In general, my default installations add two different free plugins into Quicktime to handle files which Quicktime cannot handle by itself. Both of these plugins are very well implemented and tested, and both are rock solid in terms of stability.

• Telestream Flip4Mac Player – This application/plugin allows the user to view unencrypted Windows Media Files within Quicktime. This is especially important, as Microsoft no longer makes a Windows Media Player for Mac OS X. Unfortunately, Microsoft has not shared their DRM with Telestream, so any WMF file that is encrypted cannot be played on the Mac.
• Perian – Perian is a open-source application that installs as a System Preference, and extends Quicktime to read “everything else.” Basically, if it isn’t supported by Quicktime or Flip4Mac, Perian will.

I’m sure there are a few formats out there that this trifecta doesn’t support, but I haven’t found them (Encrypyed WMF excluded.) Furthermore, by having them installed by default, my users have to worry less whether a particular video will run or not, allowing them to be more flexible in how they perform their job.

The idea of using sound clips from Youtube videos has come up no less than 100 times each quarter since I began teaching audio.  Although I am completely naive to the legality of this, I almost always indulge them with the one of the, I’m sure, thousands of ways there is to accomplish this.

Youtube videos are now saved as .flv (flash video) files.  In order to import these into most DAWs, you will first need to convert these .flv files into .mov files. The way I do this is using a Firefox plug-in called download helper.  You will need to download this at http://www.downloadhelper.net/.

You’ll see a yellow box to the left of the screen like this one below:

Click “Installation” inside the yellow box.

Follow the installation instructions.

Before download helper will work, you’ll need to restart Firefox.

One more plug-in you’ll need is a Quicktime plug-in known as Perian which allows you to open the .flv file you download from Youtube.  Go to this web site, http://www.perian.org/, and download Perian.  A lot of my students have forgotten to follow the entire download through to its end.  Don’t forget to click “Download Perian” on this screen:

Restart Quicktime.

Now go to the Youtube video you want to sample.  You will now see three dots next to any video that you can download via Download helper such as below:

Clicking the three dots will begin an automatic download of the .flv from Youtube.

The video will download directly to its own download helper folder:

The final step is to open the file using Quicktime.  If Perian is properly installed, the .flv should open in Quicktime with no problems.

The file will open in Quicktime.

Next, simply export the file.

The file will default as a .mov.  Save the file to a convenient place and import the newly formed .mov to Pro Tools or whatever DAW you’re working with.

Sample away.

Seems to be Handbrake. Another option is Perian but has known issues with Video/Audio sync when exporting to Flash files.  Read more about it here.

If you didn’t know already, as of 1.1.4, Perian plays nice with SL and QuickTime X. Problem is, QuickTime X just utterly refuses to open .mkv files.

The reason is simple: QuickTime X will only open known and registered file formats. This app will register the .mkv format with QuickTime X for you. Just download, unzip, and run once. The next version of Perian will have this built in. Source

Perian is a QuickTime component that allows you to play nearly any format imaginable, straight off QuickTime Player. It does not use the QuickTime X engine, instead it will use the QuickTime 7 engine via QTKit. The QuickTime X engine will only play formats supported by the iPhone and iPod Touch, as it is where it was derived from. You would have known that already anyway.

Si tienes problemas para reproducir algunos videos, Perian es la solución, ya que permite el soporte para AVI, FLV, DivX, XviD, MS-MPEG4, AAC, AC3, VBR MP3…

Si quieres reproducir WMV, te recomiendo Flip4Mac.

[Post dedicado a los ''novatos'' de la Party que me preguntaron por ello ]

salu2

PD: Si no lo tenías instalado, es casi una obligación que lo instales .

Perian, ese magnifico conjunto de codecs para QuickTime (y para mi imprescindible porque reproduce archivos en .MKV) acaba de ser actualizado a la versión 1.1.4.

Esta nueva versión, a parte de corregir fallos, implementa algunas nuevas características (que podéis leer en esta página, en inglés).

