I'm paying about $.22 per download at http://emusic.com/ for quality non-DRM mp3's and I'm liking it a LOT. If you're not already familiar with eMusic, be sure to check it out - but please keep in mind that it's independant artists and labels only. You won't find Linkin Park there.
...you don't get a hard copy of the CD, you don't get a CD pamphlet, and you don't get the case.
...and considering that it's in a lossy compressed format, you don't even get ALL of the music!
In my book of value, $.99 per track is already TOO HIGH. But if nothing else, the music industry has shown itself - over and over again - to be above all others when it comes to charging more and more for less and less.
Why the buying public continues to allow them to get away with it is beyond me really...
So true! If I had mod points I would give them all to you.
Vocational educational is great. It wastes no time turning one into a very specific worker bee. But it doesn't teach one how to be a better or safer member of a society. To your list, I would add:
- A smart person should be able to reason things logically for themselves. - A smart person should be able to understand their rights and responsibilities within their society at large. - A smart person should be able to recognize when they're being lied to or taken advantage of.
I would be very happy if our educational system could at least somehow manage to guarantee these basic needs.
well, yeah... that's the clincher, innit? How the hell is it ever supposed to become easy if we keep putting it off?
I know there's a lot of reasons - some good and some bad - for why we should send a manned mission, but for me the most important reason is that we need to learn how. And we need to start learning NOW.
It's not just about figuring out what color the sky on Mars is or if there's life in them thar hills - hell yeah, we can send a TON of bots up there to tell us that. But its a lot more than that... as a species we are literally trapped at the bottom of this gravity well and we're in serious danger of ending our days here. The sooner we get off this rock the better our chances of survival will be.
Learning to life and survive in space and on other planets is not going to get any easier or cheaper by waiting for some future to come of its own accord - we have to make it happen first. It's our experience and fine-tuning that makes anything cheaper and easier. You don't get 500Ghz processors with terabytes of RAM to build PC's with until you've cranked out a lot of 286's and 386's first.
Freakin' sweet! It could be based on the Y2K apocolypse episode and you'd have to fight off mutant giant rats, hordes of tentacled Stewies and Randy Newman on your mission to find the fabled Carvel factory.
But why stop there? They could also do a "Tropico" style game based on the country of Petoria... or an X-Wing style game of Stewie shooting down rival sperms... or an FPS game of Lois trying to escape from Stewie's "American McGee" style nursery nightmare of death and dismemberment. The possibilities are endless!
...but [I] do miss the writings of Roddenberry, he had a way of writing multiple stories into one plot, and then tying them all together in the end...
But... Roddenberry didn't actually write those ST stories. And I say that not to denigrate your point at all but just as a matter of clarification: what Roddenberry did was to RECOGNIZE those stories - not just their quality of writing but also how they fit into his vision of the Trek Universe. In that sense, Roddenberry is still the key factor and the biggest difference between "then" and "now".
What's always bugged me the most about this very situation is that Roddenberry looked to seasoned sci-fi authors such as Sturgeon and Ellison for stories and inspiration and to me that is a MAJOR difference. Gene always claimed that ST was simply "Wagon Train" in space, but without writers of that caliber he wouldn't have been able to keep ST from being literally nothing more than... er, "Wagon Train" in colorful spandex.
So why don't we see that in any of the later franchises? Or virtually any other series claiming to be sci-fi?? Has Alan Dean Foster or Orson Scott Card written any scripts? William Gibson? Larry Niven?? Greg Bear?!? Have they been writing scripts and I've just missed it? Because it seems to me that television sci-fi will continue to seem like its written by hacks so long as they continue to use TV born-and-bred hacks to write it.
We are supposed to believe that people only got it into their heads to start aiming them at planes and other interesting targets within the past few months?
I would say "yes"... not because this hasn't been happening for a long time now, but because the media has finally gotten around to telling the story - and of course they have to tell EVERYONE about it so yes, they're the ones who are now putting the idea into the heads of TONS of goobers who'd never thought of it before. It's your typical self-fulfilling media-fed frenzy where they're reporting on a "sudden rash" that they themselves have helped to create.
