From My Keyboard
BY BILL CHACHKES
The Back To School Edition
Summer's over already? That was quick. The fact is that by the time you read this, I will have left and returned from not one but two vacations! The first will be a Mid-August road trip that will take us to Washington DC, the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, and Pennsylvania's Dutch countryside on our way home. All of that took planning, and you know that our Macs took centerstage for all of it. It wasn't even Spring, yet when we hatched the plan of a road trip for vacation. Onto the net we went for things to do in eastern Tennessee. Mapquest (www.mapquest.com) is one of the most valuable tools when it comes to mapping out travel routes, as well as general directions. Then we decided we'd add a stop in DC first. Back to the net for a hotel reservation (Ramada Limited-because they have free high speed Internet access) close to a Metro DC transit stop. Then it was “find me someplace to shop (the Crystal City mall) while you go to the Smithsonian.”
You get the picture. Once again we made use of our Macintoshes to make our life a little bit less difficult. I'm hearing that when “Tiger” is released next year it will again make it even simpler to compute with MAC OS. But what if you have not moved forward with everyone else? What if you are still using the classic OS? Fear not, as we have started a Legacy SIG (first meeting Tuesday August 10th) for those of us using older computers and operating systems (although I have one newer machine, I still own and use a few older Macs, so I plan on being active in this SIG).
We also started a Beginners SIG on July 27th. While the turnout was low due to bad weather that evening, we feel it has great promise. Look to our site (www.metromac.org) for more info.
Recently someone asked for my help in putting together a system for their son, an early 20-something filmmaker. It took me all of 7 minutes to convince him and his parents that it was time to switch back to a Mac for this one. By the time you read this, that young man will be the proud owner of a complete G5 System with Final Cut Pro. We wish him luck, and we hope we get some tickets to his first big movie.
Between my two trips this summer, I will be seeing several concerts again. The August 28th show will feature two groups at the core of digital music composing and production. YES (http://www.yesworld.net/), who have thrilled fans for over 35 years with their blend of Classical and Rock music, were the first group to record directly to a hard disk based system nearly 10 years ago. You guessed it. The Album (1994's TALK) was made on an early Power Mac 6100 AV with an original pro tools set up. The opening act DREAM THEATRE, are local products that grew up with early Apple computers helping them to make music. The concert I First attended (7/31) featured Blues-Boogie Rockers Little Feat (Littlefeat.net), who use Macs as part of their sound mixing and recording set-ups.
Feat's keyboard player Bill Payne also uses a 17” PowerBook onstage with his Korg Keyboards. I had not seen the Featsters in over a decade, and wanted to get familiar with their recent releases. A quick visit to their website, and I discovered they allowed you do download some of their recent concerts. Like the Greatful Dead, the Feat are one of the few artists today who offer you the fan at least some of their music for free.
I am hearing some good things about Apple's new wireless access point, Airport Express. We hope to have a review in the near future. The new features, including wireless streaming of music to your home stereo are sure to be active selling points. Apple recently reported a large number of pre-ordered units. Airport Express can also be used to extend the range of your existing wireless network if you already have one.
Well it's back to school time again for the students and teachers among us. Hopefully you are not scrambling to get that special student some last minute software or a system. If you are however, all of the vendors will be running sales starting with late summer and running thru the holidays. As long as you aren't looking for an iMac you should find what you need in the way of hardware.
On a final note, this issue of the Express marks the last contribution from managing editor Henry Marcinkowski to this publication. While I am quite saddened by his choice to leave us, I respect his decision. Above all else, Henry has remained a good friend, back to the days when we worked on publication of our former groups' newsletter/magazine. A little less than two years ago, Henry took over for me as the person in charge of the Express' day-to-day operations. The first thing he did was ask me to remain on staff in whatever capacity I could. “Bill, I hope you can continue to be the conscience of this publication,” he told me. Our main goal from the very beginning was always to produce a top quality publication, whether in print or on-line as we do now. He will be sorely missed from these pages. We are currently recruiting a successor so if you or anyone you know is or would be interested, please contact our president, Chris Bastian.
Here is hoping that your summer was as good as mine was.
Until next time,
Bill
Recently someone asked
for my help in putting
together a system for their
son, an early 20-something
filmmaker. It took me
all of 7 minutes to convince
him and his parents
that it was time to switch
back to a Mac for this one.
