From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V4 #4 Reply-To: loud-fans@smoe.org Sender: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk loud-fans-digest Wednesday, January 7 2004 Volume 04 : Number 004 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? ["West Moran" ] Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? [Stewart Mason ] Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? [Miles Goosens ] Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? [Roger Winston ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 01:18:32 -0800 From: "West Moran" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? Michael writed: > This is a question that I've been wondering about since I got my > iPod, and with the introduction of the new "mini" models, more > folks may be facing similar questions: > > How do you use iTunes, in terms of structuring the library, > designing playlists, etc.? > > What I find is that I tend to create playlists for each artist, > usually career-spanning samplers for artists for whom no good > compilation exists (i.e. Low, or Lori Carson, or Sam Phillips or > Smart Brown Handbag) from their albums, singles, and miscellany. > I rarely rip an entire album at a time, since I'm rarely > listening to albums per se on my iPod. I also don't do a lot of > work creating "mix tapes" for moods or atmosphere, although I > suppose I could do that - if I planned to burn them for later CD > listening. At the rate I'm going, I'll have the iPod full in > another month or two of creating one or two playlists per night, > but this could obviously take quite a while. This is pretty much my approach. I have, for some time now, compiled my own "box sets" of my favorite artists which include all the songs I love and enjoy, and burned them onto CDs. Now I'm just putting these into the iPod and assigning each artist a playlist. My only hassle is that my computer cannot accommodate all 40 GB of music that I intend to put into the iPod, so as soon as I upload a playlist into it, I burn all the MP3s onto CDs and then delete them from the computer. This will come in handy if I should have to update the playlist for an artist who's still recording, or (heaven forbid) I drop it in the Grand Canyon or run over it or something, and need to start all over. The two guys I haven't gotten around to compiling in any way just yet are Elvis Costello and Frank Zappa. Yikes. Them's gonna take some time. Y'know, someday I'll meet a woman who can tolerate my excessive geekiness... and she'll be with a better-looking guy. West ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 08:48:36 -0500 From: Betsy Lescosky Way Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? My 30GB is nearly full at this point, but I also use mine as a portable hard drive so it's not all music. I've been playing around with the Smart Playlists, and making playlists for certain years, songs with certain words in the title, song playcount, and other such goofiness. I also have regular play lists by single artists and with songs I just like a lot. But I almost always listen to the whole song list or my playlists on shuffle. I generally rip entire albums, and once I copy them to my iPod, I delete them out of iTunes. IMO, the new mini 'pods are too expensive. However, I prefer large capacity to a small form factor, so that's just me (my iPod gets used almost exclusively in the car or at home; no jogging, gym, walking the dogs or anything crazy like that). I like the new aluminum cases, though. Very nice. - --betsy betsy lescosky way pantone_367@mac.com http://homepage.mac.com/pantone_367 On Jan 6, 2004, at 2:59 PM, Michael Zwirn wrote: > This is a question that I've been wondering about since I got my > iPod, and with the introduction of the new "mini" models, more > folks may be facing similar questions: > > How do you use iTunes, in terms of structuring the library, > designing playlists, etc.? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 08:39:01 -0600 From: Chris Prew Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? >> This is a question that I've been wondering about since I got my >> iPod, and with the introduction of the new "mini" models, more >> folks may be facing similar questions: >> >> How do you use iTunes, in terms of structuring the library, >> designing playlists, etc.? > > I'm an album listener. My playlists are almost exclusively albums. I also use smart playlists, to create a play list of albums I've added within, say, the past 45 days, and then I shuffle those by album. Occassionally I'll create a greatest hits playlist, but not very often. If you are an iPod/iTunes user who has more Mp3s on your computer than space on your iPod, and are a Mac user, you need to get an applescript called "iTunes Library Manager", which allows you to keep multiple iTunes Libraries on your Mac. I have one Library for Everything, and one Library for my iPod, and I'm thinking about setting up a new Library for work play (no residents, no harry partch, no merzbow). That way, I can set up my iPod Library in iTunes, plug in my iPod, and copy the Library in its entirety with no interaction from me. Its fully enabled shareware, available at http://www.malcolmadams.com/itunes/. Lots of cool free iTunes scripts there, including ones to automagically create playlists out of all your albums in your library, remove dead tracks, etc. I even created one that removes the "The" from artists name off the playlist. I just found a cool one there that allows you to splice Mp3 tracks together. Take that, Mercury Rev! Stewart makes a good point....are you backing up your music collection? Chris The new mac "GarageBand" software looks really cool. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 13:58:18 -0500 From: Stewart Mason Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? At 08:48 AM 1/7/2004 -0500, Betsy Lescosky Way wrote: >IMO, the new mini 'pods are too expensive. However, I prefer large >capacity to a small form factor, so that's just me (my iPod gets used >almost exclusively in the car or at home; no jogging, gym, walking the >dogs or anything crazy like that). I like the new aluminum cases, >though. Very nice. I was shocked when I read about the announcement in today's paper. I understand the desire to introduce something at a lower price point with a smaller drive -- and 4G is more than I expected, I was assuming it would be more like the tiny half-gig or whatever players that companies like Rio and Virgin Pulse do -- but what the hell? $249 for four gigs. $299 for ten gigs. If you've got $250 burning a hole in your pocket, you're probably going to be able to scrape up the extra fifty for more than twice the storage capacity, and I can't think of any situations where something physically smaller than the iPod already IS will be useful. I don't get it. S ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 11:04:53 -0800 (PST) From: "Joseph M. Mallon" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? On Wed, 7 Jan 2004, Chris Prew wrote: > >> This is a question that I've been wondering about since I got my > >> iPod, and with the introduction of the new "mini" models, more > >> folks may be facing similar questions: > >> > >> How do you use iTunes, in terms of structuring the library, > >> designing playlists, etc.? Since this discussion has turned from how iTunes is used to how the iPod is used, I can finally jump in. I've been using a program called XPlay, since I was running Windows 98. Stocking-wise, it's about 1/2 random songs downloaded or ripped over the years, grouped by year/genre (e.g. 70s Soul) and 1/2 albums/single-artist collections. Most of the albums have been on there a while, but I'll add new ones when I get them, and thin out the old ones at that time. I'm usually @ about 98% capactiy, and have been for some time. Listening-wise, it's shuffle-play almost exclusively, since I use it at work & on the train, where listening to a whole album isn't always practical. Has anyone had a WIndows iPod, then gotten a Mac? If so, how did you transition the iPod? > The new mac "GarageBand" software looks really cool. Yes it does. Joe Mallon jmmallon@joescafe.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 14:05:33 -0500 (EST) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? On Wed, 7 Jan 2004, Stewart Mason wrote: > If you've got $250 burning a hole in your pocket, you're probably going > to be able to scrape up the extra fifty for more than twice the storage > capacity, Unless you don't care that much. Based on my experience with the 5G iPod and with mp3 libraries on my actual hard drive, I feel like the usefulness plateaus around 4G and 20G for me. If I were entering the iPod market now, I would be strongly tempted by the new minis. Especially since: > and I can't think of any situations where something > physically smaller than the iPod already IS will be useful. The current iPod fits nicely into my pants pocket, but I can't put much of anything else into the same pocket at the same time. I haven't held a new iPod in my hand, so I don't know how much of a difference it would make, but something half the size of my old iPod would definitely change the way I used it. a ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 11:21:24 -0800 From: Elizabeth Brion Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? On Wednesday, January 7, 2004, at 10:58 AM, Stewart Mason wrote: > > I was shocked when I read about the announcement in today's paper. I > understand the desire to introduce something at a lower price point > with a > smaller drive -- and 4G is more than I expected, I was assuming it > would be > more like the tiny half-gig or whatever players that companies like > Rio and > Virgin Pulse do -- but what the hell? I'm rather embarrassed to say that that was my reaction as well - until I saw you could get a pink one. Now I am crazed with consumer lust. And I do like the extra tininess as well - it'd be great for going to the gym and such. I'm still scheming