I was really impressed the amount of coverage around the blogosphere surrounding Radiohead’s recent decision to allow fans to decide how much to pay for their next album. First, great PR, considering the coverage, and second, a great experiment in what music is worth in the 21st century. Here’s an overview of the coverage I’ve been seeing.
And this is just a few from sources I’ve been following. For a while I was rather pissed at Radiohead for so specifically avoiding iTunes, which is the most convenient and quick way for me to get music (I’m happy to pay for music, if the prices are reasonable and I have some reasonable level flexibility in how I can use the tunes). And it is for this reason that I will be paying an iTunes like price for In Rainbows - somewhere between $9.99 and $14.99, or possibly $0.99 per song, just to make the point.
Is the price you would pay if you were to purchase a small soda and a bottle of water in a movie theater in Minneapolis. Amy found a few choice words when she saw her total bill (I went to see the newest Harry Potter movie with her and her main squeeze). I was a bit more delinquent and concealed a water bottle in my purse– a certain risk since this particular movie theater does spot checks on bags.
I can somewhat see the reasoning behind the draconian prices for snacks at movie theaters. The attendance has been dropping significantly while the expectations of superior equipment and stadium seating are a norm, so the owners are desperate for revenue. It’s entirely too bad that raising prices on already expensive popcorn and beverages does theaters absolutely no good. In fact, it promotes only two things, both undesirable for the industry. People are even more inclined to rent movies at home (or, gasp!, download them from the internet) or if they do make their way to the cinema, they’re highly motivated to sneak in the 99 cents candy and Coke from home.
Is this all sign of doom for the movie theaters? I am no expert and history gives examples both of industries crumbling and disappearing under the pressure of innovation or persevering and eventually striving (passenger railroads vs cars and planes and regular theaters vs abovementioned movies.) One of the suggestions Ben had was not to charge anything for the movie theater admissions since all of the profits are made from concessions anyway. That would definitely boost attendance but will people be buying enough of $5 gummy worms to compensate? Somebdy’d better write a research paper on this stuff!
As for me, I am back to my beloved Blockbuster online :-).
There is a new album out raising money for the situation in Darfur, which is one of the poorly known political conflicts that the US doesn’t see fit to care about (note, they don’t have much oil).
I’m not completely in love with Instant Karma, but there are some good tracks on here. My favorite at the moment is Working Class Hero done by Green Day:
While the overall compilation is good, there aren’t a lot of standouts beyond the Green Day track, the rest are good, but not standout great. I wish Imagine from A Perfect Circle’s Emotive were in there. Tori Amos does some great ones as well. I think this could have been a totally stand out album, but as it is, it turned out entirely fine. I think it is worth it for the Green Day, U2 and REM tracks.
Many have pondered, AppleTV does not offer true 5.1 surround, which is really irritating, and about the only gripe I have with it. I’m a little unclear as to whether this is a software issues or an issues with iTunes music store, I haven’t ripped a DVD and uploaded to AppleTV yet. The hardware is certainly capable, and there is certainly software capable, but why not offer downloads of such quality through iTunes? Dear Apple - I love your products - two laptops, three iPods and one AppleTV, hundreds of songs and a few TV shows and movies so far, and I will buy more, believe me I will (sorry hon) - but why, oh why isn’t there HD content, and if not HD content 5.1 surround sound? How much larger can the files be?
I’ve recently mentioned Trent Reznor’s comments on the record industry, and I wanted to take a minute to share my thoughts on the latest album - Year Zero. This album has grown on me like a mold. The first listen I thought ‘they’ve gone a little soft’ - but just one or two more listens and I realized how wrong I was. This is a hard hitting album. One of my favorites being Capital G wich is clearly referencing the current administration in America (as is Tori Amos’ Yo George from her new album American Doll Posse). Meet Your Master hits with solid industrial beats in the chorus and more mellow (relatively) verse and interlude resulting in both hitting harder. Another great one is Zero Sum, a little more mellow, but lyrically interesting. It really takes a good listening or three, but the album just hangs together musically and lyrically, providing a powerful listening experience. I highly recommend listening at an opportunity where there are few other distractions, which really allows the lyrics to sink in.
