How do you think people copy GD-ROMs? As far as I know, Sony doesn't make a special GD-ROM drive for PCs, nor would it likely be simple to attach a DC to a PC.
Right on the 2nd point; afaik, there was a PC/DC interface that was designed by/for people who were experienting with DC programming - demos, simple games/mp3 players, etc. The interface allowed them to upload code direct to the console, but it also allowed data to be read from GD-ROMs.
People don't copy GD-ROMs, a small number of people (who've build or obtained on of the interfaces) rip the games to their PCs, make ISO images and then burn those to CDR. GD-ROM is unreadable in any PC CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive (contrary to many rumours when the whole DC piracy thing took off).
I may be wrong, this is 2nd hand knowledge - I don't own a DC (but MSR might convince me otherwise..):-)
Surprised no-one else has posted this yet - Sophos offers AV software for Windows, Netware, OS/2, Unix (Solaris, Linux, SCO, Digital, AIX, FreeBSD, HP-UX) and OpenVMS servers, and Windows, OS/2, Mac and DOS clients.
Our company uses it on Netware servers/Windows clients, and it's been great - although I haven't used any of the other server versions I'd expect them to be at least as good. SAVAdmin and other management tools work well too (provided you've got an NT machine handy to run it) - updates, client upgrades and the like can all be automated.
I just hook PSX controllers directly to my PC via the parallel port - I still haven't found a PC gamepad that comes close.
http://www.ziplabel.com/dpadpro/ has schematics for the lead (very simple for the PSX and most others, a nightmare for the N64!) and the software to use it. Under Windows, it's got a driver that makes it a generic 10-button joystick and you can even use the analogue sticks. Source for the joystick-scanning bit is available if you want to develop something for another OS.
Get hold of a controller extension lead and you don't even need to chop up the original - I'm planning to mount the controller port on the front of my PC when I get round to it..
If you've already got the controllers, it's a lot cheaper than buying new ones:)
It always seems the way with sony. THey come up with a technology, some good, some bad, but they keep it all to themselves and the technology goes nowhere but for very small niche environments.
Take a look at this list. Count the number of non-Sony manufacturers making MD products. Consider that Sony co-created the CD format with Philips and that's a long way from a niche technology.
FWIW, I think SACD stands a much better chance of acceptance (even though I'm not willing to upgrade CD players yet, the single-disc Sony SACD player is about 400ukp from the discount hifi shops), because:
They've got players out there and in shops now, whereas the DVD-A players are still obscenely priced boxes that are still doing their rounds with the hifi press.
Backwards compatibility with CD - there can be a layer on the disc that has a plain CD-Audio version, meaning it'll play on all your existing CD players and record shops can just stock the SACD, rather than CD and DVD-A. Who'd buy a disc that they can play on their main player, but not in the kitchen or in their car?
Support from Sony, who (like it or not) sell a lot of records - therefore a sizeable chunk of releases on SACD, and industry support from the start.
While I don't doubt there'll be SDMI-watermarking-whatever bullshit, at least there's stuff like digital outputs so you can record to MD, DAT, PC, etc at a decent quality. DVD-A spec doesn't allow any digital outputs (Oh no! they'll steal our music!)
I don't find it compelling enough to upgrade for a long time (I'd rather sit and wait and see what happens), but my money's on SACD winning this one. The only thing in DVD-A's favour is that people are familiar with the name (then watch the disappointment when they realise their DVD-Video player won't play them..)
The lastest win32 client (haven't upgraded the linux one recently to check) has a config option to stop running when you're on battery power. I'd hope that the processor would save power when it was running on batteries and only had idle/low priority processes anyway though..
- MD is a very small disk which is more stable, and is usually backed up with large amounts of buffer memory (40secs is standard nowadays). That also lets them save battery life - listen to the whirring of a MD player and you'll know it works for 5 secs, rests for 30 and repeats.
If you're into using pogo-stick racing (and want music to listen to while you're at it) then flash is a good idea. For most applications, discs with buffers are fine.
- MDs live in permanent plastic jackets with sturdy shutters. Scratching isn't a problem at all.
I don't think any of the flash memory systems will get significantly cheaper any time soon. Until MP3 players can use small, cheap, re-recordable (MO?) media they'll be stuck as either "cool-light-low-capacity" or "huge-overkill-3-weeks-of-music" devices.
I've been a Minidisc user for close to a year and it's been great for my purposes - it's the nicest portable format available.
