See, this is what happens when you've been sitting in a lab for 17 hours trying to catch up on homework. You make posts that inaccurately reference the material.
Of course, inaccurate references to posts/articles is the slashdot way, right? So pile on the energy drinks and I'm ready to rock 'n roll.
What's with people ripping off the first paragraph and submitting it as their text? Do they just assume we're not going to read the article, and are therefore being clever, or are they just lazy? That whole submission, with the exception of six words, is ripped from the top paragraph of the article.
Hmm... My girlfriend defines "lava surfing" as when you screw up a jump in the Super Mario Brothers games and land squarely in the middle of a lava pit.
...I think I'd pay to see Anakin and Obi Wan do that. Especially if Jar Jar joins them, but gets a nice little "GAME OVER" blip.
In Indiana, you can't sell products containing mercury tilt switches to anyone under 18, including thermostats.
We built a broom balance for Operation Catapult and our project advisor had to buy us two thermostats so we could get the tilt switches.
Oh, and watch out when you're soldering leads onto those bastards - I overheated mine and cracked the glass. Our chem labs were glad to dispose of the mercury for us.
Yeah, my MD is great and cheap and all, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let Sony tell me that I need to convert my entire music library into their DRM-encrusted format.
Fortunately, there's all sorts of workarounds to get my MP3's onto my MD player that avoid the MG system altogether.
As for ATRAC beating the pants off MP3 - I can't stand listening to an MD recorded at LP4 (lowest quality, but you can squeeze almost 4 hours on an MD). It sounds like an MP3 recorded at 96kbps. To top it off, the software for my NetMD won't let me natively record at SP (highest quality, but only 70 minutes).
Sony had a great idea with the NetMD, but their software was absolutely horrific.
SonicStage uses the same MagicGate DRM that their minidiscs do. I can't find a good FAQ on it anywhere, but from my minidisc manual, it sounds like one of the restrictions is having to "check in/check out" all your songs through the software, and only being able to have three checked-out copies. To make more, you have to check it back in (and remove it from the player).
So let's say I copy a file to my minidisc using SonicStage - I checked out a copy. If I lose that minidisc or erase the song on the player, I have one permanently checked out song that can't be recovered.
Funny thing is, I remember reading somewhere that if you lock yourself out of a song (by making 3 copies and losing them all), then you should just delete your master copy and make a new one (re-rip your CD, re-convert your MP3, etc). I guess with this online service, you'll just have to buy another copy.
I was ready to chalk this up as a hoax (I still have an odd feeling about this), but there's actually a "Smart & Biggar" law firm (thought it was some stupid joke about microsoft being bigger and... uh, smarter, I guess).
Also, I could have sworn I saw some joke about a "Mike Rowe" a while ago on/.
I've got one of their NetMD's that use the OpenMG/Magic Gate bullshit. The OpenMG/Magic Gate tech is all software based as far as I know. It essentially asks you for all your MP3s, converts them to their proprietary, DRM-laced format, and uses those files to transfer to your drive. Using their software, you can copy songs to a minidisc, but you have to "remove" them using the software before you can copy them to another minidisc.
Fortunately, there's ways to get around them. My personal favorite is making a Audio CD image of all the songs you want, then mounting it using a virtual drive. Then use Sony's own tools to copy this CD to the MD, bypassing all their DRM. Using Ahead Nero Burning Rom and Image Drive, I've made 1.5 gig CD Images which can be copied to my NetMD[1]. There are tools out there to help speed this up, like SimplerMD. OpenMG/Magic Gate is more of a pain in the ass than anything else, but it certainly doesn't stop people from listening to their "illegal" MP3's.
[1]: For those of you confused to how I stuck 1.5 gigs of raw data on a minidisc, NetMD units support LP2 and LP4 modes, which let you store more music, but with lossy compression. If my MD holds 80 minutes of music at standard compression, LP2 holds around 140, and LP4 holds around 320 minutes - hence, the oversized CDs to fill 140 minutes of music.
We the citizens of Los Angeles believe that you should not be using the terms "hard" and "floppy" when referring to disks, as it is politically incorrect and possibly offensive to males. We would like everybody to adopt the new, politically correct "erect" and "sorry, it's cold outside" as the new, correct terms for disks.
Spike your hair, grab a hoodie or denim jacket and add spikes on the shoulders, grab a marker and try to draw the name of your favorite band on the back and a little logo, or just buy patches and put them all over the jacket, then go to Hot Topic and buy punk compilations from teeny tiny record labels for dirt cheap.
