Quicklook at Songbird

So I’ve actually been interested in the Songbird project for a long time. I have installed various versions and have always turned away for different reasons. One of my large problems is I have an extremely large music collection and have found that WinAmp deals with it approximately the best for features that I want versus being free and not too cumbersome. I really just want good searching on a large library and nice smart playlists (dynamic playlists) that support a lot of conditions without too much trouble. Features past that are nice to have but not needed.

The latest version (1.1.1) has a really nice interface and imported my library rather nicely. I was in the middle of listening to a podcast on iTunes on my Mac, so I didn’t play with it too much on my Windows install. So I installed Songbird on my Mac and asked it to grab my iTunes library (which is mostly podcasts I haven’t listened to and a little bit of music). It seemed ok with it though it didn’t grab my podcast subscriptions (which is annoying though not unexpected. So next step was to ask Songbird to subscribe to a podcast. It’s most definitively not the most intuitive thing in the world at this point as it only seems to support RSS or a single location (if I’m wrong, please correct me). It’s not that bad except it doesn’t seem to understand that a lot of podcasts are not something you want to keep. So podcast features could use to still improve.

What really struck me was the resources. So Songbird was just sitting idle now on my Intel Macbook and iTunes was currently playing back an mp3 podcast (mono but reasonable bitrate). Songbird was taking ~100MB of RAM just sitting there while iTunes used ~23MB to play back. Ouch. Even more surprising was that Songbird was taking between 8 and 10 percent of my cpu (again, doing nothing) while iTunes was taking about 4 percent while playing back. Again, ouch.

I don’t want to say Songbird is all bad by any means. It does seem to have a very nice installer and “assistant” for setting things up (like how Quicksilver does which I think is a very good system when done well). I’ll try to post a more detailed review after actually using it for music and maybe some music/web browsing after I do use it. It also is a good multiplatform mediaplayer. I just do believe at least the Mac client could use some more optimizations before I want it to take over for iTunes on my laptop that I like to try to optimize battery live anyway. If you want to play with a new media player, it’s definitely worth a look.

Cardamar – Where The Skys End

This is Cardamar‘s latest full length album. I must say to start off that it is not simply more of what was seen in Steam. To give a perspective for the rest of the review, I liked Steam in so much as I thought it was good. Not great, but it was good. The sounds seemed a bit rough at times and it wasn’t as smooth as I tend to like my chillout, but overall it was good. I will also be making references to the style of Steam later, so I would suggest at least previewing the album.

The album starts off with a 2 track intro (of sorts). It is a very ambient introduction that seems to bring you to a dark and somewhat problematic location. It is another album that seems to want to take the listener on a trip, but this is a very different trip than what was seen in In Medias Res. In the second track, Distant Scenery, you get a bit of curiosity brimming in an otherwise desolate environment. The music become more interesting and much more chill than ambient. The same feeling gets much more intense as we enter Start, my personal favorite track of the album (though song 5, Stuck In a Loop, is very close). This takes in a lot move bass than a lot of chillout, but in a very cool way. I honestly was taken off guard by how cool this track really sounded to me. The two tracks really blended together well to give me a strong feeling. It seemed to calm down for a moment only to come rushing back again at full force. The track does conclude nicely before it seems that we move into Root Escape, the next track. Up to this point, you wouldn’t really know that Steam and Where The Skys End were done by the same artist easily. It is a very different starting feel. I really like this part.
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First Impressions: Cowon D2

As mentioned in my post earlier today, I just got my new media player, a Cowon D2. Let me clarify farther: I got this device yesterday. As such, some of my opinions might change with more use.
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Tutorials will be delayed again

Somehow I am having a very bad time with electronics. A lot of them around me aren’t cooperating resulting in something breaking. As I try to stay on top of this, other things have been pushed back. I apologize again. I’m not going to give a target date so I don’t have to worry about writing delayed messages. Review of Cardamar’s cd should come in the near future though.

Also, Freefalling into Freedom (on chilloutmixes.com) is a great mix. The use of kettle was somewhat surprising but very well done. Check it out.

