Choosing a Microphone for Speech Recognition

I’ve been using speech recognition tools a lot recently: Dragon Dictate, and the new Dragon Express (my review of which should be up on Macworld in a few days). As part of this, I looked at the different types of microphones you can use with speech recognition software in my latest Macworld article. If you use speech recognition software – on a Mac or with Windows – you should have a read, and see what is available. I found some very good microphones when doing my research.

The Stupidity of Apple’s Lion Installer

This hasn’t been my week. I got this video freeze problem with my new Mac mini, and decided that reinstalling Lion would be the best way to determine whether it’s an OS problem or a hardware problem. I have the option to return the computer for an exchange in the first two weeks, so I figured I’d try this. But little did I know just how much of a pain it was.

Since you don’t get a DVD with new Macs, the only way you can reinstall Lion is via the Mac App Store, or the Recovery Partition. Of course, I thought I was smart, when Lion first came out, by putting it on a USB stick, so I could use this for any reinstallation I may need. Alas, when I tried to launch the installer, I was told that it would not work on my Mac mini; presumably the firmware requires something later than 10.7.0.

So, booting from a clone of my startup volume, I launched the App Store and went to download the “update,” which is shown in my Purchases list. That took about two hours, but, when it was completed, the installer was nowhere to be found. When I went back to the App Store application, Lion was listed as “Installed,” so I couldn’t re-download it. Same thing on my MacBook Air, of course, so I was stuck.

So I booted the Mac mini by pressing the Command and R keys, to launch the Recovery Partition. Apparently, mine was borked, so I had to wait a half hour for the computer to download whatever it needed to get to the next step. Then, I launched the installation, and it is now downloading all of Lion; for another, it seems, more than 3 hours. And, when I’ve finished that, I still won’t have an installer, and will have to get one somewhere else, so if I have problems, I don’t have to go through this whole process again.

Frankly, I hadn’t realized how stupid this process is. I can understand the interest of selling Lion through the Mac App Store, but not even providing a boot disc with a new Mac means that any time you have a problem, you have hours of download time. And, since the installer self-destructs after installation, you’ll have to do the same thing if you need another copy of it. (Though the next time there’s a Lion update, I’ll first download a full installer before downloading the update via Software Update.)

I have a fairly fast Internet connection – I get around 650 KBps downloads. But imagine someone with a slower connection, for whom the download will take 6 hours, 8 hours, or even more. Assuming you need to reinstall Lion on a work computer, you’ve lost a day’s work.

Apple conveniently sells a USB stick with an installer, but even if I had one of those, it wouldn’t boot my Mac mini, unless it has the latest version of Lion. And if there’s a future firmware update, it’s possible the $49 USB stick won’t boot either.

I’m appalled by the short-sightedness of this process. Sure, they save on DVDs, but the hassle it causes to users is astounding. I hadn’t realized just how complicated this process was, and, again, having copied the installer to a USB stick, I thought I was safe. How wrong I was.

Update: a developer friend pointed out that you can re-download the installer from the Mac App Store. You need to go to your Purchased list, hold down the Option key, and click on the name of the item. That will take you to its page, where you will see an Install button. You can then click that to download the installer again. I’m doing so now, and will save this one in case of future problems. Thanks Thomas for pointing this out.

Mac OS X Lion Freezes – Is iTunes the Culprit?

I recently posted an article about Lion video freezes occurring with my new Mac mini. There were clear error messages, showing that this is related to the previous Lion video freeze problem I experienced.

Since then, I’ve a couple of other freezes, unrelated to video. And looking at the logs at the time they occurred, it looks as though iTunes is the guilty party, and, in particular, the usbmuxd process, which is a daemon used for communicating with iPods and iOS devices. My guess is that, with Wi-Fi updating, these devices remain “mounted,” as far as iTunes is concerned, and that, at times, iTunes looks for them and can’t find them.

I had a freeze this morning, but my music was still playing in iTunes, so I connected to the Mac mini via ssh. I was able to perform a number of operations, showing that, while the computer was frozen on a GUI level, this was not the case at the lower level. After about seven minutes, the Mac mini “unfroze,” and everything went back to normal.

At the time of the freeze, a number of messages were written to console logs:

11/22/11 11:42:15.758 AM com.apple.usbmuxd: _SendAttachNotification (thread 0x1012ea960): sending attach for device 5c:59:48:92:eb:ae@fe80::5e59:48ff:fe92:ebae._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.: _GetAddrInfoReplyReceivedCallback matched.
11/22/11 11:42:15.989 AM usbmuxd: _AMDeviceConnectByAddressAndPort (thread 0x102f81000): IPv4
11/22/11 11:42:16.482 AM ath: _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 0x101acd960): Device ‘AMDevice 0x102b73fe0 {UDID = XXX, device ID = 86, FullServiceName = 5c:59:48:92:eb:ae@fe80::5e59:48ff:fe92:ebae._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}’ attached.
11/22/11 11:42:16.482 AM ath: _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 0x101acd960): Device ‘AMDevice 0x102e1d840 {UDID = XXX, device ID = 86, FullServiceName = 5c:59:48:92:eb:ae@fe80::5e59:48ff:fe92:ebae._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}’ attached.
11/22/11 11:42:16.482 AM iTunes: _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 0x11f92f000): Device ‘AMDevice 0x7fcfa64775a0 {UDID = XXX, device ID = 86, FullServiceName = 5c:59:48:92:eb:ae@fe80::5e59:48ff:fe92:ebae._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}’ attached.
11/22/11 11:42:18.028 AM AppleMobileDeviceHelper: _AMDDeviceDetached (thread 0x19c32c0): Device ‘AMDevice 0x8df3bf0 {UDID = XXX, device ID = 85, FullServiceName = a4:67:06:45:79:cd@fe80::a667:6ff:fe45:79cd._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}’ detached.
11/22/11 11:42:18.230 AM AppleMobileDeviceHelper: _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 0x19c32c0): Device ‘AMDevice 0xbc62dc0 {UDID = XXX, device ID = 86, FullServiceName = 5c:59:48:92:eb:ae@fe80::5e59:48ff:fe92:ebae._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}’ attached.
11/22/11 11:42:44.522 AM com.apple.usbmuxd: _SendDetachNotification (thread 0x1012ea960): sending detach for device 5c:59:48:92:eb:ae@fe80::5e59:48ff:fe92:ebae._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.: _BrowseReplyReceivedCallback got bonjour removal.
11/22/11 11:42:44.522 AM ath: _AMDDeviceDetached (thread 0x101acd960): Device ‘AMDevice 0x102e1d840 {UDID = XXX, device ID = 86, FullServiceName = 5c:59:48:92:eb:ae@fe80::5e59:48ff:fe92:ebae._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}’ detached.
11/22/11 11:42:44.522 AM iTunes: _AMDDeviceDetached (thread 0x11f92f000): Device ‘AMDevice 0x7fcfa64775a0 {UDID = XXX, device ID = 86, FullServiceName = 5c:59:48:92:eb:ae@fe80::5e59:48ff:fe92:ebae._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}’ detached.
11/22/11 11:42:44.522 AM iTunes: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x10dd71960): Unexpected connection closure…

Note that I have replaced my device’s UDID by “XXX.” The device in question is my iPod touch; it’s the same UDID that shows up in every message.

So, is iTunes Wi-Fi syncing causing freezes? Anyone else seeing this?

Update: I’ve had about one freeze per day, and the last few freezes show GPU debug info in the Console logs, as described in this post, so I think it’s safe to rule out iTunes as the guilty party.

Update 2: It turns out that there is something wrong with the video card – since I get GPU debug logs in Console – but also, perhaps, a problem with the SSD. Apple is exchanging the Mac mini for a new one, and I should have the replacement in a week. In the mean time, it freezes several times a day…

iTunes Match Feature I’d Like to See: CD Matches

While I have some issues with iTunes Match – notably the fact that it doesn’t match very well – I was ripping some CDs today, and realized that there is one feature that could be very useful.

