone to transmission breaks and you’ll be very unpopular with other network users who will think the internet has died.
Do it across ethernet cables connected to a router. Even consider buying a cheap router, it will save you many hours.
CD ripping can be slow, but nothing compared to the time it takes to get digital music files onto a NAS drive. So, if you’ve got a lot of music be prepared as it is likely to take many hours.
Remember that the published speed of your Wi-Fi was written by the marketing department, in real life data transfer rates are much, much slower. It simply isn’t worth the trouble to try to load a NAS drive over a wireless connection. Too slow, too prone to transmission breaks and you’ll be very unpopular with other network users who will think the internet has died.
Do it across ethernet cables connected to a router. Even consider buying a cheap router, it will save you many hours.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Fat 32 Shot in Foot
Typical, late Friday and I'm in a rush as we're off to have a meal with friends. Wanting to clear the decks the final task is to get some digital music from my production platform onto a USB drive for a client.
We've done a lot of CD ripping this week so I had nearly 475 Gb of data on my system to be copied across to a USB drive ready to return to our client on Monday. Plug in USB drive, identify folder with clients music, drag and drop onto new USB drive. Shoot off for a curry.
Into the hutch this morning, calamity. The folder had been copied but there was a window listing 150 error messages and sub-folders which hadn't been copied over. Tragically simple explanation - my production system runs Windows Vista and the drive is NTFS, which supports long file and folder names, This clients music is mainly classical so we have folder and track names derived from the artist. This is a combination of conductor, soloist and orchestra which generates lost of characters. The USB drive is formatted to FAT 32 with its limitation of much shorter file names.
One way round this is to go into each errored folder find the long name then edit it down to a shorter name. This will work but it's hard to be certain you hit every single file. One mistake and you're facing a real mess. The better way to do it is use the Library / Consolidate command from within iTunes to first point from the 'old' NTFS location to the 'new' USB location and let iTunes do the hard work.
Which is what the machine is doing now, it's why I am writing this (to remind me to be more careful next time), and why I wasted several hours of processing time last night.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
The Word is .....
... streaming. Why?
I read two things yesterday, both of which could have a massive impact on our CD ripping business and the way people access music.
First, there's a rumour that Apple will soon scrap (or "discontinue") the iPod Classic. This has been the stalwart of the range for years, and it's the device most of our clients use. My prediction has been that it would be upgraded with flash memory to replace that revolving hard drive. Greater capacity, lighter, longer battery life, more reliable. Seems that's not to happen.
Second, Amazon launched their iPad alternative, the Fire. It has a new browser called Silk which is incredibly clever. Amazon are pitching this as the device through which you can access all your media (music, photos, films, TV shows) which would be stored on Amazon's massive computing platform. No, not your PC or Mac, not using a sync function such as iTunes. It would all be stored in the cloud.
So it just occurred to me that the replacement for the iPod Classic would be a device which would facilitate access to music, films, videos and photos; all of which is held somewhere else. Of course Apple have already announced where that place will be, it will be their implementation of cloud computing. In the case of Amazon and (if it happens) Apple your music and other 'stuff' will arrive via a constant on line delivery mechanism. Streaming.
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Home Automation & Technology in Manilla
Every so often clients ask us to visit their home or office to help out with their technology, usually some problem with computers and music, or their network. Typically they are in or around London and frankly there are time when, sitting in traffic, I wish I was far, far, away.
Manila?
Well, being realistic nobody is going to ask me to the Manila just to sort out a music server, specially when there’s a local specialist who can help you better. Looking at Dip’s new website for his team of technology support professionals in Manila.
Digging around on the site I saw a cute little portable music player called Playbutton. It’s a wearable music player, as the name implies, it looks just like a button (as in the American political campaign button) connected to headphones. It’s a great idea, just in America I’d look to customise the surface area - as the site says, the device opens up opportunities in retail and museums.
Manilatech, check them out.
Manila?
Well, being realistic nobody is going to ask me to the Manila just to sort out a music server, specially when there’s a local specialist who can help you better. Looking at Dip’s new website for his team of technology support professionals in Manila.
Digging around on the site I saw a cute little portable music player called Playbutton. It’s a wearable music player, as the name implies, it looks just like a button (as in the American political campaign button) connected to headphones. It’s a great idea, just in America I’d look to customise the surface area - as the site says, the device opens up opportunities in retail and museums.
Manilatech, check them out.
Sunday, September 04, 2011
Wireless? Less Hassle?
One of the jobs I’ve been putting off is re-routing the cabling we use to link our CD ripping systems. When we first started we had a couple of PCs, one went through the other and out to the internet via a simple USB modem. Then we got bigger so more machines and a wireless router.
When we left the house and moved out into The Hutch I carried on with using wireless USB dongles. Now we’re wanting faster, more reliable data access so each system is now hard wired into an Apple wireless modem we’re running as a bridge to the main building where our broadband terminates. And all of those cables have to be re-aligned.
What complicates this is the three sets of speakers somehow we’ve picked up along the way and now can’t live without. This has given me an interest in wireless speakers. At the moment there seems to be three options on how to link wireless speakers.
First, Bluetooth. You need to have suitably enabled Bluetooth PCs as a starting point. The laptops are MacBooks so they’re OK but a couple of PCs would need upgrading, eating up a USB port each time. Second, you can use Apple’s Airplay system to send your music (along with data) across your home wireless network. Apple’s isn’t the only wireless method of connecting and streaming but for us (and our clients) it’s the obvious choice.
The third option is to use a proprietary system - one mentioned recently is Kleer - which uses special senders and receivers to make the connection. The worst of each world? Possibly, you need to dedicate a port to a USB dongle style device but you’ll be able to stream more data, more quickly. If you’re looking for the highest quality this may be the route to take.
When we left the house and moved out into The Hutch I carried on with using wireless USB dongles. Now we’re wanting faster, more reliable data access so each system is now hard wired into an Apple wireless modem we’re running as a bridge to the main building where our broadband terminates. And all of those cables have to be re-aligned.
What complicates this is the three sets of speakers somehow we’ve picked up along the way and now can’t live without. This has given me an interest in wireless speakers. At the moment there seems to be three options on how to link wireless speakers.
First, Bluetooth. You need to have suitably enabled Bluetooth PCs as a starting point. The laptops are MacBooks so they’re OK but a couple of PCs would need upgrading, eating up a USB port each time. Second, you can use Apple’s Airplay system to send your music (along with data) across your home wireless network. Apple’s isn’t the only wireless method of connecting and streaming but for us (and our clients) it’s the obvious choice.
The third option is to use a proprietary system - one mentioned recently is Kleer - which uses special senders and receivers to make the connection. The worst of each world? Possibly, you need to dedicate a port to a USB dongle style device but you’ll be able to stream more data, more quickly. If you’re looking for the highest quality this may be the route to take.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Cloud Streaming?
Yesterday I came across a video giving a sneak preview of iTunes Match, Apple's cloud based music storage facility. I posted a link to it on the podServe Facebook page. The video appeared to show how this new service will both store and stream your music direct from the cloud to a portable music player with web access (iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch).
Today I saw another video which if correct "proves" that at least at the prototype stage Match does not stream music. Instead tracks are downloaded to the device and played from there.
Which is correct? I don't know. Does it matter? Well, yes. Let me give you one example.
We run a CD ripping service and naturally clients ask us which is the best music player? Our clients typically have very large music collections so the obvious choice would be the iPod Classic. Big internal hard drive, just dying to be loaded with as much music as possible. But beyond that, not a great deal of use. Compare that with the iPod Touch which allows you to access the internet and also has a better range of games; or the iPhone, one of the best smartphones, which is used by many of our clients already.
Well I'd say if iTunes Match actually streams music the better option is to go with the iPhone or iPod Touch. That way, via mobile web access, you'll be able to play all your music and tackle many other tasks. No streaming, well back to the iPod Classic as our preferred iPod.
Today I saw another video which if correct "proves" that at least at the prototype stage Match does not stream music. Instead tracks are downloaded to the device and played from there.
Which is correct? I don't know. Does it matter? Well, yes. Let me give you one example.
We run a CD ripping service and naturally clients ask us which is the best music player? Our clients typically have very large music collections so the obvious choice would be the iPod Classic. Big internal hard drive, just dying to be loaded with as much music as possible. But beyond that, not a great deal of use. Compare that with the iPod Touch which allows you to access the internet and also has a better range of games; or the iPhone, one of the best smartphones, which is used by many of our clients already.
Well I'd say if iTunes Match actually streams music the better option is to go with the iPhone or iPod Touch. That way, via mobile web access, you'll be able to play all your music and tackle many other tasks. No streaming, well back to the iPod Classic as our preferred iPod.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
How many MP3s on a CD?
One of our clients asked a simple question - how many MP3s can I get on a CD?
He has a new car and the stereo will play digital music direct from a CD. So, how many can he put on each disc? Shouldn’t be too hard to answer.