With Nine Inch Nails being one of my favorite bands, and Trent Reznor being a pretty intelligent guy, I was really interested in what he has to say on the state of the music business. It is especially interesting to see how he would like to release an album:
“I’ve have one record left that I owe a major label, then I will never be seen in a situation like this again. If I could do what I want right now, I would put out my next album, you could download it from my site at as high a bit-rate as you want, pay $4 through PayPal. Come see the show and buy a T-shirt if you like it. I would put out a nicely packaged merchandise piece, if you want to own a physical thing. And it would come out the day that it’s done in the studio, not this “Let’s wait three months” bulls—.”
It has been just over a week now living with the AppleTV. I couldn’t hold off any longer after reading AppleGazette’s 30 days of AppleTV series. I thought I’d say a little about my experiences to supplement AppleGazette’s.
First, it was about the easiest thing the world to set up. No real need to read directions. I sort of wish it came with either an HDMI or component video cable, considering the price, but then again, no one feels like they are paying for something they don’t need. But I bought the HDMI cable, and connect the CAT5 to the router and done. You can easily set the AppleTV to connect via wireless, but more on that later. Pairing it to My MacBook Pro was a breeze.
I hit one small snag, I’m still running a 802.11b wireless network (D-Link) which claims 22 Mbs, but in reality it is much closer to the 11 Mbs. While I only had 1 movie, about half dozen TV shows and a dozen video podcasts, I chose to many things to sync to start with. At such a slow rate from my ‘Book 24 hours of waiting and it seemed like nothing had happened. I was able to stream video for a bit (which pauses the syncing), but I hoped that overnight the sync (about 10 GB overall) would be done. Not so. I stopped the sync (just play any fully downloaded or streaming video on the AppleTV), plugged CAT5 in to my ‘Book, stopped the AppleTV and in a few seconds iTunes was syncing again - took only about 90 minutes. another 3 GB of music took 15 - 20 minutes and I was ready to go.
Since then, I have downloaded 3 seasons of TV shows, a handful of free and paid episodes from iTunes and a fair number of video podcasts. If it is one or two episodes of TV/video podcast, the wireless sync at 802.11b speeds is OK (if you’re not in a hurry), with larger volumes I switch to CAT5. This is a pain, and I will be looking to switch to 802.11n soon, which I think will be fast enough to tolerate all but the largest data syncs. This will also coincide with the point where the video I have exceeds the rather small storage space available on the AppleTV. This will take a little while for me, but for many people it would be immediate.
What I dislike:
Slow speed of my wireless network
Double download - the need to download from iTunes and sync to AppleTV
Cost of downloads - with movies at about the price of DVDs and TV shows just slightly cheaper than DVD versions, there is the temptation to buy the DVD version and rip for AppleTV. Just a little cheaper would do it.
Inconsistent content - the quality of content is a bit inconsistent with iTunes purchased content, and very inconsistent with video podcast content - and there is little indication (not Apple’s fault)
At times, the audio and video get a bit out of sync. It is tolerable, but annoying, and happens with purchased contend, which is really irritating.
What I love:
Intuitive interface - it doesn’t get easier, I love the simple audio feedback as one navigates, and you don’t have to think about it
The music - I liked AirTunes, but there were too many gaps in playback from interference (I assume) - non-issue with music synced to AppleTV. Streaming content seems a bit more robust too.
