Category: iPod

  • Not all EMI content available sans DRM yet

    With one day left in the month of May, Apple and record label EMI made good on their promise to start selling higher-quality digital music without annoying copying limits (so-called digital rights management, or DRM, technology). The new files are $1.29 each although buying a whole album of these “iTunes Plus” files doesn’t cost any…

  • He marched in the animals, two by two

    …And he called out as they came through Hey Lord, I’ve got green alligators and long-necked geese Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees Some cats and rats and elephants, but Lord, I’m so forlorn I just can’t find no unicorns. Ah, the Irish Rovers and The Unicorn Song. Brings back fond memories of rainy…

  • A scanner, a keyboard and other Macworld goodies

    Continuing last year’s tradition, I’m listing a few things featured at the Macworld show in San Francisco that caught my attention. I didn’t attend so this is just stuff that I read about… First, solving an annoying shortcoming of most USB keyboards, Canadian peripheral maker Matias introduced some Mac keyboards with USB 2.0 ports. Most…

  • Belkin’s nifty iPod recorder — finally

    Seems like its been since, oh, forever, that I’ve been looking for a voice recorder to attach to my fifth-generation iPod but its only been a year. When last we checked in on the wait in March, there were two contenders: XtremeMac’s MicroMemo (which looked cool but was kind of pricey) and Griffin Technology’s iTalk…

  • About time, Starbucks and iTunes

    Something like 20 years ago, I first encountered Hear Music as a catalog of cool albums selected by some people with taste like mine. They may have pioneered the idea of getting recommendations from favorite artists. It was a great way to learn about old stuff like the blues and jazz, too. But like many…

  • Screen size and battery life boost for iPods?

    I have to say that today’s Steve Jobs announcements left me less than thrilled. iPods didn’t get bigger screens, my main desire, and why would I pay for a cheesy, low resolution downloaded movie when I can buy a DVD for almost the same price and rip my own cheesy version? And iTV sounds great…

  • Where oh where is an iPod recorder

    I’m loving my iPod “with video” more than ever, but I am missing big-time the recording capability of my old 3G iPod with its Griffin Technology iTalk accessory. I’ve been waiting for months for a replacement. In January, a small company called Xtrememac pre-announced a product called the Micromemo that looked cool, was a bit…

  • Verizon and Tivo, so greedy together

    I owe a post on Tivo, or on the Toshiba-made RS-TX20 combo Tivo DVR and DVD burner that arrived on Christmas, but that will have to wait for another day with more free time (short version – it’s awesome except for the way it changes channels on our cable box). Instead, I’ll just loudly complain…

  • Scott McNeally’s iPod bashing

    Staci at PaidContent is reporting Sun CEO Scott McNealy’s latest off-base, self-interested ranting. I guess the thin client thing has died so now Scott is taking aim at the portable music market. In Scott’s dream world, cell phones accessing music stored on central servers, Sun servers no doubt, will overtake the iPod. “It’s going to…

  • Best in show at macworld – nice gear

    Beyond the well-rehearsed revelations of his Steveness, the Macworld Expo is also an opportunity for the rest of the Mac ecosystem to show off its latest and greatest wares. I’m obviously not in SF, but I caught up with some cool-looking stuff via Macs Only and Macworld. Keep in mind that I haven’t actually touched…