I've decided to clear up as much clutter in my house as possible. Part of this has been eliminating hundreds of CD's that I no longer want taking up space. To this end, I've started ripping these into iTunes.

So far everything has gone perfectly. I've set iTunes to automatically import the CD on insert, ripping all the songs as mp3's. I plan on storing the CD's out of the way, either in the garage or in the attic. If I decide that I would like to listen to an album I've saved off to the library, I can either copy the files to my iPhone or burn a CD to listen to since blank CD's are so cheap.

A couple of questions I have:
- Is there a better tool for keeping and managing my library than iTunes?
- Are there any issues with having an all digital music system that I should be aware of?

iTunes has done fine so far but has a few drawbacks. Sharing could use more features. I have to sync my iPhone, an iPod nano, and an old 3rd gen iPod to the library on two different machines. It would be really nice if I could sync using the sharing features, but I need to have the library open directly on the syncing machine. This gets REALLY slow if I try to store the library on a central server and open it from there. I've ended up storing multiple copies of the library on each machine and this is a pain to keep in sync. Any suggestions?

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While it seems like a dream job, maybe it's not all so wonderful. I'm not sure how I would handle this type of situation. I'm still interested in learning app development for the iPhone, but things like this take some of the shine off of the platform. Lots of folks have visions of grandeur and hope to be the next big thing, but if you have to wait 6 months for a payment...

I'd almost guarantee they aren't having any trouble taking their 30% cut and getting it into the bank. How can they still be behind on FEBRUARY payments? That's quite a tremendous lag time, even if there are some issues. And the reply from Apple does nothing to quiet the issue. You can't just tell people "we know we're slow, but shut up and wait" and expect anyone to be happy about it.

Hopefully this really is a series of errors caused by overwhelming demand and things will be ironed out over the next couple of weeks.
Apple drives iPhone app developers to the brink

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I've been intrigued by the iPhone ever since I bought mine. I have to admit, part of my interest in purchasing a Mac comes from my desire to begin writing applications for the device. I come from a purely web and Windows based application development background, so coding for the iPhone is going to be an interesting change of pace for me.

The biggest issue I've had in the past has been ideas for applications to develop. What would people be interested in, and could I make it worth my while? I've decided since I started this site that there is simply no way to tell without giving it a shot. I've made myself much more open to my own ideas and I believe I'm ready to begin working toward making something new.

Here's an interesting post about an app called Whiteboard Capture. It's an update from the author about how things have progressed 3 months beyond the launch of the application. Notably, the app appears to be generating a very modest but steady return which is simply fascinating to me. Develop a few high quality, useful applications and who knows!

What are some good resources for information regarding app development for the platform? How difficult overall is development for the iPhone for someone familiar with object oriented programming?

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My PC that currently acts as a server for the house is having numerous issues and will need to be replaced by something in the near future. I'm currently debating whether or not to purchase a Mac Mini as it's replacement. Currently I own a PowerBook G4 and it's the most popular computer in the house, and it would be nice to have things like photos and music stored in an easily accessible and centralized location. I run Linux Mint on my laptop as I've noted in other posts and I am perfectly happy with it. I plan on doing the occasional DVD rip to divx, burning CD's and DVD's, and heavy torrenting.

By way of comparison, here are the specs on my current PC:

• AMD 64bit 3000+ single core processor overclocked to 2.2 GHz
• 3GB RAM
• MSI K8N-Neo2 motherboard
• nVidia 6600GT AGP graphics card w/128MB
• 250GB SATA HDD
• 80GB IDE HDD
• 500GB External USB HDD

I used to be a regular gamer, playing WoW and CS:Source frequently. Now I do my gaming on my Xbox 360. A few questions:

• How difficult is it do upgrade the RAM in a Mac Mini?
• How is the performance?
• I would run XP in VMWare for those times when I absolutely had to use Windows (work, etc). How is performance?
• How is the power consumption as compared to my 450 watt PC?
• Anyone wanna push for a custom built Linux box over the Mac?

I believe that's all. I'm open to any and all suggestions.

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