Becoming a Millennial

188. Fiddling Around -- Making Technology Work

I've been amazed at how my new lightweight laptop has "worked for me" in the sense that the technology is right with me -- whether I'm at a meeting, on the road traveling, or just sitting at home in my living room watching the Colts demolish the Ravens.   

Yesterday, relaxing on my couch, I Googled "learn to play fiddle".  For about a year now I have been playing with a gospel/bluegrass band uptown at what we can the Gray Barn.  I do well with gospel, but I've had to pretty much fake the fiddling.

Guess what?  I found a website that provided (for free!) mp3 downloads of the top 10 fiddle tunes:  Cripple Creek, Bilem Cabbage Down, Blackberry Blossom, Soldier's Joy, ...

I downloaded them all into iTunes and spent several hours listening to them over and over, and getting them figured out on my "fiddle".  It wasn't too hard -- they pretty much all sound the same :)  With a little more practice I'm going to be ready for our next shindig.

It's pretty exciting when computer technology can help you accomplish exactly what you want to do. It might be looking up your genealogy, finding that perfect quilting pattern, shopping for a used vehicle at CarMax ... or learning how to play two strings at a time like a real pro.   

132. Converting iTunes Songs -- A Better Solution

A friend of mine left a comment to my posting #129 sharing how you can remove the copy protection from iTunes songs without losing the track data:

"You can also rip them back into iTunes after burning a CD. You just have to select the .wav format or .mp3 format before ripping them back into Itunes. If done this way, it will keep the track name and the rest of the track data, but get rid of the copy protection! I do it this way and use Audacity to edit and make ringtones for my phone! Audacity is a free audio editing tool."  Thanks Josh!

129. Playing iTunes Songs on Your MP3 Player

If you purchase music from iTunes the files will be in the protected Apple AAC (m4a) format which will not play on many portable mp3 players (e.g. the Olympus WS-320M). A friend shared with me how he converted m4a to mp3:

Gary, it is a little clumsy, but this morning I burned an audio CD of purchased iTunes songs.  I then ripped the CD in Windows Media Player 10, choosing mp3 as the desired format (select Tools ... Options ... Rip Music ... mp3 ...).  The audio files created are in standard mp3 format.  I was then able to copy them over to my Olympus player and listen to them.  The downside in all this is that the original tracks are unknown by title to Windows Media Player.

119. Recording MP3 files

A colleague from Indiana Wesleyan University told me that he records his comments when he grades student papers ... rather than writing them out by hand.

He uses the Super MP3 Recorder Pro (costs $29.95 to download).  It can save in a variety of formats including .wma and .wav, but .mp3 is probably what you'll want to use.  Just hook up a microphone to your PC and you're ready to go. 

You can email the audio files to your students or deliver them in Blackboard via the Digital Drop Box or Assignment Manager.  Just another way to harness a technology to provide feedback to your students, and possibly make your life easier.

72. From My 23-Year-Old Son

Dad,
Wow spending money on Beethoven's symphony. I am going to have to dock you points on your report card cause this is definitely not what a millenial would download. If you want some good music with mandolins / sometimes violins or fiddles check out some Hootie and the Blowfish or Dave Mathews Band. These guys really jam. Haha love ya. Neal

61. eMusic

My co-worker, Ben, put me on to eMusic.  It is a site similar to iTunes from which you can download music.  It doesn't have quite the selection that iTunes has, but the songs are cheaper.  I signed up for a $9.99/month subscription which allows me to download 40 songs each month -- that's $.25/song compared to iTunes' $.99/song or Walmart's $.89/song. 

Last night I downloaded Beethoven's Sonatas for Violin and Piano.  Beautiful!  I've played the violin for a long time.  I took lessons for four years as a kid growing up in Japan, beginning in 4th grade.  My teacher was Mr. Uchida, a wonderful but tiny man -- I was already taller than him as a 9-year-old.  Following 8th grade I put the violin on the shelf for about 20 years, then picked it up again when I was 35.  Music is a wonderful gift.  Listening to the Sonatas last night on my Olympus MP3 player inspired me.  The violinist was unbelievable.

40. Two Amazing Tools

Two weeks ago a faculty friend asked if it was possible to record an audio stream and save it as an MP3 file. I said I didn't know.  The next day another faculty colleague emailed me with the solution.  It's a free download called Freecorder.  I tried it out today.  It records any audio that comes through your computer (from your CD, from an audio stream or podcast, from your Skype phone call).  Amazing! 

Are their copyright issues?  Definitely, but I'm not so sure they are any different than when the photocopy machine first came out. Our students are certainly using these tools.  We need to be aware of what is out there ... and take advantage of these tools ourselves when it is appropriate to do so.

