Maria’s Guides

• Apple invited to join S&P 100
  Apple makes the prime time in the investment world. On Apple Insider.
  (tags: Apple S&P500 Investments)
• Freedom of Speech and the Internet: Should Comments be Moderated?
  Excellent article regarding freedom of speech and whether blog comments should be moderated/edited. By Joshua Dorkin on Time for Blogging.
  (tags: freedom blogging comment)
• YouTube Coming to Apple TV
  Apple Press Release covering the upcoming addition to Apple TV: YouTube.
  (tags: Apple AppleTV youtube)
• 4096 Color Wheel Version 2.1
  An excellent online source for color coding, useful for Webmasters and blog designers.
  (tags: webmaster tools design)
• Colors on the Web Color Wizard
  Another excellent tool for getting color codes for Web design.
  (tags: tools webdesign colors)
• Why Do Blogs Fail?
  Ever wonder what it takes to be a successful blogger? This article is a good start. On TheWrongAdvices.com.
  (tags: blogging Advice article)

A possible solution for vacationers needing music on the road.

Last week, Mike and I went to the Los Angeles area for a business/pleasure trip. Mike rented a Mustang convertible for the week.

The current model Ford Mustang has two features that make it easy to play your own music on the road:

• A line-in jack for MP3 players, including (of course) iPods. This works with an Aux setting on the stereo system.
• A 6 CD MP3-compatible CD changer. This means not only can you insert a standard audio CD, but you can also play MP3 CDs and load up to 6 of them in the machine at once.

Of course, we both had our iPods with us. But mine had been drained during the flight out to LA and I hadn’t packed the charger. I did have my laptop with me, though, and it contains about 2/3 of the music in my iTunes music library. I also had two blank CDs, which I keep on hand in case I need to pull files off the computer.

So I decided to give the MP3 CDs a try.

Why MP3 CD?

In case you’re wondering why I’d burn MP3 CDs rather than regular audio CDs, the answer is simple: more songs. While a typical audio CD can hold approximately 80 minutes of music — that’s 10 to 20 songs, depending on song length — the same CD can hold 700 MB of computer files — that’s 120 to 150 MP3s depending on song length and compression settings. My two blank CDs would give us up to 300 songs to listen to while we were driving (or should I say, stuck in traffic?) around the Los Angeles area.

And if you’re wondering about music quality, remember that we were driving around in a convertible — not a soundproofed stereo testing room at the local Fry’s Electronics store. We’d be lucky to hear the music at all if we ever managed to get the car up to highway speeds on LA’s overcrowded highway system.

Of course, there is a drawback to this method: iTunes will not include any DRM-protected music on an MP3 CD. So if your iTunes music library includes a lot of music purchased at the iTunes Store, those songs won’t make it to the CD.

Creating the CDs

My Honda has a CD player, but it won’t play MP3 CDs. In fact, I don’t think any of my CD players (other than the ones in my computer) will play MP3 CDs. So I’d never actually created an MP3 CD. But with iTunes, it’s easy.

Start by setting iTunes preferences so it offers to create an MP3 CD.

1. Open iTunes.
2. Choose iTunes > Preferences.
3. In the Preferences dialog that appears, click Advanced.
4. Click Burning to view CD burning preferences.
5. Under Disc Format, select MP3 CD.
6. Click OK to save your settings and dismiss the Preferences dialog.

Next, create a playlist that contains the songs you want to burn onto the CD. It can be a regular or Smart playlist. Don’t worry too much about how many songs are included or whether they’re iTunes Store purchases. Figure on about 150 songs per CD you want to burn; you probably won’t get that many on the CDs (for reasons of space and compatibility), but more is better than fewer.

(I’m not going to explain how to create a playlist. If you use iTunes, you should know how. If you don’t know how, I recommend my Mac OS X book or a visit to the iTunes Help feature.)

Next, burn the CD.

1. In the Playlists list, select the playlist you want to burn to CD.
2. Click the Burn MP3 CD button in the lower right corner of the iTunes window.
3. The status area at the top of the iTunes window instructs you to insert a CD. Insert one.
4. Wait while iTunes checks the CD and then checks the playlist.
5. If your playlist includes songs purchased at the iTunes music store, a dialog like the one shown here appears, telling you how many songs won’t be included on the CD. (You can click the disclosure triangle to see a list of the songs.) Click OK to continue.
6. If your playlist includes more songs than will fit on the CD, a dialog like the one shown here appears. Click MP3 CD.
7. Wait while iTunes burns the first CD. You can see which songs will be burned by looking in the iTunes window for the playlist. Songs that will be burned onto the CD will be listed in black; songs that won’t will be listed in gray.
8. When the first CD is finished, iTunes ejects it. (Or if you’re on a Windows machine, I suppose it tells you to eject it.) If it’s the only CD to be burned, you’re done. If not, the status area at the top of the iTunes window instructs you to insert another CD. Do so. Then repeat steps 7 and 8 as necessary until:
   • You run out of CDs. Then click the cancel button in the status area.
   • You are finished burning music. iTunes stops prompting you to insert CDs.

This worked out very well for us. Although we never figured out how to shuffle songs across multiple CDs in the Mustang’s CD changer, we did get a good variety of music to listen to while we traveled around. And now we have two MP3 CDs we can take on the road the next time we rent a car; I’ve noticed that most car CD players these days support MP3 CDs.

