I think all of us have found ourselves in a place where we scratch our head and wonder just how we arrived at such a sad state of affairs. I know I have, and the thing I’ve learned is that it’s nearly always the result of extraordinarily bad decisions.

I bet bankruptcy court was one of those places for you. At least, it should have been.

If I may be so bold, let me give you a few ideas as to why you found yourself there.

It all centers around one word: competence. The dictionary defines that word as “the ability to do something successfully or efficiently.”

I figured I’d better explain it since you don’t really seem to have any experience with the concept.

The lights on my cable modem shouldn’t be flashing, but that’s what happens when it’s not connecting to the Internet. This would be the third such service interruption over the course of one day.

Hey, I understand that these types of issues happen. But once a week for a month? And three times in just day? Not acceptable.

I can be understanding when bad things happen, but when I call up to report a problem (and attain resolution), don’t jerk me around. Especially don’t jerk me around in an accent that is barely understandable.

Don’t jump to some sort of lame explanation about my router being at fault — it isn’t.

Also, don’t give me goofy solutions about flipping around my ethernet cable between the router and modem. It won’t work and we both know it.

And while we’re on the subject of the less-than-optimal service call, don’t upset me further with the upsell for cable TV or phone service. It ain’t happening.

And let’s get that billing right, too. Double charging me and then totally dragging your feet to refund my money… not cool.

It will soon be time for us to part ways. For good. Sorry to say it, and I wish you well. I really do.

Matt Gordon
-Former Employee
-Soon To Be Former Customer

While launching the almost-ready-but-not-quite Matt Gordon Podcast, I had the opportunity to try out three USB podcasting microphones. If you are in the market for a USB microphone, I hope I can provide you with some guidance.

With a background in radio and some experience doing voiceovers and announcing at live events, I’ve had the opportunity to use plenty of microphones. So I know how my voice “should’ sound, and have the experience to know when a microphone is a good fit for my voice.

Which brings me to a crucial point: I probably don’t sound like you. Each of us has our own distinct sound, and the microphone that sounds best to me, for my voice, might not be the best one for you.

The three USB microphones tested were the Marshall Electronics MXL USB.008 ($199.95 list),RODE PODCASTER ($369 list), and the Audio-Technica AT2020USB ($249 list).

Notes on Each Microphone

MXL USB.008
The specs told me this might be the best microphone for my voice. A relatively flat response throughout the frequency range and a gold 32mm element (that’s kind of large), made this condenser my first choice. But when I got it, I was disappointed in the performance.

The MXL USB.008 had a very bright, and harsh sound. The audio equivalent of a room where the lights are turned up too high. The “ess”-es made me squint they were so piercing, and it just didn’t have the warm, resonant “presence” that I like in my vocal recordings. I couldn’t imagine anyone listening to me talk through this microphone for an extended period of time  – it would just be too hard on the ears.

RODE PODCASTER
This microphone was initially my first choice, until I found the MXL. I like that it closely resembled the Electro-Voice RE20, which was the microphone we used in the studios at KTRS Radio in St. Louis (the microphones have since been changed out for another brand). I also liked that it hand zero-latency monitoring built into the mic, so I could plug my headphones in and listen as I recorded. Additionally, it was made to be used close-up to the mouth, much in the same manner I was used to from the old broadcasting days.

One thing that struck me was that RODE wasn’t trying to produce a microphone with a wide, flat response. They were clearly aiming at normal voices. After all, it’s cool that your microphone can pick up from 20 Hz all the way up to 20 kHz, but human voices only take up a fraction of that spectrum.

But for me, it just sounded dull. It’s strength was right down the middle, but lacked the crystal-clear highs and the rumbling lows. For many voices, this would be a good microphone, but if you have a bass or deep baritone voice, you won’t be happy with this microphone.

Audio-Technica AT2020USB
Another condenser microphone, but with a 16mm capsule.

Ahhh…. Audio Heaven. This is clearly the right mic for my voice. It has a warm, intimate sound when I get in close, and  still does the high sibilants without sounding too piercing. Nice and silky sound to it.

Conclusion
The Audio-Technica AT2020USB is the best microphone for my voice. I’m just sorry I had to go through three microphones to find out. Your mileage may vary; definitely experiment with as many models as you can get hold of.

