TidBITS#782/06-Jun-05
=====================
Are you sitting down? Apple is switching to Intel processors,
starting next year. Read on for our analysis. Multimedia news
takes over the rest of this issue. First, Geoff Duncan covers
the resolution of the iPod battery lawsuit and iPod recycling
announcement, then Adam looks at the fuss surrounding QuickTime
Pro 7, and Andrew Laurence wraps it all up with a look at the
Squeezebox2 music player. In the news, QuickTime 7.0.1 fixes
a security hole.
Topics:
MailBITS/06-Jun-05
Apple to Transition to Intel Processors
Apple Settles iPod Battery Suit, Announces iPod Recycling
Pay to Play with QuickTime 7.0 Pro
Squeezebox2: Long Live Rock
Take Control News/06-Jun-05
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/06-Jun-05
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Copyright 2005 TidBITS: Reuse governed by Creative Commons license
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MailBITS/06-Jun-05
------------------
**QuickTime 7.0.1 Fixes Security Hole** -- Apple has released
QuickTime 7.0.1, a 26.6 MB download via Software Update. This
update replaces the Quartz Composer plug-in, which was found
to be capable of sending local data to an arbitrary Web location
using an encoded URL. The new component prevents this from
happening. QuickTime 7.0.1 supports Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later.
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301714>
<http://www.apple.com/quicktime/>
QuickTime 7.0.1 also includes unspecified bug fixes and allegedly
improves compatibility with Apple's Final Cut Studio. TidBITS
Technical Editor Geoff Duncan discovered fixes for a couple of
annoying QuickTime 7 problems on multi-channel audio interfaces:
QuickTime 7.0.1 respects the user's default stereo output pair
(where version 7.0 sent stereo audio only to channels 1 and 2 -
bummer if your speakers are connected to outputs 3 and 4!),
and version 7.0.1 plays monophonic audio correctly. [JLC]
**MathMagic Sponsoring TidBITS** -- We're pleased to welcome
our latest long-term sponsor, InfoLogic, a small company known
for their powerful equation editor MathMagic. As anyone who
has attempted to include even simple equations in published
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It's great to see software of such utility to the scientific and
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but in the case of MathMagic, being made available first on
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glad to count InfoLogic among our sponsors, the list of which
has also just been bolstered by the return of audio software
maker Rogue Amoeba and distributor/reseller Dr. Bott. [ACE]
Apple to Transition to Intel Processors
---------------------------------------
by TidBITS Staff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
At Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) today, Steve Jobs
dropped a bombshell on the Mac community by confirming rumors
that the company will transition its computers from the PowerPC
architecture to Intel processors by 2007. The news was leaked
in the Wall Street Journal two weeks ago and confirmed by CNet
and the Wall Street Journal last week.
<http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/>
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/jun/06intel.html>
The reason? Power. Citing each company's processor roadmaps
beyond 2006, Jobs said that the PowerPC provides 15 "units of
performance" per watt, while Intel's processors will be able
to offer 70 units per watt. Jobs also mentioned that they've
been unable to get a PowerPC G5 processor that will run cool
enough to put into a laptop, a long-standing sore point among
PowerBook aficionados.
However, it's important to note that the WWDC keynote was short
on hard details: no specific hardware nor specific gigahertz
targets were mentioned. Support for other hardware that Apple
software depends heavily on, such as AltiVec, was also not
addressed. However, you won't be able to run out and buy any
old Intel box and install Mac OS X, according to comments by
Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller; Apple will restrict
the operating system to Apple-sold Intel computers. It's likely
that these future Macs will be able to run Windows applications
better than with today's emulation software.
Jobs said that Apple has been co-developing an Intel-based version
of Mac OS X for the last five years in order to keep its options
open; every release of Mac OS X has been compiled in-house for
Intel processors. During the WWDC keynote, Jobs demonstrated
third-party applications such as Photoshop CS2 running on a
3.6 GHz Pentium 4 processor-based system under Mac OS X 10.4.1.
Apple plans to ship low-end Macs using Intel processors by this
time next year, while higher-end systems for professionals will
appear in 2007. Jobs specifically apologized to those who surely
wished they could have a PowerBook G5 by now, so we wouldn't
be surprised to find a high-end laptop high on the development
priority list.
