Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat

If you’re like me, you just upgraded iTunes to the newly-released 8.0.1 version. And then you plugged in your iPhone and were greeted by repeated popups telling you your iPhone “cannot be synced unknown error (13014)”. And then you cursed Apple for screwing simple things up.

But have no fear, there is a simple fix! Just quit iTunes and start it up again. Everything should now be fine. You may have to restart your phone, too, but I didn’t.

Here’s a surprise benefit from the iPhone 2.0 Exchange ActiveSync ability: I was able to finally move my iPhone’s “home” sync from the PC to the Mac!

I’m a long-time iPhone user and new Mac switcher, but since I use the phone for business (read Exchange) email, contacts, and calendars, I was stuck syncing it to the (work) PC instead of the (home) Mac.  This really wasn’t optimal, as it meant I needed to load all of my songs and movies on the work machine, which is a serious no-no for my “keep ‘em separated” computing preferences. But the iPhone has to be synced to a single machine, and since I needed to be able to keep my contacts and calendars up to date, I was stuck.

All this changed with 2.0’s over-the-air sync ability, though. Once you enable Exchange ActiveSync (or MobileMe, for that matter), you no longer have to tie the iPhone to Outlook. So now I am able to sync my work contacts, email, and calendar to Exchange and my songs, ringtones, apps, and movies to my Mac! Joy!

I first noticed this shortly after my 2.0 upgrade and ActiveSync activation. I docked the iPhone to the Mac to download some photos with iPhoto, and I noticed that iTunes would let me “sync” it there, even though it was “paired” to the PC. Although I had selected “manually manage music”, I couldn’t drag and drop songs or videos, but I noticed that the calendar, contacts, and mail sync settings were now grayed out. This got me thinking, so I decided to take the plunge and blow away all of my content in order to really sync the phone to the Mac. Sure enough, my mail, contacts, and calendars remain connected to Exchange, but everything else now lives on the Mac.

I wonder if Apple considered this implication when they released Exchange ActiveSync. After all, it would seem to tie the phone more strongly to Microsoft but actually has the exact opposite effect. I don’t need a Windows PC at all anymore!

If you’ve been getting frustrated with your iPhone’s pokey performance and frequent hangs and crashes after upgrading to 2.0, you’re not alone.  In fact, everyone I know who upgraded their original iPhone to 2.0 has been complaining about these issues!  But I found a fix that brings back the stability and most of the performance - restore your iPhone and set it up as a new phone.  This isn’t perfect (it’s still sluggish opening some apps) but my phone has been solid since I performed this trick.

Warning: Restoring and re-setting up your iPhone will delete all settings, accounts, and content!  This means you will have to reconfigure Wi-Fi networks, mail accounts, etc after doing this!  Now on with the show…

There are three ways to load a new OS on an iPhone or iPod Touch:

1. Upgrade, which loads the OS in place and leaves the settings and content untouched.  This seems to be causing the trouble with stability and performance when going to 2.0.
2. Restore, which blows away the entire OS, content, and settings, and then restores the content and settings from a backup.  This works better in general, but my phone was still crashing right and left.
3. Restore as a new phone, which is a modification on the Restore procedure.  Here, you blow away everything and then don’t restore from the phone backup.  This seems to be much more stable under 2.0, and is what we’re doing below.

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It’s finally here!  The iPhone now has most of the functions of the BlackBerry - over-the-air push and sync of Exchange email, contacts, and calendars!  Apple let the 2.0 OS out of the bag earlier today, and intrepid souls (and me) have taken the plunge and installed it.

While most people, including me, headed to the (also active) App Store to try out the native games, I quickly turned the other way - towards the new Microsoft Exchange integration.

Read on for my first impressions and instructions on getting it up and running.

By the way, the apps are great!  Sega’s Super Monkey Ball is touchy, but I think I’ll get the hang of it.  And my 4 year old loves Jirbo Match!  Too bad the Red Sox weren’t playing or my test of MLB At Bat would have been much more exciting!

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I know this will sound like an ad, but please don’t take it that way.  I love Amazon’s selection of MP3 downloads - they’re DRM-free and uniformly cheaper than iTunes.  And the company has a download app that integrates nicely with iTunes (unlike the eternally-borken Emusic manager).

