Stephen finally received his new iMac. We set it up yesterday. Everyone was impressed by how it looked. And by the lack of setup instructions. All the PC people were like "what do you mean you just plug it in?" It really is very simple to get going. Well, except that we plugged it in, powered it up and nothing happened. Nothing. I took off the bottom to check that the memory was seated correctly. It was. I looked for a reset switch but couldn't find one. Called Apple. They were very nice. Had me do a couple of things but it still wouldn't boot. So much for impressing the masses. Apple bumped me up the tech support line, and the next person had me remove the bottom again. Turns out there is a reset switch, but I guess they don't want people using it too much because it is very hidden. Under a membrane of plastic so you can't really see it. If you have the iMac on its side, with the bottom off then either the airport is on the left and memory on the right, or vice versa (depending on how you layed it down.) If the memory is on the left and the airport slot on the right, then under the bottom right corner of the airport slot you can just make out a square button under a sheet of plastic. That's the reset. Pressed it once, put the cover back on, and it booted right up.
The screen is very nice. Of course I'd like a bigger one, but the quality is great. I could work on it without complaint. The machine boots into OS X which I think is great for beginners and experts alike. The Windows tech in the crowd had no idea OS X was BSD at it's core. I popped open a terminal window and SSH'd into my server. I think he was impressed. But for the beginner (or just the regular user) the best thing is all the applications it comes with. I ran through iTunes and iPhoto and these programs are really well thought out in a traditionally Apple way. That is, they are powerful, but the interfaces are very simple. They make it so you can actually do something, right out of the box. Stephen's Canon G2 connected without a hitch. His HP printer connected after a no-hassle driver download. For someone accustomed to the hell of Windows program installation, the idea that you can just download a program and drag it to your hard drive to install it is quite a revelation.
We also downloaded Pod Master 1000 which is by far the best of the iPod utilities. Using that I could transfer the entire contents of my iPod into Stephen's iTunes (I mean theoretically - my lawyer made me put that in.) And not only is it the best utility I've found, it also has the best dialogue boxes. When you first connect it pops up a window that says "Pod Master is probing your iPod." Yikes.
Had a nice drive back in. We were passing the iPod around the car taking turns as DJ. Seems like everyone falls in love with that gadget once you get to handle it. Bruno made a really good suggestion that I wish Apple would consider including. While a song is playing you can browse the library without effecting the current track. That's good. But you can't select the next song until the present one is done (or if you do the next track starts playing immediately, interrupting the current selection.) Bruno's idea is to have another mode so that any song you select just goes into a buffer to start playing as soon as it's turn comes up. This would be sort of like making a playlist on the fly. I guess it would be called DJ mode. They should do that.
was your pod hooked up to the car stereo?
Yes the iPod has stereo mini jack out. I use a mini jack to dual RCA jack cord for attaching to my stereo (RCA jacks are the standard red and blue stereo cable connectors.) That would be similar to hooking a portable CD player into a stereo. In the car we use one of those fake cassette shells with a mini jack cord coming out of it. Have you seen those? You put the tape into the car tape deck and the cord sticks out the end. Very cheap. Theoretically this isn't a very good sounding connection, but I can't hear any problems with it on the pretty good stock V.W. stereo (in fact it sounds great to me.)
My guess is that car stereo makers will begin to include auxillary input connectors on the face plate of the stereo. That would be a much better solution.
i was wondering if there was a straight connection yet. that cassette option seems so low tech. nothing new since the 1970s. must not be in the playermakers best interest otherwise theyd have done it by now.
Well, if you have a high end car stereo it is possible. In that case you would have a seperate amp (maybe under your seat, maybe in the trunk.) So you could plug the iPod right into the amp (I guess you'd run a cord so that the mini jack end is conveniently located up front.) No doubt you are right about it not being in car stereo makers best interest. They want you to buy the way overpriced 6 or 10 or whatever disc changers that go in your trunk. Not sure why anyone would do that when you can get an MP3 player for a couple hundred bucks and keep all your music in the car (plus at home.) Of course the RIAA is trying to say that even this sort of copying is illegal.
I think maybe JVC makes an in dash all in one unit that has aux in jacks on the face plate. I really haven't researched this too much. I doubt any stock car stereos do though.
Open Jack Night coming soon to a pub in your future.
the feature you're describing is part of the interface on the Creative Labs Nomad -- it's called "add to queue," and it puts whatever track you've picked into the current playlist. this is becoming a standard feature of ALL decent playlist-driven software and yeah, Apple's gotta get with the program!!
re car stereo makers adding plugs on the front of the unit...isn't this the kind of thing the mighty bluetooth is supposed to help with?
