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User: AtariAmarok

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  1. In a related story... on Czech Post Turns to SUSE Linux · · Score: 3, Funny

    In a related story, the United States Postal Service is considering implementing this. In keeping with current standards, it will run on IBM XTs that will be programmed to reboot at random intervals. This way, the Postal Service's reputation for extreme slowness and inexplicable loss will be maintained. The XT's will be purchased from vendors using prices found in issues of "Byte" magazine from 1983, in order to help justify recent stamp price increases. Plans are also underway to enable postal workers to store computers containing valuable data under their porches and forget about them in case they feel overworked.

  2. File this on Czech Post Turns to SUSE Linux · · Score: 2, Funny

    File this in the "The Czech is In the Mail, Susie!" department.

  3. Expensive? on Latest Handheld System Plays Famicom Games · · Score: 0, Redundant

    At $80, isn't it double the price of the other retro-game units? Yes, it has that nice screen, but at this high price it gets close to the price of a PDA for which you can get emulators for a variety of game systems.

  4. Re:Not ready yet on Real Pays For Legal MP3 Playback On Linux · · Score: 1
    "If you are serious about getting a legal MP3 player, how about buying those CDs legally, and ripping them legally to OGG instead?"

    What does a legal MP3 player have to do with OGG?

    "You know, the stuff on Kazaa and similar places was not "found", it was copied"

    Since when does copying preclude finding? You are also forgetting that most of the programs used to rip your OWN cd's to digitial music files for your OWN usage use MP3.

  5. Otherwise on Ubuntu Preps Next Release · · Score: 1
    "2. Ubuntu 5.04 (The Hoary Hedgehog): April 2005"

    Otherwise known as the "hope Sega does not see this and sue!" release.

  6. Not ready yet on Real Pays For Legal MP3 Playback On Linux · · Score: 1
    ""Ogg Vorbis is a completely open, patent-free, professional audio encoding and streaming technology with all the benefits of Open Source." w00t for plagiarism."

    It's nice, except that (compared with MP3), few files are found in this format, and few digital music players play it.

  7. p2p has never resulted in theft. on Sony Admits MP3 Error · · Score: 1
    "Yes, you are right, most P2P users are selfish thieves. Somehow, they seem to think it's OK to steal the fruits of my labor because it's not a tangible item to them."

    There has yet to be an instance of anything being stolen through p2p because it is technically impossible. p2p duplicates files, so no theft can take place. Just because something is wrong/immoral/illegal/etc does not make it "theft".

  8. Many of those are not "reality TV" on Sony Admits MP3 Error · · Score: 1

    Reality TV, for better or worse, means something between a prime-time game show, and an unusual challenge game show. Judge shows do not count, as well as the venerable home-rebuilding sector that goes back at least as far as "This Old House".

  9. Michael Powell on Michael Powell to Leave FCC · · Score: 1

    I think he should go back to working with "Monty Python."

  10. How's about a new icon, Slashlords? on 2004 Good Year for Xbox · · Score: 0, Troll

    Replace the joystick with a pic of the Gates Borg with a green X for an eye.

  11. I have yet to see an iPod IN a store on Sony Admits MP3 Error · · Score: 1
    "But here in the midwest I have yet to see one outside of a store. Not even the Mac guys i know have them. Dunno why, they just havent taken off here yet."

    I agree. I've seen dozens of MP3 players from a dozen or so different companies, all on the shalves. However, when it comes to the iPod, the only thing I've seen in a store is a cardboard picture of one on a shelf, and you were supposed to order it. Sure, they've sold a lot of them (10 million +) but the distribution is rather spotty and it is clear that they are one of many players in the field.

  12. Meanwhile, in mom's basement. on Ex-Lover Deletes MMOG Character · · Score: 0, Troll

    "See? See? I told you there's a reason it is bad to have a girlfriend."

  13. Can you .... on Ex-Lover Deletes MMOG Character · · Score: 2

    Can you Bobbitize your own character in such a game?

