Have you downloaded the newest version of iTunes, and set up iTunes Match yet? I did the other day, with trepedation and caution, but it worked out pretty well. I have about 20,000 tracks in my iTunes library, so I haven’t set up my iPhone or iPad to use Match yet, but that’s the next step.

My real interest was to upgrade the quality of CDs I ripped years ago at a lower-than-256 kps bitrate. I had a collection of over 400 CDs that I ripped over the course of a year shortly after iTunes made it possible, back when. Some are as low as 128kps, so the upgrade in quality is pretty major.

I was really concerned about deleting music that had been Matched, but it turned out to work perfectly when I followed the directions posted by Matt Elliott on MacFixit yesterday. How to use iTunes Match to upgrade audio quality spells out the easiest way to determine which tracks are available and in need of upgrading, and how to actually do it.

I started with one track I didn’t really care about and deleted it from my iTunes library (but didn’t trash the file). Immediately it was back with an icon in the “iCloud” column showing a cloud with downward pointing arrow. I highlighted the track and pressed Command – I to see the bitrate and other info, and sure enough, instead of the 160 kbs it was, now it showed 256.

Then I option-clicked on the track to downolad the track, which it did nicely, and I checked the folder in my iTunes library where it was stored, and sure enough, both versions of the track were there. I deleted the old one, and began to feel comfortable.

Then I set up the Smart Playlists as suggested in Matt’s post, followed his instructions, and it worked perfectly!

Oh, and artwork and ratings stayed intact, too!

Addendum: Here’s another page full of good info on iTunes Match from ars technica.

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I love Evernote, and use it a lot, on my Macs and on my iPad. It allows me to move data between my devices easily, and to keep track of different kinds of information easily.

This morning I saw a post on MacAppStorm called 9 Unique and Useful Ways to Use Evernote by Jorge Rodriguez that does a great job of describing how useful Evernote can be.

I was going to post something about Evernote one of these days, but this article covers the territory, and better than I could. If you have any use for a “notebook” app, Evernote deserves a look. It’s far and away superior in my opinion.

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Apple released iPhoto 9.0.1 update to address the problems a few users have experienced updating their iPhoto libraries after purchasing iLife ’11.

Use Software Update or go to Apple’s download page to get the update. If you purchase iLife ’11, download the update and install it immediately after installing the ’11 suite, before you open iPhoto. This should prevent the problems that have been reported by early adopters.

Apple’s knowledge base article with information about the update and the problems it addresses. I recommend reading it, so you’ll know what the move to iPhoto ’11 will involve.

Expect upgrading a large iPhoto library to take quite a while… could be over an hour.

Upgrading after a force-quitting a previous attempt could result in data loss.

If you did force-quite an upgrade attempt be sure to install iPHoto 9.0.1 before trying again.

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Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac will detect and block malware on Macintosh computers, and is free. It is a non-commercial version of Sophos Anti-Virus 7.2 for Mac, targeted for home users.

This software is easier to install and use, according to Sophos, and while malware is not the huge threat it is for Windows users, there are indications that the Mac platform may be targeted in the future. The Boonana Trojan that surfaced last week (see my previous blog post) certainly could be a problem for unwary social networkers, clicking on a seemingly innocent link.

The free software comes with no online or phone tech support, but Sophos has launched a Mac support forum to provide answers to questions.

The new release joins ClamXav, Avasi and PCTools’ IAntiVirus as free solutions for Mac users.

Sophos has a blog post describing malware threats on the Mac platform. Use your own judgment regarding your particular need for antivirus software… but know that when it is running you may experience a performance hit. Somewhat slower performance is not unusual when antivirus apps are running.

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Pirated software is surely a big issue to developers, but activation can be a real pain to users. Microsoft opts on the side of pain, unfortunately, with Office 2011

When purchased, it comes with a 25-character activation key that MUST be entered within 15 days of running any of the Office apps for the first time. If entered within that period, the whole suite will work correctly.

If the user goes past the grace period, Office 2011 won’t launch. It is completely unusable.

This is actually worse than the grace period and unfortunate ramifications faced by Windows Office 2011 users.

