I'm not looking to pin blame on anyone. I'm sure there are a zillion reasons why songs can't get distributed thorugh iTMS.
I don't care.
It is the store that is responsible for whether or not it sells what I want to buy. It is also my choice whether to patronize the store.
Near the top of this thread I was merely asking if others had experienced this same thing. We had only looked at a few songs and we either had a really bad run of luck or it is a very common occurence with their music store. If 15 other people confirmed our experience I might blow them off for another year or two. Since that doesn't appear to be the case, we'll try it out again, perhaps in a different genre and definitely with different artists.
It is not too critical. The iPod was worth the money even if all we could manage is Musicmatch and playlists.
Yes, but the Italian political process is so much more exciting than ours, more resembling an organized riot. Hmm, actually everything done in Italy seems to fit that description, maybe it's the language.
When I say they went 1 for 5, I mean for *the* major song off albums that are represented on iTMS.
To put it in classic rock terms that I can understand (I can't remember the exact details of my wife's horrible taste in music) it's like they claimed to have Led Zepplin IV but left off Stairway to Heaven. Now, when that happens 4 out of our first 5 searches we get suspicious and I asked if this was what it was like for others out there.
I'll give them a break if it's some strange coincidence that they just aren't doing the songs my wife wants. I won't give them a break if they're intentionally hiding the good songs on otherwise crap albums (note that LZ4 does not fit the comparison in that respect).
Even when just using MusicMatch the iPod was well worth it.
Their music store left much to be desired upon first glance. She had a specific list of songs to finish off a couple desired play lists and the store when something like 1 out of 5 on them.
We'll look into it further I'm sure but our first impression is it's the bargain bin quality at full price.
My wife was looking through iTunes and on first glance everything seemed pretty cool. But then she started pulling up old albums and I started hearing complaints:
xxx isn't on here. Ok, I can understand they haven't signed everything in the world.
Then she found someone she liked that had a bunch of albums on there. Except for the good song from each album. She cited several examples after looking for a mere 30 minutes where the popular song from an album was the only song not available from it.
Is this a common experience with iTunes?
$1 a song isn't bad unless it's $1 for each of the crappy songs in which case it's worse than buying the whole cd.
What you say is true enough. However, after waiting several seconds I'm often asked if I would like to End the task anyway, this will cause loss of data, etc... This often doesn't work. Also, on the next tab over, kill process often doesn't work. Hell, all too frequently I can't get CTRL-ALT-DEL to interrupt the machine and grant me control (about once every 2 days).
"End Task" is the normal entry point on a 2k or XP machine using the GUI. The follow up menus seem to promise something similar to kill -9 but they often don't work.
Then there is the little matter of the naming of the processes on the process list. They rarely correspond at all to what actually started them. This would seem a deliberate attempt at obfuscation on many program's part so they can't be identified and removed. I suppose the same could be done under Unix to hide what started the program so that it couldn't be removed but it's a problem I've never run into.
I really didn't mean what I said as a flame against MS, there really is nothing comparable. I was trying to direct what I wrote at the people claiming all GUI features that work have been stolen from MS. Unix's GUI's have several things right.
MS needs: Nearly all my process complaints would be cured by something equivalent to CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE.
Unix GUI's need: Tighter response for mouse and keyboard under GUI. There just seems to be a tiny tiny amount of latency between when I click or type and the result gets through.
The above two result in one OS being acceptable for programming the other being acceptable for games.
To be fair, MS is playing catch-up in a lot of areas too. Ever try following a shortcut to a directory in a dialog box? This only recently worked the way you expect it instead of just selecting the shortcut file itself. A subtle difference but one that trained me never to bury directories too deep on windows because I may have to work to get to them.
Multiple desktops anyone? I don't know who's responsible for this but it sure as hell isn't MS.
There are quite a few cool things that have come from open source, but you generally have to be the kind of person that can try *and* use options.
Being happy about a decent file selector for GTK is similar to being happy that an MS operating system can finally muster something similar to kill -9...oh wait, we're not there yet. It's still stuck in the mentality that "End Task" merely requests the task to shut itself down. The Kernel Power Toys from MS don't do the trick either.
MS is trialing in development in a lot of areas. It's just that after they finally steal something it's considered standard and nobody notices it.
