LIVEdigitally

Author Archives: Jeremy Toeman

To Stream or Not To Stream

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Without going into tremendous detail, a quick history of digital music and consumer usage patterns is as follows:

  • Early 1990s: advanced computer users first start using MP3 technology to achieve between 5:1 and 15:1 compression of music from CDs onto PC hard disk drives
  • Mid-to-late 1990s: the masses of Internet users rip (or record) their first CD to their PC
  • 1999: The Diamond Rio PMP-300 portable MP3 player is launched
  • 2000-1: Roughly 80 million people around the world “share” MP3 files using Napster 1.0, which allowed people to easily find and download music. Napster gets sued into oblivion
  • 2002-3: The first legitimate MP3 streaming services are launched, with low adoption rates
  • 2003-4: RealNetworks buys Rhapsody, iTunes launches, MSN Music launches, Napster 2.0 launches. Apple announces the 250 millionth download. The 4th generation iPod ships, with Apple retaining 92% market share of hard-drive MP3 players. Rhapsody’s music collection is almost 1 million tracks, available to over a half a million subscribers.

There’s a lot more to it, some interesting, some not, but it is safe to say that consumers are trending toward using the Internet as a reliable source for discovering and acquiring music. Both legal and questionable methods are alive, all to varying degrees of success. Fundamentally, the forces in play are enabling access to music in (predominantly) one of two fashions: downloadable files and streaming files.

For this article, we present both perspectives, independent of each other. Dan McMinn, founder of dmp3 music discusses the importance of downloading and owning music files. Meanwhile, BigToe addresses the value of access to streaming music files. Please note that both articles were written without either author consulting with or reviewing the other’s work.

Streaming…

It is the Winter of 2005, and as I ponder the relative value of streaming versus download-based music services, I look at what usage models consumers have with music listening. Fundamentally, there are two places where people listen to music: places where they have Internet access, and placed where they do not. Yet.

Between WiFi and WiMax, UWB, and 3G, there are literally tens of billions of dollars being spent to give me access to the Internet from any location on (or, thanks to Lufthansa, above) Earth. The entire city of Philadelphia is getting free wireless (assuming Verizon can’t stop them). Even McDonald’s has hotspots now.

This means I have access, at (virtually) all times, to any available online music library. Several companies, past and present, have enabled me to stream my own music collection from the home. This of course presumes I have ripped my CDs, installed software, and am willing to leave a computer on at home at all times. And I am not.

The library I choose is Rhapsody. For $9.99 per month I have access to about a million tracks.

What’s that? Didn’t hear that right? Yes, one meelleeontracks. For perspective, I have ripped 800 CDs to create my collection of roughly 11,000 files. This is a mere one percent of Rhapsody’s music collection. In fact, if you think about the amount of time I spent ripping CDs and correcting errors in metadata, I’m sure it ‘cost’ me more than a few years’ worth of Rhapsody subscription dollars.

To be fair, I have some eclectic music tastes, including a lot of world music, some great classical and opera, and a variety of jazz and movie scores which are hard to find on Rhapsody. Also, the service is missing The Beatles and Dave Matthews, but other than that, it tends to cover 95% of the music I want to hear.

More importantly, I am always finding new music. A good friend of mine called me up and asked if I had heard of Jem (NOT truly outrageous!). Once I heard, I saw the Rhapsody link to the soundtrack of the OC. On which was an awesome cover of OMD’s If you Leave. Two links later and I was hearing Yellow Squared. The next day, while listening to Esthero and Delerium, I found Sarah Cracknell and Saint Etienne, then Zero 7 and Air.

Ooh, I forgot to mention the Rhapsody Radio service! Pick out 10 artists, and boom – instant radio station. If the station accidentally plays something I don’t like, I can even skip the track (up to about forty times per hour I believe). A huge differentiator for Rhapsody is the music programming is done by people who love music! It does not take much time browsing through the collections or listening to their radio stations to see (or hear) the difference between them and your local (ClearChannel) radio station, blasting out the hits they’re paid to play.

Let’s see where we are… I have an amazing selection of “on-demand” music and an even wider offering of radio services. Because I pay by the month, it doesn’t matter if I listen to a single track over and over again, or hear a full CD, or make a huge playlist that goes for hours. I can add anything I want to my virtual library, and I can listen at my leisure. On the other hand, with a download or track purchase model, I am effectively penalized should I select something I don’t really like. If I tire something, too bad – I paid for it, I ‘own’ it now.

So where’s the downside? The pesky iPod is out there messing it up for everyone. The iPod creates a model by which I need to own music, and I need access to it without an Internet connection. And with 4 million sales in Q4 of 2004, it doesn’t look like they are the pet rock of our generation. In fact, one might argue that an iPod is an essential element of living digitally. Okay, fine, so Rhapsody and the others will launch a download service to complement the streaming service. Done!

It was three years ago when I ripped my CD collection, and within a couple of months I had my Rhapsody (then listen.com) subscription. My MP3s are gathering virtual dust. I wonder if I’ll look back at My Music folder one day and reminisce.

–BigToe of LIVEdigitally

Not Streaming…

In the past month or two, a lot of us have probably seen it – Napster’s launch of a huge campaign that essentially lays down the gauntlet, getting to the crux of the file-based vs. subscription-based digital music conundrum. Of course they give it their own spin, but the question Napster poses is certainly a valid one: If you are the slightest bit interested in building a digital music library, why would you in your right mind pay $.99 per song at iTunes when you can pay $15 per month to have unlimited access to Napster’s full library of 1,000,000 songs? Well, I’m here to tell you why.