I had my little portable recorder for a year, but the big draw came when I decided to replace my car stereo. Although I have a sizable MP3 collection (~35gb), with all my own music ripped, I decided MP3 was not the way to go.
I don't want to have a PC in my boot, or spend loads of cash (and time) on kits like this one, or blow over a grand on an Empeg. I just wanted something that would let me listen to the music that I like in my car (rather than the tedious radio stations) with the minimum of hassle.
Tape - just sucks, frankly
CDR - had the drive already, but not re-recordable, car CD players are notoriously fussy with them, they're fiddly to use in-car (unless you just shove them in the door pocket and let them get scratched after a couple of weeks)
MP3/flash - either wiring up a portable player (been there, done that with my MD - too much hassle for everyday use) or paying at least 150ukp for a unit that sits on the dash and demands feeding with expensive flash cards. No thanks.
MP3/CDR - not available yet, same issues as regular audio CDR (fragility, etc).
MP3/HD - troublesome and expensive to set up, overkill for my needs (daily journey is no more than 1/2hr, longest one-off journey about 6 hours - who needs 2 weeks of music on tap?), concerns about durability (temp, vibrations, etc)
Minidisc - super-durable, recent units have excellent SQ, cheap (Sony units start at 160ukp/$350 in US - a small amount more than their equivalent CD player), available and inexpensive media (I've just bought 20 80min MDs for 0.79 each).
I love MD as a portable format too - flash MP3 players just seem hopelessly tied to PCs, and require you to spend a lot on flash media if you want more than an hour's music. The HD and CDR options aren't really "portable" - I certainly can't carry them about in the way I do with my MD.
I can see the appeal of the flash players - people with large MP3 collections that are organised enough to put new material on it every day. I barely leave myself enough time for a Palm hotsync..
Sure, MD isn't without it's flaws - most people are limited to 1x recording (there are several CD/MD products that will copy faster (eg. MXD-D3), and strong rumours of faster PC links), and the issue of titling. Basically, you don't get titles unless you put them on yourself. However, keyboard inputs and titling projects can help out a lot. At worse (no titles), it's no less usable than CDR.
Another nice bonus - it's a very simple way to capture streaming audio and the like. Rather than messing about with loopback cables+wave recorders, hacked about software, etc, I just plug my MD into the lineout and slide the REC switch.
It's a shame the format's never caught on in the US - in the UK it's steadily growing. All the electrical chains have a decent range of units, many of the mini/micro systems include a MD deck, and blanks are even available in supermarkets..
I don't see it as a competitor for MP3, just an excellent replacement for cassette tape and a superior to formats like CDR. If they bothered to promote it properly, the buying public might see what a good format it is.
Or take a minute to find out that Sony backtrack[ed] from anti-Napster spiel. They were quotes taken out of context from an exec who has nothing to do with Sony Music.
But hey, that doesn't make as good a/. headline as "Sony are going to firewall you to stop you using Napster!!!" now, is it?
So, even if I hook my mixer to a set of analog ins on a sound card and record the school choir (using the hard disk to store the bits), the computer is not a digital audio recording device, and the hard disk is not a digital recording medium. Even if I have a dedicated computer which does nothing else, rackmounted in a nice SKB case with the rest of my gear, it doesn't count -- because it's not "primarily marketed" that way. Ha! Plain facts, on head. Convenient, phoney definitions.
Pro-level equipment (ie. stuff that's primarily designed for recording from scrach where SCMS restrictions would get in the way) isn't covered by the AHRA either.
It doesn't matter if it's a computer, DAT, CDR, Minidisc, whatever - if it doesn't enforce SCMS then you're not granted "immunity from suit". Which is irrelevant anyway if you're recording stuff you're allowed to record in the first place - the AHRA is about allowing people to record other people's music for their own personal use as long as they comply with the conditions of the Act.
The brief the White House has filed is not a 'shut down Napster' argument. It simply states that Napster should not be allowed to use the Home Recording Act as a legal defense (which is one of the many defenses Napster has put forth.)
This is a VERY good thing.
Quite. It would also fly in the face of the legal precedent set by the Diamond Rio case, which basically stated that an MP3 player (and the computer it relies on) is not a digital recording device as defined in the AHRA.