**DRM in the Chip** -- One aspect of this transition that could
prove interesting, in all positive and negative connotations
of the word, is the so-called "trusted computing" capabilities
of Intel's CPUs. Little has been done with them yet, but as we
understand these capabilities, they're designed to work with
a Microsoft digital rights management (DRM) system. There's
no telling if or how they may play into Apple's existing music
or future video plans.
**Making the Transition** -- Developers who use Xcode should be
able to make minor changes for their programs to work with Intel
processors. Compiled binary applications will be able to contain
the processor-dependent code for both PowerPC and Intel chips,
meaning that developers can release a single program for both
types of Macs. Jobs said that more than half of current Apple
developers use Xcode and another 20 percent were planning to
start using it soon. Not surprisingly, he suggested that everyone
else get on the bandwagon, too.
<http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/xcode/>
Jobs also discussed Rosetta, a binary translator that turns
PowerPC code into code for Intel chips on the fly. While this
kind of conversion has been used for some forms of emulation
by other companies in the past, Jobs indicated that Rosetta is
optimized enough to avoid comparisons with the often clunky and
funky operation of Classic within Mac OS X. It should be a more
seamless experience for Mac users, comparable to the PowerPC
transition, when the vast majority of older 680x0 applications
simply ran. Jobs demonstrated Photoshop CS2, Microsoft Office,
and Quicken running in unmodified PowerPC-binary form using
Rosetta. Of course, just because they run doesn't guarantee
that they will run well, especially for something like Photoshop,
which is commonly used to benchmark processor speeds. However,
it does signal to users that they don't have pay for upgrades
to all of their software, as many did with the Mac OS 9 to
Mac OS X transition simply to run it on a new architecture.
Apple has a long history of carrying its older users on its back
as it forges across a river dividing two architectures. The change
from 680x0 to PowerPC was generally good - with exceptions - and
Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X was a long, slow, but ultimately successful
transition as developers produced applications that could run in
Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X. Even the addition of a 64-bit processor
in the form of the PowerPC G5 produced relatively few problems.
Jobs also announced that Mac OS X 10.5 will be codenamed Leopard
and ship in late 2006 or early 2007, around the same time as
Microsoft Longhorn - just to heighten the comparison, one wagers.
**Small Developer Crunch?** The Intel processor transition is
likely to affect smaller developers much more than larger ones.
Most large software companies that create products for Mac OS X
also have Windows versions. The code base can be largely
identical. Smaller developers typically program for a single
platform and may not have the financial or staff resources for
the testing necessary.
But Apple made overtures to cater to this audience, which includes
thousands of companies that currently release Mac software. Select
and Premier members of Apple's Developer Connection will be able
to purchase a $999 Developer Transition Kit that comprises an
Intel processor-based computer and preview releases of Mac OS X
and Apple software. This system won't be available to the general
public, nor will it work like a normal consumer system, being
geared for programming and testing. Interestingly, developers will
have to return these Intel boxes by the end of 2006 - it's a loan,
not a purchase.
<http://developer.apple.com/transitionkit.html>
**Too Hot to Handle?** In the past, Intel chips ran hotter and
required more power than comparable PowerPCs. But the company
has learned a lot from tuning its Pentium 4M and Pentium M
for laptops, and its new dual-core architecture that has the
equivalent of two processors in a single integrated circuit
package doesn't double heat or power as it doubles computational
performance. (Multi-core technology is apparently the near-term
future of most processors, with IBM releasing a nine-core system
called Cell.)
Beyond wattage figures, IBM and Intel had closed the gap on true
computational measures, a previous bone of contention dubbed the
"megahertz myth" when focusing on cycles per second instead of
actual tasks completed. Intel has suffered a number of setbacks
in the last year that have slowed their processor speed targets,
but is still on track to outpace IBM dramatically in the future.
IBM has had noticeable stumbles including delayed G5 deliveries
last summer that pushed G5 iMacs back three months.