I used to think this way too until I saw what my grandmother went through while she was being cared for in a home.
There are a zillion scams targetted at the elderly. The typical one involves telling them all their benefits are going away and selling them a magazine subscription of a political group defending their benefits. I don't mean slight implications like saying, "The Republicans are looking to cut Social Security." I mean utter crap about how all Social Security could be cut to zero next month and Medicare will no longer be available. Subscribe to the XXX Defense Fund for $1000 a year and make sure this doesn't happen.
A *lot* of these people have money. They listen politely on the phone. They consider businesses to be trustworthy (these are the same people that retired on pensions, so why shouldn't they?).
Back in their day cars didn't have keyed ignitions (just door locks generally, open cockpits didn't have that). They didn't have to lock their houses.
And for the it's-always-the-victims-fault-crowd: "It's their fault they got scammed." they say. "It's your fault you're not bulletproof." I say.
Yea, become a consultant. You've already got one business in your rolodex that will buy a product from the same person inspecting whether they need that product.
What I'd do is file for unemployment immediately. This would be good to find out if they claim they fired you for cause. In Texas at least, if they want to make that claim, it has to be done in writing which means they would have to commit to those statements. If you wanted to pursue it, you could eventually find out why they say you were fired. Likely they will just take the hit on their unemployment insurance and not contest your unemployment.
If you think that something was a little bit shady, like a manager getting a kickback from the consultants you might try to use your current contacts to feel that out. Unlikely you'll find out anything there but if you do you could be a real bastard about it.
I ran into a situation where I was hired by a business consulting group to do some work they normally didn't do. I had contract signed and everything when they never called back with a start date. After two weeks of expecting a firm date, I called them and they said it was a no go. I suspect they filled the position internally after using me to land the contract. They had accidentally let me know the company they were pitching and it turns out the President of that company is a family friend. All I had to do was ask an uncle to ask this guy over lunch if they had someone doing this job from company xxx. After weighing the possibilities of what I would/could do if I was right, I decided I just didn't want to know and time would be best spent concentrating on a job/career instead of money and time lost. When lawyers get involved the only sure thing is that the lawyers make money.
Yea, because if you have too many connections with MySQL, all your problems will be solved after paying for a "real" database. How much is it for 50 connections with Oracle?
Pro tip: cache common results and don't use *any* database on common queries
I'm convinced one of the root causes of this is that Windows people need something to point to when purchasing their solution. This is because they have the mentality that solutions are best purchased so you have someone to point to when it goes bad.
Thanks, now I can at least read something about a concrete implementation. Last I read on dbdebunk there were tons of rants about how all the current SQL db's suck and how they had a real one coming soon.
I've been dealing with technology too long to bother thinking about any product that's not out yet.
I've read this sort of flamebait elsewhere. The one thing always missing from it seems to be the name and location of an implementation of this superior technology. I'd love to try it out.
Am I the only one that doesn't want VOIP to lower costs so that telemarketing can be outsourced to less expensive countries? At least now there are costs keeping the telemarketing volume below the spam volume. That, and they can usually speak English.
I don't want everyone that can hook a phone into the internet to be able to call me.
I'd probably agree that having someting like this for NWN is probably beyond doability at this point (you never know, there are some psycho good coders out there).
I have my desire for something like CVS integration because we're getting beyond mere map editors. The backup plan should consist of something better than copying and entire directory/file to some backup location. Developers should be able to "get latest" so they can build along with others without having to build blind through an elaborate naming convention. Patches could be submitted, resolved, committed...etc.
This is the next level for editor development. These worlds being developed are too big for one person and the hoops to jump through are too many.
There is the problem that a team of developers will now need someone savvy in administration, but there is a glut of those people compared to talented mod/map builders.
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I'm not looking to pin blame on anyone. I'm sure there are a zillion reasons why songs can't get distributed thorugh iTMS.
I don't care.
It is the store that is responsible for whether or not it sells what I want to buy. It is also my choice whether to patronize the store.
Near the top of this thread I was merely asking if others had experienced this same thing. We had only looked at a few songs and we either had a really bad run of luck or it is a very common occurence with their music store. If 15 other people confirmed our experience I might blow them off for another year or two. Since that doesn't appear to be the case, we'll try it out again, perhaps in a different genre and definitely with different artists.