A little delayed…

Ok, so my ajax-foo is no where near where I wanted it to be (though a small error, it was still annoying…). This resulted in the update to chilloutmixes.com taking until earlier today. It is now done and you can subscribe to the list from the main page (the list I will be sending announcements whenever a new mix is available or site related news). I will not be emailing the updates by hand anymore, so anyone who is currently getting updates will no longer receive them unless you subscribe to that list.

The tutorials are coming later still. I hope to finish them … um.. maybe by tuesday. So just hang in there! I made the reward better in compensation for the delay and will make it easier to get even without doing the optional third demo. Sorry for the delay.

Also, there is a new mix from Cardamar available. Honestly, i haven’t even listened to the full thing yet, so head over to chilloutmixes.com and check it out.

Getting distracted again

Ok, so I’ve had a lot of other things to play with (Including a Sidekick 3 and a PS3) which has this tendency to take away my time. I’m also working on getting chilloutmixes.com set up better for announcing new mixes. All of this is taking up my time. The curl demos are done being created, but I haven’t had the time to set up the tutorial to solve them. Um… I’m getting to it. Sorry.

Also, I just got Cardamar‘s latest CD. I need to write a review on that as well. There was a new mix released by Marco Torrance in the past couple weeks also, so be sure to check out chillout mixes if you haven’t recently.

That’s all i can say for now.

Save the Music

I love streaming radio (along with many types of music). As such, I am a strong supporter of the Save Internet Radio movement. I encourage you to also take the time and talk to your senators/representatives if you are in the US or spread the word and try to help in other ways if you are not (there are ways posted on this blog post. The internet radio world thanks you for your support.

Take a number…

I feel bad. I haven’t been able to get any new cds recently to review and really haven’t had the time to do much work on my dev project. All I can ask is you bear with me for a couple more weeks. Cardamar is taking preorders for his next cd, Where the Skies End, up until April 30. On the release page (linked in the last sentence), you can hear a 6 track preview to whet your appitite.

In other music related news, iTunes is going to start distributing its music without DRM. This will only be for EMI stuff, but that’s definitely awesome. Per track it’s USD 0.30 more, but the same for full albums¹. Also, Beat Port now sells wav’s (uncompressed pure quality) versions of music (for a premium) also. Very cool advancement. In both cases, the original versions are also available.

I need to get more time and music… working on both. Til later

Not exactly neglect

Ok so i haven’t posted in almost 20 days. That’s not exactly what I would call being attentive of my blog. Um… sorry? This isn’t exactly a fix. I haven’t gottent any new chillout and my other activities I want to keep hidden for now. Yes, I have been doing something that I will eventually post here. If you’re really curious, my development site is located at dev.quad341.com and does have information about what is going on. Hopefully by mid-April I will have a working example of this project and announce it to the world. I welcome actual inquery and the repository allows for anonymous checkouts. In the mean time, I need more music. Suggestions?

Michael Diamond – Atlantis Rising

Before I go into the music itself, I want to get a little annoying technicality out of the way. Michael Diamond makes new age music which is not chillout. Well, not exactly chillout at least. To be honest, new age seems to be the American equivalent to European chillout. It tends to be less electronic also, but otherwise very close.

Atlantis Rising is a new age cd that follows the idea of new age is similar to chillout. This actually could be related to ambient at times as well. It does have quite a few synths in the music, but it is all flowing. At times it even seems to give off an organic feel. Throughout the CD though, it is very rich sounding. I wouldn’t call it as rich as someone such as S. Zeilenga, but it has good depth on every track. There is variety also. Not everything is very ambient nor is it all organic. Little bits of both will appear in every track though. Each leaves a distinct feeling in its wake, but all are very well done. One of the main downsides to the CD is its length. It lasts a mere 52 minutes and leaves you desiring more. I can’t say that the ends of the CD are poorly done though. The lead in and lead out tracks are particularly good at their jobs. It really can get you in the mood for what the rest of the CD is about to present. The end track, “The Hero’s Journey,” is a stronger and less delicate track that the introduction, but there is an organic element that ties the tracks together regardless. I would say the cd is pretty good overall. Most chillout lovers would be pleased.