**Gutting Sales?** Technical issues aside, the real question is
the reaction of consumers and professionals. Do customers respond
to this announcement by embracing the current Macintosh platform
more heavily, knowing there's a steady uptick ahead for processor
performance with what could be a relatively seamless transition
that allows them to use current software? Or will hardware sales
plummet as companies and individuals decide to wait for faster
machines in a year or two? (We always suggest buying what you need
when you need it; there's invariably going to be something newer,
better, and faster around the corner, and it's silly to wait
forever until they stop innovating.)
Apple has basically conceded that PowerPC G5 chips cannot be
made cool enough to be used in laptops, which means that unless
Freescale Semiconductor (Motorola's spun-off chip division) can
produce much faster PowerPC G4s, Apple will wind up releasing only
modestly faster PowerBooks for a full two years, which could cost
them quite a bit of the pro and speed-demon markets.
It's likely that Apple's roadmap shift to Intel will cause
financial analysts and business writers to tell the public and
institutions that Apple now is on a secure footing, no longer
tied to a small fraction of a tiny part of IBM's current revenue,
but is rather tying its hopes on the core business of the world's
largest chipmaker. On the other hand, the stock market generally
considers change to be a bad thing, and there's a distinct tinge
of defeat in switching CPUs (ignoring of course, that what makes
the Mac different has always been the operating system, not the
technical details of the hardware underpinnings).
Even more significant is that Windows XP and Longhorn will
be facing head to head challenges with Mac OS X on what is
likely to be highly comparable equipment. Running a native
Intel Photoshop under Mac OS X versus Windows XP will reveal
more about the efficiencies of Unix and Apple's implementation
than any of the apples to oranges (or Apples to Redmonds) tests
yet performed.
Apple Settles iPod Battery Suit, Announces iPod Recycling
---------------------------------------------------------
by Geoff Duncan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Last week saw two significant developments regarding Apple's
now-iconic iPod music players: an Apple-sponsored recycling
program designed to diminish the environmental impact of millions
of iPods one day being landfilled, and a tentative settlement
in a class action lawsuit over battery life in early iPod models.
**Reduce, Re-use... and Replace!** Effective immediately, users
can take iPods they don't want anymore to any U.S. Apple Store
for free "environmentally friendly" disposal; anyone dropping
off an iPod, iPod mini, or iPod photo will receive a 10 percent
discount on the purchase of a new iPod. However, the 10 percent
discount is only good that day - no saving a coupon and hoping
an even cooler iPod ships next month - and, while Apple will
presumably accept iPod shuffles for recycling, they don't qualify
for the 10 percent discount. Apple makes a point that iPods
received in the U.S. will be processed domestically and no
hazardous material will be shipped overseas. In the future,
we hope Apple expands its recycling programs to products other
than iPods - good candidates would be laptop batteries, monitors,
and CPUs - and that the company makes product recycling available
to customers internationally. It's the same planet, after all.
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/jun/03recycle.html>
<http://www.apple.com/environment/>
**Battery Charges Settled?** Although you won't see any word of it
from Apple sources, on 12-May-05 Apple quietly agreed to a
settlement of a class action lawsuit regarding battery life on
older iPods. A California Superior Court judge still has to
approve the deal on 25-Aug-05, although that's expected to be a
formality, and some iPod owners began receiving notice of the
settlement last Thursday.
The terms cover first, second, and third generation iPods with a
one-year warranty sold before 01-Jun-04 and which were advertised
to play music for 8 hours on a single charge. Consumers who can
show proof of purchase of an eligible iPod can receive a one-year
extension of their iPod's warranty. Consumers who can show proof
of purchase and found their iPods either played music for less
than 50 percent of the advertised time _or_ that iPod batteries
failed over time may:
* make a claim for a new iPod; or
* have their current iPod fixed by Apple; or
* receive a $50 credit for Apple products.