OK, a standard CD with music, such as you used to buy in HMV, stores just over an hour, say 70 minutes. However in data terms that’s around 750 Mb.
MP3 music is in data file format so the roundabout answer is as much music as will take up 750 Mb. As a CD ripping service we rip at 256 kbps into AAC format, the equivalent in MP3 would be 320 kbps. In our format you’d get much more music in digital format, around 7 CDs worth. As MP3 files the answer would be around 5 CDs worth. Roughly.
You could get more if you dropped the quality setting, so the music files are more compressed. The quality is worse, but that may not be a problem if the in car sound system is less than top notch. You could go down to 128 kbps for music and the sound might be acceptable.
If you were recording spoken voice (such as audio books) you can drop as low as 64 kbps and the quality will be acceptable, there just isn’t so much data in a speech compared to a symphony.
So, how many MP3s can you get on a CD? This CD ripping service says 5,7 music CDs or 12 CDs worth of spoken voice.
He has a new car and the stereo will play digital music direct from a CD. So, how many can he put on each disc? Shouldn’t be too hard to answer.
OK, a standard CD with music, such as you used to buy in HMV, stores just over an hour, say 70 minutes. However in data terms that’s around 750 Mb.
MP3 music is in data file format so the roundabout answer is as much music as will take up 750 Mb. As a CD ripping service we rip at 256 kbps into AAC format, the equivalent in MP3 would be 320 kbps. In our format you’d get much more music in digital format, around 7 CDs worth. As MP3 files the answer would be around 5 CDs worth. Roughly.
You could get more if you dropped the quality setting, so the music files are more compressed. The quality is worse, but that may not be a problem if the in car sound system is less than top notch. You could go down to 128 kbps for music and the sound might be acceptable.
If you were recording spoken voice (such as audio books) you can drop as low as 64 kbps and the quality will be acceptable, there just isn’t so much data in a speech compared to a symphony.
So, how many MP3s can you get on a CD? This CD ripping service says 5,7 music CDs or 12 CDs worth of spoken voice.
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
CD & DVD Copyright - Sense at Last
As the owner of the UK's first CD ripping service I've felt the force of the music industry. They were upset and made their feelings known. They were the powers that be and they were going to close us down, forthwith. Letters and meetings followed, and quite a few threats too.
Eventually it all calmed down. The PRS issued a statement saying nobody would be prosecuted for CD ripping provided it was for personal use. And Apple sold a few more million iPods, along with the train loads of other MP3 players, quite a crowded market a few years ago. In all these years I don't believe either our activity or that of any iPod owner has significantly impacted on the issue of file sharing or music piracy. How did anyone think that all those iPods got their music, other than from CD ripping?
Now, faced with the undeniable fact that everyone has been ripping CDs, the Uk government is planning to allow "format shifting" for CDs and DVDs. That's to say, if you own a plastic disc with music or film you will be allowed to rip those into a digital format, provided it's for your own use. Given that everybody is, and has been, doing this it's a recognition that even if this practice is frowned upon it's unprosecutable.
We moved into DVD ripping. Our clients demanded this and we gave in to requests. At the outset we were mainly ripping home movies and from that we got into converting video tapes into DVDs and computer files. People wanted several things. First, the greater ease of use of the DVD compared to a video tape (even for those who still had a working camcorder); second the ability to edit footage given the greater power of PCs and good software; and thirdly the better availability of film at home via video streaming technology.
Today we are in the position that music and film is better, from virtually every perspective, as a digital file rather than a plastic disc. It is a recognition of the inevitable. It's a dose of legal fresh air in what had become a rather stuffy room.
As a small footnote, and maybe an example of clever timing, action is being taken against two solicitors who zealously initiated procedings against alleged file sharers. I don't have any sympathy with people who steal games and movies, but solicitors sending letters simply demanding large sums of money to avoid prosecution is simply wrong. It was employing the weight and more importantly the cost of legal procedings to scare people into paying.
Today's announcement will bring a much needed dose of common sense to this area.
Eventually it all calmed down. The PRS issued a statement saying nobody would be prosecuted for CD ripping provided it was for personal use. And Apple sold a few more million iPods, along with the train loads of other MP3 players, quite a crowded market a few years ago. In all these years I don't believe either our activity or that of any iPod owner has significantly impacted on the issue of file sharing or music piracy. How did anyone think that all those iPods got their music, other than from CD ripping?
Now, faced with the undeniable fact that everyone has been ripping CDs, the Uk government is planning to allow "format shifting" for CDs and DVDs. That's to say, if you own a plastic disc with music or film you will be allowed to rip those into a digital format, provided it's for your own use. Given that everybody is, and has been, doing this it's a recognition that even if this practice is frowned upon it's unprosecutable.
We moved into DVD ripping. Our clients demanded this and we gave in to requests. At the outset we were mainly ripping home movies and from that we got into converting video tapes into DVDs and computer files. People wanted several things. First, the greater ease of use of the DVD compared to a video tape (even for those who still had a working camcorder); second the ability to edit footage given the greater power of PCs and good software; and thirdly the better availability of film at home via video streaming technology.
Today we are in the position that music and film is better, from virtually every perspective, as a digital file rather than a plastic disc. It is a recognition of the inevitable. It's a dose of legal fresh air in what had become a rather stuffy room.
As a small footnote, and maybe an example of clever timing, action is being taken against two solicitors who zealously initiated procedings against alleged file sharers. I don't have any sympathy with people who steal games and movies, but solicitors sending letters simply demanding large sums of money to avoid prosecution is simply wrong. It was employing the weight and more importantly the cost of legal procedings to scare people into paying.
Today's announcement will bring a much needed dose of common sense to this area.
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Ford Drops CD Ripping
OK, Ford Motor Company don’t rip CDs. We rip CDs, they sell cars.
Up to now it’s been possible to buy a car in which you could play CDs, but Fords are phasing that out from their range, in favour of an iPod jack plug and a Bluetooth port. So, where does that leave your CD collection? Stranded.
It’s another nail in the coffin of the CD. What can you do? The writing on the wall is clearly saying you need to get your music off CDs and into a digital format. That’s what we can do, it is the only way to release value from your CDs.
podServe - the Ford Motor Company of the CD ripping world.
Up to now it’s been possible to buy a car in which you could play CDs, but Fords are phasing that out from their range, in favour of an iPod jack plug and a Bluetooth port. So, where does that leave your CD collection? Stranded.
It’s another nail in the coffin of the CD. What can you do? The writing on the wall is clearly saying you need to get your music off CDs and into a digital format. That’s what we can do, it is the only way to release value from your CDs.
podServe - the Ford Motor Company of the CD ripping world.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
USB Shorts
From time to time we get called out to our CD ripping clients to help out with computer problems, which is where I've been this morning. The problem sounded simple, after years of normal service our client had plugged in his iPod and his PC had promptly died.
It's something he'd done, well, hundreds of times with no problems. Naturally he assumed that something in iTunes had corrupted his computer and Windows Vista. When I got there the PC was completely dead, as if the power supply had failed. So I checked the power cable, tried the cable from their kettle, no problem in the mains. Screen worked OK, just when you hit the on button absolutely nothing happened. My line of thinking was that this was a dead PC and the only way forward would be a new machine.
The client asked if the iPod had killed the PC or if, even worse, the failure had blown up the iPod. I should explain it was sitting unhappily on his desk. I thought I'd try it in my MacBook just to be sure so I lifted it up to unplug it. As I moved the iPod there was a flicker from the cooling fan inside the PC. I unplugged the iPod (which was undamaged), then unplugged the sync cable. Each move caused a tiny burst from the box. Having unplugged the sync cable I got a real burst of power so I tipped the box up and had a look at the front USB ports.
At that point I could see the cause of the problem. The tiny piece of plastic in the USB connector had broken, exposing the metal prongs that allow data and electricity to flow down the cable. Then, I'd guess when our client put the cable into the port, the prongs had been bent resulting in one of the prongs touching the metal surround.
A dead short.
I dug out my trusty metal comb which was slim enough to be able to lift the offending prong from the surround. At which point the PC burst into life. One happy client.
It's something he'd done, well, hundreds of times with no problems. Naturally he assumed that something in iTunes had corrupted his computer and Windows Vista. When I got there the PC was completely dead, as if the power supply had failed. So I checked the power cable, tried the cable from their kettle, no problem in the mains. Screen worked OK, just when you hit the on button absolutely nothing happened. My line of thinking was that this was a dead PC and the only way forward would be a new machine.
The client asked if the iPod had killed the PC or if, even worse, the failure had blown up the iPod. I should explain it was sitting unhappily on his desk. I thought I'd try it in my MacBook just to be sure so I lifted it up to unplug it. As I moved the iPod there was a flicker from the cooling fan inside the PC. I unplugged the iPod (which was undamaged), then unplugged the sync cable. Each move caused a tiny burst from the box. Having unplugged the sync cable I got a real burst of power so I tipped the box up and had a look at the front USB ports.
