Saturday, January 22, 2005

iPod Shuffle Review

Like many Apple products, it started as a rumor. At least in public. The Mac rumor web is constantly filled with information relating to possible new products and features.
In the past, about two-thirds of the rumors have been right, or at least on the right track. For example, On August 31, 2004, Mac Expo Paris was where Phil Schiller, Apple’s VP, would give the keynote speech. This speech is usually done by Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, and is where he announces the new major products and company updates. The rumor mill had been churning about Mac Expo Paris. What would be released and announced? Among the rumors was the possibility that the iPod would receive new Bluetooth or Airport compatibility so that users could sync their iPods without plugging them in. The speculation was founded on information from a job listing at Apple. The listing was looking for an iPod engineer possessing the skills for these functions, but there was no more proof than that. In hindsight, this rumor has never seen fruition. Instead, Apple used those engineers to develop an iTunes Music Store on certain Motorola phones. Who would have thought? More often than not, though, the rumors can make some good guesses. The iPod Shuffle was one of them.
Again, it started as a rumor. The “Mini iPod Mini” was first alluded to by Phil Schiller in a Mercury News article on January 7, 2004, who also said Apple had not ruled out making an iPod at capacities smaller than 4GB. The first actual rumor about the new MP3 player was posted on October 1, 2004 and it said that the “flash-based” iPod would be in stores for Christmas. 22 days later, another rumor came out that the new iPod would start at $99. By the end of October, news.com, a technology news site, added some credibility to the rumors by posting some analyst suggestions. The analyst said after meeting with Apple executives, he could see the new iPod in the $149 range. The two prices were right.
On December 7, 2004, a Mac News site, themacmind.com, posted “confirmed details” on the new iPod. The specs they posted were exactly right. But because their site was not very credible, no rumor site gave this information the light of day. This rumor also included the date of entry: Mac World Expo 2005, exactly one year after the introduction of the iPod Mini. As the day of Steve Job’s keynote address at Mac World Expo arrived, much about the iPod Shuffle was known, including the name. The US Patent office, which posts information relating to new patents, posted that Apple had received two new patents; among them, the name “Shuffle”. The rumor mill worked perfectly and Apple supporters and information leeches, myself included, were not overly surprised, but very impressed with the iPod Shuffle.
The iPod Shuffle. It is the newest member of the Apple iPod family and the smallest. For comparison, it is about the size of a pack of Trident. Take out four quarters. Hold them in your hand. You’re holding more weight than the iPod Shuffle (it weighs in at .78 ounces). There are two models: one that holds 512 MB, and one that holds 1GB of music and files. In other words, Apple claims you can hold about 120 and 240 songs, respectively. (I tested my music library to see how much of my music I could fit on each model: about 125 and 235 respectively) The 512MB model retails at $99 and the 1GB model at $149, and while there is no education discount for the 512MB model, the 1GB is only $139 with this discount. The rechargeable battery lasts an incredibly long time: about 12 hours before it needs more power. If you are going on a flight longer than 12 hours, for example, or just will be away from power for a while, there is an accessory battery pack that uses two triple-A batteries for 20 extra hours of music. The battery pack retails at $29, and $26 with educational discount.
