Ya', I had friends with the early Sony that actually bought Kindles due to the truly awful "store" that Sony put together. they had a really good chance to beat Amazon and failed - bummer. Battery life was also not nearly as good as the Kindle. Lots of good hardware out there new and old, I don't see these devices going away anytime soon and IMO the iPad isn't a replacement but others seem to really like it. I know for comics the iPad is head and shoulders above any eInk device, I know someone who bought an iPad JUST for comics! I will admit to being tempted:D
The iPad starts at $500. A Kindle starts at $259, some of the cheap clones cost even less. I bought my Kindle to take books on the road, not play MP3 or video or games. I have an iPhone for that already. I don't want the larger DX, I'm not blind and I don't want the bulk. The standard Kindle is about the size of a paperback, except my Kindle can hold several hundred books. It will also run over a week on a charge if I leave the radio off.
I agree the two technologies have pros and cons, for reading I prefer eInk because it's closest to printed paper and doesn't strain my eyes or battery like a backlit LCD. YMMV and you may prefer something else but this is my experience as someone who owns a Kindle and has for years. It's not even one of the spiffy new ones with higher resolution and it's doing strong. I carry it everywhere and on every business trip, many people ask me about them and want one. Oh those people aren't kids either;-)
You don't own an eReader do you? You're not speaking from experience, I am. Were you even aware of what happened with book prices?
Someone who's interested in those books who doesn't want to pay a fortune will download them. Maybe they don't want all of his books, maybe they just want the last one or two. You're arguing like it's not lost sales, I'm telling you that people can and will do this - they ARE doing this. I stopped buying music when the prices were nutz, when prices and DRM got sane I went back. Book prices shot up, I stopped buying books - and so did many of my friends who ALSO have eReaders.
You're outside this I and people I know are smack in the middle of it. When $6 books hit $12 we quit. When $9 books went away we quit. Dude, I'm NOT 15 and neither are my friends - treble that number. I read many (print) magazines a month, over 50 books a year, and I've owned an eReader for YEARS. Have you read any of the book forums about this? Seen how angry people are? You act like this is a bunch of kids hoarding content to say so, that's not quite true. Who cares how fast anyone can get or if they can't read it all. The publishers have shot themselves in the foot. You think all of these people who have been paying $9 or less for years are going to be okay with $16 or more? I don't see it and I'm not doing it.
A funny thing is that I've found some new authors downloading books. When I'm done with what I have I'll look to see if they have anything else and what it costs. If it's reasonable I'll buy, if not I won't get it or I'll find it elsewhere. I'm not some fat wallet for the legacy publishers to milk just because they think ebooks should be priced with hardcovers to support their print overhead, that's asinine. Read the Macmillen blog to see just how stupid these people are.
Okay, you pretty much got it wrong. Ebook piracy is rising, there are entire trackers dedicated to it. Books are tiny, less than a meg to download, so when piracy occurs it's often entire collections of books. Want ALL of Stephen King? There's a torrent for that! Anyone spending $45+ bux on a hardcover that's not going to become an heirloom is a loon, especially when the likes of Costco knock 30% or more of of that price all day every day. I slowed my new book reading WAY down when paperbacks hit 7-8 dollars but when I got an ereader and could get books for less than $9 instantly and often as low as $5 or $6 I started reading much much more again. I even get a magazine subscription on my Kindle. But then here comes the publishers using Apple to strong arm the industry. Ebooks are now priced as a discount off of hardcover and books I'd gotten for under $9 now cost $16 or more. the only books selling for reasonable prices these days seem to be the ones the authors are selling direct - and getting %70 of the sale. That's a percentage they never dreamed of getting from ANY publisher that's for sure! the fact that you think the Britney Spears set is who's reading and pirating these is funny, that's way off. Anything mainstream you can get pirated if you look hard enough. With prices zooming you had better believe that folks are downloading - especially considering the file sizes. People are price conscious and they are appalled at the price increases - piracy is going up and up now. Format is the LEAST of their worries.
eInk is FAR from failed - it's one of the best ways to read an ebook. I don't need a backlight to strain my eyes and I do need long battery life. Kindle, Nook, Sony's reader - they answer this call. Not so much the iPhone of iPad. You're right most of us would rather buy our books and I've bought about 50 in the last 2 years but since the publishers strangled Amazon to force them to allow the publishers to set prices I've not bought a single one. Prices have zoomed straight up as the publishers attempt to support their print business by hardcover pricing ebooks - idiots. A book is a whopping 500K download, an entire life's work can under a Gig. What do you think is happening with these new prices? Not higher sales I promise you... Ebooks are going strong and I'm seeing more and more readers but the publishers are doing their damnedest to kill it. They're going to learn a hard lesson ala the music industry in a big way...
