iTunes 7

iTunes 7 is now available. I loaded this up over the weekend and am pretty pleased with some of the new features. I wasn’t really interested in upgrading until I learned that a whole new batch of (real) games are now available for the (fifth-generation only) iPod–one of my favorites, being Zuma by PopCap.

In able to use games, you also need to upgrade your iPod firmware to 1.2. This has been made much easier since iTunes 7 now has an iPod manager section which allows control of a number of iPod settings and functions.

Probably the biggest news is the addition of movies to iTunes. A library of Disney films can be purchased with a resolution higher than previous video downloads making them friendlier for large screen viewing.

Movies cost between $9.99 and $14.99. Games cost $4.99.

Other games include:
Bejeweled, Tetris, PAC-MAN, Vortex, Zuma, Texas Hold ‘Em, Mini Golf, Mahjong, and Cubis 2.

New features that don’t cost anything are:

Automatic Album Art which reviews your song library and provides the album artwork to be viewed within iTunes or on your iPod. This feature does seem a bit scary–you can only get this missing art if you have an iTunes account, and now you are sharing a list of all your music with them. They of course tell you not to worry–so I do.

Cover Flow allows you to browse your music collection by flipping through the cover art. It is reminiscent of an old album collection. Now we can once again judge a book by its cover.

Gapless Playback is a must for anyone listening to live albums or tracks that are meant to flow from one song right into another. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon is a great example of this. Prior to this feature, there was a noticeable and offensive gap between songs. This can take place retroactively as again, your music collection is scanned and fixed. I tried it and it works well.

If any of these features seems compelling to you, I would recommend upgrading to iTunes 7.

Add comment September 18th, 2006

Social Survivor

Does anyone even watch survivor anymore? I usually find myself watching the first season of most of the reality shows. If I like the show I may watch a second season, but after I go through the process, I feel as if I am investing more time than it is worth. It’s the same game with different players.

The current season of Survivor has raised some controversy to raise some ratings, by forming teams based upon race–African-American, Asian-American, Caucasian and Latino. This arrangement has created quite a debate suggesting that the creators of the show are racists.

Personally, I think it is an interesting experiment. People are different, and in life people do tend to work, play, and live with other people of similar groups. Our thoughts and actions regarding these differences are what determine our racial prejudices.

I also can’t help but think about the Olympics. Don’t the Olympic Games divide people by nations which typically are comprised of a similar racial group? Do we deem these games as racist?

If you want to accuse someone of being racist, I would question the CBS network itself. I commute daily to Grand Central Terminal in NYC and they plaster huge posters on the walls and floors for advertising. The current ad campaign is for CBS with posters for many of their new prime-time shows. Every season when they do this, I find it quite noticeable that all of the huge TV-head faces are all white. Perhaps having a bit of color on Survivor will be refreshing.

Add comment September 15th, 2006