David Caolo

Earlier this afternoon, I was doing my Saturday chores. Folding laundry, moving trash to the shed, tidying up the house. With the TV off, Norah Jones on iTunes and my wife out with the kids, I was having a nice time.

I walked into the playroom, and it looked like the Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop had exploded. Dried Play Doh was everywhere. I went into the kitchen, got a trash bag, and returned to the playroom.

As I bent over to start scooping, I saw the kids’ dry erase board. On it was scribbles, dots and my daughter’s name, written in her own hand. Her squiggly little letters declared ownership of the random markings above and below. As I stared her little piece of artwork, I couldn’t help but acknowledge how earth-shatteringly awesome my life is.

My parents worked two jobs each and were the very definition of “broke.” My dad was gone before my sisters and I woke up in the morning, and returned each night to find us sitting patiently at the dinner table, not permitted to begin eating until he arrived.

My mother worked the graveyard shift at the hostpial, and went back to sleep after getting us out the door to school. As a parent myself, I understand the full weight of the sacrafices they made for us, and I’ll love and respect them for the rest of my life for it.

It’s a different story with my own family. We’re not rich; far from it. But my wife works as an elementary school teacher, and spends the whole summer at the lake or beach with the kids. It’s great for all three of them; a dream life.

But the biggest dream realized is my own. For years, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if I could work from home? Wouldn’t it be phenomenal if I was a major part of the Mac community? Wouldn’t it be amazing if I was always available for my kids, whenever they need me?”

I spend two days a week working outside of my house. Two days. Other than that, I’m either working from the kitchen table or with some of my friends at a co-operative office. I’m the co-lead blogger at one of the top Mac sites on the web. I’ve never missed a ballet rehearsal or recital, soccer game, school “show,” birthday party or whatever.

My wife and I aren’t rich, but we pay our bills and have enough left over for an occasional day at Water Wiz. And that’s just perfect by us.

I love that I can recognize the improvements in Grace’s scrawled letters. I love that I know what the kids’ favorite books are, the names of their school buddies and the silly routines that get them to bed.

Most importantly, I know that it can end in an instant.

Sometimes, things are so good, I just want to stop and write it down. I’m not religious, but I’m certainly blessed.

Shawn Blanc published an article on iTunes 8’s Genius feature. Not everyone likes it, but I sure do, and that’s because it accommodates the way I listen to music.

I don’t sort music by album, artist or rating. I sort music by mood. Specifically, I listen to music that compliments or enhances my mood. Until now, that’s meant lot of skipping around or compiling time-consuming playlists. With Genius enabled, I simply select a representative song and click a button. iTunes (or my iPhone) does the rest.

For example, I listen to mellow music while I’m working. One of my favorite tracks is Björk’s Vökuró, and the playlist that Genius created* for me based upon it is great: Portishead, Boards of Canada, Thievery Corporation, Radiohead.

Conversely, the Genius playlist I started with Van Halen’s Panama is just as good: Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Smashing Pumpkins, The Cult. As Shawn mentions, it gets better as more people use it. I’ve also noticed that results are better with large iTunes libraries.

Michael Mistretta complained that Genius “…will simply be used to sell you more music.” Perhaps, but that’s not what I’ve gotten out of it. Truthfully, I think Complete My Album is more of a cash grab.

I was glad to see Shawn’s article, because I think Genius gets less press than it deserves. It’s a huge feature.

*Here’s that playlist in iTunes as an iMix (I don’t make anything off of it).

Earlier this week, Billboard posted an article about the “Complete My Album” feature in iTunes

“In the past few months, labels and artists have begun releasing multiple tracks in advance of an album’s street date to promote new releases, relying in no small degree on Apple’s iTunes Music Store’s Complete My Album feature to convert them into full-album sales — in some cases with striking effectiveness … But those rates could start climbing now that acts like Lil Wayne, Jason Mraz, the Cure and the Jonas Brothers are using the feature as a marketing tool.”

Here’s what I said about “Complete My Album” fifteen months ago

“Nice try, Apple, but I neglected the songs I did because I don’t want them. Just because they’re cheaper or available for a limited time only doesn’t make them more appealing. I’m going to guess that the record companies are behind this “feature” and not Apple, as the latter have always promoted single-track purchases, and the former have not.”

Well done, Billboard! Welcome to March, 2007!