SXSW to MPAA: STFU
Just a thought from 15 March 2006 about Apple, Geek, Internet, Movies, Music, Politics, SXSW.

One of the most interesting panels at SXSW Interactive 2006 was The Future of Darknets, moderated by JD Lasica. And while the concept of Darknets - communities using private subnetworks to communicate and collaborate out of view of the larger internet - is indeed fascinating, the panel was not interesting because of the intended topic. In fact, we never actually got to hear much about DarkNets, much to my disappointment, because the panel was hijacked the moment one panelist said, "Hello, my name is Kori Bernards, and I'm from the Motion Picture Association of America."

What followed was an hour-long firing squad as one audience member after another directed angry questions her way. The feeling of pent-up frustrations with the movie biz was palpable, especially as her claims of flexibility and excitement within the MPAA to find "creative new solutions" to the problems raised by the audience rang more and more hollow, the more times she repeated them.

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Playing iTunes to Multiple Speakers
Just a thought from 8 February 2006 about Apple, Music.

Hot on the heels of my iTunes conversion comes this great post (brought to my attention by this fine gentleman) with this great news.

iTunes can now broadcast to more than one set of speakers at the same time. Previously, you were limited to sending your tunes to the speakers in your computer, or to the speakers attached to an Airport Express, but not both at the same time. Now you finally can!

Caveats: You have to be running the latest version of iTunes (6.0.2) and the latest version of the Airport Express firmware (6.3) for this to work.

What this means, in English, is that you could place Airport Express stations throughout your house and use iTunes to play music to some, or all, of them as you like.

One step closer to the brave new digital future.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Just a thought from 4 February 2006 about Life, Music, Stories, iPod.

I'm 32 years old. That means I missed reel-to-reel. I never owned an 8-track. But I remember vinyl. In this modern world of MP3s and iPods, there's something romantic about records.

It's the ritual that I miss. I remember flipping through my dad's albums until the immense cover art of one drew me in. I remember unsheathing the thing like a precious gem, touching only the edges. I'd place it on the Technics, press a button, and it would begin turning. I'd gently run the dust brush over it. It was deep red and soft like velvet. Then I'd move the needle, every so slowly, into place. If you did it right, it made no sound at all - you just heard the music start. If you did it wrong, a loud bonk would come out of the speakers, and a stern look would come from my dad.

I was only 10 and I knew these things were older than me. They deserved respect. Reverence.

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