to come up with the cash to buy my first iPod (which will absolutely be the 40gb model) after all this time, so nobody should take me too seriously, but in my perfect world I'd get a mini for working out (it would only contain working-out-appropriate songs, so I could probably keep that to 1,000) and a regular one for everything else. E ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 14:24:59 -0500 From: Stewart Mason Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? At 02:05 PM 1/7/2004 -0500, Aaron Mandel wrote: >On Wed, 7 Jan 2004, Stewart Mason wrote: > >> If you've got $250 burning a hole in your pocket, you're probably going >> to be able to scrape up the extra fifty for more than twice the storage >> capacity, > >Unless you don't care that much. Based on my experience with the 5G iPod >and with mp3 libraries on my actual hard drive, I feel like the usefulness >plateaus around 4G and 20G for me. If I were entering the iPod market now, >I would be strongly tempted by the new minis. That's unusual and admirable restraint. Charity and I went out for dim sum with our usual crowd Sunday morning, which includes ex-listees Jonathan Ostrowsky and Lisa Farley. Lisa was talking about her brand new iPod, and when I asked which one she'd gotten, replied "The 40 gig, of course! How could I not?" Similarly, my friend Jim got a 10G from his wife for Christmas -- it was all they had left in all of Manhattan, apparently -- and is already making plans to trade up ASAP. S ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 14:43:18 -0500 (EST) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? On Wed, 7 Jan 2004, Stewart Mason wrote: > Lisa was talking about her brand new iPod, and when I asked which one > she'd gotten, replied "The 40 gig, of course! How could I not?" Well, yeah, that would be my second choice. I would love to have the functional equivalent of "anything I'd ever want to listen to" on an iPod; 40G isn't quite there yet, but hard drive size might be growing faster than my collection -- that's part of the reason I'm not upgrading my old 5G iPod yet, mini or no. a ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 13:20:11 -0800 (PST) From: "Joseph M. Mallon" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? On Wed, 7 Jan 2004, Elizabeth Brion wrote: > I'm rather embarrassed to say that that was my reaction as well - until > I saw you could get a pink one. Now I am crazed with consumer lust. And > I do like the extra tininess as well - it'd be great for going to the > gym and such. My main fear would be that it would be so tiny that my stubby fingers couldn't hit the buttons accurately. On Wed, 7 Jan 2004, Stewart Mason wrote: > That's unusual and admirable restraint. Charity and I went out for dim sum > with our usual crowd Sunday morning, which includes ex-listees Jonathan > Ostrowsky and Lisa Farley. Lisa was talking about her brand new iPod, and > when I asked which one she'd gotten, replied "The 40 gig, of course! How > could I not?" When I got the 20GB a year or so ago, I thought I'd have a tough time filling it. Au contraire. Like TiVo, the iPod invites heretofore unconsidered profligacy. Do I really need the entire catalog of Ben Folds at my fingertips? No, but I can have it, so why not? For those who'd like a list of what's on their iPods, I've written a Perl program (executable on Windows, but will run on Mac OS X & Linux, too) that will read your iTunesDB & generate a web page & text file. Combine this with some grepping & you'll be able to weed out duplicates and get a handle on just who's sitting on your iPod: http://www.joescafe.com/tunes2html Joe Mallon jmmallon@joescafe.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 13:26:05 -0800 (PST) From: "Joseph M. Mallon" Subject: [loud-fans] Delivery Status Notification (Failure) Dennis (or whoever's doing list admin duty), Please take care of this. Joe Mallon jmmallon@joescafe.com - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 13:30:16 -0800 From: postmaster@donsuemor.com To: jmmallon@joescafe.com Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure) This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification. Delivery to the following recipients failed. micah@donsuemor.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 16:33:24 -0500 From: Stewart Mason Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? At 01:20 PM 1/7/2004 -0800, Joseph M. Mallon wrote: >On Wed, 7 Jan 2004, Elizabeth Brion wrote: >> I'm rather embarrassed to say that that was my reaction as well - until >> I saw you could get a pink one. Now I am crazed with consumer lust. And >> I do like the extra tininess as well - it'd be great for going to the >> gym and such. > >My main fear would be that it would be so tiny that my stubby fingers >couldn't hit the buttons accurately. Yes, but Elizabeth is a delicate flower and therefore the Lilliputian controls will be no trouble for her sylph-like digits. Personally, I'm trying to figure out if I can just encase the whole