Why "must" this be the only reasonable response to my "dispute"? Is this the only way you can envision why someone might have a different opinion than you? You obviously must need to always be right and have the last word so I retract my previous post and apologize for being such a loser.
the headphone output is rather noisy ?!?! My sound is the most excellent I've ever heard in a portable player. The only time I hear noise is because its in the track itself (ie: on analog recordings remastered for digital)
the FM broadcasting is weak The FM broadcasting is as strong as it can legally be. If you want more you'll have to take it up with the FCC.
the menu system is slow to respond Opinion. It works fine for me - in fact, scrolling works so fast I often end up overshooting the track I'm looking for.
no gapless playback Not 100% gapless, but as close as it can be technically. I find most noticable gaps are imbedded within the tracks themselves and a bit of editing is all it takes.
navigation and synching are tedious on either the pc or player side More opinion. Works fine for me.
...the backpack is flipping huge and heavy I blame the batteries they use - they're huge and heavy. OTOH, they are standard off-the-shelf batteries and are the biggest reason why their battery replacement only costs $12 + shipping. Remember when the iPod battery policy was to buy a new iPod???
the battery does not last very long I get an average of 6 hours on my 20GB model. How many hours should I be getting...?
"Windows Support" is only in reference to Neuro's own track synching software, NSM. That's their client tool that manages your medial library, copies tracks to the player for you and builds the on-board database that the player needs for playback. As a standard USB device it works fine with Linux, it only needs a third-party tool such as NDBM to build the required database on the player.
They should come to Iowa... I swear that I have shredded no less than a DOZEN absentee ballots that have been sent to me over this past month and a half! (I am voting in person so I don't need them)
erm... I don't think Nero is a concern. I play CoD and have Nero installed. There is NO fscking way I'm going to give up Nero in favor of some stupid PC game, no matter how good the game is...
Own up to the fact that you have to actually make your own choices
Sure... I'll own up to that, as long as you also own up to the fact that there are times when you really don't get to make a choice.
I've had to install a host of different applications from 3rd party vendors that literally forced me to install IE on machines that did not otherwise need it. In most cases the applications themselves didn't really need IE to be there for any apparent reason. Problem is there was no choice allowed in the install, though I expect you'll just point out that using these particular applications was a choice in itself. I guess even owning the damn computer in the first place was a choice too...
... along these lines is that a company that does this is only one step away from laying off people. If you're one of the fortunate ones, you'll be laid off first and can quickly set about finding a better job, because those that are left behind will find themselves increasingly burdened with more and more work, less and less resources and increasingly dismal prospects for pay raises and advancement.
These sorts of "frugal" cost-cutting measures are either a sign of financial trouble or gross ineptitude. Or both. If the company requires you to be available after-hours, they can expect to pay the cost for the level of availability they require. Unless you know it to be a case of gross managerial ineptitude, assume that they can no longer afford to pay the cost and that this is a red flag going up...
(re: the tax issue or "pay your own"... the company can write the expense off... you most likely can't)
oh wait... by "major-label" you meant megaconglomerate corporations and their groomed cadre of elite superstars such as Britney Timberlake and Justin Spears. My bad. Cuz god knows, they're the only ones with enough talent and originality to come up with fresh new $ounds and schnazzy dance moves. Nevermind...
"I'm going to tell all of my iTunes-using friends about this site. I hope it does well. I don't buy much music, but before I buy another CD or download from iTMS, I'll be checking this site."
Then be sure to check out eMusic first! I'm seeing a lot of artists on Audio Lunchbox that are also on eMusic... and eMusic is a LOT cheaper! (22-25 cents a track)
There are PLENTY of sites where you can legally download unrestricted mp3's and most are less "dubious" than allofmp3.com. Try eMusic. No... they don't have the latest Disney Factory clones such as Britney Timberlake or Justin Spears, but they have damn good music nonetheless.
Spend your money on the service that gives you exactly what you want - and let the rest know exactly why they can't have your money.
This is the best way we consumers can take control back in ANY market. It's all about the benjamins. If you're all willing to support the businesses that GIVE US WHAT WE WANT then it won't be long before services like eMusic will be able to offer us the Clear Channel Approved Top-40 artists as well (providing anyone even gives a damn about them by then).
Well, we're halfway there to this feature... my Intellipoint mouse already keeps trying to access the 'Net to talk to the Central Scrutinizer. Not that it ever asked my permission or gave me the option to turn it off. Thank god for sygate.
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I'm paying about $.22 per download at http://emusic.com/ for quality non-DRM mp3's and I'm liking it a LOT. If you're not already familiar with eMusic, be sure to check it out - but please keep in mind that it's independant artists and labels only. You won't find Linkin Park there.
