iPad

Although it's late I felt perhaps I should get my own thoughts down as it pertains to Apple's announcement of the iPad.

Let me first say that I was not overwhelmed nor underwhelmed by the device I am simply interested. Maybe it's because I don't have many of the hangups that others have such as no multitasking or video conferencing and that it's not based on OSX. Right now I am more focused on what I can use it for and comparing it to other devices that do similar task such as the Zune HD and the Kindle. I bought a netbook and while I like it I agree it's underpowered and I don't use it for even browsing the web on the couch like I thought I would, actually I tend to use my iPhone instead.

I won't go much more in depth because after all I am typing this late and on my iPhone and sending it via email to my blog. So will I buy an iPad, the answer is simple, I am not contemplating if I should get one but which one should I get? I like the idea of 3G but not the monthly cost and I question if I'd ever really be using it outside of Wi Fi range (I do after all still have that iPhone). So at this point I just need to figure how it will work for me and be used in my technology world and take it from there.

I'll close by saying that while there is a lot of dislike out there I ask you to remember when the first iPhone was released for $600 without an app store. At that time it was hailed as the second coming and if I've learned anything since then it's that Apple makes cool stuff that's fun to use and right now that's good enough.

Why So Sirius?

I love it when I mull over something (especially technology) forever and when I finally take the plunge and buy whatever it is I'm buying I realize that yes indeed it was the right decision. This time it is of course Sirius Satellite Radio.

My interest in Sirius began this summer, however by the time I figured out how much it was going to cost me I decided that I could probably pass on it. At the time it seemed like one of those things I just "wanted" which is often the case with me. Not set to just leave it be I found a way to enjoy Sirius without that major cost, Sirius Internet Radio. I used Sirius Internet Radio for most of the summer while outside and it was pretty good, a very good selection of music without commercials.

There are a variety of alternatives to a paid service like Sirius, two which come to mind are Pandora and Last.fm and of course your own mp3 collection is a pretty good alternative as well. While I use both Pandora and Last.fm they tend to play artists and songs that you know already and your own mp3 collection is songs that you already own. The bigger issue with your mp3 collection is that it can be pretty large and unless your going to spend time making all the right play lists you can spend allot of time skipping songs rather than listening to songs.

Listening to Sirius Internet Radio was a pleasure and the song selection on your channel of choice is usually good enough to keep you listening and enjoying it. When the summer was over I switched to listening at work and with football season in full swing began listening to ESPN and Sirius NFL radio.

Just last week while listening a banner popped up on the web player with "great deals on radios" so I decided to give it another look and it turns out I found a pretty good deal. Sirius was offering me a Stratus 6 with Vehicle Kit AND a Free Home Kit for about $65 so I took the bait. I figured at that point that the radio was pretty much free and if the home kit would work in my office at my work I could get Sirius NASCAR coverage (which you can't get online) just in time for the new season to kick off.

After just a few days of listening I can say that I'm hooked, you just can't listen to normal radio after listening to satellite radio. Thankfully the home kit install was easy and the one window in my office faced the right direction and the car install was pretty easy as well.

I already have my favorite channels and my daily listening schedule of CNN in the morning then off to ESPN with The Herd, then NASCAR around 1 p.m. and music after 3 p.m. As for the music channels, I'm still sampling the various channels (though I already have my favorites) and I just discovered "The Pulse" channel 12 tonight!

The radio that I bought is your basic starter model and I'm already planning to upgrade to the Starmate 5 so that I can get the ability to pause and rewind and program the radio to switch to programs at certain times.

Needless to say I am enjoying Sirius very much at this point and while I can't really say that I should have done this a long time ago, circumstances were different with it a few months ago, I kind of wish I did. If your contemplating Sirius check it out at the very least online to sample the channels and my guess is you'll get hooked just like I did.

2010 - The Year I Completely Abandon the CD.

To be fair I can't remember the last time I actually USED a CD other than to rip it onto my hard drive and I can't remember the last CD I bought for myself, but up until now they've still kind of stayed around.

When I began to rip my CDs onto my hard drive I started putting them away, so most of my CDs have already been packed and placed out of the way. Yet a bunch still remained, mostly CDs of artists I don't listen to anymore or ones that I have 5 CDs that have been replaced happily by a Greatest Hits compilation, however up until today they were simply just taking up shelf space in the office (okay toy room).


This past weekend I packed up the balance of those CDs, leaving behind a small stack that needs to be ripped onto the hard drive and leaving out a few of those "collector" case CD's for display. One bane of existence remains however - my wife still uses CDs!


How is it that someone such as myself has allowed this to happen? Well to be fair we tried once to rectify it with one of those FM Transmitters but really do those ever work? So with no real way to connect an MP3 player to her car stereo she continued to use "gasp" CDs. This is evident with one of the remaining stacks of empty CD cases of which the CDs are in one of those cases that hold CDs on the go (really why do they even sell those anymore, actually do they?).


This year I am determined to change her life! I guess we'll need to look into replacing that stereo finally but at this point at least they don't cost as much anymore. We already have an available MP3 player for her to use, and of course she already has her phone as well.


So yes its about time to get this done.

It's much easier now to abandon CD's since most places you can get music digitally you can now get it without that pesky DRM. Both places I use which include Zune Marketplace and iTunes offer DRM free purchases so no matter which store I buy it at I can easily play it on the other stores player and/or software. I also really enjoy the convienence of the Zune Pass on the Zune Marketplace (but that's another blog post).

It's funny I alway's worried that my CD's wouldn't last forever, that something would happen to them and they'd become unplayable. Turns out something did happen to them, they became irrelevant.