Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

I'm the same, it feels like paying for nothing, you never get to own it. Like renting v. buying. Plus I like physical music for the artwork etc.

My current set up is every time I buy a CD I put it in my Mac, then it gets added to iTunes and Google Play Music Manager then automatically uploads the MP3s to Play Music, which is a bit like my own personal cloud streaming service.

Only problem is that Google Play Music Manager isn't supported on the new version of MacOS and iTunes doesn't exist but I'm not very minded to upgrade at the moment anyway.

And google might randomly cancel that service one day like they seem to do.

I’m the same with subscription services - I keep them to an ABSOLUTE minimum, Netflix and Spotify is about it. Almost everything these days seems to be a subscription and one can only pay a tenner a month for so many things...

The convenience of streaming is real and I’ve discovered a shitload of music as a result instead of listening to the same 5 cds over and over.

Also, change is hard.

Fair enough, I have a few friends who feel the same. Personally I love it. I don’t like the clutter of having a lot of physical possessions and I listen to so many artists I never would have discovered otherwise.

I do agree that the trend for every single thing we interact with moving over to a subscription model can fuck right off though. Music, TV and video games I enjoy but it can get out of hand.

You could always give the 3 month Apple Music free trial a go. Find some melancholy music to listen to while you copy all those CDs 😉

@cornelius_blackfoot I had that happen before (when I didn't even have the excuse of a toddler) and after going through CD by CD I bought that iTunes Match thing where it saves a copy in the cloud. It was about 15 quid a year and seemed worth it at the time - though obviously then I sold all my CDs and switched to Spotify (which I regret, were it not for the fact that: A, I had thousands and had to move a few times and B, they were all scratched to fuck anyway. Some of the artwork was so lovely though... sob).

I’m going to get some sort of document out of iTunes which lists the albums and the playlists and the try to recreate those over time.
Everything that I’ve put in over the last decade or so has been downloaded in digital form, so have a copy elsewhere.
But have a tonne of cds that I ripped from work (Bbc music library) that will be a ball ache to find again, the rest I have as cd’s in boxes and/or in cd racks..

Switched battery on a old iPhone about a year ago or so, worked fine and was happy about the increased capacity, basically it's still doing well - only when exposed to the cold (having phone in pocket while cycling for half an hour in 5°C weather for example) seems to fuck the battery up -
in a way that it still shows, say, 35% - but then drops dead all of a sudden and refuses to switch back on even after warming it up for a while.

My question is (as I have a second, identical, unused ("Hagnaven") battery here) - would it be worth swapping the battery out for the fresh one, or would this behave the same way likely, as the kind of battery just "can't handle the cold"?

Ta!

new version of MacOS and iTunes doesn't exist

It's more accurate to say iTunes has been renamed "Music" and most of the non-music functionality has been moved elsewhere. It's the same app.

Minus the xml database.

Is there a way of uploading direct to Flickr from the photo app on a MBP?

If you've got all your music properly organised on your NAS then it doesn't really matter what you use to play it.

If everything is tagged properly then whatever music player you use will pick that up.

You can either use something like Plex or similar to serve it to your music players or just point the music player at the NAS.

There used to,if I recall correctly, but it doesn't work like that any more.

What about playlists? Groupings of tracks? I don’t usually listen to my music by album/artist, but rather by playlists.
Assuming plex would be okay with that, but how would I make that work through a network streamer?

Ah, my bad, I don't use anything like that so hadn't even thought about it.

Plex can do that fine but only if you're using Plex as the player as well.

In case you didn't know, Plex comes in two parts:

The server which serves the music up to both Plex and various other players.

The player which, erm, plays the music, videos, etc is where you set up the playlists and they are individual to the user (multiple users can have their own individual accounts all accessing the same server).

anyone use itunes match?
brother in law, has started and says he's downloading his collection to another mac. From what I've read it doesn't need the actual files, unless it's not in the apple library, then it uploads a copy.
Could be a way for me to restore part of the lost music collection?
Thoughts?

It has to have the files to scan when you sign up, so if you don't have them and you're not already a user, it doesn't help you.

Doesn’t it just go off the library info you have? Rather than the actual files?

No, it fingerprints the audio in your files to prove you have them, otherwise it would be ridiculously gameable. It also tries to match the right version of a song, which depends on the fingerprint rather than the name.

Ahhhh!!!

I have an Airport Express (the N one) I need to get rid of. Perfect condition, boxed with instructions etc.

Does the hive mind reckon there's any market for this on the forum or is it too old hat?

I posted here recently looking for laptop advice but things have changed dramatically tonight and I now need some urgent advice. I have posted the following on the laptop thread but it seems rather quiet so I am
Hoping that someone here could advise. Apologies for the cross post but I am trying to clear up a tearful situation quickly.

Here is the post - any help greatly appreciated as she has exams starting now!

My daughters laptop just died as I was walking home from the pub! Desperate phone call with tears was not the nicest to hear.
She is 13 and needs it for school - Word mainly I think. I had a look at Which and they recommend really expensive laptops which I don’t think she needs. I recently posted on the Apple thread about this and Apple are you expensive at this point and for her usage.
Could anyone recommend a laptop which would work and not break the bank please.
It’s a shitstorm here just now as she has lost her homework.

Whatever you get next, install Dropbox as a backup system, that way she won’t lose her homework again

Sounds like it has to be a pc? If Mac id go with a 2nd hand MacBook Air

Audio heads who want to stream digital music to multiple rooms like them so yes there’s still a demand

Thanks for that advice. The current laptop froze and she couldn’t get the docs back. I’m presuming Dropbox auto backs up as you type?

Can it be repaired?
Can the data be retrieved? (Probably)

Will she carry it in to school? Will she use it with a separate screen at home? Does she need any special or OS specific software? If not then you’ve got lots of options depending on what’s on your local Ebay. I like Lenovo, specifically around the T440. I picked one up for a friend last month for £150 as they have no HDMI out

Uh get her to use google apps or some such cloud app. Forget MS word and remembering to save files, this isn’t the 1950’s