Don’t watch it a lot though. Remember, it has probably been censored… Must be for a good reason. Maybe because Shakira sings badly, cannot dance and, dare I say, looks fat.

Last December, Father Christmas gave me a Sony PlayStation 3.

Today, 1st April 2010, I am starting to regret that he did this.

You see, I am not a gamer. I use my PS3 mostly to watch movies and to browse the Web. The built-in Web browser is fine and supports Flash so I indulge in YouTube pleasure from time to time with it. The media playing capabilities of the PS3 are also very good and the PS3 supports a lot of video formats out of the box e.g. MPEG1, MPEG2 (VOB), MPEG4 (DivX and H264) and WMV. I routinely connect my PS3 to my DNS-323 NAS to enjoy the latest series and movies.

And, if I want to browse using a better browser than the built-in one or I want to watch something stored in a more esoteric format, I just reboot my PS3 and, voilà, I have a Ubuntu Linux computer in my living room! Yes, the PS3 allows installing third-party operating system and this makes the device more desirable (at least for me.) Interestingly, this is why the US Department of Defense and the US Air Force bought myriads of PS3 in the past: they used them in clusters to build supercomputers as the PS3 has a very powerful Cell processor inside.

Fools in April

Today, Sony released a new firmware update for the PS3 which essentially make Linux inoperative on it. As quoted on the Electronic Frontier Foundation website, Sony is stealing features from my PS3. Here is a quote from the EFF:

In short, Sony is effectively downgrading PS3s already sold and in the hands of consumers — when you bought it, it could play games, play Blu-ray discs, and run GNU/Linux. After April 1, it’s an inferior product.

To be fair, it seems Sony did that because a guy called George Hotz managed to

use the [Linux] feature [on the PS3] along with a bit of soldering in a manner that gave him more control over the PS3 hardware than Sony had intended.

So, today, Sony responded and killed Linux on the PS3. Sure, the upgrade is optional (meaning that my Ubuntu Linux is still perfectly functional as I do not intend to upgrade) but here is what I lose as a result of not upgrading:

(1) The ability to sign in to PlayStation Network

(2) The ability to use online features that require you to sign in to PlayStation Network, such as chat.

(3) The ability to use the online features of PlayStation 3 format software (like network play and software updates.)

(4) Playback of PlayStation 3 format software or Blu-ray Disc videos that require PS3 system software version 3.21 or later

(5) Playback of copyright-protected videos that are stored on a media server

I am going to lose a lot of capabilities but I’ll keep my Linux. The one thing that bothers me a lot is that I won’t be able to upgrade software (i.e. games) online so, as more and more of them are just being released full of bugs (and I won’t be able to patch the game), I’ll think at least twice or even thrice before buying a game for my kids (as I’m not a gamer myself.)

Why this is a stupid move

Sony should have patched the PS3 so that the hack by George Hotz stops working. Of course, another George Hotz would have come later with a new hack and Sony would have had to patch the PS3 again. But this is normal when you sell a product with DRM in it… because DRM is, well, a stupid idea.

DRM is about making people buy hardware and software controlled by a third-party. And, of course, people naturally want to be free. George Hotz is not a bad guy. He is just a guy like you and me who became fed up with the idea of owning a fantastically powerful device over which he had no full control: Sony allowed Linux to run (until yesterday) but, in parallel, disabled most of processing power of the Cell processor as well as the graphical processing unit just before booting the Linux kernel. So, in essence, Linux was running on a very crippled PS3.

My prediction

A lot of people (who had no earlier interest in the PS3) will now try to hack the new PS3 firmware. And I guess they’ll succeed in a more or less near future (ask the Nintendo people what they think of Wiibrew for instance.) Maybe we’ll see a PS3brew community emerge really soon now.

Thanks Sony for being stupid.

I own an Apple iPod Nano and I use it mostly everyday to listen to music in the car. I add that I also use iTunes to manage my music collection and I like it a lot.

A few months ago, I stumbled upon a new feature of iTunes called Genius Mix which essentially “explores your library and finds songs that go great together.” The major issue was that Genius Mix requires an iTunes store account which, well, we, Mauritians, can’t have… except that Mauritius Telecom has been nice enough to explain how to get one, ahem, obliquely.

I am happy to say that Genius Mix works fantastically well. It works by analysing the numerous playlists being created by real human beings all other the planet and being submitted to the iTunes store. Then Genius Mix builds similar playlists locally using songs found in your library only (of course.)

