as we're wont to say in email circles:
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iWOW!
Showing posts with label Apple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apple. Show all posts
Friday, August 31
Sunday, March 25
playing with DICE
After mowing the grass yesterday morning ("there's no local storage on a lawnmower") I decided to push (!) the car out of the garage and install The iPod Connector. This will only be the second (probably last) modification I make to the car. Soon after I bought it in 2001, I installed a factory alarm system (mostly plugging into the existing wiring), although much disassembly/reassembly was required. This time would prove similar.
(rewind about 4 weeks)
Most of the iPod<->CarAudio devices use a weak FM transmitter, but I wanted one that integrated well with the steering-wheel controls, so this meant stringing cables. I looked around at the local retailers, but only found übercheap stuff - few of them stock anything of quality since Most Americans Only Want Cheap, Not Good.
After asking around (the local car club was useful, as always), I opted for the iPod Car Integration Kit from DICE Electronics. A few weeks ago I bought the stuff from Bavarian Soundwerks in Atlanta, and it's been sitting on my kitchen table waiting for an opportunity.
Their 15-step instructions were mostly helpful, and I had everything done in an hour or so .. although I had to cheat a bit since the last step involved testing my iPod (which has local storage) with the stereo.
Next, it was time to install the spec.dock (from a company called 2point5™); this mostly low-tech gadget allows me to dock my iPod into the ashtray space, rather than leave the iPod inside the glove compartment, or (worse) dangling from a cable. The instructions from 2point5 weren't as good as for the DICE module, and this resulted in the twoBand-Aids adhesive bandages now on my fingers. Once I began interpreting the directions instead of following them, things became much easier.
This morning, I made the Annual Pilgrimmage to Carl's Jr. (a west-coast QSR chain that is replicated at the Love's Truck Stops here in Texas) and played with my new toy en route. It sounds great, absent a few odd clicking sounds that may be part of The Learning Curve. Since it ties into the CD changer/amplifier in the trunk, it requires pressing [CD] twice to activate it, then the radio buttons [1-6] to do things like "select next album" (button 3) or "select next playlist" (button 2).
(rewind about 4 weeks)
Most of the iPod<->CarAudio devices use a weak FM transmitter, but I wanted one that integrated well with the steering-wheel controls, so this meant stringing cables. I looked around at the local retailers, but only found übercheap stuff - few of them stock anything of quality since Most Americans Only Want Cheap, Not Good.
After asking around (the local car club was useful, as always), I opted for the iPod Car Integration Kit from DICE Electronics. A few weeks ago I bought the stuff from Bavarian Soundwerks in Atlanta, and it's been sitting on my kitchen table waiting for an opportunity.
Their 15-step instructions were mostly helpful, and I had everything done in an hour or so .. although I had to cheat a bit since the last step involved testing my iPod (which has local storage) with the stereo.
Next, it was time to install the spec.dock (from a company called 2point5™); this mostly low-tech gadget allows me to dock my iPod into the ashtray space, rather than leave the iPod inside the glove compartment, or (worse) dangling from a cable. The instructions from 2point5 weren't as good as for the DICE module, and this resulted in the two
This morning, I made the Annual Pilgrimmage to Carl's Jr. (a west-coast QSR chain that is replicated at the Love's Truck Stops here in Texas) and played with my new toy en route. It sounds great, absent a few odd clicking sounds that may be part of The Learning Curve. Since it ties into the CD changer/amplifier in the trunk, it requires pressing [CD] twice to activate it, then the radio buttons [1-6] to do things like "select next album" (button 3) or "select next playlist" (button 2).
Saturday, January 13
Yet Another Big Project Weekend
It seems like I have a Big Project every weekend. This one's going much slower than most, although I'm getting work done concurrently.
