i waited two months on the iBook, and i use it heavily for music. I am an electronic musican, so the laptop is pretty much a requirement. I write two songs a week usually, and i do everything on the ibook.
the whole making payments thing is why i'm holding off on the iPod. Once my credit card bill is cleaned off (pretty soon), i'll probably get one.
well, by "i'm paying off my ibook" i mean that i've actually spent quite a lot of money lately because i moved and bought a new mac. My previous mac lasted me four full years, so do the math.
I just know that the second generation of apple products is usually substatially better than the first, but this one looks really nice.
>"Weighs just 6.5 ounces -- fits in your pocket"
> - That's neat, but not enough to be a major
> selling point.
Actually, that IS a major selling point. If I'm going to lug this thing into work every day so that i can listen to Minibosess on the way, it better be damn tiny. I've got my laptop (ibook) and palm pilot (visor deluxe) to worry about, and I don't want anything more bulky to bring with me.
The iPod will fit very nicely in the pocket next to my palm pilot, and makes it an extremely attractive purchase.
I'm probably going to wait for apple to upgrade these a little, or to drop the price to $350 or $300, but I'm definitely going to buy one as soon as it's practicle. If i wasn't still paying off my iBook, I'd have already ordered one.
Listen to Drukqs when it comes out next week, it's the most immaculate recording i've ever heard from a techno artist. Astonishingly good, even when all i've heard is 192kbs mp3s. (i'll be first in line to buy it when it's out!)
Jmax is the same kind of deal, and the GUI is built in Java, so they call it Jmax. it runs on linux and windows.
Both pd and jmax can be used on Mac OS X, if you tweak them a bit.
Note that neither pd nor jmax have quite the robust roster of externals/objects that Max/MSP have, but they are open source and pretty functional, from what I understand from people who are hardcore about these things.
I currently run Native Instrument's Reaktor, Propellorheads' Reason & Recycle, U & I's Metasynth, and Bias's Peak on an iBook and an older mac.
I would much rather use open source programs for the simple reason that they would be massively cheaper, in addition to generally being in agreement with open source ideaology.
Here is what is needed:
A good multitrack Midi and hard disk audio recording/sequencing program that is actually as powerful as Logic Audio Gold or Cubase VST 5.0. This is absolutely vital. You need a Logic Audio Platnium or Pro Tools killer to get a serious studio to consider switching to open source and away from the Macintosh.
And you need a useful, well implemented plug in architecture for both virtual instruments and effect processors.
Once you've got that, then people just need to write the virtual instruments and effect processors.:)
Seriously though, the audio stuff running on Macintosh hardware is pretty fabulous, and Mac OS X is extremely suited to audio, able to get latency as low as 1 ms (just like linux.)
There is an audio solution for hardcore sound designers, it's called pd or Pure Data.
It's basically an attempt at an open source version of Max/MSP which is a program that is mac only and is used by groups like Autechre, Aphex Twin...
What PD is is a visual object oriented music "programing" language. It lets you build synths, midi controlers, do math, store data, create generative (algorythmic) music, do interactive composition...
I actually rip some stuff to 320 kbs to listen to it without the sound of the cd player playing.
Try listening to Bernhard Gunter - "polychrome w/neon nails" in a regular cd player, and you'll hear the cd spinning as much as his ultra quiet microsound clickyness and high pitches.
I'd rip it just straight to audio (in fact in mac os X you can just drag files RIGHT off the cd and it saves as an AIFF) but I don't have that kind of disc space laying around at the momment.
Really, albums with lots of crap songs are not albums worth buying. I'd say i like 90 to 100 percent of the songs on the best 50% of my record collection.
I like every song Aphex Twin has done since 1995 for example, and 90% of everything before 1995. That's about 14 cds worth of stuff.
If the music you're listening to has that much badness, you should consider looking into more independant music, where more interesting and compelling things are being done.
Only in the great world of corporate pop/rock/rap do albums with one or two great songs come out. Most indie music is pretty consistent; it either sucks or it rocks.
averaging 8 songs per cd is ridiculous. Most cds have more than that, especially if you are into hip-hop, punk or techno.
I have techno cds that have 50 to 99 tracks of indexed points in a mix.
