iPod: The Missing Manual, 11th Edition – A clear, concise keeper for your reference needs – #bookreview

iPod: The Missing Manual, 11th Edition
J.D. Biersdorfer, with David Pogue
(O’Reilly - paperback, Kindle)

I own and use a small collection of old iPods, including a Shuffle and a Classic. I play them when I exercise and when I work at my computer in a coffee shop and don’t want to listen to the piped-in music or the surgical nurse at the next table talking too loudly into her smartphone. When she starts started telling someone the gory details of a rare procedure recently performed inside a patient’s skull, I just crank up Adele and drown it all out.

The new 11th edition of iPod: The Missing Manual is a perfect reference book for me. It reminds me how to do certain tasks on my older devices. It shows me how to use features I still haven’t tried but might after the next song ends. The book also has information I could use to help a granddaughter with her brand-new iPod Touch — but somehow I doubt she’ll ever let me touch it.

Anyway, J.D. Biersdorfer has been writing a technology column for the New York Times since 1998, and this is her 11th iPod book. So she knows her stuff. And, of course, fellow New York Times writer and co-author David Pogue invented the Missing Manual series and has authored or co-written some 55 books, including 28 Missing Manuals.

Together, in this new edition, they have prepared an excellent, 331-page guide for how to get the most out of your iPod, whether it is really old, slightly old, or fresh out of the box.

For example, you may want to know how to play slideshows on your TV using your Touch or your Classic. The steps are in there. Want to know how to hook up a Touch or Nano to your car’s stereo? It’s in there. Have you ever tried using the iTunes graphic equalizer (EQ) “to improve the way your songs sound…”? Just follow five well-described steps.

Forgotten how to autofill or manually fill your Shuffle with new songs? When’s the last time you added or deleted a playlist on your Classic or Nano? Ready to edit some photos on your Touch or set it up with an iCloud account ? Don’t remember how to get to iTunesU? Just follow the book’s clear steps and color screenshots.

With several different iPods to care for and optimize, iPod: The Missing Manual, 11th Edition quickly has proven its worth for me. It definitely will be a keeper on my reference shelf.

– Si Dunn

Dance All Night: Those Other Southwestern Swing Bands, Past and Present – #bookreview #in #music

Dance All Night: Those Other Southwestern Swing Bands, Past and Present
Jean A. Boyd
(Texas Tech University Press, hardback, list price $65.00; paperback, list price $39.95)

Fans of 1930s and 1940s western swing will find plenty to enjoy in this entertaining book by Jean A. Boyd, a  Baylor University music history professor and native of Fort Worth, Texas.

She celebrates the distinctive music and its Texas roots and highlights several groups that, unlike Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, did not or have not made it into the national spotlight.

Yet these bands have picked, fiddled, strummed and sung their way to regional stardom in Texas and Oklahoma.

Her book likely will also appeal to musicologists and performers. She includes musical analysis and transcriptions of recorded performances, as well as histories and recollections.

– Si Dunn 

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Fast Guide to Cubase 6 – Not so fast but packed with good info – #bookreview

Fast Guide to Cubase 6
By Simon Millward
(PC Publishing, paperback, list price $29.95)

I’m not sure a 474-page book should bill itself as a “fast guide.” For Simon Millward’s new work, a better descriptor would be “thorough.”

Steinberg Cubase 6 software is feature-rich and powerful software for music creation and audio recording. And this thick guidebook provides a thorough gathering of details, steps, tips and illustrations that show how to use the software’s many features.

The popular music software package has a reputation for being user-friendly and flexible. And it comes with a manual.

But Simon Millward’s book aims to provide readers with much more, including: (1) “the essential information to get you up and running in the shortest possible time”; and (2) descriptions of “advanced techniques and a wide range of theoretical knowledge which help you get better results.”

The major topics covered are:

• Installing and setting up Cubase 6
• Audio and MIDI recording and editing
• Mixing, mastering and EQ (equalizers)
• VST (Virtual Studio Technology) instruments and plug-in effects
• Loop manipulation and beat design
• Music production tips and tools
• Media management

That is only a partial list, of course. The author cautions: “Before you can use Cubase you must have some idea of how to record and manipulate MIDI data, how to record and manipulate audio signals, how you are going to get an audio signal into the computer and how you are going to feed it back out into the real world.”

Fortunately, his well-written and helpfully illustrated book includes much of that crucial how-to information. It also provides a macro library, a heavy-duty glossary, and a useful list of Web resources. 

Computer-savvy musicians, music producers, sound recordists and audio professionals – and readers who aspire to be any of those – should consider owning and using Fast Guide to Cubase 6.

– Si Dunn‘s latest book is a novel, Erwin’s Law. His other published works include Jump, a novella, and a book of poetry, plus several short stories, all available on Kindle.