Although the settlement is estimated to apply to as many as
2 million iPod users, the proof-of-purchase requirement reduces
Apple's vulnerability a bit, since iPods purchased second-hand
aren't eligible. Under the agreement, Apple neither admits to
any wrongdoing nor to any defect in the iPod; in fact, at least
in public, Apple is sticking to the party line that iPods perform
as advertised, so long as users practice good battery management.
<http://www.apple.com/batteries/>
Pay to Play with QuickTime 7.0 Pro
----------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Although Apple has considered QuickTime part of the Mac OS
for many years, the company has also generated some additional
revenue by selling QuickTime Pro for $30. This commercial version
of QuickTime enhances the functionality of QuickTime Player by
adding capabilities such as full-screen viewing (rather than
restricting video to a clunky metal window), basic editing of
QuickTime movies, and a variety of export options. Apple makes
much of these capabilities and has pushed QuickTime Pro hard
with nag dialogs in the free version of QuickTime Player over
the years, though they've become less frequent in recent versions.
But QuickTime Pro is an odd duck aimed at very separate markets:
some people buy it purely to be able to play movies at full
screen, some use it to save movies from Web pages, and others
rely on its movie editing and exporting capabilities. The one
time I sprang for the $30 upgrade - to document how to convert
movies exported from iPhoto into fast-start movies for the Web -
I was unimpressed with QuickTime Pro's ease-of-use, a problem
exacerbated by a significant lack of documentation. Nonetheless,
I presume QuickTime Pro is sufficiently useful to people more
serious about video than I, but who don't wish to pony up for
more capable tools.
**Nickeled & Dimed** -- With QuickTime 7, available for Panther
and as part of Tiger, however, there's a catch in the free/pay
divide that hasn't previously appeared. QuickTime Pro keys from
QuickTime 6 are no longer honored; you must purchase QuickTime Pro
again for QuickTime 7. Apple claims that this is due to QuickTime
7 containing royalty-bearing technologies; in other words, Apple
has to pay other companies for each copy of QuickTime Pro, and is
thus passing on the cost to you. This has been the case with the
last several major versions of QuickTime.
What's new is that a number of people have been taken aback by
this need to pay for QuickTime Pro again because it comes as a
surprise after installing Tiger; you've just bought Tiger, but
as soon as you try to use QuickTime Player for something that
requires QuickTime Pro, you learn that you have to spend another
$30. Whether or not the charge is warranted by Apple's need to
pay royalties or development efforts (remember that QuickTime
Pro isn't part of Mac OS X, and thus its development costs
theoretically need to be paid for in other ways), Apple could
have done a better job alerting QuickTime Pro 6 users to the need
to upgrade beforehand. Worse, QuickTime Player 7 now displays all
the QuickTime Pro-only menu items as disabled, with a PRO badge,
which may be a fine way to alert newcomers to the possibilities
of QuickTime Pro, but only further irritates existing customers
who previously paid for QuickTime Pro 6.
I think Apple has realized the annoyance here, which is why
the QuickTime 7.0.1 update now clearly says: "Installation of
QuickTime 7 will disable the QuickTime Pro functionality in
prior versions of QuickTime, such as QuickTime 5 or QuickTime 6.
If you proceed with this installation, you must purchase a new
QuickTime 7 Pro key to regain QuickTime Pro functionality.
After installation, visit www.apple.com/quicktime to purchase
a QuickTime 7 Pro key." At least Apple is informing users ahead
of time now; if only they could have done so more obviously with
the Tiger upgrade as well.
Also frustrating is the fact that QuickTime 7 moves into the
Pro feature set at least one previously free feature from
QuickTime 6 - the capability to save a movie viewed in a Web
browser through the QuickTime plug-in. Luckily, you can still
Control-click the link to such a movie and save it to disk from
the contextual menu that appears.