iPod in bubblewrap. Given my inexplicable proclivity for walking into walls, tripping over items smaller than the protons of a helium molecule, randomly dropping anything that I hold, falling down stairs and just generally being an uncoordinated spazzbutt, I'm scared to death that I'm going to destroy the thing! > >On Wed, 7 Jan 2004, Stewart Mason wrote: > >> That's unusual and admirable restraint. Charity and I went out for dim sum >> with our usual crowd Sunday morning, which includes ex-listees Jonathan >> Ostrowsky and Lisa Farley. Lisa was talking about her brand new iPod, and >> when I asked which one she'd gotten, replied "The 40 gig, of course! How >> could I not?" > >When I got the 20GB a year or so ago, I thought I'd have a tough time >filling it. Au contraire. Like TiVo, the iPod invites heretofore >unconsidered profligacy. Do I really need the entire catalog of Ben Folds >at my fingertips? No, but I can have it, so why not? That's exactly why I'm being so parsimonious with what goes on my iPod -- I want every song on it to be something I'd be excited to hear at any given time. For that matter, that's also exactly why we don't have TiVo. I spend enough time already lying in bed watching Most Extreme Elimination Challenge and Good Eats, I don't need some robot brain giving me MORE opportunities. > >For those who'd like a list of what's on their iPods, I've written a Perl >program (executable on Windows, but will run on Mac OS X & Linux, too) >that will read your iTunesDB & generate a web page & text file. Combine >this with some grepping & you'll be able to weed out duplicates and get a >handle on just who's sitting on your iPod: > >http://www.joescafe.com/tunes2html I had just been thinking how handy a program like this would be! Thanks! S ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 13:45:07 -0800 (PST) From: me@justanotherfuckin.com Subject: [loud-fans] goofy driving music Ah, ah, We've come to the land of the ice and snow, from the missing sun where the ice sheets blow. The trailer of the U-haul Will drive our stuff to new lands, To fight I-5, singing and crying: Seattle, I am coming! On we ride with driven wheels of four, Our biggest fear the leaking heater core. Ah, ah, We've come to the land of the ice and snow, from the missing sun where the ice sheets blow. With a bird of green, Two cats, a dog and more, Oh how we calmed the tides of war. We are your overlords. On we ride with driven wheels of four, Our biggest fear the leaking heater core. So now wed better stop and dump the leaking fluid, For four-wheel drive can win the day If we just keep on cruising. - - brianna - -- What's the point of wearing your favorite rocketship underpants if nobody ever asks to see 'em? - Calvin - -- recent adventures in tech support at http://www.pirate.org/people/hello/cat_techterror.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 13:47:07 -0800 (PST) From: "Joseph M. Mallon" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? On Wed, 7 Jan 2004, Stewart Mason wrote: > Yes, but Elizabeth is a delicate flower and therefore the Lilliputian > controls will be no trouble for her sylph-like digits. Of course. Elizabeth, I was referring only to my own stunted digits... > Personally, I'm trying to figure out if I can just encase the whole iPod in > bubblewrap. Given my inexplicable proclivity for walking into walls, > tripping over items smaller than the protons of a helium molecule, randomly > dropping anything that I hold, falling down stairs and just generally being > an uncoordinated spazzbutt, I'm scared to death that I'm going to destroy > the thing! I've dropped mine on a sidewalk, and apart from a tiny chip in the Lucite, it's fine. They seem to be hardy little buggers. > That's exactly why I'm being so parsimonious with what goes on my iPod -- I > want every song on it to be something I'd be excited to hear at any given > time. For that matter, that's also exactly why we don't have TiVo. I > spend enough time already lying in bed watching Most Extreme Elimination > Challenge and Good Eats, I don't need some robot brain giving me MORE > opportunities. You're certainly exercising some control. Even without TiVo's auto-recording feature, we're wathcing more TV. TiVo removes the barriers to recording: * "it's too much of a pain to record that - find a tape, program the VCR, remember which tape it's on" * "we're out of tapes and they're cluttering up the joint" * fast-forwarding easily through commercials (the 8-second-back button rules!) so well that recording marginally intertesting programs becomes much more viable. The pool of acceptable TV grows much deeper. Similarly, with the iPod, the amount of space available and ease of use mean that songs that wouldn't otherwise be interesting slip through... Joe Mallon jmmallon@joescafe.