When I launch iTunes now, I am greeted with the selection shown above and I can easily choose whether to indulge into some Electronica, Brit-Pop/Rock, Synth-Pop, Pop, Techno/House, New Wave, Post Punk, Hip-Hop/Rap, Dance Pop, Classic Rock, Punk or Europop.

Life is cool. I have my own DJ. And she knows what I like.

… and a tear came to my eye. Go and see the film while it is being played. It’s fantastic… and so was Michael Jackson. RIP.

Yesterday, four people providing the The Pirate Bay service were sentenced to 1 year of emprisonment and a $905,000 fine each. The reason? For assisting in making copyright content available.

According to Wikipedia, “The Pirate Bay is a Swedish website that indexes, stores and tracks BitTorrent files. It bills itself as the world’s largest BitTorrent tracker.” In essence, The Pirate Bay allows people to search for and download files (audio, video, software, etc.) using peer-to-peer technology but does not host the files themselves. Naturally, and it’s stupid being hypocrites, most people use the service to download copyrighted material (MP3, DivX, etc.)

From an ethical point of view, I am against copyright violation. I believe that those who create should decide whether people should pay or not to get access to their creations. Some of them will decide that people need to pay (that’s fine!) and some will decide that their creations can be redistributed freely (that’s excellent!) And, from an ethical point of view, it’s important that people respect the will of creators or risk demotivating them. And without creations to enjoy, what is our existence worth?

From a pragmatic point of view, I like The Pirate Bay (Paulo Coelho is a fan too.) It’s important for people to be able to try things before they buy. For instance, as an avid user of Last.fm and Rate Your Music, I regularly come across new albums and I am happy that something like The Pirate Bay exists which allows me to download the albums and evaluate them before (eventually) buying them…

Because of this, I hope The Pirate Bay will survive (or something similar will emerge.)

To be frank, I only buy a few albums now because, well, obtaining them (more or less) freely is so painless. Music companies could have made their music collection downloadable at a very low price (say, of the order of Rs 100 ($3) per album) and I’m sure that a lot more people would have bought albums. In fact, if the music companies had intelligent people at their helm, they would have embraced P2P instead of condemning it because P2P solves the technical problem of delivering content in a scalable way.

The other day, I was listening to a French artist, Anaïs Croze, on TV and she was asked about piracy. She said something extremely interesting. As an artist, she is not happy about piracy. But the reason she gave was extremely interesting. She said that most people use P2P to download music but do not spend time listening. And she was afraid that we were losing our insight and understanding of music as a consequence…

I have to agree. Downloading music is a means towards discovering new horizons. It’s not an end. It’s not about filling our hard disks with thousands and thousands of MP3 and never listening and appreciating them. Music is about emotion. Not about codecs.

Let us be discerning pirates!

Yesterday, I was astounded to learn that Last.fm was going to charge people €3.00 per month to listen to streaming radio except those living in the US, the UK and Germany. And I thought that was Technological Racism from Last.fm.

Some people argued that streaming radio is expensive and it this should be a paid service. Of course! In fact, most sane people don’t have any problems paying some money provided everyone does it. As someone said, it would have been so much better to charge everyone €1.00 instead of selecting people based on place of birth. How the PR people of Last.fm came up with such a controversial idea and thought it was a good idea defies logic.

On the Last.fm blog, I proposed the following:

If I were you, I would have introduced some kind of quota for the radio. Say a few hours per day free, the rest (if any) being paid.

This would allow people like me (who have been contributing to the Last.fm database for years now) not to feel completely abandoned. Don’t forget that last.fm is what it is because of us.

One hour ago, I starting receiving Twitter messages from friends telling me to have a look at an article on the BBC News website, Last.fm to charge for streaming, and that I would be surprised. I went there and, lo and behold, my proposition was there in the article. And as a bonus, I was presented as a blogger (blog poster?) and a Last.fm-contributing musician from Mauritius!

I’m sure Andy Warhol is smiling somewhere. I am having my 15 minutes of fame!

Will Last.fm come to its sense? I would be extatic as I love music!

Last.fm has just announced that listening to Last.fm Radio will soon require a subscription of €3.00 per month except for those living in the US, UK and Germany who will continue to enjoy Last.fm Radio for free.

