This site is the online companion to my book/DVD, "The Macintosh iLife '05", published by Peachpit Press and Avondale Media. If you like this site, you'll love the book and its nearly three-hour DVD-Video disc. Learn more. Have news, tips, comments, or links? Send them along! How to contact me. Get an iLife. Get your own copy of "The Macintosh iLife '05". Patronize your local bookstore or buy from Amazon for just $23.09 (34 percent off). Learn more about the book and DVD. Find out what all the buzz is about: view samples of this beautiful book and watch QuickTime excerpts from the DVD. Upcoming Appearances June 21. Apple Store, San Francisco, 6 pm June 25. Northeast Ohio Apple Corps, 9 am July 23. iLife seminar, Santa Rosa, CA Photo gallery. I love the Flickr photo sharing service; here are some recent shots. (Newsreader users: To subscribe to my photostream, drag this link into your newsreader.)

You've Got Questions. Radio Shack Has Turntables.

A reader writes:

"Loved the new book and the DVD! It has a plethora of information that
is a great help to me and is reasonably priced.

I need to ask you a question and I hope you can help! Where one can
purchase a phonograph turntable that has pre-amp built in? I would like
to transfer my vinyl record collection as you demonstrated on the DVD
to CD."

First of all, thanks for the kind words! Now to your question.The turntable that I use in the DVD is a $99 model made by RCA and sold by Radio Shack. It isn't the finest turntable in the world, but if you want to digitize old vinyl records that have already been through the mill, it's a good, inexpensive choice.

And yes, this turntable has a built-in preamplifier, which means you can connect it directly to your Mac's audio-input jack -- no need to go through a stereo system or external pre-amp first.

Have an iLife question? Write to me and I'll try to answer it here!

A Good Time on Tonight's Edition of "Your Mac Life"

I always enjoy being a guest on the fun and informative Your Mac Life, an Internet radio program hosted by Shawn King and covering all things Mac.

Tonight, I returned to the hot seat -- well, via telephone, anyway -- and had a good time yakking about iLife with Shawn.

An archive of the show will be up soon on the Your Mac Life archives page. Thanks to Shawn and the YML crew!

Now Playing On Your iPod: FM Radio

Will the cool toys never stop coming from Griffin Technology? I hope not.

Today, the company announced its iFM add-on, an FM radio tuner that plugs into your iPod. The iPod's remote control handles tuning and other functions. (The 10GB and 20GB iPod models include a remote, and one is available for older, 5GB models.)

iFM joins Griffin's iTrip, an FM transmitter that lets you beam your iPod's audio signal to any FM radio -- for listening on your car stereo, for example.

iFM and iTrip have one more thing in common: neither are shipping yet. iTrip (the transmitter) is scheduled to be available before June 21, and iFM (the FM tuner) is slated to ship this summer.

Reuters Reports on Apple's Forthcoming Music Service

According to a Reuters new story, Apple will indeed unveil a music service, one that will "feature songs from all five major record labels, link with iTunes, and allow for easy downloading to the iPod."

What's especially noteworthy is that the service will be initially available only for Macs, according to the report. If true, this is a smart move that will only further highlight the Mac's significant advantages over Windows as a digital media platform.

(Thanks to Chuck Wilcher for the heads up on this story!)

Here Comes Apple's Music Service. Maybe.

MacCentral is reporting that Apple is planning a special event in San Francisco for April 28.

While Apple is being characteristically cagey about the subject of the event, MacCentral reports that the invitation -- one of which, ahem, your correspondent has yet to receive -- says there will be "announcements that will be music to your ears."

Sounds like we may see the long-rumored Apple music service. Which means we'll also probably see new iPods as well as iTunes 4.

One of the rumors swirling around Apple and downloadable music has been that the company is in negotiations to purchase Vivendi's Universal Music, a major record label. Apple has denied this, too.

