By that same logic, I don't go into horrible record stores that can't give me the service I want either. I'm NOT there to buy the service, I'm not there to buy a file, I'm there to buy the music. If the store is a hinderance to me buying the music, I can't buy it.
I would have definately bought into a service like this if it were done right regardless of who owned it.
As for Marxist, you are right, its how much people are willing to pay for it. So do it mean shoplifters are just good capitalists? If its not worth paying for, its not worth stealing...
I'm sure a lot of people do just this. I would hesitate to see the folks that actually evalute their lifes worth by how many they get done at the end of the day though.
"Ok, you can either pay for things you value, or you can steal software from CompUSA. Choose one."
The fact of the matter is, most Mac Users pay for their stuff, therefore its generally easier not to treat them like criminals in the first place. There are still a few criminals around, but they aren't the norm.
"No, you're just common elitist artist-wannabes. Nothing weird about that."
Nah...not and artist-wannabe. Elitist maybe. Wannabe, no. Maybe a piss poor artist by todays standards, but still an artist. Though most of the time, I'm just working with much better artists than myself. I produced a show for an artist with 8 grammies (not nominations) and several platniums 3 weeks back and ended up making a quarter million for breast cancer research. Sometimes, I think its a shame that I'd rather focus on my university research and will stay poor as opposed to doing this stuff full time. It keeps my weekends busy and my frequent flier miles alive.
Its a shame us elitist artist-wannabes have more clues than unknown deserts:-)
"that strange section of the computer using world where people pay for stuff that they value"
What a strange fucking concept! Actually paying for that which you value.
Unlike the Windows Camp where it is expected that 90% of your hard drive is pirated crap and is entirely covered with way too much copy protection and user tracking (where as on the Mac, a copy of M$ Office is just a drag to the hard drive to your iPod away from a CompUSA Kiosk). Or unlike the Linux Camp where its expected that you are be treated as a fucking sleeze if you don't give away the entirety of your work where others with better marketting skills are free to take what you've done and sell your work as if it were their own (its all about the service, BUT if you are an inept geek with no social skills, do you REALLY think you are going to know how to service your users -- or are you just good enough to write a damn good program that a million other geeks find useful).
Yeah, the Mac side of things is very strange. Last I heard, 80% of its users were the creative kinds. Unlike most of these napster babies, we know what it costs to produce items that have no physical value, but more aestetic or personal value. Crazy I tells you. We don't measure our worth by how many hamburgers we can flip in a single day, but I think thats mainly because the last Gartner report claimed 97.5% of all Mac users are Vegitarians upon learning Steve Gods...Err...Jobs is one. Ok, we don't base our value on how many Boca Burgers we flip in a day either.
I just bought 3 songs off of iTunes last night because there were worth it. New Annie Lennox tune, Dido's White Flag, and a Rob Dugan instrumental. A lot of artists will probably ping Apple for the singles, BUT I look at this as a way to evaluate the album before I walk into the store to pick up the real deal. And quite a few things I've picked up were exclusives that I've looked at as additions to the album I've already purchased.
Just as Stop Lights in the US are structured if put horizontally, the 3 buttons are. Red Stop, Yellow Minimize, Green Max. My father is Red/Green colorblind and he has no problems with that sort of arrangement in driving...as long as they follow the US law on that sort of thing.
Past that, as I mentioned -- hinting. I sometimes forget what those mean after using another OS for a few weeks and getting back to my Mac (its only for a few minutes I can assure you). But when you go near them, they change to
x - +
in the colored circles. Hmmm...I guess thats too hard to figure out. I guess the Wind'rs people are just as confused. My dad seems to be able to use my mac when he needs a video transfered or to use my internet when he's over here...
Apple is using its own guidelines. Some things got rushed in the process of moving over to OSX in the last year or two, but they are getting back to what it should be. I'd advise you to actually look at that which you are criticizing before you do so.
Yes, but free speech is also somewhat limited. For instance, commercial speech can be regulated. Spam for the most part is commercial speech and thus should be put under the same regulations as any other advertisment.
That and freedom of speech is not something that is regulated by the gov't in someone elses home. It is limited to public properties. On private properties, you still have what ever limits of the freedom of speech that apply as well as those of the folks that regulate the private area.
By these two limits, email can and should be regulated. Much the same way one can place a.Robots file on their website or subscribe to a DoNotCall List, email is an invitation to ones home and the decision to allow it into your home should be yours to make and the gov't should be able to help one regulate this. If you are paying for something and others are invading its sancitity, you should be able to ask the gov't to help you out. If folks are not willing to respect this privacy before you have to say back off, the gov't should give you the ability to tell these guys to fuck off before they even get there.
Again, freedom of speech is not an unlimited freedom. I'm sick of folks that think if it. If Taco wanted to edit my posts here on his site, its NOT infringing against my freedom of speech to do so...at least from a constitutional stand point.
If you think the difference between being an audiophile and hearing the difference between CD and 128 bit, you are sooo wrong.
128 bits STILL fucks with the bass quite a bit as well as the siblances. Do a lot of cymbal work and see how fast articulately played sounds kinda merge together. Do anything that requires bass to be seperate and expressive, and that too won't work. Standard pop? Yeah, I'll do ya one better and state 64kbs is over stated for that:-)
I'm sitting here with 8 year old JBL studio monitors and I can most definately hear the difference between CD and 128. Most of the time I just don't care. I can't hear the difference between 44 and 96 except that playing 44 over 96 sounds better. The physical make up of the sound card means that you can use more consumer level parts to have the aliasing happen PAST the human range of hearing -- which is around 22khz, meaning that something well engineered and recorded on a 44khz using the best specs will sound just as good...
if you said recorded in 96 / 24bit...I would agreed. Since you said 128...you obviously haven't listened to MP3s over decent equipment.
All my CDs are burned to my Mac and in MP3 (or now AAC) format and they sound good enough to listen to. When it comes time for reference materials, we go for the physical package.
Firstly, if you are using a clustered Exchange server, it seems to ask for the password half a dozen times before it loads all the icons. Occasionally hitting the Save Password thingie allows it to work.
Secondly, the messages never come out right if they are HTML encoded -- which means ANYTHING from my office (believe me, I would change this in a heartbeat if possible -- some things a sysadmin can't control).
Honestly, I think its a combination of the M$ ACs mixed with this just isn't a mature browser yet. I would LOVE to see a version of Entourage that could use my Exchange server in a meaningful way and NOT use the web version. M$ would rather not have a few important business elements on the Mac...Outlook and Access are the two biggies for me -- at least for interoperability within my working group.