I’ve been using Last.fm to scrobble my music for 4 years now and I use it a lot to discover new artists. But, today, I feel sad. Not because I’m a heavy radio listener (I can’t thanks to the infamous but totally vague fair usage policy…) but because, for the first time in my life, I feel I am a victim of (technological) racism. What’s different between someone living in Mauritius and someone living in the USA, the UK or Germany? Why one will have to pay and the other no?

I have left two comments on the annoucement page that I would like to reproduce in full. The first one read:

I live in Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean, and I’ve been scrobbling since April 2005. I don’t listen to the radio frequently but sometimes it’s nice being surprised by the recommendations.

It’s sad that those living in poor countries will have to fork money… or, more precisely, stop using the radio facility.

I think that what you are doing is too radical and there is a risk you will lose loads and loads of traffic… and, maybe, independent artists too (like me) who would rather have their music elsewhere.

If I were you, I would have introduced some kind of quota for the radio. Say a few hours per day free, the rest (if any) being paid.

This would allow people like me (who have been contributing to the Last.fm database for years now) not to feel completely abandoned. Don’t forget that last.fm is what it is because of us.

and the second one is:

Seriously, we, the ones who live in the 192 countries, want to know why we have to subsidise those will live in the USA, the UK and Germany? I have some trouble understanding your logic.

As I wrote in a previous comment, it’s far more logical to make those who listen to the radio too much (depending on your own criteria) pay.

Do you understand that you are asking me to pay to access a service that I use only sparingly?

[I would like to point out something else. Those who don’t live in rich countries have pathetic Internet connections generally and it’s practically impossible to listen to Internet radio for too long because of breaks or even transfer quotas imposed by ISPs. Those who live in the USA, UK and Germany generally have good Internet connections and they can listen to radio all day long IF THEY WANT TO. So, basically, you are asking those who have technical difficulties doing something to pay for those who can do the same thing without any problem. This defies logic.]

Someone (sil_mich) has proposed that we stop scrobbling from the 1st of April as a sign of protest. I agree 100%. We need to make the Last.fm people realise that what they are doing is creating a very dangerous precedent.

Today, I bought an Apple Airport Express. And I can say I’m very very impressed!

The Airport Express is tiny and plugs into the mains directly (there is no need for an external transformer.) It is a fully-featured Wifi 802.11n access point (which means it has theoretically five times the bandwidth of a 802.11g device like the MyT Livebox) which can also work as a simple bridge (if you already have a router with a DHCP server for example which is true for the Livebox.) Personally, I’ve connected mine to my MyT Livebox and disabled the Wifi on the latter.

If you look at the picture above, you’ll notice three cables: an Ethernet cable, a USB cable and an audio cable. The Ethernet connection is used to connect the Airport Express to the Internet (the Livebox in my case.) The USB cable connects to a printer and the latter immediately becomes available through Wifi (the Airport Express essentially contains a print server.) As I have one USB printer (a HP P1006 black and white laserjet) at home and three computers, I think I’ll use that a lot.

The third cable is where the real magic occurs. The Airport Express can connect to your audio amplier or home-cinema receiver either using an analogue or a digital connection! The digitial output is bit accurate meaning that the Airport Express does not in any way modify the audio (audiophiles and music lovers will love that! I know I do.)

And where does the Airport Express get the audio? From any application running on any of your computers!

Out of the box, it works with iTunes (which I use for listening to my MP3s and AACs) and I can say it works flawlessly even when moving my MacBook around the house. To be honest, I had to stop using a dashboard widget, Airport Radar, because it is incompatible with the Airport Express but that’s not a big deal.

Interestingly, I can also listen to all the Last.fm radio stations using iScrobbler because the latter uses iTunes to play the audio.

With the addition of the $25 Airfoil, it becomes possible to stream the output of any application to the Airport Express. For instance, I’ve streamed the audio from Safari and Firefox when watching YouTube videos. I’ve also streamed audio from FStream and RealAudio Player which I use to listen to internet radio.

In the US, the Airport Express costs $99. In Mauritius, it’s more expensive (obviously) and I’ve managed to get one at Rs 4300 + VAT at LCI. Personally, I find the price acceptable. LCI makes a Rs 800 profit and gives the VAT to the Governement.

Verdict

The Apple Airport Express, like most things Apple, is a bloody excellent gadget! Rating 9/10 (easily 10/10 if it came with Airfoil.)