But in simple terms, what does the AHRA say? That (if you're American) you're granted immunity to make non-commercial copies for your own private use if you use analogue equipment or digital with SCMS enforced. Note it doesn't say it's legal/lawful - just that you have "immunity from suit". Pro-level equipment (that doesn't follow SCMS and will copy anything) doesn't allow you that immunity, and neither do computers (which have no way to implement SCMS - well, there's SDMI *cough*:-) ).
You can't have it both ways - either your computer is a digital recording device and you pay the RIAA tax on every computer, hard disk and data CDR media, or it isn't and while people will go on burning audio CDs and storing MP3s on their disks they won't be granted their immunity under the AHRA.
It's a lame defence on Napster's part though - they're trying to justify their users actions with some very shaky interpretation. It's also quite amusing that they're taking the "OK, there's massive infringement but our users are allowed to do that" attitude while their Terms of Use still state "you will not: (i) use the Napster service to infringe the intellectual property rights of others in any way".
The White House doesn't particularly favour the RIAA - it's just speaking sense. Napster are shooting themselves in the foot badly with this defence - they'd be wise to just drop it before they look like fools in court.
Sony's Memory Stick players (like the NW-MS7)won't play MP3s. Instead they come with software that merrily converts your MP3 collection into hoplessly restricted, SDMI-compliant music files, encoded with their own proprietary ATRAC3 format [nb: different from the ATRAC that Minidisc uses, except for the newest MDLP decks].
Using their Win98-only software, you end up with files that can only be played on your (single) PC, and on up to 3 portables that you own.
Of course, you can't transfer the music files back to the PC. You can't burn a CDR of these files and listen to them at work (they're keyed to your player at home). As it seems to assume that every MP3 is copyrighted and the owners want to have their work subject to SDMI restrictions, any "free" music you have gets screwed if you want to listen to it on your Sony device.
The GadgetSquad review goes into the restrictions with more detail.
On the other hand, Sony are now starting to release their "Internet Audio" Minidisc packages, which include a USB link to your PC (they're also offering the kit free to owners of recent MD recorders). It's still realtime, but way better than the lameass SDMI players, and hopefully will push MD a bit harder to the MP3 market - one that it's very well suited to.
I want to be able to trade an MP3 of my armpit rendition of "Little Brown Jug". I should be able to trade it without a company monitoring, without the gubment saying I can't.
They're not stopping you from doing anything - run a web or ftp server from your own machine and share it via that. You wouldn't get any less downloads than sharing over Napster, because no-one would bother looking for it. Include a "feel free to copy/distribute" message somewhere (on the page or in the ID3 tag), and you're set.
What does Napster shutting down have to do with your right to distribute your own material?
I had an idea, when you want to overclock, you got to reboot everytime you change the speed. Perhaps we should change this and make it possible to change speed using buttons. Remember those good old days with those 'Turbo' buttons.
This is possible on Windows, using a program called SoftFSB. It lets you change front-side bus speeds on the fly using a slider. I used to use it when fiddling with my Celeron 300A/450 system, and it works very well indeed.
About 3 months back I saw an advert, someone had made minicds that would fit to creditcard size, you could store 50M on one and then hand them out to clients/friends/etc. I cant remember the price but it was cheap
CDROM Cellar (UK-based) sell these - check the CDR section. Megadata brand - 1.50ukp each. They also sell the cute small CDRs that devices like the camera would use for the same price.
Partially because independent film makers have a hard time putting their works on dvd, partially because of the stupid 'regions'
They don't have to use regions - just put the movie on a disc unencrypted and it's region 0, which will play anywhere in the world. The only thing stopping more independent film coming out on DVD is the cost of mastering the DVD in the first place for a film that probably won't sell too many copies.
DVDs needing regional encoding is a myth - the major (MPAA-involved) studios choose to.
In my case - being a student with a smallish room, a decent 17" monitor, a broken TV with no SCART, and a DVD-ROM drive.
I boot back to win98 for watching DVDs, don't have anything else running so no HD activity - I just stick a couple of bits of Blu-Tak over the annoying LEDs. The fan noise isn't too bad, and I either watch them loud (with friends) or with headphones, which drowns a lot of it out.
But you're right - standalone players are the way to go for anyone with a real TV. My parents bought one a while ago to go with their 32" widescreen TV and the quality is fantastic. Buying a DVD-ROM and decoder card made sense a year or so ago when standalone players cost £350+, but now you can pick one up for less than £160 it just doesn't add up when a PC solution loses the nice stuff like remote control. Especially when 2/3 of all the ones sold in the UK are multiregion-capable (Yanks don't have quite as much of a problem in that area).