I was surprised this morning with an email from Amazon touting “five albums for $5″ on the MP3 store.  Turns out, it’s five albums (today only) for $5 each.  And it’s a great set, too - I already own and love two of them, bought a third, and suspect most folks already have the fourth:

1. R.E.M.’s new album, Accelerate is just great - short, snappy, easy to get into
2. Radiohead’s In Rainbows is an album I’ve written about before…
3. I’d been enjoying songs from She & Him lately, including their appearance in Paste magazine, so decided to pick up Volume One for five bucks.
4. Does anyone not know Hotel California?
5. Finally there’s Dreaming Out Loud from OneRepublic, which I’m not familiar with.

Also, if you like the Black Keys, you can get their new Attack & Release for $2.99…

Like I said, I’m not trying to advertize this.  I’m just happy to see some great music offered legally and without DRM for low bucks.

It seems that there is another iPhone gremlin, this time in the interaction between the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store (as seen on the iPhone and iPod Touch) that can cause your purchases to vaporize.  This only seems to apply to folks who have unchecked “automatically sync” and have not previously clicked “Transfer Purchases From…” in iTunes.

Here’s the situation:  You are tired of iTunes syncing whenever you drop your phone into the dock, so you uncheck “automatically sync” in the iPhone Summary page.  While at your local Starbucks, you decide to download the latest from KT Tunstall.  Yup, it downloaded, and you can listen to it.  Later, you place your phone back in the dock and go about your business.  But, surprise surprise, Katie’s song is now gone from your world!  Somewhere, somehow, the iPhone deleted it! Continue Reading »

OK, so Steve just announced the new iPhone software, and it certainly fixes a number of my “complaints”. But as much as I love this thing (and I do love it), there are quite a few remaining problems.

What Was Fixed

1. Google maps - This app went a long time without much of an update, but we can now drop pins (like I could do on my BlackBerry last year), see hybrid view (which is admittedly new to the handheld space), and the cool location thingy that thinks I still like in Massachusetts (because that’s where my WAP was when Skyhook drove past).
   
2. Home screen organization - I can now hide useless apps on another page (I’m talking about You, Tube, and your friend Clock, too!) and order them more logically
3. Web clips - So I get this whole web apps thing, but thanks for un-hiding them so I can actually use them on the go!
4. Actual apps - Yeah the web apps are great and all, but we really needed download-and-install apps on this thing!  Could use a few more details, though…

I still don’t care about multiple SMS recipients - yeah this was a really important addition, much more so than MMS or IM!  Ooh, lyrics!  Subtitles!  And at least my iPhone already had chapter support (thanks, Handbrake!)

What’s Still Wrong

1. Copy and paste - Please please please please please!
2. SMS popups - These “show through” every app - even the lock screen!
3. Landscape email - I always want to rotate my mail to read it better.
4. That darn headphone jack - I hate the Belkin adapter! What were they thinking?!? But at least I now have a sweet pair of headphones (Vibe Duo Nero) that work with the iPhone.
5. Notes - I want to use notes. Please! This is getting crazy!
6. Calendar integration - It’s hard to use the iPhone for business when you can’t get meeting invites over the air! They don’t even download so you can read them manually… And how about Google Calendar syncing?
7. Persistent web data - I can’t figure out why Safari loses its data all the time. I’ve got a gig or more of storage space free - Let me at least not lose the web page I was looking at (sometimes) when I exit Safari!
8. Hidden contacts - It’s very un-iPhone like to have the contacts database hidden in the phone and email apps. Sometimes I want to look at a contact without actually contacting them and this just feels weird.
9. Actual IM - Please please please start supporting actual Gtalk, AIM, and Yahoo IM protocols. The web versions of these apps stink.
10. Device compatibility - My Belkin Auto Kit works just fine with the iPhone, yet it still nags me to go into airplane mode every time I plug it in!
11. Bluetooth support - Please let me stream whatever audio I want to my Bluetooth headset. A better Bluetooth stack could blow open the accessory market - GPS, stereo headphones, laptop sync, remote control, etc etc etc…
    
12. Improved iPod controls - The iPhone is the worst iPod ever made when it comes to the controls - they move around inconsistently between portrait and landscape mode, and some are lacking entirely. You can’t scrub forward, set stars, or access podcasts or movies, in cover flow?!? And these are all hidden even in portrait mode!  And how about video zoom - I want to be able to pinch in when I’m watching a letterboxed film.  Is that so wrong?

