I don't give a shit for ITMS compatibility or crappy organiser-style features or games. I just want to be able to fit all my songs in my pocket and find the right tunes to play when on the train. Is it really too much to ask?
Not at all....'cause you left out the PRICE! I can build ya one of those for, oh, $2700 easy! (you also didn't mention formfactor)
Please expalin in one sentance why I would ever pay more for an MP3/OGG/ACC/WMA player just because it has an Apple logo on it?
One hand access to 2500 songs that just works.
Two sentences? Access to all of that with _7_ controls.
This thing is SO simple it makes everything else I've played with look like they're wearing clown shoes.
Could it be that such innovative plot twists as alien 768 is an alien because it's got REALLY funny headbumps isn't enough to entertain the audience anymore?
I loved TNG, liked DS9, and my attention started to waver half way through Voyager...that said, I'm impressed that they could keep it going for another series and a half. I gave them much more of my time than I would have given ANY other medoicre show. Looks like I'm not the only one that managed to stop watching this year. (Funny, I didn't miss it, either.)
I turned Enterprise on last week while channel surfing to find it was the exact same formula that's been used every week for the last _five_ years. (0:06 mystery, 0:23 find out mystery is horrible threat, 0:42 make threat seem impossible to overcome, 0:58 solve problem with seconds to spare, 0:59 have credits roll over zany laughing cast.)
Computers will be everywhere and the will all talk to each other all of the time.
What do you mean will be? There are 14 cpu's in my car, one in the ipod, at least one in the pda, one in the cellphone, one in each of my kids toys, the GPS has a 386 in it, the toaster's got a processor, as does the garage door opener, the inkjet printer, our hot tub...
I've had a RCA Lyra that'd only play MP3's it mangled with a Music Match plug in on CF cards written by it's own proprietary reader
I've used WMA to transcode music onto an iPaq. Once forgetting to turn off DRM and losing music when I didn't back up the key
I've lost a couple of albums on iTunes due to a catastrophic IBM deathstar disk failure...
Now I purchase the music off iTunes and IMMEDIATELY burn it to a CD. Problems solved.
(and you can drag and drop from iTunes to a card reader and the mp3s'll play in a WinCE device. My portable music listening is split between an iPAQ 4150 and a Rio cd/mp3 player -- it's not perfect, but it sucks the least so far, at least until the iPod Minis come down in price.)
afterwards I'd wondered if we were talking the same language.
The first case was with a techincal support representitive with a large company that had migrated alot of their after-hours support staff off site. (The company rhymes with Crisco, the off site location rhymes with blindia.)
I'm not in any way being critical of the country of origin, and I _know_ this person was speaking in english...but we weren't talking the same language. Curiously, his emails were completely understandable...it was the verbal conversation I couldn't grok.
The second was a meeting of high level Government IT staff, and some other members of government to discuss centralizing Internet services. Things were going well as we all introduced ourselves and stated what we wanted to get out of the collaboration. Then a lady came to the floor and spoke very eloquently for a good five minutes.
I have no clue what she said.
I asked about her afterwards and it turns out that she was a) a lawyer, b) an elected representative, and c) a manager.
Pretty much a lit crit Trifecta!
Naturally the group dissolved after a few meetings when it was determined it was too little too late and the existing issue too complex to put in one box.
Computer technology is a series of advancements going from one technology to another until specific issues are solved. For the next two years (and past couple) the problem has been small portable storage.
(Case in point, an average $60 video card can drive a higher resolution, and higher refresh rate than most monitors can now support. Video is a solved technology, especially in light of the issues of the past -- EGA, monochrome high resolution)
I'm seriously jonesing because I can't justify the $200+ a 1gb+ device would cost *cough* iPod mini *cough*. On the other hand, I've got a spool of blank cd-r's and a _$30_ cd/mp3 player that'll play them.
So, 640 mb per $0.05 disk, and $30 for the player and a total library of 22 Gb (12 Gb of which I'll never EVER listen to) it's going to take a LOT of improvement in data density/cost to justify another device purchase.
what crock of crap... only a 4gb model for 249 and a new 15gb for 299... Why would I not spend 50 dollars more for 3 times the storage space?!?!
Ah my young padawan, you're not thinking deeep enough. Instead of an additional $50 giving YOU 3 times the storage space, Jobs thinks 'Here's $300 _I'M_ receiving that you didn't intend to spend yesterday.'
There are certain family members that I don't support anymore. Mostly because 'Could you take a quick look at my computer? The scanner isn't working' turns into a 8 hour tarbaby reinstall of windows 98 se because they can't POSSIBLY upgrade to anything newer RIGHT now with business being the way it is.