What's up? Well, I finally cracked open the "USB turntable" I bought a few months ago .. the iTTUSB from Ion Audio. Turns out thismay will be significantly more tedious than when I dumped all my CDs to iTunes (last month). In the case of the CD media, I was able to read at speeds up to 20x (mostly were half that). As I'm moving the LPs (remember the 12" vinyl discs?) to my PowerBook, the speed's more 1:1 although the manual does explain how I can record at 45rpm and playback at 33-1/3 (likewise if I stumble across any of my dad's old 78rpm music).
This process also requires more BabySitting, due to dealing with aging vinyl media. Stuff about vinyl that I'd forgotten:
Granted, I could just Cough Up The Cash and buy most of these albums off the web (some never made it to CD), but I'm enjoying listening to albums I haven't heard in 20+ years, so I'm okay with it, up to a point. There will also be some amount of post-processing, involving track separation and labeling (ID3 tags) which wasn't required with CD-ROM.
Seated next to the slowly-moving stack of albums is a stack of magazines (and eventually books) that have been in my [To Read] pile for much too long, so it'll work out well. That said, I suspect it'll take much longer to dump fewer albums than it took for my 500 or so CDs. Odds are this will turn into a multi-week effort, as I have a few hundred LPs to migrate, and am moving 4 albums every 3 hours.
The WeatherGuy is still predicting plenty (defined as 1/2" inch+) of ice during the current WinterWeatherEvent here. We'll see if the DallasHeatIsland allows the bulk of it to skip over the city and paralyze the nearby rural areas instead of us CityFolk.
What's up? Well, I finally cracked open the "USB turntable" I bought a few months ago .. the iTTUSB from Ion Audio. Turns out this
This process also requires more BabySitting, due to dealing with aging vinyl media. Stuff about vinyl that I'd forgotten:
- records skip when there's an imperfection - when it happens the whole track's useless - if I really want it, I'll buy that song from iTunes for 99c each;
- setting up a turntable means having to deal with counterweights;
- it's truly a balancing act -- the iTTUSB stylus wants 4 grams of pressure (± 1 gram);
- most LPs hold about 22 minutes of music per side, so I can't stray far;
- bits of dust, lint, etc. contribute to snaps, crackles and pops;
- vinyl has what Trish-Bob calls a "richer sound" - no doubt;
- a Discwasher is very useful, removing Stuff from the LP itself, although I could stand some new solution - now D4+;
- vibration near the turntable is a problem - I can't toss stuff around during the recording process, like I do with an iPod or even CD media;
- unlike (most?) CDs, LPs usually are two-sided! the 2nd side is often called the "flip side" because you have to manually turn it over when the first side has finished playing: wow.
Granted, I could just Cough Up The Cash and buy most of these albums off the web (some never made it to CD), but I'm enjoying listening to albums I haven't heard in 20+ years, so I'm okay with it, up to a point. There will also be some amount of post-processing, involving track separation and labeling (ID3 tags) which wasn't required with CD-ROM.
Seated next to the slowly-moving stack of albums is a stack of magazines (and eventually books) that have been in my [To Read] pile for much too long, so it'll work out well. That said, I suspect it'll take much longer to dump fewer albums than it took for my 500 or so CDs. Odds are this will turn into a multi-week effort, as I have a few hundred LPs to migrate, and am moving 4 albums every 3 hours.
The WeatherGuy is still predicting plenty (defined as 1/2" inch+) of ice during the current WinterWeatherEvent here. We'll see if the DallasHeatIsland allows the bulk of it to skip over the city and paralyze the nearby rural areas instead of us CityFolk.
Sunday, December 31
The Genre Committee
who sits on the "Genre Committee" that decides what music is part of what genre?
As I spent the better part of the last 4 days uploading the bulk of my CD collection to iTunes, to dump to my iPod, I noted that some of the genres chosen were laughable.
Actually, They* do an adequate job most of the time. iTunes' alternative is what you see when no Internet connection is available; the songs are imported with generic names: Track 01; Track 02 and so forth. (Advanced/Get CD Track Names will fetch the CDDB info after the fact, as needed)
Other examples: my Reggae CDs became [International] .. distinct from [World], mind you! Clannad's music became [Folk] (versus Celtic). Apparently They were trying to keep it down to 20 genres, worldwide. Oh, please.