It has an incredibly simple interface. On the front side, there are 5 buttons, all arranged in a circle: play in the middle, left and right buttons for next and previous track, and up and down buttons for the volume. The top has a jack for headphones, and the bottom has a cap that covers the built-in USB jack for easy synchronization to your computer. The back has a slider controller with three settings: shuffle, standard play, and off; there is also a battery level indicator.
I have heard many arguments against the iPod shuffle saying that “you can no longer listen to your playlists.” This is just not true. The slider controller has three settings, two of which control whether you want your music to play straight through or you want the music shuffled. If, for example, you want to listen to a new CD you just got, just bring it onto the iPod Shuffle. If you don’t care what you listen to, you can use a feature called “AutoFill” within iTunes where it will fill the iPod Shuffle with the maximum amount of music it will hold.
Linking the iPod Shuffle to a computer is also incredibly simple. Take the USB cap off to reveal the USB connector, and just plug it in to your computer. It will automatically link up to your iTunes software and charge itself at the same time. Incredibly cool. It looks like a USB “thumb drive” when you plug it in, and you can use it as such. In the iPod Shuffle preferences, you can allocate a certain amount of the space to storage of files instead of playable music. For comparison’s sake, I just went onto compusa.com, and for the same amount of storage space, thumb drives were $60 and $100, respectively. So for 40 dollars more, you can play music with your thumb drive. Awesome.
So, who is Apple targeting with the iPod Shuffle? Why would someone want to buy this? Well, the iPod Shuffle is not for people who want to store their entire music library. That’s why someone would buy a normal iPod with 20 or 40 GB of storage. One might even get the upper-level iPod Photo with 60 GB of storage for their whole music library. But those are much more expensive. With the iPod Shuffle, Apple is taking on the low priced, flash-based music industry, which is the one area of music players they have not affected. This player is for someone like my family friend Holly. She wants a portable music player at the gym. She doesn’t need to carry her whole library, just a few CDs worth. The iPod Shuffle is for her. The player is for someone like me. I’m a college student on a short budget. I listen to most of my music in my dorm room on my computer. I want to listen to some music when I go to and from class, and I want to be able to select what I listen to a few minutes before I leave for the day. The iPod Shuffle, with its sleek integration to iTunes and quick data transfer (it employs USB 2.0, which runs at 480 Mbps; in other words, really fast), is for someone like me.
Some argue that the iPod Shuffle is missing something: a screen. This is not an argument; it is fact. There is no screen. Then again, when you were listening to a CD (remember when we had single CD players?), how often would you look down at your display and expect to see the title and artist? Never, because most standard CD players only have screens that show time elapsed or remaining. And do you really care that much about that kind of information when you’re just listening to music for the sake of listening? No, the iPod Shuffle does not have a screen. And no, I do not think it is a big problem.
When the iPod Shuffle was released, the first store to carry them was the Apple Store in San Francisco (interestingly enough, right up the street from where Mac World Expo was held). People swarmed to the physical and online stores. As of today, January 22, 2005, 11 days after its release, there is a 2-3 week wait for the 512MB model, and 3-4 week wait for the 1GB model. If I had been in San Francisco then, I would have been with the mobs. Overall, I think the iPod Shuffle is great for Apple. Apple has finally realized that if they want to expand their market, they need to make their products more affordable. They showed they learned this at Mac World Expo with the iPod Shuffle and the Mac Mini. That review will come later…I’ll need a long flight for that…good thing that’s coming up!

