Apple WWDC Announcements - iCloud and More.

Well, I've had roughly a week to absorb the general "message" given this past Monday, at the Apple WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) keynote presentation in San Francisco. The message that I got from it was that a significant change to personal computing is coming. It may not happen tomorrow or next week, but the change is on its way.

If you have an interest (as well as nearly 2 hours to kill), you can watch the entire keynote here. If not, I wouldn't blame you; they're probably not for everybody. I personally enjoy watching these keynotes, but they do tend to run rather long, and are probably a bit too geeky for those not generally into that sort of thing. To attempt to briefly sum up exactly what was discussed at the keynote, it was 3 upcoming technologies from Apple: Mac OS X "Lion", the new version of their Mac operating system; iOS 5, which runs on their mobile devices including the nearly ubiquitous iPhone and iPad; and their new internet-based service called iCloud.

After watching the webcast of the keynote, the standouts for me were particularly the presentations for Mac OS X "Lion" and iCloud. The iOS 5 presentation was fine, but to me it seemed mostly like it will be an update to simply address some sticking OS issues that users have had with iPhone almost from the beginning, when the first version was introduced in 2007. The one major change that I noticed about the upcoming iOS is that users will no longer be forced to sync data from a PC or Mac. You will be able to use your iOS device as your one and only... device. Finally, no computer needed! One major issue definitely addressed, there.

The new version of Mac OS X, code-named "Lion" (due sometime in July), will be bringing some fairly major changes to the general look and feel of the OS. Apple has made it no secret that many of the new features in the new version of the OS are directly inspired by their experiences developing their iOS, which runs on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Apparently their goal is to make the Mac simpler to use and navigate, much like their mobile devices. Finger gestures (familiar to iPhone & iPad users) to initiate commands, and easier access to and management of applications seem to be the emphasis with this new version of the Mac OS. Since OS X Lion is not out yet, we can only speculate at this point whether this shift in approach to the OS will be good or bad; for us users, and subsequently for Apple, as a business. Much of the features demonstrated seem pretty interesting to say the least, so I'm anxious to see how it plays out.

Which brings us to iCloud, Apple's new internet service, included as a component of the new iOS 5. Honestly I'm still trying to completely wrap my head around what they're trying to do with this, but I believe I get the general idea. iCloud offers storage and backup, as well as an easy way to sync all your devices. It's a way to have access to all your data, from any device you may have in your hands at any given time!

The way Steve Jobs explained it, Apple initiated a concept about 10 years ago, where the personal computer would be the "hub" where all of your digital media is stored; music, photos, video, etc. What they hope to do with iCloud is make the computer simply another one of those devices, just like your smartphone, tablet device, what have you. The hub (for most Mac users, Apple is hoping) will now be a data center (or "server farm") they have set up in North Carolina. What they will store there is most if not all of our digital media, especially media purchased from the iTunes store as well as their recently launched Mac App Store. At present, the type of data included for iCloud is mail, contacts, calendar info, iWorks documents, music, photos, apps, and books.

Apple seems to be going in a slightly different direction from Google and Amazon with their cloud computing offerings. The advantage of iCloud appears to be that all your data would be instantly accessible by any of your devices, new or current. The data does not remain in the cloud to be "streamed" to your devices. The data is automatically downloaded (or "pushed") to your devices. The amazing thing is that they will offer this service (mostly) for free.

My opinion is that if these new technologies catch on like Apple would obviously like them to, it's bound to make them an even more powerful entity in the tech industry than they already are. I'm sure there are many who have already found things about the announcement to complain about (mostly because it is Apple announcing it, haha), but the way I see it, Apple is one of the few tech companies out there who are actually creating fundamental changes to not only the technology itself, but in how we interact with it. As opposed to the approach of other companies, who wait to see what everyone else is doing before making a move. But back to Apple, it will most likely be an interesting 6 to 12 months, seeing the public's response to these intriguing new products and services.

Still Here...

Howdy folks... Been a little while since I've posted here, for sure. This one will be more like an update of sorts, compared to my past articles.

I actually have been keeping fairly busy for the most part. In regards to music stuff, I've been working on recording a batch of songs that I've written. Some are old songs in need of updating and improving. Some are more recent, and... I'm still getting down to the business of getting them recorded.

I've always felt various creative struggles in getting my own music together, to the point that I tend not to produce much, compared to others I know and hear about. As a result, my own collection of songs is pretty darn small. I'm definitely not a prolific writer! I find myself going back and forth on how I feel about this. Some days I lament my low output of music, other days I simply accept it for what it is, and be happy that I produce anything at all. It is particularly difficult squeezing in time to work on music when you have a 9 to 5 to go to every day. However, I try not to complain too much because I know I'm only one of millions that are in the same boat.  I just wish someone would fill me in on the secret to getting over that hump. That is, if there *is* one...

Presently I'm in the tracking (recording) and editing stages, and right now it feels like I'm gonna be stuck there forever! That said, things are actually moving along, and progress is being made. Just not as quickly as I'd like, but that's my impatient side talking. These days I squeeze in 2-3 hours' work in the evenings when time, energy and motivation permit, and as much as possible on weekends. With that schedule in place, I hope to have *something* ready for people to hear later this summer. Let's see how I do! If inspiration strikes, I may post some thoughts on the recording process as it moves along.