I have many hardcore punk cds that have 99 tracks (and are only 60 minutes long!)
I also have a bunch of classical and japanese noise releases that are 60 to 70 minutes of stuff, with just one track.
And i own about 800 cds, and 1000+ vinyl (lps, 7"s, and odd sized ones too.)
When music is your life, it's very easy to quickly accumulate hundreds of cds. I didn't even buy cds regularly till 1997, cuz i was a strictly vinyl guy. Now i'm a strictly cd and mp3's guy...
> The one company I would expect to be 100%
> opposed to this is Apple. Their "digital hub"
> strategy is based on being able to freely move > data between different devices.
I would hope so, but considering apple is holding up playing dvds to your TV from OS X because of Macrovision problems, i wouldn't count on it.:(
Many speculate that the hold up on dvd playback in os X was specifically for copyright reasons. Bastards; i want the dvd player in my iBook to let me capture dvd audio and images so that i can play around with them.
unless things have changed since what was reported on NPR at 5:30 this morning, they have not actually declared jihad yet, they have just warned the people of Afganistan that a Jihad will be called if the USA attacks.
Slightly different, but makes a huge difference as to how aggressively to respond.
Slashdot Mirror
i waited two months on the iBook, and i use it heavily for music. I am an electronic musican, so the laptop is pretty much a requirement. I write two songs a week usually, and i do everything on the ibook.
the whole making payments thing is why i'm holding off on the iPod. Once my credit card bill is cleaned off (pretty soon), i'll probably get one.
well, by "i'm paying off my ibook" i mean that i've actually spent quite a lot of money lately because i moved and bought a new mac. My previous mac lasted me four full years, so do the math.
I just know that the second generation of apple products is usually substatially better than the first, but this one looks really nice.
>"Weighs just 6.5 ounces -- fits in your pocket" > - That's neat, but not enough to be a major > selling point. Actually, that IS a major selling point. If I'm going to lug this thing into work every day so that i can listen to Minibosess on the way, it better be damn tiny. I've got my laptop (ibook) and palm pilot (visor deluxe) to worry about, and I don't want anything more bulky to bring with me. The iPod will fit very nicely in the pocket next to my palm pilot, and makes it an extremely attractive purchase. I'm probably going to wait for apple to upgrade these a little, or to drop the price to $350 or $300, but I'm definitely going to buy one as soon as it's practicle. If i wasn't still paying off my iBook, I'd have already ordered one.
yeah, you are probably right, i know that my 2001 ibook has the apple logo that way.
It looks stupid on the older powerbooks with the apple logo upside down when you have em open.
The apple logo is the wrong way up. Apple stopped doing that a couple years ago.
The apple should be upright when the screen is open, not upside down.
that's a really hideous joke
I'm pretty damn sure that's intentional.
Listen to Drukqs when it comes out next week, it's the most immaculate recording i've ever heard from a techno artist. Astonishingly good, even when all i've heard is 192kbs mp3s. (i'll be first in line to buy it when it's out!)
it is possible to run PD on os X, it requires a bit of comand line stuff, but i don't have a link on hand, sorry.
you may find some useful links by exploring around...
http://www.cycling74.com is the max/msp people...
Oh yeah, and i forgot to mention Jmax.
Jmax is the same kind of deal, and the GUI is built in Java, so they call it Jmax. it runs on linux and windows.
Both pd and jmax can be used on Mac OS X, if you tweak them a bit.
Note that neither pd nor jmax have quite the robust roster of externals/objects that Max/MSP have, but they are open source and pretty functional, from what I understand from people who are hardcore about these things.
I am a serious computer music hobbyist.
I currently run Native Instrument's Reaktor, Propellorheads' Reason & Recycle, U & I's Metasynth, and Bias's Peak on an iBook and an older mac.
I would much rather use open source programs for the simple reason that they would be massively cheaper, in addition to generally being in agreement with open source ideaology.
Here is what is needed:
A good multitrack Midi and hard disk audio recording/sequencing program that is actually as powerful as Logic Audio Gold or Cubase VST 5.0. This is absolutely vital. You need a Logic Audio Platnium or Pro Tools killer to get a serious studio to consider switching to open source and away from the Macintosh.