Sennheiser PXC 450

As promised before I left for vacation in France, here is my review of the Sennheiser PXC 450 Noise Canceling headphones, based on roughly 20 hours of use.

At $399 (street price $300 – $350), the PXC 450 Noise Canceling headphones have a lot of expectations to live up to.  Headphones of this sort are usually measured in four categories: comfort, sound, noise canceling ability, and overall value.  I’ll try to summarize my thoughts in each of these categories.

Comfort
Sennheiser headphones are well-known in the broadcasting industry for providing excellent sound from a lightweight and comfortable product.  Back when I was in radio, I wore headphones eight straight hours a day (plus any extra production that needed to be done).  After going through several pairs of Sony’s, I made the switch to Sennheiser at the recommendation of a friend and mentor of mine.  I never looked back.

The PXC 450’s aren’t exactly lightweight, but they are lighter than their size would suggest.  They are heavily padded both along the earpads and the top of the headband.  They don’t exert a lot of pressure on the head, but just enough to say where they are placed.  After six hours of use, I did get a bit tired of having them on, but I suspect that would be true of any headphone of this type.

One feature that I really appreciated was the ability to detach the cable and only use the noise canceling feature of the headphones.

On a scale of one (least comfortable) to ten (most comfortable), my rating is:  8.5/10

Sound
It doesn’t matter how comfortable the headphones are if you don’t enjoy listening to them.  I was pleased to note that the lack of bass I had read about wasn’t an issue in my set.  The trick, as others have noted in their reviews, is to turn the headphone volume control all the way up and then adjust the volume control of the device to which they are connected as needed.

These headphones don’t put out a massive amount of sound — it takes a good amount of input volume to drive them.  I’m not saying that a person with normal hearing would find them lacking in output, but just that they don’t provide a lot of headroom that you wouldn’t need anyway.  If you bypass the noise-canceling features, they do get a bit louder.

The sound quality of the PXC 450’s was easily as good as the better (not best) headphones I’ve heard.  If all you’re used to is the standard iPod earbuds or a $30 set from Wal-Mart, you will be more than thrilled with the sound from the Sennheisers.

My sound quality rating for the Sennheiser PXC 450’s:  9/10

Noise Canceling Ability
This is the part of the review that, in my opinion, separates the men from the boys.  I’ll discuss both passive and active noise canceling features independently.

Passive noise canceling refers to the simple dampening of outside noise by putting something into, on, or around your ears.  Listen to your environment for a moment, and then put your fingers into your ears.  Notice the difference?  That’s passive noise canceling.

I thought the Sennheisers did a good, but not great, job at this.  It almost seemed at times like the ambient noise was somehow accentuated by putting them on.  But that may have been because I was paying more attention.

One critical factor in noise canceling is the quality of seal around the ears.  I quickly noticed that more ambient noise would creep in as I turned my head.  I found out this was due to a small depression between my neck and my jawline.  A re-adjustment of the headphones corrected it, but I thought it worth mentioning.

Active noise canceling is why you’re spending the money: it’s achieved by the use of “anti-noise” being pumped into your ears that is opposite in waveform from the ambient noise picked up by a small microphone built into the headphones.  Although it seems somewhat counter-intuitive that more noise actually decreases the overall volume, the principle actually works in practice.

For the most part.

People talking and other environmental noises are not affected by the active noise canceling.  Just the constant ambient noises.

I was actually impressed with the noise canceling abilities of the Sennheisers.  It reduced the roar of the airplane jet engines and the wind noise to a faint “sssshhhh.”  The music or other audio I listened to seemed to push it even further into the background.

After spending around 20 hours in planes going back and forth to France, I was grateful for the noise canceling abilities of the headphones.  I think it helped reduce the fatigue of travel, and allowed me to listen to my iPod and the in-flight entertainment system without having to turn them up so loud as to overcome the engines and wind noise.

My rating for the noise canceling abilities:  9/10

Overall Value
I’m glad I purchased the Sennheiser PXC 450 Noise Canceling Headphones.  Although they sit unused in my home office most of the time, they will definitely be along with me the next time I travel.

The build quality, accessories (a nice, if a bit large, carrying case, two batteries, audio connector adapters) all add up to a premium experience.  I haven’t used competitive products, so I can’t tell you if the same effect — or most of it — can be achieved with less expensive headphones.