At that point I could see the cause of the problem. The tiny piece of plastic in the USB connector had broken, exposing the metal prongs that allow data and electricity to flow down the cable. Then, I'd guess when our client put the cable into the port, the prongs had been bent resulting in one of the prongs touching the metal surround.
A dead short.
I dug out my trusty metal comb which was slim enough to be able to lift the offending prong from the surround. At which point the PC burst into life. One happy client.
Friday, July 22, 2011
The CD Ripping Scene in Lion
As a CD ripping service we use a mix of Windows (XP, Vista and Windows 7) and Mac computers so the recent announcements are interesting. Would you like to jump in?
First, Apple's new operating system, code named Lion. Available for download now for a bit over £20 from the download store. A host of great new features. But ... Not all software will run happily under Lion. For example the Sonos controller program does not yet work with Lion so if you have a Sonos system hold on for the moment. Sonos have said there will be a new version but I don't have a due date. Some software may not run (older versions of Photoshop included) so if there's anything you rely on check with the vendor to make sure a Lion variant is out there.
Second, no CD drives. Neither of the new computers have a CD or DVD drive. This effectively stops CD ripping on those units - unless you have a free standing USB connected drive.
First, Apple's new operating system, code named Lion. Available for download now for a bit over £20 from the download store. A host of great new features. But ... Not all software will run happily under Lion. For example the Sonos controller program does not yet work with Lion so if you have a Sonos system hold on for the moment. Sonos have said there will be a new version but I don't have a due date. Some software may not run (older versions of Photoshop included) so if there's anything you rely on check with the vendor to make sure a Lion variant is out there.
Second, no CD drives. Neither of the new computers have a CD or DVD drive. This effectively stops CD ripping on those units - unless you have a free standing USB connected drive.
Apple Drops CD Ripping
OK, that’s an hysterical headline, an exaggeration. But just a bit.
Apple has launched a couple of new computers, a great new entry level laptop and a replacement for the trusty Mac Mini. I have a great affection for both. I’m writing this on a MacBook and my main production machine is a trusty Mac Mini. Just love Apple and Mac. Very tempted by the new boxes when I saw them. But ...
Neither machine includes a CD drive. Looking at the Apple store they still list the add on of the superdrive (at $80) but the product description suggests in the case of the Mac Mini it only connects to the version running Lion Server. Don’t worry about the details just note that’s the most expensive variant.
For the typical Mac user, by the way I’m off to see one on Monday assuming their new MacBook arrives, this means they won’t be able to rip CDs. As a CD ripping service you might think this is great news for us, and indeed it may be, but it’s also yet another nail in the coffin of the humble CD, another barrier to realising value from all those plastic discs in all those CD racks.
Apple has launched a couple of new computers, a great new entry level laptop and a replacement for the trusty Mac Mini. I have a great affection for both. I’m writing this on a MacBook and my main production machine is a trusty Mac Mini. Just love Apple and Mac. Very tempted by the new boxes when I saw them. But ...
Neither machine includes a CD drive. Looking at the Apple store they still list the add on of the superdrive (at $80) but the product description suggests in the case of the Mac Mini it only connects to the version running Lion Server. Don’t worry about the details just note that’s the most expensive variant.
For the typical Mac user, by the way I’m off to see one on Monday assuming their new MacBook arrives, this means they won’t be able to rip CDs. As a CD ripping service you might think this is great news for us, and indeed it may be, but it’s also yet another nail in the coffin of the humble CD, another barrier to realising value from all those plastic discs in all those CD racks.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
CD Ripping and NAS Drives
Yesterday evening had a late night "get it off your chest" session with a post on the site blog for our CD ripping service, podServe.
Today a more measured tone and some advice. Advice for people who rip CDs and store their music on a network attached unit. I have found most wireless networks will, if they provide a reliable connection at all, will happily deliver streamed music around you house. That's the getting music out side of the equation. Data volumes are relatively low - you get a whole CDs worth of sound out in around 60 minutes.
Ripping CDs is a different proposition and doing that over the same connection is asking a lot. A decent Mac, PC or a laptop will ring at 10, 15, 20 times faster that realtime. A CD gets ripped in around 3 minutes. The data comes off the CD drive, into the computer and is shunted off to the network. A bit of simple maths, you network wireless pipework needs to be around 20 times fatter, sadly it isn't.
So my advice has to be, when ripping CDs to a NAS drive, invest in a bit of ethernet cable and plug that it, at least for the duration of the ripping session.
Today a more measured tone and some advice. Advice for people who rip CDs and store their music on a network attached unit. I have found most wireless networks will, if they provide a reliable connection at all, will happily deliver streamed music around you house. That's the getting music out side of the equation. Data volumes are relatively low - you get a whole CDs worth of sound out in around 60 minutes.
Ripping CDs is a different proposition and doing that over the same connection is asking a lot. A decent Mac, PC or a laptop will ring at 10, 15, 20 times faster that realtime. A CD gets ripped in around 3 minutes. The data comes off the CD drive, into the computer and is shunted off to the network. A bit of simple maths, you network wireless pipework needs to be around 20 times fatter, sadly it isn't.
So my advice has to be, when ripping CDs to a NAS drive, invest in a bit of ethernet cable and plug that it, at least for the duration of the ripping session.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
FLAC CD Ripping
We are a customer focused business - if you want something we do everything possible to deliver. This brings me FLAC.
FLAC wasn’t part of our original service offering, mainly due to our focus on Apple, iTunes and music file formats compatible with that system - AAC, MP3, Apple Lossless and AIFF. However there have been requests, initially infrequent but more so lately, for FLAC and of course we don’t like to disappoint.
So, following tests, we now have a reliable platform so we’re confident we can deliver top quality results whether you want our standard formats or FLAC.
FLAC wasn’t part of our original service offering, mainly due to our focus on Apple, iTunes and music file formats compatible with that system - AAC, MP3, Apple Lossless and AIFF. However there have been requests, initially infrequent but more so lately, for FLAC and of course we don’t like to disappoint.
So, following tests, we now have a reliable platform so we’re confident we can deliver top quality results whether you want our standard formats or FLAC.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
NTLDR is missing
Called in by one of our CD ripping clients to help out with their computer. I was given a shopping list of problems, the main one being a new iPhone was not being recognised, even though a trip to the Apple store in Regent Street, London had proved there was no problem with the phone itself.
The computer in question runs XP and is rather long in the tooth. Another problem is that the sync process with their iPod Classic has become erratic, syncs can be fast but error prone or immensely long (like 12 hours) with only a few tracks getting copied across.
I started working through settings on the Apple Mobile Devices service, which required the PC to be restarted several times. First couple of times, no problem, but then the machine failed to start up properly showing the error message - TLDR is missing.
Google search from my own Mac showed up that this should be NTLDR is missing, the screen alignment had shifted a little to the left and the N was out of view. The suggestion was that a file was missing, and some people had fixed their problem by copying a missing or corrupt file from another XP system; or indeed reloading the whole operating system. Feeling depressed at the prospect of such a tedious task the second user of the PC popped into the room.
Seeing the NTLDR is missing message he pointed out this often happens, and that it can be fixed simply by unplugging "that thick cable". The cable in question was the USB connector from a LaCie hard drive. He was indeed right, I unplugged the LaCie (and the other non-essential devices plugged into USB ports) and the PC restarted just fine. Plug the hard drive back and it was found fine.
This got me thinking. Maybe the fundamental problem with the machine is the functioning of the whole USB connection. The PC in question is somewhat long in the tooth so perhaps the USB card is failing. USB makes connections and supplies power, perhaps it isn't supplying sufficient power to enable a recent iPhone to be recognised. Or possibly there's an issue with the hard drive's USB cable which is interfering with the iPhone and the iPod. The last point is hard to validate as the data both the iPhone and the iPod need to access is on that drive.
In the light of this the three of us stood round and scratched our heads for a while. In the light of all the problems the feeling was further tech support work was just throwing good money after bad. It is time this XP worker was retired, so a new machine will be ordered, with a bigger internal drive and a brand new USB interface. When this is installed my belief is that these problems will go away.
The computer in question runs XP and is rather long in the tooth. Another problem is that the sync process with their iPod Classic has become erratic, syncs can be fast but error prone or immensely long (like 12 hours) with only a few tracks getting copied across.
I started working through settings on the Apple Mobile Devices service, which required the PC to be restarted several times. First couple of times, no problem, but then the machine failed to start up properly showing the error message - TLDR is missing.
Google search from my own Mac showed up that this should be NTLDR is missing, the screen alignment had shifted a little to the left and the N was out of view. The suggestion was that a file was missing, and some people had fixed their problem by copying a missing or corrupt file from another XP system; or indeed reloading the whole operating system. Feeling depressed at the prospect of such a tedious task the second user of the PC popped into the room.