Tried to buy a Penguin book - couldn't. Downloaded in seconds. Tried to buy another book that was 8 years old, they wanted over $16. Not available elsewhere so nope not going to buy it. Most anything popular or mainstream or textbook can be found for download. If I had my way the authors would put out a tip jar on their sites and I'd just drop $9 a book in it. The publishers have their heads up their ass, lets hope that they see the light one day before all of the authors go around them. Or not, I don't mind buying direct from an author:-)
Similar price to a paperback? Not since Macmillan got them to follow their lead. Try similar price to a HARDBACK. And they say that knocking a percentage off the hardback LIST price is a DEAL. No seriously. Why? Well because printing books is expensive you see. Never mind that there's no printing involved with an ebook, that part of their industry must be supported by all. Seriously, check it out -> http://blog.macmillanspeaks.com/
I cannot believe they are so worried about format as their big mistake. They have already made the mistake and that was equating ebooks to hardcover books in order to justify jacking prices to the Moon. Publishers think that since the ebook costs less than a hardcover that it's a deal - sorry it's not. I cannot trade, share, sell, or easily annotate an ebook. Likewise expecting ebook sales to support pulp sales is a huge mistake and they are making that too - they said as much by justifying high prices by talking about how much it costs to PRINT books.
Folks, a single ebook is about 500K to download. If you do not price that thing appropriately it's going to get pirated to hell and back. At the prices Amazon WAS charging I was buying more books than I had in years and loving life. Now books are being held back and prices are near double for many books. People don't upload just one book they upload entire author catalogs and it takes minutes to download a life's work.
After all that the industry is worried about FORMAT being a big issue? Holy shit! What a bunch of clueless fucks. They are doomed to repeat EXACTLY what the music industry has suffered if not worse. http://blog.macmillanspeaks.com/ Read that blog, what a pile of self serving steaming manure. Macmillan lead the charge for higher prices, they can now reap what they have sown as folks find alternative means with little trouble.
There's one bright spot. Authors are waking up to the fact that they can sell on their own. they can sell to Amazon, they can sell to Apple, and they can make MORE money and sell for LESS. Anything $1.99 to $9.99 and the author gets 70% - that's huge. Books rejected by NYC big publishing are finding a welcome home on these services. The ebook market is a mess and the fact that the big publishing houses think they have much pull is a joke. This is getting sorted out without them, they can whine and cry all they want but they are farting in the wind. Get the price issues solved and give more to the author or get run over... http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/ Read the author blogs like that one, especially read the comments from other author's. They see the light, big publishing has their heads up their asses.
My hat's off to Calibre for making format the least of my issues to worry about....
That a good enough suggested replacement? I am pretty sure you can convince most anyone that's better looking on their stereo stand than an old XBOX. Note that it can be bolted to the back of your flat panel TV to really hide it if you want....
You want all soccer moms to be hardware hackers? There - fixed that for you.
Ya' the ASRock is $350. Other ION systems go for as low as $170 on sale. Newsflash, the $50 XBOX still requires network infrastructure storage to support storing all those movies. Soccer mom ain't building THAT so stop the silly strawman argument that "everyone" can run this on old hardware. I've given XBMC XBOX as gifts, I know what they require to support. Suzie soccer mom doesn't want a box that big, that loud, or that ugly either. You want to give Suzie a box she'll use akin to the old XBOX give her a repurposed AppleTV. It will be quieter, live longer, look better, and OBTW output higher quality video. Level of hacking required is right up there with the old XBOX too.
*I* fail to see the purpose of XBMC? lol! YOU fail to understand that you can still load the old XBMC code on old XBOX and are no worse off. If it requires so little work to keep going no one will ever know. Suzie ain't updating her old XBOX that's for sure! The boxes I gave away 3 years ago are still running fine - on 3+ year old code. Any video you're streaming is coming from back end architecture that Suzie sure didn't setup either. Strawman FAIL.
Where did the XBMC guys tell anyone to stop using their product? The reference platform for XBMC is ION. Examples of this abound if you had bothered to read and look. NewEgg sells the Acer Aspire right now for $200, go get it or look for a used AppleTV. ATV run as low as $100.
The team dropped support for the old XBOX hardware EIGHTEEN MONTHS ago! You are apparently just now waking up to this? They made it official and provided means to move the source and support information elsewhere, what more do you want? The team producing the code is no longer interested in supporting ancient hardware. I ask you where *your* patches are and you whine that you shouldn't have to program? That you shouldn't have to follow the forums? What, besides whining, do you contribute exactly? In your words - they have "moved on" and they offer a pretty stunning product if you run reasonable hardware. Nowhere did they tell anyone to stop using their product and considering they aren't being paid to develop it they could just as easily do that too. The source is free, I download it daily. By all means pick up the torch and get out of the backseat if you want to drive so badly.
Umm no, the DVD drive firmware on the 360 was hacked to play burned games - you aren't running 3rd party code on it and if you are you aren't connecting to their online game service. You know how many 360 boxes have been banned? Plenty but go ahead and play those games standalone and miss out on downloaded content. Kripes sneeze wrong around a 360 and it RROD, why would you want to risk losing warranty support? Been there, done that - no thanks.
