Category: Computing

MusicMobs works for me now!

As I reported earlier, MusicMobs is this potentially cool way for people to share preferences about music, but it didn’t work for me. (Presumably my iTunes library was just too big for it to handle.)

Those crazy people keep slogging away, however, and a new re-write of the system that takes people’s library info has recently gone live. My library now loads successfully, and almost instantaneously – huuuzzaaaaah!

There’s a great quote from the news item announcing the update:

There is a 20,000 song limit to processing, so if you have a super massive library export your top played 20k songs to get it to work.

I have about 5,400 songs in my library at the office, so I’m well away from that. I suspect if we ripped every single CD we owned, we might get close to (or even slightly exceed) 20K songs, but that’s not going to happen any time soon, so I think I’m safe for a while :-).

They also have a “Top Listeners” list on the front page, and I’m not even close to making the top 200 or so that they list. The highest is over 135K listens, and the bottom of their top 200 list is over 22K songs listened to. I’m at a bit over 18K, and I’m guessing that the list is pretty dense between 18K and 22K. That really surprised me, as I listen at the office pretty much all day every day, which suggests that there must be people who’s iTunes history goes way back without interruption, and who leave their computers playing music pretty close to 24/7.

Anyway, I’m quite glad that it works. Any system that can connect Charming Hostess (and here) with both The Science Group and Bob Wills is worth having in this world.

Currently listening to: The title track from Chris Cutler’s Twice around the Earth (again, still, etc.).

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Massachusetts may be fighting for the freedom of our documents (and our thoughts)

One of Microsoft’s major strategies in recent years has been to take control of or subvert standards and licensing mechanisms in ways that ensure that they can throw their considerable weight around in ways that will continue to make life difficult for those in the open source universe.

One of their most successful arenas has been in office documents, where their Microsoft Office formats (esp. Microsoft Word) have become de facto “standards”, typically without the (many, many) people involved thinking once (much less twice) about the implications thereof. Being someone who deliberately doesn’t run any Microsoft software on my computers, I’m particularly aware of just how many Word documents I get as attachments, and often rant about the many problems that can generate.

The state of Massachusetts is engaged in what could be a very important battle to change this trend. They have an Open Standards Policy that recognizes that there is a powerful public interest in ensuring that the discussion and ideas that drive and define our government, policies, and ideals can’t be lost or locked up because they’re written, distributed, or stored using closed, proprietary file formats. They are consequently requiring that at least the final “official” version of government documents be in a form taken from a list of approved, open formats. It’s all quite wonderful stuff, and I wish them all the success in the world in this important endeavor.

At the moment, however, Massachusetts officials and Microsoft are involved in key negotiations about how and whether Microsofts Office XML is an “open standard”. At first it seemed that it wasn’t going to be, but now the state says that Microsoft is willing to change some of their policies in a way that would make it acceptable. There are doubts, however, and the devil is always in the details.

Massachusetts is taking open comments through the end of March, and I think it’s of enormous importance to all Americans (and no doubt far beyond) how this turns out. If Massachusetts gets this right, along with even a handful of other states (not to mention countries – the EU is engaged in similar discussions), then it could have an incredibly powerful positive effect.

Currently listening to: the title track from Chris Cutler’s very cool new album Twice around the earth

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