Recuerda que Perian es gratuito y puedes descargarlo desde su página oficial. Para descargar esta actualización (y si el programa no te ha avisado de forma automática) va a ‘Preferencias del Sistema’, haz clic en ‘Perian’ (en la barra Complementos) y haz clic en ‘Check For Updates‘, después solo sigue los pasos.

I spent a lot of time last week finding equivalent software on the Mac for the ones I used to use on Windows.

DVD Ripping

Having children means having a lot of kids DVDs that get played very often.  We’ve unfortunately had a few DVDs get scratched by the kids and so I started backing them up, to be played through my PS3.

In Windows, I used a combination of DVD Decrypter, Ripit4Me and then AVS or DVDShrink to backup my home DVDs.  I wanted something simple to use that could encode in xvid with reasonable quality.  Some of my DVDs were purchased from the US, so ability to rip DVDs of other regions is important too.

Unfortunately, it seems that the range of DVD ripping utilities is less on the Mac.  I’m currently experimenting with Rip It and Handbrake.   Handbrake seems pretty good and one test run I did with the PS3 template worked without any problems.

MP3 Ripping

Music plays a huge part of my life, and being a Swing DJ, easy and fast access to any track part of my collection is essential.

In Windows, I used the tried and tested EAC + LAME combination.   This combination would be able to grab track names off the internet, securely rip my CDs and then encode them in the best MP3 settings.   Since I playback my music on my iPhone and iPod, and most of my Swing music is scratchy old 1930s-50s stuff, I am not too concerned about lossless.

So what do people on the Mac use?   iTunes seems the “standard”, but unfortunately that doesn’t have secure ripping or use LAME.   After some searching,  I’ve settled on using XLD which uses the LAME engine for MP3 encoding.   It seems to still have actively development, it has advanced ripping and can encode in a variety of formats.

Video Codecs and Playback

If you watch any movies or TV shows on your Windows computer, you probably have heard of the K-Lite Codec Pack.  It’s the best way to make sure your computer has all the necessary files to play back any video files.  It also includes the advanced Media Player Classic.

Is there an equivalent on the Mac?  The Quicktime Player seems to be the standard Mac video player.   So if we stick with that, how about the codecs?   The general consensus is that all you need is Perian and the Windows Media Components for QuickTime.   This should let you playback most videos.

Email

I recently switched from Outlook Express to Thunderbird on Windows.  Fortunately, this made the switch to Mac really easy, as there is Thunderbird on the Mac too.

I’m still toying with switching to use Apple’s OSX Mail program as it has seemless integration with the OSX Address Book.   Unfortunately, I can’t get Google Contact syncing working at the moment with it.

Web Browser

Macs come with Safari out of the box of course.  But Firefox is my browser of choice.   Being available on both Windows and Mac made my switch very easy.

Downloading Photos

I’ve recently been experimenting with BreezeSys Downloader Pro.  I love being able to control the exact naming scheme for the folders and photo files that I’m downloading from my camera.

Unfortunately, this software isn’t available on the Mac, but I’ve since found that many of the commercial photo editing products out there already have this functionality built in!  I’ve been living in the dark ages!

MP3 Library and Playback Software

To manage all my MP3s on Windows, I’ve been using MediaMonkey.  It’s an excellent piece of software and can handle and manage large MP3 collections with ease.

When DJ’ing at Swing Dancing functions, I use 2 instances of Foobar2000 with their outputs set to different sound devices.  This lets me monitor/audition on one, whilst playing back on another.

The bad news for me is that neither of these 2 MP3 programs are available on the Mac.  Yes there is iTunes – but it’s fairly limited in terms of MP3 file management, and on the Mac, you can’t even have 2 instances with 2 different outputs!

I’m trying to resist VERY hard the temptation to install Windows and run these programs, either through BootCamp or on a virtual machine.   Surely there has to be something else on the Mac?   I’ve started reading up about Traktor but it seems overkill for what I need to do.

