Waiting for the Beat

Firefox won’t let me check my email… HMMM this can’t be good.

So this 3 year old app finally came out of beta and everyone around me is discovering it for the first time.  “Have you tried Songbird?” ugggg I groan “Yes I tried Songbird…”

I tried Songbird before I tried twitter.  I tried Songbird before I tried facebook.  I tried Songbird before I became a web developer.  I tried Songbird before I had an ipod, before I was addicted to iTunes, and long before I became an Apple fan boy.

Today after seeing the 17th review of this “new” app I broke down.   Years after testing the alpha release, years after the president “accomplished” his mission in Iraq (god i almost spelled that iRaq) I broke down and installed Songbird 1.0 and you know what I liked it.  Before it had potential… now it has… well now it has integration.

Down deep it it feels like the same old app but what makes it shine is it’s integration into all of the services we’re all already using.  The web 2.0 apps, YouTube, LastFM, Flickr and god knows what else are what gives it it’s power. When I first gave it a go these apps were in their infancy.  Back then it was simply winamp built out of Firefox but now… now all of these apps are mature and Songbird draws on their power to make a great music player.

I will say right now that Songbird is the next step… it’s what’s beyond web2.0… it’s integration and usability… it’s tying all of the resources that are already available together and presenting them in a usable customizable and adaptable format.

Before you get the idea that this is just another glowing review let me tell you what I really think.  Songbird SUCKS!

Ok first… It sees my iTunes library and imports my playlists and song ratings… excellent!  Then I start rating songs in it’s player and adding to my playlists and what happens? Do they sync back to the iTunes library?  Hells no.  Songbird is arrogant enough to think that all users who want to play with it occasionally will want to use it and completely abandon their current music and video management system.

And more importantly why the heck do I need another web browser?  Hell as a developer I’m already testing in IE6, IE7, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, Windows Mobile, iPhone and I bet anything that on monday i’ll be adding the new “blackberry browser” to that list.  So I’ll pose the same question to you that I did on the forums years ago… why is this a branch of the mozilla browser and not a firefox extension.

Switch Songbird if you like.  Switch to Songbird if you hate Apple but love iPod… Switch to Songbird if your primary OS is linux and you can’t run iTunes… Switch to Songbird if you still use winamp or windows media player.  And by all means use Songbird if you’re still stuck managing your music collection in a folder and file browser but I… I’m going to wait just like I did last time… I’m going to wait until they work the bugs out…

I wonder if four years will be enough time.  I promise to give Songbird another chance when Obama is in his second term… sound fair?  I think it is.

Paul - Still Waiting for Songbird’s Beat

p.s. check out this link

right click on a folder hit share and it says i need to install samba and you say ok…

it installs and says i need to log out and back in and you say ok and it does…

right click on that folder or any other and say share it lets you set who gets to see it and shares it… done.

When I was a kid and saw an American flag blowing in the wind I would get this funny feeling. My heart would swell with pride in knowing that I was privileged to be part of something bigger than myself, part of a force for good in this world.

In the past years that feeling had melted away. Sometimes I even turned my eyes away from the stars and stripes and hung my head in shame.

But tonight something happened. I felt like the grinch as my small heart grew several sizes. And as the celebration of Barack’s victory began this flag waved across the screen and I felt something… Something I haven’t felt in years… I felt patriotic!

Grandfather at Work

The grandparents just showed me this picture for the fist time. I think it is a wonderful depiction of post WWII office life.

This photo was taken in a building that burned to the ground not long after.

My grandfather is in the center facing the type writer. He was the first person to show me how to type… And yes it was on an “underwood” just like that.

I showed him the iPhone for the first time today. He said that only a few years ago he had thought technology had reached it’s peak… Now all-though he can’t guess what’s next he’s not so sure… I’m banking
on that grandpa ;)