You know -- I can deal with those stats. THOUGH Geeks have known about Google for a bit longer than most others:-) That could even be argued in the 1% Linux gets...just fucking with ya lest a rabid slashdotter with a UID with a few extra decimal places thinks I'm pissing on his favorite OS:-)
I love Linux...and every chance I get I install the latest OS. I run a copy with on my PC and Macs with VPC...it is also my server of choice. I run several Linux servers...but desktop??? I can't use it. Even compared to XP it is primative at most. They are slowly getting prettier pictures to go along with the UI, but folks STILL haven't gotten it through their heads that Apple's UIs are better NOT because of the slicker than slick graphics, but because of how intuitive the OS is in addition to the whole slickness of it.
Its getting better...but when you have a department that deals only with UI issues compared to a hundred geeks that all think they know UI because of personal experience and no statistical evidance, you will always loose.
Almost EVERYONE I know that loves linux uses it for the most part on the server -- or as a secondary desktop.
I work with a large number of geeks...most of them can claim to have a desktop linux box...most of these are cast aside Wind'rs boxes that they upgraded from so they can play the latest greatest games.
How about comparing how many folks actually buy a box solely for Linux on the Desktop. I think that would be a better telling number. How about getting a spec on folks that use Linux on the Desktop as their primary desktop. If your work requires you to use Windows all day long, you aren't a primary Linux on the Desktop person. In my case, I use my iBook as much as I do my Windows XP box at my job and then come home to my 2 G4s and my single PC Desktops (mainly for playing games).
Stats can be used to tell any lie. Lets come up with a spec thats fair for all of us...we aren't in it for the marketting are we? Or should we start counting every Mac that was ever produced the way we compare every Linux box that stayed Linux as a single boot for more than a month (before the parents forced ya to reinstall windows because they couldn't figure out how to get TurbTax or Sims to work...note: talking about PARENTS getting them to work, not us:-)
Personally I don't see the number of Linux users on the desktop actually being anywhere near the Mac users. I'd have to see stats and statistical methods...of which I think its just another propoganda piece to give the writter a little more ink on an otherwise slow week.
"There are motherboards with optical audio in and out built in, and you can buy PCI sound cards with optical audio built in for less than $50. I bought a Gamesourround Fortissimo II more than a year ago for less than $40, and it's got optical in and out."
Unfortunately, this is true. I spent $500 on an audio card two years ago just because it had decent Optical on it...Last year, I bought an MAudio 2496 for my editing machine for a little over $100 -- not Optical, but coax digital, but it could handle 5.1 Dolby.
At this point, it would be moronic NOT to offer some sort of digital connection -- especially on a Mac -- then again I'm a little biased because EVERYONE I know with a Mac is a professional musician or attaining to be one:P
The rumors were a few months ago that Apple was going to release a Machine with 5 Outputs for Surround...I wonder if the Optical on this is going to encode Dolby Digital as well and keep this rumor true.
Ok -- one post/.'rs are up in arms about a machine that supposedly has better judgement than people and by and large folks bitching and moaning that they aren't going to give up any control to device thats only a machine and can't factor anything else into the equation but what its programmed to do.
Now we have a class of citizens that arguably none of us have to deal with nor want to join the ranks of. We therefore look at pretty much the same technology and claim its infalliable and umps should quit their bitching because machines are so much better at judging a situation than people ever will be.
In both situations, its a machine making a decision that supposedly will benefit a greater percentage of folks involved than before. And again, slashdotters show their true NIMBY spirit by dismissing the one that takes away control from themselves while arguing for the need of the other.
Personally I think that if the Major League Baseball satellites are good enough to read our brainwaves, they should be able to judge the games as well as hit the brakes on peoples care. What did I do with my tinfoil hat.
A lot of producer types and otherwise get the benefit of this stuff dropping in price. BUT you make the mistake of thinking that just because prices on a few things go down, pricing of the whole should drop.
For instance, do you REALLY think $0.05 is all a CD is worth? Physicial medium has ALWAYS been the last part of the equation when pricing this stuff (that and you can't burn 100k CDs easily -- you generally use a glass master and dupe them in bulk using the same methods one always has).
As for price of the software -- yup the resording software has gone down in price, but that means folks can now afford the expensive microphones that help them sound professional, the analogue preamps they use to remove some of the edge off the digital recordings, they can hire folks to do specific tasks like being able to send their stuff out for mastering (and if you can find a professional that can do a decent job of mastering a disc at under $5k, let me know -- that price hasn't dropped and $5k is about the cheapest I can find for folks I've hear that have consistant ears -- we just priced a disc for an artist that is expected to hit the top 40 -- top 10, nah -- too adult contemporary for todays market).
The particular point that there are innumerable people parts of an album and they have always been a HUGE part of the recording deal -- and now far more so that equipment has gotten to the point where consumer is as good as pro (and has a word for it these days -- prosumer) is one that seems to have slipped between the cracks along with other obvious points of interest.
Honestly, until someone has worked on a top 40 album (not an indy) you REALLY don't know what goes into this stuff and thus have no basis to make judgements. Anywho -- maybe I should stop complaining -- I just got into it with my audio and lighting guys last week about costs (my show this weekend is going to cost us $25k for JUST lighting and audio) and as first time I've done production direction for anyone (always assistant, never senior) I just assumed things like lighting were now done with sequencers where ya didn't have to have a seperate person to take care of this crap. So yeah -- if you haven't done something before, its easy to expect technology to take care of everything without realizing that it only helps marginalize so much before the professionals realize they can use the savings and put them somewhere else that will give you even better production for the pricing of the old. In their minds its a nul sum -- it didn't cost any more BUT it sounds SOOOOOO much better, thus its expected these days...
Most of us LIKE Mac OSes. Up until Win2000, I wasn't satisfied with Windows OSes...I am a Wind'rs programmer by trade, but I always liked my Macs just a little more. Between the time os OS9 and 2000 -- I was a little torn over what was better...I think Win2k was a lot better than OS9 in retrospect.
BUT soon after that, I picked up the public beta of OSX and haven't been back to 9 since. I was right back in the Mac camp because it meant for once I didn't need to terminal into my Unix servers to get simple things done. On Windows, yeah, I have the Cyrix (err...is that it?) GNU Tools -- but it never felt right or integrated. The interface felt once again in the background to OSX.
Honestly, I wish Apple was a software only company -- The hardware is nice, but this is the area it seems to lag. I use to buy into the The MegaHertz Myth Is Wrong -- but as a programmer, I realized folks should not have to optimize their code for a specific base EACH AND EVERYTIME A PIECE OF HARDWARE CAME OUT. Some apps work with Altivec rather nicely...they can afford to optimize their code. Most of us want to write efficient portable code that can work anywhere. Of course, I do get pissed off when I hear friends talking about code I *KNOW* they've optimized for Windows and then left unoptimized for the Mac and then compare the two...I do a lot of work in the sound design industry and a lot of friends work at companies that make DSP solutions (both massmarket for consumers and the higher end for designing items that will not be of use to many others) -- and I see this all the time. Someone knows how to optimize to the SSE sets on Intel and have no problem tweaking the hell out of it and claiming benchmarks, but throwing the ported code to some monkey that knows only enough about the Mac to be dangerous -- and its embarassing because they then make outrageous statements about the relative speeds.