First off, let it be said that there is most likely room in the market for both models. The reason for this is pretty much the same reason there is room for the rent vs. own concept to exist in any market. Depending on your personality type, combined with your desired financial and emotional investment, you’ll choose one or the other.

Before we talk about finance, personality and emotion, however, let’s talk about the brass tacks that get at the root of the file-based vs. subscription based models. File based models (fees are per song/album) allow the user full ownership of music files they have purchased and downloaded, with relatively unlimited restrictions on what they do with it. iTunes is currently the king of this world. Subscription-based models (one monthly rate) ‘stream’ music that the user can ‘rent’, select and customize, but use is much more restricted. Basically, you end up purchasing and downloading a song or album (on top of the subscription rate) if you want to have less restricted use. Rhapsody and Napster are currently the biggest players in the subscription world.

So maybe now you’re saying “OK, I see the pros and cons, and you get a bit more if you pay more… yada yada”. However what Rhapsody and Napster aren’t telling you is that they’ve locked grandma in the basement, she’s not well, and if she finds her way out there will be hell to pay, big time. So I will spare you that fate and share a few dirty little secrets:

With Napster and Rhapsody (as things currently stand), you can’t share your music with others (or make it mobile) easily and freely. With iTunes it’s pretty much anything, anyhow, anywhere. Yes, iTunes has protected files, but they stretch the term ‘fair use’ about as far as they can while still keeping the record companies happy. With Rhapsody and Napster, consolidating an existing mp3 library (maybe the CD collection that dmp3 Music has ripped for you?) into the set-up is either not allowed or is a pain, depending on which service you choose. So, you either lose easy access to the music you already own, or you lose track of what music you rent vs. what music you own. To top it off (and I think this is the real kicker), say you’re rolling merrily along with Rhapsody loving life that you’re paying $10 a month, you’ve built a huge kick-ass music library with tons of great playlists and… Whoomp! a better subscription service comes along. Maybe you decide you want to switch to iTunes or (even better), you want to switch to a Mac platform entirely. Maybe you just want to cancel your subscription so you don’t have to pay $10 a month FOREVER. Well, guess what? You can say bye-bye to all your music and all the work you’ve done to personalize it. With the file-based model, you may need to convert to another file format in order to go elsewhere but at least you keep your music. Finally, one look at the interface and usability of iTunes (smooth, silky, simple) vs. Rhapsody/Napster (cluttered, chaotic, clunky) should be enough in and of itself to make the choice pretty easy. I know, this isn’t supposed to be about iTunes vs. The Others but some things just need addressing.

In all truth though, it really comes back to the idea of rent vs. own. Do we ever really want to rent for the long term? Renting is something we do in the short term for a quick fix, and if it is long term it’s for something that has little emotional or personal attachment. Why should we think that music will be any different? In fact, music seems a least likely candidate for the rental model because of its highly personal, emotional nature. As one friend put it, signing up with Rhapsody “would be kind of like renting shoes”.

Is music important to your life? Is it something you are extremely passionate about? Do you set aside time to be with your music? Do you want control and freedom with it? Is it a style or personal statement for you? Are you more interested in quality than quantity? If the answer is yes to all of the above, then the file-base model is for you, pure and simple – you want to own your music, you want to do whatever the hell you want with it whenever you want, and you don’t mind paying a reasonable price for it. If music is important but not critical, maybe more of sidebar to your life than a soundtrack, the subscription model may work out just fine. But beware that you won’t be getting anything more than (at best) a glorified, personalized radio station.


-Dan McMinn of DMP3 Music

TiVoing your life

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I am willing to wager that I was one of the first 1000 TiVo owners. I had an original Philips 14 hour unit when they first hit the shelves (although it was back in 1999 or 2000 when I was pretty much buying everything online using a bajillion free coupons the etailers were throwing around, courtesy of brilliant venture capitalists. But I digress), and I am definitely one of the ‘converted’. TiVo has changed my life.

Not necessarily for the better, mind you. I used to watch TV quite infrequently, I followed NO shows religiously, and didn’t really mind re-watching Days of Thunder on TNT every other weekend (it IS a new classic, after all). Fast forward to today (do-doo, do-doo, do-DOO!) and I have a couple of dozen Season Passes, and commercials cause me physical pain. I cannot (I will not!) watch TV without the ability to time-shift.

Now I want more. I want the handy little peanut-shaped TiVo remote to have some control over life events. I’d like a 30 minute buffer. Now of course the ideal would have me able to make changes once I’ve rewound, but I’m not greedy. With the buffer, I could plan to do a few things time-shifted. For example, I could skip through bus rides. Or waiting in line at the doctor’s office. Now I run the risk I might miss something interesting (for example: Apparently here in San Francisco, when a bus is driving through Chinatown, instead of the standard $1.25 fare, a can of pineapple juice works in lieu of payment. I would never have guessed such a thing, but it’s true!), but I’ll take my chances.
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Digital Dirt Biking

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According to the Motorcycle Industry Council over 1 million dirt motorcycles were sold in 2004, this being the most recent in an steady upward trend since 1993. It appears that Americans have a new found fascination with off road motorcycles not seen since the 70’s. If you are among the masses that “Do it in the dirt” or even if you are toying with the idea of tearing up trails in the great outdoors, there is good news. Not only has the recent decade brought more numbers to the world of off-road riding, it has also brought some new innovations as part of our digital world. I am here to give you insight into some of these new innovations and take you from the back of “Pa’s” truck to the latest in dirt rider technology. So put on your Internet helmet and reading gloves and try to keep up, kid.

