Wednesday, February 13, 2008

I can has iTunes?

Why, yes! Yes, I can!

Goaded by Michael's recent musings, I decided to dig out my Christmas present and try my hand, once again, at loading iTunes onto this computer. Yay! Success! I've got precisely one CD handy at the moment, and after a few false starts, I even managed to get that transferred onto the iPod. And playing!

Yes, I do make my living as a computer geek, why do you ask?

Anyways, curmudgeon cat and I have gotten tangled in the cables, my singing has chased the other cats under the sofa, the earpieces hurt my ears, and I'm annoyed that I have to adjust the volume from one song to the next, but I really am looking forward to copying all my other CDs onto my new toy, so I'll celebrate by cheating on the iTunes meme:
  • How many songs total: 13
  • How many hours or days of music: whatever that adds up to
  • Most recently played: "10 Miles To Go On A Nine Mile Road"
  • Most played: It's on its second or third loop through the album now
  • Most recently added: Jim White "No Such Place"
  • Sort by song title: [reading from the label, not sorted]
    • First song: "Handcuffed To A Fence In Mississippi"
    • Last song: "Corvair Reprise"
  • Sort by time: [reading from the label, not sorted]
    • Shortest song: "God Was Drunk When He Made Me" 2:34
    • Longest song: "Christmas Day" 7:15
  • Sort by album: [no sorting needed]
    • First album: Jim White "No Such Place"
    • Last album: Jim White "No Such Place"
  • Search the following and state how many songs come up: [I haven't a clue how to do this]
    • just like:
    • fuck:
    • book:
    • fat:
    • springsteen:


And as long as I'm filling out surveys, there was this one tucked inside the CD case:

Hey,
Here are some questions that hopefully will allow us to serve your 21st century music needs better:

What Luaka Bop album did you purchase?
Jim White "No Such Place" [as if that weren't obvious by now]

Where did you buy this record? (We want to send someone by to pat them on the back.)
Good luck with that. I bought it directly from the artist at a free concert here.

What is your e-mail address so we can clog up your computer with concert announcements, new release news and recipes?
Mmmm, pie blogging!

How old are you? (I promise we won't tell anyone:
Under 20, 20-30, 30-40, Over 40
Why do I get the feeling I'm too old to be listening to Luaka Bop records? Although I notice they use the old-fashioned words "record" and "album" so maybe I'm in their target demographic after all.

Who did you last want to have sex with?
A man, A woman, Both
I see they left robots off the list. Probably just as well.

Read any good magazines lately?
Actually, yes.

Radio stations you can stomach:
The radio in my car doesn't work, I can't get radio reception at work [that's where all the CDs are living right now], and the cats are too much into What does this button do?, so the radio here isn't plugged in.

We will probably never mail you anything but just in case we get ambitious can you tell us where to send it:
Don't cut down any trees for me.

4 comments:

Steve Bates said...

I don't know what computer you're using, but iTunes for Windows has more bugs than my granddaddy's barn had. Stella just got an iPod Nano (hers is blue) about a month ago, purchased some songs online, watched iTunes lock up, synced her iPod, watched iTunes lock up, lathered, rinsed, repeated. A quick google revealed that a whole lot of people have this problem. I spent a couple or three hours following Apple's recommendations (complicated stuff, not for the technologically timid) and Stella hasn't complained since then... but I'm not sure if it's because it worked the next time she bought something, or because she doesn't want to see me in that frame of mind again. :)

Enjoy your toy. I recently resurrected my small portable CD player, and have been having a grand time walking around with it. An iPod it ain't. But the instructions are simple:

*) insert batteries;
*) insert a CD;
*) press play.

Works every time.

hipparchia said...

thanks. i feel less stoopid now, which is always a nice valentine to have.

i think itunes finally cooperated only because i threatened to make wax effigies to chant weird incantations over and stick pins into.

i had one of those cd players and hated it. too big, too many pieces to break, they don't like to be joggled.

this... i love the tiny size, no moving parts [to speak of], the sound quality is surprisingly good, but now my ears hurt.

Steve Bates said...

"... too big, too many pieces to break, they don't like to be joggled." - h

I can't disagree with the first two, but the better quality players from about 5 years ago are very resistant to skipping. In fact, mine has literally never skipped due to an impact. (It did skip once due to a faulty CD as determined by playing that CD using several other players.) This is despite the fact that I've walked, cycled and driven a lot of places and a lot of miles with it. (FTR, I do not jog or otherwise run. But I've done a lot of fairly serious walking.)

Nothing is as "slick" as an iPod, but this player (a Panasonic) has been pretty reliable, and fairly easy on batteries. The newer, cheaper Panasonic players that friends have had have not been quite as good. YMMV.

BTW, I don't know if you can do this with an iPod, or if it would interfere with your activities, but I found it very helpful to ditch the earbuds and plug in conventional lightweight portable headphones. The sound is great, and my ears never hurt afterward.

hipparchia said...

glad you mentioned it. possibilities seem endless.