**Remembrance of Things Past** -- I don't believe you can
downgrade to QuickTime 6.5.2 if you're running Tiger, but those
people who have upgraded to QuickTime 7.0 in Mac OS X 10.3.9
Panther can do so with the QuickTime 6.5.2 Reinstaller for Mac,
which removes QuickTime 7 and restores 6.5.2. Unfortunately for
those who upgraded knowingly to QuickTime 7.0 in the hope that it
would improve their QuickTime experience, and then upgraded again
to QuickTime 7.0.1, the reinstaller does not currently handle
downgrading from 7.0.1. A thread on Apple's QuickTime discussion
board offers some suggestions, however, and if you manage to
eradicate QuickTime 7.0.1 manually, you can use the full QuickTime
6.5.2 installer to reinstall. Again, all this works only if you're
still using Panther; Apple nowhere says that QuickTime 6.5.2 will
work with Tiger.
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime652reinstallerformac.html>
<http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@@.68b103ac>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime652formac.html>
If you purchased QuickTime Pro only for its full-screen
capabilities, you might check out the open-source MPlayer OS X,
the Mac OS X version of the Movie Player for Linux. Along with a
full screen option, it features a simple library feature and can
reportedly play a variety of formats for which QuickTime lacks
codecs.
<http://mplayerosx.sourceforge.net/>
**Making Nice for the Movies** -- Back in January, at Macworld
Expo in San Francisco, Steve Jobs said that 2005 was the year of
HD, meaning high-definition video. At the time, he was explicitly
referring to new features in iMovie HD, iDVD 5, and Final Cut
Express HD, but as the year continues to unfold, with iTunes 4.8
gaining additional capabilities to play video, and it becoming
more difficult to copy already viewed video to your hard disk
from a Web browser, it seems clear to me that Apple is setting
the stage for a major video push later in 2005.
In a situation where Apple is selling downloadable movies via the
iTunes Music Store, or letting people watch streaming movies via
iTunes, or introducing a video-capable iPod, or using the Mac mini
as the centerpiece of a home media theatre, the company has to be
able to assure the media moguls of the Content Cartel that their
movies will be "safe," whatever that actually means. So although
it may seem foolish and petty (and indeed it is) to remove the
capability to save a viewed movie to disk in QuickTime 7, I think
Apple knows exactly what's going on and is making such changes
to present a better face to the companies who can threaten to
withhold their digital content.
If you don't believe me, just check out the sidebars on the
QuickTime Pro page, one of which is entitled "Don't Steal Movies."
It's a brilliant piece of work that in a few short sentences
manages to:
* Plug QuickTime Pro's capability to save your favorite content
to your hard disk
* Imply that saving movies to your disk is equivalent to stealing
from the movie studios (seems like a clear case of fair use to me)
* Point to the Creative Commons project as a source for material
that you can legally cut, copy, and remix
<http://www.apple.com/quicktime/pro/>
If that's not prettying up the place for the movie studios,
I don't know what is. It's a shame that Apple feels the need
to reduce the multimedia capabilities of the Macintosh (a long-
running trend with iTunes ever since the launch of the iTunes
Music Store) while simultaneously encouraging everyone to become
a content creator via iMovie and iDVD and GarageBand. Sooner or
later, I fear this inconsistency will come home to roost.
Squeezebox2: Long Live Rock
---------------------------
by Andrew Laurence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
When it comes to playing computer-based digital media in the
home theater, there are generally two types of solutions:
local playback and network streaming. The local playback camp,
exemplified by Windows XP Media Edition and MythTV, view the
computer as a full-fledged audio-visual component, with library
storage and playback wrapped up in one device. Problems develop,
however, in crafting management and playback software (e.g.
iTunes) that handles the multitude of media types one might have,
with an interface that passes the couch test; they generally chase
TiVo's elegant functionality, and they generally fail. Along the
way the computer becomes a single-purpose appliance and the user
loses the ability to manipulate his data in a meaningful manner.
<http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/>
<http://www.mythtv.org/>
Conversely, the network streaming camp leverages the desktop
computer's historical strengths of data storage and management
and ships the media over the network; this leaves the playback
device free to concentrate on high-quality playback, effective
interface, and reasonable remote controls.