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Life Update

It's been a while since I've updated, and it's been a while since I rode the Yolo County bus. So now, I'm on the Yolo bus, on the way to the airport to purchase my spring break plane ticket:-). Good thing about flying standby: free flights. Bad thing: you have to go to the airport to redeem them(at least for America West...Continental was much better...yes, I have to fly both for this trip...) Where to start?
Classes. Classes are really pretty good. I can't complain about them. In every class, there's at least one thing that entices me to pursue my studies in that course. In Macroecon, our lectures are pretty bad. She goes over almost exactly what the book says, but does not speak very clearly. I usually zone out and do something else between powerpoint slides. Like today, for example: I wrote an AppleScript(mini-application, basically) that will launch my mail program, weather reports, and the first five web sites I always go to in the morning. (okay, you REALLY want to know what they are? You're gonna think I'm a dork. But if you are reading this, you probably think that already. 1) facebook, 2) NFTY mail, 3) NYTimes, 4) MacUpdate(software stuff), 5) macrumors.com) This way, I'll not only wake up to my favorite music, courtesy of iAlarm, I also will get my mail, news, and weather! stellar. woot for being bored in Econ. Anyway, the part that actually makes the class worth while is our discussion section. The TA is awesome. Last week, we looked at why it would be more profitable for a poppy grower in Afghanistan to make seeds than heroin. Awesome. Poli Sci (comparative politics) is pretty good. Horrible discussion section(the teacher thinks she's giving out her own grade on a 100 point scale...when it's only 10 percent of our grade, and being there each time gets us 5 percent of that. participation in discussion is another 5 percent. so she's giving stuff that doesn't matter in her scale. oh well.), but the lectures are really interesting. The way I learn a topic is that I try to relate it to something I already know. Like NFTY. I've been using NFTY as a way of comparing governments. It's kinda weird to explain. For example, it's difficult to classify NFTY into a particular class of government because we don't really have districts. We do have regions, but it's not equal member-to-delegate distribution. Also, in NFTY, the representatives are more like trustees than delegates. Point is that I learn about governments by using the NFTY general board as an example. I'm thinking of doing my senior thesis as an analyzation of NFTY as a case-study of a government. More on that in a few years. Back to classes. Intro to Judaism is pretty entertaining. I'm learning a lot more about the history of the Jewish people and getting a better foundation on which to make my cases. All in all, not too bad. Pretty easy, but I'm okay with that. Last, my favorite class: Intro to Music Literature. I really think I'm one of the luckiest guys on campus. I get to start every monday, wednesday, and friday learning about classical music. It's such an awesome class. We've been learning about very basic elements of music (texture, dynamics, overall sound, instrumentation) and I'm now able to get so much more out of music. I just hope these lessons will carry over to my song writing. Speaking of which...
I recently uploaded my music to a web site. As of earlier today, people had played these four songs over 200 times. I've never been so happy about my music. I'm really excited that now, I have a really good portal to get my music out to the public. The ease of this has inspired me to write and record more. So expect to see some new songs on there soon. Hopefully, I'll be compiling an album by the end of the school year. (of course, I say this now...)
NFTY is fantastic. I just went to NY for a meeting and am very excited to go to my first travel region, NFTY-MI at the end of this month. I'm spending Thursday night with the Rolnicks which should be fun, then working the event the rest of the weekend. I'm so excited! Also, my project for convention is coming together REALLY well! If you're going to convention and want an awesome workshop, come to "Putting the 'C' back into RCVP." No idea who's teaching it, but I heard it's gonna be a lot of fun;-) Can't wait.
Besides that, I'm more smitten than ever. I get through the days because I look forward to the evenings. Sometimes, I even get lucky and I don't have to wait 'till evening. It's great though. Every time I look at my desktop, there's a picture that just makes me smile. I am so content with life because of this.
Alright, back to the bus. Hope everyone's been having a wonderful few weeks!
Also, just because I'm a nut, check out the ipod shuffle and mac mini. Now, no one can say "I can't get a mac...they're too expensive..." because you can get an equivilant mac for the same price as a PC. Boo yah. The ipod shuffle is just damn cool. I'll explain why it's great in another post.
Deep breath, and I'm off.

Saturday, January 15, 2005

My cousin's toys...

So glad I'm in a family that appreciates Apple products...

http://homepage.mac.com/greendesert/iblog/C1676615283/E1365317995/index.html

(btw, that's my cousin Justin. He's about 1 and a half. He's not usually so faceless...)

