Macking 129

DRM Eats Your Battery
A report on the Ars Technica web site discussed the results of some tests conducted on the battery life of various digital music players. It seems that playing songs with Digital Rights Management (DRM)-encoded songs cost a significant drain on battery power.
The Archos Mini lost two of its 11 hours to Windows Media DRM; the iPod lost about 8 percent of its life to the AAC encoding of iTunes Music Store purchases. Windows Media puts a greater strain on the player's processor than the AAC format.
Reason is simple? Decryption of encoding requires processing power, and the added overhead of the protection scheme makes it all that much worse.
Other drains included playing at loud volume, browsing photos while playing music, other uses of the backlight and playing videos. But in a straight comparison of playing nothing but MP3 files straight through the playlist without randomizing or skipping, MP3 outperformed protected AAC significantly.
I have said here before to always set your import preferences in iTunes to MP3, at 256 mbps instead of the factory defaults. Then, when you buy a bunch of songs in AAC format, export them all to standard CD (AIFF) and then re-import as MP3 to strip off the DRM encoding to protect against the future failure of decrypting and make your music available forever. Now there is yet another reason to do so.

Another iPod Copy Utility
iPodDisk is another utility that works even better than Senuti, mentioned last month, for the task of rescuing music files off of your iPod. Although it can easily be used for copying someone else's songs off of THEIR iPod, that use is not authorized by the RIAA. Besides, if it contains music purchased from the iTMS then it's protected and won't play on your system without authorization. Want to be authorized? Ask the person who you got the music from. Log onto the ITMS store with their account name and password and you will be authorized to play it. Each song supports a maximum of 3 computers (and their iPods). Don't forget to de-authorize when done. That's the legal way to trade purchased iTunes songs.
But it's always better to strip off the DRM if for no other reason than to save your battery.

The 10.4.6 Update
Went without a hitch. There were a few reports from people with problems, but it looks like a good update overall. Just watch out for the double-boot that happens to many after install, especially if you have an AirPort card. It can be a bit shocking to the unprepared.
At last the Repair Permissions bug has been fixed. No longer will you see the "We are using special permissions on..." that used to happen after every repair, even if you ran it twice in a row. Also fixed are the endless repeating Widgets permissions fixes. I ran Disk Utility right afterwards and nothing needed repairing. Everything else on my G4 PowerBook works just fine.
Remember, Your Mileage May Vary. A few people are indeed still reporting problems with the update. Be sure to unplug all external drives and devices besides your keyboard and mouse. It would also help to run AppleJack or similar utility (available from versiontracker.com) to clear out caches and do any minor disk fixes before running the update.
It is always best, especially with major updates like this, to go to Apple's site and download the Combined Update instead of just letting Software Update do the job. The update from 10.4.5 is smaller and more prone to errors than the Combo, which is designed to take you from any version of 10.4 to the latest version.
Apple is seeding developers with 10.5 so this may be the next to last version of 10.4. The rumor sites are quiet about any major changes or improvements, but hopefully Apple will be working on extending the 3D interface, if for no other reason than to beat Windows Vista to it. They should both come out about the same time.

