Why does Apple seem to have more kudos than Microsoft in the musical world?
For the most part, the decision of Mac-versus-PC has almost always been economic. I don't think it's been a particular preference or a great understanding of the technology. If there was, they would almost always opt for a Mac - if only because your machine isn't going to be attacked every time you go online for email!
How did your Utopia Graphics Tablet System come to Apple's attention in the 80s?
Apple was one of the first companies to come out with a personal computer with colour. You could plug it directly into a television, but because of the trick it did with the NTSC signal, it didn't work on all systems. I authored a program on something running in the New York Institute of Technology (www.nyit.edu), where a lot of the pioneering computer graphics work was done. There I met Alvie Ray Smith (who later founded Pixar), in the late 1970s, when they were pioneering work with a computer-based paint box program. I was so fascinated I bought the computer. I got a third-party graphics tablet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_tablet), which was essentially a flat board with a stylus-pen attached via a wire. It detects your position in relationship to the board and then maps it to the screen.
That must've been very unusual?
Back then, it was a bizarre concept. Essentially, this was the first example of a paint-box program that used cutting-edge programmers tools to build a tool intended for artists, not necessarily programmers. It was meant to be a companion program to graphics tablet hardware that Apple was going to put out as an accessory to the computer. It could have been really popular but it was not designed properly and it failed its FCC (www.fcc.gov) emissions test.
What would the Todd Rundgren of 1980 think of the graphics capabilities of computers now?
I wouldn't be that surprised. I went to the early Siggraph Conferences (www.siggraph.org), which were being attended only by computer dweebs, no marketers! In the days of the old MacWorld expo (www.macworldexpo.com ), it was all about programmers and pushing the envelope of their particular area of interest. Anybody who had exciting graphic stuff would have had a significant amount of processing power at their fingertips.
Do you support the RIAA's measures against file-sharers?
No. I don't like them persecuting my audience in my name. They're not doing me any favours by trying to snuff out a thirst for music. I want people to want music and I don't want them frightened away from listening to it. The RIAA tactics are going to be futile.
Do the iPod and iTunes spell the end of the CD as a format?
The CD is still the preferred format for portable music. It may eventually lose its dominance but most portable listening devices don't allow you to get sound out. You can only put sound into them.
Interviewed by Hamish Mackintosh
Visit: www.tr-i.com
Todd Rundgren's favourites
www.ebaumsworld.com
www.flashkit.com/index.shtml
www.google.com
www.otisfodder.com/365days.html
www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/director/