The Next Track

By Doug Adams and Kirk McElhearnTechnology Music

The Next Track episodes

September 09, 2016♫ Episode #17 – Jacks, Pods, and Music
Doug and Kirk look at the audio-related elements of this week’s Apple product announcement. The headphone jack, AirPods, and Apple Music.
“Frankly, I don’t listen to a lot of new music. I’m still trying to catch up on a lot of old music.”
Sponsor: Master iTunes with Kirk’s ebook and save 30% on Take Control of iTunes 12: The FAQ, the indispensable guide to iTunes.
Show notes:
Correction: When discussing AirPods, we said that they cannot be used with devices other than a Mac, iOS device, or Apple Watch. Since we recorded this show, Apple has stated that the AirPods can be used with any Bluetooth device. However, they only pair automatically with Macs, iOS devices, and Apple Watches.
News:
Apple: Jacks Off iPhone 7
Jabra Revo Bluetooth headphones
Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter
Apple’s AirPod Mistake
Chums Slip Fit 3mm Rope Eyewear Retainer
Plantronics Voyager Legend UC Bluetooth Headset
I Forgot How Bad Apple’s EarPods (not AirPods) Sound
Apple Activates “My New Music Mix” “My Favorites Mix” on macOS and iOS Betas
Our next tracks:
Kirk: Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding – Bob Dylan: The Original Mono Recordings
Doug: The Carl Stalling Project: Music From Warner Bros. Cartoons, 1936-1958
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.
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30 min
September 02, 2016♫ Episode #16 – Managing and Storing Digital Media Files
Doug and Kirk discuss some news and some music and audio technology history, then examine the best ways to manage and store a digital media collection.
Show notes:
News:
Rudy Van Gelder, Renowned ‘A Love Supreme’ Engineer, Dead at 91 – Rolling Stone
Music Technology of the 1970s: A Timeline – Pitchfork
Managing and Storing Digital Media Files:
TuneSpan
Drobo
WD My Cloud 4 TB
Synology
Our next tracks:
Kirk: Harold Budd: Children on the Hill
Doug: Bis: Social Dancing
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.
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31 min
August 26, 2016♫ Episode #15 – What is Mastering and Remastering?
Doug and Kirk welcome Sangwook “Sunny” Nam, two-time Grammy nominated mastering engineer. He explains what mastering and remastering are, and we learn a lot about the magic that mastering engineers perform.
“All the processing I’m doing is done on the analog side.”
Show notes:
Jacob’s Well Mastering
Sunny Nam’s recordings on Discogs
Doug Sax
The Doors on vinyl