...you don't get a hard copy of the CD, you don't get a CD pamphlet, and you don't get the case.
...and considering that it's in a lossy compressed format, you don't even get ALL of the music!
In my book of value, $.99 per track is already TOO HIGH. But if nothing else, the music industry has shown itself - over and over again - to be above all others when it comes to charging more and more for less and less.
Why the buying public continues to allow them to get away with it is beyond me really...
So true! If I had mod points I would give them all to you.
Vocational educational is great. It wastes no time turning one into a very specific worker bee. But it doesn't teach one how to be a better or safer member of a society. To your list, I would add:
- A smart person should be able to reason things logically for themselves.
- A smart person should be able to understand their rights and responsibilities within their society at large.
- A smart person should be able to recognize when they're being lied to or taken advantage of.
I would be very happy if our educational system could at least somehow manage to guarantee these basic needs.
well, now you're just making shit up... does that count??
When it becomes easy...
well, yeah... that's the clincher, innit? How the hell is it ever supposed to become easy if we keep putting it off?
I know there's a lot of reasons - some good and some bad - for why we should send a manned mission, but for me the most important reason is that we need to learn how. And we need to start learning NOW.
It's not just about figuring out what color the sky on Mars is or if there's life in them thar hills - hell yeah, we can send a TON of bots up there to tell us that. But its a lot more than that... as a species we are literally trapped at the bottom of this gravity well and we're in serious danger of ending our days here. The sooner we get off this rock the better our chances of survival will be.
Learning to life and survive in space and on other planets is not going to get any easier or cheaper by waiting for some future to come of its own accord - we have to make it happen first. It's our experience and fine-tuning that makes anything cheaper and easier. You don't get 500Ghz processors with terabytes of RAM to build PC's with until you've cranked out a lot of 286's and 386's first.
Freakin' sweet! It could be based on the Y2K apocolypse episode and you'd have to fight off mutant giant rats, hordes of tentacled Stewies and Randy Newman on your mission to find the fabled Carvel factory.
But why stop there? They could also do a "Tropico" style game based on the country of Petoria... or an X-Wing style game of Stewie shooting down rival sperms... or an FPS game of Lois trying to escape from Stewie's "American McGee" style nursery nightmare of death and dismemberment. The possibilities are endless!
Giggidy giggidy gig-i-dee!
... is my street cred. Because I don't have one. :(
...but [I] do miss the writings of Roddenberry, he had a way of writing multiple stories into one plot, and then tying them all together in the end...
But... Roddenberry didn't actually write those ST stories. And I say that not to denigrate your point at all but just as a matter of clarification: what Roddenberry did was to RECOGNIZE those stories - not just their quality of writing but also how they fit into his vision of the Trek Universe. In that sense, Roddenberry is still the key factor and the biggest difference between "then" and "now".
What's always bugged me the most about this very situation is that Roddenberry looked to seasoned sci-fi authors such as Sturgeon and Ellison for stories and inspiration and to me that is a MAJOR difference. Gene always claimed that ST was simply "Wagon Train" in space, but without writers of that caliber he wouldn't have been able to keep ST from being literally nothing more than... er, "Wagon Train" in colorful spandex.
So why don't we see that in any of the later franchises? Or virtually any other series claiming to be sci-fi?? Has Alan Dean Foster or Orson Scott Card written any scripts? William Gibson? Larry Niven?? Greg Bear?!? Have they been writing scripts and I've just missed it? Because it seems to me that television sci-fi will continue to seem like its written by hacks so long as they continue to use TV born-and-bred hacks to write it.
How is it that a "Dr. GeneMachine" can't tell the difference between a "pesticide" and a "herbicide"?
Every time I've used Roundup it killed the plants deader than dead. Didn't seem to bother the bugs much, tho...
We are supposed to believe that people only got it into their heads to start aiming them at planes and other interesting targets within the past few months?
