So, Pioneers of the Inevitable LLC, creators of Winamp, have created a new media player called Songbird. It looks quite pretty, much like Itunes, and has as it’s major selling points that it can\will be able to access multiple online music stores and can play lists of music on a webpage directly as playlists. Neat.
Technologically, it’s built on the Firefox UI engine making it very solid and extensible.
Features missing so far are the very necessary CD burning & ripping and of course extensions themselves. The former is a must before I convert (for I surely shall), and the latter could make Songbird a real must. I’d want an extension for web\satellite\DAB radio, PSP synching and an interface into www.mp3search.ru (yes it’s still legal and will be until September so get your cheap, downloaded, DRM-free music fast) and (and this bit’s a little sad) good visualisations including a party mode where the machine is locked but still playing the playlist.
In short, watch this space and I’ll give you a review of version 0.2 when it’s out, for version 0.1 shows immense promise but there’s no point for me yet.
Songbird released
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Feb 092006
No posts for over a week again, mostly due to going to Conception plus other reasons. All shall be detailed below.
Conception
Bryce described it quite fully here, but let me add the following observations:
- It was, as ever, a most excellent con. Easily the best and friendliest to go to and I will probably keep going until they stop running them or they bar me for conduct unbecoming.
- And on that last note, there was very little conduct unbecoming this time around as a whole. In fact it was wholly civilised (for us, anyway) and no acts of disrepute worth mentioning. Was this a glitch or is it just advancing age all round, plus the settling down of one of our number? Only time will tell.
- I would like to make it quite clear, in case there was any confusion, I did not partake in the act of… exercise down at the pool with Andy and Bryce. I took the time to prepare a game instead.
- More gaming for me than ever before! Including one day where I actually had filled every slot, instead of my normal act of leaving at least one slot free per day for hangovers, game prep or socialising. It made me remember that I do actually enjoy gaming and that one weekend ever 4-8 weeks probably isn’t enough.
- I really enjoyed runing the Lethe\Desolation Jones crossover a lot. Andy was hilarious, Bryce was well in character and Tim really was on fire. I’m so used to seeing players botch their dice rolls all the time that I actually often don’t have contingencies in place for when someone actually rolls stunning successes. Two things were learnt from this game:
- I’m crap at running convention games. I get too interested in the side “plots” the characters find and allow plenty of distractions to take place. I barely ever manage to stick to the four hour slot.
- I liked running Lethe and would like to run it a lot more so I can flesh the setting out properly. But I’m not giving up running Vampire for it.
- Chris Loizou, of Cursed Empire, is a good GM in that his stories are engaging and fun and the CE setting is interesting. But the man is a sadist and loves killing characters off, I’m sure of it. And I’m fairly sure he likes it that way!
Sickness
I can be brief on this one. Basically I got what Bryce mentioned, and I had two days off. A few reasons:
- I fancied a couple of days off, project work has gotten boring as other teams are struggling to meet deadlines that I’m well ahead of
- Thinking was barely possible with a head that felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool (as opposed to sawdust like it normally is)
- I don’t believe in this heroic crap about coming in to work like death warmed up. Hurrah! You’ve dragged yourself off your deathbed to be only marginally productive at best, spread your germs and prolong your two day head cold into a full week! You genius!
Penny’s Birthday
A low key affair, as per her wishes. Gifts went down well, as did the meal I cooked. Result!
This weekends events could either include a cycle trek or a hike, plus some house hunting, but certainly no big party, so don’t feel bad that you weren’t invited. Nobody else was either.
technorati tags: birthday, roleplaying