Don’t get me wrong here - I still think the iPhone is insanely great.  I bought two!  Consider this constructive criticism…

People are funny - they tend to stick to old habits even as new realities overtake them. The CD industry may be collapsing (apparently, young folks don’t even want free CDs!) but I keep buying them.

But I realized the other day that I don’t actually listen to CDs anymore! We’ve now digitized our entire 11,000-song CD collection and I’ve unplugged our home CD player. Even in the car, where the convenience and durability of CDs was a serious benefit, we’re listening to more and more iPod music these days. As for me, I’m not even sure if my car CD player even works anymore… What a strange new world music has become…

Over the last year, I’ve bought about two dozen CDs and downloaded just four albums and a half dozen single songs. I’m of the generation (X, that is) that still remembers how beautiful and artistic album art can be, and longs for a tangible copy of my music. While ripping our last CDs last month, I was struck by the packaging of CDs like the Beastie Boys’ To the 5 Boroughs, Pet Shop Boys’ Alternative, and my heavy vinyl copy of Shellac’s The Rude Gesture: A Pictorial History.

Most younger people will never reminisce about album covers, though. Although iTunes albums include “digital booklets”, lots of music is just downloaded on a song-by-song basis. The only artwork they get is a single little square picture for use in iTunes’ Cover Flow.

But I’m not going to lament “these kids these days.”  Instead, I’m wondering why I still buy CDs when I can get them from Apple with one touch on the iPhone, or in glorious non-DRM mp3 form from Amazon if I want to sit at the PC.  The first thing I do when I buy a CD these days is rip a copy of it for use on the iPod anyway!  I’ve got a stack of brand new unplayed CDs on my desk - I’ve listened to my mp3 copy but never the disc itself!

But I keep buying CDs, and bands keep releasing them.  Even Radiohead now sells In Rainbows in Wal-Mart, on Amazon, and even on iTunes, but they’ve closed down their pay-what-you-want download site.  And I can’t quite see myself switching full-time to downloaded music and missing all that artwork!

Give me another few years, though, and I bet I’ll be like most of those kids - exclusively downloading music, even as Newbury Comics joins the big four in bankruptcy court…

As is traditionally the case, there has been some pretty wild speculation about what Apple plans to introduce at this year’s Macworld.  Some insist it’s 3G iPhone time, others look for a tablet/touch computer, and everyone sees Blu-ray everywhere.  But Apple upset the cart a bit this week by introducing new, faster Mac Pros and Xserves during CES, and a number of strong leaks point to iTunes movie rentals, updates for iPhone/iTouch, and the company has all but confirmed the SDK.

Let’s take a look at what we know and what we don’t, starting with the firmest information.  And read to the end to see my own wild speculation…

Very Likely 

• Further Mac Pro and Xserve updates are extremely unlikely.
• iTunes movie rentals are all but confirmed, but will it be version 8 or version 7.6? I bet on the latter.
• An update to the iPhone/iTouch (1.1.3) is in the wild and has received much press, plus it would be required to support those movie rentals, making a Macworld intro very likely.
• Leopard needs a rev, and 10.5.2 has been spotted (if you pardon the pun), so that’s a likely Macworld intro.
• Apple officially announced the iPhone/iTouch SDK back in October, and claimed it would be released in February, so it’s likely they’ll spend some time focusing on what it can and can’t do, and probably will introduce some third party apps, too.  Mac Rumors suggests a Sling Player app, at least, and I’m looking for some games.
• I expect a revved MacBook Pro, with the new Penryn CPUs, thinner and prettier, but nothing really amazing.