On a good note, I have my Airport Express working again!  After all the problems I was having on my Dell laptop, iTunes is streaming music wirelessly from the MacBook Pro to my stereo!

Other Software

Office Suite – When I bought my MacBook Pro, I also purchased the AppleCare Protection Plan for extended warranty.  Luckily there was a deal to get Microsoft Office 2008 for free with this!   This has solved my Office suite problems!   Although, I might retry OpenOffice on the Mac as I had been using this on my Windows laptop for a while.

Skype – It’s available on the Mac!

TweetDeck – Also available on the Mac!

Summary

DVD Ripping – RipIt and Handbrake
MP3 Ripping – XLD
Video Codecs – Perian and Windows Media Components for Quicktime
Email – Thunderbird
Web Browser – Firefox
MP3 Library Management – iTunes??  or run MediaMonkey in Windows (nooo!!)
Office Suite – Microsoft Office or OpenOffice
Video and Voice Calls – Skype
Twitter – TweetDeck

I know there are other alternatives, but I hope this list might help others who make the switch.

Things still left to do

• Games (I want to continue playing Guild Wars!)
• Sync’ing my contacts and calendar from Google and my iPhone to the Mac
• Sharing music and photos from my MacBook Pro to my wife’s MacBook
• Getting my Canon MP500 scanner to scan documents into the MacBook Pro
• Connecting up with the Tivo, downloading videos and converting them to DVD or storing them to be played back through the Tivo or PS3

Mit Quicktime liefert Apple einen schnellen, nicht überladenen und schicken Media Player mit. Einige moderne und proprietäre Formate kann man von Haus aus allerdings nicht damit abspielen.

Das ist allerdings kein Beinbruch, denn Abhilfe schaffen zwei kostenlose Softwarepakete. Namentlich Perian und Flip4Mac.

Perian bezeichnet sich selbst als Schweizer Taschenmassen für Quicktime. So bietet es durch eine Quicktime Komponente Zugriff auf so gut wie alle aktuellen Video und Audio Codecs.

In der Liste fehlen allerdings die proprietären Windows Media Formate von Microsoft. Hier kommt Flip4Mac ins Spiel, welches kostenfrei eine Komponente zum abspielen, und gegen eine Gebühr Funktionen zum editieren mitbringt.

Eine Alternative die alle Codecs gleich mitbringt ist der Open Source Video Lan Media Player, kurz VLC. Allerdings finde ich Quicktime in der Bedienung doch ein tick netter. Aber VLC spielt wirklich so gut wie alles ab, ohne dass man irgendetwas anderes installieren müsste. Vor allem auch gut, wenn man mal irgendwo ist und ein Format nicht läuft. Ein File runter laden und schon läuft es.

Auf den Screenshots spiele ich eine .mkv Datei des kostenlosen Films Big Buck Bunny ab. Dieser wurde von der Blender Foundation erstellt und wird kostenlos verteilt.

http://perian.org/

http://www.telestream.net/flip4mac-wmv/overview.htm

http://www.videolan.org/

http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/

I’ve posted a couple of times now about my experiences creating audio and video on OS X. A couple of weeks ago, I had a brief conversation with my friend Ian Hughes, aka epredator, who was trying to get himself setup:

Good one. All I knew was that DIVX AVI files were playing on my machine fine, through QuickTime.

The answer, which I’d evidently missed before, is Perian. This is a really simple, installable package which enables support for a whole range of “other” file formats in QuickTime. You’ll also want to install Flip4Mac, which gives support for Windows formats like WMV. It’s also worth adding the Xiph component for formats like FLAC and OGG. Once you’ve got those in place, you should be fine to import, play and edit in iMovie and other QuickTime-based applications.

