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.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
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.
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