Music:
Podcasting

MacJury #4 features two counts of MacUser

Posted on Apr. 25, ’08, 9:59 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Music » Podcasting

We’ve been remiss in bringing you a fresh episode of the MacUser Podcast. I know. Mea culpa. Please accept my most sincere apologies. But in its lieu, please accept the closest thing we have to a replacement: the most recent episode of the MacJury podcast, which features both myself and MacUser contributor Cyrus Farivar, alongside moderator Chuck Joiner of MacNotables fame, Matt Neuburg of TidBITS, and Friend of the Blog John Moltz, who really needs no introduction—not even that one right there.

On the docket was primarily a discussion of the ongoing battle between sophistication and simplicity in the Mac OS. But we, like General Zod, cannot be contained, and so we veered over to the future of digital media, launching from recent comments by NBC executives about Apple and iTunes, and then on to the diverse uses and joys of Twitter.

I certainly enjoyed my time on the panel quite a bit—I’m listening to it in full now, because I really need that morning ego-boost, and I look forward to participating in future episodes. Next time, perhaps I’ll remember not to nod in agreement quite so much.

MacUser Podcast #25: Moltzing season

Posted on Feb. 4, ’08, 8:10 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Music » MacUser

This being our twenty-fifth podcast (break out the silver, baby!), we decided that we needed to take things up a notch. To that ends, we’ve assembled an all-star cast, featuring not only regulars such as myself, Derik, and Mr. Pourhadi, but also former MacUser contributor Pat Nakajima and our Special Guest, former Crazy Apple Rumors Site maven John Moltz. That’s right, Mr. Moltz joins us to discuss the week in Mac news, the Microsoft-Yahoo deal, and, of course, the little matter of CARS’s hiatus.

Along the way, learn about John’s plans for solving mysteries in his retirement, Dan P.’s brand new shiny MacBook Air, and just what Mr. Nakajima’s been up to recently (well, the declassified stuff, anyway). So hit the download link below, or subscribe to our feed (there’s always the iTunes link too).

AAC version (14.4 MB, 60 minutes)

Comments and feedback on the show are always welcome, so feel free to share your thoughts below, or in an email to macuser [at] macuser [dot] com.

MW08: Your rock-and-roll Dan-tasy comes to life

Posted on Jan. 21, ’08, 2:08 PM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Music » Podcasting

They said it couldn’t be done! At the academy, they laughed in our faces when we proposed a secret worldwide organization entirely of people named Dan. But we showed them—oh, we showed them indeed. If you weren’t satisfied with our own latest MacUser Podcast, you can head over to the Mothership and catch the MacUser Dans (myself and Mr. Pourhadi), along with Macworld editors Dan Frakes and Dan Miller, on the inaugural Macworld DanCast.

The Secret League of Dans discusses a number of topics, including the preponderance of iPhones, the ModBook, speech recognition software from MacSpeech, and so much more. How did it go? I think I give nothing away when I say it was dantastic, featuring 400% of your Danly Recommended Allowance. And, if you listen very hard, you can hear David Pogue shouting in the background, trying to be heard over the merriment and joy the DanCast brings with it. Sorry, man, but I believe you’ll find that in a round of Macworld Hold ‘Em, a hand of four Dans beats one David every single time.

Will there be another DanCast? I make no promises, but I think I can say that if Dans the world over have anything to say about it, we’ll be back again next year—or perhaps even sooner.

MacUser Podcast #24: Expo exposed

Posted on Jan. 20, ’08, 4:22 PM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Music » MacUser

We were on the floor at the Macworld Expo for most of last week, so it was only logical that while we were there we avail ourselves of the resources our illustrious parent company could bring to bear. So Derik, Dan P., and myself ventured into the Macworld fish tank podcast studio, where we were roundly ridiculed, taunted, and outright mocked by passersby.

