The Apple Bus

First and foremost I'm a hater! In most instances I'm an educated

hater. I've never been one to do what everyone else is doing, never been one to be a part of the crowd...can't give you a legit rhyme or reason as to why, other than there's something written in my DNA to hate.

In November of 1999, I was one of the first people to discover the great concept of Napster. Initially I only shared this great discovery with people I knew who had discriminating taste for music. Then one day in December of 1999, in an effort to date this one random chick, I was telling her about the concept of Napster; 2 years later Napster is served notice from "Too many people downloading non RIAA approved music". I blame myself b/c obviously that chick ran her mowf...needless to say i have no idea where she is, but I digress...

So in 2002, when Apple announced its service to download music for $.99/pop...I was instantly hating.

"Aw man that'll NEVER TAKE OFF"
"What the hell is Apple doing??"
"Why would you need a device to play your mp3s?"

5 years later the name iPod is synonymous with MP3 player as "Kleenex" is to tissue paper and "Tivo" is to recording television. Many of my friends praised how easy the whole process is (Peace to my man Bradley Logan in Chicago, my homegirl Crystal Johnson in Beantown for constantly being in my ear about the reasons I need an iPod).

While everyone was riding the apple bus, I was still storing my mp3s on Flash drives, and boasting about the greatness of Sirius Satellite Radio

(Editor's Note: I still love satellite radio, and for those of you who still listen to commercial radio, you honestly don't know what you're missing).

Fast forward to early October 2007. I went to an after-work event conference event w/ my wife in San Antonio, TX. The sponsoring group took us WAY OUT in the sticks to this place called Knibee (pronounced: Kah-Ni-bee) Ranch.

Editor's Note: All BS aside, this place was actually kinda fun...but back to the story

After dinner @ the ranch, they had a dance instructor teach us how to country line dancing. Needless to say your guy B. Holcomb was all over this like stank on doo doo!! After learning how to "Boot Scoot Boogie" and 3 other dances...they announce that they're going to have a country line dancing contest..and the winner gets an iPod Nano...

...so after I get back to our hotel room, I'm looking @ my brand new iPod Nano (Y'all i tore it up!), I began to get curious about the world of iTunes. I remember cracking the box open and thinking "Wow, this instruction manual is no bigger than a regular flyer to a party...man, maybe it is easy to jump on board. BTW, I wonder how that iPhone is doing...?"

2 weeks from that original thought, after much research and an actual demonstration from one of my co-workers; I am now the proud owner of iPhone, and i gave my iPod to The Court (who was also hating on the Apple experience).

Let me just say that after she actually sat down and understood the capabilities of the iPod, she spent the majority of Monday night uploading her CDs into her newly created iTunes account. Took a 3 hour break to go to a breast feeding class, came back from the class, and continued uploading her CDs. Then she got upset w/ me today b/c I took her car into work (Hey, my whip needed gas, and I was running late) where the majority of the music she listens to resides...so now she has to wait until I get back home tonight to finsh her uploading!



The iPhone

I've been in the market for a new cell phone since about Labor Day, when my phone began to shut off for no apparent reason. This glitch didn't happen too much, but often enough for me to grow concerned. The need for a new cell phone was futher fueled after Courtney came back home w/ a blackberrry curve (That mug is pretty dope BTW)...so I had to step my game up, and I was going back & fourth b/w the Tilt and the iPhone.

Honestly I read so much stuff on the net that had me going back & 4th that I was sharing my confusion w/ a co-worker, who then mentions "Oh I have an iPhone you wanna see it?" From that moment I was sold!

Let me say first and foremost, of all the phones I've ever owned...this is far and away the easiest phone I've ever set up, and I've experenced the least gradual learning curve ever with regards to understanding all this phone can do! (Kinda in line w/ the whole "Apple products are easy to use" tag line. Allow me to continue w/ a brief overview:

Editor's Note: There's a huge chance that I probably won't cover a question you had about the iPhone. For those of you who have my contact information, hit me up and I'll be happy to answer any ?s, or I'll give you a demonstration @ the next HH on demand only...

When I went to purchase the iPhone, a gentleman in the store (who was also interested in the iPhone)who was dissapointed that the iPhone is not a 3G phone. Initially this didn't bother me...but now I can see why that would bother some people. For those who aren't familiar, the term "3G" is equivalent to broadband speeds on your mobile phone. For those of you who use ur phone to email, surf the net, or text message this is an optimal requirement.

The iPhone relys on the AT&T Edge Network, which truth be told is "okay". Fortunately, the feature that allows you to add Wi-Fi is a big help to allow your phone to obtain optimal data transfer speeds. The bad part is, if you're in a non Wi-Fi area, OR you're @ a friends house who has Wi-Fi, but you have to ask him/her for their "passcode" so your phone can share their network. Depending who you are this may not be a bad thing...but you can certainly appreciate how that can be a small bother.

My buddy AG described the function of the phone back in July the best. He said "It's similar to the technology that the Pre-Crime Unit used in the Tom Cruise joint Minority Report (Great movie btw). For those of who I just lost, just picture know this: The whole touch screen functionality of the iPhone is incredible! Everything is operated by "touch". To surf the net...you touch a button, to change pages in the Internet, you touch. To search for music in your iPod...you touch. To call up the phone functionality...you touch. It's pretty nice!

The iPod interface of the iPhone is great also! I've read that this is the best iPod Apple has ever made...and based on what I've seen from other iPods, I can agree. Again the "touch" functionality coupled w/ the visual experience of searching for music...unprecedented.

Let me talk about the Visual Voicemail! Simply put, when you have voicemail, the interface displays like eMail! You're given a display of who called (and if they aren't in your contacts list, the # from where they called displayed), and you can pick and choose which Voicemails that you want to hear first (similar to choosing which email you want to read first). I love it!

Okay, last things I'll say about the iPhone, and those are the things I hate

• The inability to support stereo Bluetooth.-The iPhone has a special pair of headphones that comes w/ the device in order for you to maximize your iPod functionality. If you rcv a call, there's a button you click on the headset to pause the music and accept the call. Clicking the same button will return you to your music. Because I find these headphones cumbersome, I would prefer using my bluetooth headset...but @ least I can still use my bluetooth headset as a wireless phone device still.
  
• The inability to receive MMS -MMS stands for Multimedia Messaging Service. IN other words, I cannot send pictures or video; nor can I rcv pictures & video. However I did find a "work around" to sending pictures to friends...but still, why do I need a "work around"? This is supposed to be the phone of phones?? My man seems confident that once Apple allows 3rd party software developers to come on board to the iPhone in Feb 08, this will be one of the upgrades...one can only hope. The good news is on my old phone, I can count how many times I used the video camera (the iPHone lax a video camera...no big deal for me), and how many times I've sent pictures on two hands. I just would hate to miss out on that ONE funny picture that is shared amongst friends, that my iPhone won't be able to receive.
  
  

Well, I've talked your ear off about the Apple experience, and the iPhone...needless to say Courtney and I are officially on the Apple bus, and we've probably bought our last big ticket item for the next 5-7 years...in the meantime little mama would be taking ALL of our dough!!!

The guy who'll do better updating his blog,
B. Holcomb

"I still remember the first time i saw that dance It was @ the Yucatan*, and it reminded me of the Peanuts dancing...i think it was the 'and kick' part"---My friend Quia on her initial reaction to the Cupid Shuffle

*-The Yucatan is a bar located in Dallas, TX...she's not referencing the Penisula (sp?)

P.S. Welcome to the blog space 3 of my favorite girls I like to party with (although 1 of them falls asleep b4 midnight on cue) right here