This is the computer that you told them NOT to buy because, while it _is_ 5% faster and $100 cheaper than the computer you TOLD them to buy, it's made with crap components with non-existant drivers.
(the fact that it also has three virus checkers, three 'system performance enhancers', and four pieces of hardware from companies that no longer exist notwithstanding.)
I'm going to heartily agree with you here. I unwillingly had to buy a new workstation when a power surge took out my cheapie powerbar, which tool out my Athlon 2+ Ghz based system.
$800 bought a P4 2.8 Ghz with HT, DDR400, 160 Gb and a 9200 series Radeon.
The other computer was the fastest in the house because it did stuff like DVD creation and video pulling off MiniDV.
Where am I going with this? The P4 does ALL of the video stuff WHILE doing any number of things you want AT THE SAME TIME. I realize the first 80% costs 80% and the last 20% costs another 80%, but FOUR GRAND buys about 40% more capability than my $800, and I'm having a hard time utilizing everything that $800 bought!
Just wait everybody starts using the GPU for GUI stuff, it's gonna get even better!
Spend the least amount of money you can on the body and blow the budget on a few good lenses. A 58mm fixed lens is great for teaching you to move to compose a shot, and will pull in enough light to take good shots in less light.
Relying on a zoom is a bad thing to learn right off the bat.
A _short_ zoom (28-80 or 28-110) is good for general photography, but be aware that a zoom lens give up light gathering ability for that zoom, OR you end up paying cubic dollars for a huge cannon you won't want to carry around.
This is all assuming I can't possibly convince you to go digital. I've shot 10 times the exposures in the three years I've gone digital than I did for the 6 years I shot film. Further, if you get a camera with a reasonable fixed lens (35mm equivalent 30-110, you'll take better pictures, always have the right lens mounted AND eliminate the dust issues with changing lenses and scanning negatives or prints later.
I just traded my Nikon kit for a coolpix 5400. I couldn't justify the $200 additional for their prosumer 5700. They had just dropped the price of the camera to $700 for this Xmas season. Plus, it's made with their professionall level glass. (The same stuff I paid a premium for when I got into film.)
So. $700 for the camera, $50 for a 256 Mb Compact Flash, and shot til your fingerprints wear off.
(There are several cameras in that range that are good to excellent.)
I started with film because at the time, it was clearly superior. Now, depending on your needs, that' s not the case.
Yeah, but with the hole that was in earlier versions, you didn't do anything to change the router...bork your own firmware and you get to go buy another (admittedly cheap) router.
Slashdot Mirror
The Mac has a 'detect on auto insert' for as long as it's had a floppy drive! (IIRC, the Amiga did too.)
How hard was it to write this without mispelling ratio as ration?
I used the term audiophile as in this review here:
s /9 34/index.html
http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereview
10,000 songs,
audiophile quality,
least restrictive DRM,
6 buttons,
iPod.
Of course, on the other hand:
yup. technically, it's the 'feature' that makes everything else play nicely...and can't be left out.
Could it be that such innovative plot twists as alien 768 is an alien because it's got REALLY funny headbumps isn't enough to entertain the audience anymore?
I loved TNG, liked DS9, and my attention started to waver half way through Voyager...that said, I'm impressed that they could keep it going for another series and a half. I gave them much more of my time than I would have given ANY other medoicre show. Looks like I'm not the only one that managed to stop watching this year. (Funny, I didn't miss it, either.)
I turned Enterprise on last week while channel surfing to find it was the exact same formula that's been used every week for the last _five_ years. (0:06 mystery, 0:23 find out mystery is horrible threat, 0:42 make threat seem impossible to overcome, 0:58 solve problem with seconds to spare, 0:59 have credits roll over zany laughing cast.)
Slashdotting that poor poor mikerowesoft.com website. That $10,000 settlement just got sucked up in bandwidth useage!
(yeah yeah, I clicked it too...the Devil made me do it.)
Need I go on?
Only if the people involved are idiots...oh...nevermind.
I'll pick iTunes hands down.
I've had a RCA Lyra that'd only play MP3's it mangled with a Music Match plug in on CF cards written by it's own proprietary reader
I've used WMA to transcode music onto an iPaq. Once forgetting to turn off DRM and losing music when I didn't back up the key
I've lost a couple of albums on iTunes due to a catastrophic IBM deathstar disk failure...
Now I purchase the music off iTunes and IMMEDIATELY burn it to a CD. Problems solved.
(and you can drag and drop from iTunes to a card reader and the mp3s'll play in a WinCE device. My portable music listening is split between an iPAQ 4150 and a Rio cd/mp3 player -- it's not perfect, but it sucks the least so far, at least until the iPod Minis come down in price.)
afterwards I'd wondered if we were talking the same language.
