snapshot 11/1/07

SanDisk lets you see video from PC on TV if you're patient

Before you can transfer such shows as CSI: Miami and Penn & Teller from the Fanfare site, you plug the stick into a USB port on a Windows XP or Windows Vista PC. TakeTV doesn't work with Macs. The software to install Fanfare is included on the TakeTV thumb drive. Minor hassle: I had to separately download a couple of extra components to make this work, including the latest Adobe Flash add-on for my browser, plus Microsoft's. Net software technology for helping manage the service.

Moving shows onto TakeTV inside Fanfare is easy. You position your mouse over the episode you want to add and click on a "+" button; to free up space, you click on "-." I wish there were a "time remaining" indicator to tell you how long the process will take. A progress bar helps only a little. It took about 15 minutes to load a 33-minute episode of Showtime's Fat Actress. You can transfer more than one show at a time.

Steve Case Launches New Music Service

Steve Case is at work once again, this time on a music service that is built on top of the Facebook platform and connects to a user's iTunes playlist to stream it to others. Backed by case's Revolution LLC, Qloud (pronounced "cloud") also has the backing of several labels and music industry luminaries. It intends to help the user share his or her iTunes library with friends through the social network Facebook.

Since the service was first made publicly available three months ago, it has gained some one million registered users, and has totaled over 120 million plays, according to the company.

How digital sound works

Among audiophiles, the analog vs. digital debate rages without end. I, like a lot of other musicians and music fans, have my own preferences--I own many more LPs than CDs, and have paid dearly to record some of my bands' music onto 2-inch tape instead of direct to hard drive. But included in those preferences are some preconceptions. You've heard it before: digital music sounds "colder" or "cleaner" or "more sterile" because it's delivering a stream of 0s and 1s, instead of a pure sound wave. Or something like that.

Audio professionals don't use terms like these, largely because they're subjective and imprecise, and sometimes inaccurate. Recently, one of these professionals presented the best explanation of analog vs. digital sound that I've ever heard. Here's a super-condensed version of an already simplified explanation.

The Cure For The Music Industry's Blues - New Wireless Technology Increases Bottom Line For Record Labels & Artists SONGboost, a provider of software solutions to the music industry, is pleased to announce it's forthcoming Fan-Artist Trading Decks (FAT Decks), which enable musicians, record labels, and media companies to quickly create and syndicate digital music assets that can be shared by fans across any Internet-enabled device including mobile phones, desktop computers and set-top boxes. Based on combination of SONGboost technology, and technology licensed from SQGO, a technology firm also based in Boston, FAT Decks provide consumers with a mechanism to legally consume and share "decks" of digital music assets, while at the same time ensuring that the integrity of the digital assets remains intact.