El reproductor de medios en vídeo por antonomasia en Mac OS X es el ya veterano QuickTime, que fue actualizado hace pocos días por los chicos de Cupertino. No es santo de mi devoción, pero no me he dedicado al tema de buscar otro que sí me guste; por lo pronto me quedo con él, y funciona bastante bien. Lo malo de venir de factoría Apple es la poca cantidad de formatos populares que soporta, y con el artículo de hoy vamos a completar la tarea que empecé hace algunas semanas hablando de Flip4Mac, que entregaba capacidades WMA y WMV para QuickTime. Hoy añadiremos el resto de los archivos de vídeo (AVI incluido) con Perian.

El proyecto Perian se basa en el ya mitológico proyecto FFmpeg, usando algunas librerías específicas que se encargan de proveer soporte de reproducción a archivos de vídeo a QuickTime o cualquier aplicación que ocupe a QuickTime para mostrar vídeo (como el streaming de Safari, por ejemplo). Es un proyecto gratuito que acepta donaciones, y por estos días se encuentra en la versión 1.1.3 de desarrollo. Para instalarlo, lo primero que harán es bajarlo de la página principal del proyecto, que ofrece de inmediato la descarga del paquete de códecs.

Una vez descargado (pesa 3 MB), la imagen dmg se montará de inmediato en el escritorio, mostrando la ventana de instalación que pueden ver a continuación:

Como ven, las instrucciones se las está dando la misma ventana en todos los idiomas: hay que hacer clic en el primer archivo de la lista (Perian.prefPane) para continuar con la instalación. Como se habrán dado ya cuenta, Perian no es una aplicación propiamente tal, sino que es una preferencia del sistema que se instala (era que no) en las Preferencias del Sistema. Hagan doble clic en él, y verán el siguiente aviso:

Es cosa de ustedes elegir si quieren la capacidad de ver el panel de preferencias de Perian para todos los usuarios o sólo para el de ustedes; elijan una de las opciones, y hagan clic en ‘instalar’. El proceso ha terminado, y pueden abrir las Preferencias del Sistema para buscar a Perian, que está bajo el acápite de ‘complementos‘:

Con un clic estarán dentro del panel, pero la verdad es que no hay mucho que ver; las cosas estarán ya configuradas (me imagino) porque son poquísimas las opciones que se pueden cambiar en el panel. Bien por la facilidad, pero quizá sería bueno poder mover algunas perillitas para jugar con el códec… bueno, así es la cosa.

Busqué e instalé esta preferencia porque deseaba reproducir archivos de vídeo de Matroska (MKV), que es un contenedor de audio y vídeo de código totalmente abierto que tiene capacidades de alta definición en un tamaño bastante bajo. Estuve hace unos días en casa de mi gran amigo @Diego Z y me mostró varios vídeos que bajó en ese formato, y quedé deslumbrado por la gran calidad que se apreciaba, por lo que di con Perian para enseñar a QuickTime a mostrar los archivos. Con el panel instalado, la reproducción quedó asegurada de inmediato; de muestra un botón: la hermosa deslumbrante Alizee:

Nunca está de más recrear la vista, y menos aún si es para mirar a esta chica francesa de voz un poco grave y un buen ver que asombra… muy bonita, de verdad. Bueno, luego de este arranque testosterónico me despido, esperando que les sea útil el truco para empoderar a QuickTime con MKV y otros formatos con Perian. Gracias a mi amigo @Diego Z por la iluminación en MKV y la inquietud por capacitar a mi MacBook con una nueva característica.

Saludos a todos, y disfruten de sus Mac

Durante el día de hoy, estuve viendo un reportaje sobre aplicaciones esenciales gratuitas para Mac. Al leer el reportaje, noté que, tras que algunas no eran tan esenciales, habían aplicaciones que no eran tan buenas como otras que conosco. Por esto, decidí traerles mi lista de aplicaciones esenciales que son completamente gratis!