Autocom Auto-Volume Music System for Motorcycles

Nothing gets your blood pumping like a nice ride through the peaceful trails of our great nation, being at one with nature, breathing the fresh air, observing the wildlife and gassing it over every obstacle in your way with Slayer blasting inside your helmet, right? Well the gods of technology have smiled upon us with the Autocom Auto-Volume Music System. This little gem was originally developed for street bikes but it works equally well for the off road rider too. It adjusts the volume of your favorite adrenalin inducing tunes according to the amount of noise picked up in a cleverly disguised microphone in the headphone connector. So now when you are riding full throttle you are able to hear every note of that wailing guitar solo and when you come to a stop and need to communicate with others, your not fumbling through a backpack looking for a volume adjustment knob on a Discman.
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Please try not to eat it (a review of the very edible iPod shuffle)

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Apple is taking minimalism to a whole new level with the iPod shuffle. In fact they are now officially straddling the fine line between brilliance and bullsh*t.

The iPod shuffle is basically just 512mb or 1gb of flash memory in a very nice iPodesque enclosure. Here’s what it is not. It is not an iPod. At least not in the ways we traditionally identify an iPod (i.e. it’s great interface, a scroll wheel, the ability to sort your music by a plethora of criteria, multiple playlist, basic PDA functionality such as the ability to carry contacts and appointments with you). These things it lacks completely. You won’t find them anywhere no matter how hard you look over the iPod shuffle’s diminutive frame.

And yet it clearly called an iPod, it is in fact an iPod. When you consider that iPod is more a brand than a product these days the contradictions of my last few sentences begins to vanish. Apple created the iPod shuffle to cater to a very different type of music listener. This is similar to Volkswagen, who makes both the Beetle and the Phaeton, two wildly different cars that are aimed at very different consumers. This is the iPod for those that think “why on earth would I want to carry 10,000 songs with me?”

Apple is a company that pays attention to its consumer’s feedback, evident by the inclusion of the Shuffle option as a first level menu option in the fourth-generation iPod. It seems many users are fond of letting the iPod do the choosing, and love the element of surprise when Frank Sinatra is followed by Prodigy, for example. This is what gave birth to the iPod shuffle in both marketing terms and usability. Effectively, Apple took the biggest drawback of flash players, namely their lousy or completely missing user interface, and turned it intothe key feature. What makes the iPod shuffle a success, in my opinion, is something that has nothing to do with its hardware and which no other flash based mp3 player out there has: iTunes.

Here is where the iPod shuffle truly shines. In addition to giving you access to the iTunes music store to purchase songs iTunes also allows you to take the idea of randomness as a feature and run with it. It features a number of different ways to load up your iPod shuffle, all of which are equally ingenious. Upon connecting the iPod shuffle to your computer you are asked whether or not you wish to link the unit with this particular computer. The iPod shuffle can only be linked to one computer at a time. In fact, if it already has music from another computer, the act linking it with a new computer erases all of the existing music. Once you do connect it, the iPod shuffle shows up much like an iPod does, on the left-hand side of the iTunes interface. When you click on the device, you are greeted by large “autofill” button that works much in the same way the party shuffle works (It allows you to autofill from your entire music library for a fresh mix or autofill from a specified playlist or recently played songs to fine tune the mix a bit more). You can also drag and drop songs or entire playlists. One of the coolest things is that this autofill feature can be set to do so automatically whenever you connected your iPod to the computer. For someone who appreciates variety this really is a great way to keep your daily soundtrack fresh and surprising.

The iPod shuffle can also act as a flash memory drive to ferry data between multiple computers. In the iTunes preferences you set how much space of the iPod’s memory to allocate to data storage. Enabling this option causes the iPod shuffle to appear as an external drive on any computer it connects to and acts independently of the music portion of the drive.

As a music player the iPod is great for what it is. The controls are small but effective with the exception of the switch on the back. It serves as both a power button and a toggle between shuffle mode and playlist mode (which allows you to play your music in order, if that is your preference). The switch sits flush with the casing and is very smooth making it difficult to switch on without using the edge of my fingernail. There is also a a learning curve since the iPod shuffle uses one LED light to give you visual feedback for when the player is on, paused, or on hold. Memorizing what it means doesn’t take long but it does take longer than the interface of the rest of the iPod family. Sound quality is excellent and indistinguishable from my 20gb iPod using a pair of Sony inner ear headphones.

This is not something that should be purchased if you dislike losing control or are prone to losing small objects as the iPod shuffle is very tiny and could easily find itself lost in a backpack or on a cluttered desk.

I would recommend the iPod shuffle for those who want a simple music player that also gives you access to the best online music store. The iPod shuffle makes for a very good solid musical companion, as long as you don’t mind identifying songs the old school way, by ear.

Buy a Apple 1 GB iPod Shuffle MP3 Player from Amazon

Jef Raskin passes away

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Jef Raskin, author of The Humane Interface and the chief GUI designer for the original Mac, passed away this weekend at the age of 61.

For those of you unaware of his accomplishments, here is a small list:

  • Creator of Macintosh computer at Apple Computer, Inc.
  • Author of The Humane Interface
  • Former Chairman and CEO, Information Appliance Inc., Palo Alto, California
  • Contributing Editor for: WIRED, Forbes, MacHome Journal, Dr. Dobb’s Journal
  • Has sat on several dozen panels, over three dozen boards, and published literally hundreds of works.
  • Check out his C.V. here

I had the privelege to listen to Jef speak on a panel about 4 years ago, and he was, for lack of a better word, fascinating. Jef was the first person I ever heard speak who loved the Mac user interface (remember, he did create it), yet was ready to tear apart its faults. His visions for better user interaction models have truly inspired works of mine, and it is a shame to hear of his passing.