Likewise the PS3 expects their up to date firmware on it as well. Yes there's been some hacks on their hypervisor (thank you Geohot) but so far as I know you aren't going to be running that stuff and connecting to Sony's online services (oh wait, through a proxy hack?! geez) - just like the 360 issues. By all means play standalone and miss out on much of the reason why these platforms are fun for the sake of running 3rd party code. Hey maybe you can sneak by for awhile and then get caught up in a massive ban - isn't that fun? Sorry, not willing to play whack-a-mole with these consoles hoping not to get banned.
Wake me when the Wii does 1080P, my Wii is hacked - big deal.
No matter - the XBMC team has made their position clear. They do not wish to assist closed proprietary platforms by creating code for them. Cry all you want but those guys aren't going to support it and I see their point. ION systems go for as little as $170 if you catch them on sale, if that's too much for you then stick to free XBOX and a tube TV.
Most of my HD content is BD rips or video I pull from my Tivo HD. I can find 720P video of most any TV show just as easily as I can SD stuff from the sites I use. Generally though I prefer SD for TV shows just due to volume. But for movies? HD all the way!
So far the "support problems" seem to be handled just fine. They have a reference platform - it's ION. Of course other platforms are supported and there's help to be found on those too. Heck this will run on an AppleTV if you want. In 5years if folks want to laugh at my hardware that's fine - by then something better and cheaper will likely be around. Right now they aren't pushing the edge of the ATOM processor, in fact there's even a Google SOC ongoing to get the software running on a BeagleBoard to allow embedded use. Perhaps if Microsoft had documented the video hardware for acceleration on the XBOX it would have more life but they didn't and they won't. Bye Bye undocumented proprietary platform.
You can give someone an ION system just like you could an old XBOX. Slap a LiveCD in it or a USB stick and it's good to go. Heck it's probably even easier to do since there's no hacking involved! I HAVE given away XBOX, if the ION platforms I keep seeing on sale strike my fancy I'll probably build a second one for myself and yeah give one for a gift - I see no issues doing that. Install the software correctly ala the XBOX and there's no reason to muck with it unless you want more features or a bug fix.
As for Boxee - it's an XBMC fork. In fact Boxee is a sponsor on the XBMC website! Running it is no different than running XBMC - go for it. Myth? Good luck. If you can get that running half as easily as XBMC my hat is off to you and I wish I could do the same. I'd LOVE to have a Myth back-end running tied to my XBMC box but every attempt has been nothing but frustration. Windows Media Center is way easier by comparison. If someone is that technical and wants live or recorded TV then Myth is fine - use XBMC for the front-end:-) You see this as a bad thing, I see no issues.
See here's the thing. They are allowing and encouraging the data to be pulled from the Wiki and moved elsewhere. The SVN code branch as well. The team developing XBMC right now isn't interested in the XBOX. ONE guy has been doing XBOX development for the last 18 months! You realize that right? you would if you read the forums. What this means is that others who have had to answer questions about the XBOX no longer have to. What has happened defacto is now official - XBOX is abandoned! You make it sound like there's was some huge disturbance in the Force when in fact only one guy did primary development and he can continue. If all of these legions of people are SO upset then why the fuck haven't they been actively helping? Where are their code patches? If this community wedded to ancient hardware is so big and so strong then they will move to the new site and continue on. The XBMC team is assisting in getting the SVN moved, the forum is going to be mirrored, and the Wiki too. What's the big issue? If you're right things will continue, if you aren't then nothing of value was lost. I see no suicide, the XBOX platform is end of life after a long slow death - pull the plug. It will limp along for a bit but I don't see it outlasting the new XBMC...
1) ASRock looks like a Wii. Is FAR smaller than the original XBOX, uses less power, and is quieter. You've not ever seen one have you? It's actually a little smaller than a Wii. 2) Original XBOX is ancient! You can build something for FAR less than the ASRock if you're really so cheap. There was a single core ATOM ION system (not just a board) on sale the other day for less than $170 but that's ended. Guess what platform is now considered refrence for XBMC - ION. 3) That same community is now supporting XBMC on other OS and has been for over 2+ years now. Wake up and get with the program, you've apparently been under a rock. 4) You can use your old XBOX controllers if you want including the remote. 360 stuff ALSO works. Apparently you've not kept up here either. 5) Ditto if you run emulators. If that's just too much for you by all means keep your old XBOX too. 6) Umm, it's the SAME software! I don't use a mouse or keyboard to navigate menus either. Seriously? LOL! 7) ASRock is quieter. The fan on an ASRock or other ATOM powered box is SMALLER and quieter than the old XBOX fan. I know because I have BOTH. 8) I could sleep mine but I choose to leave it running to do other things for my network - it uses under 30watts under 100% load. That's one of the nice things about PC hardware, it can do more for you... Guys have their boot times on stripped OS down pretty low from cold boot but no not quite to what an old XBOX can do - while those still boot. 9) Proprietary hardware means you have to use a pirated compiler to compile the code in violation of the license! Oh wait you probably just download binaries from others right? 10) Yes, it's so much easier to support that the team who's currently working on the software has DROPPED it. Wow... 11) XBMC on real hardware supports HD at 1080P.
