* I saw a sad thing this week in "Shutterbug" magazine. Shutterbug is a very traditional film photography magazine, which has lately been giving very fair and equal time to the digital photo revolution. But they have a sister digital publication, "eDigitalPhto", which was supposed to take the primary digital focus. Well, that didn't last long.
Shutterbug is now featuring many digital articles, and the last sign that the transition was almost complete was in this month's review of the recent Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show. The entire magazine was devoted to this show, with sections for each type of camera or accessory. Appearing under the "35mm SLR" section was the title "No Show" and a note from the Editor that read: "For the first time in the history of the PMA show, not a single 35mm SLR camera was announced at PMA 2005. We do not expect any to be announced anytime soon. Or maybe ever again".
So signals the end of an era. Actually, Nikon did just announce a new 35mm SLR at a different show, but the handwriting is on the wall for film. Many amateur and professional photographers still use film, of course, but the future will have less and less availability of camera bodies, film, paper, and accessories, thus eventually dooming film because it will be ignored to death. Interestingly, some local professional photographers that I know are still using film for valid reasons - but that list of reasons is going to soon shrink.
* On the digital music front, the music recording industry has come up with an interesting twist. We all know that DVDs can hold much more data (even music) than CDs, but the last thing that the music industry wants is to package a whole lot of music on a DVD that they can perhaps charge only little more than they did for a single CD. So, the question for them is: How to take advantage of the DVD format without giving away the farm?
Their answer is double sided disks. One side contains a traditional music CD (and, sadly, still in stereo only). The flip side of the disk is in DVD format, and contains music videos and extra "stuff". That way, the industry can still charge the same (or even slightly higher) rates for a disk, but not give away substantially more (music) content. We'll have to see how these disks play out (pun intended!); some double sided disks are available now.
* My new Dell DJ30 MP3 player, reviewed in previous columns, had its first glitch last week. It just hung up, wouldn't play, and even often turned itself off. Repeated use of the Reset button with the appropriate hi-tech reset button tool (a straightened paper clip) yielded no change. After reset, it would turn on, wait a few seconds, and then turn itself off again. The battery had plenty of charge.
So, off to the manual. Of course, the device does not come with a printed manual, so I had to find the PDF file on the software distribution CD. But the advantage of having a searchable document made that worth the effort - I just searched for "reset" and found that there is a "double secret" reset in which you hold down the Play button while pressing the Reset button (with the ever faithful paper clip). That brings up a special menu, which allows you to select additional recovery options. I selected the option for a system reboot, and that cured the problem; it has been fine ever since. Ah, technology!
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport - Oak Island area. You can visit his Website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail questions or column ideas to him at bsc@bobseidel.com. For specific inquiries, please call Bob Seidel Consulting, LLC at 278-1007.)