From My
Keyboard –
the return of…

by Bill Chachkes

I’m glad to be back. Even if no one knew I was really gone. I was in that nowhere land of personal grief and dealing with feelings lost and found, and buying new software that doesn’t work correctly one hour after it’s installed. Not to mention that I bought a camera that just stopped working. It’s a nice enough camera (look for my review elsewhere in this issue) that takes nice enough pictures, but shouldn’t it work for more than 6 months?

That brings me to our discussion topic for this issue: IDG and its current policy of denying large numbers of Mac users access to its Expos. For those of you who just emerged from a deep coma, IDG has not only decided to move the Macworld Expo east coast back to Boston in 2004 (which doesn’t deserve to have anything moved there) but they have cancelled this July’s show as well. In its place, they are introducing a show called CREATE, which will be geared (you guessed it) for creative professionals.

Now correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t people do things with their Macs besides draw, paint and retouch? True, there will be music courses as well, and that does hold my interest. But the fact remains that many of us general Mac users on the east coast are being left out in the cold. Not that I don’t use Photoshop or Painter (or graphic converter) but, unlike many of our members, I do not make my living slaving over QuarkXpress or Photoshop on a day-by- day basis.

Not that a Mac-based show geared towards the design crowd isn’t a good thing. Just not in place of Macworld. The Expo was always the place where people could see all the new technology displayed, take workshops on the newest software releases, and mingle with like minded Mac users. Now who am I to say that CREATE won’t have some or all of these things, it just might. However, I have always been of the mind that, if something is not broken, why fix it?

I have heard that one of the reasons IDG moved the Expo was because it’s too expensive to hold a trade show in New York City. True, the Javits Center is an expensive place to have a trade show. That’s because it’s New York. Yes, there is an 18% tax on sales at the center. Most vendors found a way around that by doing web sales at their booths. In closing this discussion of the facts, IDG never wanted to fix what they felt was wrong with New York’s venue, they knew they were going to move out of NYC as soon as the contract was up.

It would be nice if IDG would listen to it’s readers and show attendees, but they have chosen to turn a deaf ear on residents of New York City and it’s Macintosh community by not allowing any reader feedback whatsoever. This leads us to believe that readership and show attendees don’t really matter to IDG at all. Rather, IDG would prefer to make us all attend a show in Boston, a city with poor transportation access and only one airport.

I had the pleasure of attending a concert on March 6th at Town Hall. The Group-Progressive rockers KING CRIMSON have always been on the cutting edge of music technology. So it was no surprise to learn from their official website that they are quite fond of Apple computers and the Mac OS. Vocalist-guitarist Adrian Belew speaks very highly of the Apple 23-inch Cinema display attached to his Quicksilver Superdrive-equipped Powermac. Drummer Pat Mastelletto uses a TiBook both in the studio and on tour to control the electronic portion of his setup, consisting of ROLAND V-Drums and YAMAHA Digi-Drums. Bandleader-guitarist Robert Fripp must have a Mac or two hidden somewhere in one of his studios.

For years, the music industry has known a good thing when they see it. Rapper-actor Ice-T is a big Mac fan. He has four of them in his studio. You don’t have to be famous to make music on a Mac. There are plenty of shareware music applications that can get you started with making music with your Mac.

Until next time
Bill