BMG...again

Australian IT - Apple chops music giants' profits (, JANUARY 31, 2006): "'Music has become a disposable item,' BMG Music Publishing chairman and chief executive Nicholas Firth says."

This is exactly what is wrong with BMG. This is why BMG is not getting it, and pretty much all other record labels. This is why they tried to spy on you with root-kit DRM. They have no clue what people want. Nobody wants a subscription service to listen to download whatever crap your label has. Its all crap. What people want is to be able to browse a vast collection of music, and buy a la carte. Period. They also don't want to be tied into paying per month for a service. Don't we all have enough bills to remember and crap that keeps showing up on our credit cards? Wouldn't we rather own music rather than view it as a "disposable item"? Its frigging disgusting to hear a record company say that. Hopefully its the end for them, and the RIAA.

At the same time, I do see what my buddy Nicholas Firth has to say has some truth to it. Half the crap (if not more) that BMG publishes probably is disposable. After all, why would a record company want to sell you a recording you would want to listen to more than once? Bad buisiness.

I would rather not get into what the masses listen to, but it sure as hell is evident HOW they are listening to it. At least half of the students at MSU are walking advertisements of that fact.

Episode 6: Podsafe Music Network!

Episode 6 setup
Originally uploaded by adairnic.

Episode 6 is now available. This show is a solo attempt at podcast DJing. There are a couple of tracks from the Podsafe Music Network.

The first track @ 1:02 is
Golden Pastime

The second track @ 5:30 is
Pilotdrift

Hope you enjoy, please subscribe using your favorite aggregator.

Episode 5!

Episode 5 is here. Finally. Geeze Nick, took you long enough to figure out .xml, you say. Well, that is beside the point. We discuss some topics that need web augmentation, so here are the links that we promised:
The Donner Party didn't do it

Mozart's Musical Diary





Please Subscribe!

Mike at Cobo

Mike at Cobo
Originally uploaded by adairnic.

I caught Mike being a good citizen, red handed. Good to see that protesting spirit. If you can make it, check out the North American Auto Show at Cobo Hall in Detroit. Stay tuned for Episode 5 of the Rants from Nick Show.

Are the Intel Macs really 2-4x faster?

Enterprise Mac | InfoWorld | The Mac performance shell game | January 10, 2006 11:25 AM | By Tom Yager: "In short, Apple used multiprocessor benchmarks to skew the performance advantage that its Intel-based machines enjoy compared to single-core PowerPC G4 and G5. Apple used the industry-standard SPEC suite components SPECint2000 and SPECfp2000, but here's the catch: Apple used SPECint_rate2000 and SPECfp_rate2000. Both tests spawn multiple parallel benchmark processes and are specifically intended for comparing multiprocessor systems. Single CPU, or single-core machines do positively lousy on SPEC*_rate2000 tests. That's predictable and universally understood. Add a second CPU or a second core and, as you would expect, SPEC*_rate2000 performance on any multiprocessor-optimized test skyrockets compared to a single-processor box."

This guy obviously knows more than I do, but it seems that his information is correct. Doesn't seem like Apple was comparing apples to apples (pun intended).

Google Earth for the Mac

Google Earth - Home: "January 10, 2006 - Google Earth now available for the Mac"

This brightened up my day. I have been waiting for what seems like a year for Google to release this. And it is awesome. Just click the "Colorado River View" on the left bar, friggin' incredible.

CoverFlow

CoverFlow: "Don’t know about you, but I find browsing a list of album names somewhat uninspiring, to say the least. One of the big appeals of a physical album is the beautiful packaging and aesthetic appeal, something that’s sorely missed with the digital equivalent."

This is one of the coolest things I have found to assist iTunes on the Mac lately. All of your album covers whiz past you, double click to start playing the album. It is almost nostalgic, because the only time I see album art anymore is my vinyl collection. This is an awesome interactive album selection tool. Download it.

UPDATE: This is a Tiger-only app, so maybe another reason to upgrade...