As for lack of Applications -- I don't know where folks get this. Numberwise -- yeah. Professional app to professional app, we have what we need. Anything in my field has an equivelent analog in both the Mac and the PC world -- with a lot of specialized apps actually being Mac Only (or at the least Mac First) because the creative market still looks at Mac Users as being more in this camp.
Again, I realize your response was a troll, but I felt like educating ya anyways:P
I have visited these places and I've actually helped produce some of the listening parties for these sorts of people. I know what its like.
As for insulting them...lets just say I'm on the other side of the glass:-) Most reviewers are failed musicians with vendettas to prove they are right even though the public has said they weren't. Most of the reviewers I have enjoyed were actual playing musicians that understood the business and understood some of the bullshit that others have to put up with...they might have been annoyed by something like this, BUT they would have realized the uncertanty their breathern have in the new market and realize that unlike some folks giving you broken and unlistenable mixes (ie., its a trend to give away sealed walkman with the headphone glued into the thing and have return authorization postage given so these guys can send them back in a week or two -- most of the time, they don't make it back from what I understand and it ends up being a waste because the guys that are honest are screwed and the ones that aren't don't care).
The point is, folks are trying to protect their interest. If someone wants to be petty about it and not review this because they are this petty, they would have had a very critical review anyways -- not critical in a good way, critical in a I'm Smarter Than The Band Actually Getting Played And Smarter Than You Piddly Bastards Reading This...thats the kinda reviewer I'm happy not to see recieve any of my friends recordings:-)
"$480/year for repetitive movies, videos, shows, channels is too much even for the gainfully employed."
I'd agree -- thats why you can ask for Local Channels only and they have to provide it for some statutory minimum. In my case, I pay $11 a month for cable access. Thats $130 a year (that I can split with a roommates). $60 ain't too much considering I spend that much on music or movies a month.
BUT because most of these places are not equiped to deal with this (because they can't require you to go digital) -- ya end up getting most of the non-premium channels as well. Anything that comes through the analogue portion of cable is accessable.
I thought it was just me, but I know several others that have decided to switch down after hearing they didn't have to get EVERYTHING...and in almost every case, these folks got the same kinda deal. If I'd asked for these channels, I'd be paying $30 a month (the advertisted minimum package). I asked the installer about this and gave him a case of beer for his trouble thinking he'd 'hooked me up' (err...in the nonlitteral sense) but he replyed that A) I wasn't getting the beer back and B) it cost far more for the companies to actually filter all the channels out of each subscribers home these days as the analogue filters really screw with their digital lines -- thus they can completely delete a channel from analogue, but they can't really do it per user with the new technology and keep it affordable (ie., HBO is digital only because they can control that all from the office instead of hiring someone to climb a ladder and pull out the tubes).
Something to think about...I just wanted to be able to record Alias and 24 when I wasn't home without wondering if my antenna needed moved after having several nonwatchable recordings:-P
So -- the TypeO album doesn't get any response simply because they go to the trouble of appending something to the song so that when you rip it and get it uploaded to some fileserver the kiddies will know who it is?
Thats a little juvenile, eh?
10 seconds of commercial is not too much to worry about nor should it effect your judgements of the music. Being from a music pub, you've probably been to one of any number of junkets put out by these guys...music critics come out and listen to this stuff...sometimes they are given a cd to take back with them, other times the music you've heard at the party is all they you get until release day (and they have been known to wand ya to make sure ya ain't bringing in a recorder)...there will be someone talking a good portion of the time that this is playing, yet the music still seems to get reviewed -- or at least pre-reviewed until they can get their hands on the full release).
I'd rather have music have a short advertisment at the end of the song than a watermarking -- marks are expensive (ie., each disc has to be encoded specifically for that person and burned for them -- I have set up a process that does this for a friends company that sells sound libraries -- then again for $1k a disc, they don't mind that it takes them a half hour to get the cd out the door).
What do I know. You are an anonycow that reviews for publications while I'm just a music tech that works for the pros and has to hear them bitch at me constantly about their music being stolen while I sit and explain how this stuff works and try to explain how they can try to stop it OR try to figure out ways to subvert this activity so that it ends up helping them out without alienating their core audience.
Actually, he pretty much dissects how they are doing it now. Which is exactly what I explained.
He talks about not knowing how they could reduce the transaction charge any more than it is -- whilst an update from one of the guys from PayPal says hes wrong and that authorizations don't always charge ya -- its up to the agreement that the CC companies give you. As a larger company, Apple can make some demands others can't.
Micropayments for the average guy are still a ways off -- few folks have enough content to want to go back and buy and buy again (or find enough folks with the same attitude and combine resources)./. does a decent job of micropayments -- I pay them like $10 every 3 or 4 months and I get 10 pages free of ads a day (I could care less about the ads -- I want to get the perks -- ads don't bother me and I'm not sure why they bother others).
I think Apple pretty much has it undercontrol for right now...there are tweaks they can do after they identify how their customers buy stuff -- and *gasp* identify individual trends so you can offer better solutions to these folks (ie., if you notice someone buys about 5 songs a week, BUT your automatic billing goes out every 48 hours no matter what, you find the average time -- add a little padding to this -- and then bill then).
Honestly, I don't think its going to save the kind of money folks think it will...heck it might not even pay the programmers fees to implement this -- at least at the current rate of sales.
That would be a nice sentiment, other than stats showed that the clone market didn't increase sales of mac capible machines and meant losing a large source of their income from folks buying their 'Macs' from other companies -- and then having to play support when the clones didn't work the way they should have ruining the reputation of Apple.
Its not that bad -- they already combine a lot of orders. They prebill $1 on your card -- like gas prepay stations and restaraunts do pre-tip.
In the next few days, anything you order gets thrown onto the same bill. Over a 3 day period, I got one credit card charge and one hold. I'm not sure what the magic billing time is as I stopped buying after the third day and waited two weeks to make my next purchase.
That and the fact we are talking a HUGE multibillion $$$ company, they probably have a little better rates than the standard merchant $.20 + 3%. When you deal in this kinda bulk, you can afford to make some demands:P Heck -- my company processes its cards through another company (we have sorta a collective going on between sound design companies) and that alone saves us a lot (since our volume was so low, it was going to cost like $50 a month, $0.50 a transaction and 4% of the sale -- its around the rate you quoted now that we share the billing).
