why i hate apple pt 4562

this afternoon a friend asked me to help her set up her brand new ipod touch so she could put music on it

she is not the most techie person and in exchange for a few beers in the bar downstairs and basically having my services offered by someone else i agreed – what the hell

went through all the shit of downloading itunes and having to set up a freakin account with itunes (that btw apple is BOGUS – and just lets her access the itunes store) – (another thing i couuld rant about)

finally got itunes sorted, and synched up her ipod touch and so i introduced her to the world of apps…..

only problem was that apple in their infinite wisdom have made all app developers make their apps compatible with firmware 3.0+ – however if you have an ipod touch thats pre 3.0 ie 2.2 etc you have *pay* to upgrade your itouch

i didnt believe it at first as because of apple’s stupid language crap i couldnt undestand what itunes was saying as itunes picked up we were in spain and couldn’t change it (which again is another clusterfuck on apples part)

thankfully flatmates mac was there and we hooked up her itouch to his uk language itunes and sure enough – to download apps to her itouch she had to upgrade the firmware and pay PAY 4.99 euros for the privilege

thankfully google came to the inevitable rescue and ive found an ipsw 3 file which i can use to upgrade her itouch firmware without having her getting her credit card out

i find it incredible that apple are charging people so that they can download apps and have to pay apple for the privilege (twice – once for the opportunity and again in the commission)

oh and did i mention i have to pay apple every year for the right to have a free iphone app out there

hello to other means of getting our free iphone, symbian, android (inc new nexus phone), blackberry etc apps out there

twats

Noel twathead and my brushes with Sony Music

I worked for Sony Music Europe as assistant to the Vice President of Finance for about 3 odd years. I quit 3 times until my third time when i made it quite plain it was final and i wasn´t coming back (previously my resignations weren’t accepted).

(there’s a similar story from my time at polygram music – but thats another blog post)

The NME had launched their website and given that it was early 90’s it was pretty basic but they had a message board called “Angst” which gave people a forum to spout off. It quickly developed into a self-policing forum with a bunch of regulars. I distictly remember reverse ip’ing idiot posters and outing them – it was fun.

Anyway, around the same time I joined Sony Music Europe and discovered Oasis (I didnt discover them i discovered their music). I joined the Oasis newsgroup and though Ignition, Sony etc knew I was on the list I made sure that I didn’t say anything that wasn’t either public knowledge or compromised Sony’s marketing – generally i debunked myths.

One friday afternoon the UK was alive with expectation about the debut Oasis gigs at Earls Court – it was a fuxxin big deal at the time – Radio 1 had the exclusive details for monday morning.

On the newsgroup a ticket agent jumped the gun and posted details of the dates and the ticket prices on the friday. I reposted the details on the nme message board on the friday afternoon with the caveat “make of this what you will”

Monday morning I get hauled into personnel to ask why i had leaked it

“but it was on the oasis newsgroup”
“whats a newsgroup?”

thats when i knew sony were fucked

i had to dig out and prove this bloke had put the post up on the newsgroup

there is also the time i posted up boneheads stand-up handbags at 10 paces with alex (hurricane no.1) at a ronnie scotts showcase – which i also got grief over

so when i moved to ibiza and found out where noel g was living there i went there with a friend and a copy of the nme’s “bonehead splits” edition and got myself photographed in front of noel’s house, with me hidden behind the paper, and sold it it to the nme

noel is the biggest hypocrite in music i’ve ever come across

ratm no.1 vs xfactor

ive been very cynical about this whole thing because i quite frankly cant get past 2 years in a row a sony track has been chosen as a “facebook” campaign against xfactor xmas no.1 – when the competition just happens to be a sony track

bbc’s radio 1 on an iphone is utter shite – sort it

ive spoken to and heards loads of stuff about this but there is one thing to come out of this
like it or lump twitter is going to take over facebook and if mainstream media (or in fact anyone) have any clue whatsover they will take note

rage against sony

ive got a number of problems with this whole thing with the x factor (aside from the fact it should be renamed “annual uk karaoke competition”)

there was a similar campaign last year involving jeff buckley

2008 no.2 jeff buckley – sony
2008 no.1 alexandra burke – sony

2009 – ratm – sony
2009 – joe whatshisname – sony

and yesterday the bloke behind the ratm campaign was suddenly moaning that the facebook page had been taken down and that would impact on the charity donations