Sunny Nam’s mastering studio.
Our next tracks:
Kirk: Blind Gary Davis: Harlem Street Singer
Doug: Frank Zappa & The Mothers: Roxy & Elsewhere
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.
Special Guest: Sunny Nam.
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36 min
August 19, 2016♫ Episode #14 – Audiophile Utility Poles and Other News
Doug and Kirk take a look at recent news in the music and audio world. From audiophile utility poles to iTunes news, from record stores to car radios, this news and views episode keeps you up to date on what matters in music listening. And Kirk gives an update on his first Pearl Jam listening experience.
“For $10,000 there better be a powerful placebo effect.”
Show notes:
News:
Pearl Jam: Ten
A Gift for Music Lovers Who Have It All: A Personal Utility Pole
Records’ rebirth fueled by older music obsessives, not young hipsters
Ch-Ch-Changes in the Physical Music Retail Landscape
A Couple of Work and Movement Scripts
iTunes Gets a Splash of Color
iTunes 12.5 and iOS 10 Music App to Add Lyrics to Song Playback
Ultravox: The Island Years
Wim Martens: a man of no fortune and with a name to come
Talking Heads: Fear of Music
Hugo Ball
Honda Civic 2016: A case study of the disappearing radio
Our next tracks:
Doug: ZZ Top: Rhythmeen
Kirk: Grateful Dead: Dave’s Picks Volume 19: Honolulu Civic Auditorium, HI, 1/23/70
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.
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29 min
August 12, 2016♫ Episode #13 – Which Streaming Service Is Right for You?
Doug and Kirk welcome back Chris Connaker to discuss music streaming services. Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, or another; which is right for you? What are the pros and cons of the various streaming services?
“I have never heard a song by Pearl Jam.”
Show notes:
News:
Apple Is Finally Making iTunes Better for Classical Music
Dislike is a New iTunes 12.5 Track Property
Streaming music services:
Pearl Jam
Qobuz
Apple Music
Spotify
Tidal
Pandora
Roon
Pearl Jam: Ten
Our next tracks:
Kirk: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Organisation
Doug: Daryl Hall: Sacred Songs
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.
Special Guest: Chris Connaker.
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33 min
August 05, 2016♫ Episode #12 – iTunes & AppleScript
Doug and Kirk discuss iTunes and AppleScript. This was bound to come sooner or later, since Doug is the AppleScript ninja. We look at what AppleScript does, and discuss more than a dozen of the most useful AppleScripts to use to manage your iTunes library.
“AppleScript does not run on Windows, and Windows does not run in my house.”
Show notes:
News:
New Pink Floyd box set covers the early years: 1965 – 1972
Pink Floyd copyright release: 1965: Their First Recordings
Everything you need to know about playing music with AirPlay
Classical Music Needs More Silence
Listen Different: Add Silence to your iTunes and iPod Playlists
High-Resolution Silence
iTunes & AppleScript:
Doug’s AppleScripts for iTunes
Artist – Name Corrector
Remove n Characters from Front or Back
This Tag, That Tag
Search Replace Tag Text
Proper English Title Capitalization
List MIAs
Super Remove Dead Tracks
Music Folder Files Not Added
Move Playlists to Folder
Playlist Manager
Find Album Artwork With Google
Save Album Art as folder.jpg
Embed Artwork
Re-Embed Artwork
PDF Adder
View Cached Music
Copy Tag Info Tracks to Tracks
A Space Between
Download FAQ and Video
Windows Solutions?
Bill Nelson’s Artisanal Music
Our next tracks:
Doug: Roomful of Blues: Live at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
Kirk: Bill Nelson: All That I Remember
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.
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29 min
July 29, 2016♫ Episode #11 – Audio Myths & Superstitions
Doug and Kirk welcome back Andy Doe, digital music consultant, to discuss myths and superstitions around audio: cables, breaking in hardware, digital audio, and more. But first we discuss classical music playlists on streaming services.
“Hooray, good for you, you have magical bat ears.” Andy Doe.
Show notes:
Andy Doe
Proper Discord
Classical music playlists:
Here’s What’s Wrong with Classical Music on Streaming Services (Part Whatever)
Audio myths & superstitions:
Articles on Kirk’s website about hi-fi magazines writing about audio equipment
How Hi-Fi Magazines Write about Cables, Part 7: An Audiophile Shelf
IsoAcoustic speaker stands
Mastered for iTunes
Our next tracks:
Kirk: Bach: Lute Works (original version for ten-string guitar), Stephan Schmidt
Doug: Rolling Stones, Get Yer Ya-Yas Out
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.
Special Guest: Andy Doe.
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33 min
July 22, 2016♫ Episode #10 – Setting Up a Home Media Server
Have you ever wanted to set up your own home media server? Doug and Kirk discuss the pros and cons of doing this, and explain how to set up a Mac mini as a media server.
Show notes:
Discovering new music:
Apple’s Mac mini
OS X Server
I wish there was an iTunes Server
WD My Passport 4 TB portable hard drive
Carbon Copy Cloner
Change Screen Resolution on Headless OS X Server
Sonos
Plex
The Merchant of Venice, by the Royal Shakespeare Company
Apple improves iCloud Music Library matching, ditches copy-protected matched files for Apple Music users
VNC Viewer
The best way to watch media on the new Apple TV: iTunes Home Sharing vs. Plex
Our next tracks:
Doug: Jeff Beck, Loud Hailer
Kirk: Emerson String Quartet – Complete Recordings On Deutsche Grammophon
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.
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28 min
July 15, 2016♫ Episode #9 – Will Hermes on Discovering New Music
In the latest episode of The Next Track, Doug Adams and Kirk McElhearn welcome NPR and Rolling Stone music critic Will Hermes. We take a brief stroll down memory lane, then discuss music discovery: how does a music critic, overwhelmed with choice, discover new music.
“For me to just become a nostalgia merchant; as a writer, and as a music fan, not interested.”
Show notes:
Discovering new music:
Will Hermes’ website; his writing on Rolling Stone; his reviews on WNYC; All Things Considered
Love Goes to Buildings on Fire, by Will Hermes
NPR Music
Uncut Magazine
The Wire
Pitchfork
Rate Your Music
Other People
Listen to all ten albums from Brian Eno’s Obscure Records label
Day of the Dead
Chimes Of Freedom: The Songs Of Bob Dylan
Rock Family Trees
Our next tracks:
Kirk: Steve Reich, Music for 18 Musicians
Doug: Johnny Thunders, So Alone
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.
Special Guest: Will Hermes.
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31 min
July 08, 2016♫ Episode #8 – Listening to Words: Audiobooks and Spoken Word Recordings
In the latest episode of The Next Track, Doug Adams and Kirk McElhearn discuss spoken word recordings. How to get them, how to manage them, and how to listen to them. And we discuss how the history of recording started with recordings of spoken word content.
“Like a Victorian call center.”
Show notes:
Spoken word and audiobook recordings:
Key dates in the history of audiobooks
Walt Whitman reading four lines of America
James Joyce reading from Ulysses and Finnegans Wake
JRR Tolkien reads from The Lord of the Rings
Audible.com, Audible UK, free trial with two free audiobooks
Librivox: free, public domain audiobooks
Join Together, Mac app that splices multiple audio files into one
Ripping and Playing Audiobooks
Our next tracks:
Doug: Fleetwood Mac, The Boston Box
Kirk: Arkangel Shakespeare, and King Lear on the iTunes Store
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.
Support The Next Track
31 min

About The Next Track

From the publisher's feed

Doug Adams and Kirk McElhearn discuss music and musicians, and how we listen to music, whether it be analog or digital, downloaded or streamed, audio, or video.