Plethora of content - iTunes has a good amount, not everything I’m interested in, but enough to keep my attention, and I’m happy to pay for it. Joost is interesting, but I just don’t want to watch stuff on my laptop - I’m using my laptop when I’m watching TV. (NewsRadio, Invader Zim, Southpark, Scrubs)
On Demand factor - I find it really killer that I can spend money so easily. OK, that’s not really it, but say G is in the mood for a certain movie, but we don’t want to go to the video store. Combine the movie rental fee, with the gas and hassle of going to video store - makes the iTunes store price seem OK. Making a choice, 60 - 90 minutes to get from iTunes store to AppleTV and we’re watching. A little longer than running to the video store, but not much - and you can have dinner while it’s happening.
Cool Factor - everyone who sees it, and sees it in action think the thing is really cool.
Hackable - I haven’t done much yet, but there are all sorts of cool things out there. I’m going to be messing with them, and posting the most usable things here. First up - external storage via the AppleTV USB ’service port’ (that’s what she said! (AppleTV is apparently a girl (no offense (this is very LISP))))
So, all in all, AppleTV probably isn’t for everyone - early adopter types and people who don’t care too much about money. Many others have pointed out other shortcomings (no DVR for example), which I view as features that just aren’t included rather than shortcomings - this isn’t a TiVo, it is something completely different. But, for many people, this is really cool - I have a bunch of video, downloaded legally by the way, that I would really like to watch on the big screen - import to iTunes, sync and go - very nice.
I can hardly believe what happened today. It feels like a crazy dream.
Get up early, pack in a hurry. Go to work. Write emails, meet with people, create org. charts. Take off early, take the train, go to the airport. Board the plane; first class’s full, so you’re stuck in the little seat by the window right behind the expensive spots. At the last moment of boarding, you think you’re dreaming– it’s the GOD right in front of you. No, the eyes are not lying– it is Armin Van Buuren himself, getting on the plane to go from Minneapolis to Pheonix, AZ. The heart is racing: you’re screaming inside but you don’t want to cause a panic and be escorted off the plane. Patience, my friend, patience.
As soon as the plane takes off, you finally get up and go up to him. I am sorry, sir. You can’t even fly from Midwest to Arizona without being recognized. I love you. I listen to your music all the time. What? Would I like to go see you tonight? Yes, please! Here’s my business card. You sit down and can finally stay still for the rest of the flight but you cannot help but peak over from time to time. HE has a Mac and a very old iPod. Ok, no more staring! At the baggage claim, you get a picture taken with HIM.
Get into town– it’s all one big strip mall in the desert. Once in the hotel, you get a call from HIS booking agent– you’re on the list with “Full Access” pass. One small problem: Arizona is two hours behind Minnesota and you have been up for 18 hours already. No matter. You drive back into town, have a very late dinner and finally head over to the club Myst. It’s already 1 AM Central time. At the front of the line, you say proudly “I’m with Armin”. The meathead at the door doesn’t seem to recognize the name but finds you on the list and gives you the VIP bracelets.
Does it really matter what happens next? Not really. HE went on at about midnight local time. The club was packed and the security was quite mean. We could barely keep our eyes open for long. As I am typing this, it’s 4:00 AM Central– it has been a 22 hour day. I am going to bed. And I feel happy.
It’s Armin Van Buuren, bitches!
Here are a couple shitty photos from the club. The picture of two of us from the airport is on my phone and will have to wait until I get to a PC with a Bluetooth connection. Good night ya’ll.
The cars are struggling to fit into a tiny parking lot. People are gathering impatiently in front of a graffiti-clad theater building. I get my ticket two minutes before the show is sold out. Lucky. The patrons are wearing their Fringle buttons with pride. The crowd looks excited, mismatched and liberal. They don’t seem to respect deodorants too much and enjoy breast-feeding their offsprings in full sight. Ah, the theater week is back.
If you live in Twin Cities, go see this. It will make you laugh, make you bitter, teach you new words (that Iowan chick is transracial yo!), and at the end make you feel good about this little country called America.
, but there are some good tracks on here. My favorite at the moment is Working Class Hero done by Green Day:
