williamhartz.com/blog » itunes

Media Overload

William Hartz — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:09:06 +0000

I was looking through some old blog posts and noticed something either remarkable or completely pathetic. I am unsure which it is.

In a blog post dated May 7, 2007 I mentioned that my current iTunes Library was holding at the following levels:

3728 Songs (12-days 13-hours 37-mins 30-sec | 7.69Gb)
33 Movies (03-hours 13-mins 24-sec | 2.01Gb)
44 TV Shows (01-day 07-hours 50-mins 32-sec | 20.32Gb)
447 Podcasts (12-days 16-hours 59-mins 45-sec | 15.03Gb
10 Audiobooks (21-hours 03-mins 25-sec | 289.5Mb)

Noticing the date was exactly 2 years ago, and being the curious mind that I am, I went to iTunes to see what has happened in the past 2 years. The results are as follows.

6002 Songs (19-days 18-hours 29-mins 51-sec | 34.47Gb)
76 Movies (02-days 17-hours 32-mins 45-sec | 33.78Gb)
131 TV Shows (03-days 16-hours 05-mins 10-sec | 63.36Gb)
839 Podcasts (24-days 03-hours 21-mins 14-sec | 34.77Gb
71 Audiobooks (14-days 09-hours 08-mins 31-sec | 4.64Gb)

It’s astonishing how large my library has grown in only 730 days. If my math is correct, and there is a somewhat likely possibility that it is not:

Music has increased 61%
Movies have increased 133%
TV Shows have increased 197%
Podcasts have increased 87% (not taking into account the fact that I regularly delete all old, outdated podcasts to free space)
Audiobooks have increased 610%

Where did all that media come from? I suppose one good thing to see is that my audiobook content has had the most drastic increase, and therefore I am obviously reading more. It’s just amazing, though, when you see the actual numbers in front of you.

iTunes Saturday, v11.0

William Hartz — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 16:04:51 +0000

Busy, busy day. So busy, in fact, that I probably shouldn’t be sitting here typing this. It’s Retreat week. I leave this coming Thursday afternoon to setup, build the set, and get everything ready for the kids to come up on Friday night. There is still so much work to do. I’ve delegated or handed a lot more work to other people this year that I would normally do myself in the past. It’s really helped to maintain some level of sanity. I’d probably go nuts if it weren’t for people like Michael, Jose, and Jesus, who have all taken complete control of projects I used to do and for others like Janelle, and Michael (again) who have shared the load in others. Thanks, all!

Today I’m heading out to buy some things I need to continue the projects I am working on, doing some more video work and design work, and then setting up and running Fusion tonight at the Liberty Center. It’s going to be a late night. I’ve already told the people at church that I’m not coming in Sunday morning since I’m going to be out so late Saturday night doing stuff. Dave, the guy who helps with sound, seems a bit nervous that I won’t be there with him tomorrow, but I have full faith that he can handle it.

The Rules:
(1) You put your main music library in iTunes on “shuffle” and hit play. (2) You then list the subsequent songs that play at random. And so, here’s the next 10 random songs in my iTunes library. Ratings are included, and, of course, no cheating.

01. After the Fire – Der Kommissar *****
02. Youth Alive – Jump to the Jam *
03. Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard – Like a Dog Chasing Cars (Dark Knight Soundtrack) ****
04. Crosby, Stills, & Nash – Suite: Judy Blue Eyes ****
05. Alice Cooper – School’s Out (For the Summer) ***
06. Amy Seeley – Gravel Lines (EP Version) *****
07. Amy Seeley – These Walls ***
08. Kirk Franklin – Blessing in the Storm ***
09. Hillsong – All for Love *****
10. Michael Regalado & William Hartz – The Room, vol 5: Embrace God’s Way [No rating]

I can’t really see any theme that iTunes was trying to share today. I guess it was just being random.

What are your next 10 songs? Leave a comment.

Saturday iTunes v10.0

William Hartz — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 04:51:32 +0000

So I’m doing this “Saturday iTunes” entry much later than I normally do… if I do it at all. In fact, it’s so late that it’s almost Sunday as I’m typing this.

Anyway. Today was a good day. I woke up and finished editing down a video that I’ve been working on. I’m going to let it render while I sleep tonight and upload it tomorrow. Carlos came over to give me some stuff for his teaching tomorrow at church. It’s “youth Sunday” and The Bridge is taking over the adult service. There were some things to scan and he game me some pictures, but he also gave me his completed outline. Then I got inspired…. inspiration is a dangerous thing. I made slides for a bunch of his points, including raiding iStock Photo for images, and put together, what I think is, quite a nice presentation. Not to brag, but I really pulled out all the stops with the designs. My brother helped a great deal too. We tried a lot to make them the nicest we can while not getting too crazy. I’ll post a video of the slides tomorrow.

Later in the day Janelle and Ali came over and we went with them for Ali to get a new dachshund puppy. After the adventures in canine retrieval, I went to the Liberty to finish all the last details for tomorrow and to setup the Retreat9 registration table in the lobby. Now, finally, I am home and my work is done. And so, here is my Saturday iTunes for February 14, 2009.

01. Moby – Honey ****
02. MuteMath – Chaos *****
03. The Rolling Stones – She Was Hot (Live) ****
04. Nima Gorji – Logical Mind ****
05. Newsboys – Adoration ****
06. Audio Adrenaline – Goodbye ***
07. The OC Supertones – Escape from Reason *****
08. WWE – Break the Walls Down (Chris Jericho’s Theme) ***
09. RUN-DMC – Bounce *****
10. Coldplay – Lovers in Japan *****

Seems iTunes was in a very good mood today, playing really, really good songs overall. There was a good mix of style and variety as well. Very nice.

What are your next 10 songs? Leave a comment.

Saturday iTunes v9.0

William Hartz — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:25:27 +0000

I’m sitting here with my Bigelow French Vanilla tea (my favorite… so good) as my brother and Romulo play Rock Band 2 across the room. An unnamed bassist (not related to me) keeps losing on System of a Down‘s B.Y.O.B. I keep getting asked to come fill in to pass the song, but no… I am blogging. I have priorities. Anyway, there are not too many plans today. I have to go to the Liberty for an hour or so to make sure everything is ready for tomorrow’s church services. It’s also Rosie’s birthday. I’m not sure if anything is happening for that, but I’d expect there to be at least a cake of sorts. Anyway, here is my Saturday iTunes for January 17, 2009.

01. BT – The Internal Locus ***
02. The Apples in Stereo – Can You Feel It? **
03. Newsboys – Lord (I Don’t Know) ***
04. Starsound Orchestra – Cotton Eyed Joe **
05. Norah Jones – Feelin’ the Same Way ***
06. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Scar Tissue ****
07. Ron Kenoly – Oh the Glory of Your Presence ***
08. Ron Kenoly – Let Everything that has Breath *
09. Sozo – Global Culture Sega Child **
10. Scott Blackwell – Love Came Down ****

Wow, iTunes seems to have been in a strange mood today. A whole lot of mediocrity with only one or two decent selects, into a Ron Kenoly worship block (that’s kind of embarrassing) and then straight forward to a 1990′s techno groove.

In order to recoup some dignity, I will just suggest that the songs thereafter the initial 10 were slightly more respectable, including Red, U2, The Postal Service, and Dave Matthews Band.

What are your next 10 songs? Leave a comment.

Saturday iTunes v8.0

William Hartz — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 23:24:48 +0000

It’s back! After a short hiatus (of about 8 months) I’m going to try to keep up with posting Saturday iTunes every week. This Saturday has been a slow one. I’ve mostly been working on the computer, editing photos, and enjoying some nice french vanilla tea (so good). It’s snowing out, and the accumulation has been piling up heartily the past few hours. There are rumors that this storm is to be a big one. I know of some places already saying that they will be closed or opening late tomorrow. I fear what may be outside in the morning. Anyway, Saturday iTunes…

01. David Crowder*Band – Deliver Me (Antidromic Mix) *****
02. Moby – Bodyrock *****
03. The Pointer Sisters – Automatic ****
04. Rocky I – Gonna Fly Now *****
05. Nine Inch Nails – Echoplex ***
06. TV Themes – The Andy Griffith Show No rating
07. WWE – The Wind Beneath Our Ring *
08. Falling Up – Jackson Five ****
09. Jars of Clay – Five Candles (You Were There) ****
10. U2 – Desire **

What are your next 10 songs? Leave a comment.

iTunes Saturday v7.0

William Hartz — Sun, 04 May 2008 03:42:33 +0000

Greetings fellow audiophiles! It’s Saturday… at least it will be for another 30 minutes or so. That means it’s time for another exciting rendition of iTunes Saturday, where you get to peer into the musical listenings of me, myself, and I. As always, here are the rules. (1) You put your main music library in iTunes on “shuffle” and hit play. (2) You then list the subsequent songs that play at random. And so, here’s the next 10 random songs in my iTunes library. Ratings are not included this week as my desktop has suffered injury due to a power outage/surge a few days ago and must return to Apple for repair as it seems to be beyond my capabilities (after several methods and attempts to fix) and I am running off my notebook, which doesn’t have a rated library. And of course, no cheating:

01. Pillar – Holding On
02. Shane & Shane – Yearn
03. Chris Tomlin – Not to Us
04. clauderoubillie – si…
05. Matisyahu – What I’m Fighting For
06. Oslo – Alive
07. Shane & Shane – Over the Sun
08. POD – Set it Off
09. Pillar – Crossfire
10. Michael Jackson – Smooth Criminal

What are your next 10 random songs? Leave a comment.

iTunes Saturday v6.0

William Hartz — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:27:49 +0000

Here we go again… another weekend is upon us, and so here is this week’s edition of iTunes Saturday… everyone’s favorite meme. Ok, maybe not. As always, here are the rules. (1) You put your main music library in iTunes on “shuffle” and hit play. (2) You then list the subsequent songs that play at random. And so, here’s the next 10 random songs in my iTunes library. Ratings are included, and, of course, no cheating:

01. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Dani California *****
02. Melanie C – I Turn to You (Club Mix) (No rating)
03. Elvis Presley – Jailhouse Rock (No rating)
04. Leeland – Lift Your Eyes (No rating)
05. Kirk Franklin – The Appeal (No rating)
06. Vineyard – Father, I Want You to Hold Me ****
07. Mala Rodríguez – Por la Noche ***
08. Aerosmith – Fly Away from Here ****
09. Rebecca St James – Lamb of God ***
10. Kevin Becker – WInds of Change ****
11.The Beatles – Something ***
12. Refuge – Funky Elevator Music (band practice) ****
13. TV Themes – Mad About You (No rating)
14. Pillar – Intro *
15. POD – Rock the Party (Off the Hook) ***

I included 15 tracks since I haven’t blogged in a while. Lots of songs without ratings this week. I should probably let you know that out of 5108 songs in my library, 2322 are unrated. I have been working to remedy this, sometimes spending hours at a time listening to and rating my library. My goal is for everything to be rated. Smart playlists, which I love, are so much more useful when your music is rated. It will take some time though.

Current iTunes Library statistics:
Songs: 5108 items, 16:16:51:22 total time, 26.15Gb
Movies: 69 items, 2:17:09:14 total time, 31.61 Gb
TV Shows: 71 items, 2:04:34:43 total time, 33.86Gb
Podcasts: 624 items, 15:11:23:23 total time, 14.83Gb
Audiobooks: 43 items. 8:11:11:38 total time, 2.74Gb

What is your next 10 random songs? Leave a comment.

In other news, we at The Bridge are working on something pretty cool, and hopefully we’ll be able to announce it and I can post some stuff about it later this weekend.

iTunes Saturday (Sunday Edition) v5

William Hartz — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:44:41 +0000

I was so busy yesterday I didn’t have time to blog. So I’m posting this on Sunday even though it’s supposed to be on Saturday. Here’s my weekly iTunes Shuffle… The rules are simple. (1) You put your main music library in iTunes on “shuffle” and hit play. (2) You then list the subsequent songs that play at random. And so, here’s the next 10 random songs in my iTunes library. Ratings are included, and, of course, no cheating:

01. David Crowder Band – Stars (from the Mount Wilson Observatory mix) *****
02. Michael W Smith – Place in this World *****
03. Kids in the Way – Safety in the Dark (No rating)
04. OC Supertones – Old Friend **
05. Marajosé – Quien Eres Tu (feat Trey Songz) (No rating)
06. Coldplay – God Put a Smile Upon Your Face ***
07. Van Halen – Poundcake ***
08. Gavin DeGraw – I Don’t Wanna Be *****
09. Crownd – You’re Not the One *****
10. Sara Bareilles – Bottle it Up ****

What’s your next 10? Leave a comment.

iTunes Saturday #4

William Hartz — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 04:30:33 +0000

Ok, so it’s technically Sunday since it’s after midnight, but I’m still running on Saturday energy. I’m still on my MacBook, and so the msic is not fully rated but it will do, and so here we go again. The rules are simple. (1) You put your main music library in iTunes on “shuffle” and hit play. (2) You then list the subsequent songs that play at random. And so, here’s the next 10 random songs in my iTunes library. Ratings are included, and, of course, no cheating:

01. Pink Floyd – Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part One) ****
02. Runaway – Got What U Need
03. Midnight Juggernauts – Road to Recovery ****
04. Movie Themes – The Patriot
05. TV Themes – The Price is Right
06. Mike Becker – Give Me Your Love
07. Guns n’ Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine (Live) *****
08. Jonathan Coulton – Still Alive *****
09. Grits – Anybody ***
10. The Cross Movement – Cypha 911 *

What’s your next 10?

iTunes Saturday #3

William Hartz — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 02:14:52 +0000

Happy Saturday all. I missed last week because I was in PA, but now I’m back for another rendition of iTunes Saturday. I’m not sure how this will come out as my main system is a little sick as of late and I’m on my laptop primarily which doesn’t have my full library on it. Ah well… The rules are simple. (1) You put your main music library in iTunes on “shuffle” and hit play. (2) You then list the subsequent songs that play at random. And so, here’s the next 10 random songs in my iTunes library. Ratings are included, and, of course, no cheating:

01. AC/DC – For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) (Live) *****
02. Jars of Clay – Sinking ****
03. Nirvana – Heart Shaped Box ****
04. Dave Matthews Band – Rapunzel (Live) ****
05. Till Bronner – A Distant Episode *****
06. Relient K – Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been ***
07. AC/DC – Hells Bells (Live) **
08. Jars of Clay – Ship Wreck *****
09. TV Themes – The Donna Reed Show
10. Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive **

What’s your next ten? Leave a comment.