• Adium

Adium es una aplicación de instant messenger para conectarse a servicios como AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Facebook y Gtalk, entre muchos otros. Este messenger se puede cotomizar a tu gusto cambiando icons, smileys & backgrounds. [Más info]

• AppCleaner

Pequeña aplicación para desinstalar otras aplicaciones. El desinstalar en Mac es super fácil pero las aplicaciones dejan atrás files que no queremos en nuestras Macs. Este programa busca estos files y los borra junto con la aplicación que quieres desinstalar. [Más info]

• Burn

Mac OS X nos permite quemar discos sin programas como este pero siempre es bueno tener algunas funciones más avanzadas. Desde Audio Cds hasta Dvd Videos, con esta aplicación lo podemos hacer. [Más info]

• Carbon Copy Cloner

Realiza backups sin problema. Con esta aplicación, puedes automatizar tus backups de la información más importante en tu Mac. También, puedes hacer una copia exacta de tu disco duro sin problemas. [Más info]

• Cyberduck

FTP client muy sencillo de utilizar. Te permite trabajar con files en FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Mosso Cloud y Amazon S3. [Más info]

• HandBrake

Aplicación para convertir tus Dvds (o imagenes) en formato .mp4 y .avi. Te permite escoger los capítulos que deseas y te permite incluir subtítulos a tus películas. [Más info]

• NewsFire

Una manera simple y organizada de mantenerte al día de lo que sucede en el web utilizando RSS feeds. Este es el RSS Reader que yo utilizo y no lo cambio por ninguno. Viene integrado con opción de postear en Twitter. Es gratis a cambio de tener el RSS feed del desarrollador. [Más info]

• Onyx

Utilidad de mantenimiento, optimización y personalización de tu Mac. Te permite reparar permisos, dar mantenimiento a tu sistema y editar parámetros escondidos de Finder, Safari, Dock y Dashboard, entre muchos otros. La principal herramienta de mantenimiento que necesitas. Esta es la versión Leopard, para otras versiones, visitar el website. [Más info]

• OpenOffice

Paquete que contiene procesador de palabras, spreadsheet, base de datos, aplicaciones para presentaciones multimedia y hasta para hacer dibujos. Opción esencial y la mejor manera de salir de Microsoft Office. Esta es la versión Intel, visitar el site para otras versiones. [Más info]

• Perian

Componente para Quicktime que te permite ver todos los formatos de video más importantes en el internet. [Más info]

• Skitch

Servicio web que te permite compartir fotos de tu desktop, de websites (screen captures) o hasta de tu cámara. Puedes editarlas y añadirles texto identificando las cosas que quieres que todos vean en las fotos. Esta aplicación viene con el servicio de poder subir estas fotos a tu cuenta en Skitch.com, FTP, SFTP, Flickr y MobileMe. También, provee los links y códigos para que puedas compartir tus fotos fácilmente. Este servicio todavía está en beta y me temo que, una vez se haga oficial, comienzen a cobrar por utilizarlo. [Más info]

• Transmission

Aplicación para descargar torrents. Sencilla, rápida y fácil de utilizar. [Más info]

• UnRarX

No todo lo que bajamos en internet está en un file .zip. Para los files .rar, esta es la aplicación que necesitamos. Perfecta para complementar el Archive Utility de Mac OS X. [Más info]

…y lo que no puede faltar, la ñapa!

• Flip4Mac: Componente para Quicktime y tus browsers que te permite ver videos .wmv y escuchar audio .wma. [Más info]

• Growl: Sistema de notificaciones para tus aplicaciones. No todas las aplicaciones tienen este feature pero se ven muy bien las que si lo tienen. Aunque no es una aplicación tan esencial, se las recomiendo. Las notificaciones son exelentes. [Más info]

• Inquisitor: Extención del search feature de Safari. Te permite buscar información en otros lugares como Amazon, eBay, y Wikipedia, entro muchos otros. Adicional, lo puedes costomizar para que busque en otros lugares. También disponible para Firefox, IE, y el iPhone. [Más info]

