So why did you ever imagine all that white space was a good idea? Reducing each line to around four words just makes for a very irritating reading experience. You say you're now listening but all available indicators are contrary to that - but - more to the point, it would only have taken 10 seconds thought to recognise that the whole orientation of the beta was completely misguided and accordingly would be instantly rejected - it is an absolute mystery why you started down this path and seems so intent on pursuing it even though it's so obviously a huge mistake.
soooo much wishing and dreaming is almost touching. Like it or not, deserved or undeserved, Microsoft products are 'it' for the vast majority of users and that's not going to change anytime soon for the simple reason that there are no 'viable' alternatives. Before the howls commence, let me clarify what I mean by viable. Windows installs and runs at least well enough on a vast array of hardware configurations. Wizards do their job satisfactorily in terms of installing/finding drivers, and generally setting up the system - pretty hard to say the same about Linux with a straight face. Similarly microsoft products like the Office suite are easily good enough for almost everything the average home/office user needs. Sure Wordperfect had some great features that Word has never come close to matching (ah how sweet is the reveal codes function) and sure Word has some really irritating quirks but lets get real, Open office os a very long way from being in the same league as Microsoft Office. I work in government and cash strapped IT departments would love nothing more than being able to ditch the never ending expense of the unholy marriage that is dependency on Microsoft but it just can't happen. The alternatives are simply not there to switch to without taking a functionality hit that is too great to be seriously contemplated. I wish it wasn't so, really I do but at least for now I can't see moving away from mac hardware running windows with flyakite software giving a mac'ish sheen to the windows apps I depend upon.
"(you lost me at "USB" and "through my computer" - between the A/D->D/A conversions happening and the emi/rfi noise associated with computer hardware, you're hearing ghosts)"
what I was getting at was that I use my PC primarily as a music player - all my CDs, downloads, and vinyl are sitting on the hard drive and played through software (Ozone) intended to reproduce the sound of valves/vinyl and out to nice Roland speakers on the other side of the room - if I want to just play a record (for pleasure or ripping) its done via a turntable connected to the PC via USB -- 'in principle' I accept the hearing ghosts thing but in the end it just 'is' that the vinyl sounds different and I like the difference - (I actually sort of wish it wasn't the case cos nowdays just asserting that you prefer vinyl to CD flags you as having audiophile pretensions that can't really be easily defended)
"Ohhh. really. I have a pair of thousand dollar cables to sell you....."
its a funny crack and it made me smile but the amusement is tempered a little by finding myself agreeing with the general point that vinyl just can sound much better than the CD. I don't consider myself to be an audiophile, I readily accept technical explanations of why/how vinyl is inferior to the CD, and I can't tell the difference between an mp3 at 256 and one at 320 but I can tell the difference between a record on a USB turntable through my PC and external speakers and the CD version of the same music through the same PC and speakers - and the vinyl sounds better - what really puzzles me though is that if I convert the vinyl to a Lame encoded mp3 at 320 bitrate - whats great about the vinyl sound is nicely preserved - I can't pick it from the original vinyl - so again, sounds better than the CD but with all the advantages of a digital file and none of the disadvantages of the vinyl format (plus - you gotta love the cover art thats possible with them big ol' records)
Yes - I do exactly that and I have very mixed feelings about it. I record the vinyl and convert it to mp3 @320 - why?, well, the vinyl just sounds much better which I actually wish it wouldn't. I do not want to join the secret club of audiophiles and I do not want to be one of those tossers that sniffs at the sterile sound of CDs vs the warm sound of vinyl. That said however, I do want my mp3 files to sound as good as possible and so have invested time and money in hardware/software to get a set up that works a treat for me. And damn but the vinyl through a USB turntable does soung great - and that sound is actually preserved when recorded/converted to mp3 and then pumped out through good software/speakers. The vinyl covers are nice and everything but the process of getting that vinyl sound into a neat mp3 file is a bit time consuming and I wish the raw CD sounded as good - then I simply wouldn't bother.