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 13:49:54 -0800 (PST) From: "Joseph M. Mallon" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? On Wed, 7 Jan 2004, Stewart Mason wrote: > For that matter, that's also exactly why we don't have TiVo. I spend > enough time already lying in bed watching Most Extreme Elimination > Challenge and Good Eats, I don't need some robot brain giving me MORE > opportunities. A comment from an outside source, tying it back to Elizabeth (through her bro-in-law & Aimee Mann): "TiVo is the greatest gift I've ever gotten, and that includes *the gift of life*." -- Patton Oswalt Joe Mallon jmmallon@joescafe.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 16:10:42 -0600 From: "Fortissimo" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? On Wed, 7 Jan 2004 13:47:07 -0800 (PST), "Joseph M. Mallon" said: > You're certainly exercising some control. Even without TiVo's > auto-recording feature, we're wathcing more TV. TiVo removes the > barriers to recording: > * "it's too much of a pain to record that - find a tape, program the VCR, > remember which tape it's on" > * "we're out of tapes and they're cluttering up the joint" > * fast-forwarding easily through commercials (the 8-second-back button > rules!) > > so well that recording marginally intertesting programs becomes much more > viable. The pool of acceptable TV grows much deeper. Similarly, with > the > iPod, the amount of space available and ease of use mean that songs that > wouldn't otherwise be interesting slip through... My sense of technological uncoolness increases daily. Probably because my computer's so teeny (if I have more than two CDs' worth of .wav files, it starts getting tetchy), and because downloading 6,000+ CDs fills me with trepidation (hell, it'll take me weeks to catalog my collection using that database thingy from collectorz.com that Miles recommended, I downloaded, and for telling me about which Miles earns my undying simultaneous gratitude and enmity...and all *that* does is read the titles based on CDDB and a few other places), the idea of getting an iPod appeals very little to me. Joe's comments on TiVo remind me of when I first got a VCR in the early '90s. (See?) At first, I would tape every damned movie on air that I had the slightest interest in seeing...until I realized I had around 80 tapes full of approximately 240 movies, or about 480 hours of movie watching in front of me. Do I have 480 hours of movie watching? Well, last year I watched a *total* of 60 movies... I don't know...music has become so easy to acquire in such quantities that for me it's in danger of losing a certain specialness. I sometimes feel as if my goal is, apparently, to listen to every song once and once only, as if I'm a maniacal and wealthy fashionista who must never be seen wearing the same outfit twice. In theory, the idea of being able to randomly wander through my entire collection seems appealing...but the upfront labor seems to me daunting enough to outweigh the beneifts. 'Sides which, I still listen to albums as a whole, usually. Now, someone invent an inexpensive device that can hold 1,000 CDs and automatically download all their contents w/o my being there to push buttons, well, maybe. Still, I actually don't feel the need to have music on *all* the time. Weirdly, the older I get, the more I value silence, too. - ------------------------------- ...Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com/ :: "In two thousand years, they'll still be looking for Elvis - :: this is nothing new," said the priest. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 17:20:43 EST From: LeftyZ@aol.com Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? In a message dated 1/7/04 1:47:51 PM, jmmallon@joescafe.com writes: << You're certainly exercising some control. Even without TiVo's auto-recording feature, we're wathcing more TV. TiVo removes the barriers to recording: * "it's too much of a pain to record that - find a tape, program the VCR, remember which tape it's on" * "we're out of tapes and they're cluttering up the joint" * fast-forwarding easily through commercials (the 8-second-back button rules!) so well that recording marginally intertesting programs becomes much more viable. The pool of acceptable TV grows much deeper. Similarly, with the iPod, the amount of space available and ease of use mean that songs that wouldn't otherwise be interesting slip through... >> I've been wondering if it makes sense to get a Tivo and not subscribe and pay the monthly fee.......sounds like you're saying yes. Left ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 17:21:55 -0500 From: Betsy Lescosky Way Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? On Jan 7, 2004, at 2:24 PM, Stewart Mason wrote: > > That's unusual and admirable restraint. Charity and I went out for > dim sum > with our usual crowd Sunday morning, which includes ex-listees Jonathan > Ostrowsky and Lisa Farley. Lisa was talking about her brand new iPod, > and > when I asked which one she'd gotten, replied "The 40 gig, of course! > How > could I not?" Similarly, my friend Jim got a 10G from his wife for > Christmas -- it was all they had left in all of