Seeing the NTLDR is missing message he pointed out this often happens, and that it can be fixed simply by unplugging "that thick cable". The cable in question was the USB connector from a LaCie hard drive. He was indeed right, I unplugged the LaCie (and the other non-essential devices plugged into USB ports) and the PC restarted just fine. Plug the hard drive back and it was found fine.
This got me thinking. Maybe the fundamental problem with the machine is the functioning of the whole USB connection. The PC in question is somewhat long in the tooth so perhaps the USB card is failing. USB makes connections and supplies power, perhaps it isn't supplying sufficient power to enable a recent iPhone to be recognised. Or possibly there's an issue with the hard drive's USB cable which is interfering with the iPhone and the iPod. The last point is hard to validate as the data both the iPhone and the iPod need to access is on that drive.
In the light of this the three of us stood round and scratched our heads for a while. In the light of all the problems the feeling was further tech support work was just throwing good money after bad. It is time this XP worker was retired, so a new machine will be ordered, with a bigger internal drive and a brand new USB interface. When this is installed my belief is that these problems will go away.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Music Compression, Streaming, an Apple Freebie?
Just put together some notes on music compression. How the landscape has changed over the years. Just suggested to a client that he buys a 1Tb drive. 1Tb - bloody amazing size. Does he need it? Probably not but it will just be a few pounds more than a 500 Gb drive, so why not?
OK, hard drives are silly cheap, what does that mean now that the far horizon shows Apples streaming music service heading our way? The freebie is that if they detect more compressed music in your library they will “upgrade” your stored tracks to the iCloud alternative of 256 kbps. So, does that mean you should switch back to ripping music at 128 kbps?
Err, no.
First the upgrade applies only to music players to which music can be streamed. These will be iOS devices - the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Not the hard drive based iPod Classic range, these will continue to be synced via iTunes from the music on your hard drive. Apple isn’t offering to replace or upgrade any of that.
Second, when the service launches, people are going to be amazed at the volume of music that isn’t in iTunes Music Store. Yes, there is a vast amount under the Apple umbrella, but there’s a lot that isn’t. That which Apple doesn’t already have a copy of will have to be uploaded from you to them.
Third, mobile phone companies are going to hit the roof. In a year or two all those kids on the school bus home will be listening to music on their iPhones not from its store but streamed across the airwaves courtesy of Vodafone, Orange and their peers. Can you imagine how that will hit their capacity?
My mobile phone has an all the data you can eat feature, just wait till be start to talk about 6,12, or more hours of music streaming.
So stick with 256 Kbps AAC, or Apple Lossless, or AIFF. You won’t regret it.
OK, hard drives are silly cheap, what does that mean now that the far horizon shows Apples streaming music service heading our way? The freebie is that if they detect more compressed music in your library they will “upgrade” your stored tracks to the iCloud alternative of 256 kbps. So, does that mean you should switch back to ripping music at 128 kbps?
Err, no.
First the upgrade applies only to music players to which music can be streamed. These will be iOS devices - the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Not the hard drive based iPod Classic range, these will continue to be synced via iTunes from the music on your hard drive. Apple isn’t offering to replace or upgrade any of that.
Second, when the service launches, people are going to be amazed at the volume of music that isn’t in iTunes Music Store. Yes, there is a vast amount under the Apple umbrella, but there’s a lot that isn’t. That which Apple doesn’t already have a copy of will have to be uploaded from you to them.
Third, mobile phone companies are going to hit the roof. In a year or two all those kids on the school bus home will be listening to music on their iPhones not from its store but streamed across the airwaves courtesy of Vodafone, Orange and their peers. Can you imagine how that will hit their capacity?
My mobile phone has an all the data you can eat feature, just wait till be start to talk about 6,12, or more hours of music streaming.
So stick with 256 Kbps AAC, or Apple Lossless, or AIFF. You won’t regret it.
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Did the music industry win?
All those years ago when we set up our CD ripping service we were "approached" by the music industry. They were not happy with what we were doing, polite, but unhappy.
They had a simple view. They wanted people who owned CDs and iPod to buy digital copies to play on their portable players. At that time iTunes Music Store was offering most CDs at around £8 each, a hefty bill for a typical podServe client compared to the £1 per CD we charge. To be fair to the industry if you look at the tiny print of the copyright laws they were within their rights. It wasn't just us, they wanted everyone with an iPod (Sony music player, Zune or anything else) to take the same route.
I was very against this. I'm one of those who bought most of his music on vinyl, then paid again for some of it on cassette tape to play in the car, and then once more when CDs came out. Eventually the industry saw the light and let it be known that they weren't upset by private users and people like us ripping their own CDs. Which is what we've been doing, happily, for the last seven or eight years.
Yesterday Apple announced (for US users at present) the next phase of their iTunes program. I was struck by their option for users who have already ripped their CDs. Apple will, for a sum of $25 a year, scan your existing library and match as many tracks as it can find from iTunes Music Library. That track will then be made available to you from any PC, iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Finally any tracks that it can't find will be uploaded to the cloud. A simple, effective, elegant solution that Apple users will love.
What about that $25? Say $5 goes in tax - that leaves $20 to be split between Apple and the industry. So the industry would probably have negotiated a deal of $10-12. Out of the $8 album in the USA I'd guess the industry would have got $1.2. Is the new deal worth the 10 album premium they had hoped for before?
If I were a music industry exec I'd be jumping for joy. It's money for nothing, Apple and the users do all the work. It's an instant hit, a direct injection to the bottom line. Then, you get the same payment next year, and the year after. Maybe the equivalent of 50 albums worth of royalties. And all for doing nothing.
Of course the demand will fade. Legacy users will fade away, and another reason to buy a CD is demolished. But the industry don't have to make any plastic, ship it round the world, print labels, distribute to shops or Amazon warehouses. One giant step to becoming an entirely virtual operation. Just watch the bottom line pick up.
They had a simple view. They wanted people who owned CDs and iPod to buy digital copies to play on their portable players. At that time iTunes Music Store was offering most CDs at around £8 each, a hefty bill for a typical podServe client compared to the £1 per CD we charge. To be fair to the industry if you look at the tiny print of the copyright laws they were within their rights. It wasn't just us, they wanted everyone with an iPod (Sony music player, Zune or anything else) to take the same route.
I was very against this. I'm one of those who bought most of his music on vinyl, then paid again for some of it on cassette tape to play in the car, and then once more when CDs came out. Eventually the industry saw the light and let it be known that they weren't upset by private users and people like us ripping their own CDs. Which is what we've been doing, happily, for the last seven or eight years.
Yesterday Apple announced (for US users at present) the next phase of their iTunes program. I was struck by their option for users who have already ripped their CDs. Apple will, for a sum of $25 a year, scan your existing library and match as many tracks as it can find from iTunes Music Library. That track will then be made available to you from any PC, iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Finally any tracks that it can't find will be uploaded to the cloud. A simple, effective, elegant solution that Apple users will love.
What about that $25? Say $5 goes in tax - that leaves $20 to be split between Apple and the industry. So the industry would probably have negotiated a deal of $10-12. Out of the $8 album in the USA I'd guess the industry would have got $1.2. Is the new deal worth the 10 album premium they had hoped for before?
If I were a music industry exec I'd be jumping for joy. It's money for nothing, Apple and the users do all the work. It's an instant hit, a direct injection to the bottom line. Then, you get the same payment next year, and the year after. Maybe the equivalent of 50 albums worth of royalties. And all for doing nothing.
Of course the demand will fade. Legacy users will fade away, and another reason to buy a CD is demolished. But the industry don't have to make any plastic, ship it round the world, print labels, distribute to shops or Amazon warehouses. One giant step to becoming an entirely virtual operation. Just watch the bottom line pick up.
iCloud? iHopeSo
For the last couple of years I’ve been predicting Apple would offer an option to let us move our music from local hard drives off into the cloud. As with all good predictions it’s eventually come true with yesterday’s announcements in San Francisco.
Earlier we’d seen offerings from Amazon and Google - essentially renting out space on their hard drives to substitute for space on your local PC or laptop. The advantage being you just throw at the cloud service all you’ve got and let remote experts take care of the data. Peace of mind, more disc space, greater availability; great features that most would find irresistable. In the USA, more later.
So yesterday Apple played catch up. They also, for many people, overtook. They offer fast, seamless integration into the current iTunes experience. When you subscribe to their service they’ll scan your iTunes collection and replicate that list on their giant servers. This will, pretty much instantly, make their versions of your music available on most of your other devices - your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. This covers tracks you’ve purchased via iTunes Music Store.
Also, to cover music you’ve ripped yourself, for a modest fee ($25 pa) they will scan that music and match it with a copy they hold in their store and make that track available to you. For those who ripped at 128 kbps you get an upgrade to 256 kbps. Any thing that can’t be matched will only then be uploaded.