what charity donations ? how is buying a sony track from itunes going to help a charity (unless of course the name of that charity is called sony music) – there was no mention of charity in the initial facebook page – seems like thats been tacked on as an afterthought to deflect attention so when and if sony get caught out they can go “oh but it was for charity”

i love ratm but i’m with luke lewis from the nme on this
http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=10&p=7690&more=1

i should add i used to work for sony music europe before i quit and left the business so am probably biased

inter-pub pool competition

forgot to gloat on fridays pool competition

ok so i lost my singles game and after the 6 singles game we went into the doubles section 4-2 down so as i’m captain i decided to shake it up again and put myself on the last doubles with don

suffice to say it was 4-4 all before i played and i hit 2 quite frankly brilliant doubles to win the game 5-4 – i.thank.you

power of dreams to reform

i got an out of the blue facebook message this morning saying that one of my favourite bands from the early 90’s power of dreams are forming for a set of gigs in early march. i’d been thinking about going back around end of feb but needed a gig to go back for – this fits the bill perfectly

www.myspace.com/powerofdreams – www.powerofdreams.ie

pool competition

we won our inter pub pool game last night – yip – 2-1 up in the series and back at home next week (away we have to play english rules on an english table – at home at the tall ships we play spanish rules on a spanish table – there is huge difference in the style of play and the rules)

i am captain this year and this week (fri) we were away to the queen vic – we were up 4-2 after the first 6 singles so needing only 1 win out of the last 3 doubles. the problem was what do to with the doubles – after 3 changes of heart and an idea of what they would do i changed our normal doubles set up…. although we ended up winning 5-4, one game was lost because of a great shot on the black going in but potting their ball and the other was yours truly not caring because we had already got the 5th game in the middle doubles game (me and kev played the final doubles)

i saw my first christmas decorations yesterday – isnt that how its supposed to be instead of sometime in early november ?

apparently

apparently i got very blasted last night – ok so thats true and lets get that out of the way

ended up playing pool with my flatmate as a doubles partner against 2 of the rival pub staff – i was quite frankly rubbish and we got to 4-1 down. we, they, i, them insisted on carrying on – we ended up winning 5-4 – arf!

i had to send someone 75 euros today for writing an obituary that was for their friend – i found that profoundly wrong – name and shame: richard mcneef

smeg

had popped out last night and walked past a shop window and had to do a double take on the name of one of the companies stuck on the window – theyve obviously never watched red dwarf:

tons of music books

a good friend of mine who lives here is a literary agent who licences books – mainly music related titles. she has accumulated loads of preview copies and we were chatting the other day as she knew i was huge fan of hypgnosis and she had a preview copy to give me. i mentioned that if she had any other books i might be interested in to let me know.

yesterday i got delivered 2 boxes of books – i have no idea which ones to start with – here’s the list:
taken by storm – the album art of storm thorgerson
bob dylan – behind the shades: take two
where did our love go – rise & fall of the motown sound
hip priest – the story of mark e smith & the fall
the spoof guide to good practice on how to do drugs
nick drake
pj harvey – siren rising
keith richards – unauthorised biography
bob dylan – a life in stolen moments
poison heart – surving the ramones – dee dee ramone
michael jackson – a life in music
the rise and fall of emi records
slayer
the story of r.e.m
fleetwood mac – the first 30 years
gram parsons – gods own singer
typical girls – the story of the slits
rush
meetings with morrisey
johnny cash – the life of an american icon
reckless road: guns n roses
the tragic romance of of pamela and jim morrison
blondie
bitch bitch bitch: rock venom
sniffin glue – the essential punk accesory
led zeppelin – the tight but loose files
phil spector – out of his head
bob dylan – 86 – 1990 & beyond
waiting for the man – story of drugs and popular music
in the court of the king crimson
queen live – a concert documentary
the byrds – timeless flight revisted
gimme danger – the story of iggy pop
steely dan – reelin the years
freddie mercury – his life in his own words
the life of pete townshend
bob dylan – intimate insights
shout to the top – story of the jam
howling at the moon – confessions of a music mogul in an age of excess – walter yetnikoff
the book of e – all about ecstasy