• Super Tagging

    tunes00.jpgIt appears that despite buying the best model Pilot that Honda has to offer, there simply is no good way to get my MP3s pumping over my speakers.

    It has a 6 disc CD changer – but nope, doesn’t play MP3s. It has a DVD player, but nope it doesn’t play MP3s. Now the crazy thing is that if I had gotten the LX model I could have gotten an 8 disc changer, and a MP3/DVD player. Granted I would have to give up the heated leather seats and the moon roof, but hey, I got has got to have is music.

    So I tried some options. Tried playing an MP3 disc in the changer anyway just to see if it would read it. Nope. So I thought I would get creative. I’ll create an Audio DVD and run that through the DVD player. Nada. So finally I created an audio only DVD and that seemed to work. Problem is that I don’t want to take the time to have to create one every time I want to play some new MP3s in the Pilot (plus blank DVDs aren’t as cheap as CDs).

    Well Honda tries to solve this problem by making what they are calling a “Music Link” available for you to get installed so you can plug an iPod directly into your stereo and control it with your steering wheel controls. Here’s the kicker, it works in LX & EX models, but not the EX-L (Leather). Bastards.

    Thankfully the Pilot has some rear AV inputs that allow for your to run something through the AUX controls. No ideal, but hey, looks like we’ll have to start somewhere.

    And that somewhere is organizing my MP3 / Music collection. Understand that while I cannot sing I note to save my life, I love music. With well over 400 CDs floating around the den and gigs & gigs of MP3s sitting scattered throughout my computer you can imagine what a mess I am facing.

    I began this process about two weeks ago (actually longer than that because I did some initial tests and playing around when Michelle got hers). I found out right from the start that working within iTunes for any MP3 that wasn’t purchased through their store is a pain in the ass to try and clean up. Forget batch editing or super tagging. Just doesn’t work. Then to make matters really exciting, iTunes does not refresh for any file that is changed outside the program.

    So I dumped that right away and switched over to Musicmatch Jukebox 10 (from musicmatch.com). Now the first draw back to using Musicmatch for your iPod is that it doesn’t support it, only iTunes does. But that’s no biggy, let Musicmatch do all your grunt work and then dump it into iTunes once its all finished.

    Music Match

    Some of the nice features about Musicmatch is that it is constantly monitoring your watch folders for changes and updates. So say you delete a file, update it in some other fashion or even just drop new music in there it takes care of updating itself (and it doesn’t add the same file a dozen times). But the REAL reason I switched to Musicmatch is Supper Tagging.

    Supper Tagging is the ability to select as many tracks as you want from your list and update the ID3 tag with the correct CD cover, title, track number, etc. It does this a couple of ways. First it looks at existing ID3 information and tries to match that up with its database. Secondly it looks at the file name and tries to see if it can discern any info from that. Once its all done it presents you with what it thinks is the most likely option. If that’s it, bingo, your done and it updates the tag, adds all the missing info and gives you a cover to go with it. If not, then you click the more button and it gives you, well, more options.

    While the system isn’t perfect and doesn’t always find the right tag (it might give you a different CD – like NOW 6! instead of the original), or it might not find it at all, but it does take care of 90% of it the first time. You always have the option of manually tagging the file yourself and adding your own CD art work so you’re taken care of then. The nice thing is that you can then apply that information across a group of tacks (which is a pain trying to do it with iTunes).

    All in all though, I am making progress. With 47.6 gigs successfully tagged, I am well on my way to be done.

    However, it does lead me to an interesting question for other music taggers out there. When dealing with a compilation CD or a soundtrack, do you tag the artist as the person who actually performed the song (say Soggy Bottom Boys) or do you tag it as O Brother Where Art Thou? (featuring the Soggy Bottom Boys) so that you can listen to the CD as a whole rather than just creating a play list for it?

     
  • BMV

    Well I think today I did every single thing a person can do at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

    I went in today to register the Pilot. Now you know that while I did pass the Element along to Kara, I’m not about to give up my QUIXOTE plate. So I had to do a little 3 Card Monty with licenses plates. The Civic plates went to the Element and the Element plates to the Pilot. (Took two clerks to get that part done).

    So while I’m there I might as well go ahead and reserve my vanity plate name for 2007 (that way I don’t have to do that in October). Well in order to do that I need to renew my plates for 2006 (I already reserved the name last year so that wasn’t a problem). Now I’m renewing my plates (a few hundred I wasn’t planning on paying today).

    So got that part taken care of. Then they let me reserve the plate. Well while they were doing all of that (at one point I had 4 clerks around a computer), they noted that my drivers license expires on my birthday. So a few more papers and print outs later I’m renewing my drivers license.