In more tech related news, I'm curious to see what gets announced at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). Steve Jobs will make the keynote presentation on Monday June 6th. Confirmed for discussion is Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5, and something called "iCloud", which it's safe to say that it will be some sort of internet-based storage service. Apple usually will put up a webcast of the yearly keynote, so I'm sure Apple geeks (such as myself) are waiting for Monday's keynote with great interest, to say the least.  Also waiting, no doubt, are the Apple-haters, ready and all too willing to get their Apple-hate on!

Which reminds me of my very first blog post... I've had all the necessary parts to convert my old iPod to flash-based storage for a while now, but I just haven't had much time to sit down and get to work on it. But soon, and that will be another post for y'all to check out in the upcoming weeks.  Until next time...

Amazon & the Future of The Cloud

Another weekend is upon us.  Like most weeks, it felt like I wasn't gonna make it to the end...  Anyway, I thought I'd check in once again with a thought about the future.

With the state of things in 2011, one has several options when it comes to purchasing music. However, the advent of digital distribution of music has made it all too easy to simply give an online merchant your credit card number, and *VOILA*, you're downloading one or more albums' worth of music to your computer (or mobile phone!) within a matter of minutes. Along with high speed broadband connections, they have made it so convenient for us, that not very many of us need or even want to purchase CD's anymore - be it online, or "brick-and-mortar". I'm not telling you anything you don't know already, I'm sure. This is simply a setup for my recent experience in purchasing music online, which was a bit different from my other experiences in recent times.

You see, it all started with the recent release of the new album by Radiohead, which has been a favorite band of mine for some time now. Like many other album releases before it, once again I was confronted by several choices in regards to purchase. I have been an iTunes member since 2005, and it quickly became my primary source for purchasing new music, like so many other folks out there. But as a somewhat older music fan, I still like the (now) old-school method of buying a physical product (almost always a CD these days), which typically comes with artwork and "liner notes" that detail track lists and lyrics, along with musician, producer and other studio related credits. Once I have the CD, I can then export the music into my computer via iTunes. Not to mention that with a CD, I'd also have a physical back-up of the music, should something happen with my computer. These days, if there is a new release by a "favorite" artist of mine, I find myself weighing the pros and cons of buying a physical CD, or buying a download from either iTunes, or more recently, Amazon MP3. For less "important" artists, or those whose music I'm just discovering, I almost invariably go the download route. My method of music purchasing in a nutshell...

The other night, I finally decided to look into buying the new Radiohead album, as it had already been out for at least 2 weeks or so. Digital download or CD? I hadn't decided yet. It was at that point, I discovered an offer that I couldn't refuse... As the first option, Amazon had the physical CD available for $9.99 - a pretty decent price for a new CD in 2011. This particular album is only 8 tracks long, so that may have something to do with it. Anyway, they also had an MP3 download of the album available for $5.99!  I was pretty amazed at such a deal!

Amazon had recently launched their Cloud Drive and Cloud Music Player for their members. You get 5GB of Internet-based storage, free of charge. For those not aware, "cloud" is a modern synonym for "the Internet". I believe you can upload any type of files you wish, but along with the Cloud Player, they are advertising it as a new way to store all your digital music in one place, so you may access it from any computer, or mobile device. If you purchase MP3 music from Amazon, you have the option of having it automatically stored in your Cloud Drive, with the additional option of downloading the music to your computer, so you may have your music both there, and "in the cloud".  Additionally, Amazon MP3 purchases do NOT count towards your Cloud Drive's capacity; only files that you upload from your computer.  Pretty cool!  They have paid options available for more storage. For those of you with Android smart phones, there is an Amazon Cloud Player app available to play your music.

The thing that sealed it for me to buy the MP3 version of the album was Amazon's offer to not only sign me up for their new Cloud Player service automatically, but upgrade my Cloud Drive capacity from the standard free-of-charge 5GB, up to 20GB, for a year. That's pretty major, in my opinion. Checking with iTunes first just to make sure before I commit, they are currently charging $9.99 for their AAC digital files of that particular album, with no "digital booklet" - another thing I look for when considering a new music purchase. iTunes offers a digital .pdf file of liner notes and credits for many of their albums - Amazon does not. However, Amazon still got my credit card digits for this one. Sorry iTunes, but this offer was simply too good to pass up...

So this is my very roundabout way of saying that I eventually went with Amazon MP3 for this purchase, in part due to my intrigue with the offer of 20GB of free cloud storage for a year. How I plan to actually use this 20GB, I don't know, but I'm sure some opportunity will come up before the year's through, haha. Apple has been long-rumored to announce some sort of cloud-based version of iTunes, but it has yet to materialize. With this new cloud service from Amazon, I'd say an announcement from Apple can't be far behind.

The subject of cloud storage and cloud computing is big in the tech news world these days, and it's quite apparent with introductory deals such as these, companies like Amazon are looking to be early facilitators of this new technology that allows users to store and access their data. It looks as though we, the public, will very soon be relying less on our personal computers and mobile devices for data storage, and more on companies willing to host (and hopefully backup!) our data. Meanwhile, these companies will be finding new ways to make some dough off of us (either on the front or the back end), for the use of these services. Yes, these certainly are changing times...

Cloud Drive - Mostly empty, for now

Cloud Player