Or better yet, skip the punking out and just go find the compilations elsewhere. Like online.
Seriously, I've bought maybe three or four full length albums from bands probably in the RIAA since I got to college, but I can't pass up a $3 or $4 compilationi album. I swear, all my money now is going to angry little bands scattered across the nation.
Oh, they'll grow alright, but I don't think we'll see 120MB wordprocessors by 2001. The GUI move was the big one, and the feature bloat in the last year moved us further, but short of including a CorelDraw-like package, there's not much further growth for that. (found here)
Deutsche Welle will be the first full time shortwave broadcaster of DRM
Broadcasting DRM! How dare they! First, they try to stuff copy-protected CDs down our throats. Then they introduced copy-protected HARDWARE! And now, they're trying to RESTRICT OUR RADIO!
WE MUST BURN TH-eh? Read the article? Bah! I'm fighting Digital Rights Management! No time for that!
My laptop works fine as a radio without this. Why, I can just plug in these speakers and pick up a local country station using my laptop as an antenna!
Unfortunately, the frequency isn't quite right, and there's no way to control the volume, so I'm stuck listening to staticy country music whenever my speakers are plugged in.
It's not a new concept. We already practice it here at Slashdot - we don't even have to read the article, we just get near the story and start spouting off comments.
See, that's where you gotta factor in mistakes. I built a NES -> Parallel Port adapter for something like $8, including the controllers. What I didn't take into account was the extra soldering iron tip after I broke mine, the two extra connectors after melting one and destroying another, another set of diodes... So really it came out to something around $15 - but the final product was $8.
But let's not even get into the money I spent on bandaids for solder burns, knife cuts, and random wounds from PCBs.
Slashdot Mirror
I felt a great disturbance in the Internet, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced...
See, this is what happens when you've been sitting in a lab for 17 hours trying to catch up on homework. You make posts that inaccurately reference the material. Of course, inaccurate references to posts/articles is the slashdot way, right? So pile on the energy drinks and I'm ready to rock 'n roll.
What's with people ripping off the first paragraph and submitting it as their text? Do they just assume we're not going to read the article, and are therefore being clever, or are they just lazy? That whole submission, with the exception of six words, is ripped from the top paragraph of the article.
Hmm... My girlfriend defines "lava surfing" as when you screw up a jump in the Super Mario Brothers games and land squarely in the middle of a lava pit.
...I think I'd pay to see Anakin and Obi Wan do that. Especially if Jar Jar joins them, but gets a nice little "GAME OVER" blip.
We're trying - it's called "sexual reproduction".
In Indiana, you can't sell products containing mercury tilt switches to anyone under 18, including thermostats.
We built a broom balance for Operation Catapult and our project advisor had to buy us two thermostats so we could get the tilt switches.
Oh, and watch out when you're soldering leads onto those bastards - I overheated mine and cracked the glass. Our chem labs were glad to dispose of the mercury for us.
Yeah, my MD is great and cheap and all, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let Sony tell me that I need to convert my entire music library into their DRM-encrusted format.
Fortunately, there's all sorts of workarounds to get my MP3's onto my MD player that avoid the MG system altogether.
As for ATRAC beating the pants off MP3 - I can't stand listening to an MD recorded at LP4 (lowest quality, but you can squeeze almost 4 hours on an MD). It sounds like an MP3 recorded at 96kbps. To top it off, the software for my NetMD won't let me natively record at SP (highest quality, but only 70 minutes).
Sony had a great idea with the NetMD, but their software was absolutely horrific.
SonicStage uses the same MagicGate DRM that their minidiscs do. I can't find a good FAQ on it anywhere, but from my minidisc manual, it sounds like one of the restrictions is having to "check in/check out" all your songs through the software, and only being able to have three checked-out copies. To make more, you have to check it back in (and remove it from the player).
So let's say I copy a file to my minidisc using SonicStage - I checked out a copy. If I lose that minidisc or erase the song on the player, I have one permanently checked out song that can't be recovered.
Funny thing is, I remember reading somewhere that if you lock yourself out of a song (by making 3 copies and losing them all), then you should just delete your master copy and make a new one (re-rip your CD, re-convert your MP3, etc). I guess with this online service, you'll just have to buy another copy.
So don't use Sony's OpenMG software. There's alternative ways to get your MP3's on there without copy protection.
Try M3U2SB.
http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/paolose/
Hell of a lot better than using Sony's software.