    In the span of an hour I combined 4 BMV trips into one. Registering the Pilot and transferring plates, the trip in April to renew the plates, the trip in June to renew the license, and the trip in October to reserve the name. So, knock on wood, barring anything else, I am free of the BMV for a whole year. UGH.

     
  • Hook

    Hook
    By – Blues Traveler

    B000002G79.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpgIt doesn’t matter what I say
    So long as I sing with inflection
    That makes you feel that I’ll convey
    Some inner truth of vast reflection
    But I’ve said nothing so far
    And I can keep it up as long as it takes
    And it don’t matter who you are
    If I’m doing my job, it’s your resolve that breaks
    Because the hook brings you back
    I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
    The hook brings you back
    On that you can rely
    There is something amiss
    I am being insincere
    In fact I don’t mean any of this
    Still my confession draws you near
    To confuse the issue I refer
    To familiar heroes from long ago
    No matter how much Peter loved her
    What made the Pan refuse to grow?
    Was that the hook brings you back
    I ain’t telling you no lie
    The hook brings you back
    On that you can rely
    Suck it in suck it in suck it in
    If you’re Rin Tin Tin or Anne Boleyn
    Make a desperate move or else you’ll win
    And then begin
    to see
    What you’re doing to me this MTV is not for free
    It’s so PC it’s killing me
    So desperately I sing to thee of love
    Sure but also rage and hate and pain and fear of self
    And I can’t keep these feelings on the shelf
    I tried, well no in fact I lied
    Could be financial suicide but I’ve got too much pride inside
    To hide or slide
    I’ll do as I’ll decide and let it ride until I’ve died
    And only then shall I abide this tide
    Of catchy little tunes
    Of hip three minute ditties
    I wanna bust all your balloons
    I wanna burn all of your cities to the ground
    I’ve found I will not mess around
    Unless I play then hey
    I will go on all day hear what I say
    I have a prayer to pray
    That’s really all this was
    And when I’m feeling stuck and need a buck
    I don’t rely on luck because
    The hook brings you back
    I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
    The hook…
    On that you can rely

     
  • FiOS: Here I Come

    fios.jpg

    A new day is dawning.

    The Comcast Empire is in full retreat.

    FiOS, here I come.

    At long last the fine folks at Verizon have finished installing all the fiber optic cable in the neighborhood and I have the green light to get hooked up. It took quite a battle to finally get the correct information. Verizon.com tells me that its not available in my area. Horse pucky; I watched them laying it myself.

    So I called the 1-800 number they had online.

    I got someone in New York.

    I called the number that New York gave me.

    I got, well, I ‘m not sure what I got.

    So I called a different 1-800 number. They gave me the number that New York gave me, and different folks answered. I could smell the joy.

    Verizon said, “Yes, we do indeed offer service for you.”

    “Great sign me up.”

    “Sorry, we don’t place orders, call this other 1-800 number.”

    I got a different lady in New York.

    According to her records Fios isn’t even run in Indiana yet, but she will give me another number to call.

    So I called that number and a lady routed to me someone else.

    Just when all seemed lost, I got a lady in Florida who could help me. Got me all hooked up and on Jan. 23rd, fiber optic goodness will be running through my home and into my computer. 15 Megs down, here I come.

     
  • Jaywalkers Of The World

    I finally manged to get a copy of Josh Joplin’s new CD Jaywalker and I’m totally digging it. It’s certainly a great way to start a new year.

    Jaywalkers of The World
    By Josh Joplin

    Department store windows dress in their best clothes
    The streets are snowy and wet
    She holds out her hand bag and bullfights with cabs
    But no one’s picked her up yet
    And so she leaves, and she leaves
    And hope springs eternally brief

    Jaywalkers of the world united
    Cross the traffic of a life divided
    By those who go and those who’ve gone
    Jaywalkers of the world walk on

    Crowds in the cross walk push on to the next block
    The holes they leave behind are filled fast
    Step to the curb and say a parting word
    And you lead your people past
    You’re not alone, you’re not alone
    We all want to get back home

    Jaywalkers of the world united
    Cross the traffic of a life divided
    By those who go and those who’ve gone
    Jaywalkers of the world walk on

    Crowds in the cross walk push on to the next block
    The holes they leave behind are filled fast
    Step to the curb and say a parting word
    And you lead your people past
    You’re not alone, you’re not alone
    We all want to get back home

    BRIDGE: I look both ways
    Before I cross my fingers and pray
    Love is never lost
    Against the light, we join the cause

    Jaywalkers of the world united
    Cross the traffic of a life divided
    By those who go and those who’ve gone
    Jaywalkers of the world walk on