• MacTheRipper: Aplicación para copiar Dvds. Te permite copiar y hacer backups de tus Dvds, reduciendo su tamaño para que los puedas quemar en un Dvd normal. Actualmente, esta aplicación ya no se sigue haciendo por problemas de copyrights con los estudios de cine pero todavía se consigue en el internet. [Más info]

• Monolingual: Nosotros siempre usamos nuestras Macs en inglés o español. Así que, para que tener todos los otros idiomas instalados? Esta aplicación te permite borrar todos esos idiomas que no utilizamos como japonés, chino, alemán, etc. [Más info]

Me imagino que, por lo menos, algunas de estas aplicaciones ya ustedes las tendrán y me gustaría que compartieran sus opiniones sobre ellas y que aplicaciones deben considerarse como esenciales para ustedes. Recuerden que deben de ser aplicaciones gratis!

Aquí pueden ver una lista de aplicaciones por Waldemar Santiago: Más de 100 Aplicaciones Gratis para Mac OS X

In searching for some needed codecs for QuickTime to play avi files ripped from DVDs  on my Macbook Pro, I ran across Perian ‘The swiss-army knife for QuickTime’. Perian includes video and audio codecs for many common formats.

It’s simple to use! Download the disk image, open it, double click the Perian.prefPane icon and all the components are automatically installed in the correct directories. All the video and audio plays properly for me.

Hats off to the Perian Project Team for a great job!

C’est en fouillant ce matin sur le disque dur réseau du salon afin de pouvoir visionner un film sur mon macbook en cette grasse matinée, que j’ai constaté l’impossibilité de pré visualiser l’ensemble des vidéos encodées en DivX et Xvid (.avi), FLV ou encore MKV, à l’aide de Quicklook (fonctionnalité d’aperçu de documents multi-formats implémentée depuis OS X 10.4 Tiger) .

Heureusement pour les cinéphiles comme moi qui étaient désemparés face à cette absence quasi-hérétique (…comment çà j’exagère ? Pff si peu…), il existe des gentils développeurs sous mac (sisi!) qui ont eu la bonne idée de créer des composants Quicktime permettant le support natif de l’ensemble des formats de compression nommés précédemment, j’ai nommé PERIAN.

L’installation est on ne peut plus facile (j’ai envie de dire “comme d’hab’ sur mac” ), et ceci nous donne cela dans notre extraordinaire outil d’aperçu :

J’espère que cet article vous aura profité autant qu’à moi ;}

Bonne journée !

Das “Schweizer Taschenmesser” Perian kommt in einer neuen Version daher. Vor allem auf älteren Rechnern sollte man das Update einspielen. Die Codecs gehen jetzt deutlich schonender mit den Resourcen des Arbeitsspeichers um.

Download um die zirka 4 Megabyte, am besten über die Systemeinstellungen…

Вчера, рассматривая раздел загрузок Макцентра, в поисках программы для импорта песен из iPod’а наткнулся на бесплатный плагин к quicktime – Perian. После его установки действительно Квиктайм начал показывать HD видео. В описании к программе написано, что ещё и .ass субтитры умеет читать, но это я проверить не успел. Ведь, если теперь quicktime всё может и умеет, то закончился геморрой с пересохраниением субтитров в кодировку CP 1251, в формат .srt. Да и откровенно не все видео файлы открывал Movist – сериал с 9 сериями: (первая опускается, ибо – DVDRip, в отличие от остальных HD) вторая серия нормально идет, третья – нормально. Четвёртая – абсолютно такая же, но не открывается и всё. Приходилось смотреть через VLC – тот как то странно буферизует – минуты три нормально показывает, потом останавливает изображение секунд на 5 (звук идёт ровно) и подолжает с перескоком того куска. Смотреть так можно, но раздражает.

QuickTime после всего этого – просто прелесть.

Извлёк композиции со своего iPod’a – структура папок создалась : “Исполнитель\альбом” – всё по тегам. Теперь в следующий раз, когда плеер разрядится – надо заняться синхронизацией.

