Fixing iTunes CDDB lookup – more details

Since Apple’s forums don’t seem to support permalinks, the hint I previously posted about fixing iTunes for Windows’ connection to CDDB isn’t complete. Here’s how to reestablish connection to CDDB if your track lookups start failing:

  1. Quit iTunes for Windows.
  2. In Internet Explorer, go to Tools | Internet Options, click on the Connections tab, and click on the LAN Settings button.
  3. In the dialog that follows, uncheck the checkbox about using a proxy. Hit OK, then OK again.
  4. Open RegEdit and look for the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_USERSoftwareCDDBControl2.0. Delete this key.
  5. Open iTunes and insert the CD. iTunes should now be able to connect to CDDB again—at least, until it forgets again later…
  6. If necessary, reenable your proxy settings.

Speaking of Virginia universities…

It looks like some of the more paleolithic of the undergrads at my alma mater are protesting the trend of extension of benefits to same sex partners. See this opinion piece by an assistant editor at the Cavalier Daily, which appears to be in reaction to a protest site, DontGiveToUVa.com, that recently appeared over the issue. (Aside: what is it with this paper and neo(lithic) conservatives? In my day it was editorial cartoons ridiculing the Jewish student union for asking the university to consider not having football games before sundown on Rosh Hashanah.)

Kudos to Tin Man for noting the piece and providing an extremely well written and well thought out response.

Feed similarity: the Also Subscribe To feature

I started to write yesterday about this but decided to wait until something happened. I’m glad I did because the end result was much cooler than I described.

While I was chatting with Dave at the end of his Microsoft talk, two folks came up and asked if there were a way to cut through some of the noise of the RSS ocean based on recommendations. The young woman described it as “people who subscribe to feed X also subscribed to feed y.” Dave first told them that the SDK was open to anyone to code against, then got out his cell phone, called Andrew Grumet, and gave the phone over to Shira who described the idea to him.

I had to leave at that point so I didn’t know how it would turn out. But yesterday Andrew had the first version of Similar Feeds up and running, and Dave pointed to it last night. Here’s my similarity list.

(Incidentally, thanks to all for the comments and pointers over the last couple of days. It’s been helpful hearing other peoples’ perspectives. Shouts out to Tom Harper (subscribed) and Korby Parnell (subscribed).)