Manhattan, apparently > -- > and is already making plans to trade up ASAP. > I guess this is where I should admit to originally having a 20GB. I gave it to Doug when I upgraded to the 30GB. Ah, the Apple faithful. I was reading some online forums to see what the general feeling is about these new mini iPods. A point I hadn't considered is that they aren't really competing with the 15-20-30GB iPods, but with the flash players from other companies such as Rio, etc.. I personally would never even consider one of those (256MB? why bother?). But obviously someone's buying them or they wouldn't be making them. I suppose this is the market Apple is apparently hoping to tap. $250 is still steep. For those of you who like to take your iPod in the car, I saw this announcement today: http://tinyurl.com/3emfq (Alpine Debuts World's First Car Audio Head Units That Allow True Integration With iPod) betsy lescosky way pantone_367@mac.com homepage.mac.com/pantone_367 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 16:25:01 -0600 From: "Fortissimo" Subject: [loud-fans] droolworthy news currently at http://www.matadorrecords.com/news/index.html "Matador Records is totally psyched to announce the signing of Mission Of Burma. The new album - their first new studio recordings in 22 years - is tentatively scheduled for worldwide release in May 2004....The new album, as yet untitled, is being recorded at Boston's Q-Division studios, engineered by Bob Weston with assistance from Rick Harte. Miller, Conley, and Prescott all share songwriting and production duties, and many of the new songs have been unveiled at recent shows." - ------------------------------- ...Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com/ :: Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb :: --Batman ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 16:51:44 -0600 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? At 04:10 PM 1/7/2004 -0600, Fortissimo wrote: >trepidation (hell, it'll take me weeks to catalog my collection using >that database thingy from collectorz.com that Miles recommended, I >downloaded, and for telling me about which Miles earns my undying >simultaneous gratitude and enmity For clarity's sake, let me add that I did this in an off-list conversation involving Rog and Jeff. Coincidentally, just minutes later, Stewart recommended what I think was the same program (but maybe not: Stewart said "CD Collector," I'm talking about Music Collector) on-list. The world is weird enough without getting the Loud-Fans Space-Time Continuum mixed up. I've used this program since 1997, back when it was called "Keep It Compact," so I've been extremely satisfied with this product for nearly seven years... ...wait, it's been seven years since 1997? Talk about a space-time continuum mix-up, geezus. What the hell happened? Anyway, the most evil thing about recent versions of the program for long-time users like me is the feature that searches other online info sources besides CDDB (Amazon.com, the All-Music Guide, etc.). I mean, the program has had that "Add Cover Art" feature for years, but I never wanted to bother to scan CD booklets. However, now that the program will automatically download cover art from Amazon.com, I find myself going through CDs I've already scanned and pressing that "Update CD" button *a lot* these days. later, Miles ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 14:51:24 -0800 From: Elizabeth Brion Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? On Wednesday, January 7, 2004, at 01:33 PM, Stewart Mason wrote: >> My main fear would be that it would be so tiny that my stubby fingers >> couldn't hit the buttons accurately. > > Yes, but Elizabeth is a delicate flower and therefore the Lilliputian > controls will be no trouble for her sylph-like digits. Heh. Thanks. Considering that I have to buy my watches in the children's department, I guess I can't argue with that. However, I was convinced when I got my cell phone that even my sylphlike digits would never be able to use its miniscule keypad correctly; I can't remember the last time I even thought about that, so I guess you get accustomed to such things. > > Personally, I'm trying to figure out if I can just encase the whole > iPod in > bubblewrap. Given my inexplicable proclivity for walking into walls, > tripping over items smaller than the protons of a helium molecule, > randomly > dropping anything that I hold, falling down stairs and just generally > being > an uncoordinated spazzbutt, I'm scared to death that I'm going to > destroy > the thing! Unfortunately, I have to say "me too" to this paragraph. It's especially tragic when you remember the whole "delicate flower" thing. Once when I was much younger, I was trying to rip off Loni Anderson's speech on WRKP about not being a secretary but a receptionist, and receptionists receive, blah blah blah, to a coworker who was always asking me to type his letters although I could not type. I got caught up in the drama of the whole thing and