$1.29 a song

April 7th, 2009 | by | apple

Apr
07

As many people around the net have reported today, Apple has started selling songs using its variable pricing scheme. And unfortunately, it looks like Amazon may be following suit.

Now, I like DRM free music as much as the next guy. But for popular songs, I’m not jazzed about paying $0.30 more per track. For some reason, I’d rather be locked into the DRM than have to pay more. Apple was probably going to get less of my money when this scheme first came out as I was going to buy more songs from Amazon if they were staying at $0.99 / track. But I guess they too have seen the higher prices from the record industry and more cash in their pockets. I have a feeling that the record companies are the scape goat here and Amazon and Apple know that they can make more dough by doing this.

Now my question is…where are the $0.69 cent songs? I know that I have looked up some old albums with some tracks that should be a lot cheaper. Unfortunately, I have yet to see the prices drop.

Overall, I think that this is going to hurt the consumer more than help us. But unfortunately, our options are limited for legitimate music going onto our iPods.

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Safari 4 – focus issues

March 1st, 2009 | by | apple

Mar
01

Like a lot of Mac users out there, I took the plunge and tried out Safari 4 Beta.. Unfortunately, I’m rolling back to Safari 3. Its not that I really want to, its that I have found a very annoying issue. You see, my company uses IM like it is going out of style. It is one of the main ways that we communicate. Ever since installing Safari 4, I have come across an issue that drives me up the freaking wall. The issue is, when I am typing a message in the Mac Messenger client and hit send, the cursor no longer keeps focus for me to type another message. It goes somewhere else magically and never comes back until I click. So if I am in a discussion with someone, it is type, click, type click, type click. Very freaking annoying!!! The solution, according to this guy, is to remove Safari 4.

Until Apple can figure this out, I will not be running Safari 4.

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Safari 4 Beta – First Impressions

February 24th, 2009 | by | apple

Feb
24

I’ve been messing around with the new Safari 4 Beta release and so far I’m pretty pleased with the browser. There is a bit getting use to some of the new features but overall, I think that they have made some changes for the better.

Here is a run down of the big features:
Top Sites – This is a nice feature that gives you a nice display of the top sites that you visit on a regular basis. You can easily make this your home page by setting your home page preference to

topsites://

. I know that many of the Mac fanboys are thinking that this is the greatest thing since sliced bread and I agree it is pretty cool. But I hate to break it to you, Apple copied this one. See Google Chrome

apple's topsites

Cover Flow – The cover flow feature is kind of cool. Its a neat way to go through your history and kind of reminds me of the interface of difference pages on the iPhone. Cover Flow is infecting just about every application on the Mac, whether it really needs it or not.
coverflow

Nitro Engine – Yes, the web engine seems to be faster to me. I’ll be interested to see how the browser handles after running for a week. In the past, Safari has been a memory hog for me. I’m a bit abusive on my web browsers so I’m probably not the “normal” user.

Tabs on Top – This one might take some getting use to. I’m not sure if I’m a fan of having them up there yet. I kind of liked them where they were before. But we’ll give it a week and see what shakes out.
Tabs

Conclusion – I think that the browser is worth taking a look. The interface seems more responsive, it is Acid3 compliant and supports the latest web standards.

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Apple Lawsuit – not spam

January 24th, 2009 | by | apple, in the news

Jan
24

Last night I recieved the following email:

To obtain the documents you need to learn more about the settlement, make a claim or exclude yourself from the settlement, go to www.iPodnanoSettlement.com or call 1-888-232-3395.

Your Control #: XXXXXXXXXXX

You will need your Serial # to make a claim. By keeping this email and providing your Control # (shown above) when you request your Claim Form, you will receive a personalized Claim Form.

IF YOU PURCHASED AN UNCOATED APPLE FIRST GENERATION IPOD NANO, YOU COULD GET BENEFITS FROM A CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT.

A proposed settlement of a consolidated class action lawsuit affects you if you purchased in the United States a new uncoated Apple First Generation iPod nano (referred to here as the “iPod nano”). These iPod nanos were first sold beginning in September 2005, and have a black or white plastic front and a stainless steel back. Some but not all of the First Generation iPod nanos were uncoated. The settlement will provide cash payments to qualified purchasers. To qualify for settlement benefits, you must have purchased in the United States a new uncoated First Generation iPod nano and experienced scratching of your iPod nano that impaired your use or enjoyment of your iPod nano. The Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles authorized this Notice. The Court will have a hearing to consider whether to approve the settlement.