They get 30 days to activate the suite, and can reset the grace period countdown up to 5 times, with a total of 180 days before their out of time.

If the Windows version goes past the grace period, it goes into a “reduced functionality mode” that allows opening the apps and viewing documents already created, but no editing or printing.

In addition, Microsoft reduced the number of Macs we can install Office on legally and uses activation to make sure we don’t break the end-user licensing agreement, also called EULA.

The Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student EULA allows 3 licenses, each with a separate serial number, and each license allowed installation on a desktop and a laptop, totaling 6 installations.

Office for Mac 2011 now uses a single activation code, halving the number of installations allowed. The $150 Home and Student 2011 Family Pack allows installation on 3 devices. Period.

Here’s some more ammo for Apple and the iWork suite. I own Office 2008 for Mac, but made iWork 09 my choice for word processing, spreadsheet usage and, along with the online-only Prezi (prezi.com), Keynote for presentation. Office 2008 was too clunky and slow. The 2011 version may be faster and better, but I’d use the Home and Office version, which would cost $280 for my two installs.

You do the math… if you need to have formatting stay constant with versions of documents going back and forth in a group, for example, it may require Office 2011, as iWork apps may change the formatting to greater or lesser degree. If minor changes won’t matter, saving nearly $200 (for two installations) may appeal. Just my opinion…

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If you’re a Safari 5 user, you may or may not know that there are heaps of extensions, more every day, to extend, change, add usability or otherwise modify Safari. Some are very useful, some have a narrow market. Most are free, and all can be disabled or uninstalled easily.

Apple’s Extension Gallery is a great place to look for extensions, but like the App Store, there’s a lot to look through, and perhaps test out, to find the few gems you really need.

Computerworld has an article by Ryan Fass and Logan Kugler, called Thirty great Safari Extensions — so far. The article has instructions for installation and shows the Preferences pane where you can disable or uninstall extensions easily, and lists 30 very useful Safari extensions. I don’t use them all, nor will you, but I was delighted with the selection… and downloaded about 8 to play with. Typically I’ll keep 2 or 3, but with this lot, maybe more.

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A great review by Robert Mohns, a freelance reviewer, is posted on the Macintouch site providing a comprehensive look at the changes in the new Office suite.

Rather than attempt to digest the review for you, I’m recommending that anyone interested go to Macintouch and read the full review. It covers all the changes, the pros and cons, and some alternatives to Office for Mac.

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I don’t know how widespread the problem is, but there are reports of iLife ’11 purchasers opening iPhoto ’11, waiting a loooong time for their library to update, and then finding their images gone.

Events are in some cases named correctly, but the images are gone, though placeholders may remain. In one case, the iPhoto library shrank from 233GB to 6.3GB!

Another user reported that he connected his camera to his Mac and used Image Capture to open a day’s worth of photos. He set it to import the photos into iPhoto ’11 and delete the images from the camera (NOT a good idea… I recommend deleting images using the controls on the camera. It may not be necessary, but it’s advice repeated by a large number of experts who should know) but then got an error message indicating there was not enough room on the volume to import the photos.

He had 30 GB of space on his drive, he says, but now has no photos in his camera, or on his Mac from the day’s shooting… a unique day and unrepeatable, apparently.

The first user had a Time Machine backup and was able to recover his iPhoto library. In fact, he backed it up twice.

This may be unusual behavior, but any time we use new software that has to upgrade a library or otherwise change data, it’s essential to backup before hand.

I am planning to get iLife ’11 in the near future and will report my experiences, and in the mean time, don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the new app.

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Lots of new goodies announced by apple today, including a completely revised MacBook Air line, iLife ’11, and FaceTime (still in beta) allowing video chat between a Mac running FaceTime and an IOS device that is FaceTime capabable.

MacBook Air

4 Models, 2 sizes comprise the new line, all with flash-storage, solid state internal drives rather than hard drives. They have a Core 2 Duo processor with 13.3″ (1440×900 pixel) or 11.6″ (1366×768) displays.