One quick note regarding all noise canceling headphones: not everyone’s ears agree with the active noise canceling technology.  Some people report feeling a “pressure” or some other discomfort resulting from the anti-noise. While riding the TGV high-speed train in France, I handed the Sennheisers to a friend who described them as “horrible” and did not enjoy the experience at all.

So be sure you can try a pair out before you invest this kind of money, or at least make sure to buy from a store with a favorable return policy.

My rating for the overall value:  9/10

Thank you for reading my review, and I hope it has helped!  If you have any questions or feel I left something out of this review, please post a comment below and I will be happy to address it.

I’ve filled my life with content delivery systems of every shape and kind.  Between my Kindle, iPod, XM Radio (not to mention Slacker and Pandora!), and the Roku Netflix device, there is almost no reason to be alone in my head anymore.  There is almost always some kind of input (with apologies to Johnny 5) coming in.

Problem is, there’s really too much.  It’s an embarrassment of means, but no definable or worthwhile end.  And the sheer volume of content that is thrown into my head every day makes it more and more difficult to actually think.  You know, not simply decision-making thought, but actual, real thinking.  Is that due to my own inability to focus in spite of the noise and make every moment and every input count?  Or can we blame society on this one?

And what does this do to content itself?  I’ve already discussed about how the value of information is declining.  Working writers and photographers already know this.  If everyone is both a publisher and consumer, is there anything special about being a publisher anymore?  They are no longer the gatekeepers of expression in society.

And with all this content out there, how does an individual sort the good stuff from the garbage?  Google sure seems to want to help with that — at least according to their own ideas of what is good and evil.  Certainly Digg and StumbleUpon and their peers can claim that role.  But it’s not perfect and not reflective of a wide enough variety of tastes to be considered inclusive.

So it would seem that the problem of “too much” affects both the publisher and the consumer.  But would you go back to having only 3 TV channels and a handful of radio stations?  I doubt it. I know I wouldn’t.

I’ve been in discussions lately with a good friend who is in the enviable position of shopping for his first digital SLR camera.  He has two young daughters, a supportive wife, a fabulous new job, and plenty of disposable income should he choose to use it.  So, yeah, Mike knows how lucky he is.

He’s not exceptionally loyal to any brand, and he’s prepared to take his time, do his homework, and find the absolute best equipment for his needs.  In fact, the only thing wrong with his situation is that he made the mistake of asking me for advice.

My standard story is to buy Canon point-and-shoot digital cameras and Nikon DSLR’s.  Having said that, my first reaction was to recommend the camera I thought I’d buy if I was shopping for a new camera right now.  (Of course, I have to keep telling myself I’m not shopping for a new camera, but I do stay on the lookout as new models are announced.)

My recommendation was the $900 (body-only) 12.3 megapixel Nikon D90.  It’s a great camera, and probably as much as or more camera than Mike (or I) would ever actually need.  It was just announced last August, so it also has that “latest-greatest” appeal.  I told him to pair it with Nikon’s 18-200mm lens, and maybe pick up the 35mm f/1.8 lens for indoor photography.  And that should about do it.

And that’s when it got complex.  I compared that camera to my older, cheaper 6 (yes, only SIX) megapixel, $450 Nikon D40. The results were surprising.

Now before I go down this road, let me assure you that I can read a spec sheet just as well as anyone else.  I don’t need anyone to tell me which is the “better” camera. But the question not answered by the spec sheets is, “does it matter?”

Consumer electronics marketing has conditioned us to buy the best you can afford at the time you’re buying.  Probably not a bad plan, but how do we tell what is best?  Easy, they say, it’s the “latest, biggest, and fastest.”  And they’re usually right.  We intuitively know, for example, that a 750 Gb hard disk drive  can hold more data than a 520 Gb drive.  So the “more is better” maxim applies.

According to the spec sheets, the D90 is clearly a much better camera than the D40.  But let me throw one more spec sheet number at you regarding that dream camera of mine: 620.  It’s the weight, in grams, of a Nikon D90, sans battery.  That works out to 1 lb., 6 oz., so figure on a pound and a half with the battery. When I hefted the camera for the first time on Friday night at Best Buy, it definitely felt like it.