Yes, this is perfect for Bluetooth, although your battery would run down more quickly than with a wired connection. Still, Bluetooth is not too power hungry so it's not that big of a deal - I guess that's it's whole point over 802.11x
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The screen is very nice. Of course I'd like a bigger one, but the quality is great. I could work on it without complaint. The machine boots into OS X which I think is great for beginners and experts alike. The Windows tech in the crowd had no idea OS X was BSD at it's core. I popped open a terminal window and SSH'd into my server. I think he was impressed. But for the beginner (or just the regular user) the best thing is all the applications it comes with. I ran through iTunes and iPhoto and these programs are really well thought out in a traditionally Apple way. That is, they are powerful, but the interfaces are very simple. They make it so you can actually do something, right out of the box. Stephen's Canon G2 connected without a hitch. His HP printer connected after a no-hassle driver download. For someone accustomed to the hell of Windows program installation, the idea that you can just download a program and drag it to your hard drive to install it is quite a revelation.
We also downloaded Pod Master 1000 which is by far the best of the iPod utilities. Using that I could transfer the entire contents of my iPod into Stephen's iTunes (I mean theoretically - my lawyer made me put that in.) And not only is it the best utility I've found, it also has the best dialogue boxes. When you first connect it pops up a window that says "Pod Master is probing your iPod." Yikes.
Had a nice drive back in. We were passing the iPod around the car taking turns as DJ. Seems like everyone falls in love with that gadget once you get to handle it. Bruno made a really good suggestion that I wish Apple would consider including. While a song is playing you can browse the library without effecting the current track. That's good. But you can't select the next song until the present one is done (or if you do the next track starts playing immediately, interrupting the current selection.) Bruno's idea is to have another mode so that any song you select just goes into a buffer to start playing as soon as it's turn comes up. This would be sort of like making a playlist on the fly. I guess it would be called DJ mode. They should do that.
- jim 3-18-2002 5:24 pm
was your pod hooked up to the car stereo?
- dave 3-18-2002 7:15 pm
Yes the iPod has stereo mini jack out. I use a mini jack to dual RCA jack cord for attaching to my stereo (RCA jacks are the standard red and blue stereo cable connectors.) That would be similar to hooking a portable CD player into a stereo. In the car we use one of those fake cassette shells with a mini jack cord coming out of it. Have you seen those? You put the tape into the car tape deck and the cord sticks out the end. Very cheap. Theoretically this isn't a very good sounding connection, but I can't hear any problems with it on the pretty good stock V.W. stereo (in fact it sounds great to me.)
My guess is that car stereo makers will begin to include auxillary input connectors on the face plate of the stereo. That would be a much better solution.
- jim 3-18-2002 7:42 pm
i was wondering if there was a straight connection yet. that cassette option seems so low tech. nothing new since the 1970s. must not be in the playermakers best interest otherwise theyd have done it by now.
- dave 3-18-2002 10:54 pm
Well, if you have a high end car stereo it is possible. In that case you would have a seperate amp (maybe under your seat, maybe in the trunk.) So you could plug the iPod right into the amp (I guess you'd run a cord so that the mini jack end is conveniently located up front.) No doubt you are right about it not being in car stereo makers best interest. They want you to buy the way overpriced 6 or 10 or whatever disc changers that go in your trunk. Not sure why anyone would do that when you can get an MP3 player for a couple hundred bucks and keep all your music in the car (plus at home.) Of course the RIAA is trying to say that even this sort of copying is illegal.
I think maybe JVC makes an in dash all in one unit that has aux in jacks on the face plate. I really haven't researched this too much. I doubt any stock car stereos do though.
- jim 3-18-2002 11:11 pm
Open Jack Night coming soon to a pub in your future.
- frank 3-19-2002 6:17 am
the feature you're describing is part of the interface on the Creative Labs Nomad -- it's called "add to queue," and it puts whatever track you've picked into the current playlist. this is becoming a standard feature of ALL decent playlist-driven software and yeah, Apple's gotta get with the program!!
- big jimmy (guest) 4-11-2002 5:41 am
re car stereo makers adding plugs on the front of the unit...isn't this the kind of thing the mighty bluetooth is supposed to help with?
- big jimmy (guest) 4-11-2002 5:42 am
Yes, this is perfect for Bluetooth, although your battery would run down more quickly than with a wired connection. Still, Bluetooth is not too power hungry so it's not that big of a deal - I guess that's it's whole point over 802.11x
- jim 4-11-2002 6:53 pm