And you need a useful, well implemented plug in architecture for both virtual instruments and effect processors.
Once you've got that, then people just need to write the virtual instruments and effect processors.
Seriously though, the audio stuff running on Macintosh hardware is pretty fabulous, and Mac OS X is extremely suited to audio, able to get latency as low as 1 ms (just like linux.)
There is an audio solution for hardcore sound designers, it's called pd or Pure Data.
It's basically an attempt at an open source version of Max/MSP which is a program that is mac only and is used by groups like Autechre, Aphex Twin...
What PD is is a visual object oriented music "programing" language. It lets you build synths, midi controlers, do math, store data, create generative (algorythmic) music, do interactive composition...
here is a good link on PD:
http://wonk.epy.co.at/
I actually rip some stuff to 320 kbs to listen to it without the sound of the cd player playing.
Try listening to Bernhard Gunter - "polychrome w/neon nails" in a regular cd player, and you'll hear the cd spinning as much as his ultra quiet microsound clickyness and high pitches.
I'd rip it just straight to audio (in fact in mac os X you can just drag files RIGHT off the cd and it saves as an AIFF) but I don't have that kind of disc space laying around at the momment.
Really, albums with lots of crap songs are not albums worth buying. I'd say i like 90 to 100 percent of the songs on the best 50% of my record collection.
I like every song Aphex Twin has done since 1995 for example, and 90% of everything before 1995. That's about 14 cds worth of stuff.
If the music you're listening to has that much badness, you should consider looking into more independant music, where more interesting and compelling things are being done.
Only in the great world of corporate pop/rock/rap do albums with one or two great songs come out. Most indie music is pretty consistent; it either sucks or it rocks.
averaging 8 songs per cd is ridiculous. Most cds have more than that, especially if you are into hip-hop, punk or techno.
I have techno cds that have 50 to 99 tracks of indexed points in a mix.
I have many hardcore punk cds that have 99 tracks (and are only 60 minutes long!)
I also have a bunch of classical and japanese noise releases that are 60 to 70 minutes of stuff, with just one track.
And i own about 800 cds, and 1000+ vinyl (lps, 7"s, and odd sized ones too.)
When music is your life, it's very easy to quickly accumulate hundreds of cds. I didn't even buy cds regularly till 1997, cuz i was a strictly vinyl guy. Now i'm a strictly cd and mp3's guy...
Well, being that Slashdot is US based... makes sense, eh?
And microsoft doesn't have a Macintosh division?
Being that "Microsoft products for the mac" brings you to a page with Internet Explorer for download, I'd say you are making stuff up.
Care to prove Microsoft didn't make the Mac version?
> The one company I would expect to be 100%
:(
> opposed to this is Apple. Their "digital hub"
> strategy is based on being able to freely move > data between different devices.
I would hope so, but considering apple is holding up playing dvds to your TV from OS X because of Macrovision problems, i wouldn't count on it.
Many speculate that the hold up on dvd playback in os X was specifically for copyright reasons. Bastards; i want the dvd player in my iBook to let me capture dvd audio and images so that i can play around with them.
maybe about 5 years ago...
these days everyone's using powerbooks, max/msp, Reaktor, pro-52, nord modulars, mpc2000's....
according to a lot of the apple rumor sites, Apple has $4 billion in the bank, no debt, and has only laid off about 25 people in the past year.
they also sold 182,000 iBooks (2001 model) in the first ten weeks they were out, so... sounds good to me.
the ibook ships with FAR too little ram. Pop 256 more or even a 512 into it, and you'll be golden, especially with the optomized 10.1
have you used it?
have you used it on an officially supported machine?
have you used it on said machine with a reasonable (256 megs or more) amount of ram?
os x really depends heavily on how much ram you have, and your processor speed.
Based on what i saw at macworld a few months ago, 10.1 is waaaay faster.
on the mac, BBEdit is where it's at. and if you need a gui, then dreamweaver or go live.
unless things have changed since what was reported on NPR at 5:30 this morning, they have not actually declared jihad yet, they have just warned the people of Afganistan that a Jihad will be called if the USA attacks.
Slightly different, but makes a huge difference as to how aggressively to respond.