Wednesday, September 12, 2007

winamp + iTunes = musikCube

There are times everyone around me thinks im insane. For instanace when i rejected iTunes because of the always started itunesHelper and ipodService.exe. Well not exactly for those two, but iTunes consumes way to much memory and takes some considerable time to start up on my lil' notebook with its ULV 1.1Ghz Centrino and 512MB ram.

Because of this is switched back to the Winamp which is great, but lacks some good library functions. Ok, maybe the included media library is good in some way, but it doesnt fit my needs. I liked the way iTunes handled my files much more.

And thats where musikCube comes into play. It is described as a "fast, lightweight music management" tool. And hell yeah, thats true. In some way it feels and looks like iTunes, but tidier, more minimal. And thus it starts as fast as Winamp an consumes a fraction of the memory iTunes does.

With the available cubeScrobbler plugin i can even dispense the last.fm tool and spare some additional memory.

Overall i really liked musikCube from the first time it started - about an hour ago ;)
It still has to proove its value in day to day use, but i really think this will replace Winamp and iTunes on my PC.

Nevertheless i already recommend it to all of you not blessed with a bunch of memory. It really is a great tool to hear music and i have to join liveslick who introduced musikCube as "what iTunes should be like" ;)

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

... and he lived all happily ever after

well - its been some time since i last posted something here. Probably this is good, cause mostly i came here, when i've been down and found no one to talk with in person. So i dropped my fear, my depressions and even my hatred to this blog and felt lightend in the "real world".

And it is true: the last month was "not bad". But i assume thats more for lack of time. I finally quitted my dark ground floor room and since sunday im not even more in Berlin...

But even if i already miss it, its not that bad at all. The following semester i will study and life in Toulouse, France. Well probably its more the living than the studying, parce que mon francais est horrible - even worse than my english ;)

Altough im very nervous i'm sort of happy after all. Berlin is great but after two years living there without my dreams or hopes coming true, i think its time to look forward - to experience somemthing new, something different.

Its just like Herman Hesse wrote in his poem Stufen:
Wie jede Blüte welkt und jede Jugend
Dem Alter weicht, blüht jede Lebensstufe,
Blüht jede Weisheit auch und jede Tugend
Zu ihrer Zeit und darf nicht ewig dauern.
Es muß das Herz bei jedem Lebensrufe
Bereit zum Abschied sein und Neubeginne,
Um sich in Tapferkeit und ohne Trauern
In andre, neue Bindungen zu geben.
Und jedem Anfang wohnt ein Zauber inne,
Der uns beschützt und der uns hilft, zu leben.

Wir sollen heiter Raum um Raum durchschreiten,
An keinem wie an einer Heimat hängen,
Der Weltgeist will nicht fesseln uns und engen,
Er will uns Stuf' um Stufe heben, weiten.
Kaum sind wir heimisch einem Lebenskreise
Und traulich eingewohnt, so droht Erschlaffen,
Nur wer bereit zu Aufbruch ist und Reise,
Mag lähmender Gewöhnung sich entraffen.

Es wird vielleicht auch noch die Todesstunde
Uns neuen Räumen jung entgegen senden,
Des Lebens Ruf an uns wird niemals enden...
Wohlan denn, Herz, nimm Abschied und gesunde!
Theres an english translation entitled Steps available, but i couldn't post it here - the translated version just didnt fit the feeling i have for this.

Ouch, that post just became a little to long. I have to come to the point:
When i was travelling away from Berlin in an overstaffed train, i met Mi from Kami and we talked about this and that for the whole ride. And that really emboldend me to go on and strengthend my believe for a great time in france.

Maybe you are thinking "and so what? i've been talking to people the whole f***g day! What does he want to tell us?" Well lately i have been very shy and anxious. I barely talked to strangers more than necessary. Expecially to women. But its not that i've fallen in love, as you might guess.

This occasion just resembles the quoted poem. In the knowledge, that there are some major changes in my life i feel lightened. And yeah - somehow protected. Altough i sort of miss Berlin, my friends i m not sad. Everthing fits together - it feels right to go abroad, to study in france. Even if i wont understand a single word.

The meeting with Mi has been like an omen to me. Even though france propably wont be perfect, it will be the right thing to go there. Its been the call of life.

... Wohlan denn, Herz, nimm Abschied und gesunde! ...