MacWindows Boot Camp
Mark this as another step by Apple that won't affect us much at all. What it will be good for, though, is people who want to switch but don't want two computers, not even a Mini with a KVM switch.
The Wall Street Journal loves this. They ran an unusually long piece touting the new trick, detailing how people will want it for those programs that don't exist on the MacOS while spending most of their time on the Mac proper.
It still seems weak, though. Choosing which to boot into is less convenient than running Windows where it belongs: in a window. While this will make it easier for Mackers to use software not available for OSX, the move to Intel has made even easier to port programs between platforms. There is danger that some developers will say, "Just use Windows on your Mac to use our program," but Mackers do not like straight ports. Windows is still ugly as hell, with over-reliance on garishly bright icons and buttons, and less on a common interface using the menubar.
To see a horrible example of exactly what I mean, check out the latest ActionTec DSL modems, usually supplied by Qwest. The old interface for configuring them was simple and straightforward - black and white type with fields and checkboxes, with clickable lines for moving from one setting to the other, all accessible with any Web browser.
The newest boxes now look like a children's version of Windows Me. It's littered with icons and flashy frames and much harder to navigate. Definitely a step downward in simplicity and ease of use. Too bad they couldn't leave well enough alone.
Older Mackers will remember the truly awful program "Adobe Photo Deluxe." It violated every Mac guideline for interface design and lacked any kind of intuitive interface. Why? It was a straight port from Windows. Tabs and buttons everywhere with few keyboard equivalents and fewer intelligently navigable menus. It was nothing like Photoshop at all. It was so bad it became a negative advertisement for Adobe, and was finally abandoned when they realized it was costing them customers who thought that all Adobe products might be that crappy. They wisely replaced it with Photoshop 5 LE, then finally created a new program called Photoshop Elements, which incorporated about 80% of Photoshop's power at 20% of the price. That is now in its third version and is all the picture editing power most graphics amateurs will ever need. Those that outgrow it will find the full-featured version ready and waiting for them.
Bottom line: Don't try to sell a Mac user a cheap Windows port.

Ipod HiFi vs. Altec Lansing IM7
I wrote a shootout review of the two iPod players for Audiophile Audition webzine and had a great learning experience comparing the two.
I bought my IM7 last year after seeing it in the Apple Store and having a chance to compare it to the Bose SoundDock, then the only serious iPod amplifier on the market. Since then, dozens have been released but only a few are targeted to the boombox market.
While the Apple HiFi offers a great out-of-box experience, with pretty and expensive packaging that beats the market all to hell, there is nothing that can justify the $100+ premium over the IM7, which I found online for just under $200 including shipping.
Both units offer poor stereo separation, but when has a single box ever had good stereo? It's just not possible; even Bose can't do it. Both units play loud enough to use at a backyard barbeque and overwhelm nearby conversation. They could hold their own even at the beach.
The remotes, necessary for control of both in any fashion, are very short-term. I found the Apple remote good out to 25 feet but the IM7 lost contact at 14 feet. This should not matter for indoor use but can be inconvenient at a party.
The biggest failure of the Apple HiFi, however, is the iPod dock. It simply perches on top of the box. A drunken reveler or excited cat could send it flying. The IM7 instead swallows the 'Pod into a slot with a clickable door, much as a cassette player locks in a tape. It is meant to be carried and placed anywhere. I don't doubt that it could survive being knocked off of a table onto a wooden deck with nothing more than a dent. The HiFi could, too, being made out of tough ABS plastic, but the IM7 would keep the iPod within and absorb most of the shock. If someone will supply me with two iPods, another IM7 and Apple HiFi, I will happily perform destruction testing and publish the results. Anyone?
Another thing you get for spending $100 less for the IM7 is video support. Unlike the HiFi, it has output ports for standard video and s-video as well. You can play slide shows or videos from your iPod right from the IM7 to your TV or a projector. I can't believe Apple missed out on this feature. It was no accident, either. The IM7 has been out long enough that Apple's designers would have known. They had to make the deliberate decision not to support video.
Both boxes also have input sockets for non-compatible iPods or other MP3 players, your TV sound output, portable CD players, or your PowerBook. The latter is how I use my IM7 when it isn't actually playing my iPod, which spends most of its life plugged into the car radio.
People who aren't serious audiophiles could get by with either of these as their primary music system - dorms, small apartments, RVs and the like. They are loud enough and clear enough to bring the apartment manager to your door in a hurry. Be aware that the IM7 has been out for a while and some stores are special-ordering it only. Why they would drop such a nice device with no new equivalent is beyond me, but that's marketing for you.

IM7, $249 list, $200 street iPod HiFi, $349 list, $329 street

No Microsoft products were used in the production of this column.