MUS2054 Spring 2009
Terminology, Concepts, Currents
WHY?
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Conversant with technology
Ability to communicate technology needs
Ability to place technology within the context of society
Ability to utilize technology to enhance professional career
ATTAIN SELF-SUFFICENCY
This is a kind of knowledge that has to be continually nurtured!
HARDWARE (HW)
 Case/Chassis
o Portable vs. Desktop
 Advantages of modular design
 Controversy of hardware manufacturers
o Portable
 Laptop/Notebook/Powerbook/Macbook
 Netbook
 PDA/Smartphone
 Other
o Desktop
 Tower
 Integrated solutions (e.g. iMac)
 Small form-factor solutions (e.g. Mac Mini)
 Motherboard/Main Board/Logic Board
 Power supply
o Watt rating
 CPU
o 32-bit vs. 64-bit
o MHz
 Memory
o RAM vs. ROM
o B, KB, MB, GB, TB, PB
 PCIe cards
 Data Drives
o Removable (a.k.a. hot-pluggable) vs. Non-Removable
o IDE vs. SATA vs. SSD
o HD
 RAID
o CD/DVD Drive
 Ports
o Firewire (FW) 400 and 800 (IEEE1394)
 6-pin version
 Can provide power to devices.
 There is also 4-pin version known as iLink
 Upcoming S3200 version
o USB
 1.1 (old and slow)
 2.0 (roughly comparable to Firewire 400)
 3.0 (soon to be released, faster than Firewire 800)
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More widespread/affordable
All versions can provide power to external devices but not as much as
Firewire
o ExpressCard
 Replaced PCMCIA
o VGA/DVI/S-VIDEO/Composite/Component
o Ethernet
o Modem
Cooling system
o Active vs. Passive
o Water cooling
o Other
HID (Human Interface Devices)
o Keyboard
o Mouse
o Tablets
o …
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HARDWARE ACCESSORIES
 UPS
 Router/Hub
 External cards
o Audio card benefits
 Latency
 Lesser chance of signal interference
 Sound fidelity
 Portability
 Other
HARDWARE, FREE MARKET, AND ETHICS
 Is hardware environmentally friendly?
o Unfortunately, by and large answer is no
 Who makes the hardware?
o Should we support enterprise that abuses human rights at the other end of the
Globe?
MUSIC TECHNOLOGY VOCABULARY
 Protocols
o MIDI
 Serial
o Audio
 Audio data formats
 Mp3
 Wav
 Aiff
 Snd
 Au
 Ogg
 …
o Hybrid
 mLAN
 Cables/Connections
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o Mono vs. Stereo
o Male vs. Female cables
o SPDIF/Coaxial
o Optical
o 1/4-inch stereo (TRS, or Tip-Ring-Sleeve)
o 1/4-inch mono (TS)
o 1/8-inch stereo
o RCA
o XLR (ground, live, return)
o MIDI cables
o Banana
CD images (ISO 9660)
o Data
o Audio
o Mixed (Mode 2)
o SACD
DVD images
o Data
o Video
o Audio (DVD-A)
Data recorders/storing
o HD
o DAT
Microphones
o Pick-up Pattern
o Preamp
o Phantom power
HD Content
o BluRay
o HD-DVD (all but gone)
o HDV (?)
o Online streaming
SOFTWARE (SW)
 Platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, etc.)
o Free Open Source Software (a.k.a. libre software)
 Controversy over software “ownership” and “licensing”
 Software as a catalyst for hardware sales (e.g. Apple, Digidesign)
 Debilitating effects of closed-source solutions
 Software patent controversy
o Stifling of innovation
 Operating System (OS)
o Kernel
o Drivers/modules
 File Systems (FS)
 Importance of Journaling
 FAT
 FAT32 (best compatibility)
 NTFS (best Windows filesystem)
 HFS (best OSX filesystem)
 XFS
 Ext2/3/4 (best Linux filesystem)
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 ReiserFS (deprecated)
 ZFS
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o GUI (Graphical User Interface)
o Services
o Integrated Tools
o Applications
Software vs. Hardware
o Hybrids
 RAID
 Firewall (hardware/software)
DATA BACKUP
 Backup often onto secondary media
o RAID
o External HD
o Flash Drive
o CD/DVD
o Other
 When saving, create a versioning system
 Hard Drives are not secure form of data storage and they fail all too often.
o HD Recovery is costly (up to several thousand $)
INTERNET & SECURITY
 Root vs. user account
 Communication Protocols
o TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol vs UDP (User Datagram
Protocol)
 IPv6
 http://www.ipspotting.com/
 http://www.ip-adress.com/
 http://www.ipwhois.com/
o IPX/SPX Internetwork Packet Exchange/Sequenced Packed Exchange
o DNS
o Gateway
 Wireless Technologies
o WiFi a/b/g (Wireless Fidelity IEEE 802.11)
 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)
o Bluetooth
 Speed rating (bits vs. bytes, Kb vs. KB)
o Binary (base-2) system vs. human (base-10) system
o 8 bits per byte
o E.g. old phone modem speed:
 56Kb/s * 1024 = 57,344b/s / 8 = 7,168B/s / 1024 = 7 KB/s (theoretical)
 Actual speeds on a phone modem are slower due to packet control
issues.
 WWW
o URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
o HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
o dHTML
o CSS
o Images JPG/GIF/PNG
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Shockwave/Flash
 Arguably the most prominent rich content delivery platform
o Silverlight
Security Concerns
o Worms (abuse of software bugs or “exploits” that allow execution of malicious
software without user’s consent)
o Viruses (executing self-replicating malicious software through user error)
o Trojans (opening attack vector by convincing user to execute malicious software)
o Other
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MUSIC BUSINESS & SOCIETY
 Copyright vs. Copyleft
o Creative Commons license
o Royalties
 RIAA controversy (Recording Industry Association of America)
 ASCAP
 BMI
 Radiohead experiment (“In Rainbows”)
AUDIO TROUBLESHOOTING
 No sound
o Check volume on the computer
o Check audio equipment volume
o Check connections
o If device is new check for proper driver (if applicable)
o Troubleshoot software
 Computer doesn’t boot
o Check power
o Check for behavior
o Contact tech support
 <something> doesn’t work as it is supposed to
o Check <something>
o Check wiring to <something>
o Check hardware connected to <something>
o Consult manual
o Internet resources
 FAQ
 Forums
 Mailing Lists
 IRC
 IM
 Online Support
o Tech support
 Even though you’d probably never guess this from talking to the teach
support, your concerns are commonly considered a nuisance by large
companies who commonly make money by working with large
corporations not individual end-users
 Be persistent
 Know what your rights are
 Value your time!
 Remember that unlike most of what you will own during your
lifetime, time lost is irreplaceable and as such invaluable
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Repair
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Do not allow to be mislead or given a run-around
Ask about hidden costs and “small print”
Ask to speak to a manager
See Tech support
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