I was happy to see Steve return on the Apple keynote of 9 September, because boy does Apple need somebody with clear vision. The introductions on the new iPod line are all over the place. Let me tell you why I think Steve has not been running the operation for the past few months: * **Ringtones.** The price of a …

I recently found an old harddisk which used to be in one of my old PC's. I discovered some FLAC files on there, which were rips of old CD's I used to have. iTunes is not too happy with importing them into my library, and the original CD's are in a box in a deep dark corner of my garage. I searched for a converter and …

Regular readers know that I've been ranting about the way the music and movie industry are selling us crippled content, which actually feels like punishing you for honestly buying your digital content. Coincidentally, a month after that rant, Steve wrote a mail to the music industry in which he stated that DRM clearly …

I am in the market for a new car. That means I'm in the market for a new car stereo. I decided that the iPod is a far better way to listen to my music in stead of keeping CD's in the car or listening to the 10.000 crappy FM stations in the Netherlands. Since Dension does not make a cable for my new car, I decided to go …

Last week I've been complaining about the capped volume on the iPod nano and the inability to circumvent it. At the end of that very week, the iPod earbuds solved the problem for me by breaking down. The rubber rings started comming off, and the right speaker produced only 10% of the sound the left speaker was …

I know you've been playing with your ultra-cool iPhones, but did you realize that it only is 6 years ago that Apple showed is the first iPod? It's amazing how fast technology advances nowadays. Today I read that 128GB flashdrives are not far away, so how about an 128GB iPhone, or even a MacBook with a solid state disk? …

Since Sony invented the walkman, the trains, trams and busses have been flooding with people wearing earphones. At first, they irritated everybody with the "ts...ts...ts...ts...ts...ts...ts..." sound comming out of their ears, and now, many early walkman owners are starting to show hearing problems. The …

Finally, the word is out. Apple (Steve) has announced at the "hot news feed" that the iPhone (and iPod touch) will be opened up to developers in February 2008. I think this is a wise decision. In stead of fighting developers, bricking phones and constantly being at the defense, the effort of Apple is much …

Wherever I go, my iPod nano goes. With a "smaller" disk like on the nano, it's sort of important to make sure you are carrying the tracks you'll want to hear. I have a couple of smart playlists, and leave the rest to iTunes. Syncing takes less than a minute, is fully automatic and I'm very happy with the …