Who’s Affected?

You’re a “Class Member” if you purchased in the United States a new uncoated First Generation Apple iPod nano for your own use and not for resale.

What’s this About?

The lawsuit claimed that the First Generation iPod nano contained a defect that resulted in excessive scratching. Apple denies all allegations and has asserted many defenses. The Parties are entering into this settlement to avoid burdensome and costly litigation. The settlement is not an admission of wrong-doing or an indication that any law was violated.

What can you Get from the Settlement?

Apple has agreed to provide a cash settlement fund of $22.5 million (the “Fund”). The Fund shall include all payments or other consideration to the Settlement Class; Class Counsel’s attorneys’ fees and expenses; any incentive fees to named Plaintiffs; and all administration costs and costs of notice. To be eligible for a payment from the Fund, you must have experienced scratching of your iPod nano that impaired your use or enjoyment of it. If you did not receive a slip case from Apple when you purchased your iPod nano, you may be entitled to a cash payment of $25. If you received a slip case, you may be entitled to a cash payment of $15. The cash payments to claimants may be increased or decreased depending on the number of claims submitted. There is a limit of one cash payment per iPod nano. Any monies that remain in the Fund after payment of fees and expenses, and after payment of awards to claimants, will be distributed to a charity or charities approved by the Court.

How do you Get a Payment?

You must submit a completed Claim Form by June 10, 2009. A detailed Notice, Claim Form, and instructions are available by calling 1-888-232-3395 or going to www.iPodnanoSettlement.com.

Important Deadlines

You must mail the completed Claim Form postmarked on or before June 10, 2009.

What are your Options?

(1) If you want to participate in the settlement, submit a completed Claim Form by June 10, 2009. You can get a copy of the Claim Form and instructions by calling 1-888-232-3395 or going to www.iPodnanoSettlement.com. (2) You may exclude yourself from the settlement by sending a request postmarked no later than March 27, 2009. (3) If you stay in the Class, you may object to the settlement. Objections must be received by March 27, 2009. The detailed Notice describes how to exclude yourself or object.

THE COURT WILL HOLD A HEARING IN THIS CASE (IN RE IPOD NANO CASES, CASE NO. BC 342057, JCCP NO. 4469) ON APRIL 28, 2009 AT 1:30 P.M. TO CONSIDER WHETHER TO APPROVE THE SETTLEMENT. PLAINTIFFS’ COUNSEL WILL REQUEST FROM THE COURT, AND APPLE HAS AGREED NOT TO OPPOSE, AN AWARD OF ATTORNEYS’ FEES OF $4,500,000 AND LITIGATION EXPENSES OF UP TO $200,000 FROM THE FUND. THE COURT MAY AWARD MORE OR LESS THAN THE AMOUNT AGREED TO BY THE PARTIES. THE COURT WILL DETERMINE THE AMOUNT OF FEES AND EXPENSES THAT WILL BE PAID TO PLAINTIFFS’ COUNSEL. YOU MAY APPEAR AT THE HEARING, BUT YOU DON’T HAVE TO.

FOR MORE DETAILS, GO TO WWW.IPODNANOSETTLEMENT.COM.

I was a bit suspicios at first. But it appears that someone actually won the class action suite against Apple. The settement page looks somewhat legit compared to other class action lawsuit pages that I have seen. But then I found an article on news.com.

So, for all of those first generation Nano owners, it looks like there is $25-$15 bucks headed your way sometime this year.

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iTunes Failure

December 8th, 2008 | by | apple

Dec
08

I don’t get to write about this too often. But tonight I ran into a situation where iTunes did not fail gracefully.

I recently joined facebook and decided to test out the free facebook app from the iTunes App Store. So I plugged in the iPhone, fired up iTunes, and did a search and found the app.

Unfortunately, when I went to “purchase” the free app, I was greeted with the following:

Yes, I do have some credit on my account and I can understand why they want to check for songs, movies and applications that cost money. However, its a FREE app. It really shouldn’t need to check anything and if it fails, it should simply allow me to download the application and continue on my way.

Unfortunately, not so much.

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