was making an elegant crossing to the edge of my desk when I got my high heel caught in the wastebasket and instead elegantly fell down with my butt lodged firmly in said wastebasket. Later, I had to go home because my enormous circular bruise made sitting quite impossible. Which has nothing to do with an iPod, I just thought of it and was vaguely amused and thought I'd share with the class. Anyway, I feel like I've seen fairly sturdy iPod cases for sale on one of the accessory sites; probably worth a Google. E ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 18:12:35 -0500 From: Stewart Mason Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? At 04:51 PM 1/7/2004 -0600, Miles Goosens wrote: >At 04:10 PM 1/7/2004 -0600, Fortissimo wrote: >>trepidation (hell, it'll take me weeks to catalog my collection using >>that database thingy from collectorz.com that Miles recommended, I >>downloaded, and for telling me about which Miles earns my undying >>simultaneous gratitude and enmity > >For clarity's sake, let me add that I did this in an off-list >conversation involving Rog and Jeff. Coincidentally, just minutes >later, Stewart recommended what I think was the same program (but >maybe not: Stewart said "CD Collector," I'm talking about Music >Collector) on-list. The world is weird enough without getting the >Loud-Fans Space-Time Continuum mixed up. No, that's the one. I keep forgetting the actual name of the program, since I tend to refer to it only as "that lovely, lovely database software." I really can't recommend it enough. >Anyway, the most evil thing about recent versions of the program for >long-time users like me is the feature that searches other online info >sources besides CDDB (Amazon.com, the All-Music Guide, etc.). I mean, >the program has had that "Add Cover Art" feature for years, but I never >wanted to bother to scan CD booklets. However, now that the program >will automatically download cover art from Amazon.com, I find myself >going through CDs I've already scanned and pressing that "Update CD" >button *a lot* these days. I have to admit, I have not yet used that feature once. Given that pretty much my entire day job revolves around editing, updating and otherwise futzing with All Music Guide pages, the desire to make my own database look like AMG entries doesn't hold much appeal! However, someday when the collection is completely catalogued -- the CDs are into the compilations, with soundtracks, classical and Charity's mammoth world section to go, the LPs are about halfway through the Fs and ditto, the singles are into the Cs and I'm not even gonna bother with the cassettes -- maybe *then* I might be bored enough to start adding images! At 01:47 PM 1/7/2004 -0800, Joseph M. Mallon wrote: >> time. For that matter, that's also exactly why we don't have TiVo. I >> spend enough time already lying in bed watching Most Extreme Elimination >> Challenge and Good Eats, I don't need some robot brain giving me MORE >> opportunities. > >You're certainly exercising some control. Even without TiVo's >auto-recording feature, we're wathcing more TV. TiVo removes the >barriers to recording: >* "it's too much of a pain to record that - find a tape, program the VCR, > remember which tape it's on" >* "we're out of tapes and they're cluttering up the joint" >* fast-forwarding easily through commercials (the 8-second-back button > rules!) > >so well that recording marginally intertesting programs becomes much more >viable. The pool of acceptable TV grows much deeper. Similarly, with the >iPod, the amount of space available and ease of use mean that songs that >wouldn't otherwise be interesting slip through... I can see the appeal of exploring the nether reaches of my music collection, and I'm sure I'll start doing that at some point. There are *always* songs to be rediscovered. However, being married to someone who has this strange interest in actually leaving the house and being outside - -- go figure -- I probably should not expand my pool of available TV watching hours. S ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 18:55:10 -0500 From: "David Seldin" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] droolworthy news Whoo-Hoo! Great news. I went to their all-ages show 'round this time last year, and couldn't have been more impressed with them. As the French say, formidable! David - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Fortissimo" To: "where they sleep better knowing stuff" Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 5:25 PM Subject: [loud-fans] droolworthy news > currently at http://www.matadorrecords.com/news/index.html > > "Matador Records is totally psyched to announce the signing of Mission Of > Burma. The new album - their first new studio recordings in 22 years - is > tentatively scheduled for worldwide release in May 2004....The new album, > as yet untitled, is being recorded at Boston's Q-Division studios, > engineered by Bob Weston with assistance from Rick Harte. Miller, Conley, > and Prescott