Seriously, you don't run XBMC on anything do you? If you did you wouldn't have had to stretch so hard there and might maybe have had more clue. Spend some time on the XBMC forums learning about this stuff and perhaps the light will dawn.
Yeah and there would be a diff between the Celeron and the ATOM dual core as well since it's 2core and hyperhthreaded. I compile XBMC pretty regularly on my ATOM so I know it's not exactly a barn burner but for what I bought it for it kicks ass and I traded up from a C2D running 3ghz to this. What I lost in compile times and sheer power I got got in power savings, cost savings (had I not built the other box) and space savings.
By fluid I meant ever changing not that you wanted smooth operation.;-) I get smooth operation on my ASROCK but then I'm not looking to use it for anything more than just media and some playing with Linux - it does have a full Ubuntu install on it. what skin you use can make a huge difference, some are pretty crazy demanding. I have run a torrent client, DC server, SSH obviously, VNC of various flavors, but not much more on it so my box stays happy, I also overclocked it to speed compile times if nothing else. It's hooked to my TV full-time so I'm not looking to go crazy with it. offloading things from my desktop to it or my NAS is certainly of interest though.
You seem wedded to the idea of purchasing something else so I'll stop trying to show you alternatives. Can you surf the web on your XBOX?
You've already made up your mind so go for it, I and others will continue to enjoy ourselves on our platforms. I was just trying to show you that you need not spend so much in power or hardware to get XBMC running on something other than an XBOX but then your requirements seem to be pretty fluid.
You'll find lots of folks running all sorts of hardware on the XBMC forums and I'm sure can find someone to point you to a good AMD motherboard...
$135 for a dual core ATOM ION is hardly "expensive". (shrug)
What part of closed and requires hacking did you miss? Do you think either of those platforms will continue to support games after you've hacked them? They aren't supporting closed proprietary platforms, they do not wish to support that model. If you've bought those platforms and now wish they had the features that XBMC offers for media playback perhaps you should have considered this before purchase?
However it's Open Source code so feel free to port it yourself rather than bitch because they aren't following YOUR selfish wishes.
I own a Wii, 360, and a PS3. It has never once crossed my mind that these guys were somehow failing me because they didn't support some specific piece of hardware. They support multiple OS on flexible hardware now, what's not to like?
If you read down further you'll find guys building ATOM based system for far less than the assembled ASROCK, I think some of the ZOTAC systems were $200 or so. One thing you really want is onboard NVIDIA graphics for VDPAU. Not just because of the video acceleration but because it can do 5.1 audio via the HDMI cable. Damned handy if you have an HDMI switching receiver as I do - one cable to rule them all!
Why in the world would they support the PS3 and 360 when both platforms are closed and would require hacking? A better system for equal or less cash can be had by buying an ION nettop. No hoops and it works just as well with no fears that a firmware "upgrade" will trash their hard work. the team doesn't seem interested AT ALL in closed systems and I don't blame them. Why encourage the sales of such systems?
It's coming, slowly, but it's coming. XBMC can do this and it will be able to do so on a lowly ATOM CPU I predict... the devs have just had bigger fish to fry getting the other things working.
Has it - the box supports the HDHomerun. It also has support for the Myth backend server. Rather than rewrite the wheel ala MythTV the devs are going to hook into what's already been built. If you want Live TV and DVR build a Myth backend and figure out how to hook it to an XBMC front-end. It's not fully baked yet but that's the path and it's much smarter than trying to do all of that work themselves. Frankly though I seldom watch Live TV and instead watch stuff I've yanked from my DVR or downloaded.
Have you looked at the Crystal HD cards? You could offload a great deal of HD decoding if you could manage to squeeze one of those on-board. You'd lose the wireless card and have to use a dongle but for the price I think you'd have a much cooler running machine.
By misconfigured I think he means the guy didn't bother to take the time to set it up right and would rather rag on it years after the fact because he was too lazy to get it running way back when. My main XBMC machine was a 2.2Ghz dual core with an 8800 for well over a year and it would even play the "killa sample" video without dropping frames - this was BEFORE VDPAU. When VDPAU became available I swapped the mobo, dumped the video card, and used an onboard NVIDIA chipset to do both 5.1 audio and 1080P video - and slowed the CPU down with zero dropped frames. Finally ION came along and I'm now using an even slower CPU with video acceleration to do the same. No lag or delay, it just works. But hey, years ago his setup didn't work so he is sad about it even today - never mind that he tried to run it on XP with a mouse. Meh, one less person on the XBMC forums crying so far as I'm concerned.
Good you kept that 800, it would work great in an XBMC build it you don't choose to spend the money for a board with onboard NVIDIA. Probably won't do HDMI output or HDMI audio though. Spend a couple of bux on an ION rig and be happy...
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Call *639# and they will text you your status. Mine says eligible for $18...