В воскресенье, приехав на остановку у метро к институту решил, что уже непозволительно опаздываю, взял Джин&тоник и пошёл до института пешком. Какая ностальгия нахлынула: вкус просто знакомый с детства. Ещё и погода отличная – прохладная, безветренная. Ещё бы снег шёл, но какой снег зимой в наше время? Выпив одну баночку я решил, что время ещё есть, до института я ещё не дошёл и взял ещё баночку.

Немного погуляв и прикончив напиток, я решил минут на 10 зайти в монастырь и посмотреть, как и что там. У входа на территорию монастыря попрошайка, которому я отсыпал немного мелочи меня совершенно поставил в тупик своим вопросом: “А почему ты в семинарии не учишься?”. Постоял в церкви минут 10, посмотрел как проходит служба. Был удивлён, когда один товарищ упал на колени и прикоснулся лбом к полу.

В институте зачёт поставили автоматом. А я ожидал, что так как ничего не знаю, можно будет развлекаться в общении с преподавателем. Фантазировать. Но не удалось.

Guns, Influence, and Power

Reviewed by: Timothy May, Department of History, North Georgia College and State University.
Published by: H-War (August, 2006)

There is no question that the advent of gunpowder weapons permanently changed the course of warfare, but exactly how this happened varies from region to region. Often in the public’s mind, the impact of firearms is relegated to Europe and its origins in China; somehow everything in between is overlooked. Thus, Iqtidar Alam Khan’s volume, Gunpowder and Firearms: Warfare in Medieval India will hopefully begin to fill that void.

Khan’s work is important for two reasons. First, it traces the origins and influence of gunpowder weapons in India as a regional history rather than as an ancillary to a larger work. The author critically examines when firearms appeared in India, and then what other influences–whether local or foreign–played in the development of the weapons. Moreover, he discusses their impact, not only on the medieval state, but on society as a whole. Second, Khan’s work serves as a model for other regional studies on firearms as well as the distribution of other forms of technology or goods.

Chapter 1 of Gunpowder and Firearms discusses the diffusion of firearms into the subcontinent by focusing on the role of the Mongols as agents of transmission. Although the author notes that the Chinese had been using gunpowder weapons before the Mongols arrived on the scene, it is not until the end of the thirteenth century that firearms of any sort, particularly rockets, appear in the Sultanate of Delhi or in regional literary references. While he places the greatest emphasis on the Mongols as the agents of technological transmission, Khan does not rule out other sources such as a Himalayan or sea route. Regardless of their origin, knowledge and use of these weapons quickly spread.

Chapters 2 through 4 focus on the use of artillery from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. Although cannons became somewhat common throughout India, the Mughals used them the most effectively, thus giving rise to one of the popularly called Gunpowder Empires (along with the Ottomans and Safavids). Yet, these three chapters emphasize one key point. As in late medieval Europe, the expense of cannons meant that few among the nobility besides the ruler possessed the resources to purchase them. Fortress walls gave little shelter against cannons and the nobility quickly learned to acquiesce to the authority of the ruler.

Although similar situations appeared among some of the regional Indian states, the rise of the Mughals brings this phenomenon into better focus. Chapter 3 continues to deal with centralization of power, but in the context of the arrival of not only the Mughals, but also the Portuguese with their European metallurgical and artillery advances. From the Portuguese, the Mughals and others learned how to make cannons from wrought iron, thus reducing the cost of the weapon, while at the same time improving it. The Mughals, who learned from Ottoman advisors, quickly grasped the importance of light artillery as it became less expensive and more easily manufactured. While magnificent in siege warfare, the lack of maneuverability of heavy cannon left it virtually useless on the battlefield.

Chapter 4 discusses the dominance of the Mughals. By the time of Akbar, heavy mortars and cannons were rarely used in the Mughal military. Light cannons that could be used on the battlefield were the mainstay of the Mughal artillery corps, including the shaturnal, similar to swivel guns, but carried on the backs of camels and even in the howdahs of elephants. As this chapter ties into the arrival of the British East India Company, Khan continues to discuss technological developments, or the lack thereof.

