Archive for June, 2007

A clock with a laid-back attitude

Wednesday, June 27th, 2007

FuzzyClock logoI do like Objectpark’s free FuzzyClock menu bar app. Rather than telling you the exact time in hours and minutes, it tells you it in plain English*, like “nearly six”, or “five past seven”. Which is a much more relaxed way of going through the day.

If you really must know the exact time, you can always hover over the clock, or click it.

You can also set up your own “special” times. For example I like to set it to say “beer o’clock” between 6 and 6:30 pm. Which is round about now, as it happens. 🙂

(*Or, if you prefer, practically any other commonly-spoken language – including Elmer Fudd, Hacker-speak and Jive.)

iTunes Plus – I am distinctly non-plussed

Saturday, June 16th, 2007

Broken Side of the MoonI know I wrote about how wonderful the new DRM-free iTunes is a couple of weeks ago, but having actually bought something from it now, I am somewhat disappointed in the whole experience. I decided to cough up for an AAC version of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, as my vinyl copy is gathering dust in the garage, due to not having a turntable any more. The purchase itself was remarkably smooth – you’d hardly know you’d handed over any dosh – but it went a bit downhill after that.

Buggered track

One of the tracks – The Great Gig in the Sky – has several glitches that sound like a CD skipping. (And there I was thinking Apple was getting its music straight from the digital masters or something – looks like they just rip the CDs in iTunes!) So naturally I fire off a support ticket (which, to be fair, is easy to do, all within iTunes).

First I get an email from Apple telling me they can’t do anything for three days because “The order containing this item is currently processing”. What the…? OK, so I can wait three days I guess (despite the fact that by now I would have returned a CD to the store and got a replacement). Three days later, I get another email, telling me they’re looking into the problem and they’ve issued me a “replacement song credit”. The email then says: “Please wait two weeks before purchasing this item again. This will give Apple time to investigate and resolve the issue, if possible, or remove the item from the store.”

TWO BLOODY WEEKS AND THREE DAYS?! And then I have to buy the track again? Apple, how about YOU tell ME when you’ve fixed the problem, and YOU SEND ME A FIXED TRACK! Ideally within 24 HOURS!

Not impressed.

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