I went to see Newton Faulkner in Manchester last night, as part of a street team - and I was blown away. I saw him first supporting Paolo Nutini a few months ago, and hoped that I’d be able to see him playing a full set sometime in the near future.

He was at ‘Club Academy’ in Manchester, which is a very small and intimate venue with only a few hundred people. It was great to be only a few feet away, and not feel like you were bring crushed like a sardine. He played all the songs that I know and have heard before - Into the Light, UFO and I Need Something to name a few. He also played several tracks off his new album which sounded fantastic. It’s not often you hear and song and like it immediately, but that seems to be the case with most of Newton’s material.

He’s also a sheer genius at interacting with an audience - getting people completely enthralled with the gig and his performance. Everyone loves him, helped hugely by his performance of certain covers such as Teardrop (Massive Attack), the theme tune from Ice Age and the Spongebob Squarepants song.

I think Newton really has the potential to be incredibly successful - his new album (Hand built by robots) comes out in a couple of weeks, and I’d recommend having a listen on his My Space page and buying it from iTunes if you like what you hear. Passionate personality, passionate music, and an all round great guy.

For many people, iTunes has one major flaw - it’s only possible to organise and play TV shows which were purchased from the iTunes store. For people over in America that’s no problem, but TV shows haven’t made it to Europe yet and that means showing them on your iPod or Apple TV isn’t quite so straight forward. I had several TV shows in the form of DivX AVI files - Scrubs, Friends and Lost to name a few - which I wanted to be able to play on my new Apple TV. This is the process I go through to convert them to the appropriate format, and tag them with season information and artwork:

Step 1 - Convert the files

iTunes isn’t happy with handling DivX or AVI’s, so we need to convert that file to one that is compatible with iTunes - MP4. There are several ways to do this, one simple on is using Quicktime and exporing the file to Apple TV. However the best method I’ve found is a program called Visual Hub. It’s about £10 but really is well worth it for the quality files it produces. These are the settings I use:

These convert video at a good quality resolution with fairly high settings. For me, filesize isn’t really an issue - quality is more imporant - so these work well. It generally takes a little less time to convert the file than it would to actually play it, that’s on a Macbook with 2gb RAM, you may find the time varies.

Step 2 - Tag the files

Once you’ve got your nice MP4 file, we’re nearly there. At the moment, if you drop that into iTunes it will think that it’s a movie which is fine if it’s a movie you’ve converted, but if it is a TV show you need to alter it’s embedded data to give some information about the TV show name and series etc. A great program for doing this is called Lostify. This is completely free, and lets you tag a TV show with all the relevant information - it’s really easy to use. This is a shot of the interface:

Once you have run your files through this tool, just drag and drop them into iTunes. You’ll have a great collection of TV shows in no time, all of which stream to and look great on your Apple TV.

I went to see Paolo Nutini at Manchester Apollo last night and had a great time. He was a great live act, and didn’t fail to impress. He played through his first album with my definite favourites being These Streets and Jenny Don’t Be Hasty - great songs to listen to live. He finished off with a fantastic rendition of ‘I wanna be like you’ from the Jungle Book. Unusual, but really good fun.

His support act, Newton Faulkner, was also stunning - I dare say considerably more talented than Paolo - and I’d recommend giving some of his stuff a listen. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before he becomes more mainstream and people start to take notice. I’m looking forward to his first album with great anticipation!

I went to see Air on their new Pocket Symphony tour at Manchester Academy a couple of days ago and was really impressed. It was the last gig to be played at Academy before it is pulled down a rebuilt in a complete re-fit. I’m looking forward to seeing what the new venue will be like, as it’s one of my favourites for seeing live music round Manchester. It really has a personal feel and lets you get up close.

Their new album is really good, and a great addition to my collection. They played a really good mix of tracks, some from their really early stuff and some much more recent. Some of the ones which stood out from the rest were Cherry Blossom Girl, Le Femme d’Argent and the tracks off their new album which seemed to have a real energy and passion.