Streaming devices are increasing in popularity, with a number
of entries available from manufacturers such as D-Link, Linksys,
Buffalo Networks, and a host of others. These devices stream
audio, video, and pictures from a desktop computer, but to date
these all-in-one devices remain jacks-of-all-trades and masters
of none. Worse for a Mac user, their server software runs only
under Windows. Many devices use technology licensed from Syabas's
iBox platform; this in itself isn't a problem, but the fact that
so many vendors source their solutions from the same supplier
indicates a general lack of industry imagination. El Gato's
EyeHome (itself a Syabas licensee) is the only all-in-one
device developed and marketed especially for the Mac platform.
(See "EyeHome: So Close, Yet So Far" in TidBITS-741_.)
<http://www.syabas.com/>
<http://www.elgato.com/index.php?file=products_eyehome>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07766>
Amidst this chaos, the folks at Slim Devices forklift their own
future with their third streaming music player, the Squeezebox2,
and its software counterpart, SlimServer 6.0. The result is an
effective, surprisingly flexible and configurable digital music
player for the home stereo.
<http://www.slimdevices.com/>
**(Momma's Got A) Squeezebox** -- Like its predecessors (the SLIMP3
and original Squeezebox; both of which I've previously reviewed
for TidBITS), the Squeezebox2 is a svelte black network music
player, roughly the size of a VHS tape. It attaches to your
network via 10/100 Mbps Ethernet; if you opt for the wireless
version it also connects to 802.11b or 802.11g networks and can
act as a wireless bridge. Stereo connections come via analog RCA
jacks, or digital audio S/PDIF connections with either coaxial
or optical jacks. A headphone mini-jack is on the right side of
the unit. All units include a stereo RCA cable and a serviceable
IR remote control.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07150>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07637>
On the front, an exceptionally bright and readable vacuum
fluorescent display provides Squeezebox2's sole face and
interface. Where past offerings from Slim Devices used a text
display of 40 x 2 characters, Squeezebox2 uses a display of
320 x 32 pixels. Those pixels display lovely proportional fonts
that are easily read from the couch, as well as eye candy such
as EQ displays, progress bars, and even games.
The AC wall adapter is worth noting. Yes, the wall wart. Slim
Devices includes a Unifive switching AC adapter that is freakishly
small. Measuring only 33 mm x 23.5 mm and only 45.5 mm high, it's
so small that it doesn't impede other power sockets. It's nice
to see vendors recognize that power strips exist.
<http://www.unifive.co.kr/product/UL110.htm>
**Overture** -- To stream digital content to the Squeezebox2,
you need to download and install the free SlimServer software
disk image for Mac OS X from slimdevices.com. Run the included
installer, choose whether the preference pane should be available
for just the current user or the whole computer, and click
Install. The installer completes in a few seconds, after which
it opens the new SlimServer preference pane in System Preferences;
choose whether the SlimServer automatically starts at boot or user
login (or not at all), and click Start. By default, SlimServer
processes the contents of your iTunes Library, and begins serving
its contents to eager players. (SlimServer is also available
in a binary installer for Windows, an RPM package for Linux,
or Perl source code for any other platform you might have
in mind.)
Once the Squeezebox2 is connected to your stereo system, power
up the player to begin its configuration for your network.
A delightfully helpful wizard asks you to specify an Ethernet
or wireless network (WPA Personal and 64/128-bit WEP encryption
are supported) and DHCP or a static IP number. Once on the
network, the player finds your SlimServer via Bonjour (formerly
known as Rendezvous), at which point you're ready to play music.
**Gettin' In Tune** -- Using the arrows on the remote control, you
navigate Squeezebox2's menus to select and play music. The default
menu list includes Browse Music, Search Music, Browse Playlists,
and Internet Radio. Submenu options for browsing and searching
among Albums, Artists, Genres and Songs are available, and can be
elevated to the menu's top level. To search for music, you enter
letters on the remote's T9 input keys, just like text messaging
on a cell phone. To play a song (or an album, or an artists' body
of work, or an entire genre, or an Internet radio station, or a
playlist), navigate to that item and press Play. The selected item
is placed in SlimServer's Now Playing queue, and the music starts.
The Now Playing queue deserves special attention. Most music
players play only the selected item, but Now Playing functions
like a stack of records on a record player - you can keep adding
items to the queue. To do so, select another item and press Add.
