Last I tried, I was able to reliably ABX 128 kbps Opus vs. lossless (sourced from CD rip of a single track) nine times in a row with a decent pair of studio headphones. That being said, it's really hard to tell the difference in normal usage. Opus is quite a versatile codec. I hope to see hardware codec support in consumer devices.
I haven't yet investigated how well Opus handles inter-sample peaks, though MP3 is somewhat infamous for failing in this area vs. AAC.
I use subaddressing whenever possible, usually printing something related to the service/organisation in question. On several occasions I've run into issues:
For instance, earlier this year I found that Ticketek's (Australian event ticketing) account system wouldn't accept '+' but would accept '-', though I never received any emails until I changed my address to something more conventional.
In another instance, I signed up for a course with OTEN (an online, state government institution) and again didn't receive any correspondence — resulting in my studies being delayed for two months due to the confusion.
Oh, and Microsoft's account system arbitrarily supports hyphens but not pluses. Go figure...
Anyhow, on many occasions, subaddressing has helped me confirm instances where an organisation's email list has been leaked to spammers/scammers, and in turn notify the organisation themselves.
Why can't--why shouldn't--a highly-developed nation run fibre-optic cable to its premises, where practical? Hasn't the USA already done so with copper lines? A national roll-out could be achieved and pay itself back, provided government and industry momentum allowed for it.
Such a thing was almost achieved here in Australia--93% of premises were to have a fibre connection, the rest serviced by fixed-wireless and satellite. That was, until politicking got in the way and achieved an outcome suiting only politicians (particularly of the Liberal Party/Nationals camp) and international corporate interests (Telstra, Foxtel), after the originators of policy (Labor) were outed in 2013. 32% of our population is rural--double that of the USA.
If you have an OpenWRT-compatible router and are comfortable administrating it you could install this adblocking script, which automatically updates its own block list from a variety of sources. I've personally been using this set-up for about a month and its been working well.
For music, there's the amazon mp3 store. You get DRM-free mp3s that you can copy to a USB stick if you want. I've been using them for years and am quite happy, and they carry a lot of indie music, not just the big-name MPAA based stuff, so there's a lot to pick from.
For movies, I dunno.
Not everything is DRM-free; many recordings contain personally-identifiable metadata:
Record Company Required Metadata: Music file contains unique purchase identifier.
The problem with ads is that they, like top 40 music, are much more heavily compressed than movies or newstalk. The maximum amplitude isn't any higher though. So what measure of "loudness" is it going to be? Because if it's amplitude, then this law will do precisely nothing.
I suggest implementing the Don’t Be a Dick protocol and sentence offending sound producers to “rehabilitation” imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay.
Actually, at least according to OSA's website, they "care on your behalf about...payments for the use of your works in the territory of the Czech Republic and other foreign countries through the network of reciprocal agreements with our partner societies abroad" and provide "... detailed statements on the usage of your works in the Czech Republic and abroad with each payment of royalties". This includes usage statistics of works.
Thus, I imagine the system is quite similar to APRA and PPCA in Australia, where film productions and the like are required to denote which recordings and works were used in the end product and performance artists are encouraged to record and submit which works they performed at any particular public event. This information is usually submitted via web-form and the songwriters etc. eventually receive royalty payments. I think it's generally a different story with radio stations though, due to the volume of tracks played.
(Forgive me if I've made erroneous claims, I'm just a Music Business student.)
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Last I tried, I was able to reliably ABX 128 kbps Opus vs. lossless (sourced from CD rip of a single track) nine times in a row with a decent pair of studio headphones. That being said, it's really hard to tell the difference in normal usage. Opus is quite a versatile codec. I hope to see hardware codec support in consumer devices.
I haven't yet investigated how well Opus handles inter-sample peaks, though MP3 is somewhat infamous for failing in this area vs. AAC.
I use subaddressing whenever possible, usually printing something related to the service/organisation in question. On several occasions I've run into issues:
Anyhow, on many occasions, subaddressing has helped me confirm instances where an organisation's email list has been leaked to spammers/scammers, and in turn notify the organisation themselves.
Why can't--why shouldn't--a highly-developed nation run fibre-optic cable to its premises, where practical? Hasn't the USA already done so with copper lines? A national roll-out could be achieved and pay itself back, provided government and industry momentum allowed for it.
Such a thing was almost achieved here in Australia--93% of premises were to have a fibre connection, the rest serviced by fixed-wireless and satellite. That was, until politicking got in the way and achieved an outcome suiting only politicians (particularly of the Liberal Party/Nationals camp) and international corporate interests (Telstra, Foxtel), after the originators of policy (Labor) were outed in 2013. 32% of our population is rural--double that of the USA.
If you have an OpenWRT-compatible router and are comfortable administrating it you could install this adblocking script, which automatically updates its own block list from a variety of sources. I've personally been using this set-up for about a month and its been working well.
For music, there's the amazon mp3 store. You get DRM-free mp3s that you can copy to a USB stick if you want. I've been using them for years and am quite happy, and they carry a lot of indie music, not just the big-name MPAA based stuff, so there's a lot to pick from.
For movies, I dunno.
Not everything is DRM-free; many recordings contain personally-identifiable metadata:
Record Company Required Metadata: Music file contains unique purchase identifier.
(example)
Windows 7 also requires you to right-click the icon if you want to open multiple terminal windows -- it's the "standard behavior" nowdays.
Or you could use middle-click (which might be left-click + right-click on a touch-pad). Same deal with Ubuntu Unity.
The problem with ads is that they, like top 40 music, are much more heavily compressed than movies or newstalk. The maximum amplitude isn't any higher though. So what measure of "loudness" is it going to be? Because if it's amplitude, then this law will do precisely nothing.
I suggest implementing the Don’t Be a Dick protocol and sentence offending sound producers to “rehabilitation” imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay.
Actually, at least according to OSA's website, they "care on your behalf about...payments for the use of your works in the territory of the Czech Republic and other foreign countries through the network of reciprocal agreements with our partner societies abroad" and provide "... detailed statements on the usage of your works in the Czech Republic and abroad with each payment of royalties". This includes usage statistics of works.
Thus, I imagine the system is quite similar to APRA and PPCA in Australia, where film productions and the like are required to denote which recordings and works were used in the end product and performance artists are encouraged to record and submit which works they performed at any particular public event. This information is usually submitted via web-form and the songwriters etc. eventually receive royalty payments. I think it's generally a different story with radio stations though, due to the volume of tracks played.
(Forgive me if I've made erroneous claims, I'm just a Music Business student.)