I'm writing this entry using a brand new iPod touch, which I picked up today as a present for a family member. (I had to make sure it would work properly, right?!)
I think people (myself included) tend to overuse the word "amazing," but the new touch-screen iPod from Apple Inc. truly is. I suppose iPhone owners have been experiencing this for a few months now, so in one sense this is nothing new. But at the same time, the fact that this device is pushing the iPhone's brilliance into a new market makes it an even more significant consumer product. This is not a phone that requires a customer to use a certain carrier and sign a lenghty contract. It's an iPod--and a terrific one--that also happens to be a dynamite mobile web browser. When I saw the announcement about the iPod touch, I remember thinking, "Game over. What mp3 player can compete with this?" Now that I have one in my hands, I think I may have understated the situation. I wouldn't want to be on the Zune team right about now.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
The Amazon MP3 Store
Amazon.com has made a serious entry into the online music download world with the Amazon MP3 Store
. As far as I can tell, this is the only pay-per-download option that has any real chance to challenge Apple's iTunes Store in the digital music market. It has a lot going for it:
1. The files have no DRM. You can do with them as you please.
2. The store sells 256 kbps MP3 files. This is pretty high quality stuff. Not as high as the 256k AAC files you get from iTunes Plus for $1.29 a track [Apple has lowered their prices to $0.99 per track now], but the fact that they are MP3 makes them fully interoperable with any crappy non-iPod device you may want to use. And that's nice for some people. Also...
3. The prices are same or lower than the regular tracks from iTunes: most are $0.89 and $0.99 each, with albums ranging from $4.99 to $9.99.
In addition to all this, it's a very decent, functional Mac interface. (I can't speak to the Windows interface, but I usually presume that most Windows users don't care much about functionality or an attractive interface. That's why they're running Windows.) When you purchase an album, you are prompted to download and install the Amazon MP3 Downloader application, which is launched by your browser. The Downloader is recommended but not required for individual song track purchases. When the tracks are finished downloading, the app launches iTunes and adds them to your music library, where they will be synced to your iPod the next time you connect it.
Here's what the Amazon MP3 Downloader app looks like on OS X (click to enlarge):
(I don't necessarily recommend buying this particular Coltrane album. It's a low-fi live recording. If you want great live Coltrane, check out Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
. It's tremendously good and of fantastic quality.)
The dock icon looks a little weird, though. It seems disproportionately large:
But we can forgive them for that. It sure beats Adobe's new dock icons, anyway.
All in all, I am thrilled that there is finally a decent competitor to iTunes out there. As much as I love iTunes, the best thing that can happen to a great consumer product is a strong challenge within a free market system. And that's what Amazon's MP3 Store appears to be. Go try it for yourself!
. As far as I can tell, this is the only pay-per-download option that has any real chance to challenge Apple's iTunes Store in the digital music market. It has a lot going for it:1. The files have no DRM. You can do with them as you please.
2. The store sells 256 kbps MP3 files. This is pretty high quality stuff. Not as high as the 256k AAC files you get from iTunes Plus for $1.29 a track [Apple has lowered their prices to $0.99 per track now], but the fact that they are MP3 makes them fully interoperable with any crappy non-iPod device you may want to use. And that's nice for some people. Also...
3. The prices are same or lower than the regular tracks from iTunes: most are $0.89 and $0.99 each, with albums ranging from $4.99 to $9.99.
In addition to all this, it's a very decent, functional Mac interface. (I can't speak to the Windows interface, but I usually presume that most Windows users don't care much about functionality or an attractive interface. That's why they're running Windows.) When you purchase an album, you are prompted to download and install the Amazon MP3 Downloader application, which is launched by your browser. The Downloader is recommended but not required for individual song track purchases. When the tracks are finished downloading, the app launches iTunes and adds them to your music library, where they will be synced to your iPod the next time you connect it.
Here's what the Amazon MP3 Downloader app looks like on OS X (click to enlarge):
(I don't necessarily recommend buying this particular Coltrane album. It's a low-fi live recording. If you want great live Coltrane, check out Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
. It's tremendously good and of fantastic quality.)The dock icon looks a little weird, though. It seems disproportionately large:
But we can forgive them for that. It sure beats Adobe's new dock icons, anyway.
All in all, I am thrilled that there is finally a decent competitor to iTunes out there. As much as I love iTunes, the best thing that can happen to a great consumer product is a strong challenge within a free market system. And that's what Amazon's MP3 Store appears to be. Go try it
for yourself!
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Review: The Bronx Is Burning
I'm a fan of baseball history, the Yankees, and John Turturro. So when ESPN announced they'd be airing a summer miniseries about the 1977 Yankees with Turturro playing Billy Martin, I knew it would be appointment viewing. Now that the series is finished, I am planning on buying the DVD box set. Here are a few quick thoughts for those who may not have seen the show when it aired.