This is a very, very clever solution. First, it eats up a minute amount of space compared to the alternatives. Even the largest multi GB library is covered by a relatively small datafile - and that’s all Apple is storing. Think you’re getting 10 Gb, think again, more like 5 Kb and permission to access all those tracks that already reside on Apples hard drives. Buy a new album, zap, instantly available on any connected device (as long as its made by Apple). Second, the music industry will love it as I’m sure they will get a slice of your $25; and there’s nothing this industry likes more than money for nothing.
Finally, after years of lobbying, you’ll be paying a fee to the industry for the music you thought you owned when you purchased all those CDs. But hey, who’ll even notice?
Any downside? Well I imagine you’ll have to keep all your ripped music on your local computer so there will still be a need to back up that drive. If you fail or forget to pay your dues the service will delete your cloud music. Many people, having only a small amount of home ripped music, will be better off re-purchasing those tracks from iTunes Music Store rather than pay endless $25s - hey, the industry wins again.
What of services such as Spotify? If you buy music you might be better off with this type of service. You’ll pay more per month but you’ll get an infinitely large music collection. You can also access this via Android - a major advantage as despite the boasts of Jobs yesterday they are losing ground to Google on Android.
The big downside, at least just now, is us here outside the USA. We might get iCloud for data in the autumn but no date as yet for the music extension. And doubtless when it hits us $25 will become £25 (not £17).’
Earlier we’d seen offerings from Amazon and Google - essentially renting out space on their hard drives to substitute for space on your local PC or laptop. The advantage being you just throw at the cloud service all you’ve got and let remote experts take care of the data. Peace of mind, more disc space, greater availability; great features that most would find irresistable. In the USA, more later.
So yesterday Apple played catch up. They also, for many people, overtook. They offer fast, seamless integration into the current iTunes experience. When you subscribe to their service they’ll scan your iTunes collection and replicate that list on their giant servers. This will, pretty much instantly, make their versions of your music available on most of your other devices - your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. This covers tracks you’ve purchased via iTunes Music Store.
Also, to cover music you’ve ripped yourself, for a modest fee ($25 pa) they will scan that music and match it with a copy they hold in their store and make that track available to you. For those who ripped at 128 kbps you get an upgrade to 256 kbps. Any thing that can’t be matched will only then be uploaded.
This is a very, very clever solution. First, it eats up a minute amount of space compared to the alternatives. Even the largest multi GB library is covered by a relatively small datafile - and that’s all Apple is storing. Think you’re getting 10 Gb, think again, more like 5 Kb and permission to access all those tracks that already reside on Apples hard drives. Buy a new album, zap, instantly available on any connected device (as long as its made by Apple). Second, the music industry will love it as I’m sure they will get a slice of your $25; and there’s nothing this industry likes more than money for nothing.
Finally, after years of lobbying, you’ll be paying a fee to the industry for the music you thought you owned when you purchased all those CDs. But hey, who’ll even notice?
Any downside? Well I imagine you’ll have to keep all your ripped music on your local computer so there will still be a need to back up that drive. If you fail or forget to pay your dues the service will delete your cloud music. Many people, having only a small amount of home ripped music, will be better off re-purchasing those tracks from iTunes Music Store rather than pay endless $25s - hey, the industry wins again.
What of services such as Spotify? If you buy music you might be better off with this type of service. You’ll pay more per month but you’ll get an infinitely large music collection. You can also access this via Android - a major advantage as despite the boasts of Jobs yesterday they are losing ground to Google on Android.
The big downside, at least just now, is us here outside the USA. We might get iCloud for data in the autumn but no date as yet for the music extension. And doubtless when it hits us $25 will become £25 (not £17).’
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Faster CD Ripping?
One of the points we make to potential clients is that we save you time. Who wants to spend their precious private time stuffing CDs into a PC?
Of course, we want to save time too. We are always looking for faster CD ripping, as you would be if you were ripping your own collection. Maybe when looking at iTunes CD ripping settings you will have seen the term mentioning High Efficiency encoding. Maybe you thought (or hoped) that this would be an even faster way of ripping your music.
Sorry, it’s not. This setting relates to spoken word material. You can happily rip this at 48Kbps and get a good result. Compared to music there’s just not that level of variation in speech. If you take this route, and save a lot of disc space along the way, HE encoding will give you an even better result. Just don’t think it will work wonders on Bach or Blur.
Of course, we want to save time too. We are always looking for faster CD ripping, as you would be if you were ripping your own collection. Maybe when looking at iTunes CD ripping settings you will have seen the term mentioning High Efficiency encoding. Maybe you thought (or hoped) that this would be an even faster way of ripping your music.
Sorry, it’s not. This setting relates to spoken word material. You can happily rip this at 48Kbps and get a good result. Compared to music there’s just not that level of variation in speech. If you take this route, and save a lot of disc space along the way, HE encoding will give you an even better result. Just don’t think it will work wonders on Bach or Blur.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
The Harsh Reality
The time has come to say this, and in a line or two I'll break the news.
Eight or so years back when we started to plan our service a used CD had some value. They were reasonably expensive but even at that stage the writing was on the wall. While sentimental attachment was high the actual price was much lower than people thought. Since then a couple of dynamics have hit the market.
First, no one is buying CDs. Stroll down your High Street, the music and entertainment names of the past have folded. Try the supermarket, not the most comprehensive of displays. See what's available and you'll see desperate price promotions and that's against a VAT rate of 20%. Even so they gather on shelves picking up dust.
Second, technology has ripped into the delivery of music. Indeed our CD ripping business exists because people want to move from shiny plastic to digital. In supply and demand terms people are voting with their feet and they're walking away from CDs.
Today there is effectively no market for secondhand CDs. Even our local charity stores don't want them - if HMV can't sell all those Greatest Hits albums, what hope is there for Oxfam?
So now I'm going to say it. Your CDs are worthless.
Sorry, I know its a shock, I know you think more heirloom than hangup so this sounds like heresy. But that's the blunt fact of the matter. Check out eBay if you want proof. The market for CDs left a few years ago and it isn't coming back. I regret being the one to tell you but the sooner you understand this the better it will be. Then you can do something sensible with them (like stick them in iTunes) and find something else to do with the space.
Eight or so years back when we started to plan our service a used CD had some value. They were reasonably expensive but even at that stage the writing was on the wall. While sentimental attachment was high the actual price was much lower than people thought. Since then a couple of dynamics have hit the market.
First, no one is buying CDs. Stroll down your High Street, the music and entertainment names of the past have folded. Try the supermarket, not the most comprehensive of displays. See what's available and you'll see desperate price promotions and that's against a VAT rate of 20%. Even so they gather on shelves picking up dust.
Second, technology has ripped into the delivery of music. Indeed our CD ripping business exists because people want to move from shiny plastic to digital. In supply and demand terms people are voting with their feet and they're walking away from CDs.
Today there is effectively no market for secondhand CDs. Even our local charity stores don't want them - if HMV can't sell all those Greatest Hits albums, what hope is there for Oxfam?
So now I'm going to say it. Your CDs are worthless.
Sorry, I know its a shock, I know you think more heirloom than hangup so this sounds like heresy. But that's the blunt fact of the matter. Check out eBay if you want proof. The market for CDs left a few years ago and it isn't coming back. I regret being the one to tell you but the sooner you understand this the better it will be. Then you can do something sensible with them (like stick them in iTunes) and find something else to do with the space.
Artefacts of the Last Century
I have been forced to consider the value of a CD.
Some eight years ago, when we started our CD ripping project, there were one or two places you could sell used CDs. At that time a main stream CD was selling at a considerable price. Even in those days people were shocked at just how little they could command once used.
Fast forward and what has happened. Carnage on the High Street retail landscape and there are now very few sales outlets for music CDs. In fact I can’t think of a shop that sells solely music, those handful left mix in video and computer games. Look in your supermarket and you’ll see CDs for three or four pounds, maybe even with a buy one get one free promotion too. Don’t forget, this is even taking into account the VAT hike to 20% we got hit with early this year.
Matched with the plummeting cost of new CDs there is the simple fact that today there are very few takers for CDs. Try and find anyone under 25 who thinks first of plastic rather than digital. It’s proven a deadly mix for the entertainment industry, hardly a day goes by without a new tale of woe from the once mighty names.
Here’s the blunt fact. You need to understand that in effect CDs are now worthless. They’re not old masters or fine wines, not even minor works by an obscure sculptor. They are artefacts of the last century - shiny scrap. What is to be done? Get with the march of time and technology, get your CDs onto iTunes in true digital format, enjoy them via an iPod or Sonos. Then chuck them on the scrap heap.
Some eight years ago, when we started our CD ripping project, there were one or two places you could sell used CDs. At that time a main stream CD was selling at a considerable price. Even in those days people were shocked at just how little they could command once used.