I got a 12-disc set of Murray Perahia playing Mozart’s piano concertos, and had to spend a long time ripping the CDs. Wouldn’t it be great if you could insert a CD on your computer, have iTunes match it, then have it added to your library without needing to rip the discs? While you’d have to download the music, it’s still less labor-intensive than ripping CDs, at least for multi-disc sets.

I can see the reason why this wouldn’t work – it’s too easy for a friend to bring their CD collection to your home, and for you to insert one CD after another, matching them, then downloading the tracks. But since you could also just rip that friend’s CDs, it’s not that much of a difference, other than the time saved.

You may ask why I am buying 12-disc sets of music on CD rather than from the iTunes Store or Amazon? It turns out – paradoxically – that most classical box sets are much cheaper than they are by download. I bought this set from Amazon FR, for €30; on iTunes, it’s €60, and it’s not available by download from Amazon FR. Go figure.

Lion Video Freeze Happening Again with New Mac mini

I recently replaced my iMac with a new Mac mini, and I had forgotten how annoying the video freeze problems under Lion had been. Today, trying to view a Flash video on a news site, I had a freeze, exactly like what I had with the iMac and Mac OS X 10.7. The Lion updates had resolved the issue with the iMac, but the errors I see with the Mac mini are exactly the same type. Console logs show the following:

11/20/11 1:34:40.000 PM kernel: ** GPU Debug Info Start **
11/20/11 1:34:40.000 PM kernel: 0x00006741
11/20/11 1:34:40.000 PM kernel: 0x0000008f
11/20/11 1:34:40.000 PM kernel: 0x00000001
11/20/11 1:34:40.000 PM kernel: 0x00000018
11/20/11 1:34:40.000 PM kernel: 0x0000a880
11/20/11 1:34:40.000 PM kernel: 0x00000001
11/20/11 1:34:40.000 PM kernel: 0x00000001
11/20/11 1:34:40.000 PM kernel: 0x00006741
[etc.]

(It’s worth noting that the above messages are almost exactly the same as what I saw on the iMac.)

OK, this is enough. I’m starting to get very frustrated, not only because of this problem, but also because of Apple’s letting me down regarding another problem with the iMac. I’ve very seriously considering doing as some of my friends and colleagues have done and downgrading to Snow Leopard…

Update: It turns out that there is something wrong with the video card – since I get the GPU debug logs in Console, as well as the occasional video artefact – but also, perhaps, a problem with the SSD. Apple is exchanging the Mac mini for a new one, and I should have the replacement in a week. In the mean time, it freezes several times a day…

How Many Matches Does iTunes Match Match, When iTunes Match Does Match Matches?

Apple introduced iTunes Match earlier this week, and I haven’t written anything about it, given that my colleagues at Macworld have done such a good job. I’m also busy working on an update to my Take Control of iTunes 10: The FAQ, which I hope to have finished very soon. (I also have some criticism of iTunes Match, which I wrote about for Macworld: iTunes Match shouldn’t shun those with big libraries.)

In the meantime, what has perplexed me in my experiments with iTunes Match is the number of tracks that aren’t matched. In some cases, a single song may not be matched, even though the rest of an album is matched – Lex Friedman, writing at Macworld, pointed out that in many cases, one song on The Beatles’ Abbey Road (She Came In Through the Bathroom Window) wasn’t matched, even though all the others were. (It turns out that in Lex’s survey of people who tried to match that album, I was the only person who did see that song matched.)

But it’s very odd that some things match and others don’t. I don’t think it has to do with Apple’s recognition algorithm, and suspect that it’s more of a bug. I’ve seen a number of cases where one or more tracks won’t match, even among items that I had purchased from the iTunes Store.

This morning I did an experiment for the people at Hyperion Records (who are one of my sponsors). They asked me to check two albums: one that is sold on the iTunes Store, and has sold quite well, and another, a compilation, that is not on the iTunes Store, but whose individual tracks are all available from the iTunes Store on different discs. The results were surprising: in both cases, some, but not all tracks were matched. In the first example, two of 14 tracks were not matched and had to be uploaded; in the second example, only 8 of 20 tracks were matched. The screen shot below shows the results (click to see a larger screen shot).

