Are you using Tiger yet, and if so what do you think?

Actually, both my Macs are still on Panther at the moment, since I’ve spent all my spare time testing stuff on a pre-release version of Tiger I don’t have time to backup, backup my backups and switch over yet. However, I have been using various builds of Tiger for almost the last year (installed on a Firewire drive) and I think it’s fantastic. I’ve already found plenty of use for Dashboard, played around a-plenty with the updated Mail, Safari, Spotlight, Automator etc and here on Panther I’m missing the new features already.

What I really can’t wait to do is start to move my apps over to Tiger and take advantage of some of the amazingly cool stuff Apple has put there for developers. Over the next few months I think you’re going to see some incredible applications appear for 10.4.

Update: I couldn’t take it any more, I upgraded all my machines (I like the Archive and Install method) and installed Panther on my Firewire drive for compatibility testing – the joys of being a developer.

It’s all been pretty event-free apart from a problem with my iMac not automatically joining the Airport network. The answer, which I found in Apple’s Support Discussions, is here.

I forgot yesterday to mention a few more Feeder appearances in the world of print. In addition to its two mentions in Macworld UK‘s June edition, Feeder will also appear on the CD. It also appears on the CD for the May issue of MacAddict and on the CD of the June issue of Macworld US magazine.

Feeder gets not one but two mentions in the June issue of Macworld UK magazine, out 21st April 2005. The first in the Product News section on page 42, the second in Andy Ihnatko’s opinion piece at the back about using it for Podcasting. Thanks to Gillian Thompson from Macworld for letting me know in advance. 😀

Also Omni Group are now using Feeder for their news feed. Thanks to Scott Maier for making that happen. 😀

Having subjected myself to the iRiver podcast review / supermarket sound-seeing tour again, and having received some feedback, I should post some notes on the iRiver and Griffin Lapel Mic recording itself:

• I managed to take a better picture today of the iRiver and mic that doesn’t look like there’s a nasty fingerprint on the screen (this was actually corrected glare from the flash) and shows the pretty blue backlight.
• Apologies for the heavy breathing. It would appear the Griffin Lapel Mic is very sensitive and when swivelled into a vertical position for stealth purposes picked up the down-draught from my nostrils, making me sound like an asthmatic toad. Lovely.
• Likewise, you definitely need some sort of furry windshield for the mic because there was little more than a breeze, yet it sounded at times like I was in a hurricane.
• Dreadful sound quality on the music – I thought I had the levels right at first, but my car stereo automatically raises the volume when you go above a certain speed. You don’t notice this yourself because that’s the point. At 22 kilohertz you have a narrower range of frequencies than real life – hence the crackling – not the iRiver or mic’s fault
• I chose the supermarket because I thought it would be noisy enough that I didn’t feel self-conscious. I was wrong.

For something different, I have recorded an audio review of the iRiver iFP 899 from a Mac-using podcaster’s perspective. Not that I am a podcaster, but I am a beginner. The review is interwoven with a sound-seeing tour of me going to the supermarket, since using these iRivers for podcasting is all about mobile recording.

Audio: iRiver Review MP3

It’s a worrying 50 minutes long, of which the review is mostly the first 15 minutes. The rest is me ranting / smoking / umming and scuttling furtively down the tinned food aisle. Although I don’t know why I bothered trying to hide the white Griffin Lapel Mic; it does tend to stand out against my dark navy jacket (see photo, right).

I got some facts wrong during the review, so read them here and don’t sue me:

• 1GB flash memory
• 40 hours of recording at 64kbps / 22.05Khz / Stereo
• Real-time Encoding
• 40 hours of playtime on a single AA battery
• Plays MP3, OGG, ASF and something called WMA
• FM tuner
• Record from Line In / External Mic, Internal Mic, FM Tuner

I forgot to mention the FM tuner in the review. Both the tuner and the recording feature work very well and the tuner has excellent reception (for me, anyway).

Also, I could hardly remember that in the box you get:

• Manuals (you’ll need ’em)
• CD
• Earphones
• Carrying Case
• Neck strap
• 1 AA Battery
• USB Cable (iRiver supports USB 2)
• Audio Cable (3.5mm jacks both ends)

Here is a screenshot of the iRiver Music Manager software (that doesn’t really manage anything):

Finally, I mention in the review that I tried to pause the recording and hit the wrong button, meaning I had to start another recording to continue. I stitched these together with Sound Studio then re-ripped the file into MP3 and tagged it using iTunes. I don’t think the quality suffered.

Enjoy!

Update: Click here see some notes on this review, and please accept my apologies for the singing.