The key characters in this drama are the famous hate triangle of Billy Martin (played ably by Turturro), George Steinbrenner (Oliver Platt), and Reggie Jackson (Daniel Sanjata). All three actors play their characters with aplomb, almost to the point of suspended disbelief. This is particularly true of Turturro and Platt, whose interactions as Billy and Steinbrenner are mesmerizing.
A central technique of the series was to use archival ABC footage of the 1977 season for the game scenes. This was a winner in two respects. First, there were none of the goofy game sequences that so often derail Hollywood sports dramas. There's nothing more embarrassing to watch than a movie star trying to catch a Hail Mary pass, set a hard pick, or lay down a bunt. (That said, Sanjata swung a convincing lefty bat when the script called for a batter's box close-up.)
The second benefit of the archival footage was that it gave the show a perfectly dated feel. I got a hearty chuckle every time they showed the oh-so-70s "ABC Presents the World Series" graphic, and actual footage of Howard Cosell in the booth squawking into one of those thin gray microphones made me feel like it was 1977 all over again. Well, not really—I was swimming in amniotic fluid during most of 1977, but you know what I mean, right?
In addition to the game sequences, most episodes end with a "Backstory" segment that includes interview footage from the actual players in the drama: mostly Reggie Jackson and members of the New York press, but even Steinbrenner gives an appearance or two. Sadly, Billy Martin's hard life ended with his 1989 death in a drunk-driving incident. But some family members provide good context in the "Backstory" bits.
My main criticism of the show is that they also included a side plot about the hunt for the Son of Sam serial killer. This was interesting enough, I suppose, and it was good to see the dad from The Wonder Years getting some much-deserved work, but it ended up seeming like a distraction to the main narrative arc about baseball. It was a classic case of it being both too much and not enough; if they'd played it up more, it would have worked better, but because it was very clearly a secondary plot point, it was out of place.
But baseball fans will still get a lot of enjoyment out of this well-done miniseries, and the DVD box set has two hours of additional footage that I'm really looking forward to seeing.
For more detail about the show or to buy the DVD set, check out the Amazon product listing:
The key characters in this drama are the famous hate triangle of Billy Martin (played ably by Turturro), George Steinbrenner (Oliver Platt), and Reggie Jackson (Daniel Sanjata). All three actors play their characters with aplomb, almost to the point of suspended disbelief. This is particularly true of Turturro and Platt, whose interactions as Billy and Steinbrenner are mesmerizing.
A central technique of the series was to use archival ABC footage of the 1977 season for the game scenes. This was a winner in two respects. First, there were none of the goofy game sequences that so often derail Hollywood sports dramas. There's nothing more embarrassing to watch than a movie star trying to catch a Hail Mary pass, set a hard pick, or lay down a bunt. (That said, Sanjata swung a convincing lefty bat when the script called for a batter's box close-up.)
The second benefit of the archival footage was that it gave the show a perfectly dated feel. I got a hearty chuckle every time they showed the oh-so-70s "ABC Presents the World Series" graphic, and actual footage of Howard Cosell in the booth squawking into one of those thin gray microphones made me feel like it was 1977 all over again. Well, not really—I was swimming in amniotic fluid during most of 1977, but you know what I mean, right?
In addition to the game sequences, most episodes end with a "Backstory" segment that includes interview footage from the actual players in the drama: mostly Reggie Jackson and members of the New York press, but even Steinbrenner gives an appearance or two. Sadly, Billy Martin's hard life ended with his 1989 death in a drunk-driving incident. But some family members provide good context in the "Backstory" bits.
My main criticism of the show is that they also included a side plot about the hunt for the Son of Sam serial killer. This was interesting enough, I suppose, and it was good to see the dad from The Wonder Years getting some much-deserved work, but it ended up seeming like a distraction to the main narrative arc about baseball. It was a classic case of it being both too much and not enough; if they'd played it up more, it would have worked better, but because it was very clearly a secondary plot point, it was out of place.
But baseball fans will still get a lot of enjoyment out of this well-done miniseries, and the DVD box set has two hours of additional footage that I'm really looking forward to seeing.
For more detail about the show or to buy the DVD set, check out the Amazon product listing:
Friday, September 21, 2007
Welcome back to to P.F.
Hi everyone, and welcome back. I've just taken the past sixteen weeks off from blogging so I could train for a marathon, which I completed last Sunday. The break did me good.
I hope you like the new look. I've got some exciting stuff in store for the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, so keep your eyes peeled, and put me back in your feed readers!
Meanwhile, enjoy the first new issue of The Holy Observer since 2004! See if you can guess which stuff I wrote.
I hope you like the new look. I've got some exciting stuff in store for the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, so keep your eyes peeled, and put me back in your feed readers!
Meanwhile, enjoy the first new issue of The Holy Observer since 2004! See if you can guess which stuff I wrote.
Friday, September 07, 2007
On Turning 30
I turned 30 on Saturday. Abel and Tracey made me a cake. Nothing philosophical to say; I just wanted to show you what matters to me:
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