|
|
Posts Tagged ‘iTunes’
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Yesterday, I summed up my entry by saying that I could kick start my personal de-cluttering process with an early spring cleaning. Somewhere in my entry I also commented that one of the best ways to de-clutter your life is to not buy new things that you will not use in the first place! This brings me to a topic that I’ve wanted to cover on this blog for the last two weeks – the unbelievable reach of iTunes.
Hang in there, I can actually draw a correlation here and make this make sense!
Over the last few weeks I’ve been dabbling in this iTunes U and some of the more educational-focused podcasts offered on iTunes. By using some of the features on iTunes and more specifically iTunes U, I’ve been able to get the mental stimulation that I would normally reserve for reading books. Seriously! I downloaded a bunch of podcasts from a doctor who interviews other doctors at the University of Michigan and asks them about health questions that pertain to their fields of study. These people are experts in the topic and they give away free information about the disease or condition for free. How great is that?!
And with iTunes U I’ve been able to turn some of my daily commutes into mentally stimulating experiences as I listen to professors for Yale and Harvard Universities talk about topics that I’m interested in (business management, nonprofits, leadership, American Colonial History, writing, personal finance, etc). It’s absolutely wonderful if you’re an information junkie like I am!
With this comes the integration of other services into iTunes like Audible. I’ve downloaded a few audiobooks from a family account and I plan on listening to some of them in the next few weeks during my trips to and from work. Hey, we all know that I absolutely hate my commute so if I can turn it into something more than just mindless driving to and from Trenton, then I’d be happy to do so!
But to keep with the theme of the last few days – by utilizing electronic media more often I’ll be able to cut back on the amount of books that I buy. Now, I’d never give up books altogether because I’m one of these readers who thinks that there is something that you lose when you don’t have the actual book in your hand and the words in front of your face. However, if I can purchase a few less books each year by listening to a few audiobooks instead, then that only helps to reduce the overall amount of clutter in my home – and that’s not a bad thing at all.
Posted in Random Entries | No Comments »
Monday, February 1st, 2010
Way back in December I came across an article on the New York Times website that talked about how one family broke free from the shackles of traditional cable service providers. It really is an interesting story so if you have a few minutes at the office or during the afternoon, you should click on that link and read the piece in its entirety. However, for a very brief summation of what the writer wound up with, here it is in his own words:
I disconnected everything, threw it to the side and canceled the cable months ago. Instead, now I have a Mac Mini, wireless mouse and a Microsoft Xbox hooked up to my television.
The article talks about how the guy had all of these gadgets – a DVD player, a special remote control, the AppleTV service (which was a major bomb), a gaming system, a cable box, etc. You know the drill because chances are that you have some or all of these peripherals (and more). Then the guy broke free of the confines that are put on us by our cable television services and he created his own entertainment center using other distribution formats.
For example, for movies this guy uses a streaming service from Netflix. For television shows he uses Hulu, Boxee, iTunes and Joost. I don’t know how he manages to watch certain cable programming (how does he get FOX News or CNN or HGTV, etc?), but the fact that this guy was able to disconnect from the cable company is impressive.
Think about that in terms of real dollars from your own wallet. My roommates and I spend about $130 each month on cable and internet plus I spend an additional $35 each month on the cable-fueled telephone. That’s $165 each month to the cable company – an absolutely unbelievable $1,980 per year! That’s ludicrous!
Now how much more do you spend on digital distribution services like Netflix or Blockbuster or cable on demand, etc? The costs begin to add up.
I think it’s great that the guy from this article was able to completely disconnect himself from this system. Somewhere in the article he suggests that he’s paying a total of $40 per month now for his internet and Netflix service. Over the course of a year that’s $480 or a savings of $1,500 each year. Each year!
That’s a lot of money! And it’s got me thinking about how I might be able to disconnect from the cable company once I purchase a home of my own one of these days…
Posted in Computers, Internet, & Technology, Entertainment, Money, Jobs, & Finances | No Comments »
Saturday, November 14th, 2009
Sometimes I hear a song that I like on Sirius XM ’s Alt Nation and I go home to find out more about the band who sings the song. Generally, I’ll then go to YouTube to hear some more of their songs and, if the band is good and the music is worth listening to, I’ll find a way to download the music either through iTunes or through some other online distribution method.
Such was the way that I wound up downloading MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular album. If you don’t know, MGMT is the band that sings one of the songs that always seems to be on Alt Nation – Kids. It’s a catchy song that mixes a bunch of different styles and sounds like a lot of fun. I’m sure that if you haven’t heard it on Alt Nation or whatever your local radio station is, that you’ll enjoy it. In fact, I’ve got a YouTube video for the song embedded below. Maybe you want to scroll down there and listen to it while you read the rest of this post (I take no responsibility for the weirdo video associated with the song).
After downloading the rest of the album, though, I don’t think that most of MGMT’s music is for me. While I’ve had some recent success with listening to (and liking) all of Cartel’s Cycle and Owl City’s Ocean Eyes, my luck ran out with MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular.
To MGMT’s credit, though, the album doesn’t have a lot of bad songs on it. In fact, most of the songs are pretty good. However, the general sound – which is a type of electronica and psychedelic blend (some even call it synthpop, but I don’t know what that means) – it just wasn’t for me. However, if you like that sort of stuff, then you’ll absolutely love MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular.
Pretty weird video, huh? So if this stuff is for you, then by all means – go and get yourself a copy of this album. But if this isn’t really your thing, then you might want to just download a copy of Kids from iTunes or Amazon.com or some other music service. If anything, that’s a pretty good song. Enjoy!
Posted in Book, DVD, Movie, & Media Reviews | No Comments »
Friday, November 26th, 2004
I went out nice and early this morning like I do every year to get out there and shop, shop, shop.
Only problem is that this year there really wasn’t anything worth buying.
Does anyone know of a “hot” product out there this year that EVERYONE simply has to get? People are talking about these iPods and Rio digital music players – but those aren’t going to be the big hit of the season. Personally, I think that this is going to be another “Year of the DVD” since they are in such abundance already. Seriously, who is going to buy an iPod when you can download the music that you want and burn it onto a CD for free?
Yeah, the RIAA is suing people now for downloading music, but realistically it’s not going to happen to you or me. There are just way too many people out there downloading music for this to be a major problem that everyone needs to worry about.
Anyway, when I was out shopping today I didn’t notice any hot new gadget or video game or anything that was all the rage. Yeah, this Halo 2 is supposedly the best game out there since who knows what, but everyone already has that game hence making it not a good Christmas present.
All in all, it was a disappointing Black Friday. In year’s past I’ve spent up to $500 today just buying gifts and then another $250 getting myself different toys and gadgets to play with. This year, I spent a total of $7 – on a sandwich that I went out and ate with Johanna. If you ask me, the retail stores have something to worry about this Christmas season…
Posted in Winter & Christmas Time | 4 Comments »
|
|
|
| |
|