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

First Day of Class

Today, UC Davis had our first day of classes in our Winter 2005 quarter. Woot.
My first class of the day is Music 10, Introduction to Music Literature. It seems like it will be a really great class. It forces me to listen and study classical music to start my Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Awesome. Today, we looked at Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man". We looked at it in a very broad sense, not getting into too much detail; basic rhythms, reasons for various notes and intervals, and instrumentation.
After a break at home, I went off to my second class: Religious Studies 23, Introduction to Judaism. First off, my professor isn't a great group leader, and the class seems SOOOO easy. Beyond one of the books being a repeat from a class last quarter, one of the assignments for an upcoming class is "Be able to define mitzvah and halakhah." Please sir can I have some more? Should be an interesting tongue-biter. Oh man...I could go on, but it'd take way more energy than the class is worth.
Fortuantely, because of my schedule, I have a one hour break between Judaism and Poli Sci. So I just used that time to get some emailing and this entry done. Off to Poli Sci!
First off, the class room reminds me of the class room in "Young Frankenstein." It's almost eery. I keep hearing Gene Wilder shouting "My Grandfather's work was DOO DOO! I am not concerned with death! I am only concerned with the preservation of LIFE!"(Said, of course, as he jabs a scalpel into his thigh) Ah observation. Good times. The professor kinda looks like my middle school English teacher, Mrs. Moore. I know it's not her, but it's still pretty weird. It's like how last quarter, my English teacher looked like my Aunt Patty. Weird. It's a continuing theory/fear of mine: that I'm living something similar to "The Truman Show." I know I'm not, but there are times when people just look too alike. Looking around, I don't recognize anyone in the class. New faces are always good. Stark contrast from Intro to Judaism, where I knew just about 15% of the class; and in a class of about 40 or 50, that's a considerable amount. She started talking, and she doesn't remind me of Mrs. Moore anymore. Class was kinda cool...it was like my last poli sci class: the Prof. explained the powerpoint slides in more detail, and I did random organizational stuff on my computer...awesome. Should be in an interesting class...we're going to be covering the rise of democratization in a post-cold war world. real chill. haha...that was a good one.
The good news about my schedule this quarter is that my day ends at 4 every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. No night classes!!! I think I might do some good reading, or go to dinner at a normal hour, or maybe, just maybe, indulge in the resurection of Iyun T'fillah...eh, who am I kidding? it won't happen for a few years...gotta start somewhere though, no?
All in all, good first day. Too bad it was so gloomy outside, but it's Davis. Kinda goes with the territory between November and late February. Woo Ags!

Sunday, January 02, 2005

Ally's Visit

Saturday, 25th
•Ally arrived
•Drove to In-N-Out, but it was closed (stupid businesses closed on Christmas...)
•Becky picked up Eric
•Dinner with family(Jer, Ally, Becky, Eric, Mom, Dad, Aunt Iris, Uncle Dave, Adam, Jessica, Nana, Marion[Iris' Mom], Chaime, Lora, Elisa)

Sunday, 26th
•Walking around La Jolla Cove
Brunch at IHOP
Nap at home
•Christmas decorations at Hotel Del
•Visiting Mount Soledad
•Dinner at Hotel La Jolla
Scrabble game (teams of couples: Ally/Jer, Becky/Eric, Mom/Dad)

Monday, 27th
Sesame Street with Ruben Studdard
Lunch with Holly/Kayla(family friends)
UTC, met up with Seth and Joanna
•Coffee shop in La Jolla, met up with Sarah
•Dinner at In-N-Out in PB
•Back to Alexa's, met up with Jordyn, went outside and talked to Stacy for 1:15

Tuesday, 28th
•Lunch at Onami
Hall of Champions, Automotive museum, Aerospace museum
•Back home to watch "Love Actually"
•Dinner with fam and watching Keeping the Faith

Wednesday, 29th
•Breakfast at Jamba Juice
Auto show (fell in love with Acura TSX, disappointed with Honda Accord)
•Lunch at Greek Palace (Jer, Ally, Dad, Iris, Jessica)
•Nap to Rules of Attraction
•Dinner at Rubios
•Walking around Old Navy and Ross (Ally found stuff in the kids section, Jer found a nice shirt at Ross for $7.45)
•Seth's get together

Thursday, 30th
Holiday bowl parade (Cookie Monster balloon)
•Battle of the bands
•Lunch at In-N-Out
Watched Holiday Bowl at home (Nana and Jess stopped by)
•Mom/Dad & Becky/Eric played Scrabble, Ally/Jer watched, talked to Ellie, and watched Pat Metheny

Friday, 31st
•Bruch with Grandma Doris at Coco's
•Visiting Nana
•Went to Vons for pizza making stuff
•Services (Friday Night Chai)
•Made/ate pizza
•Jordyn/Sarah's party
•Came home to watch new years countdown

Saturday, 1st
•Watched part of Rose parade
•Breakfast of apple pancake
•Took Ally to airport:-(