They weren’t quite what I expected. Firstly, I didn’t realise that the vocals were performed by one of the main artists. I thought that they had several external female vocalists and it was a surprise to hear some of the notes the guy could hit! Also, they had a serious amount of equipment - several synthesisers and keyboards, all working and layering together to create their unique sound.

I’d really recommend checking out their new album and catching them on tour if it’s the style of music you’re into!

There are certainly quite a few different iPods out there now - Apple have come a very long way from the initial iPod with a whole family of devices today. I’m the proud owner of a 5g iPod video at the moment - I think it’s fantastic. The only downside is that sometimes it can be a little big. I know that might sound quite picky (let’s face it, it’s 30gb of music and video in your pocket!) but when you’re at the gym it can be a little too clumbersome. The question is, which of the new iPods around today is most appropriate for use at the gym/going for a run?

There seem to be two options really, you could either opt for an iPod nano or an iPod shuffle….

The iPod shuffle
It’s tiny. There’s not a great deal else to say! The iPod shuffle is the perfect size for the gym as you can literally clip it on to your arm or t-shirt and completely forget about it. That can be a real relief, allowing you to focus on the workout rather than worrying about your headphones being dragged from your ears every thirty seconds or so. However there are also certainly downsides. The shuffle only stretches to 1gb in size, which means you might find yourself limited in terms of music vareity - it might be perfect for a workout, but it is lacking in terms of practicality when wanting to use it in other scenarios (a trip away for instance).

The iPod nano
The new iPod nano is a vast improvement over it’s older predecessor. It doesn’t scratch as easily, it’s (ever so slightly) smaller, and Apple have brought back the great colour variations. It also comes in much larger sizes than the shuffle, and has a screen to boot. In terms of features to price, the iPod nano wins hands down. But all that doesn’t show how well it compares at the gym. It’s certainly larger than the shuffle, making it once again noticable during your workout - however that can usually be solved with the addition of an armband style accessory.

It also has one more killer feature…

The Nike + iPod sport kit makes the iPod nano a much more usable contender than the shuffle, in that not only will it provide bouncy, pounding music whilst you’re at the gym. You can also take it on the road… Using the Nike kit allows your iPod to monitor how fast, how long and how well you are running, and all those stats can be stored and compared back at your computer at home. It’s a great training tool which is unique to the iPod nano (a shame really, as I would love one for my 5g iPod video).

Conclusion
It’s certainly a tricky decision. On the one hand you have the iPod shuffle, a tiny device perfect for tune-ing up your workout. On the other hand, an (slightly clumsier) iPod nano with a larger capacity, screen and the possibility of hooking it up to a Nike sports kit. Personally, I think it’s wise to opt for the nano. Not only will it perform well for your workout, but it’s a much more functional general use iPod than the shuffle which you might find limiting over time. The decision’s up to you… Enjoy your run!

Living in Manchester certainly has its advantages. Not least is the number of concert venues around - MEN, Academy, Apollo and more. I bagged two tickets to see the The Magic Numbers a few weeks ago, and was very impressed with their performance last night.

They are a unique band, not really falling into any particular category. Whilst their style is a fairly generic popular one, they are by no means what you would expect from a standard group. They have their quirks, differences and individual characteristics meaning they don’t fit into the generic mould. Most notably is their apperance, looking shaggy and fairly dressed down.

They played some tracks from their self titled debut album - The Magic Numbers - and also several from their new offering, Those the Brokes. All of these were catchy and well performed. The only negative was their finale song, a strange mix of country and rock called ‘The Beard’. Decidedly strange! It was at that point we left a little early in an effort to grab a taxi rather than walk back in the rain!

As with Zero 7, they’re another band I’d recommend and someone I certainly enjoyed seeing. Their tour is continuing for a good few months yet, Manchester was only their second date, so have a scout around and see if they are playing near you!