I’ve become a bit of an Apple fanboy. I didn’t mean to: I’m well aware that such a feeling is born of mostly out of good marketing. I don’t kid myself these people love me. They love my wallet. However, it’s fun, so I indulge myself sometimes.

Anyway thing is, fanboys tend not to push the companies enough, and I feel guilty about that, so by way of reparation here’s a top five for Apple…

5 things that I’d like iTunes and the iPod to do:

1. Let me use a different EQ setting based which iPod out port is in use: On its stand (thus through an amp and speakers) “flat” is fine, when headphones are plugged in I might well want something different. Similarly it might be nice to have the option to use a different EQ setting based on genre: If I play “rock” use the “rock” preset.
2. If a podcast is short, play the next one rather than returning to the menu root. A 2 minute podcast (of which there are many) results in me digging out the pod to get it playing again. 10 minutes should be a decent cut off.
3. Leave the folder structure intact for backup copies of full size images automatically stored on the iPod. What’s the point of storing them on there if I can’t find pictures when I grab them back off it? Same goes for the music files themselves, but I suspect that’s a deliberate attempt to discourage copying. It’s for battery efficiency you say? Yeah – whatever.
4. Allow the user to browse smart playlists in iTunes, & ideally on the iPod too. If you choose “all my unplayed stuff” or something similarly wide ranging and you end up with 5000 songs it’s virtually impossible to find anything. In other words some kind of filter functionality rather than lists.
5. Make the iTunes store something other than complete sh!t. Low bitrate & DRM: The ubiquitous double whammy that makes buying music on the internet mostly pointless at the moment. I don’t want to waste all this postage & packing by buying physical CDs off Play and Ebay, but it’s not only better for quality and flexibility of use, but usually cheaper too. What’s up with that?

Oh, and the other fanboys will have to excuse me if some of this is already possible - do let me know :-)

Labels: ipod, itunes

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Most people started their blogs years back. I know. I was there. I watched as people posted pictures of bad art, made insightful comments, had pointless arguments, made brilliant discoveries and so on: "All shades of humanity? I’d like you to meet the internet – please play nice." I've discerned patterns, honed my bull receptors, and generally got a bit older and wiser. I think now I could write a blog that's worthwhile.

And of course my own rampant ego demands it, but let's keep that between ourselves ok?

To kick off here's 5 things I'm not keen on in blogs:

1. Huge long posts that stray regularly from the point. Get in, make your point, get out.
2. Pointless links to other blogs ("John just said something cool over at..."), unless I'm constructively commenting it's just wasting the readers time.
3. Memes - way better to go to some collaborative link engine like del.icio.us or Reddit.
4. Personal stuff mixed in with the rest. This is meant to be interesting to everyone, not just my mates. Read my diary at hampson.org.uk if you like.
5. Boring posts about the blog itself. Oh. Wait. Dammit...

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