Inviting some mates round to watch a movie cramped in front of your monitor ain't cool..
In Cardiff at least, there are several shops that sell it - little newsagent-type places and a couple of petrol stations. My local Texaco used to stock the bottles, sadly now it's just the can which are way smaller and cost nearly as much..
I'd love to get hold of a whole case at once.. I've never seen it anywhere else in the UK - maybe it's just a Wales thing?:)
My own experience - 57fps under Win98se, 62fps under Windows 2000 (Quake3Arena, 640x480 "normal" settings, timedemo of demo001).
This article is a good comparison (using Q3, with and without tweaking) showing similar results. The update at the end, using the newer win2k drivers gave even larger improvements for win2k.
I guess that this means microsoft will quickly follow suit with a Direct3D Port to WinCE?
They're certainly planning something like that:
CHICAGO -- Feb. 29, 2000 -- Today at the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) Spring 2000, Microsoft Corp. introduced its new DirectX® Platform Adaptation Kit (DXPAK) for the Windows® CE operating system. This new DXPAK enables OEMs to create Windows CE-based devices that take advantage of the latest multimedia capabilities, including accelerated graphics, and streaming audio and video with full playback capabilities, delivered via the Web to applications ranging from game consoles and set-top terminals to factory-floor HMI devices.
LONDON (Reuters) - A poet and casino waitress has become the first person to attempt to patent herself, the national patent office said on Tuesday.
"I can confirm that we have received an application with the title 'myself' from Donna Rawlinson MacLean," the patent office's Brian Caswell said.
The Guardian said MacLean was angered at the patenting of gene sequences by businesses.
"It has taken 30 years of hard labour for me to discover and invent myself, and now I wish to protect my invention from unauthorised exploitation, genetic or otherwise," MacLean told the newspaper.
Caswell said the full details of application GB0000180.0 would be published in 18 months.
"It is not really worth patenting something unless you make a lot of money from it," he added.
Compact Flash type II currectly goes up to 320 MB. And unlike so-called SmartMedia, when larger capacities become available, you don't need to upgrade your hardware to use them.
Don't forget that you could stick an IBM Microdrive in that CF slot instead:)
Certain films are deemed too sensitive for certain countries by the local government. As I recall, A Clockwork Orange has been banned in the UK (is it still?).
While Clockwork Orange is (finally) going to get a release in the UK, it's perfectly legal to get a private import of it over to here. You're allowed to buy/own whatever movies you like, as long as they comply with the Obscene Publications Act (which mostly covers porn anyway). It is not illegal to buy/own a film that hasn't been rated by the BBFC (UK film censors). What however is illegal is to sell or screen unrated films.
Import the films and sell them in your shop = illegal. Import your own films, for your personal viewing = totally legal.
Thus the film companies could just only sell products in the regions that they want to sell them in. People in countries such as the UK can then buy from whatever country they choose.
It's why many DVD players in the UK are chipped, and the most popular models are ones with easily-defeatable region locking.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Right on the 2nd point; afaik, there was a PC/DC interface that was designed by/for people who were experienting with DC programming - demos, simple games/mp3 players, etc. The interface allowed them to upload code direct to the console, but it also allowed data to be read from GD-ROMs.
People don't copy GD-ROMs, a small number of people (who've build or obtained on of the interfaces) rip the games to their PCs, make ISO images and then burn those to CDR. GD-ROM is unreadable in any PC CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive (contrary to many rumours when the whole DC piracy thing took off).
I may be wrong, this is 2nd hand knowledge - I don't own a DC (but MSR might convince me otherwise..) :-)
Surprised no-one else has posted this yet - Sophos offers AV software for Windows, Netware, OS/2, Unix (Solaris, Linux, SCO, Digital, AIX, FreeBSD, HP-UX) and OpenVMS servers, and Windows, OS/2, Mac and DOS clients.
Our company uses it on Netware servers/Windows clients, and it's been great - although I haven't used any of the other server versions I'd expect them to be at least as good. SAVAdmin and other management tools work well too (provided you've got an NT machine handy to run it) - updates, client upgrades and the like can all be automated.
I just hook PSX controllers directly to my PC via the parallel port - I still haven't found a PC gamepad that comes close.
http://www.ziplabel.com/dpadpro/ has schematics for the lead (very simple for the PSX and most others, a nightmare for the N64!) and the software to use it. Under Windows, it's got a driver that makes it a generic 10-button joystick and you can even use the analogue sticks. Source for the joystick-scanning bit is available if you want to develop something for another OS.