The flexibility of Now Playing's queue is freeing, allowing one
to slice and dice the music collection to match one's whims.
The experience is more fluid than building a static playlist in
iTunes, and more open to whimsy than a Smart Playlist. And you
can do it with the remote control, while sitting on the couch,
while the computers are in another room.
Squeezebox2's analog audio quality is, to my ears, quite good.
Unlike other digital music players I've tried, I detected no
flaws in the Squeezebox2's sound.
**Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere** -- If the Squeezebox2's two lines
of text aren't to your liking, you can use SlimServer's Web
interface. It runs on port 9000 of the computer hosting
SlimServer, and advertises itself via Bonjour. Through this
interface, you can start, pause, shuffle, clear, populate,
and re-order the contents of the Now Playing queue. If multiple
players are on the network, you can sync them to the same Now
Playing stream, or control separate streams for each player.
The Web interface offers advanced configuration options for
the SlimServer itself, such as: whether to use the iTunes or
MoodLogic music libraries; the location of your music library;
supported music formats; Internet radio subscriptions; and RSS
feeds. While the Squeezebox2 displays only two lines of text,
SlimServer's Web interface is limited only by the size of your
browser window, making it much easier to use the search feature
and browse through large lists.
Speaking of music formats, the options are dizzying. Squeezebox2
natively plays the AIFF, FLAC, MP3 and WAV formats. Other
supported formats include AAC, Apple Lossless, Ogg Vorbis,
Shorten, and Windows Media; these formats depend on the
installation of other software, such as QuickTime on Mac OS X
or Windows (AAC and Apple Lossless), or Windows Media on Windows
(WMA), and are streamed to the player as FLAC data. Unfortunately,
songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store are not supported,
as Apple does not allow other vendors to participate in their
FairPlay digital rights management scheme.
You can mix and match music formats. SlimServer imports
information from iTunes on your MP3, AAC, and AIFF files into
its own music cache, but what if you also have music stored in
FLAC, or your spouse uses Windows Media? Just point SlimServer's
"Music Folder" field to wherever those files are stored, and
click Rescan. SlimServer merges the two sources into its cache,
and you can gleefully play music regardless of its digital format.
(The SlimServer must be installed on a Windows computer for
Windows Media compatibility.)
<http://flac.sourceforge.net/>
Many companies talk about embracing open source, but Slim Devices
puts their money where their mouth is. SlimServer is free open
source software, written in Perl and licensed via the GNU Public
License (GPL). Astoundingly, you don't need the Squeezebox2 to
sample Slim Server's goodness. First, the Now Playing audio stream
is available to any MP3 software that can play an Internet stream;
just point the player to "stream.mp3" on your SlimServer. Second,
the included SoftSqueeze is a Java-based software music player
that emulates the Squeezebox2's interface; you can control Now
Playing and listen to music - with the laptop on the patio! -
while using the Squeezebox2 interface. To quote Chuck Berry's
Cadillac salesman, "No money down."
<http://softsqueeze.sourceforge.net/>
SlimServer is backward compatible with past players from Slim
Devices, within those players' hardware capabilities. (SLIMP3,
for instance, plays only MP3 streams.)
**The Seeker** -- In addition to playing the music stored on your
hard drive, SlimServer streams Internet radio to your player
from the Live365, radioio.com, or SHOUTcast services. Live365
requires a free login account, which you input into the Live365
configuration panel in SlimServer's Web interface. Slim Devices
Picks offers their own suggestions from the various services,
much like the iTunes celebrity playlists. At this writing, your
SlimServer computer must be running in order for Squeezebox2
to play Internet radio. An upcoming feature, SqueezeNetwork,
erases this requirement and turns the Squeezebox2 into a pure
Internet radio player. SqueezeNetwork is currently available
in SlimServer's beta builds, and will presumably be rolled
into a future SlimServer version.
Earlier, I mentioned RSS feeds, a feature that might seem out of
place in a music player. However, Squeezebox2 is also a display
device with a network connection, and it can certainly display
other information. To this end, SlimServer includes an RSS reader
that can be displayed on demand or configured as a screensaver.
