MUSIC TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST BLOG

I am fairly harsh on Apple.  It’s not that I don’t like their computers, I do.  It’s not that I can’t put up with their operating system… I can.  It’s their pig headed attitude that really puts me off.  They always seem to have a hidden agenda to increase their profits while screwing over their customers.  And their customers, the loyal bunch that they are, just keep putting up with it.

Apple’s most recent keynote - the October 14th Notebook keynote revealed some really interesting decisions by Apple, and for the first time, I’m seeing people on Mac user forums screaming “What were they thinking?”. Some of those decisions are really obvious blunders. 

Well, lets not call them blunders - Apple obviously didn’t leave out a firewire port on their new Mac Books for no reason…  its just that no one can figure out what that reason is. I’ve read some articles that suggest that Apple are trying to phase firewire out.  Do they not realize the infrastructure that this affects?  How many video cameras have firewire only ports for transfer to computer?  How many high end audio interfaces rely on firewire connectivity? A decision to phase out a standard protocol needs to happen slowly.  People need to get used to it. This is the kind of thing that makes IT departments so reluctant to adopt Apple.  Infrastructures cannot be replaced overnight.  Apple, what were you thinking?

For those particularly in need of the firewire port, you can go with the entry level model of MacBook, or up to the MacBook Pro. If you stay at the entry level MacBook, you don’t get the new graphics card.  Isn’t this a complete conflict?  The people who would want to use a high end graphics card are the people who want firewire connectivity.  Duh!

Both the Mac Book and Mac Book Pro are now only available with glossy screens.  This is less of an issue than the lack of firewire on the Mac Book, but is still relevant.  While photographers will likely do their critical work on a higher spec screen anyway, being able to use a notebook in the field is a valuable thing to them.  Reflections from the glossy screen will make this difficult.  Working in the office, reflections will make using the new notebooks tiring. This will affect everyone - students, professionals, consumers. Apple, what were you thinking?

And now for something less obvious.  Apple has ONCE AGAIN changed their standard video output connection.  I can’t tell you the number of people who have come to my building with their Mac expecting to show their presentation on a big screen.  It’s an extreme rarity that they bring an adapter that changes their non-standard video output to either the EXTREMELY standard VGA or the ALMOST AS standard DVI connection.  So, I keep a small supply of different types to deal with Mac users.  I don’t like to give them out because they’re just of that size that makes them a little too easy to pocket.  Any presenter arriving in my department with a new MacBook or MacBook Pro expecting to connect to one of my projectors had better bring their own adapter.  I’m not supplying them. Apple, what were you thinking?

I read with interest and partial agreement to Richard McCready’s blog on data compression and the overuse of the MP3 format (the article is dated 27th July 2008 - I can’t see a way to link to it directly). My response is a little too big to put in the comments box, so I thought I’d make my own post on why I don’t think the MP3 format is anything like as bad as he makes out. I’ve worked on this post on several occasions now and it still remains a work in progress.  Constant interruptions prevent me from fully articulating my thoughts on the subject.  So expect some updates as time allows.

If nothing else, the MP3 format is convenient for our fast moving lives.  Sometimes listening to music is not about hearing audiophile quality.  If you don’t live in a large centre, it can be a lot easier to find your music on a download site than in a physical store.  The jazz section at my local HMV is horrendous.  20 or 30 smooth jazz CD’s, a few classics by the likes of Miles Davis and John Coltrane.  Even when I lived in Bristol (England), a relatively large centre, it was difficult to get the music I wanted to listen to.  And sometimes I wanted to listen to something just to know whether I wanted to buy it.  Most of the time I ended up not getting it.  A classic was Dis is Da Drum by Herbie Hancock…  I love Herbie Hancock, but this album is complete garbage.  Better to listen to music at less than audiophile quality, than not listening to it at all.

If I like something a lot, I try to pick up the actual CD. But I’ve been disappointed there too - the pop albums of today are victims of a different type of compression - audio compression - the loudness war has made music sound horrible no matter what you play it on.  Kelly Clarkson is a talented young lady in my opinion and I spent a lot of time listening to one of her album’s courtesy of Napster.  I was so impressed that I picked up the CD, since audio quality was the only thing I was disappointed with.  To my horror, the final pressed CD was of pretty much the same poor quality.  Audio compression had sucked the life out of it. MP3 or uncompressed wave?  Doesn’t matter, sounds bad both ways.

As an engineer, I find the MP3 format the best way to get quick edits to people to listen to.  As a composer, its the quickest way to get my own music out to people on a web page. People don’t need audiophile, they need quick. I work more with classical material than anything else, an area where you’d probably expect even more objection to the MP3 format.  And yet, I can still illustrate my point, get artists to audition takes and edits and much much more using the MP3 format. My ISP has started charging for bandwidth use. If all the music on my web site was in uncompressed format, I’d get fewer listens - some because people don’t want to wait to download an uncompressed wave file, and others because they’re precious about bandwidth.

Most people don’t even understand or hear the quality engineers strive for. We don’t create good work for the lowest common denominator, we create it for the highest.  The 5% (or less) of people that CAN hear the difference.  So, if people can’t hear a difference between MP3’s and WAV’s does it matter that we give them the lower quality MP3? Personally, I don’t think so.  If people don’t know they’re missing something, they’re not missing it. 

