Microsoft is cool? on the Surface.

You have probably seen demos of this before. It was on the news a couple of days ago but I only saw the last few seconds so didn’t quite catch it properly. I came across a good site that talked about Surface when I was reading something else, glad I did.

If Apple talked about this and showed the demo, their fans would be talking up a storm and knocking on an Apple shop demanding to buy one. But Microsoft? Nah it can’t be good, well why not, have a look at the video if you haven’t seen it – wow is the word you will say.

More info at Microsoft

A new iTunes replacement

There is a new iTunes replacement in town – Songbird.

I have written a few times before about iTunes replacements and Floola seems to be a good one, but Songbird looks like it will blow it out of the water. They have a video of it in use on their front page, very slick. The program is way to much for my needs but I am sure lots will love it. You can use an iPod, USB device, play tracks from the iTunes Store and Yahoo! Unlimited. And , of course, it it cross platform so Linux (eJabs 🙂 ), Mac (Coach 🙂 ) and PC ( the rest of us 🙂 ) lovers can use it

They say “Songbird is a desktop Web player, a digital jukebox and Web browser mash-up. Like Winamp, it supports extensions and skins feathers. Like Firefox, it is built from Mozilla, cross-platform and open source.” The team behind it are the ones that did the great player WinAmp.

Check it out. BTW, if you are after a job they need a few people.

Buy Your Own Pop Band – it’s on Ebay!

Swedish band Rednex are up for sale at eBay with a ‘Buy It Now’ price of $1.5m. The new owner gets the trademark, the record releases, the contracts and all the shares of the Swedish company Rednex AB, according to this  website devoted to the sale of band and its assets.

I remember their big hit Cotton Eye Joe, years ago in the ’90s but I don’t know of any other hits. I have read they tried to enter this years Eurovision song contest but were disqualified.

Is an old pop group worth that much, who knows. Anyway if you want a new hobby go and buy it here .

Fairuse4WM 1.4

I have posted previously about Fairuse a couple of times and how it is good for removing DRM from files you own – so you can then play the files on a player that doesn’t support Windows Media DRM.

It seems that there is a bit of talk about Fairuse4WM v1.4. Read the info over at Stream Recorder also some great info and links at All Streaming Media including v1.3 fix.

I am doubting there will be a v1.5

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UntwistedVortex’s fantastic eight for one deal

DRM free music – no crack needed

I guess you can buy DRM free music right now and have been able to for ages – just buy a CD and rip it. That is what I do, and I have the bonus that the CD is the back-up!

Anyway EMI have decided that from May they will release their music without crappy DRM on it, via iTunes. Good news? Yes and no.

Yes, finally a big company has finally realised that people don’t want or like DRM anything. It won’t mean lost sales as people that pirate/copy music will still do that, won’t they? This looks like the start of the end of DRM, yippee!

No, well EMI have taken the DRM off but increased the price 30% – now it works out to be way more expensive than just buying the CD. You do get better quality that the DRM version but still nothing like what a CD can offer.

Look, I guess, I just don’t understand the reasoning why people would pay for downloadable music in the first place but if people want to, well, DRM free is the way to go. Strangely the same music will be still able to be bought with DRM as well!

Whether this DRM free music will be available in my country is another thing – we only recently had the itunes store available and still don’t have Movies and TV like the US iTunes.

I notice that Apple has never, ever mentioned about DRM free movies and TV only music.

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iTunes updated again for Vista

iTunes has been updated again. This time it’s v7.1.1 and Apple claim better Vista compatability.

I am not sure about that as the problems they list that still exist are exactly the same problems that were listed before – namely…

• Ejecting iPod from Windows Explorer or by using the “Safely Remove Hardware” feature in Windows Vista may corrupt your iPod. 
• iTunes may display text or graphics incorrectly on your screen. Resizing the iTunes window should correct this issue.
• Contact Groups from Windows Contacts will not sync with iPod.
• iTunes remains unsupported on 64 bit editions of Windows, including Windows Vista and Windows XP x64.

So what has been fixed then???

BadApple plug-in for iTunes

This seems a great idea but not sure if it works with the latest version of iTunes.

BadApple is a free plug-in for iTunes which allows you to sync your music library to any MP3 player (not just an iPod). After downloading and installing the software, you will have a “Sync to MP3 player” link you can click on from within iTunes. This will sync all tracks to a MP3 player.

BadApple will work with a wide range of MP3 players such as the Creative Nomad, Dell DJ, Archos and more. Any unit that mounts as a USB mass storage device should work well with BadApple.

BadApple is free software that you can download here.

Foola supports Vista and iTunes 7.1

I have just looked at the Foola site and noticed it has been updated again. Last time it added Podcast support , this time it looks like it is Vista compatible plus supports iTunes 7.1.

Foola (oops Floola, I keep getting it wrong) is now at March 2007: beta 33 version. Go Foola, go!

iTunes 7.1 and Vista…again

Tried installing iTunes 7.1 last night…

I had screen write problems with the old version of iTunes but I don’t know about the new 7.1. When I tried to install it last night it just hung with the hard-drive buzzing away for ten minutes until I switched the PC off.

I will try again tonight.

Thanks Apple 😦

Vista and iTunes – the saga continues

I couldn’t wait any longer and installed iTunes on my Vista PC. It seems to work OK but I’m not syncing contacts or have DRM’s music. The only problem is the screen doesn’t write correctly (well that’s a big problem really)

So what happens after I install…Apple releases a new version that improves Vista compatability just two days later.

Note I said improves they still haven’t got the bugs out. This is what Apple says…

Compatibility with Windows Vista
iTunes 7.1 addresses a number of known compatibility issues with Windows Vista. Apple is actively working with Microsoft to resolve a few remaining known issues, including:

Ejecting an iPod from Windows Explorer or the Windows notification area (system tray) using the “Safely Remove Hardware” feature may corrupt your iPod. To always safely eject an iPod, choose Eject iPod from the Controls menu within iTunes. If your iPod becomes corrupt, selecting your iPod in iTunes and clicking Restore in the iPod’s Summary panel should return your iPod to a working condition.
iTunes may display text or graphics incorrectly on your screen. Resizing the iTunes window should correct this issue.
Contacts from Windows Address Book may not sync with iPod.
iTunes remains unsupported on 64 bit editions of Windows, including Windows Vista and Windows XP x64.

As I have mentioned before…Apple shits me. The can’t even get the program to write on the screen still.

Apple is actively working on it…they said that back in January..it’s March now…should be right for Christmas.