I actually had my first “taste of Christmas” last night (added an orange twist to class things up a bit this year), but got the tree this evening. Decorated and will now bask in the tree’s warm glow. Gotta soak it up while I can since I’m off to Chicago for the Midwest Band Clinic tomorrow.
Hey Brian,
I’m the developer of the McSweeney’s iPhone app and just saw your rather angry comment about the app, so I thought I’d contact you to find out what is making you so irate.
The app is priced at $5.99 (USD), with subscription top-ups at $4.99 for each subsequent six months. The subscription is just for the Small Chair content (stories, films, audiobooks, movies, etc.) that is pushed to your phone each week. The syndicated content from the McSweeney’s website remains free forever.
I think I can easily justify the 20¢/week charge for the Small Chair content. I mean, you know, there’s artists to pay, significant server infrastructure costs, not to mention the time of the people at McSweeney’s and myself. Do you expect an advertisement-free book subscription to be free forever? I think most people would realise why this isn’t possible.
I’d like to hear your reasons why charging a comparatively miniscule amount for content is such a bad thing, with the alternative being we all lose money to provide you and others with our work. I’d be happy to answer any questions you have about basic economics, etc.
Russell.
Well, not really. I’ve only got a couple screens of apps on the new iPhone and I’ve seen folks with many, many more. The first screen is filled with things I use pretty much on a daily basis. I could not survive without Things, Tweetie 2, iStroboSoft, or Byline—especially on the road. Dropbox is proving to be an invaluable tool as Erik and I are hard at work on Zodiacrobatic, which we’ll premiere on Mobtown Modern this January. So what about you, fellow iPhone users? What apps do you absolutely need to make your life better?
A short delay at the airport. What better way to pass the time than eavesdropping and clicking around the internet. Overheard at MDW:
Female twenty-something: “So, like we got this new girl in the office. Yeah, she’s from the LA Times, she’s really nice, and she’s really good. Those kinds of people really worry me.”
I get my:
+ coffee at A Common Ground
+ kielbasa at Ostrowski’s
+ cookies at Vaccaro’s
+ bread at il Scalino
+ wine at The Wine Source
Reptilian Records’ 17th Anniversary Grand Reopening at the Ottobar
Dactyl
Lubricated Goat
MRT
Bazaart!
AVAM
Fluid Movement
Amy McCuen Rehor
Bake Sale Designs
Peter Malinoski
Pistons / Wizards w/ Loran and Chris
Girls’ Night Out
Golden West
MRT
Zzzzzzzzzz…
Where my mind’s been:
- Condi Rice gets reviewed in the Times.
- Andy Rooney talks about education. A generation of “cultural idiots”—haha.
- Ian Burama on Park Chanwook.
- Paris-Roubaix 2006: Cancellara attacks, Hincapie snaps, Boonen derailed delayed at the tracks.
- Hello Jesse and Joe—two Michigan MUSICOL 501 friends!
Recently Read: Invisible Cities and Difficult Loves by Italo Calvino, The Stories of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende, The New York Trilogy (yay) and Timbuktu (nay) by Paul Auster, A.H.W.O.S.G. (a book has never made me laugh out loud as much as this one) by Dave Eggers.
Reading: Here They Come by Yannick Murphy.
Practicing: Bach, Creston, Djupstrom, Sarasate
Grading: saxophone pedagogy midterm papers
Writing: my TAFTO contribution
Riding: my bike
Posting: new things to del.icio.us
Not: cleaning my house
Not: doing laundry
Need: a haircut
Will remember to: bring my suit to the dry cleaners
Procrastinating: Who, me?
Wasting: your time
Whee!
Two interesting stories from today’s Weekend Edition Sunday:
- Did you know that pipe organs can be a source of pollution? Organ builders in the European Union are having to search for different metals to build their pipes with as a mean of adapting to a new EU environmental directive aimed at reducing the amount of lead in electronic devices.
- What side of the authenticity argument does Norwegian baroque guitarist Rolf Lislevand come down on? His new CD Nuove Musiche, which features percussion, theorbo, clavichord, nyckelharpa, and a jazz-tinged double bass as the back-up band for vocalist Arianna Savall should be an indication.
I don’t know what these numbers are that Alex is talking about, but when I visited the blog that tells you a lot about these numbers, something very strange happened. I was visitor number 0010774. Why is this strange? My birthday is October 4, 1977. Weird.
A couple new blogs added to the list. Piano blogging: The Well-Tempered Blog. And the smart On An Overgrown Path.
There's more where that came from. Music, videos, and albums by Brian all inside.
