Most people think I’m really into technology, because I handle it well and that’s what my day job is about. Actually, I’m not gear head. I can build a computer, but never would, and I spend no time fussing around upgrading PCs. So, it’s very rare I get really excited about technology.
But, I’m pumped up tonight.
Last Friday, I had opportunity to lunch with Walt Mossberg, the esteemed Wall Street Journal technology columnist. Walt is kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule every few months for our tasty Italian lunches. Last week, he mentioned that he had downloaded a lyrics Widget for Dashboard, the Konfabulator-like feature of Mac OS X Tiger. Walt said he let iTunes run overnight, and the widget automatically added lyrics to the songs.
Tonight, I had some post-bronchitis energy, and went looking for a lyrics Widget. The one I found, Sing that iTune!, is supposed to do what Walt recounted. So, I downloaded the Widget and launched it. I clicked the setting “Embed lyrics in music files” and left Dashboard to play a song. I then relaunched Dashboard and saw the playing song’s lyrics, which also had been added to the song file and were available in the tune’s Lyrics tab.
How totally cool!
It’s because I am not all that much into technology this doodad excites me. I don’t want to fuss around looking for lyrics or adding them to the songs. The idea of turning on iTunes, queuing up music to play unattended and letting the open Dashboard Widget Sing that Tune! is outstandingly meaningful, and extremely useful. I’ve got about 4,300 songs in my music library, 11 days of straight play. Damn, I better get started tonight.
Photo Credit: John “star5112”