Read more at Cnet

Jef’s home page

Review of Shure E2C Headphones

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(featuring the fit and sporty Emily)


Everyone has their own inner rock star. Whether you singalong while driving (we see you), or yodel in the shower, its your inner self trying to get out. Thankfully, most of our inner children stay where they belong, inside (I can’t explain Ashlee Simpson, so please don’t ask). The few who have the gift are (we hope) out there sharing it. And when they do, they need gear. Good gear. One key thing they need is headphones, the kind that can block out enough of the outside world and let in what they want to hear during their performance. Believe it or not, for as little as $99, you can play in their world.

Shure, an American company whose roots are in the radio parts business, makes what they call “sound-isolating” headphones. In a nutshell, Shure combines exceptional quality headphones with earplugs. We were sent a pair of the E2c model, the lowest end that Shure makes, to try out. The units come in a great, compact carrying case, and were easy to carry along in our laptop bag.


We went out for a combination headphone test and workout, and tried to find an environment that would put the unit in a real-world environment. Somewhere where there’s a bit of background noise, and a jogging trail. We went to a small little built-up strip on the edge of the San Francisco airport. By the way, jets are loud.


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Review of Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0 Powered Speakers

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a LIVEdigitally original
Here at the Ld, we try not to gush about something no matter how much we like it. Within about 15 seconds from when we first connected the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0 Powered Speakers, we knew we were going to have trouble sounding neutral. These things, for lack of a better word, rock. In fact, they sound so good we can’t refer to them as PC Speakers, because it would almost be insulting.

I hooked up the speakers to my laptop, a Dell Latitude D800 which generally does a good job with its audio outputs. Over the course of several hours, I listened to:


  • 128Kbps (lousy) MP3s.
  • 384Kbps MP3s
  • Uncompressed CD audio
  • A DVD movie
  • Rhapsody streaming radio

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Dick Tracy's MP3 Player

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Well, it’s been about 50 years, and we still don’t have watchband communicators. Heck, my cell phone still loses signal in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, supposedly the hotbed of technology for the world! However, thanks to New York-based Technotunes, Inc., we do have a watchband music player. The company offers a MP3-playing watch. I must admit, when I first heard the concept, it sounded a little on the janky side of the street. I may have judged too soon.

When we opened the packaging, we were nicely surprised to see the high quality of the materials, and the size of the watch itself. I think our expectations were a cheap overseas design with a standard cardboard box, no manual whatsoever, and pleather. Instead, the box looks good, and all the components are worthy of a $199 watch. Nice.

Now we naturally ignored the manual, and went straight to the task of trying to listen to our music. We pulled out the USB cable, and noticed right away the unique (or unique to us, I should say) adapter which appears to convert USB to… headphone! I plugged the cable into my laptop, and two things happened: (1) a light on the watch lit up, and (2) my PC automatically recognized a new USB drive. Both were fantastic news, let me tell you why.

The light on the watch lit up to inform me that the watch was charging over USB. I love this. To all product developers out there: if you make a portable gadget with USB support, it should be chargeable by USB! There is nothing I hate more than carrying extra power adapters on business trips, and if I’m going to have a watch that needs recharging, the LAST thing I want to have to do is remember my charger!

The fact that Windows was able to communicate with the watch as a USB drive meant that not only did I not need to install any special drivers or software, but I can simply drag and drop the MP3 files I want straight to the watch. Which is exactly what I did, and even though the device used the older USB 1.1 technology (which means a much slower transfer rate), filling 256MB with music was quick enough for me.
Well, it’s time to listen to some watch-music, so our good friend Ron has returned, sans lighter fluid (he likes fire). First Ron connected the supplied headphones, using the same plug on the watch that we connected the USB cable to before. This clever design is part of why we like the TechnOTunes product so much – most devices these days have so many inputs and outputs they’re like swiss cheese. This is how consumer electronics, gadgets or not, should be, clean and simple. To add some icing to this cake, the watch automatically recognized the fact that Ron had connected the headphones. He pushed the play button, and out came beautiful, compressed, music.Just look at the happy fella.

Next, Ron stands up to see what the “walking around, listening to my watch” experience is like. The retractable cable (again, a nice touch) wasn’t quite convenient to Ron’s tall frame, so we tried the old under-the-shirt technique. This definitely worked a lot better, but was not extremely convenient. But that’s why we brought out some other listening devices.

First up, a pair of Shure e2c headphones (our review is forthcoming) are connected to the TechnOTunes watch. As we hoped, sound quality was about what a typical MP3 player sounds like. In all fairness, my multi-hundred dollar Rio Karma sounds better with the Shure’s, but since the Karma is considered the top-of-the-line for audio quality, this isn’t a fair comparison. I think it’s fair to say you won’t be disappointed with the sound quality.

Next test: the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0 powered computer speakers (review also coming shortly). First off, these are about the best PC speakers you can buy right now, we love them, they are amazing (you can buy them here). We hooked these bad boys up to the TechnOTunes watch, and it was a party in the apartment.