all share songwriting and production duties, and many of the > new songs have been unveiled at recent shows." > > > > ------------------------------- > > ...Jeff > > J e f f r e y N o r m a n > The Architectural Dance Society > http://spanghew.blogspot.com/ > :: Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb > :: --Batman ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 19:17:14 -0500 From: glenn mcdonald Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? My iTunes use is, I guess, fairly retro. I load whole CDs, and almost always listen to them in their original-order entirety. I do have a shuffle-everything playlist*, but I really only use it for background music when there are guests in the house, not for my own listening. I use my own genre scheme, which treats Rock as a catch-all and segments off only a few special categories (metal, J-pop, noise, spoken word, classical). My standing Smart Playlists are "Recently Added", "Recently Added Unheard", "Recently Played", "100 Most Played" and the above-mentioned Jukebox, and I have another standing list for J-pop singles that, sadly, I have to update by hand since there's no query criteria for total-tracks-on-disc. Other than that I only have a handful of playlists at any time, mostly having to do with upcoming issues of my column. I make lots of special purpose playlists for temporary purposes, but since I mostly just browse to albums/singles and play them, the other playlists don't tend to proliferate much or persist long. I encode in AAC at 128k, and I do snarf cover scans from wherever is handy. I proofread artist names and album titles carefully, song titles less so. Japanese artists who generally credit themselves in Japanese characters I keep in those characters. I delete "The" from the beginnings of names, and flip Western person names into "Last, First". Occasionally I will prepend 01, 02, 03, etc. to the front of album titles to get them into chronological order in the Album lists. My iTunes library proper has whatever almost-20GB set I'm currently using, but when I rotate good stuff out of it I keep it in a parallel hierarchy on the PowerBook in anticipation of one day having higher capacity devices. Timewise, I actually use iTunes as much on my PowerBook as I do on my iPod, since the PowerBook has become my default music-listening device. More detail than you needed, glenn PS: the Jukebox smart playlist has these criteria: - - Genre does not contain Noise - - Genre does not contain Books & Spoken - - Genre does not contain Unclassifiable - - Time is greater than 1:30 - - Time is less than 5:00 - - Song Name does not contain "(instrumental)" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 18:39:28 -0700 From: Roger Winston Subject: Re: [loud-fans] how do you use iTunes? At Wednesday 1/7/2004 03:10 PM, Fortissimo wrote: >My sense of technological uncoolness increases daily. Probably because my >computer's so teeny (if I have more than two CDs' worth of .wav files, it >starts getting tetchy), and because downloading 6,000+ CDs fills me with >trepidation (hell, it'll take me weeks to catalog my collection using >that database thingy from collectorz.com that Miles recommended, I >downloaded, and for telling me about which Miles earns my undying >simultaneous gratitude and enmity...and all *that* does is read the >titles based on CDDB and a few other places), the idea of getting an iPod >appeals very little to me. There is a special circle of hell reserved for people who introduce obsessive people to such programs as Music Collector. Right next to the people who put the 3 spine stickers on DVD cases. I've just given up. I'm going through my entire collection and entering the (4000) CDs one at a time into Music Collector, even though I have them all listed already in not one, but two applications that I wrote (an old DOS program using a linked list, and an Access database). There doesn't seem to be an easy way to import the data from those other databases into MC. But that's okay, I need to go through the entire CD collection anyway to rip the CDs I want MP3s of. I'm just combining the two tasks. I realize that at the rate I'm going, it could take not months, but years. That's okay - it's something to do while watching TV. Which is what you could do, Jeff, if you got an iPod and a bigger hard drive. >I don't know...music has become so easy to acquire in such quantities >that for me it's in danger of losing a certain specialness. I sometimes >feel as if my goal is, apparently, to listen to every song once and once >only, as if I'm a maniacal and wealthy fashionista who must never be seen >wearing the same outfit twice. I was feeling the same way. The iPod is curing me of that. As are DVD-Audio and SACD discs. Oh, that Alpine car deck that integrates with the iPod looks mighty tempting. My biggest complaint with using the iPod in the car is the controls and display. Latre. --Rog ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V4 #4 *****************************