The first case was with a techincal support representitive with a large company that had migrated alot of their after-hours support staff off site. (The company rhymes with Crisco, the off site location rhymes with blindia.)
I'm not in any way being critical of the country of origin, and I _know_ this person was speaking in english...but we weren't talking the same language. Curiously, his emails were completely understandable...it was the verbal conversation I couldn't grok.
The second was a meeting of high level Government IT staff, and some other members of government to discuss centralizing Internet services. Things were going well as we all introduced ourselves and stated what we wanted to get out of the collaboration. Then a lady came to the floor and spoke very eloquently for a good five minutes.
I have no clue what she said.
I asked about her afterwards and it turns out that she was a) a lawyer, b) an elected representative, and c) a manager.
Pretty much a lit crit Trifecta!
Naturally the group dissolved after a few meetings when it was determined it was too little too late and the existing issue too complex to put in one box.
Computer technology is a series of advancements going from one technology to another until specific issues are solved. For the next two years (and past couple) the problem has been small portable storage.
(Case in point, an average $60 video card can drive a higher resolution, and higher refresh rate than most monitors can now support. Video is a solved technology, especially in light of the issues of the past -- EGA, monochrome high resolution)
I'm seriously jonesing because I can't justify the $200+ a 1gb+ device would cost *cough* iPod mini *cough*. On the other hand, I've got a spool of blank cd-r's and a _$30_ cd/mp3 player that'll play them.
So, 640 mb per $0.05 disk, and $30 for the player and a total library of 22 Gb (12 Gb of which I'll never EVER listen to) it's going to take a LOT of improvement in data density/cost to justify another device purchase.
There are certain family members that I don't support anymore. Mostly because 'Could you take a quick look at my computer? The scanner isn't working' turns into a 8 hour tarbaby reinstall of windows 98 se because they can't POSSIBLY upgrade to anything newer RIGHT now with business being the way it is. This is the computer that you told them NOT to buy because, while it _is_ 5% faster and $100 cheaper than the computer you TOLD them to buy, it's made with crap components with non-existant drivers. (the fact that it also has three virus checkers, three 'system performance enhancers', and four pieces of hardware from companies that no longer exist notwithstanding.)
The point is: Windpower is _supposed_ to be environmentally friendly, not an ad for Ginsu!
I'm going to heartily agree with you here. I unwillingly had to buy a new workstation when a power surge took out my cheapie powerbar, which tool out my Athlon 2+ Ghz based system.
$800 bought a P4 2.8 Ghz with HT, DDR400, 160 Gb and a 9200 series Radeon.
The other computer was the fastest in the house because it did stuff like DVD creation and video pulling off MiniDV.
Where am I going with this? The P4 does ALL of the video stuff WHILE doing any number of things you want AT THE SAME TIME. I realize the first 80% costs 80% and the last 20% costs another 80%, but FOUR GRAND buys about 40% more capability than my $800, and I'm having a hard time utilizing everything that $800 bought!
Just wait everybody starts using the GPU for GUI stuff, it's gonna get even better!
(Yeah, yeah, I've already done the math, you need some pretty expensive equipment to get GPS to the resolution needed to measure 0-60mph times.)
You musta missed that meeting: Reading is uncool, therefore reading is nerdy. Reading enough to stick through 250 pages of appendix doubly so.
Spend the least amount of money you can on the body and blow the budget on a few good lenses. A 58mm fixed lens is great for teaching you to move to compose a shot, and will pull in enough light to take good shots in less light.
Relying on a zoom is a bad thing to learn right off the bat.
A _short_ zoom (28-80 or 28-110) is good for general photography, but be aware that a zoom lens give up light gathering ability for that zoom, OR you end up paying cubic dollars for a huge cannon you won't want to carry around.
This is all assuming I can't possibly convince you to go digital. I've shot 10 times the exposures in the three years I've gone digital than I did for the 6 years I shot film. Further, if you get a camera with a reasonable fixed lens (35mm equivalent 30-110, you'll take better pictures, always have the right lens mounted AND eliminate the dust issues with changing lenses and scanning negatives or prints later.
I just traded my Nikon kit for a coolpix 5400. I couldn't justify the $200 additional for their prosumer 5700. They had just dropped the price of the camera to $700 for this Xmas season. Plus, it's made with their professionall level glass. (The same stuff I paid a premium for when I got into film.)
So. $700 for the camera, $50 for a 256 Mb Compact Flash, and shot til your fingerprints wear off.
(There are several cameras in that range that are good to excellent.)
I started with film because at the time, it was clearly superior. Now, depending on your needs, that' s not the case.
Yeah, but with the hole that was in earlier versions, you didn't do anything to change the router...bork your own firmware and you get to go buy another (admittedly cheap) router.