Finally, and most difficult of all, we used a headphone to RCA adapter, and connected the watch to my home stereo. As a preface, it is very very hard to make any compressed music sound good coming out of a decent stereo system. I typically use the digital audio outputs from my laptop if I really want any PC-based music. I found the watch sounded a little bit hollow when hooked up in this environment, but that’s about what I expected as well. Not fair, not nice, but we wanted to be thorough.
As we’ve said before, too much convergence is not a good thing. My laundry machine does not need to play MP3s. My cell phone doesn’t either, unless it does a really good job of it, and stops dropping calls. As for a watch? I honestly don’t know. But I do know this, if there is an example of doing it right, the TechnOTunes MP3 Watch is it.

Packaging and product design is very nicely done. In fact, they have three different models, each aesthetically designed and offered in multiple colors. The unit we tried has no display or user interface, but Apple, the king of MP3 players, has recently declared this to be a good thing. Because time is random.

We expected a huge house-watch, and instead got something with a nice form factor. The clever use of a single port for USB connectivity as well as headphones is one of the smartest things we’ve seen anyone do with a digital device in a long time.

Personally, I would probably be happy enough with a watch-based USB drive! Even if I didn’t use the music features, not having to carry an extra USB memory stick around is a great idea. The TechnOTunes watch does a good job in the drive to convergence. Convergence should mean something very simple: by combining the devices I normally carry into a single device, my life gets better. Most other devices seem to make my life worse.

The watch is $199, available directly from their site.

 

  • TechnOTunes home page
  • The Gadgeteer’s review

    • dmp3 CD ripping services review

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    From the latest we’ve heard, there are about a billion iPods on the market today. Alright, we are exaggerating, but it is a safe statement that music fans around the world are somewhere on their journey from physical media, such as CDs, to file-based media, such as MP3s. From the late 1990s, when Diamond (formerly S3, then SonicBlue, now DNNA) shipped their first Rio MP3 player (32 megs of RAM, very limited user interface) to today with Apple shipping the new iPod Shuffle (lots more RAM, no user interface), there is tremendous energy behind this shift. By the way, our billion user statement may be outlandish now, but In-Stat predicts almost 2 billion handheld a/v players sold by the end of 2006!While it’s gotten a lot easier to transition MP3s (for the rest of this article, we’ll use the term ‘MP3’ to represent a compressed music file, regardless of specific file format) from computers onto portable music players, the process of getting a music collection into a computer in the first place has not gotten easier. And I’ve got bad news for you: there’s no technology out there that is going to make it better. But two guys named Dan are here, not only to ease the pain, but make it quite a pleasure. They run a new type of music services company, called dmp3, and they are here to help you “rediscover your music.”

    What do they do, in 10 words or less? Dmp3 converts your CD library into a perfectly organized MP3 library.

    And they do it very, very well.


    Our good friend Ron has a vast CD collection. He’s got Dylan and Hancock, Radiohead and Jane’s Addiction. The Police, Radiohead, Morcheeba. Nat King Cole, Miles Davis. Beastie Boys. In previous articles I’ve mocked Ron a bit, but in all honesty, he’s got much better taste in music than me. Not that that will stop future mocking.

    Ron owns an iPod, has a couple of laptops, is a big iTunes and Rhapsody fan. He’s a digital media fan. That said, in two years, he’d ripped a grand total of 20 CDs. Ron says his biggest deterrents to ripping his own CDs are that it takes a long time and maintenance, especially including the problem that he typically has to fix up the metadata (artist name, album title, etc) after he’s done. In fact, when asked how long he thinks it would take him to rip his favorite 200 CDs of his collection, Ron said, “At present rates, I’m ripping about 10 CDs a year. If you calculate that out, my 200 CDs would take 20 years!”

    So we called in dmp3 to help out.

    Daniel Robins, the Bay Area representative of dmp3 (the founder of the company, Dan McMinn is setting up a new office in the Midwest), coordinated with Ron via phone and email to arrange for “the pickup”. One key differentiator for dmp3 is that they offer full service options to those who are interested. If you live in a different part of the country, or are on a tight budget, you can do all interaction by mail, however if you are able to get the personal touch, as you’ll read below, it’s definitely worth it. dmp3 collected just under 200 of Ron’s favorite CDs, to rip, properly tag and identify, and deliver when done.

    In order to most effectively test out the services, we asked Ron to place a few ‘traps’ in his CD collection. He included a few CD cases with no discs, a few cases with the incorrect discs inside, a few custom CD mixes, and some scratched CDs. We, of course, gave dmp3 no warning.

    Daniel took the CDs, and within 24 hours sent a follow-up email to Ron. In this email, Daniel clearly identified the various genres of music that comprised Ron’s collection (and even gave Ron the opportunity to make changes, in case Ron preferred to use different or more specific genres than the standard said, such as “Acid Jazz” and “Fusion Jazz” instead of just “Jazz”). He also outlined the next few steps of the process, and asked Ron to have a few things prepped before his return.

    Meanwhile, the dmp3 team began the ripping process. They combine some very exciting technology with their own personal interests and passion of music to create compelling results. Using their system, dmp3 was able to rip Ron’s entire CD collection quite rapidly, with no errors.

    I’ve personally ripped quite a number of CDs, and the number of error-free rips I’ve done is fairly unimpressive, so I’ll say it again. dmp3 ripped all 200 of Ron’s CDs with absolutely no errors. You don’t have to be an audiophile to appreciate listening to your music without glitches.

    Next step involved going CD by CD, inspecting every metadata tag for accuracy. There are a few services for this, but thankfully they use Gracenote as their primary source. However, they take the process a little further, and pay special attention to situations such as compilation albums or multi-CD sets. For those of you who use some of the ‘default’ metadata services, such as MusicMatch or Windows Media Player, there is a huge difference between dmp3’s outputs and what the typical consumer is dealing with.

