Turn off the World … and Dream

I’m new to MyMac.com. It’s nice to be here. Exactly how I wandered into Tim Robertson’s life is a story for another time. But I’m happy for the chance to develop my writing skills — all at your expense. Such a deal.

There’s a lot to say. More than ever. Technology is changing so fast, one can hardly keep up — if keeping up is what one is so inclined to do. And I am so inclined.

My parents still pay their bills with a checkbook and a 37-cent stamp. They fill out their IRS forms with an ink pen. I don’t know whether that’s good or not. Sometimes, in a moment of reflection, I think it may be good. A sign of a simpler time. But ask me if I’m ever gonna go back to that. No way. So computers must be useful after all.

I thought I’d start things off by saying something about Macworld. I read lots of stories right afterwards that used the words “snooze-a-thon”. How ridiculous. Teen age boys were probably staying awake nights thinking about an Apple Tivo so they could record episodes of Tremors on the SciFi channel. Get serious. Hollywood isn’t done yet litigating against the PVRs. They hate them. Does Apple want to undo all those good vibes? Or some kind of Star Trek-like note pad. Get a clue. It’s no better than carrying a Newton and and cell phone around.

Give me something useful.

And that that’s just what Apple did. They gave us Garage Band, and it’s going to blow the lid off the music industry. Soon, Apple will have to sell a personal “iTunes Music Store” for your Web server so you and your friends can sell your new music. The uses for Garage Band haven’t even been thought of yet. In addition to teaching young people how to compose music, (more sales to education), Apple customers will be creating their own simple background music. Just think. Piano solos for the rest of us. And maybe a few of your own customized system sounds. After all, the output is .aiff files. Just drop them into your Library/Sounds folder.

Garage Band may turn out to be the most influential product of 2004. Everything else is just a toy that manipulates you for someone else’s gain. We’re looking at pop-up text messages on our future cell phones and video commercials that can’t be blocked on the larger Websites. But Garage Band? You can turn off the world, sit alone, and create something that’s never existed before on Earth.

Too bad the name Dream Works is taken.