Joining us for this installment is the man, the myth, the legend, Paul Kafasis. You might know Paul best as the illustrious CEO of Rogue Amoeba, developers of fine products like Audio Hijack Pro, Fission, and the indispensable Sound Source. But far, far more important than that is Paul’s official status as a Friend of the Blog, a title coveted by many a person in the (Mac)world over, but bestowed on a select few. We were thrilled to have him on the show, where he regaled us with stories of his eight foot tall inflatable amoeba. No, that’s not a euphemism.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the dulcet tones of the MacUser crew in this, our twenty-fourth podcast.

AAC version (12.1 MB, 51 minutes)

Comments and feedback on the show are always welcome, so feel free to share your thoughts below, or in an email to macuser [at] macuser [dot] com.

MacUser Podcast #23: Leapin’ Leopards

Posted on Oct. 29, ’07, 8:06 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Music » MacUser

Your most burning question—and perhaps you should have someone take a look at that, I don’t know; a doctor, maybe?—will not be answered by this latest edition of the MacUser Podcast. And that is: where the hell have you guys been for four and a half months?

Now, there are certainly all sorts of things I could tell you: things that would turn your stomach and chill you to the very bone. But those things are patently untrue, so I would feel bad. The truth of the matter is nothing more exciting than this: we’ve been busy. And we’ve, as you’ve no doubt noticed, had some changes in staff, so it’s been tricky getting a group together. But we’re back, baby (I’m just not one of those people who can pull off saying the word “baby”) and we’re making up for lost time with this 1 hour+ installment.

Derik and our newest member of the MacUser family, Mr. Pourhadi, join me as we marvel at Stacks in slow motion, discuss the implications of Apple’s relationship with third-party developers, and thoroughly explore all there is to know about temporal mechanics. I hope you’re as excited as we are. Actually, I hope you’re way more excited than we are.

AAC version (15.5 MB, 64 minutes)

Comments and feedback on the show are always welcome, so feel free to share your thoughts below, or in an email to macuser [at] macuser [dot] com.

Show notes after the jump…

Dear MRT: You owe me a Tylenol. Sincerely, Kate

Posted on Jul. 11, ’07, 10:30 AM PT by Kate Marshall

Category | Music » iTunes

Here’s a belated birthday wish: for Media Rights Technologies to stop pestering companies who don’t use its product. Seriously, it’s just not funny anymore and while I will tolerate headaches caused by SEPTA, lack of caffeine, and sinus pressure, I will not tolerate maladies induced by pushy companies who’ve pulled this kind of stunt before. Yes, after tossing a Cease and Desist letter to Apple and others, MRT is now petitioning a Dr. James H. Billington—also known as the Librarian of Congress. MRT now wants Dr. Billington to, “revoke all statutory internet broadcasting licenses granted under Section 114 of U.S. Copyright law for webcasters who are in violation of that section by willfully distributing their content as an interactive service,” according to its press release.

Thus, we are back to the same old song-and-dance again:

These webcasters, including Yahoo, Clear Channel, iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, MSN Music, Pandora, and Live 365, all enable the public to receive program transmissions that can be unlawfully recorded and deaggregated for purposes of redistribution. CEO Hank Risan, states: “Every broadcast delivered from these services can easily be stream-ripped by the public, downloaded to a user’s hard drive on a song by song basis and uploaded onto iPhones and P2P networks. This type of piracy is in clear violation of the performance rights granted to these distributors of copyrighted material under Section 114.

I swear, there have been X-Files episodes that made more sense than this mess.

Podcasts on my iPod shuffle

Posted on Jun. 26, ’07, 3:08 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

Category | Music » iPod

Since my big ol’ iPod (as in $300-less-than-two-year-old-iPod Photo) went into a coma a few weeks ago—I’m too lazy to try to revive it a third time for now—the pack of gum that is my iPod shuffle has faithfully served my music and podcast listening needs. As I’ve said before, I enjoy the shuffle for music, but I wasn’t quite sure how it would hold up when listening to podcasts.