And don't even get me started on the "Soundtrack" category. Most of the songs are compiliations, so labeling an album as one genre when the individual songs are quite different just .. well .. befuddles me.
As I spent the better part of the last 4 days uploading the bulk of my CD collection to iTunes, to dump to my iPod, I noted that some of the genres chosen were laughable.(metrics: 474 CDs equalled 5470 songs; 14.5 days; 19.34 GB) Once on my Mac, the download to the iPod took 60 minutes.My biggest peeve is with the [World] genre; this should be abolished (it's very US-centric). At minimum I'd replace it with the country of the musicians. Seeing [Haiti] and [Senegal] means much more to me than (Rest Of) "World" - permanently relegating any non-US music as Second Class. Bah.
Actually, They* do an adequate job most of the time. iTunes' alternative is what you see when no Internet connection is available; the songs are imported with generic names: Track 01; Track 02 and so forth. (Advanced/Get CD Track Names will fetch the CDDB info after the fact, as needed)
*"They" is in flux, apparently; given the history behind the CDDB (and freedb), it's amazing this continues to work at all. iTunes is using Gracenote; there's no (obvious) way to change that provider.While it was amusing to see "Weird Al" Yankovic put into the [Books & Spoken] genre, it was downright irritating to find no consistency among my American Indian selections .. listed randomnly as [World], [Folk], or [Unclassifiable].
Other examples: my Reggae CDs became [International] .. distinct from [World], mind you! Clannad's music became [Folk] (versus Celtic). Apparently They were trying to keep it down to 20 genres, worldwide. Oh, please.
And don't even get me started on the "Soundtrack" category. Most of the songs are compiliations, so labeling an album as one genre when the individual songs are quite different just .. well .. befuddles me.
Saturday, January 28
how much grief for "10% off" ?
yes, it's true .. I love a good deal. So when I spotted Trish-Bob's mention of buy.com I moseyed over there. I don't own an iPod (yet) but am a big fan of iTunes, so the Bluetooth headphones can wait awhile (I listen to podcasts on my Palm Tungsten T5).
Somehow I found buy.com's "10% off Amazon" promo; I have a long list of "Wish List" books, and decided to put them to the test. They had most of the stuff I wanted, but their website needs serious work if they hope to compete with Bezos and family.
1- their search engine reeks. Often I'd input a book title, and was told the book didn't exist. On a hunch, I input the author's name instead and voila! - there was my book. Hmmm.
2- Several times, I'd click [Buy] and nothing happened; I would then click [Buy] again. Not surprisingly, it incremented the counter, thinking I wanted multiple copies. I learned to wait for the "final screen" and changed all the quantity 2 and 3 back to 1, rather than fight it each time their server stalled.
3- The Cookie Issue: buy.com suggested I enable all cookies for all websites. Uh, no .. that ain't gonna happen (I spend enough time fighting spyware as it is). I allowed cookies for buy.com itself, and all worked okay until checkout time, when it folded its arms and refused to budge. Argh! I fired up a different browser, fed it the URL and crossed my fingers, hoping it would remember the contents of my shopping cart. It worked!
4- After I ordered the books, I noticed a caveat: "There is an order limit of 5 books per order, per customer." It allowed me to go all the way through my Wish List, and never said anything about this limit during the ordering process. I guess they want to enforce as much grief as possible, by making me artificially split my order into 5-book chunks.
Bottom line: buy.com was frustrating, but I did save 10% over Amazon.com .. so it wasn't a wasted effort. In theory, most will be shipped in 1-2 business days (others are backordered). I didn't have to leave the confines of my domicile, wandering the aisles of Half-Price Books. Woo hoo.
Somehow I found buy.com's "10% off Amazon" promo; I have a long list of "Wish List" books, and decided to put them to the test. They had most of the stuff I wanted, but their website needs serious work if they hope to compete with Bezos and family.
