Stan's List

Apple announces that over 5 billion songs have been downloaded. The milestone seemingly has no where to go but up, especially with the largest music catalog now with over 8 million songs, 2 million more than just a few months ago. More than 50,000 movies are rented or purchased everyday.

The iPhone is predicted to steal market share from the iPod. I have a 3rd and 4th generation iPod, and each are used often. The iPhone will not replace these iPods. With an iPhone, I do not want a video iPod. This will only continue with an increased capacity iPhone. What becomes a possibility is an Apple TV.

The Mac web has been abuzz over what Apple must have in mind for the PPC CPU company. ZDNet suggests that, in response to the military’s request for a non-Intel laptop, the PA Semi’s dual-core, 64-bit, low-power PWRficient processor will be seen in future. This is a design based on IBM’s Power 3 CPU’s, cousins to the G5 processors.

Forbes’ initial report, for example claimed the P.A. Semi deal “could spell a new future for Apple’s flagship iPhone.” Ars Technica concluded that Apple’s move “disses Intel’s Atom”-a reference to the new low-power processor line from Apple’s chipmaker of choice.

Is it just to obtain patent rights, and the engineers who created those patent rights, as some have suggested? Apples secrecy is not strange to us. It will be a wait and see.

All along it was thought that the lack of agreement between Apple and the labels was keeping the tunes locked. Then Amazon.com announced DRM free music It seemed certain that labels purposely denied Apple the same opportunity? According to afterdawn.com, the truth is a bit surprising, then logical. After all, it is the recording labels we are talking about.

Use iPod Reset Utility to restore the following iPod models back to their factory settings, when iTunes is unable to do so:

• iPod shuffle (1st Generation)
• iPod shuffle (2nd Generation)

The restore process completely erases all music and data on your iPod, and installs current iPod software on it.

The New York Post reports that with hundreds of million dollars collected, starting with Napster, with the stated purpose of compensating music artist for lost revenue, nothing has been paid. This has caused artist representatives to consider legal action It appears the bad press is motivating the labels into release some proceeds from the Napster settlement. More …

With flash memory quite cheap, Apple has announced the 2 GB iPod shuffle for $69, which is the same price as was the 1 GB model. The 1 GB iPod shuffle is now $49, each holding 500 and 240 songs respectively. While the 2 GB model is due toward the end of the month, the price of the 1 GB model is already $49

The DOJ does not care about a single company creating a music store, internet or otherwise. Neither does Apple, as there has not been one, expect Amazon.com, that has keep Apple awake at nights. Yet, when you have a number of music companies thinking about starting the their own music store, the alarms go off at Pennsylvania Avenue. The Wall Street Journal reports “Universal and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the No. 1 and No. 2 music companies in the world, by market share, have gotten letters of inquiry from the Justice Department.”

If you buy any 20th Century Fox DVD labeled ‘iTunes Digital Copy’ you’ll will have a digital copy along with the physical DVD. You can view the movie on your Mac, iPod, or iPhone as many times as you like (since you own the movie) but the digital copy can only be imported into one iTunes library.

This AppleCare article explains just how to transfer that digital copy into iTunes, and once done, into video iPod, Apple TV or iPhone.

According to Wired, Apple has confirmed that the movie rentals will not play on fifth generation iPods sold before September, 2007. This has upset a number of users and Apple has not indicated that a firmware update coming. One problem mentioned is the “analog hole” in fifth generation iPods that could enable saving the rental to a DVR or camcorder. If true, the hole would be in the iPod’s hardware and thus not patchable, unless there is off switch.

A Rolling Stone blog delves in what many consider a subjective area (just read the comments). Has the move to mobile music invited a less than high fidelity sound. Music has been subject to the “loudness war” where the engineers raise the sound levels to compensate for the less quality expected from portable music players and computer stereo speakers. What are the alternatives? MP3 in 256 kbps is considered to be close to CD quality. A very interesting article. More …

Read the comments from mostly producers and artists, there is some mud slinging, but lots of information. Some will sound like my comments below.

I extracted the audio source “California Hotel” from the Eagles “Hell Freezes Over” video DVD. I exported it to a 44.1 KHz .aiff file. This created an outstanding sounding file, and without a doubt, at least, true CD quality. It is one single song, 70.3 MB, and too large to burn to a normal CD, without compression. Fortunately that is not necessary, as my iPod and IPhone play it close to true quality. The iPod, in its cradle, is often connected to a soon to be replaced, but adequate Gemini PA-7000 pre-amp (the previous crashed and burned), a Soundcraftsmen PM-840 amplifier and Bose 901 Series 1 speakers. I have had the amplifier and speakers for 30 years. There is no doubt analog output is warmer and more dynamic with high fidelity equipment. Even CD’s and the iPod are clearer and silent parts (mainly classical music) are so quiet. I love to listen.

The fault is the engineers presuming to know what we want to hear. This is also a plausible cause for the reduction in CD buying. CD quality is very poor.

This video explains why dynamic range matters
There is anther YouTube example of the “loudness wars”