It is not too critical. The iPod was worth the money even if all we could manage is Musicmatch and playlists.
Yes, but the Italian political process is so much more exciting than ours, more resembling an organized riot. Hmm, actually everything done in Italy seems to fit that description, maybe it's the language.
And me. Vote for me and I promise you a whole new set of original government problems to complain about.
When I say they went 1 for 5, I mean for *the* major song off albums that are represented on iTMS.
To put it in classic rock terms that I can understand (I can't remember the exact details of my wife's horrible taste in music) it's like they claimed to have Led Zepplin IV but left off Stairway to Heaven. Now, when that happens 4 out of our first 5 searches we get suspicious and I asked if this was what it was like for others out there.
I'll give them a break if it's some strange coincidence that they just aren't doing the songs my wife wants. I won't give them a break if they're intentionally hiding the good songs on otherwise crap albums (note that LZ4 does not fit the comparison in that respect).
Even when just using MusicMatch the iPod was well worth it.
Their music store left much to be desired upon first glance. She had a specific list of songs to finish off a couple desired play lists and the store when something like 1 out of 5 on them.
We'll look into it further I'm sure but our first impression is it's the bargain bin quality at full price.
My wife was looking through iTunes and on first glance everything seemed pretty cool. But then she started pulling up old albums and I started hearing complaints:
xxx isn't on here. Ok, I can understand they haven't signed everything in the world.
Then she found someone she liked that had a bunch of albums on there. Except for the good song from each album. She cited several examples after looking for a mere 30 minutes where the popular song from an album was the only song not available from it.
Is this a common experience with iTunes?
$1 a song isn't bad unless it's $1 for each of the crappy songs in which case it's worse than buying the whole cd.
What you say is true enough. However, after waiting several seconds I'm often asked if I would like to End the task anyway, this will cause loss of data, etc... This often doesn't work. Also, on the next tab over, kill process often doesn't work. Hell, all too frequently I can't get CTRL-ALT-DEL to interrupt the machine and grant me control (about once every 2 days).
"End Task" is the normal entry point on a 2k or XP machine using the GUI. The follow up menus seem to promise something similar to kill -9 but they often don't work.
Then there is the little matter of the naming of the processes on the process list. They rarely correspond at all to what actually started them. This would seem a deliberate attempt at obfuscation on many program's part so they can't be identified and removed. I suppose the same could be done under Unix to hide what started the program so that it couldn't be removed but it's a problem I've never run into.
I really didn't mean what I said as a flame against MS, there really is nothing comparable. I was trying to direct what I wrote at the people claiming all GUI features that work have been stolen from MS. Unix's GUI's have several things right.
MS needs:
Nearly all my process complaints would be cured by something equivalent to CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE.
Unix GUI's need:
Tighter response for mouse and keyboard under GUI. There just seems to be a tiny tiny amount of latency between when I click or type and the result gets through.
The above two result in one OS being acceptable for programming the other being acceptable for games.
To be fair, MS is playing catch-up in a lot of areas too. Ever try following a shortcut to a directory in a dialog box? This only recently worked the way you expect it instead of just selecting the shortcut file itself. A subtle difference but one that trained me never to bury directories too deep on windows because I may have to work to get to them.
Multiple desktops anyone? I don't know who's responsible for this but it sure as hell isn't MS.
There are quite a few cool things that have come from open source, but you generally have to be the kind of person that can try *and* use options.
Being happy about a decent file selector for GTK is similar to being happy that an MS operating system can finally muster something similar to kill -9...oh wait, we're not there yet. It's still stuck in the mentality that "End Task" merely requests the task to shut itself down. The Kernel Power Toys from MS don't do the trick either.
MS is trialing in development in a lot of areas. It's just that after they finally steal something it's considered standard and nobody notices it.
I've seen the pictures of Mars, and I think they saved some money on the rockets and are really hiding out in El Paso, Tx.
It is my understanding that the order of payment always works out to:
IRS
Lawyers
everyone else
I used to think this way too until I saw what my grandmother went through while she was being cared for in a home.