This would probably save them SOME money, but right now I think its not hurting either you or them the way they have these things. I'm all for getting more music -- maybe you could explain this from another perspective -- if you are willing to throw $50 in as a gift certificate you have demonstrated that you are a loyal customer and thus should get a discount...
Anyone wanting to screw up a perfectly good unix to make way for a geek religion version of unix doesn't need a chick -- and probably won't have one for long.
Any you just discribed why we use 44khz. Have ya ever looked at Nyquest? Ya double the rate of sampling to get an accurate response. Meaning that a human that has had their ears perfectly trained, had the right genes, and just came out of an ear cleaning session can hear a 22khz (and seldomly -- just a bit higher).
Then again, what happens in pratice is to be debated. High quality FFTs show that 44khz with most consumer crap aliases at the high end...thus you have folks claiming 96khz is MUCH better -- why? Because with larger headroom, you can get much cleaner recordings of the material up to 22khz because physically, the cheap stuff doesn't have to be much better than the 44khz stuff, it just has to start aliasing a little later.
On quality equipment with great ADDA filters and DSP, 44khz is more than you need. My Kurzweil K2600 outputs at 44khz and local engineers are convinced its MUCH higher. It also costs 3x what most synths do:P
BUT if you could make something with cheaper materials and not worry about the quality control as much because you knew that no one was going to hear it, why not? So folks started in with 96khz which can actually be made rather cheaply (ya pick up the MAudio Audiophile 2496 for around $150 or less) and while it doesn't have as good of materials as some of the rest, the technology renders the problems out of the human range of hearing, whilst a consumer level card at 44khz would DEFINATELY have to deal with a lot more quality control to get to the same level.
So -- yeah 44khz is all one really needs to accurately reflect sound under ideal circumstances. As this isn't going to happen for most consumers, doubling the frequency again will flaten out the spectrum for you a lot more at a cheaper cost.
Personally, I'm sticking with my 48khz equipment...it sounds great and I had to pay for that quality...I just need to get some stickers slapped on them that claim to have been moded for greater range and no one would know the difference:-)
Or you buy the entire album for $9.99 instead of just the song and you would get both albums for the same price -- even if one has 20 2 minute songs and the other has 10 4 minute songs.
I don't look at size as a serious quantitative method of determining value. I know I know -- you are just going off of the line of reasoning your ex dumped you for, but not everything a woman tells you is the truth. Personally, it would be in my best interest to say that it did, but us guys have to support one another:)
I should have enclosed freedoms and rights in quotes, but I thought this was easily noted. Everyone knows there are unalienable rights -- rights that can't be taken away under any circumstances, but most of what we call rights are really 'rights'.
For instance, we believe we have the 'right' to drive. It isn't a right, its a privilege. It can be taken away. The right to physical freedom can be taken away. The right to property can be taken away. We can't just arbitrarily take away these 'freedoms' or 'rights' but under some circumstances decide that it is most appropriate to do so. The right to life is one of the few rights I would argue to be truly a right, but in The USofA -- especially our great and powerful presidents homeland -- this is to be shown that it can be given up under quite a few circumstances.
If you continue to read my statement, you realize that I even say that at a certain point the state has to let someone sink or swim. In this country, 18 is a good point to where this occurs, with 21 being the next age that we gain rights....I mean 'rights'. You can't prevent every dumbass from harming himself or others. Unless a crime has occurred or someone has been PROVEN to be a danger to those around him, I don't believe rights should be taken away. Ideally, you'd give rights to folks and take them away as one feels fit, but then you are in a police state. Giving rights over a period of time is a good way to go about this. You learn responsibility slowly.
As for parents govern their children -- I'm all for that. I just think certain items should be there for the parent to choose if they want their children to have or not. Personally, I see nothing wrong with letting a child have a beer every now or then. I'm NOT for allowing children to sit down at the bar and order up a Guiness -- and personally, I don't want to see parents bringing their children into bars either...
The point of all of this is that what we call rights are NOT rights in any true sense of the word. They can all be regulated and sometimes should be regulated. 15 years ago, I wouldn't have thought so -- then again I was a 16 year old brat:-) Its amazing what kind of perspective time can give you.
To be honest, it all about point of view. My father is a union boss while I and my sister are in management. He disagrees with our ways of doing things BUT the desired result is usually the same.
There are a lot of things that makes one conservative -- attitude for one. I've never believed in handouts...but in my day job I use a lot of gov't funded employees -- work studies. I see nothing wrong with the gov't paying 2/3rds of their salary while in school -- and I make them earn it. I'm all for abandoning welfare of the sort it is now. Some folks would think its the same thing -- just another gov't handout. I would have NO problem with welfare if they forced folks to get off their ass and work...I don't care if its a bullshit job, just so far as it required these folks to be accountable for something. Heck, I'm even for free child care for these folks while on welfare so they can get out and do what they need to. Don't want to get off yer ass? Fine...the street is good enough for you.
Its simple things like that...to me, John McCain is a true conservative. Bush is not (either of them...though I have a lot more respect for his father given 10 years seperation). As a business owner, I look at the gov't being there to help me along to become a supporting part of the economy...propping up friends companies and turning the blind eye to companies ripping off their stock holders, their employee pensions and everyone else they do business with is NOT conservative. Supporting a monopoly that got that way through illegal means is NOT what its about -- M$ should have been broken up for the mere fact that they've got to their position through the means they used -- I could care less that they are a monopoly...heck I'm on a computer that is only manufactured by one company that won't license their code to anyone and won't allow their software to run on anyone elses machines. I could care less -- Apple's never intimidated anyone or bought out companies that have tried to go against them or built free applications to unabashedly put someone out of business.
Personally, I would be a little jaded as well. I am warry of ANY conservative that claims to be just as I am folks that act hollier than thou. its as hard to find a true christian as it is to find a true conservative. I have most of the conservative part down, the christian part is taking a LOT of work:-) I just don't think there is any connection between the two and anyone that tries to make on is a moron and a hypocrite...
Fair style and the type of music I listen to aside, I am fairly conservative. Not in the way of what the current crop of Republicans would think of it -- today's conservatives are a bunch of hypocritical bible bangers that haven't taken the time to read their own rules and regulations because they are too busy condeming others to hell (see Bill Bennet and his book of virtues all the while gambling millions away and ignoring a good deal of his other statements -- because those are only for folks that can't control themselves).
I'm a business owner and registered Republican -- even when I had the blue hair:-) clif
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By that same logic, I don't go into horrible record stores that can't give me the service I want either. I'm NOT there to buy the service, I'm not there to buy a file, I'm there to buy the music. If the store is a hinderance to me buying the music, I can't buy it.