Fast forward and what has happened. Carnage on the High Street retail landscape and there are now very few sales outlets for music CDs. In fact I can’t think of a shop that sells solely music, those handful left mix in video and computer games. Look in your supermarket and you’ll see CDs for three or four pounds, maybe even with a buy one get one free promotion too. Don’t forget, this is even taking into account the VAT hike to 20% we got hit with early this year.
Matched with the plummeting cost of new CDs there is the simple fact that today there are very few takers for CDs. Try and find anyone under 25 who thinks first of plastic rather than digital. It’s proven a deadly mix for the entertainment industry, hardly a day goes by without a new tale of woe from the once mighty names.
Here’s the blunt fact. You need to understand that in effect CDs are now worthless. They’re not old masters or fine wines, not even minor works by an obscure sculptor. They are artefacts of the last century - shiny scrap. What is to be done? Get with the march of time and technology, get your CDs onto iTunes in true digital format, enjoy them via an iPod or Sonos. Then chuck them on the scrap heap.
Saturday, May 07, 2011
iPod Ear Bud Best Buddies
Just been reading the US edition of technology magazine Wired. They have a review of dual driver ear phones.
Even if you spend your money on a top of the range iPod Classic you still get a pair of basic earphones, which in manufacturing cost terms must be around 50p worth of equipment. OK, they still look cool even after all these years but they’re hardly the best way to enjoy your iPod and your CD ripping prowess.
Take a step up, get better ear furniture. Which is what this review does, looking at these dual-driver items you will get far better sound from the same digital audio files. Wired test four pairs, Galaxy Audio EB10, NOCS NS800, Ultimate Ears UE700 and Apple’s own In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic. Dolar prices range from $79 right up to $280 for the Galaxy offering.
The accolade of Editor’s pick goes to the Galaxy, not surprising as these are the most expensive. What impressed me is that even though the Apple buds are two years old, they stand up pretty well in comparison. Reading the review I’d find it hard to justify spending nearly three times the money, I think I’d go with Apple’s offering and enjoy the extra functionality.
Even if you spend your money on a top of the range iPod Classic you still get a pair of basic earphones, which in manufacturing cost terms must be around 50p worth of equipment. OK, they still look cool even after all these years but they’re hardly the best way to enjoy your iPod and your CD ripping prowess.
Take a step up, get better ear furniture. Which is what this review does, looking at these dual-driver items you will get far better sound from the same digital audio files. Wired test four pairs, Galaxy Audio EB10, NOCS NS800, Ultimate Ears UE700 and Apple’s own In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic. Dolar prices range from $79 right up to $280 for the Galaxy offering.
The accolade of Editor’s pick goes to the Galaxy, not surprising as these are the most expensive. What impressed me is that even though the Apple buds are two years old, they stand up pretty well in comparison. Reading the review I’d find it hard to justify spending nearly three times the money, I think I’d go with Apple’s offering and enjoy the extra functionality.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Apple and Android
If I were Apple I'd be worried. Here's why.
This week, a short week here as we had a public holiday on Monday and today's Thursday, we had two calls about syncing music with an Android smartphone. Yes, two clients who have music, computers and are investing in Android phones on which they want to listen to music. Just like an iPhone - only not made by Apple. If we were to rip their CDs how could they sync?
We found an answer - CD ripping for Android - and picked up two new clients. Incidentally this also applies to BlackBerry, PSP and Pre.
With Android outstripping iOs / iPhone in America if I were Apple I'd be worried.
This week, a short week here as we had a public holiday on Monday and today's Thursday, we had two calls about syncing music with an Android smartphone. Yes, two clients who have music, computers and are investing in Android phones on which they want to listen to music. Just like an iPhone - only not made by Apple. If we were to rip their CDs how could they sync?
We found an answer - CD ripping for Android - and picked up two new clients. Incidentally this also applies to BlackBerry, PSP and Pre.
With Android outstripping iOs / iPhone in America if I were Apple I'd be worried.
Android Impact
If I were Apple I’d be worried. This week, and it’s a short week with the public holiday on Monday, we’ve had two calls about getting music onto Android smartphones. No, I’m sure Apple aren’t concerned about how many calls we get but Macrumors has posted stats showing that there are now more Android phones in operation in the USA than iPhones; and looking to buyer intentions Android now outstrips the iPhone by a significant margin.
BlackBerry and Pre have never had that impact on us. All of a sudden Android seems to have arrived with a bang.
The problem for Apple (and for us) is that you can’t use Apple’s iTunes software to sync your music with an Android phone or slate device. If we couldn’t offer and answer we were in danger of losing two clients. For us that’s a big deal, not so much so for Apple. So we went away and found a solution which is almost as elegant as iTunes, indeed respected technology blog TechCrunch called it “iTunes for Android”. CD ripping for Android now has its own new page, and we have two new clients.
As for Apple, you’ll have to ask them.
BlackBerry and Pre have never had that impact on us. All of a sudden Android seems to have arrived with a bang.
The problem for Apple (and for us) is that you can’t use Apple’s iTunes software to sync your music with an Android phone or slate device. If we couldn’t offer and answer we were in danger of losing two clients. For us that’s a big deal, not so much so for Apple. So we went away and found a solution which is almost as elegant as iTunes, indeed respected technology blog TechCrunch called it “iTunes for Android”. CD ripping for Android now has its own new page, and we have two new clients.
As for Apple, you’ll have to ask them.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Music Streaming, Amazon Takes the Lead
For a few years I've been predicting that Apple would announce a service to enable us to store and stream music from their computers - cloud based iTunes. We wouldn't have to worry about how much storage we have on our PC or laptop, they'd take care of backups etc, and purchases would instantly appear in our libraries.
As a CD ripping service we could integrate with this, we'd rip your CDs and send them along to your part of the cloud. I've even upgraded our uploading line in anticipation. A couple of major Apple events have come and gone, still no CloudTunes.
But - fresh onto the scene comes Amazon with CloudDrive, an online music storage and streaming service. Clients get 5Gb for free (including us in the UK) with US users having the option to buy more space. Buying music from Amazon gives you a whole chunk of extra storage for free. As far as I can see there's nothing not to love about this - modest price, high peace of mind. I hope they roll it out here in the UK.
As a CD ripping service we could integrate with this, we'd rip your CDs and send them along to your part of the cloud. I've even upgraded our uploading line in anticipation. A couple of major Apple events have come and gone, still no CloudTunes.
But - fresh onto the scene comes Amazon with CloudDrive, an online music storage and streaming service. Clients get 5Gb for free (including us in the UK) with US users having the option to buy more space. Buying music from Amazon gives you a whole chunk of extra storage for free. As far as I can see there's nothing not to love about this - modest price, high peace of mind. I hope they roll it out here in the UK.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Another iPod Killer We Bid Farewell
Hard to think we've been ripping CDs for seven years, along the way many of the key landmarks have been the announcement of (yet another) portable music player described as an iPod killer.
Yesterday Macobserver reported that Microsoft would quietly drop their MP3 player, the Zune, in favour of leaving the name to describe music playing facilities on the Windows 7 phone. If Microsoft can't knock Apple off the top perch is there hope for any other supplier?
Yesterday Macobserver reported that Microsoft would quietly drop their MP3 player, the Zune, in favour of leaving the name to describe music playing facilities on the Windows 7 phone. If Microsoft can't knock Apple off the top perch is there hope for any other supplier?
Sunday, March 13, 2011
New look site
Welcome to the new look for podServe. We’ve been running with the old site for nearly two years and it was looking a bit jaded. As pages got added it got rather unwieldy, disorganised and some corners were choked with dust.
Spent some time trying to tweak a few bits, trying to spruce up the old format. Then it just seemed I was wasting my time, maybe even making things worse. So I decided to bite the bullet, trash the old site and start ago with this new look. Hope you like it.
Spent some time trying to tweak a few bits, trying to spruce up the old format. Then it just seemed I was wasting my time, maybe even making things worse. So I decided to bite the bullet, trash the old site and start ago with this new look. Hope you like it.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
iPod, iPad or iPhone Not Recognised?
Many people are reporting problems with the iOS based Apple devices (iPod Touch, iPhone & iPad) not being recognised. This follows the release of the latest version of iTunes (10.6) a few days ago.
Is there a fix?
Yes, but its complex and you might not like the look of it. But if its the only way to get your iPod going do you have a choice? The best source of information on this is Apple itself - the key pages are here, here and here.
You can also listen to a commentary on this in this week's Macobserver's Mac Geek Gab podcast.
Jeff Underwood
podserve.co.uk
CD ripping service
Is there a fix?
Yes, but its complex and you might not like the look of it. But if its the only way to get your iPod going do you have a choice? The best source of information on this is Apple itself - the key pages are here, here and here.
You can also listen to a commentary on this in this week's Macobserver's Mac Geek Gab podcast.
Jeff Underwood
podserve.co.uk
CD ripping service
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
24 bit music anyone?
We get asked a lot of questions, or the same questions time and again. So when I'm asked something new it's an event. Such an event happened this morning.