In short, it holds up OK. I’ve set to update my shuffle manually, so it’s simply a matter of dragging the podcasts I want to listen to, until the next sync when I delete the old ones and replace them with un-listened content. Sure, it’s not the seamless experience I’ve grown accustomed to, but it’s a reasonable solution.

However, there are some annoying shortcomings, at least with my first-generation model. For example, podcasts will automatically jump to the top of your playlist and place themselves in a kind-of-random order, regardless how you arrange them in iTunes. Also, to fast-forward 30 minutes into a show, prepare yourself to hold the “forward” button for a long time.

Then, there’s the issue of storage. Owners of 512MB shuffles like me will find that they’ll have to delete a large number of songs to make space for podcasts; typical podcast files are anywhere from 10 to 50MB in size, so prepare to do some housecleaning, especially if you want to fit many episodes at a time.

There is something you can do to simplify the process of loading stuff onto the ‘pod, though: create a smart playlist for audio podcasts that haven’t been listened to. To do that, set the following rules for the playlist: Play Count is 0, Genre is Podcast, and Kind does not contain Video, Movie, and PDF (that last one requires three separate rules). This is also convenient for screen-gifted iPods, by the way.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the podcast-listening experience on my shuffle—it’s certainly bearable. Until I squeeze some extra life out of my big guy or purchase a new player, the shuffle solution is satisfying.

MacUser Podcast #22: Technology’s pretty cool

Posted on Jun. 13, ’07, 2:37 PM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Music » MacUser

We’re going nationwide for Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference. Having been summarily summoned to the West Coast, I left behind my comfortable eastern digs to attend a rather contentious Steve Jobs keynote. All for you guys. That’s dedication.

On this edition of the MacUser Podcast, I’m joined by Derik, Pat, and Aaron as we discuss Leopard’s newly revealed features, an appearance by Safari on Windows, and the latest news on developing for the iPhone. So come on down—you’re the next listener on the MacUser Podcast.

AAC version (10.4 MB, 41 minutes)

Comments and feedback on the show are always welcome, so feel free to share your thoughts below, or in an email to macuser [at] macuser [dot] com.

Show notes after the jump…

iTunes U looks great on your resume

Posted on May. 30, ’07, 8:19 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Music » iTunes

Alongside the flashy appearance of DRM-free tracks on iTunes this morning, Apple slipped out another iTunes-related announcement: iTunes U—the “U” is for Utopian Idealism. iTunes U is a collection of educational content on iTunes: podcasts, lectures, and videos from the likes of Stanford, UC Berkeley, MIT, and Duke (I particularly like Stanford’s motto: Stanford to go. In your home. In your car. In your pocket. In your head).

Consider iTunes U your trick to getting a world class education without the high price tags and pedantic need of “being there.” It’s classes when you want them. Take Existentialism in Literature from Berkeley, Black Ships and Samurai from MIT, and the ever popular Homeland Security from Texas A&M. Learn science, philosophy, languages, all from the comfort of your own couch, without anybody chastising you as you crunch through your bag of Cheetos.

And when your parents shake their heads and give you a look that suggests perhaps you’d better consider moving out sometime soon, just point to your iPod with a smug look and say “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you. I’m learning.”

MacUser Podcast #21: The stalker edition

Posted on May. 29, ’07, 9:52 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Music » MacUser

Did ya miss us? It’s been almost a month since our last podcast, way back at the beginning of May and so much has happened since then. I, erm, got Gears of War for my Xbox. Then there was that day when everything turned into chocolate. That happened to you too, right?

Anyway, we’re back and we’re better than ever. Join Derik, Aaron, Kate, and myself on this week’s MacUser Roundtable as we discuss the latest in Mac news, Aaron’s stalker tendencies, and the unavoidable fact that I am a huge geek, especially where matters of Stars Wars are concerned.

AAC version (11.8 MB, 46 minutes)

Comments and feedback on the show are always welcome, so feel free to share your thoughts below, or in an email to macuser [at] macuser [dot] com.

Show notes after the jump…