I would have definately bought into a service like this if it were done right regardless of who owned it.
As for Marxist, you are right, its how much people are willing to pay for it. So do it mean shoplifters are just good capitalists? If its not worth paying for, its not worth stealing...
I'm sure a lot of people do just this. I would hesitate to see the folks that actually evalute their lifes worth by how many they get done at the end of the day though.
:-)
"Ok, you can either pay for things you value, or you can steal software from CompUSA. Choose one."
The fact of the matter is, most Mac Users pay for their stuff, therefore its generally easier not to treat them like criminals in the first place. There are still a few criminals around, but they aren't the norm.
"No, you're just common elitist artist-wannabes. Nothing weird about that."
Nah...not and artist-wannabe. Elitist maybe. Wannabe, no. Maybe a piss poor artist by todays standards, but still an artist. Though most of the time, I'm just working with much better artists than myself. I produced a show for an artist with 8 grammies (not nominations) and several platniums 3 weeks back and ended up making a quarter million for breast cancer research. Sometimes, I think its a shame that I'd rather focus on my university research and will stay poor as opposed to doing this stuff full time. It keeps my weekends busy and my frequent flier miles alive.
Its a shame us elitist artist-wannabes have more clues than unknown deserts
"that strange section of the computer using world where people pay for stuff that they value"
What a strange fucking concept! Actually paying for that which you value.
Unlike the Windows Camp where it is expected that 90% of your hard drive is pirated crap and is entirely covered with way too much copy protection and user tracking (where as on the Mac, a copy of M$ Office is just a drag to the hard drive to your iPod away from a CompUSA Kiosk). Or unlike the Linux Camp where its expected that you are be treated as a fucking sleeze if you don't give away the entirety of your work where others with better marketting skills are free to take what you've done and sell your work as if it were their own (its all about the service, BUT if you are an inept geek with no social skills, do you REALLY think you are going to know how to service your users -- or are you just good enough to write a damn good program that a million other geeks find useful).
Yeah, the Mac side of things is very strange. Last I heard, 80% of its users were the creative kinds. Unlike most of these napster babies, we know what it costs to produce items that have no physical value, but more aestetic or personal value. Crazy I tells you. We don't measure our worth by how many hamburgers we can flip in a single day, but I think thats mainly because the last Gartner report claimed 97.5% of all Mac users are Vegitarians upon learning Steve Gods...Err...Jobs is one. Ok, we don't base our value on how many Boca Burgers we flip in a day either.
I just bought 3 songs off of iTunes last night because there were worth it. New Annie Lennox tune, Dido's White Flag, and a Rob Dugan instrumental. A lot of artists will probably ping Apple for the singles, BUT I look at this as a way to evaluate the album before I walk into the store to pick up the real deal. And quite a few things I've picked up were exclusives that I've looked at as additions to the album I've already purchased.
Yeah, we are wierd...
You do know they've added hinting to this?
Just as Stop Lights in the US are structured if put horizontally, the 3 buttons are. Red Stop, Yellow Minimize, Green Max. My father is Red/Green colorblind and he has no problems with that sort of arrangement in driving...as long as they follow the US law on that sort of thing.
Past that, as I mentioned -- hinting. I sometimes forget what those mean after using another OS for a few weeks and getting back to my Mac (its only for a few minutes I can assure you). But when you go near them, they change to
x - +
in the colored circles. Hmmm...I guess thats too hard to figure out. I guess the Wind'rs people are just as confused. My dad seems to be able to use my mac when he needs a video transfered or to use my internet when he's over here...
Apple is using its own guidelines. Some things got rushed in the process of moving over to OSX in the last year or two, but they are getting back to what it should be. I'd advise you to actually look at that which you are criticizing before you do so.
Yes, but free speech is also somewhat limited. For instance, commercial speech can be regulated. Spam for the most part is commercial speech and thus should be put under the same regulations as any other advertisment.
.Robots file on their website or subscribe to a DoNotCall List, email is an invitation to ones home and the decision to allow it into your home should be yours to make and the gov't should be able to help one regulate this. If you are paying for something and others are invading its sancitity, you should be able to ask the gov't to help you out. If folks are not willing to respect this privacy before you have to say back off, the gov't should give you the ability to tell these guys to fuck off before they even get there.
That and freedom of speech is not something that is regulated by the gov't in someone elses home. It is limited to public properties. On private properties, you still have what ever limits of the freedom of speech that apply as well as those of the folks that regulate the private area.
By these two limits, email can and should be regulated. Much the same way one can place a
Again, freedom of speech is not an unlimited freedom. I'm sick of folks that think if it. If Taco wanted to edit my posts here on his site, its NOT infringing against my freedom of speech to do so...at least from a constitutional stand point.
blah
If you think the difference between being an audiophile and hearing the difference between CD and 128 bit, you are sooo wrong.
:-)
128 bits STILL fucks with the bass quite a bit as well as the siblances. Do a lot of cymbal work and see how fast articulately played sounds kinda merge together. Do anything that requires bass to be seperate and expressive, and that too won't work. Standard pop? Yeah, I'll do ya one better and state 64kbs is over stated for that
I'm sitting here with 8 year old JBL studio monitors and I can most definately hear the difference between CD and 128. Most of the time I just don't care. I can't hear the difference between 44 and 96 except that playing 44 over 96 sounds better. The physical make up of the sound card means that you can use more consumer level parts to have the aliasing happen PAST the human range of hearing -- which is around 22khz, meaning that something well engineered and recorded on a 44khz using the best specs will sound just as good...
if you said recorded in 96 / 24bit...I would agreed. Since you said 128...you obviously haven't listened to MP3s over decent equipment.
All my CDs are burned to my Mac and in MP3 (or now AAC) format and they sound good enough to listen to. When it comes time for reference materials, we go for the physical package.
I have the EXACT same problem.
Firstly, if you are using a clustered Exchange server, it seems to ask for the password half a dozen times before it loads all the icons. Occasionally hitting the Save Password thingie allows it to work.
Secondly, the messages never come out right if they are HTML encoded -- which means ANYTHING from my office (believe me, I would change this in a heartbeat if possible -- some things a sysadmin can't control).
Honestly, I think its a combination of the M$ ACs mixed with this just isn't a mature browser yet. I would LOVE to see a version of Entourage that could use my Exchange server in a meaningful way and NOT use the web version. M$ would rather not have a few important business elements on the Mac...Outlook and Access are the two biggies for me -- at least for interoperability within my working group.
clif
You know -- I can deal with those stats. THOUGH Geeks have known about Google for a bit longer than most others :-) That could even be argued in the 1% Linux gets...just fucking with ya lest a rabid slashdotter with a UID with a few extra decimal places thinks I'm pissing on his favorite OS :-)
I love Linux...and every chance I get I install the latest OS. I run a copy with on my PC and Macs with VPC...it is also my server of choice. I run several Linux servers...but desktop??? I can't use it. Even compared to XP it is primative at most. They are slowly getting prettier pictures to go along with the UI, but folks STILL haven't gotten it through their heads that Apple's UIs are better NOT because of the slicker than slick graphics, but because of how intuitive the OS is in addition to the whole slickness of it.
