Older blog entries for mterry (starting at number 1)

Rhythmbox

I've started hacking a patch to Rhythmbox that will add adaptive listening akin to the IMMS plugin for XMMS.

Adaptive listening means that a song's rating will decrease when it is skipped and increased when it is heard. When done right, it's pretty handy for automatically figuring out the user's tastes.

This is a feature I've wanted for a long time in a music player, and I'm glad I can have a part in its creation. Certainly beats rating all my songs myself. Plus, I'll wager it's more accurate than myself.

RSS

I've just now discovered the joys of RSS; I finally see why everyone else is so into it. I installed Straw and subscribed to all my usual haunts. A lot less manual labor is now required to keep abreast of news in open source land. I just wish certain sites would offer more details on each article.

OK. First attempt at any sort of blog.

On a lark, I signed up for a Jabber account (mterry@jabber.org) the other day. I must say that the idea of an open standard, decentralized, extensible IM protocol gets me excited. If it ever gains mainstream acceptance, I will be simultaneously shocked and pleased.

I've been looking into getting a personal domain name for all my self-promoting needs. It seems the .name tld is the place for this; I just wish I had a steady income to pay for hosting (note -- will code for food).

Here's an unethical, but money-saving idea: go to your local library, borrow several music CDs, and rip them. Genius! For your ripping pleasure, might I suggest Sound Juicer? I have been using it for a couple weeks and I must say I am impressed. The only problems I've had are MusicBrainz's database errors. Combined with Rhythmbox, I am in music-heaven.