Ya', I had friends with the early Sony that actually bought Kindles due to the truly awful "store" that Sony put together. they had a really good chance to beat Amazon and failed - bummer. Battery life was also not nearly as good as the Kindle. Lots of good hardware out there new and old, I don't see these devices going away anytime soon and IMO the iPad isn't a replacement but others seem to really like it. I know for comics the iPad is head and shoulders above any eInk device, I know someone who bought an iPad JUST for comics! I will admit to being tempted :D
The iPad starts at $500. A Kindle starts at $259, some of the cheap clones cost even less. I bought my Kindle to take books on the road, not play MP3 or video or games. I have an iPhone for that already. I don't want the larger DX, I'm not blind and I don't want the bulk. The standard Kindle is about the size of a paperback, except my Kindle can hold several hundred books. It will also run over a week on a charge if I leave the radio off.
I agree the two technologies have pros and cons, for reading I prefer eInk because it's closest to printed paper and doesn't strain my eyes or battery like a backlit LCD. YMMV and you may prefer something else but this is my experience as someone who owns a Kindle and has for years. It's not even one of the spiffy new ones with higher resolution and it's doing strong. I carry it everywhere and on every business trip, many people ask me about them and want one. Oh those people aren't kids either ;-)
You don't own an eReader do you? You're not speaking from experience, I am. Were you even aware of what happened with book prices?
Someone who's interested in those books who doesn't want to pay a fortune will download them. Maybe they don't want all of his books, maybe they just want the last one or two. You're arguing like it's not lost sales, I'm telling you that people can and will do this - they ARE doing this. I stopped buying music when the prices were nutz, when prices and DRM got sane I went back. Book prices shot up, I stopped buying books - and so did many of my friends who ALSO have eReaders.
You're outside this I and people I know are smack in the middle of it. When $6 books hit $12 we quit. When $9 books went away we quit. Dude, I'm NOT 15 and neither are my friends - treble that number. I read many (print) magazines a month, over 50 books a year, and I've owned an eReader for YEARS. Have you read any of the book forums about this? Seen how angry people are? You act like this is a bunch of kids hoarding content to say so, that's not quite true. Who cares how fast anyone can get or if they can't read it all. The publishers have shot themselves in the foot. You think all of these people who have been paying $9 or less for years are going to be okay with $16 or more? I don't see it and I'm not doing it.
A funny thing is that I've found some new authors downloading books. When I'm done with what I have I'll look to see if they have anything else and what it costs. If it's reasonable I'll buy, if not I won't get it or I'll find it elsewhere. I'm not some fat wallet for the legacy publishers to milk just because they think ebooks should be priced with hardcovers to support their print overhead, that's asinine. Read the Macmillen blog to see just how stupid these people are.
Okay, you pretty much got it wrong. Ebook piracy is rising, there are entire trackers dedicated to it. Books are tiny, less than a meg to download, so when piracy occurs it's often entire collections of books. Want ALL of Stephen King? There's a torrent for that! Anyone spending $45+ bux on a hardcover that's not going to become an heirloom is a loon, especially when the likes of Costco knock 30% or more of of that price all day every day. I slowed my new book reading WAY down when paperbacks hit 7-8 dollars but when I got an ereader and could get books for less than $9 instantly and often as low as $5 or $6 I started reading much much more again. I even get a magazine subscription on my Kindle. But then here comes the publishers using Apple to strong arm the industry. Ebooks are now priced as a discount off of hardcover and books I'd gotten for under $9 now cost $16 or more. the only books selling for reasonable prices these days seem to be the ones the authors are selling direct - and getting %70 of the sale. That's a percentage they never dreamed of getting from ANY publisher that's for sure! the fact that you think the Britney Spears set is who's reading and pirating these is funny, that's way off. Anything mainstream you can get pirated if you look hard enough. With prices zooming you had better believe that folks are downloading - especially considering the file sizes. People are price conscious and they are appalled at the price increases - piracy is going up and up now. Format is the LEAST of their worries.
eInk is FAR from failed - it's one of the best ways to read an ebook. I don't need a backlight to strain my eyes and I do need long battery life. Kindle, Nook, Sony's reader - they answer this call. Not so much the iPhone of iPad. You're right most of us would rather buy our books and I've bought about 50 in the last 2 years but since the publishers strangled Amazon to force them to allow the publishers to set prices I've not bought a single one. Prices have zoomed straight up as the publishers attempt to support their print business by hardcover pricing ebooks - idiots. A book is a whopping 500K download, an entire life's work can under a Gig. What do you think is happening with these new prices? Not higher sales I promise you... Ebooks are going strong and I'm seeing more and more readers but the publishers are doing their damnedest to kill it. They're going to learn a hard lesson ala the music industry in a big way...
Right there with you! http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1670590&cid=32413016
Tried to buy a Penguin book - couldn't. Downloaded in seconds. Tried to buy another book that was 8 years old, they wanted over $16. Not available elsewhere so nope not going to buy it. Most anything popular or mainstream or textbook can be found for download. If I had my way the authors would put out a tip jar on their sites and I'd just drop $9 a book in it. The publishers have their heads up their ass, lets hope that they see the light one day before all of the authors go around them. Or not, I don't mind buying direct from an author :-)
Similar price to a paperback? Not since Macmillan got them to follow their lead. Try similar price to a HARDBACK. And they say that knocking a percentage off the hardback LIST price is a DEAL. No seriously. Why? Well because printing books is expensive you see. Never mind that there's no printing involved with an ebook, that part of their industry must be supported by all. Seriously, check it out -> http://blog.macmillanspeaks.com/
I cannot believe they are so worried about format as their big mistake. They have already made the mistake and that was equating ebooks to hardcover books in order to justify jacking prices to the Moon. Publishers think that since the ebook costs less than a hardcover that it's a deal - sorry it's not. I cannot trade, share, sell, or easily annotate an ebook. Likewise expecting ebook sales to support pulp sales is a huge mistake and they are making that too - they said as much by justifying high prices by talking about how much it costs to PRINT books.
