Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled

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• Podcast support in Windows Media Player 11

  There is one other issue I need to deal with before I can totally switch to Windows Media Player 11 - podcast support. Microsoft made the head-scratching decision not to include native podcast support - one area where iTunes really excelled. Someone wrote a plugin over the summer , but it doesn't work in WMP 11 and Vista and he's not maintaining it right now . There are countless other third party aggregators (Doppler is an old favorite), but I need to spend some time figuring it all out. My key requirements are: Automatic downloads (no manual intervention) Synchronization to the device (at most 1 click, preferably none) Removal of old podcasts (preferably removed from the device after they've been listened to, but I'll accept support for the last, say, 3 episodes - as long as Steve Gillmor doesn't break CalacanisCast into 17 parts). For those of you not using iTunes, how are you managing your subscriptions? Note: I'll update this post over time as I refine the strategy. Posted Dec 28 2006, 02:56 PM by Tim with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Software Development, Rants, Gadgets, Music, Blogging, Apple, Audio, Podcast

• dopisp adds iPod support in WMP 11

  Like most people, I would prefer to use a single media player to manage my library. I like Windows Media Player 11 more than iTunes 7 , and this is especially true since I've subscribed to the Urge subscription service . (I really wish Apple would provide a subscription-based service for the iPod). The problem, of course, is that Windows Media Player still doesn't support the iPod - something I complained about in 2004 with WMP10 . As it turns out, someone finally wrote a plug-in to support the iPod in WMP ( via LifeHacker ). I downloaded the trial last night and will give it more time, but so far it seems to work very well. Assuming I can figure out a good way to handle podcasts, it is well worth the $15. Posted Dec 28 2006, 11:33 AM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Gadgets, Music, Microsoft, Apple, Audio

• Is Apple working on an 8GB nano?

  Oh man. Apparently Apple has been buying up flash memory and some are speculating they will launch an 8GB nano soon. While I miss those extra GB dropping down from a hard-drive based iPod, I've been in love with my nano since it first arrived last September. It's an amazing little device, and I prefer 4GB wherever I go than 15GB that I may or may not be carrying with me. That said, 4GB is a bit tight... I have to rotate music a lot and I don't carry around as much music that I listen to every once in awhile. Of course, higher-capacity flash players are inevitable, but the jump to 8GB would mean a lot more for me than the jump to 6GB. Tags: Apple iPod nano , Music , mp3 , gadgets Posted Jun 08 2006, 07:13 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Gadgets, Music, Apple

• Apple to launch new content distribution system

  The Digitial Music weblog passes along this tidbit from ThinkSecret . Apparently, in addition to offering feature length content and expanded TV offerings, Apple will be announcing a new content delivery system in January at the annual MacWorld conference. In an effort to appease media companies wary of the security of digital rights management technology, Apple's new technology will deliver content such that it never actually resides on the user's hard drive. Content purchased will be automatically made available on a user's iDisk, which Front Row 2.0 will tap into. When the user wishes to play the content, robust caching technology -- for which Apple previously received a patent -- will serve it to the user's computer as fast as their Internet connection can handle. The system will also likely support downloading the video content to supported iPods but at no time will it ever actually be stored on a computer's hard drive. I'm not sure why this should appease the media companies. Unless... Posted Dec 05 2005, 07:48 AM by Tim with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Music, Copyright, Apple

• Stealing Music?

  Just thought I'd chime in on the music thread going on. Yes, downloading MP3 files is wrong, because you're consuming copyrighted material without properly compensating the owner of the copyright. We use our understanding of real property to help understand property rights and ownership of (digital) information, but in my opinion it's a weak analogy. The primary difference is that multiple parties can technically possess (and use) information without infringing on the value to or rights of others to consume the same information. Let's consider the case of George Hotelling , who bought a song on Apple's ITunes and then proceeded to resell it on EBay . No one would argue that this is fair use if he were selling a CD he bought somewhere. The bundle of rights you get by purchasing a CD includes the right to sell or gift the CD.. But, as discussed in an excerpt from the article: Under the "first sale" doctrine, the owner of a lawful copy of a work is allowed to sell it without the permission... Posted Sep 18 2003, 08:00 AM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Music, Copyright, Apple