    The next day, Daniel returned to Ron’s apartment, with a couple of big boxes…
    First, Daniel connected his USB external hard drive to Ron’s laptop to move the MP3 files onto Ron’s computer. This took a little while, as the collection was quite large. During this time, Daniel pulled out a folder with the detailed notes and files. Daniel proceeded to educate Ron about his own music collection. The documents outlined all of the CDs, by artist and by genre. Details on number of converted tracks, file sizes, duplicates, and more.

    Daniel’s files clearly indicated all of Ron’s attempts to trick the system had failed.

    After the file transfer was completed we started to get a glimpse into how valuable the dmp3 service really is. Ron’s iTunes library was clean and perfect. No messy metadata tags. No need to sort or move files around. It was just… done. And done right.

    I asked Ron how valuable he thought the service was, and here’s his response: “Once you have your entire collection perfectly digitized, organized and loaded you can’t go back. I even have backups that I can put in a Safety Deposit Box should my hard-drive crash.” The backups he’s referring to are the DVDs dmp3 provided with all of Ron’s mp3s. All, of course, in alphabetical order.

    I don’t know if they can sort autobiographically, but it wouldn’t surprise me (the book or the movie).


    There are tons of things out there that are easy to do, but rarely worth the effort. Ask anyone who owns a bread machine or ice cream maker how often they use the gadget versus buying a loaf of bread or pint of Ben and Jerry’s (Phish Food, in case you were wondering). Cleaning the toilet is easy, yet many people hire housekeepers. Even making clothes is pretty simple to do, but I don’t know too many people who like wearing home-brand jeans.

    Anyone can rip a CD. dmp3 just makes it easier, faster, and better. And it might even be cheaper. Here’s my math:

    If it takes you, say 20 minutes to rip a CD, you can do 3 per hour.Say you earn $60,000 per year. This works out to the approximate equivalent of being paid $30 per hour.

    This means, using that new math, the cost of your time to rip a CD is about $10.

    At the time of writing, dmp3’s fee is $1.25 per CD. Or a savings of $8.75 per CD!

    Even if you don’t like my math, or you can rip CDs faster, or you just like to argue, you have to admit there is something very nice about someone else providing you a clean library of your music, with no hassle. Check out dmp3 at www.dmp3music.com, and rediscover your music.

    Or you can go back to cleaning the toilet yourself.

    Slappa CD/DVD Case Review

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    Yes, we are reviewing a CD and a DVD case. Yes, there are plenty of reviews of these exact same cases out there already. So what can we possibly do different? One word. Fire. 

    Our review team here at LIVEdigitally decided if we were going to review a “hard-body” case with “DURO-SHOCK” protection and a “heavy gauge zipper”, we wanted to make sure it lived up to its promise. Total Impact Industrial is the manufacturer of the Slappa brand of CD and DVD cases (iPod case coming soon), which promise to “Protect Your Digital Gear.”

    Our tests involved a series of semi-typical day-to-day events that a CD case might go through, including: spilling coffee on it, dropping food on it, sitting on it, and a whole lot more. Oh yeah, and fire. Our good friend Ron joined us to put the case through the ringer.

    Continue reading →

    Sony Ericsson s700i review

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    Sponsored by Reyox Hosting

    By Asher Saeed
    The Sony Ericsson (SE) S700i is a cellular phone that I have been waiting in anticipation for, ever since I ‘played around’ with the NTT DoCoMo SO505i. The SO505i is what the S700i is obviously inspired from. Unfortunately given Japan’s totally different cellular phone network (W-CDMA as far as NTT is concerned) a state of the art cellular phone such as the SO505i is unlikely to launch in any other country except Japan considering the vastly different cellular networks. Moreover, even given the advent of 3G networks in other countries such as the UK, the SO505i still is unlikely to work outside Japan considering how the phone is completely and totally locked to the NTT network.

     

    SE, finally having some pity upon our poor GSM-using selves, announced earlier this year the S700i, a phone which shares the same swiveling screen design concept as their SO505i and has a similar 1.3 Megapixel camera with photon flash and memory stick DUO support.

    After waiting for several months hoping that a definitive release date would be announced, SE out of the blue launched the S700i in early November pretty much all around the world. The S700i is available from various carriers worldwide as well as completely OEM unlocked (which gives the user complete access to all of the phones features, and is, of course, how I have it).

    Now you might be wondering what sets this phone apart from its competition. Well first of all, it is just gorgeous. The S700i boasts an eye-catching metallic type silver finish (which thankfully doesn’t scratch that easily!) and an amazing 262,000 (18 bit) active matrix TFT display. The screen resolution and glossy quality is simply stunning. The phone has one of the best 1.3 Megapixel cameras I have ever used (and I’ve used many). That’s it for the overview. If that’s not enough for you, the phone also features support for memory stick DUO and has an integrated MP3 player and FM radio. Still not enough? It has onboard 32 MB of memory and an additional 32 MB memory card is included with the package.

    For the first time ever, we are proud to show off a product review with a video! Watch this 60-second preview of the phone.

    In one phrase: “The phone simply oozes sex appeal!”The phone sports a 180 degrees swiveling design. Now what’s different about this design is the fact that it only swings 180 degrees (in case you missed it the first time I said it). Once you flip it to full length you cannot turn the screen ‘the other way’ but must turn it back to closed position the same way you opened it. I actually like this concept; I think it has something to do with hinge reinforcement.

    As expected by a ‘swinging phone’ the hinges do get loose after several openings and closings (although not as loose as some Samsung or Motorola I’ve tried).