Its getting better...but when you have a department that deals only with UI issues compared to a hundred geeks that all think they know UI because of personal experience and no statistical evidance, you will always loose.
Almost EVERYONE I know that loves linux uses it for the most part on the server -- or as a secondary desktop.
:-)
I work with a large number of geeks...most of them can claim to have a desktop linux box...most of these are cast aside Wind'rs boxes that they upgraded from so they can play the latest greatest games.
How about comparing how many folks actually buy a box solely for Linux on the Desktop. I think that would be a better telling number. How about getting a spec on folks that use Linux on the Desktop as their primary desktop. If your work requires you to use Windows all day long, you aren't a primary Linux on the Desktop person. In my case, I use my iBook as much as I do my Windows XP box at my job and then come home to my 2 G4s and my single PC Desktops (mainly for playing games).
Stats can be used to tell any lie. Lets come up with a spec thats fair for all of us...we aren't in it for the marketting are we? Or should we start counting every Mac that was ever produced the way we compare every Linux box that stayed Linux as a single boot for more than a month (before the parents forced ya to reinstall windows because they couldn't figure out how to get TurbTax or Sims to work...note: talking about PARENTS getting them to work, not us
Personally I don't see the number of Linux users on the desktop actually being anywhere near the Mac users. I'd have to see stats and statistical methods...of which I think its just another propoganda piece to give the writter a little more ink on an otherwise slow week.
"There are motherboards with optical audio in and out built in, and you can buy PCI sound cards with optical audio built in for less than $50. I bought a Gamesourround Fortissimo II more than a year ago for less than $40, and it's got optical in and out."
:P
Unfortunately, this is true. I spent $500 on an audio card two years ago just because it had decent Optical on it...Last year, I bought an MAudio 2496 for my editing machine for a little over $100 -- not Optical, but coax digital, but it could handle 5.1 Dolby.
At this point, it would be moronic NOT to offer some sort of digital connection -- especially on a Mac -- then again I'm a little biased because EVERYONE I know with a Mac is a professional musician or attaining to be one
The rumors were a few months ago that Apple was going to release a Machine with 5 Outputs for Surround...I wonder if the Optical on this is going to encode Dolby Digital as well and keep this rumor true.
clif
Ok -- one post /.'rs are up in arms about a machine that supposedly has better judgement than people and by and large folks bitching and moaning that they aren't going to give up any control to device thats only a machine and can't factor anything else into the equation but what its programmed to do.
Now we have a class of citizens that arguably none of us have to deal with nor want to join the ranks of. We therefore look at pretty much the same technology and claim its infalliable and umps should quit their bitching because machines are so much better at judging a situation than people ever will be.
In both situations, its a machine making a decision that supposedly will benefit a greater percentage of folks involved than before. And again, slashdotters show their true NIMBY spirit by dismissing the one that takes away control from themselves while arguing for the need of the other.
Personally I think that if the Major League Baseball satellites are good enough to read our brainwaves, they should be able to judge the games as well as hit the brakes on peoples care. What did I do with my tinfoil hat.
clif
A lot of producer types and otherwise get the benefit of this stuff dropping in price. BUT you make the mistake of thinking that just because prices on a few things go down, pricing of the whole should drop.
For instance, do you REALLY think $0.05 is all a CD is worth? Physicial medium has ALWAYS been the last part of the equation when pricing this stuff (that and you can't burn 100k CDs easily -- you generally use a glass master and dupe them in bulk using the same methods one always has).
As for price of the software -- yup the resording software has gone down in price, but that means folks can now afford the expensive microphones that help them sound professional, the analogue preamps they use to remove some of the edge off the digital recordings, they can hire folks to do specific tasks like being able to send their stuff out for mastering (and if you can find a professional that can do a decent job of mastering a disc at under $5k, let me know -- that price hasn't dropped and $5k is about the cheapest I can find for folks I've hear that have consistant ears -- we just priced a disc for an artist that is expected to hit the top 40 -- top 10, nah -- too adult contemporary for todays market).
The particular point that there are innumerable people parts of an album and they have always been a HUGE part of the recording deal -- and now far more so that equipment has gotten to the point where consumer is as good as pro (and has a word for it these days -- prosumer) is one that seems to have slipped between the cracks along with other obvious points of interest.
Honestly, until someone has worked on a top 40 album (not an indy) you REALLY don't know what goes into this stuff and thus have no basis to make judgements. Anywho -- maybe I should stop complaining -- I just got into it with my audio and lighting guys last week about costs (my show this weekend is going to cost us $25k for JUST lighting and audio) and as first time I've done production direction for anyone (always assistant, never senior) I just assumed things like lighting were now done with sequencers where ya didn't have to have a seperate person to take care of this crap. So yeah -- if you haven't done something before, its easy to expect technology to take care of everything without realizing that it only helps marginalize so much before the professionals realize they can use the savings and put them somewhere else that will give you even better production for the pricing of the old. In their minds its a nul sum -- it didn't cost any more BUT it sounds SOOOOOO much better, thus its expected these days...
clif
sonikmatter
This is a troll but I'll respond anyways.
:P
Most of us LIKE Mac OSes. Up until Win2000, I wasn't satisfied with Windows OSes...I am a Wind'rs programmer by trade, but I always liked my Macs just a little more. Between the time os OS9 and 2000 -- I was a little torn over what was better...I think Win2k was a lot better than OS9 in retrospect.
BUT soon after that, I picked up the public beta of OSX and haven't been back to 9 since. I was right back in the Mac camp because it meant for once I didn't need to terminal into my Unix servers to get simple things done. On Windows, yeah, I have the Cyrix (err...is that it?) GNU Tools -- but it never felt right or integrated. The interface felt once again in the background to OSX.
Honestly, I wish Apple was a software only company -- The hardware is nice, but this is the area it seems to lag. I use to buy into the The MegaHertz Myth Is Wrong -- but as a programmer, I realized folks should not have to optimize their code for a specific base EACH AND EVERYTIME A PIECE OF HARDWARE CAME OUT. Some apps work with Altivec rather nicely...they can afford to optimize their code. Most of us want to write efficient portable code that can work anywhere. Of course, I do get pissed off when I hear friends talking about code I *KNOW* they've optimized for Windows and then left unoptimized for the Mac and then compare the two...I do a lot of work in the sound design industry and a lot of friends work at companies that make DSP solutions (both massmarket for consumers and the higher end for designing items that will not be of use to many others) -- and I see this all the time. Someone knows how to optimize to the SSE sets on Intel and have no problem tweaking the hell out of it and claiming benchmarks, but throwing the ported code to some monkey that knows only enough about the Mac to be dangerous -- and its embarassing because they then make outrageous statements about the relative speeds.