I just learned about another free download from one of my staff members.  It is called MP3 Splitter.  If you have a long MP3 file this little utility will break it up into chunks.  You specify the size (e.g. I want each chunk 5 minutes in length) and it will automatically create the files.  This would be useful if you have a 20-minute commute to work and wanted to convert your hour-long podcasts into 20-minute segments. Or, if you wanted to email a large MP3 file to a friend you could break it up into smaller files.

37. Streaming Media Task Force

I am part of a task force that is investigating the use of streaming media here at Taylor.  We met for the first time two weeks ago.  We meet again this morning, and will meet every two weeks through the summer and fall.  On our campus there are demands for streaming coming from every direction -- admissions, athletics, academics, resident life, ... How do we facilitate all of this?

You may have heard about Apple's iTunes U.  Apple is offering to universities free hosting for the streaming of academic content -- half a terabyte of server space (that's 500 GB!)  Yesterday I talked to an Apple rep on the phone for half an hour, and then she sent me a formal application.  We'll discuss it more in our meeting today.  Some high-profile schools such as Stanford and University of Michigan have been early partners with Apple on this venture. 

I have been so impressed with the cross-platform functionality of iTunes.  Apple seems to finally be "getting it", that if they support the Windows world it will be to their advantage and everybody else's.  Now that Macs are being shipped with Intel processors it is really getting interesting.

To TU faculty -- if you have an idea of how you might use streaming media (either audio or video) in any of your courses please let me know.  If we were to go with a service such as iTunes U we need to document a carefully thought-out plan.

36. The Dynamic Nature of the Web -- Great for Fixing Things

When I listened to my four podcast recordings (see entry 32) I knew the volume was too low.  Today I was thinking about re-recording them from scratch. Then I remembered Audacity, the free sound editing software that I heard about at the CCCU conference.

I downloaded Audacity ... installed it ... opened the first MP3 file ... highlighted the clip (it looks like a wave pattern) ... went to a menu item and amplified it (the waves were now double in height)... saved the file back to my web folder.  I repeated the process for the other three MP3 files.  I was done!  Nothing else had to be touched.  It only took 15 minutes from start to finish. 

If you now go to iTunes and search for Gary Friesen's Becoming a Millennial Podcast it will open the same RSS feed on our web server which will play the new MP3 files.  And you'll now be able to actually hear them because the volume has been doubled.  They're still not very engaging, but keep in mind this is just a test :)

The above illustrates the beauty of the web.  It is all dynamic. You fix one piece and everything is fixed.

33. Multiple Casts Under a Single Pod

Yesterday I successfully got one podcast posted in iTunes.  I wasn't sure how to add additional audio files to my RSS feed.  That was my challenge for today.  It's amazing what a simple search in Google will produce.  I entered something like "RSS feed" and I quickly found a web site that gave me the information I needed. 

Remember the XML file I was working on (entry 24)?  For each additional feed I simply added a block of 8 lines.  You programmers will eat this up (Angie, are you hanging in there?).  The rest of you will say, "There's got to be an easier way!"  I'm sure there is, and that's my next challenge -- to find a piece of software to automatically create this RSS code for me.  I just want to fill in some boxes on a form and let the computer figure out all the syntax.

<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
  <title>Gary Friesen Becoming a Millennial Podcast</title>
  <link>http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/</link>
  <description>A podcast of Gary's foray into the digital world of today's youth</description>
  <language>en-us</language>
   <copyright>Copyright 2006 Gary Friesen</copyright>
   <lastBuildDate>Mon, 26 Jun 2006 08:00:00 EDT</lastBuildDate>
 
  <item>
<title>Podcast #4</title>
  <link>http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/podcast4.xml</link>
  <description>This is an experiment investigating the possibilities for faculty at Taylor.</description>
<enclosure url="http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/gary4.mp3" length="1044480" type="audio/mpeg"/>
  <pubDate>Mon, 26 Jun 2006 10:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
  <category>Education</category>
  </item>

  <item>
  <title>Podcast #3</title>
  <link>http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/podcast3.xml</link>
  <description>This is an experiment investigating the possibilities for faculty at Taylor.</description>
  <enclosure url="http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/gary3.mp3" length="1044480" type="audio/mpeg"/>
  <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jun 2006 10:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
  <category>Education</category>
  </item>

  <item>
  <title>Podcast #2</title>
  <link>http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/podcast2.xml</link>
  <description>This is an experiment investigating the possibilities for faculty at Taylor.</description>
  <enclosure url="http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/gary2.mp3" length="1044480" type="audio/mpeg"/>
  <pubDate>Sat, 24 Jun 2006 10:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
  <category>Education</category>
  </item>

  <item>
  <title>Podcast #1</title>
  <link>http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/podcast1.xml</link>
  <description>This is an experiment investigating the possibilities for faculty at Taylor.</description>
  <enclosure url="http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/gary1.mp3" length="1441792" type="audio/mpeg"/>
  <pubDate>Fri, 23 Jun 2006 08:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
  <category>Education</category>
  </item>

</channel>
</rss>

32. My Podcast Made it into iTunes!

Last night I received an email from iTunes saying my podcast was approved and would appear in iTunes within a few hours.  I checked but couldn't find it.  This morning I woke up early and decided to check again.  Sure enough, it was posted.  It's not the most exciting podcast in the world.  What I did was record (using my Olympus MP3 player) a couple entries from my blog, beginning with day 1.