    The front of the phone has a large, extremely bright screen. The facade has four action buttons and a d-pad in the center with a key in the middle of the d-pad. This is quite effective for using the phone without requiring the user to open the flip.

    Once you swing open the LCD screen, a set of keys are revealed. The S700i has, by far, the best set of keys I have ever used in a SE phone. The finish is striking, although it might take some getting used to as the keys are ‘inset’ which means they’re not exactly protruding outwards. But once you get used to it, it’s very satisfying to use and easy to “type” with (T9-style input is supported as well).

    On the right side of the phone is a soft plastic hatch which conceals the memory stick DUO card slot. As I previously mentioned, SE was kind enough to supply one 32 MB MS DUO card with the package and an adapter for using it with the bigger memory stick card readers. Right above the memory card hatch is the camera button (more on that later), and right above that are the two volume up and down buttons.

    On the left side of the phone is the infrared port (pretty self explanatory and very effective as with all SE phones). Above that is the dual function slider button which basically locks/unlocks the keypad and acts as an activator for the flash when the phone is in camera mode.

    Once you turn the phone around you can easily mistake it for a ‘real’ Sony CyberShot camera. The camera lens is enclosed in a shutter (finally a camera phone with a shutter!) and the shutter has a sexy silver rim around it which boasts of the camera’s mega pixel strength (engraved). Right next to the rim is the slider switch which opens/closes the lens shutter, as well as the tiny flash. The back of the phone also has the battery hatch cover (obviously) which requires a bit of strength to slide out.

    Lastly, the bottom of the phone is what I like to call the ‘port end’. This contains the ports for the charger and the stereo headset. The port end has a soft plastic covering which you cannot take off. But you can slide it upwards, which is better than those removable covers (I’ve lost way too many of those!).

    The phone’s internal system is similar to the system that’s in use on the SE K700i. The same menu system, the same features (pretty much)! For those who haven’t read a decent review of the K700i, I’ll recap the features for you.

    The operating system (OS) supports a dynamic wallpaper scheme which I like; SE threw in a set of trendy themes which are pretty decent. As with pretty much every other SE phone there are 3D screensavers and after a while the screen turns black (once the screen saver is over).

    The menu system has a wide set of features (all you’d expect, and more):

    • PlayNow (music download service by SE, I have not used this)
    • WAP browser (supports XHTML)
    • Entertainment section which features a music DJ, games and the sound recorder
    • Camera
    • Messaging (sports email, SMS and wireless village)
    • FM Radio
    • File manager
    • Phone book
    • Media player (MP3 and video)
    • Connectivity options (Internet profiles, data profiles for GPRS and HCSD, Bluetooth and infrared)
    • Personal organizer (All PIM features, including calendar alarm clock, notes, tasks, stopwatch, calculator, code memo and more)
    • Setting menu (themes, profiles, time date management, voice control, shortcuts, language, ring tones, call lists and more)

    SE completely redesigned the menu system and it is much better than the interface used by the ‘now older’ SE phones (like the T610, T630 and Z600, etc). Although the OS maintains the same features, they’re more polished now.The phone offers excellent voice quality, however it is a bit quirky. I recommend you avoid rubbing the phone against your cheeks too much or the other party will most likely go deaf. If not deaf, they will definitely have trouble hearing you clearly. The phone does include a loud integrated loudspeaker which serves well for hands-free use.

    The phone has excellent Bluetooth support. After thoroughly testing Bluetooth with the most popular headsets, and with my Sony VAIO’s BlueSpace software, and various other Bluetooth dongles I can safely say that connectivity is not an issue! As usual, SE shines brightly in the Bluetooth department.

    The phone has excellent battery life; I use my phone all day and receive calls pretty much every hour. By the end of the day I still have 3/4ths of the battery left. I rarely acclaim or support manufacturer-claimed battery times, as they’re rarely accurate; especially considering each user uses his/her devices differently. For me, the battery life of the phone is just what I expect from a top-end SE phone.

    The back of the phone: (click on the image for a full-screen view):

    The phone plays MP3s in stereo, and the included set of ear buds are of excellent quality. MP3 playback (according to me, a music aficionado) was very acceptable. In fact, if 128 MB memory sticks weren’t so expensive, this device would serve most music lovers well. The unit also has a 5-band equalizer that does a good job of reproducing bass and treble.

    It is obviously unreasonable to compare this MP3 player to an iPod or any other top end dedicated MP3 players. However it does give them a good run for their money and in my case it’s more than enough. Also, you can minimize the MP3 player to the background and play games and listen to music at the same time.

    The phone is also able to playback QCIF video (standard GSM quality, about 1/2 the resolution of a TV screen). Frankly, unless you encode a movie especially for playback on the QCIF format, the movie capturing feature of the camera is really only above average. The video feature is something I’ve never really found effective in a cellular phone. The only cellular phone which had the best video capturing and playback was my iMate Windows Mobile Pocket PC. It’s video capturing and playback was truly amazing. I suppose a comparison is not really fair considering the massive power of that device.

    As I mentioned before the S700i also has an FM radio, but don’t really listen to FM that much. For the time that I spent trying it out, the reception was crystal clear and quality was pretty good.

    The back of the phone: (click on the image for a full-screen view):

    I’m willing to bet that this is the part that most users have been waiting for. Without further ado, I’ll get into the details of this phone’s spectacular, yet quirky, camera.First of all, the camera won’t operate if the flip of the phone is open. It must be closed in order for the camera to function.  