I’m perplexed by this, and I wonder how exactly Apple matches tracks. The album above that is sold on the iTunes Store uses exactly the same tags as in the files I tried to match, so if Apple were only matching by tags (which they are not), it would be a perfect match. I know they use some sort of acoustic fingerprinting, and I wonder what causes certain tracks to not be matched.

I have no answers here, simply evidence of the oddity of iTunes Match. If you have other interesting examples to share, feel free to mention them in the comments.

Addendum: it’s worth noting that if you have iTunes match files with poor or non-existent tags, you won’t get tagged versions of those tracks when you redownload them. iTunes stores your tags, and doesn’t supply tags based on their matches.

Syncing E-Mail Accounts Via iTunes – Apple’s Tech Support Lets Me Down

As you can imagine, I have lots of Apple products. To give just a quick rundown, in my home-office at the moment are two iMacs, two MacBook Airs, an iPad, an iPod touch, an iPod classic, and sundry other devices (Magic Trackpad, wireless keyboard, external DVD drive, dock, etc.) Since I live in the country, far from any Apple repair center, I buy AppleCare contracts for all my Macs. However, I don’t buy them for the iPods and iPads, and never have.

Apple’s support has always been excellent, though they were not able to resolve a recent problem, and this disturbs me. But I’m writing now about a problem with iTunes and my iOS devices, and the fact that Apple effectively offers no support.

Before iCloud was introduced, I had a MobileMe family pack; this gave me five accounts, one for myself, one for my wife, one for my son, and an additional one I used for an e-mail address and iDisk for this blog. Since I changed to iCloud, I had to drop that latter address, and created a contact address on my own server, mcelhearn.com. However, even though I deleted that address in Mail, it still shows up in the iTunes Info tab, under the Sync Mail Accounts section. Now, it’s no big deal that I can’t remove it, but at the same time, a new account I created for a client doesn’t show up in that section.

So I first called AppleCare. They couldn’t help; they said that I should contact Apple’s Express Lane service for MobileMe support. They couldn’t help, and said I should contact iTunes support. I did so, and got a particularly clueless woman on the phone who actually told me that I have to email iTunes support to have them remove the email accounts. She clearly didn’t understand what the problem was – I made it very clear, using small words, that this is account information on my Mac, and has nothing to do with anything that iTunes controls.

I’ve actually become increasingly disappointed with Apple’s support in the past couple of years. While they’re good with hardware problems – in most cases, not in the problem I linked to above – their support for services is increasingly poor. I know that Apple has to support a lot of people using services such as iTunes, and now iCloud, but if they don’t have efficient support for these services, people will get annoyed. (To be fair, iTunes’ e-mail support for purchase problems has always been efficient, if not particularly fast.)

In any case, I have no answer to this problem. I’m guessing there’s a file to delete somewhere, but I haven’t been able to find out which one. Any ideas? Feel free to post in the comments.

Writing a Novel for NaNoWriMo? Get My Take Control of Scrivener Book at Half Price

It was the best of months, it was the worst of months… With apologies to Charles Dickens, the annual National Novel Writing Month, commonly shortened to NaNoWriMo, is upon us, that month when anyone feeling a novel bubbling up inside can join a multitude of others in the camaraderie of putting pen to paper, er… placing pixels on, er… writing stuff down.

To aid in this most noble of tasks, we have a month-long, 50%-off sale on two Take Control ebooks: Kirk McElhearn’s Take Control of Scrivener 2 and Michael Cohen’s Take Control of TextExpander. Although we’re certain that Kirk’s literary homages to Herman Melville and Michael’s punning wordplay are worthy of emulation, plot and character development aren’t our focus with Take Control. Our focus is helping you with technology, and in this case we’ve slashed the prices on these two ebooks because the programs they help you master—Scrivener and TextExpander—are brilliant examples of how technology can improve the writing process, whether you’re writing science fiction, a what-if historical novel, or yet another zombie romance.

Each ebook lists for $10, so with this sale you can pick up either one for $5 or buy both for $10.

To buy either or both of these books, go to the Take Control Books web site.