I would say "yes"... not because this hasn't been happening for a long time now, but because the media has finally gotten around to telling the story - and of course they have to tell EVERYONE about it so yes, they're the ones who are now putting the idea into the heads of TONS of goobers who'd never thought of it before. It's your typical self-fulfilling media-fed frenzy where they're reporting on a "sudden rash" that they themselves have helped to create.
be sure to stand to the right of her when she signs it... just to cover all the bases.
you must have low standards for audio quality
Why "must" this be the only reasonable response to my "dispute"? Is this the only way you can envision why someone might have a different opinion than you? You obviously must need to always be right and have the last word so I retract my previous post and apologize for being such a loser.
the headphone output is rather noisy
?!?! My sound is the most excellent I've ever heard in a portable player. The only time I hear noise is because its in the track itself (ie: on analog recordings remastered for digital)
the FM broadcasting is weak
The FM broadcasting is as strong as it can legally be. If you want more you'll have to take it up with the FCC.
the menu system is slow to respond
Opinion. It works fine for me - in fact, scrolling works so fast I often end up overshooting the track I'm looking for.
no gapless playback
Not 100% gapless, but as close as it can be technically. I find most noticable gaps are imbedded within the tracks themselves and a bit of editing is all it takes.
navigation and synching are tedious on either the pc or player side
More opinion. Works fine for me.
I blame the batteries they use - they're huge and heavy. OTOH, they are standard off-the-shelf batteries and are the biggest reason why their battery replacement only costs $12 + shipping. Remember when the iPod battery policy was to buy a new iPod???
the battery does not last very long
I get an average of 6 hours on my 20GB model. How many hours should I be getting...?
"Windows Support" is only in reference to Neuro's own track synching software, NSM. That's their client tool that manages your medial library, copies tracks to the player for you and builds the on-board database that the player needs for playback. As a standard USB device it works fine with Linux, it only needs a third-party tool such as NDBM to build the required database on the player.
They should come to Iowa... I swear that I have shredded no less than a DOZEN absentee ballots that have been sent to me over this past month and a half! (I am voting in person so I don't need them)
So... does this mean we've escalated from "Blackwatch Plaid" to "The Cover of Rush's 'Moving Pictures' Album" Alert Level? ha-HAH!!
erm... I don't think Nero is a concern. I play CoD and have Nero installed. There is NO fscking way I'm going to give up Nero in favor of some stupid PC game, no matter how good the game is...
Own up to the fact that you have to actually make your own choices
Sure... I'll own up to that, as long as you also own up to the fact that there are times when you really don't get to make a choice.
I've had to install a host of different applications from 3rd party vendors that literally forced me to install IE on machines that did not otherwise need it. In most cases the applications themselves didn't really need IE to be there for any apparent reason. Problem is there was no choice allowed in the install, though I expect you'll just point out that using these particular applications was a choice in itself. I guess even owning the damn computer in the first place was a choice too...
... along these lines is that a company that does this is only one step away from laying off people. If you're one of the fortunate ones, you'll be laid off first and can quickly set about finding a better job, because those that are left behind will find themselves increasingly burdened with more and more work, less and less resources and increasingly dismal prospects for pay raises and advancement.
These sorts of "frugal" cost-cutting measures are either a sign of financial trouble or gross ineptitude. Or both. If the company requires you to be available after-hours, they can expect to pay the cost for the level of availability they require. Unless you know it to be a case of gross managerial ineptitude, assume that they can no longer afford to pay the cost and that this is a red flag going up...
(re: the tax issue or "pay your own"... the company can write the expense off... you most likely can't)
oh wait... by "major-label" you meant megaconglomerate corporations and their groomed cadre of elite superstars such as Britney Timberlake and Justin Spears. My bad. Cuz god knows, they're the only ones with enough talent and originality to come up with fresh new $ounds and schnazzy dance moves. Nevermind...
There are PLENTY of sites where you can legally download unrestricted mp3's and most are less "dubious" than allofmp3.com. Try eMusic. No... they don't have the latest Disney Factory clones such as Britney Timberlake or Justin Spears, but they have damn good music nonetheless.
Spend your money on the service that gives you exactly what you want - and let the rest know exactly why they can't have your money.
This is the best way we consumers can take control back in ANY market. It's all about the benjamins. If you're all willing to support the businesses that GIVE US WHAT WE WANT then it won't be long before services like eMusic will be able to offer us the Clear Channel Approved Top-40 artists as well (providing anyone even gives a damn about them by then).
Well, we're halfway there to this feature... my Intellipoint mouse already keeps trying to access the 'Net to talk to the Central Scrutinizer. Not that it ever asked my permission or gave me the option to turn it off. Thank god for sygate.