By dan on 09 May 2010 under using computers
It is possible to track iPod playcount information through iTunes, however, automatic sync must be enabled.
If you are still interested in iPod playcount information but do not use automatic sync, one way to do this is to use Last.fm. Sign up for a Last.fm account and download the Last.fm scrobbler to be used in conjunction with the iPod. Note that this does not record playcount information into iTunes, the scrobbler software pulls the information from the iPod and asks permission to pipe the information to the Last.fm server. The scrobbler also records plays in iTunes, so in the end all plays are sent to Last.fm. If you are not an iTunes user, the software can be used with other programs like winamp or windows media player.
Side note to the above point, if you do not ‘eject’ iPod from within iTunes, playcount information will not be pulled. If this happens the information is not lost, however it will stay on iPod until it is properly ejected.
By dan on 01 April 2010 under starschreck
It’s been an exiting year, a much more mature year of blogging than the first year.
Let’s take a look at some of the popular posts.
Distinguishing Features: What Kinds of Tags Does Pandora Use?. The most poplular post this year has been about Pandora, taking a look under the hood of Pandora’s Music Genome Project. You may know that you can type in the name of a artist/song and Pandora will generate a playlist of like music. Those decisions are based off of tags that are associated with each artist/song.
Touch Typing: Building Muscle Memory. Touch Typing is a free online typing class, full with lessons and typing games. There are many different typing methods, one of the slowest is the hunt and peck method, which method do you use?
The First Report of Injury. Official announcement of my 2nd solo EP released through the test tube netlabel.
Starschreck Meets Blagojevich. Just another casual encounter with one of the many famous people this blog is associated with.
What Kind of Music Website Do You Have? How do musicians present themselves online? What sort of directions do they chose to take and how do they utilize the internet for their purposes or nonpurposes? Starschreck takes a look at 150 websites and sees some patterns.
Thanks everyone for your support and let’s have another good year!
thanks to cyberdees on Flickr for the photo.
By dan on 27 March 2010 under memory ping
I found myself up late one night, working on a philosophy paper. I wasn’t actually at the writing the paper stage, I was at that mind-numbing place of wrestling with what I wanted to write about. It’s a similar feeling to working while off the clock.
I just couldn’t figure out the assignment. I went back and forth, starting on a topic and working with a few bullet points and then throwing it out and thinking of a new topic. And then again. That’s when I learned an important lesson: Ask yourself Why?
Why was I having trouble with the topic? I gave the question some thought. It felt more than the usual “because it’s stupid.” Silence. Then it hit me… “because it’s not that simple.” It was the assignment itself that was the problem.
Why wasn’t it so simple? Well, I could write for hours about that…
I had my paper.
By dan on 22 March 2010 under the internet
This blog has had more attempted SPAM comments on it than actual legitimate hits from real people.
I’d like to flip that stat to this: Robots Digg Starschreck!
Sometimes I’ll see a SPAM comment that triggers pity. I start to think “hey this guy really tried to sneak past my SPAM filters, I mean he really put some effort into this, maybe I could authorize a SPAM post just this once.”
I think we all know that once you authorize one, then everyone is going to start knocking at your door asking you to authorize theirs. I mean I think some of these guys are just trying to SPAM blog writers and don’t even expect anything to get approved, wouldn’t want to confuse them.
By dan on 15 March 2010 under sound, the internet
