Monthly Archives: September 2005

Apple iTunes

Posted on September 8, 2005 | Leave a comment

Apple iTunes music store statistics: I’m listening to the keynote as I get stuff done here and I thought some of the numbers were huge enough to mention. They sell 1.8 million songs a day. They have 82% of the market share in the us, 85% of the market of the world wide music stores. They have 2,000,000 song vs. 200,000 from 2.5 years ago. And they have ten million accounts on iTunes.

For podcasting, which they just added few months ago, they have over 15,000 feeds and 7,000,000 subscriptions.

I wasn’t sure yesterday but the Harry Potter content is exclusive to iTunes and so is the selling of individual Madonna tracks.

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iPod Nano

Posted on September 8, 2005 | 1 comment

So yesterday Apple released the iPod Nano. You’d think with the other stuff going on I would have realized there was just one more thing…

The iPod Nano has 2GB and 4GB models, color screen, click wheel, thin as a pencil (3.5 x 1.6 x 0.27 inches and 1.5 ounces) and I think it’s all solid state (no hard drive) so it doesn’t skip and that should help the battery life too. It’ll hold up to 1,000 songs or 25,000 photos (4GB version) and it comes in black or white. The more I look the more I like. My question is how small can they keep them this size but still get them up to 80 (or 100) GB?

I’m sorry that I’m such an Apple geek, I just think they make really stuff (I’m not really sorry). And with the iPods everyone (even Windows people) can benefit from it. I’m sure these work as external storage devices too. Photo/diagram in the extended entry.

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iTunes v.5 Pluses and Minuses

Posted on September 7, 2005 | 1 comment

Plus: So they’ve finally released a phone with Apple iTunes it’s the ROKR by Motorola (with a camera and speakers built in), it’s sorta like a shuffle with a display. Very cool! 100 Songs on your phone to sync with iTunes (I assumed you would be able download via the phone but I don’t see any references to that, so I guess not). It’s $249, but I’m sure it’ll drop by the holidays… (It looks like you can get it for $99 after rebates and activating a plan)

Minus: They release a new version of iTunes, which seems great but it screwed up on the import of the old data, it gave me an error and renamed my library to “iTunes Library (Damaged)”. It screwed up my list of podcasts, moved all of them to the regular music library and deleted my subscriptions. I could re-add them, if I could remember them :(

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Harry Potter Gets An iPod

Posted on September 7, 2005 | Leave a comment

Ipodhpcrest So I’ve seen many complaints on-line that they’ve never released harry Potter as an eBook, I’m not sure if they’ve every released it as a downloadable Audio Book (I’m thinking no). So the iTunes store has released the books are Audio Book and you can get the complete set for $249. Or you can get a specially engraved 20GB iPod with with the Hogwarts Crest and all the audio books for $549. A little pricey if you ask me, I’m assuming you can by the Audio Books on CD for about the same price (and still have a backup).

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Connections to the world

Posted on September 7, 2005 | Leave a comment

So I’ve been getting some promos from Talk America for their DSL which is only $25 a month (first month free and free modem) and they claim 4MB service. They also offer free dial-up for travel (but the guy on the phone referred to is as a backup plan). I love Talk America. I use them for my phone service: my local calling area is much larger (most of metro Detroit), unlimited minutes and unlimited member to member calling for 22.95.

I thought I’d try it, it’s free, right? But the computer at their end was dead so I have to wait. But then I called my cable company (Comcast) and hassled them (generally it’s best to call the disconnect / cancel service departments for these calls. I got them to drop my cable modem costs $10 a month (for the next 12 months) with no problem. A little more haggling and I got them down $15 a month, so I’m not as cheap as the DSL but I’m definitely in the range of where I want to be and it’s been good service so I’m happy with it (I did this about 8 months ago and they gave me a similar, but not as good as this, discount for six months).

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Gas Prices

Posted on September 5, 2005 | 3 comments

So I just passed about twenty gasoline stations from Dearborn to Wyandotte and every single one (except one) was $2.99. That’s every station from Michigan and Schaefer/Coolidge to Jefferson/Biddle and Eureka. That’s pretty good from the stories I’m hearing out there. Oh and the one the wasn’t $2.99, it was $2.92! (it was at Biddle and Northline if you’re from around here). I also noticed places like http://www.detroitgasprices.com/ have been keeping their information up-to-date with these higher prices…

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10, 5, 1, 1/356th years ago

Posted on September 4, 2005 | Leave a comment

10 years ago – I lived in Haslett (east of East Lansing), I still worked at the Department of Education for the State of Michigan. I really miss both, I loved the job (I left because my boss left and I went to work for him at another job) and I really miss the Lansing area. I definitely miss the (lack of) traffic and (lack of) construction that we have in the Detroit area. I miss my little apartment too, I was right next door to a 24 hour Quality Dairy (w/laundramat) so I could get ice cream, donuts, milk, do laundry, get lottery tickets and use an ATM any time of the day or night. And I was right by Lake Lansing, I could put in all my laundry (not just one load) and go sit at the park by they lake or rollerblade around the lake… Did I say I missed living there?!?
5 years ago – I’m thinking I was sick. I only remember because it was the year I bought my condo (in October) and I remember being so very sick that September with (I don’t even remember exactly) some kind of lung infection. I had moved back to the Detroit area the year before and I don’t remember much else.

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The return of Calvin And Hobbes

Posted on September 4, 2005 | 1 comment

I was very excited when I looked at the Sunday funnies today, Calvin and Hobbes was right there with a big color strip above the fold! It was a pretty generic entry, it had today’s date on it but with a little surfing I found out it’s reruns.

It’s interesting because it’s supposedly out just to get people hyped about the three volume $150 collection that’s coming out in a month (only $94.50 at Amazon). But Bill Watterson has never really been to interested in marketing, according to the Detroit Free Press

There never was an officially licensed Hobbes, nor was there any genuine “Calvin and Hobbes” product other than the strips or the books in which they’re collected.

Now I don’t know how much money the guy has made on C & H but all he has to do is say the word and he could have many millions more (at least I’d guess so). And probably a few more if they let them do a TV show/movies/video…

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