As for lack of Applications -- I don't know where folks get this. Numberwise -- yeah. Professional app to professional app, we have what we need. Anything in my field has an equivelent analog in both the Mac and the PC world -- with a lot of specialized apps actually being Mac Only (or at the least Mac First) because the creative market still looks at Mac Users as being more in this camp.
Again, I realize your response was a troll, but I felt like educating ya anyways
I have visited these places and I've actually helped produce some of the listening parties for these sorts of people. I know what its like.
:-) Most reviewers are failed musicians with vendettas to prove they are right even though the public has said they weren't. Most of the reviewers I have enjoyed were actual playing musicians that understood the business and understood some of the bullshit that others have to put up with...they might have been annoyed by something like this, BUT they would have realized the uncertanty their breathern have in the new market and realize that unlike some folks giving you broken and unlistenable mixes (ie., its a trend to give away sealed walkman with the headphone glued into the thing and have return authorization postage given so these guys can send them back in a week or two -- most of the time, they don't make it back from what I understand and it ends up being a waste because the guys that are honest are screwed and the ones that aren't don't care).
:-)
As for insulting them...lets just say I'm on the other side of the glass
The point is, folks are trying to protect their interest. If someone wants to be petty about it and not review this because they are this petty, they would have had a very critical review anyways -- not critical in a good way, critical in a I'm Smarter Than The Band Actually Getting Played And Smarter Than You Piddly Bastards Reading This...thats the kinda reviewer I'm happy not to see recieve any of my friends recordings
clif
"$480/year for repetitive movies, videos, shows, channels is too much even for the gainfully employed."
:-P
I'd agree -- thats why you can ask for Local Channels only and they have to provide it for some statutory minimum. In my case, I pay $11 a month for cable access. Thats $130 a year (that I can split with a roommates). $60 ain't too much considering I spend that much on music or movies a month.
BUT because most of these places are not equiped to deal with this (because they can't require you to go digital) -- ya end up getting most of the non-premium channels as well. Anything that comes through the analogue portion of cable is accessable.
I thought it was just me, but I know several others that have decided to switch down after hearing they didn't have to get EVERYTHING...and in almost every case, these folks got the same kinda deal. If I'd asked for these channels, I'd be paying $30 a month (the advertisted minimum package). I asked the installer about this and gave him a case of beer for his trouble thinking he'd 'hooked me up' (err...in the nonlitteral sense) but he replyed that A) I wasn't getting the beer back and B) it cost far more for the companies to actually filter all the channels out of each subscribers home these days as the analogue filters really screw with their digital lines -- thus they can completely delete a channel from analogue, but they can't really do it per user with the new technology and keep it affordable (ie., HBO is digital only because they can control that all from the office instead of hiring someone to climb a ladder and pull out the tubes).
Something to think about...I just wanted to be able to record Alias and 24 when I wasn't home without wondering if my antenna needed moved after having several nonwatchable recordings
clif
So -- the TypeO album doesn't get any response simply because they go to the trouble of appending something to the song so that when you rip it and get it uploaded to some fileserver the kiddies will know who it is?
Thats a little juvenile, eh?
10 seconds of commercial is not too much to worry about nor should it effect your judgements of the music. Being from a music pub, you've probably been to one of any number of junkets put out by these guys...music critics come out and listen to this stuff...sometimes they are given a cd to take back with them, other times the music you've heard at the party is all they you get until release day (and they have been known to wand ya to make sure ya ain't bringing in a recorder)...there will be someone talking a good portion of the time that this is playing, yet the music still seems to get reviewed -- or at least pre-reviewed until they can get their hands on the full release).
I'd rather have music have a short advertisment at the end of the song than a watermarking -- marks are expensive (ie., each disc has to be encoded specifically for that person and burned for them -- I have set up a process that does this for a friends company that sells sound libraries -- then again for $1k a disc, they don't mind that it takes them a half hour to get the cd out the door).
What do I know. You are an anonycow that reviews for publications while I'm just a music tech that works for the pros and has to hear them bitch at me constantly about their music being stolen while I sit and explain how this stuff works and try to explain how they can try to stop it OR try to figure out ways to subvert this activity so that it ends up helping them out without alienating their core audience.
clif
Actually, he pretty much dissects how they are doing it now. Which is exactly what I explained.
/. does a decent job of micropayments -- I pay them like $10 every 3 or 4 months and I get 10 pages free of ads a day (I could care less about the ads -- I want to get the perks -- ads don't bother me and I'm not sure why they bother others).
He talks about not knowing how they could reduce the transaction charge any more than it is -- whilst an update from one of the guys from PayPal says hes wrong and that authorizations don't always charge ya -- its up to the agreement that the CC companies give you. As a larger company, Apple can make some demands others can't.
Micropayments for the average guy are still a ways off -- few folks have enough content to want to go back and buy and buy again (or find enough folks with the same attitude and combine resources).
I think Apple pretty much has it undercontrol for right now...there are tweaks they can do after they identify how their customers buy stuff -- and *gasp* identify individual trends so you can offer better solutions to these folks (ie., if you notice someone buys about 5 songs a week, BUT your automatic billing goes out every 48 hours no matter what, you find the average time -- add a little padding to this -- and then bill then).
Honestly, I don't think its going to save the kind of money folks think it will...heck it might not even pay the programmers fees to implement this -- at least at the current rate of sales.
That would be a nice sentiment, other than stats showed that the clone market didn't increase sales of mac capible machines and meant losing a large source of their income from folks buying their 'Macs' from other companies -- and then having to play support when the clones didn't work the way they should have ruining the reputation of Apple.
Either way, Mot wasn't selling any more chips...
Its not that bad -- they already combine a lot of orders. They prebill $1 on your card -- like gas prepay stations and restaraunts do pre-tip.
:P Heck -- my company processes its cards through another company (we have sorta a collective going on between sound design companies) and that alone saves us a lot (since our volume was so low, it was going to cost like $50 a month, $0.50 a transaction and 4% of the sale -- its around the rate you quoted now that we share the billing).
In the next few days, anything you order gets thrown onto the same bill. Over a 3 day period, I got one credit card charge and one hold. I'm not sure what the magic billing time is as I stopped buying after the third day and waited two weeks to make my next purchase.