Get hold of a controller extension lead and you don't even need to chop up the original - I'm planning to mount the controller port on the front of my PC when I get round to it..
If you've already got the controllers, it's a lot cheaper than buying new ones :)
--
qube
It always seems the way with sony. THey come up with a technology, some good, some bad, but they keep it all to themselves and the technology goes nowhere but for very small niche environments.
Take a look at this list. Count the number of non-Sony manufacturers making MD products. Consider that Sony co-created the CD format with Philips and that's a long way from a niche technology.
FWIW, I think SACD stands a much better chance of acceptance (even though I'm not willing to upgrade CD players yet, the single-disc Sony SACD player is about 400ukp from the discount hifi shops), because:
I don't find it compelling enough to upgrade for a long time (I'd rather sit and wait and see what happens), but my money's on SACD winning this one. The only thing in DVD-A's favour is that people are familiar with the name (then watch the disappointment when they realise their DVD-Video player won't play them..)
--
qube
The lastest win32 client (haven't upgraded the linux one recently to check) has a config option to stop running when you're on battery power. I'd hope that the processor would save power when it was running on batteries and only had idle/low priority processes anyway though..
--
qube
- MD is a very small disk which is more stable, and is usually backed up with large amounts of buffer memory (40secs is standard nowadays). That also lets them save battery life - listen to the whirring of a MD player and you'll know it works for 5 secs, rests for 30 and repeats.
If you're into using pogo-stick racing (and want music to listen to while you're at it) then flash is a good idea. For most applications, discs with buffers are fine.
- MDs live in permanent plastic jackets with sturdy shutters. Scratching isn't a problem at all.
I don't think any of the flash memory systems will get significantly cheaper any time soon. Until MP3 players can use small, cheap, re-recordable (MO?) media they'll be stuck as either "cool-light-low-capacity" or "huge-overkill-3-weeks-of-music" devices.
--
qube
Yep, agree :)
I've been a Minidisc user for close to a year and it's been great for my purposes - it's the nicest portable format available.
I had my little portable recorder for a year, but the big draw came when I decided to replace my car stereo. Although I have a sizable MP3 collection (~35gb), with all my own music ripped, I decided MP3 was not the way to go.
I don't want to have a PC in my boot, or spend loads of cash (and time) on kits like this one, or blow over a grand on an Empeg. I just wanted something that would let me listen to the music that I like in my car (rather than the tedious radio stations) with the minimum of hassle.
Tape - just sucks, frankly
CDR - had the drive already, but not re-recordable, car CD players are notoriously fussy with them, they're fiddly to use in-car (unless you just shove them in the door pocket and let them get scratched after a couple of weeks)
MP3/flash - either wiring up a portable player (been there, done that with my MD - too much hassle for everyday use) or paying at least 150ukp for a unit that sits on the dash and demands feeding with expensive flash cards. No thanks.
MP3/CDR - not available yet, same issues as regular audio CDR (fragility, etc).
MP3/HD - troublesome and expensive to set up, overkill for my needs (daily journey is no more than 1/2hr, longest one-off journey about 6 hours - who needs 2 weeks of music on tap?), concerns about durability (temp, vibrations, etc)
Minidisc - super-durable, recent units have excellent SQ, cheap (Sony units start at 160ukp/$350 in US - a small amount more than their equivalent CD player), available and inexpensive media (I've just bought 20 80min MDs for 0.79 each).
I love MD as a portable format too - flash MP3 players just seem hopelessly tied to PCs, and require you to spend a lot on flash media if you want more than an hour's music. The HD and CDR options aren't really "portable" - I certainly can't carry them about in the way I do with my MD.
I can see the appeal of the flash players - people with large MP3 collections that are organised enough to put new material on it every day. I barely leave myself enough time for a Palm hotsync..
Sure, MD isn't without it's flaws - most people are limited to 1x recording (there are several CD/MD products that will copy faster (eg. MXD-D3), and strong rumours of faster PC links), and the issue of titling. Basically, you don't get titles unless you put them on yourself. However, keyboard inputs and titling projects can help out a lot. At worse (no titles), it's no less usable than CDR.
