I totally read it on Some Guy’s Blog

Roadblocks

I’ve been trying to get some version of Linux installed in one way or another on one of my machines for a very long time. A good portion of the work I do is still very unfriendly towards Windows. It never worked because I could never get an install working with all my commodity hardware working. I may be a geek, but recompiling a kernel is not something I’m eager to learn how to do. If I can’t figure out how to work around the problem in 15 minutes with Google, forget it.

With Ubuntu, this problem is solved in the extreme. When I was last decontaminating my parent’s computer from its spyware infestation, I had to rebuild the machine from scratch. Seeing my opportunity to move one step closer to not having to support Windows any longer, I took the opportunity to install Ubuntu Breezy (the latest version at the time). The install was over, with everything working, in about 30 minutes. I even had the printer installed and working as well as the e-mail client set up.

With Windows, it took HOURS. And I was lucky that I knew to save everything in the C:\DELL folder very carefully or I’d be spending even more time downloading drivers. I was blown away by the fact that on commodity hardware, Linux was an easier install for me than Windows was.

The Beautiful Part

Ubuntu Dapper is free. It’s free as in “free beer.” You can go to the Ubuntu website and request that they ship you a CD. It’s free as in “free speech”. If I were so inclined, I could download the source code and figure out how to change anything I might want to change. Fix typos, etc. in my case. Other people can do more. I’d then have to speak to a friendly developer to get it actually incorporated into everyone’s copy, but that is the idea. Anyone can contribute. That’s a powerful idea.

My Own Dapper Install

Web Applications

That’s what I do, and getting them set up on Dapper wasn’t a problem in the slightest. Sun has allowed Linux developers to package the Sun version of Java with Linux, which is like upgrading from a Pinto to a Cadillac.

I also run a version of Atlassian’s Confluence product, since they are currently giving away personal licenses free. That means I can use Confluence, the finest Wiki I’ve encountered, as my personal scrapbook. I like that.

I already mentioned that I am using Tracks. That was dependent on my Ruby and Rails setup, which I’ll be detailing soon. I’m hoping that post will be good enough to make the rounds a little bit.

Installing Apps

The package management system has been my second major stumbling block in terms of Linux adoption. Debian makes this a no-brainer. The apt-get system is simply brilliant.

Not So Fast

I am not anywhere close to leaving Windows entirely behind. Some web applications still require Internet Explorer to function. There’s still no real equivalent to Microsoft Money that I’ve found. TiVo Desktop is still a Windows application. Fortunately, I have an older machine that can handle XP and I just RDP into it when I need to. A small price to pay!

• I’ve had to start tagging random horribleness on the net from the RIAA in addition to George Bush. AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

• The Jerk/Genius ratio for the Van Fleet family is astronomical, at just under 13 (11,400 to about 900). The ratio for myself personally is closer to 3 (23/7), but none of them are referring to anyone named Jim Van Fleet actually being a jerk.

• God, I am getting so sad that I read this post and think, “He’s absolutely right.”

The idea behind lala.com is that of being the Internet’s used CD store. Pick up albums you think you might like on the cheap, bring them back in if you don’t like them, trade them for something else. To acquire a used CD (without liner notes or jewel case) is $1.49. “Not a bad price!” But you have to trade in your CD’s to get any out at all.

My first thought on using the system was “I just input 150 of my CD’s, and I would trade two of these in, and might trade another two.” What’s the big deal?

But then, two things happened. I got an impeccible copy of Alpha’s The Impossible Thrill, featuring liner notes and the artwork for the back of the jewel case. Wow.

I then spent a little more time exploring the site, and got my want list up to about 80 albums. I am now rabidly looking through my list, thinking “I could go without that CD. I want my orders filled!” They’ve got me.

If you’re interested in what lala’s all about, drop me a line. I’ll be happy to send you an invite.

Intake

The Albums

I finally justified the purchase of one of those Skip Dr. type inventions that restores discs that are not playing correctly. I’ve heard any number of things about “home remedies” that will do just the same thing. I have tried a few, and none of them worked. Toothpaste was a notable failure. My Spin Dr. was (and is) awesome. It cleaned over 250 CD’s, I’m sure. If you’ve already spent a good deal of money on your music collection, you should probably get one. It’s an extremely low-grade belt sander, but with sufficient lubrication, it has worked flawlessly.

The Live Shows

All my live shows are in some lossless format already, although SHN is probably my least favorite music format of all time. Conversion to FLAC will be part of the project. Also, I’ll be using the tailor-made etree-scripts to do a few different things. I’ve already used it to successfully transcode a few of my favorite shows, and it’s a perfect command-line interface to the process. Hooray!

The Bowels

Synchronization

I’m no judge of precisely how Type A I am overall—(my guess is not very), but there are some things that I am absolutely compulsive about.

