iTunes 5

The Good:

- Automatic iPod synching: iTunes now updates your iPod with new songs even if you haven't reconnected it, launched iTunes, or specifically asked for a synch (apparently I'm wrong about this one, after my computer didn't update it for a few hours -- it's just that the "iPod successfully updated" message is showing much more than it used to)
- more useful mini mode, and which practically completely outshines the other problems (on which I've expounded previously)
- switching between tracks and scrolling both seem a bit faster

The Bad:

- the Music Store no longer has a small "Free Downloads" box in the bottom-right corner of the main store, so now it's back to the free music iMix
- if I make an on-the-go playlist on my iPod and then synch it to iTunes, iTunes fucks it up and puts a bunch of wrong tunes in the synched playlist; I haven't gotten around to resetting my iPod to fix this problem

The Annoying:

- mini mode shows the "iPod successfully updated" message much more often than it used to, instead of the song information even more often -- I'm not sure what precipitates this
- podcasts are now part of your library, so now they get in your way much more often; I liked them separate


Now, as for downloading high-quality music videos: you'll need VLC and Windows Media Player (free; uck) or WMV Player ($10, allows you to play through QuickTime Player and the QT plugin for websites, which is handy). Go to Yahoo Music, search for a music video using the search box in the top-right corner. Mouse over the links in the title column, and you'll get a JavaScript link called "playVideos" with a large number. That number is your Video ID. Now follow the instructions at UNEASYsilence, and you'll download a WMV file that you can play with Windows Media Player or WMV Player, and they're fairly high quality too. (Some of them aren't, but most are.)


Finally, I found an interesting feature with GarageBand that I don't recall seeing before. There's a tiny little tuning fork icon in the LCD, and when you click it, it uses your microphone to tell you what note is currently playing. You can even use it to tune your voice -- lol, it tells you if you're flat or sharp, too. :) Take a look, QT6 required. I hesitate a bit to post me doot-dooting a major-C scale on the net, but whatever. Be nice. :P