The 11 inch MacBook Air weighs in at 2.3 lbs (1.06kg) and measures .11 inch high at the front, .68″ at the back (0.3-1.7cm), 11.8″ wide (29.95cm) and 7.56″ (19.2cm) deep. The 13: ‘Air has the same height, but is 12.8″ (32.5cm) wide and 8.94″ (22.7cm) deep, and weighs in at a not-so-hefty 2.9 lbs (1.32kg).

Both come with 2 USB 2.0 ports (one on each side), a Mini DisplayPort, MagSafe power connector, headphone and mic ports. The 13″ ‘Air also has an SD card port.

The 11″ has a 1.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache, with an optional 1.6GHz processor available, with an 800MHz fronside bus. Memory options are 2GB (standard) or a 4GB upgrade option. Drive options are 64 GB or 128GB.

The 13″ comes with a 1.86GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB L2 cache, offering an optional upgrade to a 2.13GH processor. It comes with a 1066MHz frontside bus, and the same memory options as the 11″. DRives offered are 128 GB and 256GB.

The advertised battery life is up to 5 hours of wireless productivity, with up to 30 days standby time on the 11″ (35 wat-hour, 45W MagSafe Power Adapter) while the 13″ will do up to 7 hours wireless productivity, the same standby time, and uses a 50 watt-hour, 45W MagSafe adapter.

Both ‘Air’s graphics are provided by an NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor with 256MB RAM shared with main memory. Dual display and video mirroring are built in, and support resolution up to 2560×1600 on an external display (while using full native res. on the built-in display) at millions of colors.

The wireless capability and Bluetooth are the same as on the MacBook/Pro lines, and the ‘Air comes with a FaceTime camera, so video chats are basically built-in to the MacBook Air line.

Neither will be rockets, but should be more than adequate for the travelling user they’re designed for. Prices range from $999 to $1,599 for the standard line.

iLife ’11

Free with new Macs, iLife ’11 is priced at $49 retail, which makes it a “deal of the Century” in my opinion. It does more, and better, than any other option for photos, movies and music in the price range.

iPhoto ’11 has new full screen modes for browsing, editing and showcasing photos. Sharing is easy, via email, facebook or slideshows. It has new features for creating books and cards as well.

iMovie ’11 has a Trailer creation feature, so you can create trailers for your home movies using 15 thems from Adventure to Romantic Comedy, with soundtracks and graphics to match. Audio level tools and new visual effects will allow more sophisticated movie editing. People Finder will analyze your videos and mark selections with faces, and iMovie ’11 has new themes for you to make your videos more like professional news or sports shows.

GarageBand ’11 has a couple of new tools for changing the timing of music recordings. Flex Time allows you to move, stretch or shorten individual notes without affecting the rest of the recording, and Groove Matching lets you select any track as the “Groove Track”, and all other tracks will match it’s rythm. GB ’11 also adds 7 new guitar amps, new effects and 22 new Basic Lessons for piano and guitar, with a new “How did I Play” feature that listens when you play a lesson and highlights mistakes and tracks your progress.

iLife ’1 requires OS X 10.6.3 or later, Macs with Intel processors, 1GB RAM, a DVD drive (for installation) and 5 GB of disk space. A family pack including 5 licenses is available for $79, in addition to the individual license.

FiceTime for Mac

A public beta of FaceTime for Mac is available, a new application that allows Mac users to video call iPhone 4 and iPod Touch users as well as other Mac users. Using Address Book contacts and the built-in mic and camera on Mac portables, iMacs and Apple LED dosplays, the new app allows video chats, and video phone calls.

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The dock icon for Apple’s Mail app shows you how many messages ready to read, but it does a lot more.

Control-clicking on the dock icon, or right-clicking until the menu comes up will allow you to get new mail, to compose a new message, or to compose a new note. Mail does have to be open, but not active for this to work.

If you’re in another application, and want to do a quick email, this is a great shortcut… although the few seconds it saves over moving to the open Mail app won’t save you too much time, it adds up over time.

I leave Mail open, but hidden most of the time. I will Command-Tab or click on the dock icon to activate Mail, but found that Control-clicking on the icon to create a new email saves a couple of clicks. Try it out for yourself!

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