Another nice bonus - it's a very simple way to capture streaming audio and the like. Rather than messing about with loopback cables+wave recorders, hacked about software, etc, I just plug my MD into the lineout and slide the REC switch.
It's a shame the format's never caught on in the US - in the UK it's steadily growing. All the electrical chains have a decent range of units, many of the mini/micro systems include a MD deck, and blanks are even available in supermarkets..
I don't see it as a competitor for MP3, just an excellent replacement for cassette tape and a superior to formats like CDR. If they bothered to promote it properly, the buying public might see what a good format it is.
--
qube
Or take a minute to find out that Sony backtrack[ed] from anti-Napster spiel. They were quotes taken out of context from an exec who has nothing to do with Sony Music.
But hey, that doesn't make as good a /. headline as "Sony are going to firewall you to stop you using Napster!!!" now, is it?
So, even if I hook my mixer to a set of analog ins on a sound card and record the school choir (using the hard disk to store the bits), the computer is not a digital audio recording device, and the hard disk is not a digital recording medium. Even if I have a dedicated computer which does nothing else, rackmounted in a nice SKB case with the rest of my gear, it doesn't count -- because it's not "primarily marketed" that way. Ha! Plain facts, on head. Convenient, phoney definitions.
Pro-level equipment (ie. stuff that's primarily designed for recording from scrach where SCMS restrictions would get in the way) isn't covered by the AHRA either.
It doesn't matter if it's a computer, DAT, CDR, Minidisc, whatever - if it doesn't enforce SCMS then you're not granted "immunity from suit". Which is irrelevant anyway if you're recording stuff you're allowed to record in the first place - the AHRA is about allowing people to record other people's music for their own personal use as long as they comply with the conditions of the Act.
--
qube
[IANAL, etc.]
The brief the White House has filed is not a 'shut down Napster' argument. It simply states that Napster should not be allowed to use the Home Recording Act as a legal defense (which is one of the many defenses Napster has put forth.)
This is a VERY good thing.
Quite. It would also fly in the face of the legal precedent set by the Diamond Rio case, which basically stated that an MP3 player (and the computer it relies on) is not a digital recording device as defined in the AHRA .
But in simple terms, what does the AHRA say? That (if you're American) you're granted immunity to make non-commercial copies for your own private use if you use analogue equipment or digital with SCMS enforced. Note it doesn't say it's legal/lawful - just that you have "immunity from suit". Pro-level equipment (that doesn't follow SCMS and will copy anything) doesn't allow you that immunity, and neither do computers (which have no way to implement SCMS - well, there's SDMI *cough* :-) ).
You can't have it both ways - either your computer is a digital recording device and you pay the RIAA tax on every computer, hard disk and data CDR media, or it isn't and while people will go on burning audio CDs and storing MP3s on their disks they won't be granted their immunity under the AHRA.
It's a lame defence on Napster's part though - they're trying to justify their users actions with some very shaky interpretation. It's also quite amusing that they're taking the "OK, there's massive infringement but our users are allowed to do that" attitude while their Terms of Use still state "you will not: (i) use the Napster service to infringe the intellectual property rights of others in any way".
The White House doesn't particularly favour the RIAA - it's just speaking sense. Napster are shooting themselves in the foot badly with this defence - they'd be wise to just drop it before they look like fools in court.
--
qube
Sony's Memory Stick players (like the NW-MS7)won't play MP3s. Instead they come with software that merrily converts your MP3 collection into hoplessly restricted, SDMI-compliant music files, encoded with their own proprietary ATRAC3 format [nb: different from the ATRAC that Minidisc uses, except for the newest MDLP decks].
Using their Win98-only software, you end up with files that can only be played on your (single) PC, and on up to 3 portables that you own.
Of course, you can't transfer the music files back to the PC. You can't burn a CDR of these files and listen to them at work (they're keyed to your player at home). As it seems to assume that every MP3 is copyrighted and the owners want to have their work subject to SDMI restrictions, any "free" music you have gets screwed if you want to listen to it on your Sony device.
The GadgetSquad review goes into the restrictions with more detail.
On the other hand, Sony are now starting to release their "Internet Audio" Minidisc packages, which include a USB link to your PC (they're also offering the kit free to owners of recent MD recorders). It's still realtime, but way better than the lameass SDMI players, and hopefully will push MD a bit harder to the MP3 market - one that it's very well suited to.
