Category: Apple

Apple by Joe WilcoxJun 17, 20079:48 pm

iTunes Music Madness

On May 29, Apple opened up iTunes Plus as a subset of its broader music store, offering DRM-free songs and albums encoded at 256kbps. Apple also offers to upgrade lower-bit-rate, DRM songs for 30 cents a piece. It’s a good deal. But the licensing is downright confusing. While browsing iTunes Plus, yesterday, I saw “Pat Benatar’s Greatest Hits” available DRM-free. I thought, “Huh? I’ve got other Pat Benatar music, and I don’t remember getting an offer DRM-free replacements”. I upgraded 25 other songs from other artists.

Sure enough, my iTunes library contains three Pat Benatar songs, from three different albums. My version of “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” from album “Pat Benatar: Best Shots” is available DRM-free from iTunes Plus. But Apple offered me no 30-cent replacement option. Is it a glitch? I don’t think so. The song in my library lists publisher as Chrysalis, while the DRM-free version is Capitol Records.

Society by Joe WilcoxMay 25, 20078:01 pm

Apple Store Isn’t Your Space

Crave quoted an unnamed Apple Store employee: “MySpace is a big issue for the Apple stores because people come in, Photobooth themselves—using Macs’ built-in webcams—then stick their picture up on their MySpace account and loiter at machines for hours.”

Apple by Joe WilcoxMay 25, 20077:20 pm

I’m So Not Getting an iPhone

The impending release of Apple’s iPhone is good time for me to explain how the device led me to purchase another mobile—my first Nokia, the lovely N95.

When Apple announced the iPhone in January, I used the Samsung BlackJack, gotten mainly for the 3G Internet. But in the six weeks leading up to the iPhone announcement, I found that 3G wasn’t doing much for me. The reason, I think, was the Windows Mobile 5 software. There wasn’t much compelling there. In February, I ditched the BlackJack, returning to the boxy and thick Sony Ericsson S710a. I was thinking an iPhone might just be in my future, and the S710a was good prepartion, because of the size.

Living by Joe WilcoxAug 26, 20066:39 pm

More MacBook Goes to Guatemala

Earlier in the week, I blogged that my sister the missionary would be getting a MacBook. Today, she sent around an e-mail updating about her Guatemalan mission. She mentioned the laptop, which her husband likely will use.

Apple by Joe WilcoxAug 22, 200610:48 pm

MacBook Goes to Guatemala

My sister the missionary—I have two others, but not missionaries—asked my buying advice for a new laptop. In the past, I helped outfit her with a Sony VAIO S Series notebook. This time, after much […]

Apple by Joe WilcoxJun 21, 20067:33 pm

iPod Pods

On Monday, Apple graciously sent the newer U2 iPod, along with Aperture 1.1. My daughter called the original “Gothic punk“. Same applies to the newer version, for which I’ve got to adjust to the red-colored […]

Apple by Joe WilcoxApr 16, 20065:05 pm

Where Old News is the Only News

On Friday, a good friend asked me to look at a news story about Apple legal sending an unwelcome letter to an eight year-old girl. The letter basically told her to get lost. Apparently, the third grader had sent a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs suggesting a new feature for iPods: Lyrics viewing. She got her response, not from Steve but an Apple lawyer, about three months later. Turns out that Apple has a policy against taking unsolicited ideas, which the letter clearly stated.

The news story focused on the little girl’s hurt feelings and Apple’s slap-in-the-face response. Earth to Apple: Lawyers=bad PR. Always. But the response was lame for another reason: The feature already is available on iPods. It’s just not well publicized.

Apple by Joe WilcoxApr 16, 20064:04 pm

Apple Answers ‘What If’

Nearly two weeks has passed since Apple released Boot Camp, and I’ve said absolutely nothing on my personal blog about the software. The reason: I would never run Windows on a Mac that I own.

Boot Camp makes sense for people who think they might need Windows or have actual, occasional need. The software answers the question, “What if I need Windows?” But that’s a psychological more than real concern for most, potential Mac switchers. I’m convinced that most people thinking they might need Windows won’t. I know people who can’t throw away stuff, even if they haven’t used it for years, because of the “What if I need it” question. The barrier, while psychological, is real.

Apple by Joe WilcoxApr 11, 200612:00 am

When Magazines Mattered

To promote the Macintosh 22 years ago, Apple purchased all—as in every—ad space in the Newsweek 1984 election issue. That was 39 pages.

The folks over at Graphical User Interface Gallery (aka Guidebook) have preserved every page from that Newsweek issue. It was a time when magazine advertising really mattered, unlike today when the Internet undermines magazine circulation.

Apple by Joe WilcoxMar 8, 20068:23 pm

Mac’s Back

The New Year started with my full-time return to Windows, so that I could test Windows Vista and Office 2007. This evening, after many days’ deliberations, I picked up a MacBook Pro from my local Apple Store. I will continue Windows Vista and Office 2007 testing, but no longer use Microsoft’s operating system on a full-time basis.

In typical fashion, I managed about two months on Windows before retreating back to the Mac. Reasons are same as always. My resolution to go back to Windows and stay there is a shambles. But that’s a good resolution to have broken.

Photo by Joe WilcoxDec 12, 20055:49 pm

Sweet Memory

Last week I upgraded the memory on my 1.67GHz PowerBook G4 to 2GB. The computer came with 1GB of memory, which used to be plenty. But with Apple’s Aperture and bunches of programs running, more […]

Apple by Joe WilcoxDec 7, 20057:12 pm

My First Mac

It’s December and time to remember buying my first Mac. As a long-time Windows PC bigot I used to persecute the heck out of my wife and her coworkers. In the early 1990s, we worked at the same magazine, she as a graphic designer and I as an editor. I would tease the graphic designers, with great delight, about their Macs. I recall reading a University of Delaware study that found Mac users to be 40 percent less productive than PC users. Oh, how I taunted the graphic designers with that information!

So it was with strange compulsion I walked out of a CompUSA in early December 1998 carting an iMac (and free 13-inch color TV, which my daughter uses today). The iMac’s alluring design and blue cool color (OK, more like teal) won over my curiosity.