Okay, some time ago I posted an entry about what MP3 player to get. There was some flak about my ideas on ripping music to place on your MP3 player, so I thought I would make an attempt at the end-all-be-all rip guide.

In case you’re wondering, “ripping” MP3s (or other audio files) is the act of pulling the audio information off of a standard audio CD and creating compressed (or in some cases, uncompressed) audio files on your computer. This is a very common activity these days as practically no one has a computer that doesn’t use it …

Have you seen Microsoft Surface (http://www.surface.com)?  It’s really cool, but probably not for the reasons you might think.

The basis of Microsoft’s new Surface technology seems to be multitouch.  But that’s nothing new.  Not at all.  Heck, the Apple iPhone is supposed to have multitouch and that’s due out any day now.  As well, some other peeps (http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/) have been working on this technology for some time too.

So what is it?

Well, Microsoft, in a bold move outside of their usual realm (this is hardware and Microsoft is a software company), has seemingly developed a table-top interactive display.  There’s nothing …

As a road warrior, I have struggled forever with finding the best method for getting my recorded TV programs to travel with me.  Here is the journey so far.

The number one solution has always been to throw money at the problem.  But I have tried desperately to avoid that solution.  In the end, it may be the way to go.  From what I can tell, it would be easy to get a Windows Media Center Edition PC (also called MCE, around $1,000 minimum for an MCE PC) and a compatible portable player ($200+).  But there are reasons not to go …

With all technology getting smaller and smaller, it should seem obvious that everything should fit in the palm of our hands.  But that just isn’t a reality just yet.

Cellphones are getting smaller and more powerful, but yet most of the more powerful ones are still larger than ideal.  The chief factors for this are that certain elements of our tech interaction simply cannot be miniaturized without loss of true usefulness.  At least not yet.

Take my cellphone (please).  It’s a T-Mobile MDA, which is a Windows Mobile Smartphone.  Basically, it’s a PocketPC with phone functionality.  I love it because it allows …

Is the music industry dying?  Is piracy killing it?

Confession time.  I don’t believe the music industry is dying.  Not in the least.  But I had to have a catchy title to get you to read, didn’t I?  Gotcha!

But seriously, what can be made of the music industry today?  The industry spokespeople are all up-in-arms because the sales of CDs is declining and the sales of online purchases aren’t making up the difference.  I recently had an email conversation with a friend about the current state of music and how it makes it onto our iPods.

First of all, it is my …

Steve Jobs recently posted an online open letter regarding DRM that was very interesting.  What is DRM and why doesn’t it work?

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management and it’s the stuff that nightmares are made of.  It’s horrible for consumers.  It doesn’t protect the copyright holders, nor the artists.

Okay, let’s get into the meat of it, and I’ll use Steve Jobs’ letter as a guide.  DRM is software that prevents consumers of digital content, specifically music and video, from sharing that content with those that do not have the right to hear or watch the content.  Or from anyone, actually.

Let’s …

Who wants a Zune? I mean, really? Who is this product targeting?

You’re an iPod user, through and through: Well, Mr. Gates just relented on the “iPod Killer” moniker, stating that the Zune has more modest goals. Besides, if you’re an iPod user, you can kiss goodbye all of your iTunes-purchased tracks and videos. FairPlay doesn’t play fair with the Zune.

You’re a Microsoft music consumer: Sorry again. PlaysForSure plays not at all on the Zune. You have to purchase your tracks from the Zune Marketplace now. Sorry, Rhapsody and Napster users.
You just want portable video, and the …