Slashdot Mirror
So why did you ever imagine all that white space was a good idea? Reducing each line to around four words just makes for a very irritating reading experience. You say you're now listening but all available indicators are contrary to that - but - more to the point, it would only have taken 10 seconds thought to recognise that the whole orientation of the beta was completely misguided and accordingly would be instantly rejected - it is an absolute mystery why you started down this path and seems so intent on pursuing it even though it's so obviously a huge mistake.
soooo much wishing and dreaming is almost touching. Like it or not, deserved or undeserved, Microsoft products are 'it' for the vast majority of users and that's not going to change anytime soon for the simple reason that there are no 'viable' alternatives. Before the howls commence, let me clarify what I mean by viable. Windows installs and runs at least well enough on a vast array of hardware configurations. Wizards do their job satisfactorily in terms of installing/finding drivers, and generally setting up the system - pretty hard to say the same about Linux with a straight face. Similarly microsoft products like the Office suite are easily good enough for almost everything the average home/office user needs. Sure Wordperfect had some great features that Word has never come close to matching (ah how sweet is the reveal codes function) and sure Word has some really irritating quirks but lets get real, Open office os a very long way from being in the same league as Microsoft Office. I work in government and cash strapped IT departments would love nothing more than being able to ditch the never ending expense of the unholy marriage that is dependency on Microsoft but it just can't happen. The alternatives are simply not there to switch to without taking a functionality hit that is too great to be seriously contemplated. I wish it wasn't so, really I do but at least for now I can't see moving away from mac hardware running windows with flyakite software giving a mac'ish sheen to the windows apps I depend upon.
"(you lost me at "USB" and "through my computer" - between the A/D->D/A conversions happening and the emi/rfi noise associated with computer hardware, you're hearing ghosts)" what I was getting at was that I use my PC primarily as a music player - all my CDs, downloads, and vinyl are sitting on the hard drive and played through software (Ozone) intended to reproduce the sound of valves/vinyl and out to nice Roland speakers on the other side of the room - if I want to just play a record (for pleasure or ripping) its done via a turntable connected to the PC via USB -- 'in principle' I accept the hearing ghosts thing but in the end it just 'is' that the vinyl sounds different and I like the difference - (I actually sort of wish it wasn't the case cos nowdays just asserting that you prefer vinyl to CD flags you as having audiophile pretensions that can't really be easily defended)
"Ohhh. really. I have a pair of thousand dollar cables to sell you....." its a funny crack and it made me smile but the amusement is tempered a little by finding myself agreeing with the general point that vinyl just can sound much better than the CD. I don't consider myself to be an audiophile, I readily accept technical explanations of why/how vinyl is inferior to the CD, and I can't tell the difference between an mp3 at 256 and one at 320 but I can tell the difference between a record on a USB turntable through my PC and external speakers and the CD version of the same music through the same PC and speakers - and the vinyl sounds better - what really puzzles me though is that if I convert the vinyl to a Lame encoded mp3 at 320 bitrate - whats great about the vinyl sound is nicely preserved - I can't pick it from the original vinyl - so again, sounds better than the CD but with all the advantages of a digital file and none of the disadvantages of the vinyl format (plus - you gotta love the cover art thats possible with them big ol' records)
Yes - I do exactly that and I have very mixed feelings about it. I record the vinyl and convert it to mp3 @320 - why?, well, the vinyl just sounds much better which I actually wish it wouldn't. I do not want to join the secret club of audiophiles and I do not want to be one of those tossers that sniffs at the sterile sound of CDs vs the warm sound of vinyl. That said however, I do want my mp3 files to sound as good as possible and so have invested time and money in hardware/software to get a set up that works a treat for me. And damn but the vinyl through a USB turntable does soung great - and that sound is actually preserved when recorded/converted to mp3 and then pumped out through good software/speakers. The vinyl covers are nice and everything but the process of getting that vinyl sound into a neat mp3 file is a bit time consuming and I wish the raw CD sounded as good - then I simply wouldn't bother.