Folks, a single ebook is about 500K to download. If you do not price that thing appropriately it's going to get pirated to hell and back. At the prices Amazon WAS charging I was buying more books than I had in years and loving life. Now books are being held back and prices are near double for many books. People don't upload just one book they upload entire author catalogs and it takes minutes to download a life's work.
After all that the industry is worried about FORMAT being a big issue? Holy shit! What a bunch of clueless fucks. They are doomed to repeat EXACTLY what the music industry has suffered if not worse. http://blog.macmillanspeaks.com/ Read that blog, what a pile of self serving steaming manure. Macmillan lead the charge for higher prices, they can now reap what they have sown as folks find alternative means with little trouble.
There's one bright spot. Authors are waking up to the fact that they can sell on their own. they can sell to Amazon, they can sell to Apple, and they can make MORE money and sell for LESS. Anything $1.99 to $9.99 and the author gets 70% - that's huge. Books rejected by NYC big publishing are finding a welcome home on these services. The ebook market is a mess and the fact that the big publishing houses think they have much pull is a joke. This is getting sorted out without them, they can whine and cry all they want but they are farting in the wind. Get the price issues solved and give more to the author or get run over... http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/ Read the author blogs like that one, especially read the comments from other author's. They see the light, big publishing has their heads up their asses.
My hat's off to Calibre for making format the least of my issues to worry about....
BTW right off the XBMC front page -> http://xbmc.org/theuni/2010/05/04/zotac-shows-off-with-xbmc/
That a good enough suggested replacement? I am pretty sure you can convince most anyone that's better looking on their stereo stand than an old XBOX. Note that it can be bolted to the back of your flat panel TV to really hide it if you want....
You want all soccer moms to be hardware hackers? There - fixed that for you.
Ya' the ASRock is $350. Other ION systems go for as low as $170 on sale. Newsflash, the $50 XBOX still requires network infrastructure storage to support storing all those movies. Soccer mom ain't building THAT so stop the silly strawman argument that "everyone" can run this on old hardware. I've given XBMC XBOX as gifts, I know what they require to support. Suzie soccer mom doesn't want a box that big, that loud, or that ugly either. You want to give Suzie a box she'll use akin to the old XBOX give her a repurposed AppleTV. It will be quieter, live longer, look better, and OBTW output higher quality video. Level of hacking required is right up there with the old XBOX too.
*I* fail to see the purpose of XBMC? lol! YOU fail to understand that you can still load the old XBMC code on old XBOX and are no worse off. If it requires so little work to keep going no one will ever know. Suzie ain't updating her old XBOX that's for sure! The boxes I gave away 3 years ago are still running fine - on 3+ year old code. Any video you're streaming is coming from back end architecture that Suzie sure didn't setup either. Strawman FAIL.
Where did the XBMC guys tell anyone to stop using their product? The reference platform for XBMC is ION. Examples of this abound if you had bothered to read and look. NewEgg sells the Acer Aspire right now for $200, go get it or look for a used AppleTV. ATV run as low as $100.
The team dropped support for the old XBOX hardware EIGHTEEN MONTHS ago! You are apparently just now waking up to this? They made it official and provided means to move the source and support information elsewhere, what more do you want? The team producing the code is no longer interested in supporting ancient hardware. I ask you where *your* patches are and you whine that you shouldn't have to program? That you shouldn't have to follow the forums? What, besides whining, do you contribute exactly? In your words - they have "moved on" and they offer a pretty stunning product if you run reasonable hardware. Nowhere did they tell anyone to stop using their product and considering they aren't being paid to develop it they could just as easily do that too. The source is free, I download it daily. By all means pick up the torch and get out of the backseat if you want to drive so badly.
Here, maybe this will help you -> http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/interview-cory-fields-xbmc
Umm no, the DVD drive firmware on the 360 was hacked to play burned games - you aren't running 3rd party code on it and if you are you aren't connecting to their online game service. You know how many 360 boxes have been banned? Plenty but go ahead and play those games standalone and miss out on downloaded content. Kripes sneeze wrong around a 360 and it RROD, why would you want to risk losing warranty support? Been there, done that - no thanks.
Likewise the PS3 expects their up to date firmware on it as well. Yes there's been some hacks on their hypervisor (thank you Geohot) but so far as I know you aren't going to be running that stuff and connecting to Sony's online services (oh wait, through a proxy hack?! geez) - just like the 360 issues. By all means play standalone and miss out on much of the reason why these platforms are fun for the sake of running 3rd party code. Hey maybe you can sneak by for awhile and then get caught up in a massive ban - isn't that fun? Sorry, not willing to play whack-a-mole with these consoles hoping not to get banned.
