Jordy Blog

Over the weekend I installed Rockbox on my iPod, and let me just say that I love my iPod again.

I love that I can rate podcasts. I love that I can delete a song right from my iPod. I love that I can play Ogg Vorbis files. I love that I can make dynamic playlists on the fly based on song metadata.

Rockbox is not only functional, it's themeable! :)

There are numberous other features as well. Because it’s an open-source platform, the possibilities really are limitless. You can even play Doom on it, although I don’t know who would really want that.  :)  Also, it dual boots into the Apple Firmware, so I could easily switch back if I ran into problems.

Lastly, Rockbox was surprisingly super easy to install: there’s a simple wizard that walks you through it. You don’t even need to backup your music. (I still did though, only because I didn’t know it wasn’t necessary.)

Next step: Giving my songs sane filenames instead of Apple’s hidden nosensical hex-based names.

Finally my iPod is being beaten into submission. :)

If you liked this post, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I wrote this brief little Byrd’s parody for my friend who’s doing a Summer internship in Texas.  Perhaps you’ll recognize the tune:

To every task turn, intern.
There is a reason. (Turn, intern!)
There’s an intern for every purpose under heaven.

An intern to type, an intern to clean,
an intern for food, an intern for drinks,
an intern for calls, an intern for blame,
Intern, the men’s room TP will soon need replacing.

My wife and I saw a Kyrgyz musical folklore group called “KÅ«t” perform live at the Orem Library on Friday. I was really impressed at their musicianship and even bought a CD.

From the CD insert: “The family plays all traditional instruments [of Kyrgykstan] including various string instruments, flutes and drums –the komus, kyl kyiak, temir and jygach ooz komuz, choor, dobulbas, sybyzgy and the chogoino choor.”

Needless to say there were some pretty exotic sounds. If you like world music, contact Vista 360 and tell them you’d like to check these guys out.

Thanks to Vista 360 for putting this on, and thanks to my former entrepreneurship professor Dr. Kent Millington for providing the photo.

We got an ad in the mail today for “Superman, the Musical”. I couldn’t figure out if it was trying to appeal to me or my wife… I think it was promoting some twisted compromise where we both lose. Segmentation, anyone?

Next up: Rambo, the Ballet. :)

My good friend Doug Collins will be playing guitar with country music star Julie Roberts on the Grand Ole Opry at Carnegie Hall tonight. You can watch his performance at 6PM Mountain Time on GAC.

Doug and I were together in our first little rock band (dubbed Social Faux Pas) in junior high. He and Jared Harding played the guitar while Reed Spencer did drums and I thumped along on the bass. We were great for our age and had a few little gigs around town, but we weren’t very good overall, and Social Faux Pas (like most bands) fizzled out before it could really take off. Those were fun times though, and I’ll always remember them fondly. It’s been well over 10 years since, and Doug has gone in to play in Jerry Town, the City Coyboys, and a myriad of other local Utah bands.

Although I’m not a big country music, I’m excited for Doug to have some big name validation for his career choice. Doug is a fantastic musician and a gifted guitar player. He’s been working the music scene for a long time and really deserves this big break.

So check out Doug Collins’ guitar with Julie Roberts at the Grand Ole Opry. If I know Doug he’ll make it worth your while.