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LMILaunchAgent is the hook for starting the LogMeIn internet screen sharing service.

Initial install notes:

- Quite a few scary moments upon each bootup

- Guess I should have installed fresh batteries

- The startup movie did not play on any of the three macs I’ve installed Leopard on.  if this happens to you, you can view manually by launching these two files:

/System/Library/CoreServices/Setup Assistant.app/Contents/Resources/TransitionSection.bundle/Contents/Resources/intro.mov

/System/Library/CoreServices/Setup Assistant.app/Contents/Resources/TransitionSection.bundle/Contents/Resources/intro-sound.mp3

- Something’s up with iDisk sync:

• Machine 1 presented me with a “Previous iDisk.dmg” on my desktop and rebuilt an entirely new local copy. 
• Machine 2 showed no iDisk and eventually brought it back about an hour after install. 
• Machine 3 seemed to just bring the iDisk over perfectly.

- .Mac sync is also acting screwy.  I keep seeing the conflict resolver no matter how I many times I say merge or replace.

- Overall compatibility seems excellent.

- The translucent menu bar isn’t as bad as I thought, but after changing it the included “Grass Blades” desktop picture, I immediately knew why Apple chose a dark color for the default.

- I like the upgrade overall, but everything seems a bit slower.  This is contrary to every review I’ve read.

I got my copy of Leopard (MacOSX 10.5) today and will be posting tidbits as I have time.  The first thing I wanted to know has been answered.

Time Machine does not require a dedicated disk for backup use.  You can continue to use free space for normal data storage.  Not only that but, it can use more than one drive (as long as it is formatted HFS+).

I finally took the plunge and hacked my iPhone 1.1.1 firmware.  What an ordeal!  The proceedure took close to an hour using iFuntastic 4.6.1.  Another hour later and I’ve perused the latest releases in Installer.app and installed a couple dozen packages.

There are quite a few new packages to be explored.  Some of my favorites are:

Nikotalkie- voice messaging over EDGE & WiFi

Labyrinth- an awesome iPhone rendition of the classic marble game

CrossWalk- NYC cross street calculator & subway map viewr

All in all, not a bad way to spend an evening.

I’m getting pretty stoked about the release of Leopard next Friday.  The 300+ feature list posted on Apple’s site is much more detailed and dreamy than ever before…. 10.4, 10.3, 10.2 10.1, 10.

Apple is changing the price of all DRM-free “iTunes Plus” songs on the iTunes Store from $1.29 to $0.99.  Certainly this is a response to recent announcements from Amazon (DRM free and often less than $0.99) and now Napster’s web portal.

Jobs is quoted in the WSJ as saying: “It’s been very popular with our customers, and we’re making it even more affordable.”

Update: Apple now claims largest DRM-free catalog with 2 million songs.

Led Zeppelin is apparently going to be available on iTunes next month.  Sounds like nearly the entire catalog will be available.  This is great news as it means that more people than ever will be able to enjoy easy access to one of my favorite bands. 

“Over the Hills and Far Away” was the first song I every figured out how to play on the guitar all by myself.  Shout out to Mike Sabatino for introducing me to Zep and teaching me to play many of the songs on guitar.

Stats: Led Zeppelin is the only band in history that managed to get all of its albums into the U.S. Billboard Top 10 and has sold more than 300 million albums globally with almost 110 million of those sales occurring in the U.S. alone.

I came across this interesting interview with Will Friedwald, “Owner Of The Worlds Largest iTunes Collection” this morning.

I’d also love to see a “Pro” version of iTunes geared toward massive collections. But, I do think that iTunes will finally get there on its own.

Just look at the growth of the capacity of iPods: a 160GB model holds 97% more data than the original. iTunes will have be enhanced to hold a similar growth in music libraries.  iPhoto has been similarly enhanced in recent versions with exponential storage capacity updates.

For the record:

Will’s Library:
849 GB | 172,150 tracks | 809.2 days
2,935 artists | 11,561 albums
iTunes library database file - 282 MB
iTunes library XML file - 259 MB

Mine:
260.37 GB | 59,915 tracks | 147.6 days
9,778 artists | 7,083 albums
iTunes library database file - 104.9 MB
iTunes library XML file - 91.5 MB

The constant rumbling of artist and tech company complaints about “the music industry” is getting turned up this month.  Here’s what I’m hearing:

- Amazon’s launch of the high-bitrate, non-DRM’d, MP3 music store is what we’ve all been waiting for.

- Apple locks down iPhone ringtones even tighter with digitally signed audio files.

- Radiohead’s self-published, online release of “In Rainbows.”

- Yahoo’s head music honcho, Ian Rogers (formerly of Nullsoft, WinAMP and Gnutella fame) states that Yahoo! will never go back to using DRM.

- And finally frequent industry malcontent, Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails), made a statement about being freed of their recording contract after 18 years.

What next, the month’s only just begun?

Update (dfbills 10.11.07 @ 8:48AM ET)

One day later, I’m starting to see what’s next:

- Madonna signs a $120M deal with Live Nation to sell her next three studio albums, promote concerts, and license Madonna’s name.

- Oasis will release their next album directly to fans via the “pay as you wish” system used by Radiohead.

- Jamiroquai to follow suit after seeing Radiohead on the digital download charts.

Tell it like it is, FSJ!

“Because your business is huge and confusing, and so is our software.”