I was ready to chalk this up as a hoax (I still have an odd feeling about this), but there's actually a "Smart & Biggar" law firm (thought it was some stupid joke about microsoft being bigger and... uh, smarter, I guess).
/.
Also, I could have sworn I saw some joke about a "Mike Rowe" a while ago on
I've got one of their NetMD's that use the OpenMG/Magic Gate bullshit. The OpenMG/Magic Gate tech is all software based as far as I know. It essentially asks you for all your MP3s, converts them to their proprietary, DRM-laced format, and uses those files to transfer to your drive. Using their software, you can copy songs to a minidisc, but you have to "remove" them using the software before you can copy them to another minidisc.
Fortunately, there's ways to get around them. My personal favorite is making a Audio CD image of all the songs you want, then mounting it using a virtual drive. Then use Sony's own tools to copy this CD to the MD, bypassing all their DRM. Using Ahead Nero Burning Rom and Image Drive, I've made 1.5 gig CD Images which can be copied to my NetMD[1]. There are tools out there to help speed this up, like SimplerMD. OpenMG/Magic Gate is more of a pain in the ass than anything else, but it certainly doesn't stop people from listening to their "illegal" MP3's.
[1]: For those of you confused to how I stuck 1.5 gigs of raw data on a minidisc, NetMD units support LP2 and LP4 modes, which let you store more music, but with lossy compression. If my MD holds 80 minutes of music at standard compression, LP2 holds around 140, and LP4 holds around 320 minutes - hence, the oversized CDs to fill 140 minutes of music.
We the citizens of Los Angeles believe that you should not be using the terms "hard" and "floppy" when referring to disks, as it is politically incorrect and possibly offensive to males. We would like everybody to adopt the new, politically correct "erect" and "sorry, it's cold outside" as the new, correct terms for disks.
Or you could take the alternative route:
Spike your hair, grab a hoodie or denim jacket and add spikes on the shoulders, grab a marker and try to draw the name of your favorite band on the back and a little logo, or just buy patches and put them all over the jacket, then go to Hot Topic and buy punk compilations from teeny tiny record labels for dirt cheap.
Or better yet, skip the punking out and just go find the compilations elsewhere. Like online.
Seriously, I've bought maybe three or four full length albums from bands probably in the RIAA since I got to college, but I can't pass up a $3 or $4 compilationi album. I swear, all my money now is going to angry little bands scattered across the nation.
1) Go Blind, swing bat wildly.
2) ???
3) Profit!
And that is why Fritz sent a Terminator back in time, to get rid of Kasparov before he was born.
Except Deep Blue, Kasparov's original nemesis, is sent back to protect him!
There is now only one true solution...
Microsoft has to buy the University of California! Or, as it shall now be known, the University of California Presented by Microsoft Corporation.
Oh, they'll grow alright, but I don't think we'll see 120MB wordprocessors by 2001. The GUI move was the big one, and the feature bloat in the last year moved us further, but short of including a CorelDraw-like package, there's not much further growth for that. (found here)
Bwahaha. 3 CD Office XP, anyone?
I'm gonna tag all my socks before I dry them. Now I can finally find out where they go when the dryer eats them!
War on P2P filesharing
Woo! Waging war against concepts! It's an American tradition! Drugs, terrorism, and now electrons!
A blip that says "500 POINTS".
Deutsche Welle will be the first full time shortwave broadcaster of DRM
Broadcasting DRM! How dare they! First, they try to stuff copy-protected CDs down our throats. Then they introduced copy-protected HARDWARE! And now, they're trying to RESTRICT OUR RADIO!
WE MUST BURN TH-eh? Read the article? Bah! I'm fighting Digital Rights Management! No time for that!
My laptop works fine as a radio without this. Why, I can just plug in these speakers and pick up a local country station using my laptop as an antenna! Unfortunately, the frequency isn't quite right, and there's no way to control the volume, so I'm stuck listening to staticy country music whenever my speakers are plugged in.
It's not a new concept. We already practice it here at Slashdot - we don't even have to read the article, we just get near the story and start spouting off comments.
I'm pretty sure that $4 is in fact less than $10.
See, that's where you gotta factor in mistakes. I built a NES -> Parallel Port adapter for something like $8, including the controllers. What I didn't take into account was the extra soldering iron tip after I broke mine, the two extra connectors after melting one and destroying another, another set of diodes... So really it came out to something around $15 - but the final product was $8.
But let's not even get into the money I spent on bandaids for solder burns, knife cuts, and random wounds from PCBs.