I am sick of spending a good deal of time editing metadata to get it exactly the way I like, and then either some other external program overwrites it, or I have to switch formats or something. Part of the synchronization process will notice that a file has changed and see if it needs to update the metadata on the lossy image. Robin Bowes’ flac2mp3 script is doing a fantastic job already.

Genre classification

I am also sick of having some random, proprietary genre structure that I don’t agree with most of the time anyway. AllMusic has something that I’ll agree with, usually. This element of the project hasn’t really begun.

Playlist magic

Once all files and genres are known, there’s nothing about amarok that would prevent me from getting playlist data out of it. From there, I can create my own playlist magic, if I’m unsatisfied with what I get for free.

I don’t know for a fact if I can get ratings I drop on my iPod to transfer over, but I’ll let you know if I come up with anything.

The Pimp Sh!t

Sharing At Home

All capable computers will serve the lossless files to perserve audio quality, where possible. Everywhere else will use the MP3 image

Sharing With Friends

I would never do this, right? That would be illegal. Or rather, it wouldn’t be illegal, exactly, but I could get sued. Even though they have everything under control

Streaming Content

In combination with a bit more technical wizardry, it would be entirely possible for me to run my own Internet radio station that I could listen to during the day, changing directions according to my every whim.

Conclusion

Yeah, I’m pumped.

Over Memorial Day, Megan and I visited Long Island for her brother’s wedding. Both the rehearsal dinner and the ceremony were very beautiful. The bride, groom, and Megan were all looking particularly lovely as well. Even I managed not to look repulsive. I did have a lot of fun at both events and am glad I was able to go.

I thought it was pretty funny to see that Long Island apparently considers the rest of New York state a bit like Texas views the rest of the country. Sure, there’s a formal relationship, but they are pretty much doing their own thing.

I managed to get a little rest over the weekend, but not much. Relationship winds were somewhat blustery among the bride and groom’s families, but nothing too serious. Still I feel I was very fortunate to be in attendance.

It’s hard for me to believe that the first time I was evangelizing Rails was in Feb. 2005 but there’s the proof. Sometimes I look a lot smarter than I am.

Important Hardware

The iPod is no longer just a geek device. TiVo never was. (Good luck, MythTV fanatics!) These hardware makers would, of course, love to avoid having to license MP3, but each has their own reasons they’re strongly disincented to even try. Apple has its own AAC format with which it can at least try to enforce whatever DRM strategies they have in mind. TiVo is fighting so many other battles, believe me, this issue is the last one on its mind. The “also-rans”, like Microsoft in the Media Center sphere, or SanDisk and iRiver in the MP3 player sphere, have support, but it hasn’t exactly led to a groundswell of adoption.

Software

Software media players know that you’re going to play MP3 files. Not all of them expect you to want to play Ogg files. You have to download plugins from who knows where. Almost no one wants to do this, unless it is trivially easy. I know for a fact that this is not the case with iTunes. WinAmp is no longer so good that all the Windows uers are using it. I have no idea what the status is for other players. (I use Foobar2000 and amarok, personally, both of those have built in support).

Laziness

Assume that all of those issues that I just mentioned did not exist, and the format was natively supported on every MP3 player you could find. The Ogg format would still very likely to be unadopted.

Any music fan with more than just a scattering few files would take a long time to convert. Their files would actually sound even worse if they converted from MP3 and not the original source. MP3 has already been the beneficary of the Network Effect.

Being a Leaf Doesn’t Matter

Ogg may be more flexible, but it is not more compatible. It’s the province of geeks. I can get the format to work better for me than MP3. But it doesn’t matter, because the format is on the wrong end of the MP3 network effect. It doesn’t stand a chance of “tipping” in the next few years because there’s no connector ready to get the format adopted in all the places I mention above.

Almost all successful open source software has a clear benefit to its competition from the point of view of the user. In the MP3/Ogg battle, it carries a cost.

Stop Worrying

So I’m giving in. My own personal plan for a music archive will allow me to choose Ogg in the future without too much trouble should the landscape ever change, but for now, the accursed 192Kbps MP3 is my encoded format of choice.

I guess the most salient force Ogg has in the market now is keeping the MP3 license from being too expensive. Too bad!

Friday, April 7:

Got in very late, but AirTran acquitted itself quite well as an airline during the trip. They have XM Radio in-flight! It works at all times, even before you’re allowed to turn on your own devices. They don’t have all the channels available (e.g. live baseball telecasts) but it was a huge plus for me. You should already know I love XM.

Saturday, April 8:

Woke up, got cleaned up, and went to Wrigley Field to catch the Cubs play the Cardinals! It was an easy run on the red line from Marta’s apartment, although the train was delayed a couple of times because of construction. I was surprised to see that Carlos Zambrano and Chris Carpenter were on the mound. With the win blowing in, it was no surprise to see the game go scoreless for awhile. The first run was scored while I was purchasing my very slick Cubs hat. Michael Barrett tied the game up with a two-run pinch hit homer, and Derrek Lee put the Cubs ahead for good with a blast of his own. For Cubs fans, that will seem like ages ago.