As for the flight back — well I found a car charger for my iPod under the passenger seat of my helicopter and used that to power my iPod. (The helicopter has a DC power outlet like one you’d find in a car.) I didn’t buy the helicopter with the CD changer option.

• Offbeat News: Apple’s old Macs are for the birds
  A great article about converting old Macintosh computers to birdhouses for use on a farm. In AppleInsider.
  (tags: Apple computer environment)
• Apple seen unloading new MacBook Pros and (possibly) iMacs at WWDC
  Speculation on hardware that may be released at Apple’s WWDC. On AppleInsider.
  (tags: Apple MacBook WWDC)
• Some time spent with Apple TV — an in-depth review
  A review of Apple TV, concentrating on competition and its place in the market. On AppleInsider.
  (tags: Apple AppleTV Macintosh)
• Scraping Starts from the Very First Post
  A fascinating experiment to see how quickly sploggers start scraping a feed. The results are rather shocking. On PlagiarismToday.
  (tags: spam splog plagiarism)
• Google Shutters MFA Accounts
  Good article about Google’s recent shut down of several so-called “made for AdSense” accounts. On PlagiarismToday.
  (tags: Google adsense splog)
• Nine burning questions: How is Vista really doing?
  Nine questions (with answers) that explain how well Vista is doing in the computer operating system marker. On InterGovWorld.com.
  (tags: Vista microsoft PC)
• The Real Reasons Mac OS X Leopard is Late…
  Some humor. On Florianschmid.com.
  (tags: Leopard MacOS Apple)
• Lifehacker’s guide to weblog comments
  I know it’s old, but I just stumbled upon it and I think it’s worth sharing. If you’ve ever commented on a blog — or thought about doing so — read this ASAP. On Lifehacker.
  (tags: tips blogging comments)
• Reporting Blog Content Thieves
  An excellent article about tracking down and reporting content thieves. On the Blog Herald.
  (tags: blogging splog copyright)
• If You See This, The Content Is Stolen
  Another article on the Blog Herald about splogging. If you’ve ever had a backlink from Eliot Back, read this to understand why.
  (tags: splog blogging copyright)
• Protect Your Blog With a Solid Password
  Some good information and advice about choosing passwords — not just for your blog but for everything that needs to be secured online. From The Blog Herald.
  (tags: password security Advice)
• How Do You Filter Your Blog Content Decisions?
  More good advice for bloggers on the Blog Herald. This article helps you decide whether or not to write about a topic you might have in mind for your blog.
  (tags: blogging Advice)

A note about iTunes Plus music.

While browsing around the Web this afternoon, I stumbled across an article on Kirkville, “iTunes Plus: No DRM, but Breadcrumbs,” discussing the new iTunes Plus music files. It says, in part:

… However, while there is no DRM (digital rights management) in these tracks, there are breadcrumbs.

If you look into an iTunes Plus file–just open one with a text editor–you’ll see both your name and your iTunes account ID….

Article author Kirk McElhearn then goes on to display the code that he found.

Funny that this additional code wasn’t mentioned in the press releases…

Kudos to Kirk for using a text editor to open a song file.

But this begs the question: What kind of person thinks of doing things like that? Obviously, a very curious one

Using iTunes Plus.

A while back, Apple announced that it had entered into an agreement with EMI to sell DRM-free music in the iTunes store. It promised that iTunes shoppers would have access to this music in May 2007.

As May wound down to a close, Apple released iTunes 7.2, which adds iTunes Plus features. iTunes plus is a special area of the iTunes music store where you can shop for DRM-free music. It’s also where you can upgrade some of the music you’ve already purchased to the higher-quality DRM-free version.

Here’s how to upgrade the songs you’ve already purchased through the iTunes music store.

1. Open iTunes.
2. On the left side of the window under STORE, click iTunes Store.
3. In the iTunes Store Home page, click iTunes Plus in the Quick Links box on the right side of the screen.
   
4. In the top right corner of the screen that appears, you should see an Upgrade My Library box. (This box only appears if you have iTunes-purchased music that can be upgraded.) Click See Details.
   
5. A dialog like the one shown here appears. It asks if you want to enable iTunes Plus preferences so only the DRM-free versions of music appear (when available). Click iTunes Plus.
   
6. A new version of the iTunes Store Terms & Conditions appears. Read this legalize if you like. When you’re ready to continue, click Accept.
7. An Upgrade My Library screen appears. It lists the albums, songs, and videos that you have purchased for which DRM-free versions are available. Click the Buy button to upgrade all music and videos for the price shown onscreen.
   
8. If prompted, enter your login information for the iTunes Store and confirm that you really do want to complete the purchase.
9. Anther dialog tells you that the new songs will replace the old ones and gives you an opportunity to save the old ones to a folder on your desktop. Click Move to Desktop or Delete Files as desired.
   

The download begins. You can monitor its progress in the Downloads screen. iTunes displays the iTunes Plus window again so you can do some more shopping.

It’s quick, it’s easy, and its reasonably priced. Let’s hope Apple makes more agreements with music publishers to sell DRM-free music. It’ll certainly get me shopping in the iTunes Store again.

One more thing — you may want to repeat this process periodically. As Apple signs up other music publishers, more songs will be available for upgrade. You can follow this process to upgrade more iTunes-purchased music in the future.

I look forward to converting the rest of my purchased library — all 500+ songs — to the DRM-free version.

Information from Software Update.

With iTunes 7.2, preview and purchase iTunes Plus music—new higher-quality, DRM-free music downloads from participating music labels.