MP3 quality is better than cassette.  This was our primary source (apart from maybe records where conditions permit, but certainly not in the car!) for years and did us just fine. How come now all of a sudden its not good enough?

McCready brings up BluRay DVD too.  This is gross overkill for most people.  Regular DVD is sharp and clear.  I have no doubt that BluRay is better, but honestly, I don’t think I’m missing out by not having it.

So, why the big objection to MP3?  I don’t know whether its a power trip on the part of engineers, a geek factor on the part of audiophiles, or an excuse to complain about the state of the music industry. Whatever it is, I’m glad its here, and hope its here to stay.

I don’t get it.  Everything worked when the profs went away in May.  They come back and we’re facing more computer problems than ever.  Is it time we switched them all over to Macs?  Nah, they’re having issues too.  Maybe we just need to stop being so reliant on them. Do the mice come into the building and rewire things for a laugh?  It’s not limited to my building.  Or at least, judging by the response by IT to the more serious problems that’s the case. Ooo, meow!  

On a related note, we have two Toshiba laptops in the shop.  One has never even been used in the classroom - it was turned on, had Open Office installed and switched off.  The first time I put it in a classroom it bluescreens with a hardware problem (probably memory).  The other has only had light use in its 2 year life, and this is the second time its gone in…  now they can’t decide whether its a software thing, a hardware thing, or both.  Wonder if we’ll ever see it again?  I think I’m going to leave Toshiba’s alone for a while.  They do make nice TV’s though.  We have two of them, and the picture is nothing short of stunning.  They weren’t even that expensive.

Just wanted to alert you to a podcast that I just added to my links - it’s called Who Care’s if You Listen, and it’s probably the most interesting podcast I’ve listened to.

http://whocaresifyoulisten.com/

Where did the summer go?  As I’m sure many music educators attended workshops, conferences and so on, I remained pretty much stuck to my desk.  As we prepared for the  start of classes, we face the frustration of relying on external sources to get work done, and once again, actually get to the first day of classes with important, large and significant projects not done.  Scheduling means its now impossible to get them done during the school week, and sadly that probably means waiting until midterm break to finish off. Not only do we face the obstacle of external assistance (by that I generally mean the computing or facilities departments within our organization) but also the internal budgetary issues too. Other work stops us from keeping on top of chasing departments every week or two, which is what it seems is needed to get anything done.  Its very frustrating.  Don’t have an answer to it, but would love to hear whether anyone else knows what I’m going through!

I have now deleted the original content of this post.  Having read numerous articles, including terms of use of You Tube and Canadian copyright guidelines for teachers, it is clear that the use of a downloader for You Tube material is not morally acceptable.

I write this, my first real blog post about Music Technology and Education, as an administrative employee at Atlantic Canada’s largest university School of Music.  My position as Music Technology Specialist seems to be almost unique in its place on the org chart - I’ve Googled other MTS’s to try and get a handle on what they’re doing, and it seems that almost all are faculty with this additional function, likely born out of a technological interest. I’ve yet to find one hired as an administrative employee, as I have been. My administrative status creates some difficulties.  Although I get on well with the faculty here, there is a definite divide between us.  I don’t attend faculty meetings, don’t have access to the same resources and hardly ever even step inside a classroom.  Without a proper structure and communications channel with the people I’m serving, I’m lost. I feel something of a piggy in the middle, since I also have no budgetary control.  That might change over time, but for now, I know nothing more about whether we as a school can afford to do anything than the faculty do.  That also creates difficulties, or at least a barrier.With my manager, I am now putting together a framework for technology needs at the School of Music.  There is no technology budget, and anything that we get by way of grants tend to be one time deals that are not always the good news they sound like.  Upkeep, maintenance, reliance and eventual replacement become a burden to a department without the funding to continually support them. We started two weeks ago to put together a framework that is now a very extensive list of bullets that gives me more information than I could ever imagine from a two-pager.  As we fill in the blanks, we get closer to starting the actual plan itself. Key to the success will be my communication with faculty, and an enthusiasm that wants to engage them in a two way process.  Actually, three-way if you include the students, and I fully intend to. In fact, so far I’ve spent more time helping the students to improve their technology skills than I have faculty.I hope to make this, not the total content of my blog, but at least a series on the development of a plan. I hope it interests someone out there, and I’d love to hear comments from technology people elsewhere, particularly those on the faculty side who might have some insights for me! If there are any Music Technology Specialists who are hired under an administrative contract, I’d really love to hear from you.

This is an edited version of the original post…

I now have a new RSS feed on Music Education and Technology.

This comes out of an initiative I have started in my job as a Music Technology Specialist at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and as a Music Educator blogger wannabe over at MusTech.net.  I have recently started a blogging page on Music Education and Technology which will have a restricted audience on campus here at Memorial, so I figured that the best way to share my own blog entries with a wider audience, is to syndicate from my own site, www.studiobeemusic.com.  I hope to provide an article as often as I can, on the problems we face and the solutions we find. I am not an educator myself, but my job is to help those who are.  I also have a personal interest in virtual studio technology, including extensive use of sample technology in my own personal composition work, which spans many genres.

For a brief bio on me, please click on the About button.