In addition to artillery, handheld firearms also became ubiquitous throughout the Mughal Empire. Chapter 5 examines the nature and development of handguns in the Mughal Empire. In addition to local factors, Khan includes a good discussion of Western influences, which in this instance includes the Ottoman Empire. Western influences included new technologies in firearms manufacture. However, not all of these became widespread. As a result, stagnation occurred particularly in terms of standard weapons. The preferred weapon became the matchlock, even after other technologies surpassed it. Why the matchlock remained the weapon of choice ties into chapter 6, which discusses the role of the matchlock musket in the centralization of Mughal authority.

Mughals also used musketeers to maintain their authority. Babur began his career with a scant musket bearing force of just over a hundred men, but by the time of Akbar, over 35,000 musketeers existed in the Mughal military. One reason for this was that, despite the cost of their weapon, the musketeers were actually less expensive than garrisoning cavalry forces. The expense of feeding the man and his horse grossly exceeded that of a musketeer. Thus, a small but trained force of musket wielding troops allowed the Mughals to assert their authority in even the most remote provinces. This was also possible as, for several decades, the nobility were forbidden to recruit their own forces of musketeers. At the same time, this mass force of troops with firearms undermined the Mughals. As the matchlock became ubiquitous, its cost dropped, but it also was deemed very reliable by those using it. Thus, even when other technologies came into the region, like flintlock muskets, the Mughals failed to adopt them due to economic reasons as well as the matchlock’s popularity.

While firearms aided the process of centralization, it also played a role in undermining the Mughal’s authority. Because of the affordability of matchlocks and the relative simplicity in gaining expertise with them, one did not have to train for years to be a warrior. Ultimately this let to the diffusion of firearms into the general populace and resistance to central authority. Beginning in the late-sixteenth century, not only political rebels, but even peasants opposed to tax collection acquired firearms. As domestic tensions grew, the widespread use and manufacture of matchlock muskets played a role in the breakdown of central authority, and the Mughals, despite several innovative attempts, failed to halt the eventual Balkanization of their empire. Khan’s work is impressive and is the result of twenty years of research that ranged over four hundred years of history. Utilizing Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, and English primary sources and supplemented by a wide array of secondary works, Iqtidar Khan has produced an excellent work. The four appendices are useful supplements dealing with the use of firearms by the Mongols, the analysis of terminology in a couple primary sources, and the origins of the Purbias, who were gunners for a few Indian states in the 1500s. The volume also contains almost thirty illustrations of firearms and their use. These dramatically illustrate Khan’s points as well as show the reader the variances between the weapons.

Yet, the book is not without faults. While Gunpowder and Firearms is an insightful and well-argued work, the author exaggerates the Mongols’ use of gunpowder. While it is true that the Mongols never met a weapon they did not find a use for, there is no concrete evidence that the Mongols used gunpowder weapons on a regular basis outside of China. Indeed, the author recognizes this and notes that his claims are based on Persian terms which could be interpreted as firearms. Unfortunately, while many of these terms such as manjaniq are used to refer to cannons, during the medieval period manjaniq meant a mangonel. It is plausible that in later periods, the Mongols did make more extensive use of gunpowder weapons, but in period of the conquests (1206-60), there is inadequate evidence to support Khan’s assertion.

One other minor criticism is the exclusion of Kenneth Chase’s Firearms: A Global History to 1700 (2003). I suspect that, given their publication dates, Chase’s and Khan’s books crossed paths. Although Chase takes a global perspective, the authors reach similar conclusions. Nonetheless, Gunpowder and Firearms will appeal not only to historians of India, but also anyone interested in the development of weapons and military systems or the creation of states. In summary, not only is Iqtidar Alam Khan’s work an impressive study on the diffusion of firearms in India, it will also serve as a model for others pursuing similar research on the spread of technology or goods on a regional basis.

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Enlace | Perian |