Many years go, when MIDI was new, I used a hardware sequencer and made 300 backing tracks for my duo. I saved them all in the proprietary file data and was gigging with it.

In the meantime a Standard MIDI File format was introduced. It didn't apply to my old sequencer.

Then one day my old sequencer died and I lost 300 songs. I re-sequenced as many as I needed to gig with on my Atari computer as soon as I could, and about 200 never got re-sequenced, as new songs became more important.

That taught me a lesson, if there is a standard, use the standard. And that is one reason why I shy away from Apple products. They like their own self-contained world and for many things shun the standards of the industry to make things exclusively Apple in an effort to trap you into their ecosystem (as they call it). Once firmly entrenched in Apple, if something happens, you simply are S.O.L.

Now I did all my replacement MIDI files on my Atari computer in Master Tracks Pro format, but saved a copy in Standard MIDI File format (SMF).

Eventually my Atari died, I went PC for my main computer and a Mac just to make sure my BiaB aftermarket styles and songs were compatible.

Atari died, Mac went from Motorola CPUs to IBM CPUs and my SMFs survived. Some software and files I did on the Mac didn't make the cut (I was wise enough not to do anything on the Mac).

Mac went to OSX (It followed OS9 but rebranded so everyone says "oh ess sex")

As a software author, I paid an annual subscription for Apple pro tech help. One day my old Mac was getting flaky, so I called Apple, and the saleswoman sold me a big, beautiful eMac. I wanted a laptop but she assured me BiaB wouldn't run on it (that was a lie).

A couple of weeks later Apple announced they were changing to Intel CPUs and the old will be obsolete. My brand new, couple of weeks old eMac that the lousy *%*#)( saleswoman dumped on me to get rid of old stock was essentially soon to be a doorstop. I'm sure she knew of the change and was given bonuses for getting rid of what will soon be orphans.

That was the last Mac computer I ever bought. The only thing Mac I own now is an iPad and all I use it for is couch surfing.

I tried to transfer pictures from my PC to the iPad to bring to a friend, and wouldn't you know it, even with the expensive USB to Firewire plug, I couldn't transfer the pictures without iTunes. I used DropBox and that took about forever as my Internet connection is slow.

So until Apple decides to join the rest of the world with cross-platform standards, I will not buy another Apple product. I was burned by non-standards twice.

Hit me once, shame on you. Hit me twice, shame on me. It ain't gonna happen a third time.

My advice is to get your files off iTunes ASAP and copy them to something standard as mp3 files and back them up in an external flash drive. Don't save them in an exclusive Apple format, you might lose them.

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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