Wake me when the Wii does 1080P, my Wii is hacked - big deal.
No matter - the XBMC team has made their position clear. They do not wish to assist closed proprietary platforms by creating code for them. Cry all you want but those guys aren't going to support it and I see their point. ION systems go for as little as $170 if you catch them on sale, if that's too much for you then stick to free XBOX and a tube TV.
Most of my HD content is BD rips or video I pull from my Tivo HD. I can find 720P video of most any TV show just as easily as I can SD stuff from the sites I use. Generally though I prefer SD for TV shows just due to volume. But for movies? HD all the way!
So far the "support problems" seem to be handled just fine. They have a reference platform - it's ION. Of course other platforms are supported and there's help to be found on those too. Heck this will run on an AppleTV if you want. In 5years if folks want to laugh at my hardware that's fine - by then something better and cheaper will likely be around. Right now they aren't pushing the edge of the ATOM processor, in fact there's even a Google SOC ongoing to get the software running on a BeagleBoard to allow embedded use. Perhaps if Microsoft had documented the video hardware for acceleration on the XBOX it would have more life but they didn't and they won't. Bye Bye undocumented proprietary platform.
You can give someone an ION system just like you could an old XBOX. Slap a LiveCD in it or a USB stick and it's good to go. Heck it's probably even easier to do since there's no hacking involved! I HAVE given away XBOX, if the ION platforms I keep seeing on sale strike my fancy I'll probably build a second one for myself and yeah give one for a gift - I see no issues doing that. Install the software correctly ala the XBOX and there's no reason to muck with it unless you want more features or a bug fix.
As for Boxee - it's an XBMC fork. In fact Boxee is a sponsor on the XBMC website! Running it is no different than running XBMC - go for it. Myth? Good luck. If you can get that running half as easily as XBMC my hat is off to you and I wish I could do the same. I'd LOVE to have a Myth back-end running tied to my XBMC box but every attempt has been nothing but frustration. Windows Media Center is way easier by comparison. If someone is that technical and wants live or recorded TV then Myth is fine - use XBMC for the front-end :-) You see this as a bad thing, I see no issues.
See here's the thing. They are allowing and encouraging the data to be pulled from the Wiki and moved elsewhere. The SVN code branch as well. The team developing XBMC right now isn't interested in the XBOX. ONE guy has been doing XBOX development for the last 18 months! You realize that right? you would if you read the forums. What this means is that others who have had to answer questions about the XBOX no longer have to. What has happened defacto is now official - XBOX is abandoned! You make it sound like there's was some huge disturbance in the Force when in fact only one guy did primary development and he can continue. If all of these legions of people are SO upset then why the fuck haven't they been actively helping? Where are their code patches? If this community wedded to ancient hardware is so big and so strong then they will move to the new site and continue on. The XBMC team is assisting in getting the SVN moved, the forum is going to be mirrored, and the Wiki too. What's the big issue? If you're right things will continue, if you aren't then nothing of value was lost. I see no suicide, the XBOX platform is end of life after a long slow death - pull the plug. It will limp along for a bit but I don't see it outlasting the new XBMC...
1) ASRock looks like a Wii. Is FAR smaller than the original XBOX, uses less power, and is quieter. You've not ever seen one have you? It's actually a little smaller than a Wii.
2) Original XBOX is ancient! You can build something for FAR less than the ASRock if you're really so cheap. There was a single core ATOM ION system (not just a board) on sale the other day for less than $170 but that's ended. Guess what platform is now considered refrence for XBMC - ION.
3) That same community is now supporting XBMC on other OS and has been for over 2+ years now. Wake up and get with the program, you've apparently been under a rock.
4) You can use your old XBOX controllers if you want including the remote. 360 stuff ALSO works. Apparently you've not kept up here either.
5) Ditto if you run emulators. If that's just too much for you by all means keep your old XBOX too.
6) Umm, it's the SAME software! I don't use a mouse or keyboard to navigate menus either. Seriously? LOL!
7) ASRock is quieter. The fan on an ASRock or other ATOM powered box is SMALLER and quieter than the old XBOX fan. I know because I have BOTH.
8) I could sleep mine but I choose to leave it running to do other things for my network - it uses under 30watts under 100% load. That's one of the nice things about PC hardware, it can do more for you... Guys have their boot times on stripped OS down pretty low from cold boot but no not quite to what an old XBOX can do - while those still boot.
9) Proprietary hardware means you have to use a pirated compiler to compile the code in violation of the license! Oh wait you probably just download binaries from others right?
10) Yes, it's so much easier to support that the team who's currently working on the software has DROPPED it. Wow...
11) XBMC on real hardware supports HD at 1080P.
Seriously, you don't run XBMC on anything do you? If you did you wouldn't have had to stretch so hard there and might maybe have had more clue. Spend some time on the XBMC forums learning about this stuff and perhaps the light will dawn.
