Dream a little dream

Apple IIe is the first Mac I touched in my life. I was studying F.1 in secondary school, in Computer Literacy lessons. We learned Logo, a programming language that provides a simple input prompt, showing graphics and words. In days of studying Information Systems in HKUST, I love to sit in front of those little old unattended Mac to do email checking and BBS or MUD telnet, while tons of people are queuing for crapy PC. I used Finale for Mac to type score when studying Sound Design and Music Recording in HKAPA.

I bought my first Mac in year 2000, with the salary I earned in the first month being a teacher. It’s a PowerMac G4 450MHz, with Applevision 850 Display. It just sits there for a couple of years… occassionally I’ll switch it on, using the little mouse to click here and there. But since I haven’t bought any softwares, it’s quite useless for me. I still remember the price… HK$19,600.

When I moved out and live alone, I put the Mac in my reading room, for DVD-playing purpose. (I don’t have DVD-ROM in my PC)

One day, my friend came and helped me out in designing Frontline’s namecard, installing three fancy graphic design softwares… the life of G4 changes!

I fell in love with those softwares, bought tons of design books to read, experiment with fancy ideas, illustrations and photos. My next homework is art director of Frontline’s concert. It’s fun and it’s tough! In that year, I worked for several freelance including companies’ coupons, namecards and letterheads, websites, wedding cards and program booklet.

In the same year, I started my job as recording engineer, using Mac everyday. Some years later, I bought DIGI001 as audio interface, installing ProTools and AutoTune 4.0, and started editing vocal tracks at home.

This year, I started making demos at home after buying GarageBand, Jam Pack and Logic Pro 7.0. This is also the moment I started to compose music seriously.

The future plan is to replace my 6 years’ old G4 with new powerful Intel-core PC, either MacBookPro or wait until the next generation of PowerMac G5 but with Intel chip. I’m considering to phase out PC running Microsoft Windows in my life. After running pilot test in my office one month later, I will discard the old PC when it comes to the end of its days.

This is the story about Apple and I.

Yesterday night I visit Apple’s website, knowing they’re launching two new products, namely Mac mini and iPod Hi-Fi. iPod Hi-Fi is the gear I’m looking for a long time… ouch!

This morning when I read Mac news like what I did in past, I come across this lovely piece: Steve Bass’s Tips & Tweaks – Apple’s Ho Hum Big Announcement (And a Funny iPod Video). Click and check it out, especially the funny iPod video at the end. It tunes my day with happy mood, and I’m sure I can work efficiently till midnight!

Have a nice day!