Month: March 2005

1. Hard Road, Mary Lou Lord, Mary Lou Lord / Sean Na Na Split EP
2. Everyday Is Like Sunday, Morrissey, Viva Hate
3. She Said, She Said, Government Mule, Dose
4. Laid, Matt Nathanson, American Wedding Soundtrack
5. Allmost Saturday Night / Rockin’ All Over the World, Georgia Satellites, Let It Rock, The Best of the Georgia Satellites
6. What Deaner Was Talkin’ About, Ween, Chocolate and Cheese
7. Tramp the Dirt Down, Elvis Costello, Spike
8. The Only Living Boy in New York, Everything But the Girl, Home Movies, Best of Everything But the Girl
9. Say Goodbye to Hollywood, Billy Joel, Songs in the Attic
10. Isis, Bob Dylan, Desire
11. Like a Virgin, Madonna, The Immaculate Collection
12. That’ll Be the Day, Buddy Holly, The Best of Buddy Holly
13. 21st Century (Digital Boy), Bad Religion, Stranger Than Fiction
14. When Doves Cry, Prince, The Hits 1
15. Better Than Beautiful, Jeb Loy Nichols, Easy Now
16. Human, Human League, Human League’s Greatest Hits
17. New Madrid (Live), Wilco, Reverb (bootleg)
18. Better Days, Bruce Springsteen, Greatest Hits
19. Doublewide Blues, Todd Snider, Near Truths and Hotel Rooms
20. El Caminos in the West, Grandaddy, Sumday

So for the last week every time that I try to “process media information now” under the tools section of WMP 10 (I assume that this is needed in order to update my star rankings so that they reflect on my Media Center PC in my living room), my WMP 10 just hangs. Sometimes it processes just 1% and then gets stuck. Other times not even that. If I go to bed and wait it’s still trying to process media information now when I get up hours later.

Anyone have any idea why “process media information now,” seems to get stuck some time and how I might get it working again?

1. Star 69, Fatboy Slim, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars
2. The Needle and the Damage Done, Neil Young, Harvest
3. The Late Show, Jackson Browne, Late for the Sky
4. No Vacancy, Holler, Straight Outta Boone Country
5. Love Like Blood, John Hiatt, Y’ All Caught? The Ones That Got Away, 1979-1985
6. Good Hearted Woman, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, Stars and Bars
7. Every Time You Turn Around, Ben Atkins, Mabelle
8. Van Morrison, The Beauty of the Days Gone By, Down the Road
9. You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, Shawn Colvin, Cover Girl
10. Blood and Fire, Freakwater, Dancing Under Water
11. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day), Johnny Cash, American III, Solitary Man
12. Homeward Bound, Willie Nelson and Paul Simon, Willie Nelson and Friends, Alive and Kickin’
13. Career Choice, Ben Lee, Something to Remember Me By
14. Desire, Ryan Adams, Demolition
15. Black Rose, Billy Joe Shaver, Unshaven, Live at Smith’s Olde Bar
16. Texas River Song, Townes Van Zandt, Roadsongs
17. Hard Luck Woman, Kiss, Greatest Kiss
18. Wild Horses, Peter Rowan, Stubb’s Barbeque, 10-10-1999 (Late Show) (bootleg)
19. If I Could, John Prine, Live on Tour
20. Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight, Bob Dylan, Infidels

1. You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks
2. Open Road Song, Eve 6
3. Lord Knows I’ve Tried, Delbert McClinton, Don’t Let Go, The Collection
4. Martian Saints, Mary Lou Lord, Martian Saints EP
5. Monkey Gone to Heaven, Pixies, Death to the Pixies, 1987-1991, Disc One
6. American Tune, Paul Simon, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon
7. Countdown, John Coltrane, Giant Steps
8. The World Exploded Into Love, Bob Schnieder, Lonelyland
9. Superman, Lazlo Bane, The Tao of Steve Soundtrack
10. America, Bree Sharp, Cheap and Evil Girl
11. Yes It Is, Beatles, Anthology 2, Disc One
12. On Christmas I Got Nothing, Chuck Brodsky, Radio
13. The End is Not in Sight (The Cowboy Tune), Amazing Rhythm Aces, Concert Classics, Volume 3
14. Sunspots, Bob Mould, Workbook
15. La Cienega Just Smiled, Ryan Adams, Gold
16. Speed of Light, Joseph Arthur, Come to Where I’m From
17. Tulsa County, Son Volt, Switchback EP
18. Catfish John, Jerry Garcia, Reflections
19. Alameda (Live), Elliott Smith, Studion, Stockholm, 6-2-1998 (bootleg)
20. Down in My Hometown, Flatlanders, More a Legend Than a Band

Media Guerrilla: TiVo vs. Comcast PR: The Gloves are Coming Off Media Guerrilla points us to a post at Engadget that has TiVo’s PR firm, OutCast Communications, pitching bad news on one of their competitors, Comcast.

While pitching bad news might be considered bad taste by some, Engadget Editor Peter Rojas writes that he has a “funny feeling that the gloves are about to come off.”

The TiVo/Comcast story has been written about before and the New York Times printed a story a while back quoting unnamed sources as saying that a TiVo Comcast deal fell apart after TiVo CEO Mike Ramsay demanded more money and more control over the Comcast/TiVo box. Ironically, Ramsay came out shortly thereafter in an interview with USA Today and made it sound like everything was rosy with Comcast:

“Q: How close did you and Comcast get?

A: Well, we’re still talking. We’re in discussions with cable companies. We have a variety of offerings for them. These kinds of deals can take months, years to develop because they have great strategic importance for both companies. We’re committed to developing those relationships no matter how long they take. If we thought the outcome was futile, we wouldn’t be doing it. There’s been no pulling back. In fact, it’s accelerating.”

It’s ironic to see, if it’s true, TiVo’s PR firm trashing Comcast to Engadget while at the same time pursuing a relationship with Comcast.

Of course then there is the letter that TiVo wrote to the FCC on January 18th complaining about Comcast. This letter would also seem to suggest a contentious relationship between the two companies:

“Cable?s objective of controlling the look, feel, and operation of all set-top boxes, whether leased or purchased, was clearly articulated last week at the Smith Barney Citigroup Global Entertainment, Media & Telecommunications conference in Arizona. According to news reports, Comcast?s CEO is quoted as saying: “As we move more and more into an Internet-type feeling on your television in a digital world ?we know that the navigation system is critical. And whether it’s video navigation with lots of screens and multiple choices … or whether it’s someday voice navigation, we want to be in control of the consumer’s experience, not be using a third party.”

John Battelle’s Searchblog: Adsense Update: Fred, $500, and Is Google Trying Harder? I’m glad to see someone of John’s stature take up Fred Wilson’s post and use it to talk about Google’s Adsense. And thanks for linking to my comments on the subject at Thomas Hawk.

John clarifies much of what is wrong, in my opinion, with Google’s Adsense program. Conceptually I think it’s a great idea, but like John a lot of the parts of the program just don’t sit right with me — the secrecy around the program, the fact that bloggers can’t talk about it, the TOS, the no competition clause, etc.

Sergey, transparency is not evil. I’d encourage you to rethink your Adsense program and the requirements that you put on bloggers who use it.

Anytime someone tells me that I can’t talk about something that’s out in the public like Adsense it just smells bad to me. I can understand if a company has a product in beta and very shortly it’s going to launch and can be discussed, or if someone gives you information off the record or on background due to retaliation that they might face for giving you information for further research as has been part of the journalism trade for decades — but to take a huge major public program and demand sercrecy about how it works just doesn’t seem right.