Thinking the security lanyard that they use to keep the merchandise from growing legs was distorting my perception, I put it down and picked up the more-familiar Nikon D40.  At only 475 grams (just over a pound), it almost flew out of my hand.

And that’s when I knew I’d never own a Nikon D90.

For as great of a camera as it is, can I see myself hoisting that thing up and down a trail at Pere Marquette State Park?  Taking it around the far side of Silver Lake to capture a sunset? Strapping it around my neck and paddling to some spot in my kayak? No way, that thing weights a ton!

Not to mention the folly of recommending that Mike carry it while trying to keep up with his two active daughters.  Or lifting it up to his eye over and over again to get those special moments at family gatherings.

So if that extra weight is the price of the D90, what is the value?  Will the upgraded quality of my photography make it worth the extra weight?

I submit that it will not. Certainly, the greatest improvement in my photography will come from the continued improvement of my photography skills, not the improvement of my equipment.

So then I looked back at the lowly “entry-level” D40.  It looked back at me with the same love of the girlfriend that’s loved you for all the right reasons all along, in spite of your friends who say you should ask out some other girl because she’s prettier.

I appreciated the smaller, lighter body more than ever before.  My former “dream camera,” the D300, felt like a cinder block by comparison.  Six megapixels suddenly seemed enough — would I really notice more, except in the increased storage space? And what exactly is it missing that would be provided by the newer models?  Not much, I surmised.

So even though it’s a couple of years old, and probably due for replacement in the next few months, I just might buy that D40 again if I was in the market.  Maybe the latest really isn’t the greatest.  And Mike: I was wrong.  Get the D40, and put the extra money in lenses.  You’ll thank me later.

I’ve owned the Amazon Kindle for over a month now, and what follows are my thoughts on the device, the concept, the service, and more.

General Thoughts

This was perhaps the first thing I’ve ordered from Amazon “on probation,” meaning I planned to ship it back if it didn’t meet the inherent promises. After a month I realize I’m hooked. The most surprising thing about the Kindle is how it has made reading so much more convenient. I’m reading more often, and as a result, more. I tend to prefer, now, most books in the Kindle format due to this. Of course, there are some books in which I want the dead-tree versions.

Kindle: The Device

I don’t know why the Kindle looks so thick and chunky in the Amazon photos, but it just isn’t so. Pick up a DVD case, the kind that holds just a single disc — that’s just about the size and weight of it.

Bad News: The button placement, as other reviews have noted, is not ideal. However, you learn to adapt within a couple/three weeks and just move on. The case is another weak point, although at first it doesn’t seem like it. The plastic tab that hooks into a notch on the back of the Kindle eventually fails to keep the unit in the leather cover. I stuck a strip of Velcro to the back of the device and the reciprocal tape to the inside of the cover. That seems like it’s doing the job, we’ll see.

Good News: The display, although not as contrasty as I’d prefer, is really great for reading. The ability to change fonts on the fly is really nice, and the “scroll wheel” that moves an amazing little cursor up and down the side is pretty darn useful. The on-board dictionary is great, too.

The (Wireless) Service & Store

This is really the “killer app” of the Kindle platform — the ability to shop, purchase, and download instantly and quickly. There are no extra charges for wireless access, either. The selection — approximately 125,000 titles — is decent, but sometimes lacking, depending on what you’re shopping for. I’ve been very impressed with the availability of new releases, but Amazon needs to do more to get the back catalog in electronic format. Pricing is pretty good — $9.99 or less for most titles. Sometimes, you run across the odd expensive book, like Clive Cussler’s latest “Plague Ship” for $14.55. So I’m buying the print edition of that one. Another thing I would like is some sort of deal on the electronic version for owners of the printed version.

The Concept & Conclusion

This thing is really a “game changer.” You can see signals of this by the actions of the somewhat fanatical owners who take it upon themselves to argue with every less-than-great Kindle review. This is too bad, because the Kindle really does have room for improvement. But it’s definitely a step in the right direction. A big enough step, in my opinion, to make me very happy with the Amazon Kindle.

One final design note: The Kindle is a very special book.  Since it clearly has the ability to request and receive large amounts of information, it should have the words “DON’T PANIC!” written on the cover.  Know what I mean?

Your thoughts?

If you have a Kindle, or are thinking of buying one, discuss it in the comments below…