Adventure Sandbox

Steven Frank, from Panic, writes an absolutely hilarious tale of his quest with Windows on a Sony Vaio. What made the story funny was the fact that so much of it rang absolutely true for me. I had a very similar experience a few years ago when I was setting up my wife’s (my girlfriend at the time) new Dell laptop. It was so riddled with trailware that I just wanted to format the laptop and start fresh. The problem is that Dell does not include the Windows install desk, WHICH YOU PAY FOR! The lack of a included Windows disk forced me to spend my time weeding through uninstallers and combing the file system to remove the loads of junk included on the laptop. I’ve already told my wife her next laptop is going to be a Mac (she just bought a Mac for her work last week!).

I’ll also second Steven’s experience with downloading drivers. I spend my days working on IBM desktops and laptops so I know what he went though to get the drivers. To this day it baffles me that I have to click a thousand links to download drives which are wrapped in an IBM installer which serve no function other to unzip them to a randomly named directory. There simply has to be an easier way.

[Via Daring Fireball]

Tags: Apple, Technology by Kevin
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Today Amazon launched their newest online service, Amazon MP3 Beta. Amazon MP3 Beta is a digital music service that will compete with iTunes, eMusic, Amie Street, and others. I decided to kick the tires today and test out Amazon’s newest product.

Browsing the site is pretty much like using Amazon to purchase any of their other products. You can perform a search or use the navigation bar on the left side of the page. I purchased a song on the Top Songs list so didn’t venture too much into the interface but it seems very easy to use from my limited experience.

Once you find a track you want, click the Buy MP3 button and you’ll be prompted to download the Amazon MP3 Downloader. The downloader is necessary for album purchases but not for song purchases. I went ahead and downloaded it anyways.

Once I went through the checkout process, a .amz file was downloaded to my laptop. Double clicking the file begins the song download in the Amazon downloader app. About 5 seconds later, the song was downloaded and it was automatically added to my iTunes library.

Be careful about clicking the Buy MP3 button. Once you are logged into Amazon, clicking the button will automatically purchase the song much like the 1 click buying. I clicked the button by accident and purchased a song i didn’t really want to buy. Good thing the track was only $.89.

iTunes may finally have some competition with Amazon MP3 Beta. Most tracks are only $.89 and most albums $8.99. The songs are all DRM free and encoded at 256kbps in mp3 format. Right now the selection is a little limited, but I expect that to improve over time.

Competition is good for consumers, but we’ll have to wait and see if Apple changes the iTunes store in response. If you purchase from iTunes, Amazon MP3 Beta is worth some of your time to check it out. The reviews are beginning to come in, and so far they are positive.

Tags: Technology by Kevin
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According to this press release, the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store is coming sometime this week. They also hint at “many new features” in addition to the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store (ITWFMS). This is the first time I’ve seen the word feature used in conjunction with anything related to iPhone software updates. The previous updates brought mostly bug fixes. In addition to the ITWFMS, I’m really excited to see what new features are coming to the iPhone.

[Via TUAW]

Tags: Apple by Kevin
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It’s been no secret that NBC Universal has not been happy about their current iTunes contract. According to a provision in their contract with Apple, NBC notified Apple last month that they would not be renewing their current contract. In response, Apple decided not to offer the upcoming season of NBC shows to its millions of customers.

You might also remember that Universal Music Group decided not to renew their iTunes contract a few months ago, instead going on a month to month contract. A little more than a month after not renewing their iTunes contract, Universal Music Group decided to give DRM free downloads a try on a number of download services, none of which were named iTunes. Today we got word from the CEO of Vivendi (parent company of UMG and 20% owner of NBC Universal), that “The split between Apple and (music) producers is indecent.” As it turns out, 70% of all UMG revenue goes to Vivendi.

There is definitely a growing displeasure of media companies not happy with Apple and iTunes. Nearly every story about this displeasure revolves around the lack of control over pricing given to the media companies. With the spreading anti-iTunes sentiment, I expect Apple to release some control over media pricing in the next 6-12 months. In nearly every non-regulated business sector, pricing is set by the producer or service provider, not the distributor. We’ll see in the long term if the media companies shoot themselves in the foot or actually increase revenue.

Tags: Apple by Kevin
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Though some networks have their panties in a wad with Apple, others are increasing their efforts to use iTunes as a promotional tool. Beginning this week, the season premier of seven Fox shows will be available for free on iTunes. Prison Break, Bones, American Dad, K-Ville, and three others will be available as a free download for one (CNN) or two (LA Times) weeks, depending on who you believe. I tried to search the Fox website but I could find no reference listing the names of the other three shows available.

I’m going to have a look at the available shows and download a few of them. I’ve never downloaded a show from iTunes so this is a good chance to test out the content quality. It’s a smart move for Fox to offer up the season premiers for free. At no other point of the TV season, except for maybe the season finale, is the hype for new shows greater. By promoting the shows on another distribution channel, Fox is giving the shows a greater chance to build an audience. iTunes makes it dead simple to download and watch a TV show if you missed it or just hadn’t heard about it. Since advertising rates are based on ratings, it’s obviously the networks best interest to increase viewership. I would image any money made on iTunes via the selling of TV shows is pure profit as well. This move by Fox sounds like a win-win for both Fox and Apple. These shows would be great to test out the new iPod nano.

Tags: Apple, Technology by Kevin
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