"Can podserve rip CDs into 24 bit files?"
Our potential client had been into a hi-fi store and asked what is the best quality music file and was told he should have 24 bit music files. Why did he get the answer 24 bit? Well, the number of bits used in computer addressing determines the volume of data that can be handled. Remember those puny original PCs? 8 bit. Today's systems use 64 bit addressing and handle massive amounts of memory. In most fields of computer work more is better. How does this relate to music?
Suppose 1 is the least amount of sound, well the highest number would be the most amount. Just now the greatest point is prescribed by 16 bit addressing. If we moved to 24 bit addressing the sound would be no louder but there would be many, many more finely tuned stopping points for sound along the way. The argument is that this extension of bits would deliver greater sound range, and smoother music. In fact all those features vinyl lovers say was lost in the move to CDs.
Wouldn't 24 bit be a massive step forward? Possibly not, I'm not sure if you're over 30 years of age you'd even be able to hear the difference. If you own a modern DAC then you'd need to upgrade it and that could be very expensive.
And you'd have to change your CDs, which have been mastered as 16 bit music files. You can't add in data that isn't there so you'd need to replace your CD collection. Wouldn't the music industry just love that?
So No, we don't rip to 24 bit at the moment; and there's no point in thinking about it until there's a massive shift in the way CDs are made.
Jeff Underwood
podserve.co.uk
"Can podserve rip CDs into 24 bit files?"
Our potential client had been into a hi-fi store and asked what is the best quality music file and was told he should have 24 bit music files. Why did he get the answer 24 bit? Well, the number of bits used in computer addressing determines the volume of data that can be handled. Remember those puny original PCs? 8 bit. Today's systems use 64 bit addressing and handle massive amounts of memory. In most fields of computer work more is better. How does this relate to music?
Suppose 1 is the least amount of sound, well the highest number would be the most amount. Just now the greatest point is prescribed by 16 bit addressing. If we moved to 24 bit addressing the sound would be no louder but there would be many, many more finely tuned stopping points for sound along the way. The argument is that this extension of bits would deliver greater sound range, and smoother music. In fact all those features vinyl lovers say was lost in the move to CDs.
Wouldn't 24 bit be a massive step forward? Possibly not, I'm not sure if you're over 30 years of age you'd even be able to hear the difference. If you own a modern DAC then you'd need to upgrade it and that could be very expensive.
And you'd have to change your CDs, which have been mastered as 16 bit music files. You can't add in data that isn't there so you'd need to replace your CD collection. Wouldn't the music industry just love that?
So No, we don't rip to 24 bit at the moment; and there's no point in thinking about it until there's a massive shift in the way CDs are made.
Jeff Underwood
podserve.co.uk
Monday, February 28, 2011
CD Ripping Service Enhancements
Hard to believe at times that we've been ripping CDs for seven years. Wow.
At the start we made a decision to focus on the Apple iPod, indeed that's mainly why the first CD ripping offering was podserve. As we grew our market became defined as iPod owners in or around London.
But we got people ringing us from all over the UK asking if we could collect / return to Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol etc as well as places I'd never heard of. Almost as many clients as we had in London. So I had a bright idea. Another CD ripping service was born - MP3 by mail. I wanted to avoid confusion between the two services, which was one of the reasons we opted for an MP3 focused second identity.
OK, that was a bit petty. Sure we can rip MP3s faster (hence cheaper) but that was the main reason. There then followed two years of ear bashing from folk who simply want AAC files, or maybe Apple Lossless. Now we've relented and from today MP3 by mail offers AAC and Apple Lossless alongside MP3 music ripping.
At the start we made a decision to focus on the Apple iPod, indeed that's mainly why the first CD ripping offering was podserve. As we grew our market became defined as iPod owners in or around London.
But we got people ringing us from all over the UK asking if we could collect / return to Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol etc as well as places I'd never heard of. Almost as many clients as we had in London. So I had a bright idea. Another CD ripping service was born - MP3 by mail. I wanted to avoid confusion between the two services, which was one of the reasons we opted for an MP3 focused second identity.
OK, that was a bit petty. Sure we can rip MP3s faster (hence cheaper) but that was the main reason. There then followed two years of ear bashing from folk who simply want AAC files, or maybe Apple Lossless. Now we've relented and from today MP3 by mail offers AAC and Apple Lossless alongside MP3 music ripping.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
iPod Killer? Android?
Over the last seven years running a CD ripping service I have mainly been working with Apple iPods. When we started it was something of a gamble, there were so many vanilla flavoured MP3 players around, so many people preferred Windows Media Player to iTunes. Quickly it became apparent that Apple had secured pole position in the race, the rest is history. Today pretty much any portable music player will, like hoover and xerox before, will be described as an iPod.
Over the last seven years I've lost count of the number of times I've read of the coming of an "iPod killer". Remember the various cute players from Sony? Sansa? Archos? These devices have popped up, received critical acclaim, and largely sunk without trace. Who today even knows what ATRAC is let alone has software to play it. According to Nokia its all down to ecosystems. Certainly that's why they have done so badly in the smartphone market and why Apple and Android have done so well. Ecosystem, not the cute device, however cute.
So my mind said "iPod killer?" when I saw that a small manufacturer (Cowon of Korea) has launched an Android based portable music player. As I've read so many times before this unit has some great features (brilliant screen, wi-fi, plays any music file type, tremendous sound, apps) alongside as many negatives (price, battery life and more) but it did make me think "ecosystem". If there were an end to end music support package to compete with iPod / iTunes / iTunes Music Store the Android umbrella is a great place to be. Plus, you get the support of Google who seem to be just about the only company able to lay a finger on Apple.
Watch the Android space, an iPod killer might just be lurking in the shadows.
Jeff Underwood
www.podserve.co.uk
Over the last seven years I've lost count of the number of times I've read of the coming of an "iPod killer". Remember the various cute players from Sony? Sansa? Archos? These devices have popped up, received critical acclaim, and largely sunk without trace. Who today even knows what ATRAC is let alone has software to play it. According to Nokia its all down to ecosystems. Certainly that's why they have done so badly in the smartphone market and why Apple and Android have done so well. Ecosystem, not the cute device, however cute.
So my mind said "iPod killer?" when I saw that a small manufacturer (Cowon of Korea) has launched an Android based portable music player. As I've read so many times before this unit has some great features (brilliant screen, wi-fi, plays any music file type, tremendous sound, apps) alongside as many negatives (price, battery life and more) but it did make me think "ecosystem". If there were an end to end music support package to compete with iPod / iTunes / iTunes Music Store the Android umbrella is a great place to be. Plus, you get the support of Google who seem to be just about the only company able to lay a finger on Apple.
Watch the Android space, an iPod killer might just be lurking in the shadows.
Jeff Underwood
www.podserve.co.uk
Thursday, February 10, 2011
iPlayer on the iPad. Where's Apple TV?
Just placed an entry on my podServe blog about iPlayer on the iPad - coming out, free, on Friday. I love iPlayer, mainly for radio programmes, and this is a brilliant step in the right direction. The same facility is being made available for Android users too.
But - and this is a quibble, but a big one - where does this leave Apple TV? If I have Google TV on Friday I will be able to use iPlayer on my lounge TV. Yes I will be able to watch catch-up TV on my TV. Sure doing that on an iPad is good too, but isn't this second best to watching TV on a TV set?
Clearly this cannot be allowed to continue as it puts Apple TV at massive disadvantage to Google TV (which runs on Android). Apple TV is already lagging here in the UK by the absence of a great movie streaming service compared to the US offering. This morning, if I were head of Apple in the UK, I would be on the phone to Head Office demanding that this functionality should be Apple TV bound in a few days.
But - and this is a quibble, but a big one - where does this leave Apple TV? If I have Google TV on Friday I will be able to use iPlayer on my lounge TV. Yes I will be able to watch catch-up TV on my TV. Sure doing that on an iPad is good too, but isn't this second best to watching TV on a TV set?
Clearly this cannot be allowed to continue as it puts Apple TV at massive disadvantage to Google TV (which runs on Android). Apple TV is already lagging here in the UK by the absence of a great movie streaming service compared to the US offering. This morning, if I were head of Apple in the UK, I would be on the phone to Head Office demanding that this functionality should be Apple TV bound in a few days.
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Defeated
Asked to carry out a simple task, failed. Why? What? How?
Just wanted to add some tracks to an iPod, without going through iTunes. The "normal" route would have lost all the existing data. Typically we do this using Xplay, a brilliant bit of software from mediafour. Except the iPod in question happened to be one of the new Nanos; worse, only had a short window in which to complete the task.
Fired up Xplay, connected iPod, tried for usual Explorer style interface but nothing. Error message saying transfer from PC to iPod wasn't going to happen. Looking deeper into the contants of the iPod there was purchased music, a few voice memos, and a collection of videos. Given time I think it would have been possible to copy all the non-DRM music etc off the nano, put it into iTunes and re-synced. But, I wasn't sure if we'd have lost all the personal voice / video content.
