Domain: gadgetreview.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to gadgetreview.com.
Comments · 6
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Re:They broke literally their only requirement
iTunes sucks: A GIF guide to why Apple’s desktop music app must be fixed
Why does iTunes suck so incredibly much?
iTunes sucks, we all know it. What are my options for music player (nonstreaming) on the iPhone 6s?
Why I Hate iTunes: Syncing Sucks And So Does Selecting Music
Can iTunes suck anymore than it already does?
iTunes Really Is That Bad
Apple’s iTunes Is Alienating Its Most Music-Obsessed Users
Eleven Reasons Why iTunes Sucks
Why does Itunes SUCK SO MUCH ???
Again: no, people are not happy using iTunes. People use iTunes because Apple requires it for their expensive iDevices. They hate it, but they want to sync music to their iPhones.
You're saying that my assertion about video players is a "no true Scotsman" fallacy? That's a laugh. You just didn't want to dig your hole deeper by responding to what I said. Video players are not designed to deal with large music libraries, nor should they be. A sports car can be used to take lots of cleaning supplies between cleaning jobs, but a utility van will be far better suited to the task. Your choice of VLC to support this notion is especially hilarious. The VLC media library is like only using the Winamp playlist for your entire music collection.
Or perhaps you meant that foobar2000 is not the true Scotsman. In that case, you missed my arguments about the interface being poorly designed.
Now here's a real laugh for you regarding your sneering at Winamp market share. While I don't have stats from anywhere today, Lifehacker did a survey in 2013 to find out what the readers thought was the best desktop music player and in the end Winamp was the winner. So at least in 2013, 16 years after Winamp was released, it was still the preferred player for everyone that read Lifehacker at the time. Unfortunately, most articles seem to omit or only "honorably mention" Winamp based on it no longer being developed which at this point is really only a problem for people who want double size mode to look better or want to sync a modern iPod with Winamp (yes, Winamp used to sync iPods.)
I'm sure iTunes can play music back on garbage hardware while multitasking. Maintaining a 44.1 kHz 16-bit stereo audio stream while multitasking was easily done by Winamp in 1997 on an original Pentium, so why wouldn't it be possible to do the same thing today on a bargan-basement Celeron that's slow for browsing but still two orders of magnitude faster than an original Pentium? It's not hard to have a realtime-priority and heavily optimized thread that does nothing but decompress music file data and pass it to the sound system. Good luck switching between iTunes and other stuff in 2GB of RAM while trying to do some actual work.
One more thing was never addressed. You never elaborated on why "underlying frameworks" is some sort of selling point. Last I checked, no one went out looking for media players and said "I want one that has underlying frameworks." -
Re:Almost, Apple...
Okay, so lets just put an end to this whole 'they're competitive' bullshit. Lets throw the MBP against... lets say a Razer Blade. We all know that Razer is notoriously expensive for the shit they make (kinda like Apple).
MBP Vs. Blade
Whats that? The MBP configuration that is around the same build specs as the Blade is $650 more. That's even with the (gimmicky) switchblade panel on the laptop. How does it feel to be in the cult of Steve Jobs? -
Re:Aren't there already products like this?
It really reminds me of a Asus Eee Keyboard. It is a whole computer built into a keyboard with a 5 inch touch screen that can change what is displayed or be used as a mouse.
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Re:My god.
No kidding. I have a lot of AV components - 5x240W AV receiver, DVD recorder, Cable DVR, VCR, VCR (both VCRs unplugged as they rarely see use now), cassette deck (unplugged for the same reason) and a blu-ray player. The blu-ray player is annoying as it isn't the standard 18" wide rectangular design - it's designed to either be wall-mounted or to sit at a slant on a stand, out in view (see http://www.gadgetreview.com/2009/04/samsung-bd-p6400-ultra-slim-blu-ray-player-now-available-at-best-buy.html and http://www.disc-players.com/players/manufacturers/pos/samsung_bd-p4600/?photo=2 ). I tolerated it because I happened to find an offer for it for only $30 additional to bundle it with the LN46B650, so I went for it. It's not so bad because it can sit in front of the screen and not interfere with the view, and it's fairly attractive, but I'd rather put it on a shelf underneath with the rest of the components.
The boxee though? At least the Samsgung BD-P6400 is attractive enough to be in plain view, but not so tall that it obstructs the view. The Boxee is something I would never buy because not only does it have to be in plain site, not fit into a standard AV or "stereo" rack, but has been designed to be as ugly as anyone could possibly imagine.
I think ciderbrew is right the designer probably came up with three designs. I will describe what I imagine here:
1. First design: Attractive, gloss black with capacitive touch panel on the front with an OLED or LED-LCD display for full optical disc control. with ports intelligently placed, and a slim IR receiver on a cable for placement on top of the panel, USB (or ESATA) port each on its own bus (not hung off a USB hub) for an external Blu-Ray drive, with an optional slim Blu-Ray drive being offered either as an accessory, or as part of a bundle. Verdict: too expensive.
2. Classic cheap, conservative design: Minimalist flourescent or LED display for the basic stuff (off/on, port status, etc.) with ports on the front and rear, with the front ports being behind a flip-down door. No support for external Blu-Ray, but is reasonably attractive, if ordinary, and designed to be out-of-sight/out of mine because it will Just Work(tm). Verdict: too ordinary.
3. That hideous odd-shaped green and black piece of shit that actually went to market, but absolutely no one will want cluttering up their TV stand, or to take up 4U to 5U of space in their AV rack (allow for clearance to actually insert media cards, etc. with no support for external blu-ray drive. Lower performance than the competition, and far more likely to be reviled and hated by anyone with a sense of either style or practicality. The verdict: "it's cheap, and people will remember it. It's all in the branding!"
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Re:Other distros?
"just hope these don't turn out to be vaporware"
Hivision's last laptop turned out to be vapoware so I don't expect to see this one either.
The $98 Hivision Mini Note never materialized, despite tons of press. It's been almost 18 months since the supposed release date and they still don't even exist on ebay. -
Re:Ouch
LEDs won't hurt you - I think you're talking about these - sorta like LED projectors, but with frickin laser beams. No idea if they can be mounted on sharks.