Six feeds are supplied by default, but you can add or modify them
to your heart's content.
SlimServer has a plug-in API, and in fact the included RSS reader,
Internet radio stations, and Date/Time screensaver are all plug-
ins. Dozens of other plug-ins are available from third-party
developers and cover a wide range of functions. Plug-ins for news
feeds, stock quotes, weather, and TV listings abound, as one might
imagine. There's a plug-in that updates the play count in iTunes,
or one that sets your iChat status to match SlimServer's current
song. (Want to read your Eudora email on the Squeezebox2? There's
a plug-in for that, too.)
<http://www.slimdevices.com/dev_plugins.html>
**Underture** -- In reading this review, you might ask, "Dude,
where's my AirTunes?" Apple's AirTunes, the technology for
streaming audio to the AirPort Express, is an extension of iTunes,
which might be a feature or a detriment, depending on your point
of view. AirTunes can be controlled only at the keyboard of the
computer running iTunes, but any computer with a Web browser can
control SlimServer's Now Playing queue. AirTunes only broadcasts
to a single AirPort Express unit, but SlimServer can broadcast as
many streams as your network will allow. While SlimServer handles
FLAC, Ogg, or Windows Media formats, only AirTunes plays music
from iTunes Music Store.
Squeezebox2 is a superb music player, and with SlimServer it
offers a nearly complete solution for playing digital music on
the home stereo. It's a great solution, so long as your musical
life isn't tied to the iTunes Music Store.
Squeezebox2 costs $250 for the Ethernet model, or $300 for
wireless. It is available in black or platinum finish and can
be purchased directly from Slim Devices, or a variety of Internet
and brick-and-mortar retailers.
[Andrew Laurence offers in-depth Mac mini reviews and analysis
at modmini.com, which has published a remarkably similar review
of Squeezebox2.]
<http://www.modmini.com/>
Take Control News/06-Jun-05
---------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
**Take Control Tiger Ebooks Pass 10,000 Sales** -- Last week we
hit our second milestone with our Take Control ebooks about Tiger:
10,000 copies sold. Amusingly, the 10,000th copy sold went to
Prudence Holliger of Issaquah, Washington, who we met years ago
through the Seattle Downtown Business Users Group MUG. Thanks to
Prudence and the thousands of other people who helped make our
efforts to provide early documentation about Tiger worthwhile!
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/06-Jun-05
------------------------------------
by TidBITS Staff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The second URL below each thread description points to the
discussion on our Web Crossing server, which will be faster.
**Reliable scanner vendor** -- Some people are running into
problems with scanner vendors' software under Mac OS X 10.4
Tiger, prompting a move to the all-purpose VueScan software.
(12 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2608>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/463/>
**Reading Software Licences** -- Does anyone actually read shrink
wrap software licenses? What happens if you do? (8 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2577>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/434/>
**Tiger's Preview annoyances** -- Tiger's new version of Preview
has some new capabilities, but it also seems to have lost some
features. (4 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2610>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/465/>
**Spotlight enabling the need for filing** -- Readers discuss
whether Spotlight search technology could eventually do away
with having to create filenames and specify locations for files.
(3 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2611>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/466/>
**Glenn Fleishman hits Slashdot!** TidBITS contributing editor
Glenn Fleishman wrote an article at his weblog wifinetnews.com
about a Seattle coffeehouse that shuts off its free Wi-Fi service.
After it got picked up by slashdot.org, readers wonder how his
server handled the load, and share their opinions about free
wireless Internet access. (5 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2613>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/467/>
**USB 2 hub for Tiger** -- USB hubs are notoriously scattershot
when it comes to quality, as one reader discovers. Fortunately,
other models are recommended to provide USB 2.0 speeds.
(3 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2614>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/468/>
**Norton Utilities Incompatible with 10.4** -- Symantec states on
its Web site that Symantec SystemWorks and North Utilities will
not be updated for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger compatibility. (1 message)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2615>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/469/>
$$
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