So .... I had to admit defeat. Eat humble pie. In the aftermath I have my fingers crossed that at some point in the future mediafour will come up with an upgrade to Xplay to fix this.
podServe.co.uk
CD ripping
CD to iPod
Just wanted to add some tracks to an iPod, without going through iTunes. The "normal" route would have lost all the existing data. Typically we do this using Xplay, a brilliant bit of software from mediafour. Except the iPod in question happened to be one of the new Nanos; worse, only had a short window in which to complete the task.
Fired up Xplay, connected iPod, tried for usual Explorer style interface but nothing. Error message saying transfer from PC to iPod wasn't going to happen. Looking deeper into the contants of the iPod there was purchased music, a few voice memos, and a collection of videos. Given time I think it would have been possible to copy all the non-DRM music etc off the nano, put it into iTunes and re-synced. But, I wasn't sure if we'd have lost all the personal voice / video content.
So .... I had to admit defeat. Eat humble pie. In the aftermath I have my fingers crossed that at some point in the future mediafour will come up with an upgrade to Xplay to fix this.
podServe.co.uk
CD ripping
CD to iPod
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Album Art All of a Sudden?
When you're going from CD to iPod there are some vital things to take across. Music, of course, there's all that stuff about the album / artist / track name, and that little thing - the picture. Album art.
I worry a lot about album art, you don't have to. Here's why. If you buy music online the art comes with it, if you have a ripped CD collection and you use iTunes you can get cover art from iTunes Music Store. At no cost by the way. The images stay on your PC and are downloaded to your iPod when you sync. No problem.
When we rip your CDs we have to ensure those little images come over with the DVD or hard drive containing your tracks. The safest way to do that is to store a copy of each image inside the data file that is the "track". iTunes doesn't do this as standard and for that reason we use other software which carries out the art embedding for us. I have a great bit of software that does it.
All of a sudden - two people want to talk to me about album art. One just pitching a product, the other at least had the decency to ask about what we need from an album art product. Both wanted to know, is there a massive market for this sort of product? My view, sorry, is no. If you're an end user, as opposed to a CD ripping business, just hook up with iTunes and they'll take care of the pictures. As for CD ripping services - if there are more than 50 in the world I'd be amazed.
I worry a lot about album art, you don't have to. Here's why. If you buy music online the art comes with it, if you have a ripped CD collection and you use iTunes you can get cover art from iTunes Music Store. At no cost by the way. The images stay on your PC and are downloaded to your iPod when you sync. No problem.
When we rip your CDs we have to ensure those little images come over with the DVD or hard drive containing your tracks. The safest way to do that is to store a copy of each image inside the data file that is the "track". iTunes doesn't do this as standard and for that reason we use other software which carries out the art embedding for us. I have a great bit of software that does it.
All of a sudden - two people want to talk to me about album art. One just pitching a product, the other at least had the decency to ask about what we need from an album art product. Both wanted to know, is there a massive market for this sort of product? My view, sorry, is no. If you're an end user, as opposed to a CD ripping business, just hook up with iTunes and they'll take care of the pictures. As for CD ripping services - if there are more than 50 in the world I'd be amazed.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
One Giant Step for CD Ripping
OK, maybe it's not that big a deal but we think it's pretty neat. This is it - we'll take your CDs out of their jewell cases along with the sleeve notes and return them to you in compact CD wallets.
You get your CDs back along with sleeve notes, in a tidy package which will save you lots of space. Details on CD repackaging on our site.
Jeff Underwood
podserve.co.uk
CD ripping service
You get your CDs back along with sleeve notes, in a tidy package which will save you lots of space. Details on CD repackaging on our site.
Jeff Underwood
podserve.co.uk
CD ripping service
Friday, January 21, 2011
Who ate all the CDs?
One of the reasons people want to get their music from CD to iPod is to enable them to save space. Some people find it hard to just throw away their old CDs, and maybe don't have a spare attic or basement for storage.
Recently we helped a client who wanted to keep his CDs and save space. We collected over 500 CDs, put his music on his iPod, then removed the CDs from their plastic cases and put them into wallets along with the cover notes. His entire collection was returned in three neat black folders. He gets to keep al his CDs, along with cover notes, but still saves a massive amount of space.
Jeff Underwood
podserve.co.uk - CD ripping service
Recently we helped a client who wanted to keep his CDs and save space. We collected over 500 CDs, put his music on his iPod, then removed the CDs from their plastic cases and put them into wallets along with the cover notes. His entire collection was returned in three neat black folders. He gets to keep al his CDs, along with cover notes, but still saves a massive amount of space.
Jeff Underwood
podserve.co.uk - CD ripping service
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Wireless Music Streaming - Apple, not Sonos
The market for home wireless audio is dominated by Sonos. Buy a few Sonos boxes, network them together and connect them to your music. Away you go.
Except your music is managed by Apple's iTunes. So why not do the same with Apple technology? That functionality is being delivered under the umbrella of Airplay, and today a new box is unveiled that will allow you to stream music direct from iTunes, using an iPod Touch, iPad or an iPhone as the handheld controller. The iHome device is here.
So now we can rip your music, you can enjoy it on your iPod, iPad or your streaming system.
podServe - CD Ripping Service
Except your music is managed by Apple's iTunes. So why not do the same with Apple technology? That functionality is being delivered under the umbrella of Airplay, and today a new box is unveiled that will allow you to stream music direct from iTunes, using an iPod Touch, iPad or an iPhone as the handheld controller. The iHome device is here.
So now we can rip your music, you can enjoy it on your iPod, iPad or your streaming system.
podServe - CD Ripping Service
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
High End CD Ripping - Another Box Nobody Needs
Got a press release yesterday, a British company is using a US trade show to unveil a new box. Wow. It's aimed at high end audiophiles, it says, who demand the best from a CD ripping unit. It comes with a heft price tag although it is available in a variety of metalised colours. Wow, wow. This begs the questions of who the low end audiophiles might be, and those who just want rotten sound when they digitise their music.
Two questions - what do you get, and why do you need it?
You get a CD player obviously, there's no other way to rip a CD. Exactly which CD drive isn't explained but you can get a respectable unit (in volumes of around 50) for around £40. And you need some intelligence to run the thing, so you need some sort of computer. Along with that the lovely little bits of software that connect to the local network or maybe the internet. Oh, a hard drive too - another £20 at OEM prices. Typically the operating system would be Unix, the cost and difficulty of Windows would be too much in initial costs and ongoing support. In all what have you got - a PC that even in the third world looks poorly specified. Plus a massive bill.
Why would you need it? According to the press release this unit rips CDs while the enraptured owner "enjoys a cup of tea". Really? Chances are the owner is on the PC or laptop, checking Facebook or enjoying Youtube. Why not use that PC to convert CDs into digital music? Well, the CD drive is every bit as good, iTunes, Windows Media Player and other programs are available to manage ripping, and the hard drive is the same. In my opinion you'll get just as good a result.
"But I'm a high end audiophile" you say. "This unit is made for me". Sorry, but you'll get no better result from a dedicated ripping unit than you'll get from your PC. You need to reduce compression and select the best file type for your purposes, just as easily done on your PC as on any other unit.
Save yourself a lot of money, don't bother with a dedicated CD ripping unit, trust your PC or your Mac. Or outsource it all to a CD ripping service such as ours.
Jeff Underwood
www.podserve.co.uk
Two questions - what do you get, and why do you need it?
You get a CD player obviously, there's no other way to rip a CD. Exactly which CD drive isn't explained but you can get a respectable unit (in volumes of around 50) for around £40. And you need some intelligence to run the thing, so you need some sort of computer. Along with that the lovely little bits of software that connect to the local network or maybe the internet. Oh, a hard drive too - another £20 at OEM prices. Typically the operating system would be Unix, the cost and difficulty of Windows would be too much in initial costs and ongoing support. In all what have you got - a PC that even in the third world looks poorly specified. Plus a massive bill.
Why would you need it? According to the press release this unit rips CDs while the enraptured owner "enjoys a cup of tea". Really? Chances are the owner is on the PC or laptop, checking Facebook or enjoying Youtube. Why not use that PC to convert CDs into digital music? Well, the CD drive is every bit as good, iTunes, Windows Media Player and other programs are available to manage ripping, and the hard drive is the same. In my opinion you'll get just as good a result.
"But I'm a high end audiophile" you say. "This unit is made for me". Sorry, but you'll get no better result from a dedicated ripping unit than you'll get from your PC. You need to reduce compression and select the best file type for your purposes, just as easily done on your PC as on any other unit.
Save yourself a lot of money, don't bother with a dedicated CD ripping unit, trust your PC or your Mac. Or outsource it all to a CD ripping service such as ours.
Jeff Underwood
www.podserve.co.uk
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