That and the fact we are talking a HUGE multibillion $$$ company, they probably have a little better rates than the standard merchant $.20 + 3%. When you deal in this kinda bulk, you can afford to make some demands
This would probably save them SOME money, but right now I think its not hurting either you or them the way they have these things. I'm all for getting more music -- maybe you could explain this from another perspective -- if you are willing to throw $50 in as a gift certificate you have demonstrated that you are a loyal customer and thus should get a discount...
Nah -- its more "Dude! I Had A Girlfriend".
Anyone wanting to screw up a perfectly good unix to make way for a geek religion version of unix doesn't need a chick -- and probably won't have one for long.
Any you just discribed why we use 44khz. Have ya ever looked at Nyquest? Ya double the rate of sampling to get an accurate response. Meaning that a human that has had their ears perfectly trained, had the right genes, and just came out of an ear cleaning session can hear a 22khz (and seldomly -- just a bit higher).
:P
:-)
Then again, what happens in pratice is to be debated. High quality FFTs show that 44khz with most consumer crap aliases at the high end...thus you have folks claiming 96khz is MUCH better -- why? Because with larger headroom, you can get much cleaner recordings of the material up to 22khz because physically, the cheap stuff doesn't have to be much better than the 44khz stuff, it just has to start aliasing a little later.
On quality equipment with great ADDA filters and DSP, 44khz is more than you need. My Kurzweil K2600 outputs at 44khz and local engineers are convinced its MUCH higher. It also costs 3x what most synths do
BUT if you could make something with cheaper materials and not worry about the quality control as much because you knew that no one was going to hear it, why not? So folks started in with 96khz which can actually be made rather cheaply (ya pick up the MAudio Audiophile 2496 for around $150 or less) and while it doesn't have as good of materials as some of the rest, the technology renders the problems out of the human range of hearing, whilst a consumer level card at 44khz would DEFINATELY have to deal with a lot more quality control to get to the same level.
So -- yeah 44khz is all one really needs to accurately reflect sound under ideal circumstances. As this isn't going to happen for most consumers, doubling the frequency again will flaten out the spectrum for you a lot more at a cheaper cost.
Personally, I'm sticking with my 48khz equipment...it sounds great and I had to pay for that quality...I just need to get some stickers slapped on them that claim to have been moded for greater range and no one would know the difference
Or you buy the entire album for $9.99 instead of just the song and you would get both albums for the same price -- even if one has 20 2 minute songs and the other has 10 4 minute songs.
:)
I don't look at size as a serious quantitative method of determining value. I know I know -- you are just going off of the line of reasoning your ex dumped you for, but not everything a woman tells you is the truth. Personally, it would be in my best interest to say that it did, but us guys have to support one another
Bullshit.
I should have enclosed freedoms and rights in quotes, but I thought this was easily noted. Everyone knows there are unalienable rights -- rights that can't be taken away under any circumstances, but most of what we call rights are really 'rights'.
For instance, we believe we have the 'right' to drive. It isn't a right, its a privilege. It can be taken away. The right to physical freedom can be taken away. The right to property can be taken away. We can't just arbitrarily take away these 'freedoms' or 'rights' but under some circumstances decide that it is most appropriate to do so. The right to life is one of the few rights I would argue to be truly a right, but in The USofA -- especially our great and powerful presidents homeland -- this is to be shown that it can be given up under quite a few circumstances.
If you continue to read my statement, you realize that I even say that at a certain point the state has to let someone sink or swim. In this country, 18 is a good point to where this occurs, with 21 being the next age that we gain rights....I mean 'rights'. You can't prevent every dumbass from harming himself or others. Unless a crime has occurred or someone has been PROVEN to be a danger to those around him, I don't believe rights should be taken away. Ideally, you'd give rights to folks and take them away as one feels fit, but then you are in a police state. Giving rights over a period of time is a good way to go about this. You learn responsibility slowly.
As for parents govern their children -- I'm all for that. I just think certain items should be there for the parent to choose if they want their children to have or not. Personally, I see nothing wrong with letting a child have a beer every now or then. I'm NOT for allowing children to sit down at the bar and order up a Guiness -- and personally, I don't want to see parents bringing their children into bars either...
The point of all of this is that what we call rights are NOT rights in any true sense of the word. They can all be regulated and sometimes should be regulated. 15 years ago, I wouldn't have thought so -- then again I was a 16 year old brat
clif
To be honest, it all about point of view. My father is a union boss while I and my sister are in management. He disagrees with our ways of doing things BUT the desired result is usually the same.
:-) I just don't think there is any connection between the two and anyone that tries to make on is a moron and a hypocrite...
There are a lot of things that makes one conservative -- attitude for one. I've never believed in handouts...but in my day job I use a lot of gov't funded employees -- work studies. I see nothing wrong with the gov't paying 2/3rds of their salary while in school -- and I make them earn it. I'm all for abandoning welfare of the sort it is now. Some folks would think its the same thing -- just another gov't handout. I would have NO problem with welfare if they forced folks to get off their ass and work...I don't care if its a bullshit job, just so far as it required these folks to be accountable for something. Heck, I'm even for free child care for these folks while on welfare so they can get out and do what they need to. Don't want to get off yer ass? Fine...the street is good enough for you.
Its simple things like that...to me, John McCain is a true conservative. Bush is not (either of them...though I have a lot more respect for his father given 10 years seperation). As a business owner, I look at the gov't being there to help me along to become a supporting part of the economy...propping up friends companies and turning the blind eye to companies ripping off their stock holders, their employee pensions and everyone else they do business with is NOT conservative. Supporting a monopoly that got that way through illegal means is NOT what its about -- M$ should have been broken up for the mere fact that they've got to their position through the means they used -- I could care less that they are a monopoly...heck I'm on a computer that is only manufactured by one company that won't license their code to anyone and won't allow their software to run on anyone elses machines. I could care less -- Apple's never intimidated anyone or bought out companies that have tried to go against them or built free applications to unabashedly put someone out of business.
Personally, I would be a little jaded as well. I am warry of ANY conservative that claims to be just as I am folks that act hollier than thou. its as hard to find a true christian as it is to find a true conservative. I have most of the conservative part down, the christian part is taking a LOT of work
Hope that answers some of your questions...
clif
"Sounds REALLY conservative ..."
:-)
Fair style and the type of music I listen to aside, I am fairly conservative. Not in the way of what the current crop of Republicans would think of it -- today's conservatives are a bunch of hypocritical bible bangers that haven't taken the time to read their own rules and regulations because they are too busy condeming others to hell (see Bill Bennet and his book of virtues all the while gambling millions away and ignoring a good deal of his other statements -- because those are only for folks that can't control themselves).
I'm a business owner and registered Republican -- even when I had the blue hair
clif