That doesn't mean someone hasn't had fun with the rumor. A friend of mine recently discovered that the domain name "appleuniversal.com" has been reserved. A whois lookup indeed shows the registrant as being Apple Computer. But the registration entry also says:

Hahahah!!! Tricked You!!!
April Fools
Tricked You!, HA HA HA HAHAHA
US

And there you have it -- an April Fool's joke for the Internet Age.

Pardon My Dust: Blogging in Progress

I'm finally taking the plunge and turning this site's home page into a Web log, or blog. This means much more frequent updates, at least in theory.

In the meantime, it may mean some broken links and rough edges as I finish the site and get Blogger set up correctly. Please bear with me, and welcome to the new and improved Mac iLife site!

  04/20/2003 - 04/26/2003
  04/27/2003 - 05/03/2003
  05/04/2003 - 05/10/2003
  05/11/2003 - 05/17/2003
  05/18/2003 - 05/24/2003
  05/25/2003 - 05/31/2003
  06/01/2003 - 06/07/2003
  06/08/2003 - 06/14/2003
  06/15/2003 - 06/21/2003
  06/22/2003 - 06/28/2003
  07/06/2003 - 07/12/2003
  07/13/2003 - 07/19/2003
  07/20/2003 - 07/26/2003
  08/03/2003 - 08/09/2003
  10/05/2003 - 10/11/2003
  10/12/2003 - 10/18/2003
  10/19/2003 - 10/25/2003
  11/02/2003 - 11/08/2003
  11/30/2003 - 12/06/2003
  12/07/2003 - 12/13/2003
  12/21/2003 - 12/27/2003
  12/28/2003 - 01/03/2004
  01/04/2004 - 01/10/2004
  01/18/2004 - 01/24/2004
  01/25/2004 - 01/31/2004
  02/01/2004 - 02/07/2004
  03/07/2004 - 03/13/2004
  03/21/2004 - 03/27/2004
  04/11/2004 - 04/17/2004
  04/18/2004 - 04/24/2004
  04/25/2004 - 05/01/2004
  05/02/2004 - 05/08/2004
  05/09/2004 - 05/15/2004
  05/16/2004 - 05/22/2004
  05/23/2004 - 05/29/2004
  05/30/2004 - 06/05/2004
  06/06/2004 - 06/12/2004
  06/13/2004 - 06/19/2004
  06/20/2004 - 06/26/2004
  06/27/2004 - 07/03/2004
  07/11/2004 - 07/17/2004
  07/18/2004 - 07/24/2004
  07/25/2004 - 07/31/2004
  08/01/2004 - 08/07/2004
  08/08/2004 - 08/14/2004
  08/22/2004 - 08/28/2004
  08/29/2004 - 09/04/2004
  09/05/2004 - 09/11/2004
  09/12/2004 - 09/18/2004
  09/19/2004 - 09/25/2004
  09/26/2004 - 10/02/2004
  10/03/2004 - 10/09/2004
  10/24/2004 - 10/30/2004
  10/31/2004 - 11/06/2004
  11/07/2004 - 11/13/2004
  11/14/2004 - 11/20/2004
  11/28/2004 - 12/04/2004
  12/05/2004 - 12/11/2004
  12/12/2004 - 12/18/2004
  12/19/2004 - 12/25/2004
  01/09/2005 - 01/15/2005
  01/16/2005 - 01/22/2005
  01/23/2005 - 01/29/2005
  01/30/2005 - 02/05/2005
  02/06/2005 - 02/12/2005
  02/13/2005 - 02/19/2005
  02/27/2005 - 03/05/2005
  03/06/2005 - 03/12/2005
  03/27/2005 - 04/02/2005
  04/03/2005 - 04/09/2005
  04/10/2005 - 04/16/2005
  04/17/2005 - 04/23/2005
  04/24/2005 - 04/30/2005
  05/01/2005 - 05/07/2005
  05/08/2005 - 05/14/2005
  05/15/2005 - 05/21/2005
  05/22/2005 - 05/28/2005
  05/29/2005 - 06/04/2005
  06/05/2005 - 06/11/2005
  06/12/2005 - 06/18/2005

Really old stuff (before February 2003)

©2002-2005 by Jim Heid.