To find my podcast open iTunes ... select Music Store ... Podcasts ... enter "Becoming a Millennial" in the search box ... Then click on the Subscribe button.

24. Podcasting -- Trying to Figure Out the Middle Piece

I'm still trying to create my first podcast, but I've been having some trouble figuring out the "middle piece".  On the front end I can record the MP3 file using my Olympus digital recorder.  This is simple and anybody can learn how to do it (see entry 12).

<<  The middle piece involves creating an XML file that will function as the RSS feed to supply my MP3 file to iTunes.  I created such a file (revising some sample code I found on the web) and saved it to my TU personal web folder, along with the MP3 file.  However, when I ran the XML file it gave me an error so I must not have done something right. >>

On the tail end (if I can get the XML file to work right) I have figured out how to submit it to iTunes so anyone can access my podcast.  I open iTunes ... select Music Store ... Podcasts ... Submit a Podcast ... and copy in the URL to my XML file (the pocast RSS feed).

But something is not working, so I'll have to get some help from our campus webmaster.  So there you have my little discourse on RSS, XML, URL, and MP3.  I could have added PWF (personal web folder) but that would have made it confusing. 

From what I've written above it sounds like you have to be a programmer to do this type of thing.  You don't.  There are utilities to automatically create the XML file.  But I have done quite a bit of programming in the past (BASIC, Pascal, C++) so I am having fun trying to make some sense out of stuff like this:

<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
  <title>Becoming a Millennial Podcast</title>
  <link>http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/</link>
  <description>A podcast of Gary’s blog describing his foray into the digital world of youth</description>
  <language>en-us</language>
  <copyright>Copyright 2006 Gary Friesen</copyright>
  <lastBuildDate>Sunday, June 18, 2006</lastBuildDate>
<item>
  <title>Becoming a Millennial Podcast #1</title>
  <link>http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/podcast1.xml</link>
  <description>This is an experimental podcast. I'm hoping to be able to help TU faculty begin to post their own podcasts.</description>
  <enclosure url="http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/gary1.mp3" length="1441792" type="audio/mpeg" />
  <pubDate>Sunday, June 18, 2006</pubDate>
  <category>Education</category>
  </item>
  </channel>
  </rss>

16. Helpful Info From One of My Blog Readers

A friend of mine, Lee Erickson, read my blog today and shared with me that Windows Media Player could, in fact, save files in the MP3 format.  I realized as I checked into it that I was using Windows Media Player 9.  With Windows Media Player 10 there is an option to save to MP3.  Lee's directions are as follows: Windows Media Player can be forced to rip to MP3 format.  Go to “Tools/Options/Rip Music/ Format” and select MP3. 

Lee goes on to give some additional helpful information:  But Media Player is not my favorite tool.  When it creates a data CD it can only be read on computers.  The Nero software on my new laptop ... can create data CDs of MP3 files that can be played on my car CD/MP3 player.  The advantage of this is being able to get about 20 CDs worth of music on a single CD that I just leave in the car.   Thanks Lee!

14. Ripping My First CD

Neal was home this weekend.  He came up from his new job in Florida to attend a funeral and a wedding.  Both involved his close friends who were involved in the April 26 accident.  He is doing well.

This afternoon before leaving for the Indy airport he asked if I would rip a few CDs to load onto his iPod.  He said I could then talk about it on my blog.  The kids are giving me some pretty good ribbing about my blog. 

So I opened iTunes and popped in his CD. Never having done this before (which embarrasses me a bit, since I'm supposedly a tech guy) I wasn't sure what to expect.  It couldn't have been easier.  iTunes recognized the CD, quickly added all the song titles to the Library, and then I told it to copy all the songs.  It took about 10 minutes to "rip" the CD, meaning to convert each file from the audio format to the Apple AAC format.  Then we plugged Neal's iPod into the USB port and within seconds the entire album was downloaded to his iPod.  He was ready for his trip!