There are a zillion scams targetted at the elderly. The typical one involves telling them all their benefits are going away and selling them a magazine subscription of a political group defending their benefits. I don't mean slight implications like saying, "The Republicans are looking to cut Social Security." I mean utter crap about how all Social Security could be cut to zero next month and Medicare will no longer be available. Subscribe to the XXX Defense Fund for $1000 a year and make sure this doesn't happen.
A *lot* of these people have money. They listen politely on the phone. They consider businesses to be trustworthy (these are the same people that retired on pensions, so why shouldn't they?).
Back in their day cars didn't have keyed ignitions (just door locks generally, open cockpits didn't have that). They didn't have to lock their houses.
And for the it's-always-the-victims-fault-crowd:
"It's their fault they got scammed." they say.
"It's your fault you're not bulletproof." I say.
As I understand, he sold for stock too, but bought options as a hedge.
Yea, become a consultant. You've already got one business in your rolodex that will buy a product from the same person inspecting whether they need that product.
What I'd do is file for unemployment immediately. This would be good to find out if they claim they fired you for cause. In Texas at least, if they want to make that claim, it has to be done in writing which means they would have to commit to those statements. If you wanted to pursue it, you could eventually find out why they say you were fired. Likely they will just take the hit on their unemployment insurance and not contest your unemployment.
If you think that something was a little bit shady, like a manager getting a kickback from the consultants you might try to use your current contacts to feel that out. Unlikely you'll find out anything there but if you do you could be a real bastard about it.
I ran into a situation where I was hired by a business consulting group to do some work they normally didn't do. I had contract signed and everything when they never called back with a start date. After two weeks of expecting a firm date, I called them and they said it was a no go. I suspect they filled the position internally after using me to land the contract. They had accidentally let me know the company they were pitching and it turns out the President of that company is a family friend. All I had to do was ask an uncle to ask this guy over lunch if they had someone doing this job from company xxx. After weighing the possibilities of what I would/could do if I was right, I decided I just didn't want to know and time would be best spent concentrating on a job/career instead of money and time lost. When lawyers get involved the only sure thing is that the lawyers make money.
I suggest we move all of these To New Delhi.
Yea, because if you have too many connections with MySQL, all your problems will be solved after paying for a "real" database. How much is it for 50 connections with Oracle?
Pro tip: cache common results and don't use *any* database on common queries
He wrote them in a circle.
I'm convinced one of the root causes of this is that Windows people need something to point to when purchasing their solution. This is because they have the mentality that solutions are best purchased so you have someone to point to when it goes bad.
gnomes
I look at it this way:
Rich people vote Republican.
Poor people vote Democrat.
I'm going to vote for the party that wants me to be rich.
Thanks, now I can at least read something about a concrete implementation. Last I read on dbdebunk there were tons of rants about how all the current SQL db's suck and how they had a real one coming soon.
I've been dealing with technology too long to bother thinking about any product that's not out yet.
I've read this sort of flamebait elsewhere. The one thing always missing from it seems to be the name and location of an implementation of this superior technology. I'd love to try it out.
I don't want it outlawed.
I want the cost of calling me to be too high for telemarketers to afford. If its too high for my in-laws to afford too, that's a bonus.
I'm getting a 976 number.
Am I the only one that doesn't want VOIP to lower costs so that telemarketing can be outsourced to less expensive countries? At least now there are costs keeping the telemarketing volume below the spam volume. That, and they can usually speak English.
I don't want everyone that can hook a phone into the internet to be able to call me.
My absolute favorite bit by Douglas Adams was when Dirk Gently began discussing how they were performing the Schrodinger Cat experiment.
I'd probably agree that having someting like this for NWN is probably beyond doability at this point (you never know, there are some psycho good coders out there).
I have my desire for something like CVS integration because we're getting beyond mere map editors. The backup plan should consist of something better than copying and entire directory/file to some backup location. Developers should be able to "get latest" so they can build along with others without having to build blind through an elaborate naming convention. Patches could be submitted, resolved, committed...etc.
This is the next level for editor development. These worlds being developed are too big for one person and the hoops to jump through are too many.
There is the problem that a team of developers will now need someone savvy in administration, but there is a glut of those people compared to talented mod/map builders.