  14. Re:Nobody uses iPod on Sony Admits MP3 Error · · Score: 1
    There's a thread elsewhere in which I discuss that AAC is pretty obscure outside of Mac/iPod etc. When it is up to market forces, people just prefer MP3. The statement "Only apple can produce a DRM player with a format nobody uses. Damnit" still remains very much incorrect. While AAC only thrives within the iPod/iTunes/etc realm, this realm is huge right now.

    "In short, the original poster is right"

    They've sold 10 million iPods so far. All of those use AAC. 10 million is not "nobody".

  15. Napoleon? on The Forgotten Huygens Experiment · · Score: 1
    "was made popular by Napoleon"

    Who met his defeat at Water Loo. Which, of course, is a slightly redundant-sounding British term for toilet. Puts us right back on topic!

  16. Re:Superior format on Sony Admits MP3 Error · · Score: 1

    You are right except that I wonder why the non-iPod players ignore AAC. Is there a stiff licensing fee?

  17. Do most iTunes users have iPods? on Sony Admits MP3 Error · · Score: 1
    "they're already using iTunes, chances are they have an iPod too"

    Wondering if this is true, that most iTunes users have iPods. I would doubt it, as all you need to use iTunes is to buy a recent Mac and put in a CD. The iPod step involves another expense that is not trivial. I am guessing (but do not know) that there are a lot of Mac users happy to use iTunes and play music out of their desktops, and have not yet purchased the 'pod yet.

  18. Superior format on Sony Admits MP3 Error · · Score: 1
    ".I disagree, most would get AAC if you ask me, they're already using iTunes, chances are they have an iPod too, why not get the superior format?"

    Superior in a Sony Betamax way. It's technically better, but most do not recognize it (it is not "the standard"). AAC is to MP3 as Beta is to VHS. There's a wide variety of digital music player devices from many vendors. The vast majority play MP3. Few play AAC. These manufacturers are not obligated to play music files from another branch of their company that sells music, so they tend to serve the market (instead of the other way around).

    One of MP3's relative flaws (file size) is basically solving itself over time as storage gets bigger and cheaper.

  19. Re:4 out of 5 scientists say..... on Games Better Than Books? · · Score: 1
    "Try a book on driving, and see if anyone will give you a license"

    I learned to drive playing "GTA: Vice City". Now, if you want fair warning about the times I tend to take to the road, I will certainly understand.

  20. Does anyone WANT to use AAC or WMV? No. on Sony Admits MP3 Error · · Score: 1
    You miss the point. The point is that when people work with music/song files on their own (rip/burn/create), they tend to prefer MP3 overwhelmingly. There is also Ogg. No-one really wants to work with AAC or WMV unless they really have to. The reason they do use AAC or WMV is because others have (iTMS, Microsoft, etc have encoded files in these formats).

    If iTMS added the option of downloading MP3's for 99 cents alongside AAC for 99 cents, most would choose MP3.

  21. 4 out of 5 scientists say..... on Games Better Than Books? · · Score: 5, Interesting
    "Some of the leading video-game researchers are saying that games are better for teaching than textbooks"

    Is there a corresponding team of book researchers saying that books are better for teaching than videogames? I'd tend to side with them.

  22. AAC and WMV are not popular on Sony Admits MP3 Error · · Score: 4, Funny
    "why should they? AAC and WMV are plenty popular"

    Popular? Just because a lot of people are forced to use them does not mean they are "popular". Using this definition, traffic tickets are popular too!

  23. Nobody uses iPod on Sony Admits MP3 Error · · Score: 1
    "Only apple can produce a DRM player with a format nobody uses. Damnit!"

    Yes, nobody uses iPods with AAC drm in them. No one at all, except for all of the iPod users. Both of them! Last thing I heard, Apple is about to go out of business, and profits are plunging because of the miserable failure of the iPod.

  24. Toilet water on The Forgotten Huygens Experiment · · Score: 1
    "water in French is "eau" "

    This explains the phrase "eau de toilette", which translates as toilet water. Some French people use this as perfume. Usually, there is no second date when this is done.

  25. Pan-Asian? on Jade Empire Further Delayed · · Score: 1
    "Anyhow, the game looks based on a mish-mash of pan-Asian mythologies"

    Oh? Is it really Pan-Asian, including Hinduism, Judaeism, and Islam... or is it (once again) just from one small part of Asia?