Yeah and there would be a diff between the Celeron and the ATOM dual core as well since it's 2core and hyperhthreaded. I compile XBMC pretty regularly on my ATOM so I know it's not exactly a barn burner but for what I bought it for it kicks ass and I traded up from a C2D running 3ghz to this. What I lost in compile times and sheer power I got got in power savings, cost savings (had I not built the other box) and space savings.
By fluid I meant ever changing not that you wanted smooth operation. ;-) I get smooth operation on my ASROCK but then I'm not looking to use it for anything more than just media and some playing with Linux - it does have a full Ubuntu install on it. what skin you use can make a huge difference, some are pretty crazy demanding. I have run a torrent client, DC server, SSH obviously, VNC of various flavors, but not much more on it so my box stays happy, I also overclocked it to speed compile times if nothing else. It's hooked to my TV full-time so I'm not looking to go crazy with it. offloading things from my desktop to it or my NAS is certainly of interest though.
You seem wedded to the idea of purchasing something else so I'll stop trying to show you alternatives. Can you surf the web on your XBOX?
You've already made up your mind so go for it, I and others will continue to enjoy ourselves on our platforms. I was just trying to show you that you need not spend so much in power or hardware to get XBMC running on something other than an XBOX but then your requirements seem to be pretty fluid.
You'll find lots of folks running all sorts of hardware on the XBMC forums and I'm sure can find someone to point you to a good AMD motherboard...
$135 for a dual core ATOM ION is hardly "expensive". (shrug)
What part of closed and requires hacking did you miss? Do you think either of those platforms will continue to support games after you've hacked them? They aren't supporting closed proprietary platforms, they do not wish to support that model. If you've bought those platforms and now wish they had the features that XBMC offers for media playback perhaps you should have considered this before purchase?
However it's Open Source code so feel free to port it yourself rather than bitch because they aren't following YOUR selfish wishes.
I own a Wii, 360, and a PS3. It has never once crossed my mind that these guys were somehow failing me because they didn't support some specific piece of hardware. They support multiple OS on flexible hardware now, what's not to like?
Here try this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157194&cm_re=ion-_-13-157-194-_-Product
$134 plus the various parts you have laying around and maybe a couple of cheap sticks of RAM.
Or try this one with a PSU included -> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500027&cm_re=ion-_-13-500-027-_-Product 90watts :-) That's what the PSU is rated for, you won't use but maybe half that.
Just peruse NewEgg and you'll see how cheaply this can be done. Hell, I'm tempted to build a second one myself! http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&srchInDesc=atom&Description=ion&page=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=100
If you read down further you'll find guys building ATOM based system for far less than the assembled ASROCK, I think some of the ZOTAC systems were $200 or so. One thing you really want is onboard NVIDIA graphics for VDPAU. Not just because of the video acceleration but because it can do 5.1 audio via the HDMI cable. Damned handy if you have an HDMI switching receiver as I do - one cable to rule them all!
Why in the world would they support the PS3 and 360 when both platforms are closed and would require hacking? A better system for equal or less cash can be had by buying an ION nettop. No hoops and it works just as well with no fears that a firmware "upgrade" will trash their hard work. the team doesn't seem interested AT ALL in closed systems and I don't blame them. Why encourage the sales of such systems?
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=40715
It's coming, slowly, but it's coming. XBMC can do this and it will be able to do so on a lowly ATOM CPU I predict... the devs have just had bigger fish to fry getting the other things working.
Has it - the box supports the HDHomerun. It also has support for the Myth backend server. Rather than rewrite the wheel ala MythTV the devs are going to hook into what's already been built. If you want Live TV and DVR build a Myth backend and figure out how to hook it to an XBMC front-end. It's not fully baked yet but that's the path and it's much smarter than trying to do all of that work themselves. Frankly though I seldom watch Live TV and instead watch stuff I've yanked from my DVR or downloaded.
Have you looked at the Crystal HD cards? You could offload a great deal of HD decoding if you could manage to squeeze one of those on-board. You'd lose the wireless card and have to use a dongle but for the price I think you'd have a much cooler running machine.
By misconfigured I think he means the guy didn't bother to take the time to set it up right and would rather rag on it years after the fact because he was too lazy to get it running way back when. My main XBMC machine was a 2.2Ghz dual core with an 8800 for well over a year and it would even play the "killa sample" video without dropping frames - this was BEFORE VDPAU. When VDPAU became available I swapped the mobo, dumped the video card, and used an onboard NVIDIA chipset to do both 5.1 audio and 1080P video - and slowed the CPU down with zero dropped frames. Finally ION came along and I'm now using an even slower CPU with video acceleration to do the same. No lag or delay, it just works. But hey, years ago his setup didn't work so he is sad about it even today - never mind that he tried to run it on XP with a mouse. Meh, one less person on the XBMC forums crying so far as I'm concerned.
Good you kept that 800, it would work great in an XBMC build it you don't choose to spend the money for a board with onboard NVIDIA. Probably won't do HDMI output or HDMI audio though. Spend a couple of bux on an ION rig and be happy...