When I got home from the airport run, I tried using both Windows Media Player and Musicmatch Jukebox to see how a CD was ripped using Windows software.  The process was similar to iTunes, very easy and intuitive.  Windows Media Player saved all the songs in WMA format, and MusicMatch Jukebox saved them in MP3 format.  I'll probably use Jukebox in the future because it saves them in the format I want. (Note additional information about Windows Media Player in Entry #16)

13. Tunes in the Park

How many times have you needed some information, looked all over the place ... and then realized, "Duh, why don't I just go to the web?"  I had a similar experience yesterday at the Upland Strawberry Festival. 

It was raining, but we set up our church booth hoping for the skies to clear.  This was our fourth year to participate.  We do face-painting for the kids and give away free popcorn and gospel bracelets.

Mid-morning there was still a steady drizzle.  The park was deserted except for the strawberry booth that had a steady stream of people picking up their flats.  I thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to have some music to listen to as I sit here waiting for the rain to clear up?"  Then I thought of my Treo cell phone. 

Recently I had purchased a 1 GB memory card and downloaded some songs that I had more or less forgotten about.  But I hadn't brought my headset.  Well, what about just holding it up to my ear? ... which I did and got suprisingly good sound.  So, I enjoyed half an hour relaxing and listening to a little jazz and B.B. King blues. Another time I might have opened up a pod-casted talk show or a recorded sermon, but on this occasion I just wanted to "veg" with a little music.

12. My First Attempt to Record a Podcast

I'm quite certain that podcasting of lecture content is going to be a new delivery method for our faculty.  Entire lectures can be recorded (easily, I think) and posted for review purposes.  Or, a professor could provide supplementary materials in a podcast.  In fact, one of our chemistry professors for years has provided his students audio materials on cassette tape and CD to help them master difficult concepts.  This could all be podcasted.
(Note -- Graphic from eWeek June 5, 2006)

Yesterday I gave it a try.  I took out my trusty Olympus recorder and began recording.  For content I decided to read my blog entries, beginning from day 1.  Recording is tricky. I found myself appreciating media people who can read a script without stumbling.  I guess with a podcast the key is not to be too much of a perfectionist -- otherwise you find yourself constantly starting over.

I created four short audio files.  My recorder saves them in the WMA format (Windows Media).  The sound quality is great, very clean and clear.  I needed to convert them to MP3 so folks can listen to them on any type of player.  I thought for sure Windows Media Player could do that, but I looked through all the menus and it doesn't seem to have that capability. 

I then tried iTunes and got a pleasant surprise. I went to File ... Add File to Library ... When I selected my first three-minute recording, it recognized that it was in the WMA format and asked if I wanted to convert it to MP3.  Why YES, that's exactly what I was wanting to do!  Very quickly I had all four files in MP3 format.  Mission accomplished.

Now, how to get them into a podcast so others can access them?  I emailed our TU webmaster for a little help with this.  I'll keep you posted ...

10. Can a Download From iTunes Play on My Portable MP3 Player?

Today I played around with media formats.  Apple's iTunes web site has a huge library of downloadable music and podcasts.  ALL will play on my PC using the iTunes software.  However, I knew that not all would play on my new (non-Apple) Olympus MP3 player.

I discovered that most of the iTunes music (99 cents each) is in the AAC or m4a format and will not play on my player.  Is it possible to convert these to MP3?  If you know of a way, I'd be interested.

Most of the iTunes podcasts are free.  Many of them are already in the MP3 format so they will play on my player.  Some of the AAC formatted podcasts can be converted to MP3 by right-clicking on the file. Other AAC podcasts are protected and can't be converted. 

Anyway ... I was happy to discover that a good share of the iTunes podcasts could be played on my new player.

8. Olympus WS-320M

For two days now I've played with this $160 device which includes an MP3/WMA player, voice recorder, and 1 GB flash drive.  It's user interface is not real intuitive (kind of like your typical digital watch or alarm clock).  I had to go to the manual several times. 

When I introduce these to our faculty I'm going to make sure I provide a short intro session on how to use it. Otherwise there will be some major frustration.

The beauty of this player is that you slide off the cover, plug it into your computer USB port and you can drag & drop your music files and podcasts.  You treat it just like another drive.  You can remove files, create folders, reorganize, etc.  Very cool.

6. Does it Have to be an iPod?

Today my MP3 player came in the mail.  It is a nifty Olympus WS-320M that can play Windows Media and MP3 files, record voice, and also function as a 1 GB flash drive (the cover actually pulls off to reveal a USB connector). 

At lunch when I brought it home to show my family Carla asked me, "Why didn't you get an iPod?"  It could have been interpretted, "Dad, you're such an idiot -- don't you know anything?" but Carla was nice and I explained that it had some neat features ...  She said it was cool.

It is hard to know whether to stay completely within the Apple world (with iTunes and iPods) where everything works together so well, but where sometimes you lack flexibility -- for example, if you want to convert your iTune song to an MP3 format to play on another device