<< January 9, 2007 >>
almost

so, yeah! stevenote fever is sweeping INTERNET. traditionally, i've had a sweet tooth for many things apple, and networked/media things silver and/or shiny in general. for example, last year i ordered a macbook pro (and tivo 3) the instant i could. hmm but this year... this year i guess i only have next year's macworld to look forward to.

the (`)tv (as my friends are typing it) is kinda ho-hum. we knew it was coming, it doesn't do anything a mac mini plugged in to your tv can't really do, and it doesn't even do tivo. if i could actually rip all my dvds with iTunes and use it, that would be something. we'll see what 2008 brings.

now the iPhone is something that should be tailor made for me! i mean honestly. an ipod and phone that fit into one pocket? with a phone ui actually designed by apple? even now i find myself getting excited about the idea, and yet...

the first problem is that it seems a little big. i mean, this isn't 2001 anymore! the most awesome thing about the first iPod was that i could carry all of my music with me everywhere. but then i accidentally tasted the sweet nectar of the mini, and have not been able to look back. i don't even carry around my signature sony headphones anymore, now that i live this ultra-portable life! you see, i can't have the weight of the iPod keeping me down as i race to catch a D-line train in the morning. and oh, the unsightly bulges...

but i guess steve probably drives around or sits on airplanes a lot, and the size is probably acceptable to him. and i suppose are people who carry around not only a standard iPod, but a blackbear-y as well. i guess they'll be ok with using one of those beasts, but i want one nano-sized device to carry around with me (i still don't care about video on the iPod).

but the real killer tile of the iPhone is... the interface? shocking, but turns out to be true.

the first problem with the touch interface is that it doesn't give you physical feedback. this is the same problem that the dock connector iPod had. namely, it's difficult to tell if you clicked on a button or not. it just feels awkward. there's a reason why people enjoy clicky keyboards, or the weight of fine piano keys.

my receiver remote suffers a similar, but slightly different, problem. without physical buttons, it's difficult to navigate the ui while looking at something else, such as your television. this remote is less cluttered, like the iPhone's interface, but that doesn't make it more usable. in fact, the newer revision of this remote has more physical buttons, exactly to correct for this problem.

in comparision, the all-wonderful tivo remote is totally usable while concentrating on your tv. the buttons come in many different shapes (and colors!), and there are a few different "zones" that you'll use depending on what you're doing: flipping through tivo menus, actions used while actually watching recorded shows, and a number pad. and the buttons feel good both to the touch and the push. it's a great device!

(actually, i think we liked sony's tivo remote even a little better. go figure.)

the current iPods are great at this, too! i do a lot of volume and track skipping while my iPod is in my pocket, out of sight. i would be disappointed to have to give up that functionality, as simple as it might sound.

with all these considerations, i shudder to imagine writing text messages or emails on this device.

that leaves web access as its only possible savior, to which i will simply scoff, "the screen's too small."

so yeah, i'll be waiting for the second gen, or maybe an iPhone nano.

<< January 9, 2006 >>
it was bound to happen

despite being unable to convince any of my buckeye-crazy friends to come out, i went to see emily at the paradise last night. i really regretted not going down to new york to see her last summer, and was relieved when i read she was going on tour again.

the show had a pretty weird vibe, but was excellent. my only complaint would have been that it was an hour or two too short... emily said "that's it" as she played the last notes of the last song. after playing the whole album, they didn't really have anything left for an encore. oh well, i hope she comes back soon.

on the way out, there were a few people hovering around the merch table, but nobody was really buying anything, so i picked up her album on vinyl. i just felt like... it would be a really beautiful album to listen to on a turntable. if only i had one.

i thought about stopping by tweeter after work, but instead decided to give harvard square's audio lab a shot instead.

it was like walking right into high fidelity.

there was some guy from belgium who had been in the store maybe 15 years earlier, and was in town again so decided to stop by. we talked about the iPhone a little, in fact.

and i could not tell if another guy in there worked there, or was just a regular customer. i imagine that i could go back every day this week and he'd be there.

after some brief conversation, i ended up taking home a pro-ject debut III. i liked the minimalist design, and i figure it was best to get out of there before he got the $4400 models back in stock.

after a brief taxi ride home (the box was a little bulky for early evening T travel), i arrived back in brookline anxious to play my new records.

the guy at the store noted that it required a little assembly, so i carefully took out the parts and opened up the instruction book. it begins:

Dear music lover,

it started dawning on me that this was indeed a special device.

i struggled with terms like azimut and anti-skating while trying to assemble this device. the instructions almost seemed backwards... they tell you about switching between 33 and 45 after you already put the, umm, platter? on the... hub. you see, there's no lever, or button, you have to remove the platter and switch up the belt. that would have been handy to know, when i put the belt on in the first place! oh well.

and i still have no idea what the little weight hanging off the string by the wire next to the arm is, but it seems like such a beautiful and elegant solution to whatever it does. this whole thing has reminded of emotional design... the admiration of its design makes its use more enjoyable. for example, the power switch is difficult to find at first; it's actually underneat on the left. but it leaves the base clean with elegant beauty, so in the long run the 45 seconds it took to find it aren't so bad after all. i guess.

their faq is awesome:

Historically, Pro-Ject and other high-end record players have concentrated on sound quality at the expense of comfort features found on consumer class products.

...

On the other hand, a record player is not a product which will play "straight out of the box". By carefully reading the instructions for use and by following an equally careful step-by-step assembly you will quickly learn about the product and how it works. Our entry-level Debut models are as close to "plug-and-play" as a record-player can get.

so plug-and-play that it only took me an hour of setting up before i could play anything... oops, playing at 45 rpm, flip the thing, change the belt, there we go. sounds ok, i guess. what's up with that popping and snapping? and this getting up every five minutes to flip records over is starting to get a little old.

but it's clear, from all these details, and the exquisite packaging that emily's and thom's records have, that these are truly labors of love? anyway they are fun. i'm going to stop by audiolab tomorrow and tell the guy how much fun it was setting it up, and thanking him for recommending it.

oh and emily's show tomorrow is going to be broadcast on INTERNET by the npr tomorrow, so you should check it out! hopefully they will have more bandwith than tsn broadband.