I can't get to sleep
I think about the implications
Of diving in too deep
And possibly the complications
Especially at night
I worry over situations
I know will be alright
Perhaps it's just imagination

Day after day it reappears
Night after night my heartbeat shows the fear
Ghosts appear and fade away

I can't get get to sleep
It only beings exasperation
It's time to walk the streets
Smell the desperation
At least there's pretty lights
And though there's little variation
It nullifies the night
From overkill

I can't get to sleep
I think about the implications
Of diving in too deep
And possibly the complications
Especially at night
I worry over situations
That I know will be alright
It's just overkill

---

Been feeling a lot like this lately. Overwhelmed, worried about the future and finances. But today I’m strangely at peace with it all. Just thought I’d share.

This is embarassing. I like Amy Winehouse’s CD… I’m guessing she wasn’t drunk when she recorded it, unlike this clip from the Charlotte Church show.

Found a flickr account with this photo from inside Microsoft’s Zune department, of an “Amnesty” bucket with some iPods in it. Reading the comments is hilarious.

I love how Apple supporters are so defensive. God forbid there should be competition in the marketplace! Or that the Zune team should poke fun at Apple. Because Apple never does that.

<sarcasm>Yes, we should all own an iPod and do the exact same thing. Clearly iTunes is the best software out there.</sarcasm>

Ugh. This is the sort of fanboy-ism that I hate. It’s the same thing that drives Mac vs. PC debates. Look, use whatever OS/platform you want. I don’t care. What’s ironic is that Apple totally advertises that you can run Windows on your Mac, yet makes fun of Windows/PCs constantly. Which is it, Apple?

If you follow my blog, you know I sold my iPod a while back and bought a Zune. I did this because I was fed up with iTunes being a complete performance joke. Argue with me all you want, but plenty of other people are running into similiar problems with iTunes on Windows. I really like my Zune, but it isn’t without its faults. I wish the Zune team was a little more “open” to communication about their software, as there are some fairly simple tweaks they could make that would help immensely (see my post for some examples.) I have even more bulletpoint items that I don’t like about the Zune, but overall, I’m more happy with it than I was with my iPod.

And one thing I noticed when I first listened to my Zune was how crisp/fuller songs sounded. These were the same format (AAC) being played on my iPod and my Zune.. and the Zune would almost always sound better. According to this YouTube video and this forum post, maybe I’m not crazy. It appears the Zune does have better sound quality in general than the iPod. Yay Zune.

I am looking forward to what the future holds for both Zune and iPod… competition can only be a good thing in this area. Do you really only want Apple-based digital audio players out there on the market? (And before someone mentions Creative and the other companies with DAPs… yeah, right, like they’re even in the same league as iPod/Zune.)

Now playing: Tom Petty - Yer So Bad

I won't pretend to know what you're thinking
I can't begin to know what you're going through
I won't deny the pain that you're feeling
But I'm gonna try and give a little hope to you

Just remember what I've told you
There's so much you're living for

There's a light at the end of this tunnel
There's a light at the end of this tunnel
For you, for you
There's a light at the end of this tunnel
Shinin' bright at the end of this tunnel
For you, for you
So keep holdin' on

You've got your disappointments and sorrows
You ought to share the weight of that load with me
Then you will find that the light of tomorrow
Brings a new life for your eyes to see

So remember what I've told you
There's so much you're living for

Pandora can seem weird sometimes, but hey, I dig all three songs/bands, so there ya go. It works. Now it’s playing Flyleaf… awesome!

TechDirt has an excellent write-up today named “Universal Music 'Settlement' With Bolt Makes A Mockery Of The Law; Common Sense”. If you’re not aware, Universal music’s CEO, Doug Morris has been suing video-sharing sites that make use of copyrighted Universal music. Keep in mind, these are usually humorous videos, video diaries, video game captures, etc.. that use music in a fair use manner and are totally legit. No one in their right mind is going to hear “Sexy Back” on a YouTube video and say.. boy, now I don’t have to buy the song!

They successfully got Google to pay out (conveniently after they bought YouTube) by way of equity shares in YouTube! Now, keep in mind that Google/YouTube has done nothing wrong. They’re not responsible for their user’s content. Nor have many of the users done anything wrong, seeing as the music is used in a fair use context, usually not a full song, and actually helps the artist instead of hurting them.

Then they went after MySpace; suing them and winning, again for the same reasons that don’t make sense.

And somehow they then convince Microsoft to pay a type of “Universal music” tax on every Zune unit sold, probably because it could potentially be holding pirated Universal music. What the ——? Check out this quote from the New York Times:

A recent study estimated that Apple has sold an average of 20 songs per iPod — a fraction of its capacity. The rest of consumers’ music files — 95 percent or more — come from ripped CDs, possibly including discs from their own collections, and illegal file-trading networks, the study said.

So what percentage of that 95% is legit files? I’m sure Universal and other record industry executives want to say 0% — but think about it. Most older teens/adults who have iPods aren’t going around and pirating music. Maybe they do the casual thing, and let friends borrow a CD, who rips it, and then gives it back. But ultimately, is that a bad thing? Maybe the next time the person sees an album from that artist, they will purchase it first-hand. Or perhaps they will feel led to purchase the album they ripped, to get the physical album and artwork? Why assume that all of your customers are filthy thieves trying to steal your profits?