Maybe Yes, Maybe No

• I’ll bite on the long-talked-about subnote rumor, but it’s definitely not a sure thing.  I’m expecting a 12″ or 13″ subnote with flash storage (no internal hard disk or optical drive), and a super-thin aluminum and black (iPhone-type) case.  But I do not expect it will have a touch screen or tablet, though the funky touch pad might have some enhanced multi-touch capabilities.
• The early release of the big-box Macs suggests to me that we can expect updates to the portables, but the MacBook was just updated in November, so I expect it’ll be left alone for now.
• The Cinema Displays are getting long in the tooth, so they need a rev, and this would be a good time to do it.  I expect another aluminum and black look (like the newer iMacs), and would be shocked if iSight and an IR receiver wasn’t built in.  I’m also expecting expanded Windows compatibility, more aggressive pricing, and DisplayPort and HDCP, but all this might not be mentioned in the keynote.
• The demise of the Mac Mini has long been rumored, but I hope it isn’t true.  I’m looking instead for a new small desktop Mac with a new industrial design.  How about a PCI-Express slot, too?
• I’m definitely not expecting a 3G iPhone, though a 16 GB model and shuffled-down prices would be a good bet.

Wild Imaginings

• I don’t expect a big Blu-ray splash at this show.  The Warner Brothers announcement was too late to change product plans, and Apple was conspicuously waiting the HD war out on the sidelines.
• Something needs to be done with the Apple TV, and this might just be the big announcement.  I like the idea of this being Apple’s first Blu-ray product, and a Blu-ray Apple TV at a nice price to replace my DVD player might just get me off the couch and into the stores.  But I seriously doubt this Apple TV will have a tuner, let alone DVR capabilities.

The Big One

OK, that’s out of the way, that’s the show.  But wait, there’s one more wild imagining in my head…  As Jeremy Toeman pointed out, an enhanced Cinema Display could make a darn fine TV.  So let’s walk down this path a little…

Lots of folks were disappointed that Blu-ray drives remain unavailable, even on the new Mac Pro, and I just said I didn’t expect one in the revved MacBook Pro, either.  But what if Apple is ahead of us all on this one.  What if the update to the Cinema Display also included a Blu-ray drive?!?

Introduce a new line of displays - call them Home Cinema or something.  Put in an internal iMac-like Blu-ray drive that can both play standalone to the display or be connected to a computer (over FireWire or USB) and used as a computer drive.  Suddenly every Mac has a Blu-ray option, and those Cinema Displays start looking like a much better option than a Dell or ViewSonic at half the price.  Lots of folks would love a more-converged entertainment computer, and some might just buy the big Home Cinema as a standalone entertainment unit.

But let’s follow Jeremy’s suggestion a little further…  Roll the guts of an updated Apple TV (running full OS X) right into that Home Cinema and create a Macintosh Cinema.  It’ll have integrated iTunes movie rentals and Blu-ray, and could be used as a regular computer with the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

And roll out the guts of the Macintosh Cinema and you’ve got a worthy replacement for both the Apple TV and the Mac Mini.

And please, Apple, buy TiVo and integrate that, too!

So yesterday we finished ripping our entire CD collection - we’ve now completed our switch to digital music at home.  It’s done.

It amuses me to think of the statistics:

• We have 11,284 tracks stored, including 279 Christmas songs and 549 kids songs!
• Most songs were ripped using LAME at the VBR3 setting in joint stereo
• This music library takes up 58 GB of storage on my NSLU2/Firefly server
• The jewel cases take up six large cardboard boxes, but the original discs take up just two fat CD storage books

We’ve quickly adapted to a hierarchical model for home music distribution.  The main server has everything, so our two Roku Soundbridge players play directly from it.  But we also use iTunes on three machines, and have imported a subset of the music to each based on personal preference.  From these iTunes implementations, we sync a sub-subset to our iPods - a 40 GB click wheel, two iPhones, and two Shuffles.

Although our TiVos can play MP3 files over the network, we don’t bother.  It just seems wrong to turn on the TV to listen to music…  Similarly, we don’t use Windows Media Player for much of anything, even though it’s compatible with the Soundbridges and media server.

We listen to a lot more Internet Radio than I thought we would, too.  Sometimes we’ll even tune in WKSU over the Internet rather than hoping for good FM reception.  And I’m listening to WBUR a lot again, too.

I’ve also started to rip DVDs to watch on the iPhone, and am storing these on the NSLU2 too.   Add in the iPhone versions created automatically by TiVo Desktop Plus, and I’m amassing a large collection of H.264 media.  In fact, I’ve already got 50 GB of H.264 video stored up there!  Makes me want to go get an Apple TV so I can easily watch it at home.  Is the end of the DVD coming soon, too?