I just read CDBaby’s notes on Apple’s meeting with independent music labels. There are some interesting things here.

-When asked if artists with their own label would be eligible, the iTunes guys had an odd answer, saying that this was invitation-only and they want to deal with those of us in the room.
-(CD Baby will be an iTunes partner, and will be glad to do the submission and be your pipeline into iTunes, if we can.)

While I’m happy that CD Baby is willing to be the pipeline, I think it’s a little short sighted of Apple to not solicit applications for inclusion from bands without a label. Band’s without a label could easily find one if they’re band appeared in the “New Releases” section of the Apple Music Store.

In addition it was a little disheartening to see that you will not be able to search be label. Since I’ve found bands I like by going to the label’s site, this limits my finding things I haven’t already heard. Especially since there will be no links to the label’s site.

Oh well, read for yourself, you’ll see the good, the bad and the ugly.

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I need to post.

Big weekend.

#1 - We’re now a 2 iPod family. 1 Mac version, 1 Windows version, both 10GB. We’re hoping to breed them soon. Had to get a firewire card for my PC cause MusicMatch sucks, but that’s ok.

#2- HomeShield paid up. We got the check to reimburse us on Saturday.

#3- My ibook died again. Same problem (or similar at least) that I had back in January. At least its under warranty. I took it to the apple store, and they’re sending it in for repair.

I’m considering selling it and getting a powerbook now. Any buyers?

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SEE THIS REVIEW AND OTHERS AT ReviewDude.com!!!

I went to Best Buy during lunch and picked up the Belkin Tunecast. I’ve been happy with the Belkin products I’ve used over the years. The KVMs they make are great. I’ve never had a problem with a keyboard or cable I’ve got from them. The Tunecast is a different story.

I got in the car and ripped the package open. Okay, not really, but I tried to. It’s one of those molded plastic things that require the strength of Hercules and pruning shears to open. After a little struggling though I did manage to get it open. I put the batteries in (they came with it), turned it on (a nice feature that power button), and tuned the radio to 88.1 the first channel choice on the Tunecast…

Uh, oh christian rock station. Lets try 88.3. Okay, some bleed from the christian rock station, but lets give it a try. I switched the Tunecast to 88.3 and the iPod music came in. Woo woo…88.5 and 88.7 are the other choices. 88.5 is taken in the Tampa area so that was useless. 88.7 was also empty.

As I drove off, I noticed that the music was distorted so I lowered the volume on the iPod (which I had all the way up) and increased the stereo volume. This meant that if I switched to CD or radio I’d be blasted. Not a good sign. Soon I started to hear some static pops in the music so I switched to 88.7…it got worse so I went to 88.3 again. The static came and went. The worst of it was just the quality. I kept having to adjust the volume (I don’t have to do that when I’ve got headphones on) and the static started to get annoying. I also noticed that if I turned the A/C up the static got worse. Putting it in the glove compartment made it worse too.

Now, the static wasn’t overpowering, but it really didn’t get drowned out when I was listening to Ella Fitzgerald. Some of the harder stuff though didn’t get affected too bad, but still, there’s too much fiddling necessary to have to deal with when driving.

It might be better for a home stereo, but in that case you can use wires. I don’t have a tape deck or a (functioning) auxiliary input (Strike 1 against the Matrix) its really the only choice.

I’ll try it some more this weekend since we have a 4 hour car trip to make. At this point though I’m planning on returning it on Monday and waiting for the iTrip

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I got an iPod on Friday. Found a 10GB older model for $199 at Best Buy. The $200 price drop was too good to resist. I’ve been having fun with it. Still working the ins and outs. I considered converting MP3s to AAC and ripping all the CDs again to AAC, but decided against it in the end. Gianna likes listening to GonzoCast while on campus so I need to keep the MP3s and I really see no reason to use all that disk space storing multiple versions. Okay, I might be able to squeeze some more songs on the iPod…but with 10GB will I ever get all the way through before I change it?

On the suggestion of Mr. Shawn I’ve made a playlist that just randomly selects stuff with a max limit of 10GB.

I was actually looking forward to taking Frodo for a walk while listening to the iPod, but I need to go grocery shopping tonight, so that’s out. Maybe tomorrow.

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I’m a little confused by the price structure here. Usually when you release a new product you lower the prices of the older models so that you can still sell them. So why is the 20GB iPod (which is now discontinued) actually more expensive than the new 30GB model?

And why won’t anyone buy me an iPod?

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