So finally, Universal turned its sights on Bolt.com, a site that is probably one of the first social networking sites (that I knew of, at least.) And now they have to sell their company/site to another smaller company, just to make the legal bills work out.

Ugh, when will this just stop? Movie and record executives, listen to me:

People will always steal. No matter what. Even if you put up your best padlock, someone is going to crack it. Give it up, and offer non-DRM’d versions of albums/songs online, in multiple formats. Why do I end up paying 99 cents for a single track in 128kbps MPEG4 format? Why not offer it to me in lossless MP4? Or better yet, 320kbps MP3 or the lossless FLAC format?

Movie studios, just give up. Your Blu-Ray and HD-DVD copyright protection is cracked. Why do you purposefully slow-down modern computers in order to make them support your DRM? By the way, check out this excellent blog post on MSTechToday regarding Vista’s DRM, and how neither Bill Gates nor Steve Jobs likes it.

And this all begs the question: when you buy something, are you buying the RIGHTS to play the song/movie, or are you buying the actual item transacted, such as a file or disc? If it’s just the rights, then shouldn’t I legally be able to obtain that same song in a different format, for little or no cost? If I damage my disc, should I be able to just copy a friend’s and still be legally correct?

Just, ugh. You wonder why people pirate. Because it’s easier to deal with than all of this crap. DRM sucks.

After having so much fun with the iTunes software in Windows (especially Vista), I decided a change needed to happen. On Friday on bought a Zune. So far my experience has been most enjoyable, despite the fact that the Zune software isn’t even supported on Vista yet. But there are workarounds.

Here’s some reasons why I’m digging the Zune over the iPod right now:

• On setup, the Zune software found all of my iTunes music and imported it. It even imported my playlists and song ratings, thankfully. I’d hate to have to re-rate all my songs (it took me months!) The import process took a while, but that was to be expected, since I have nearly 20,000 songs.
• The Zune plays all the same formats of the iPod and more (Windows Media Audio.) I was worried that the Zune would have to convert the MPEG4/AAC (.m4a) files that iTunes ripped into a format that it could play… but no, it just works!
• I had to re-create my “smart playlists” (Zune’s software calls them Auto Playlists.) No biggie. The rule engine looks a little different than smart playlists, but it works the same. I was able to set my few smart playlists back up in minutes.
• The sync speed is crazy fast. To sync around 2000 songs, it only took about 10 minutes. If I hook it back up and sync it again (with no changes), it syncs in less than a second. Woot. On my iPod, iTunes would sit there for minutes trying to sync up all the data, even if nothing changed.
• For some reason, the Zune software wants to convert most of my music videos/movies to a Zune-compatable format. I suspect this is because I did not encode the MPEG-4 video in the proper resolution/bitrate that the Zune supports. I’ll have to do more research on this to see exactly what’s up.
• The Zune interface blows the iPod’s away. It’s way more graphical, and the “sideways menus” are much more friendly than having to go “up” a menu on an iPod. For example, when I choose “music” from the main menu, I’m taking to a series of menus at the top (selectable by using the left and right keys), and the list of the currently selected menu item. Hitting left and right, I can switch between artists, albums, playlists, genres and songs. On the iPod, I would have had to go “up” in the menu structure to change what category to search by.
• When music is playing, the album art takes up about 80% of the screen. Hitting the center button “zooms in” on the artwork and overlays a menu allowing you to change the song’s rating, turn shuffle and repeat on/off, send the file to a friend, or flag the song. The “flag” feature lets you set aside some songs for whatever purpose you wish. Maybe you just really dig those tracks, or you want to flag them to be deleted, whatever.
• Photos and video look great. You turn the Zune sideways to watch them. There is a small indentation in the back of the Zune (underneath the controls) so your hand can more comfortably grip the Zune when it’s sideways. Neat.

And to be fair, here are some of my gripes thus far:

• The Zune software “monitors” folders for changes, which I kinda dig, but at the same time, I’m used to how iTunes does it. Maybe I haven’t found out how to do this yet, but I don’t think there’s a way to just import a single song/picture/video into your library. You have to put it into one of your monitored folders. I want to be able to just drag something onto the Zune software, and have it imported/copied to my library.
• Can’t rip directly to AAC/MPEG4 format. You have to choose between WMA, WMA lossless and MP3. The MP3 encoder they use isn’t the best (LAME would be much better.) So I’m stuck using WMA at 192kbps, which sounds great, by the way. Just a different format to get used to, I guess.
• More to come in time…

Okay, I get like a million people a day hitting my old blog post about Fergie's "London Bridge" song and it's lame lyrics.

Let's set the record straight. Of course the song has it's own Wikipedia page, so here goes.

According to Fergie herself, the song refers to a sex act whereby two women and two men form a bridge-like shape during intercourse

Of course. Thanks Fergie. You're charming and sophisticated!

While I'm ranting about her lameness, has anyone heard her new "single", Fergalicious? Just how many songs can she steal on one track? I heard at least 3 freestyle beats, including J.J. Fad's "Super Sonic" and Afro-Rican's "Give It All You Got". This just proves she's a talentless hack riding on the success of Black Eyed Peas, and using mostly sex to sell records.

If you've never done the "match wizard of Oz up to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon" trick... someone did it for you on Google Video. It's about 2 seconds off, though. But no biggie. You get the point.

Ahh, Michael Jackson – Thriller. This was before he went psycho. Check out the Wikipedia page about the video.. pretty interesting. Check out all those pop culture references.