From there, I headed downtown to meet with Megan and Marta, who had been shopping. We went to the Signature Room for a few cocktails and to watch the sun set. Even though the martinis were a little pricey, you can’t beat the view.

After that, we headed back to Marta’s place for a quick rest. We watched part of Legally Blonde, which I had never seen, but both girls liked a lot. I enjoyed it as well. We then went out to dinner and to Schuba’s. Megan and I were both exhausted by the time Jason Collet came on, but having had to cut concerts short on account of visitors ourselves, we wanted Marta to enjoy herself. I slept through a lot of the show on a booth outside, myself.

Sunday, April 9:

We slept in on Sunday and watched the rest of Legally Blonde. We showered and Allie, my first girlfriend, came and picked us up for lunch on Devon in the Ind-Pak part of Chicago. That was a delicious meal, even without any meat. Megan and I both had dosai, which, if what we were served is any guide, about three feet long, paper-thin, rice-based wraps. Our filling was a wonderful potato, garlic, and onion mixture. Yum.

After that, we walked around that area since it was such a beautiful day. We went back to Allie’s place to meet up with her fiancee Andy. He’s a very sweet person, and he and Allie are so happy together. Both Megan and I liked him a lot.

We all went out to play catch with the football and frisbee. I was surprised at how well I hucked the disc around for being so rusty, and I even completed a few passes with the football. (My specialty is carrying the mail, as it were.)

Unfortunately, on what would have been the very last throw of the session ended up breaking Megan’s finger. I didn’t throw it—I think Allie did. Megan didn’t really make a big deal of it. She didn’t even go to the doctor until we got back to Virginia. So if the rest of everything else sounds callous, just know that Megan fought me about going to the doctor.

As it turns out, her finger is badly broken. The first specialist she saw said that she’d never be able to bend it again. The physical therapist that she saw two days later had her bending her finger for the first time since it happened. So hooray for physical therapists.

We had planned on going to a show that evening, but would have ended up having to rush. As a result, we decided to take it a little easier and go eat some Mexican and see a show. The Mexican place had the best appetizer I’ve ever had—a Queso con Chorizo that you have to eat with a knife, fork, and tortilla.

Megan slept through most of V For Vendetta. I thought that they did a good job with the source material in general, although I still prefer the comic books. I can see why Alan Moore reacted so badly to this film treatment.

Monday, Apr. 11:

We impressed Andy by playing our GameBoys in bed in the morning. Allie made us some breakfast, which was great. After that we ran down to Lincoln Square for some shopping. The girls hit the apothecary, a clothes store, and some general stores. I got to hit the book store and the record store. We had thought that maybe we’d hit the Lincoln Park Zoo, but we stuck with the shopping.

We got a recommendation for Geja’s for the evening meal. Megan stopped me from getting on the wrong bus, and it was a good thing, because Geja’s was one of the most memorable meals I’ve ever had. We met Marta down there. The ambience and the food were both unbelievable. It’s a fondue place, and no description could really do justice to how good the food was. We had a couple of bottles of wine and some heavenly chocolate fondue. We went to sleep very happy.

Tuesday, Apr. 12:

We basically got up and got to the airport. We had planned on taking our bags to Midway, then coming back to see the Art museum. By the time we got to Midway, however, we were starving. Doing the math, we realized that we didn’t really have enough time to get back and have enough time to check it out. So we hung out and waited for the flight home.

Even though Megan broke her finger, we had a great vacation!

I’ve started using Tracks, an open-source Ruby on Rails app aimed at the Getting Things Done cult.

Getting Things Done is a great book, one I have no problem recommending. Everyone will probably get a little something different out of it, but if you like doing something, anything, there will be a tip or two for you in there.

I tried the Hipster PDA as a result, and that didn’t work out. I kept leaving my PDA in random places. I don’t even know where the last one ended up! I think that Tracks has a chance to succeed where that project failed.

Using the application is very easy. If you’ve read the book, you’ll be familiar with the terminology used, but even if you haven’t read the book, you can probably figure it out.

I have my Tracks installation now running on my desktop machine at home. Setting up the application is straight forward, if you’ve ever set up a Rails app before. And thanks to DynDNS and a little Apache configuration, I can get at my data from the outside world.

I also have a cron job set up to print out the text version of the to-do list every day. (That’s one great feature, by the way) That gives me a place to write down new tasks when I’m “off-line”.

If I lose the day’s paper, there’s no great loss. If I lose my deck of cards, however…

And now I’m going to cross off two items from today’s to-dos:

• Post to blog
• Mention Megan in blog post