    The camera is activated by opening the lens cover, which is done by sliding the switch on the back of the phone. Once the cover is open the camera activates itself and the huge LCD turns into an excellent viewfinder.

    Upon inspection of the camera’s menu system you’ll notice it is almost identical to Sony’s CyberShot cameras and with good reason too: Sony’s CyberShot division helped SE design this phone’s camera!

    Taking pictures couldn’t be easier yet it couldn’t be more difficult! One would think it’s as simple as point and shoot but its not. You need a stable hand in order to take a picture of excellent quality. I cannot emphasize this enough but the lighting conditions must be good or the picture will come out grainy.

    If you hold the camera steady and wait until the picture is clearly saved before moving your hand again, it will turn out pretty well. Here’s an important point: do not mistake the shutter sound as the picture being 100% saved, because its not! The shutter sound can be disabled once the phone enters silent mode (for all the perverts out there).

    What really makes this camera great yet quirky is the fact that it has a CCD sensor rather than an el cheapo CMOS (carbon metal oxide semi conductor) sensor. However its biggest shortcoming is in the sensor, given the tiny size of the sensor and its auto focusing system you need to be sure that the camera is being held steady before snapping a picture.

    Now you might be wondering why earlier I emphasized on the lighting conditions; that was simply because the built-in flash is more or less a joke. Although under some circumstances it does work well, but if you’re expecting to take pictures in pitch darkness you should think again. Unless, that is, you want a picture of perfect blackness. I recommend you look at using the flash as a torch.

     
    Sample pix
    Click on any of these pictures to see a sample set of pictures taken with the s700i

    Here’s a list of some of the other camera-specific features:

    • Spot photometry (which displays a t-bar in the viewfinder and adjusts the light around the t-bar, this is very effective if you want to make a certain object brighter than its surroundings)
    • You can choose the photo size (1280×960 is the maximum and best quality if used effectively)
    • Night mode (this helps considerably if lighting conditions are poor)
    • Timer (great for taking that perfect picture, place the camera on a solid surface, step away, smile, viola! Perfect picture!)
    • White balance options (avoid messing with this really unless you’re an expert photographer)
    • Effects (make the picture sepia colored, pretty cool if you want to give the pictures a quaint look!)
    • 8x digital zoom, the bigger the zoom the worse the picture turns out, don’t use this in all honestly it’s only a marketing gimmick

    By flipping the phone’s d-pad to the right you can operate in movie mode. You can shoot a mini movie from here; a very nice touch is the setting that lets movies span the entire length of your memory stick. I’m not going to go into the complete details of the movie recorder because it’s like most other camera phone video recorders, but of slightly better quality.Considering the CCD sensor the phone surprisingly does not lose too much battery life while taking pictures. Of course if you decide to go photo crazy the battery will rapidly drop because of the power-hungry sensor. Remember, the phone’s battery is small (780 mAh) and that CCD sensors are the same kind that are included in good cameras and accordingly use up a lot of battery.

    While comparing the camera to other 1.3 megapixel cameras I’ve used (including dedicated ones), the SE S700i shines very brightly (again, if used properly!). The new Nokias with built-in 1.3 megapixel cameras simply pale in comparison to the S700i. And no, I am not a Nokia hater. I’ve used almost all of the top end Nokia phones out there including the 7610, and their camera quality really is average compared to this.

    The camera shutter: (click on the image for a full-screen view):

    Simply put, the S700i is an excellent phone for all the features it packs (especially the camera). It’s great for tourists who don’t want to buy a dedicated camera, or for other point-and-shoot needs. It’s great for commuters who can listen to MP3s or FM radio while on the go. It has all the expected PIM and connectivity features and much more. In other words this phone packs quite a punch.

    Finally, it’s great for the executive who uses the phone a lot (being one myself). You honestly won’t be ashamed to pull this phone out of your pockets in front of clients or colleagues. I say this because frankly, many other phones which try to ‘differentiate’ in design turn out looking just plain weird and sometimes a bit too feminine (like the 7610).

     

    Pros and cons

    Pro: Excellent quality camera
    Con: It’s quirky at the same timePro: Great MP3 player and FM radio
    Con: Limited memory expansion (only up to 128 MB)

    Pro: Memory is expandable
    Con: MS DUO is expensive and this phone doesn’t support DUO PRO which means expansion is limited to 128 MB

    Pro: Great talk time and standby
    Con: Can’t hold the phone in weird positions and talk properly at the same time

    Pro: Intuitive design
    Con: Hinge will get loose but not unacceptably loose

    Pro: Great keypad
    Con: Will take some getting used to

    Pro: Nice exterior color
    Con: Limited at the same time because there’s only one alternative which is the S700a (for Americas) which is available in black and lacks FM radio but includes EDGE.

    Pro: Full featured phone
    Con: Massive price tag, $599+

     

    Tips and tricks

    • While talking, do not attempt to go ‘hands free’ by supporting the phone against your shoulder and cheeks
    • For the perfect picture, ensure you hold the phone steady and that lighting conditions are bright. For the ultimate sharp picture, put the phone on a solid surface and use the self timer.
    • Get the Noiseware.com noise remover software. That will touch up your pictures considerably. All pictures that I have taken with the S700i for this review have been touched up with the community edition of Noiseware.
    • Get a screen protector immediately, the screen will scratch considering its glossy surface
    That’s all for my review, I hope you found it sufficiently in-depth to help make your buying decisions.  

    Asher Saeed
    LD Reviewer

    Here is a picture of the s700i next to a mini-A4 mouse: (click on the image for a full-screen view):

    IF YA MISSED IT… Video demo