1- their search engine reeks. Often I'd input a book title, and was told the book didn't exist. On a hunch, I input the author's name instead and voila! - there was my book. Hmmm.
2- Several times, I'd click [Buy] and nothing happened; I would then click [Buy] again. Not surprisingly, it incremented the counter, thinking I wanted multiple copies. I learned to wait for the "final screen" and changed all the quantity 2 and 3 back to 1, rather than fight it each time their server stalled.
3- The Cookie Issue: buy.com suggested I enable all cookies for all websites. Uh, no .. that ain't gonna happen (I spend enough time fighting spyware as it is). I allowed cookies for buy.com itself, and all worked okay until checkout time, when it folded its arms and refused to budge. Argh! I fired up a different browser, fed it the URL and crossed my fingers, hoping it would remember the contents of my shopping cart. It worked!
4- After I ordered the books, I noticed a caveat: "There is an order limit of 5 books per order, per customer." It allowed me to go all the way through my Wish List, and never said anything about this limit during the ordering process. I guess they want to enforce as much grief as possible, by making me artificially split my order into 5-book chunks.
Bottom line: buy.com was frustrating, but I did save 10% over Amazon.com .. so it wasn't a wasted effort. In theory, most will be shipped in 1-2 business days (others are backordered). I didn't have to leave the confines of my domicile, wandering the aisles of Half-Price Books. Woo hoo.
Saturday, December 25
big snow in Texas? ROAD TRIP!
It's only 300 miles to Victoria, Texas (west of San Antonio, sorta) .. I should drive down there and play in the "foot or so" of snow they got ("first white Christmas in 86 years"). Then again, with temps in the 50's today, it'd be all melted up by the time I got there. What little snow we had in Dallas is all but gone.
I know (of) several people who got iPods for Christmas; word is the earbuds that come with them are (surprise! surprise!) not the highest quality. I heard good things about Etymotic 's ER-6i but since those cost about half of an iPod, they better not be half bad (using Texas' Yew Git What Yew Pay Fer theory).
Rambo and I moseyed up to Trisshinscott's today, and the tyke immediately piddled on the carpet. {sigh} Time for a timeout! He went outside to bond with Barqs and Pepper, and returned with an improved attitude (he's currently sleeping on my feet). Trish ("nice headlights!") fed me some of Scott's mirliton(A) casserole (also spelled merliton) which was very yummy. I'm gonna start hanging around their backdoor, in hopes of table scraps.
Well, it's time for me to finish screening my latest DVD: D.W. Griffith's 1915 silent! flick Birth of a Nation, which is all about the early days of the Republican Party. I hope Rambo likes popcorn.
I know (of) several people who got iPods for Christmas; word is the earbuds that come with them are (surprise! surprise!) not the highest quality. I heard good things about Etymotic 's ER-6i but since those cost about half of an iPod, they better not be half bad (using Texas' Yew Git What Yew Pay Fer theory).
Rambo and I moseyed up to Trisshinscott's today, and the tyke immediately piddled on the carpet. {sigh} Time for a timeout! He went outside to bond with Barqs and Pepper, and returned with an improved attitude (he's currently sleeping on my feet). Trish ("nice headlights!") fed me some of Scott's mirliton(A) casserole (also spelled merliton) which was very yummy. I'm gonna start hanging around their backdoor, in hopes of table scraps.
(A) The Cook's Thesaurus lists 17 other names for mirliton squash: chayote; cho-cho; chocho; choko; christophene ; christophine; chuchu; custard marrow; mango squash; pear squash; pepinella; pepinello; sousous; vegetable pear; xoxo and xuxu. I think they just flat out made up those last two!Rambo and Beta (the Wonder Dog) bonded easily yesterday, after the initial - and expected - my growl's bigger than your growl posturing that takes place between canines.
Well, it's time for me to finish screening my latest DVD: D.W. Griffith's 1915 silent! flick Birth of a Nation, which is all about the early days of the Republican Party. I hope Rambo likes popcorn.
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