This and that

Went running again today and dialed up the pace over the last time. No pikas today, just chipmunks, although I saw one critter with no chipmunk stripes, but no pika ears either, so I'm not sure what it was (too small to be a prairie dog).

I'm really into the reimagined Battlestar Galactica, and tonight we'll watch the final episode until the season resumes in January. After that I'll be able to check out the fan sites without worrying about spoilers. Yes, I'm a nerd, but that's not news to anyone that knows me. It's as interesting as a good book, politically relevant, philosophically stimulating, with neat special effects and hot Cylon chicks (and guys) too. The characters are complex and real, not simply good vs. evil. Seriously, what more could you want?

Physical therapy is coming along, but as remarkable as all the little improvements each day are, I want to be fit again! Once I'm "normal" I still have to work my way back up to the fitness, strength and flexibility I had before the crash. Fortunately, I've had good sports doctors that understand what it's like for an athlete. I'll be so happy when I can sprint on the road bike, shoulder the cross bike for a runup and jump into bakasana in yoga class. To stick with the nerdiness: "patience, young jedi."

Another potential doper caught at the Tour. I'm not liking how they're guilty until proven innocent, especially with the proven outrageous incompetence of the labs, but it looks like confidence is slowly being restored to the Tour and the sport in general. But really, at a time when our justice system is under extreme duress, how about at least waiting for the B sample results before declaring yourself judge, jury and executioner, armchair pundits?

Amazon Unbox review

Not being able to wait for the Season 4 DVD of Battlestar Galactica, I decided to try Amazon's Unbox video download service. My choices were:

• Stream for free on SciFi.com - I'd already considered this, but streaming video usually blows in terms of quality. I didn't want a YouTube experience while watching this, and I was happy to pay for it.


• Download from iTunes - I'm biased against iTunes, iPod and i-anything for various reasons.


• Download from Amazon - No better than iTunes really. Still DRMed, proprietary, etc. However, I wouldn't need to download that pig of a resource hog iTunes, and the Amazon Unbox videos can be played in Windows Media Player or other players.

As expected, it wasn't a perfect experience. First, the videos are only available via Amazon's One Click. I've never used this before, but basically once you check the videos you want, the only button you're presented with is the One Click button. No shopping cart, no confirmation or anything. I was puzzed at the lack of a shopping cart, so since that was the only option, I clicked it, and shortly thereafter my credit card was charged. Not cool. Not cool at all. I hadn't even downloaded the video yet, and already I'd paid for it. Bastards. Next step was to download the Unbox player.

The Unbox player wouldn't install. Everytime I downloaded and executed it, I'd get and error along the lines of this version of Media Player Libraries not compatible with this version of Media Player. Fcuking great, I've payed for the video and it won't work. One thing I'd have to say in favor of iTunes is that no matter what, it probably "just works." Since I'm paid to make computers work for a living, I downloaded the Unbox player executable instead of running it, downloaded and installed the latest version of Media Player, rebooted, then ran the Unbox executable again. This time it installed properly, and showed that I had the video waiting to be downloaded. I downloaded the video, and it showed up as a standard .WMV file that could be played in Media Player as well as the Unbox player. Sweet.

Last night we watched the first two episodes. I hooked up my computer to a wide-screen flat TV via the S-video out. Not having to deal with streaming video, I didn't need a reliable wireless internet connection, no did I need to run Cat 5 through the house. No skips, no pauses while "caching" or any of that crap - the entire 860MB file was sitting on my hard drive. I played it with Media Player, and used the Media Player's settings to output as full screen, put the sound out to the stereo, and sat back to watch. The output was no different than a DVD to my eyes, and the sound was great as well.

In summary, after some frustrating set up experiences and unsavory purchasing options, my goal was accomplished: to have a good video-watching experience and catch up on this season of BSG now. It was the least unattractive option for accomplishing that goal, and I'll continue to use the service for BSG. $1.99 per episode is reasonable for the privilege of not having to endure commercials and being able to watch it whenever I please. The service also allows you to download to your TiVo or to a portable media player if you're into that. I'd recommend the service with reservations.

The music industry abuses us and we're to blame

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Try as it might to do things the right way, iTunes is the result of countless negotiations with the record labels that continue to dislike everything we stand for and do everything they can to ensure that we're paying too much for a track that's locked down worse than anything we have ever witnessed in this business.

When you "buy" a song on iTunes, you're not really buying it. Instead, you're acquiring the license to listen to a song that can be taken away from you at any moment, can't be sent anywhere you'd like for it to be, and is subject to draconian copyright laws that see you paying too much for too little.

I, for one, am not to blame. Call me a curmudgeon (there are plenty of other reasons to), but I refuse to use iTunes, I refuse to buy music that's in any way locked, not portable, not full quality, uncompressed and re-rippable using any codec at whatever bit rate I choose at any time. In other words, so far, that means CDs. I'd be open to uncompressed CD tracks.

Now, the same thing is happening with video. I want to watch the current season of Battlestar Galactica. I'm totally willing to pay for it. But I don't want my computer hijacked, I don't want mandatory proprietary software, I don't want to "rent" it, and I want it to work. The DVD won't be out until next year. Is that too much to ask? Are we going to take this?

I know, I'm a total nerd.