They're not stopping you from doing anything - run a web or ftp server from your own machine and share it via that. You wouldn't get any less downloads than sharing over Napster, because no-one would bother looking for it. Include a "feel free to copy/distribute" message somewhere (on the page or in the ID3 tag), and you're set.
What does Napster shutting down have to do with your right to distribute your own material?
I had an idea, when you want to overclock, you got to reboot everytime you change the speed. Perhaps we should change this and make it possible to change speed using buttons. Remember those good old days with those 'Turbo' buttons.
This is possible on Windows, using a program called SoftFSB. It lets you change front-side bus speeds on the fly using a slider. I used to use it when fiddling with my Celeron 300A/450 system, and it works very well indeed.
--
qube
About 3 months back I saw an advert, someone had made minicds that would fit to creditcard size, you could store 50M on one and then hand them out to clients/friends/etc. I cant remember the price but it was cheap
CDROM Cellar (UK-based) sell these - check the CDR section. Megadata brand - 1.50ukp each. They also sell the cute small CDRs that devices like the camera would use for the same price.
..however, you can add these people (nme.com article) to the For: (or in some cases, "not against") Napster list:
qube
They don't have to use regions - just put the movie on a disc unencrypted and it's region 0, which will play anywhere in the world. The only thing stopping more independent film coming out on DVD is the cost of mastering the DVD in the first place for a film that probably won't sell too many copies.
DVDs needing regional encoding is a myth - the major (MPAA-involved) studios choose to.
qube
Hi Yarn :)
In my case - being a student with a smallish room, a decent 17" monitor, a broken TV with no SCART, and a DVD-ROM drive.
I boot back to win98 for watching DVDs, don't have anything else running so no HD activity - I just stick a couple of bits of Blu-Tak over the annoying LEDs. The fan noise isn't too bad, and I either watch them loud (with friends) or with headphones, which drowns a lot of it out.
But you're right - standalone players are the way to go for anyone with a real TV. My parents bought one a while ago to go with their 32" widescreen TV and the quality is fantastic. Buying a DVD-ROM and decoder card made sense a year or so ago when standalone players cost £350+, but now you can pick one up for less than £160 it just doesn't add up when a PC solution loses the nice stuff like remote control. Especially when 2/3 of all the ones sold in the UK are multiregion-capable (Yanks don't have quite as much of a problem in that area).
Inviting some mates round to watch a movie cramped in front of your monitor ain't cool..
--
qube / Simon
http://www.quake3arena.co.uk/
In Cardiff at least, there are several shops that sell it - little newsagent-type places and a couple of petrol stations. My local Texaco used to stock the bottles, sadly now it's just the can which are way smaller and cost nearly as much..
:)
I'd love to get hold of a whole case at once.. I've never seen it anywhere else in the UK - maybe it's just a Wales thing?
--
qube http://www.quake3arena.co.uk/
My own experience - 57fps under Win98se, 62fps under Windows 2000 (Quake3Arena, 640x480 "normal" settings, timedemo of demo001).
This article is a good comparison (using Q3, with and without tweaking) showing similar results. The update at the end, using the newer win2k drivers gave even larger improvements for win2k.
--
qube http://www.quake3arena.co.uk
Hardcore gamers will almost always stick with Win 98/ME.
Actually, many are switching to Windows 2000 - especially when there's a 5-10% speed improvement in Quake3.
overhead that Linux or any multiuser OS with a good security model has.
Win2k's certainly better than 98 in that respect, yet it's quicker on less mature drivers.
--
qube http://www.quake3arena.co.uk
Yep, certainly are..
:)
Sony W900
24" widescreen, costs a fortune but it's lovely
-- qube
They're certainly planning something like that:
Their full press release is here.
Saw this the other day on Yahoo News:
Don't forget that you could stick an IBM Microdrive in that CF slot instead :)
-- qube
While Clockwork Orange is (finally) going to get a release in the UK, it's perfectly legal to get a private import of it over to here. You're allowed to buy/own whatever movies you like, as long as they comply with the Obscene Publications Act (which mostly covers porn anyway). It is not illegal to buy/own a film that hasn't been rated by the BBFC (UK film censors). What however is illegal is to sell or screen unrated films.
Import the films and sell them in your shop = illegal. Import your own films, for your personal viewing = totally legal.
Thus the film companies could just only sell products in the regions that they want to sell them in. People in countries such as the UK can then buy from whatever country they choose.
It's why many DVD players in the UK are chipped, and the most popular models are ones with easily-defeatable region locking. :)
qube