Big PC Geek Tech Blog

Yes that is right, that thing your kids buy music on is now 5 years old. Introduced today back in 2003, iTunes and iPods have developed and shaped people, Apple as a company, and much more. iTunes has taken the world by storm so much, you will often see references to iTunes in TV shows or animated comedys. With sales rising to the top as the number 1 online music seller, I must say well done Apple. Happy birthday iTunes.

MacRumors.com reported, then engadget.com followed… And now I! Yes you read it correct, it seems Apple accidentally let some future plans slip out the door. 06/10/08 is the day for iTunes 8 (which was pretty obvious), an aluminum MacBook (which I cant wait for), updates to the MacBook Pro, and a 32GB iPhone (which was only a matter of time). I really hope for the the 3G in an iPhone when the next update comes around but no mention of that. I really want higher speeds for when exchange comes out with iPhone version 2.0.

Of coarse you cannot really trust any of this but I would like to see all of this happen and Apple usually delivers what their customers want.

As far as I know, the original blog to report on this was MacRumors: http://www.macrumors.com/2008/04/16/aluminum-multitouch-macbook-new-macbook-pro-and-more/ 

I take no credit for any of the info here… I am just repeating what I read.

If you are in a household with many computers all with their own iTunes libraries, there is a great way to share the music from one computer to another. ITunes now allows you to share your library over your network. Once configured, you will see the library available in the shared section of the left hand panel in iTunes.

Here is how to set it up:

From iTunes, select "Edit" and then "Preferences." Once the Preferences windows opens, select the "sharing" tab, and finally "Share my library on my local network." You are able to select various types of music, videos, and much more. At the bottom, you can also require a password.

All music should stream fine over a 54G wireless connection but you will want a physical connection for video.

Do you have a collection of CD’s and need to rip them into iTunes to fill up your new ipod? There is a hard way and an easy way. The hard way is not changing anything in iTune’s settings and ripping music the way it is set to. The easy way is to change settings in iTunes so that you can pop in a CD anythime and have iTunes rip your music automatically.

First, click edit on the upper left part of iTunes and click preferences. A windows will pop up and you need to click the advances tab at the top of the window and then click importing on a new set of tabs within the advanced tab. The next part is key. You need to select "Import CD and eject" in the drop down menu where it says "On CD Insert." After the first CD is inserted in your computer when iTunes is open, iTunes will automatically rip the CD and then eject the CD tray when finished. This is important because you don’t have to stay at your computer, just look over at your computer and insert a new disc anytime you see the CD tray open.

There are other very useful options that you can use here too. You can decide what format you want your music to be imported with which can save space or make your music work with more devices. Next, pay attention to the quality settings because it is not worth doing all this if the music sounds horrible afterwards. It is also probably important to uncheck the option to play songs while importing music. Another important setting to check is "Automatically retrieve CD track names from Internet." This feature is really nice because you don’t have to create the names of the tracks saving time and making file management much better. Also make sure "Create filenames with track number."

Computers are made to make your life easy, it is time to make them do it. You can also do this in Windows Media player with similar options.

So after hearing the new iPhone update was going to be released today I was happy. But I was filled with so much anticipation. Steve Jobs never mentioned anything about Windows 64 bit compatibility.

So I updated my iPhone firmware on a 32 bit machine. Then proceded to update iTunes on my 64 bit machine. (I hacked the current 7.5 version to work on my 64 bit-it was easy not really a hack) So as I went to the Apple site to upgrade to 7.6 I noticed that something said it was compatible with 64 bit machines. This was great I thought, my itunes wiill now officially work with my Windows Vista 64 bit machine but what I really hope for is the iPhone to work too.

Well, guess what? It did. The iPhone has some really cool new features and it now works with 64 bit versions of Windows operating systems. Well, I have only tried it with Vista Ultimate 64 and none others. Not sure about XP. If someone has XP x64, and the iPhone, please leave a reply.

With Steve Jobs’ Key note only a few hours away, here are my predictions for the 2008 for it. I have no knowledge of anything. These predictions are all guesses (or what I would like to see).

Macbook Pro gets:

• Solid State Drive option,
• Upgraded Core 2 Duo Processors
• BlueRay Burner or reader (I really hope for this)
• Bigger standard Hard Drives

Mac Book gets:

• Bigger standard Hard Drives

iPhone gets:

• Updated iPhone to get High speed AT&T High speed that is. (wont be ready for a while)
• Update current iPhone memory to 16 GB standard
• Some sort Starbucks iPhone relationship will be announced.
• The new version 1.1.3 will be realeased.
• There will be great focus on the iPhone.
• The iPhone will be compatible with 64 bit Windows systems. (I demand this!!! I need this!!!)

Mac Mini:

• The mini gets a redesign.
• The hardware is upgraded.

Others Predictions:

• Something regarding integrated wireless technology will be announced.
• Possibly a new ultra mobile touch screen Macbook!
• At least one new hardware product will be announced.
• A new service for movies is announced.
• iTunes adds a service, probably the one above.