That period coincided with a love story which finished very bitterly only for another one to start (and which is still going strong…) My first album, My Contribution to Art, contains 12 tracks composed between April 1993 to May 1995. For years, the album did not have a cover but I’ve finally settled for one:

I’ve settled for a very naïve art depiction of an airplane (courtesy of Donna Spurrell.) Of course, the tracks are not that great (or else I would have been Thom Yorke) but they mean a lot to me. In fact, I’m very proud of them. The whole album can be listened and downloaded freely at Last.fm.

My second album, So Logical, was released in 2004. It coincided with the births of my two kids, Anya and Kyan. That album too didn’t have a cover. I’ve settled for:

The image is courtesy Sharpbrains. The So Logical name of the album comes from the fact that it was entirely composed using Emagic (now Apple) Logic Audio. The album contains 8 tracks and most of them are linked to a special event concerning either Kyan, Anya, Christina or myself. For example, I always associate This is real and Beautiful sea with Anya’s birth. All in all, So Logical is a much nicer album that the first one and it has an excellent audio quality (judge for yourself by listening to it or downloading it freely - I believe it sounds better than most of the “professionally” mastered albums being released now.) Of course, the music is perfectible but, what the heck, I am just an amateur after all.

The third album

Since getting my MacBook, I’ve bought Logic Express and I’ve worked on some tracks (a few which are pretty much done but the vast majority is still in alpha state.) Maybe I’ll finish around January 2009. I’ll keep you informed.

I am a fanatic user of Last.fm. Whenever I listen to a song either on my MacBook or my iPod, this information is sent to the Last.fm service which dynamically creates the chart shown above. It shows the artists I’ve been listening to during the past week. Here is what I feel about some of them:

Radiohead

I has just discovered Kid A which is an album that Radiohead did in 2000 just after OK Computer. I’ve been listening to it a lot this week and I love it. OK Computer is a fantastic album but Kid A is arguably better in the sense that it is much more experimental. I love artists who don’t rest on their laurels after having obtained a massive success and try to innovate.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD)

I discovered electronic music in the 80′s listening to Depeche Mode. But Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Art of Noise also played a big role in my musical education. OMD was very successful during this era with countless hits and platinum albums. A few days ago, I found out that OMD also liked experimenting and released very interesting tracks on the B-sides of their hits. All those B-sides have been collected on one CD and I’ve been listening to that lately. Furthermore, they also reworked some of their tracks for John Peel and I’ve also been listening to those.

Moby

I am a fan of Moby since listening to Go and then Play. I’ve been listening to his last album, Last Night, this week and there are some real gems on it. Moby is the grandson of Herman Melville hence his choice of artist name. The next step for me is to listen to the ambient version of Hotel. I’ll do that when I’ll have some free time at home without the kids jumping on me…

Avinash Meetoo

I like listening to my own music. They remind me of that saying: “1% is inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Composing, recording, arranging, mixing and mastering your own music is really really satisfying. And, remember, “la critique est facile, l’art est difficile.” I really need to start working on my third album. I do have some (relatively complete) tracks waiting for that elusive magic dust.

Depeche Mode

I am a die-hard Depeche Mode fan. This has been the case since 1985 when I was introduced to them by a good friend of mine, Yash. Since then, I have bought all their albums, lots of DVDs as well as a substantial number of singles. For new kids on the block, here is an excellent best-of courtesy of Last.fm:

Asian Dub Foundation

I’ve only discovered them two days ago. I’ve been listening to one of their best songs, Rebel Warrior, repeatedly since. Here is an excerpt from the lyrics:

Ami bidrohi!

I am the Rebel Warrior

I have risen alone

With my head held high

I will only rest when the cries of the oppressed

No longer reach the sky

When the sound of the sword of the oppressor

No longer rings in battle

[...]

Ami Bidrohi!

Yes the unity of the Muslim and the Hindu

Will end your tyranny

Ami Bidrohi! Ami Bidrohi!

Tricky

Considered by some to be the god of trip-hop ahead of Massive Attack and Portishead. I’ve have just discovered his 1995 album, Maxinquaye, and I’m hooked. The music and vocals by Martina Topley-Bird are close to being perfect.

—

I know that different people listen to music for different reasons. Personally, I don’t like to do what some call background listening. I rarely play some songs and do something else in parallel. For example, I am not listening to music while writing this blog entry.

What I like is foreground listening or active listening. I like playing a song or, better, a whole album and read about it and its creators on Wikipedia or Last.fm. I also love reading the lyrics at the same time as, like many of us, I have a lot of difficulties grasping them when they are being sung…

I wonder what would happen if music was banned?!?