Of course a walled garden is safer than the wild west. I bought into Apple's ecosystem for my phone, because reliability and stability are very important qualities to me for that type of device. And I haven't been disappointed with my choice.
Where this approach suffers is with my newly acquired iPad. The iPad is quickly becoming my laptop replacement; I do way more with it than is practical with my phone. I've started to bump my head on the roof of Apple's iOS. The limitations can be irritating. I'd be willing to sacrifice a little safety for more options. Perhaps that will come with time.
I can only speak for myself, but my Wii is gathering dust. I've had it since launch day, and once I finished Zelda and Elebits, it sat unused until Metroid. I blew through Metroid in a week and set the Wii aside again. My seriously consider skipping the next Mario (me? skip a Mario?) Yeah. The Wii is been a big disappointment for me. I picked up a 360 last month and I am blown away by the online functionality (you listening Nintendo?). Plus, there is a huge library of killer games with more coming this holiday. I can't believe I'm supporting a MS console.
I don't know 20 people with 360s, but I do know 5. All 5 have experienced the 'red ring of death' and sent the box back to MS for repair. That failure rate, from my limited perspective, is totally unacceptable. As much as I'd love to get a 360, I absolutely refuse to do so until MS corrects whatever issues is causing this problem or extends the warranty to 3+ years.
I installed Ubuntu a couple of months ago. Amarok saw my iPod without problems. I could easily pull mp3s off the device and put new ones on. Amarok really couldn't have been easier. But...
I could never get the goddamn thing to actually PLAY any mp3 files. I installed all the plugins, visited message boards, uninstalled, reinstalled. Nothing worked. This may have been an issue with Ubuntu, who knows. VLC played mp3 just fine, though.
Modern linux distros have the iPod connectivity thing down, but there are other serious issues that prevent me from using linux for any length of time.
I recently bought my first Mac, a 2.0 Ghz MacBook. I've admired OS X from afar and during visits to the nearest Apple retail store for a couple of years, but I finally took the plunge. Why'd I finally do it? 1) Intel chips are fast enough that a Mac is performance/price competitive 2) I can dual boot to Windows or run Parallels Desktop if I want to 3) I'm sick of Microsoft's B.S.
So now that I've logged some time on a Mac, doing the types of things I used to do on my windows box, I can honestly say it was worth every penny of the "premium" to own an Apple machine vs. a Dell/HP/Compaq. The hardware is beautifully designed, the included software is actually USEFUL, and OS X is to die for (a geek's dream come true).
While I'm head and shoulders above the "average computer user" (read: drooling moron), I'm a fairly typical Slashdot reader. If the Mac lineup is compelling enough to make me switch, there has to be hundreds of people reading this that are thinking of switching too. My advice... do it, you won't be sorry.
Seeing how most consumers don't own televisions that support hi-def content, the only people who will care about Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD are the geeks, folks who are likely to understand the difference and who will extract benefit from one format over the other. Joe Sixpack is perfectly happy watching his full frame flicks that he rents from Blockbuster on his 27" set.
This may be one format war where the best product actually wins.
I can't speak for other iPod fans, but for me, the real difference is iTunes. I've fumbled around with other players' software; most of it is clunky. I'll pay a $50 premium for a player that integrates seemlessly with the best jukebox software available.
The click wheel on my 4th gen iPod sure doesn't hurt either. The interface is genius.
Re:Why are they bundling spiderman 2 anyway?
on
Inside the PSP
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· Score: 1
Makes sense really. If a large portion of the target customers have seen SM2 (and likely own a copy of it on DVD), bundling the film costs them fewer sells, and they get to show off the capability of the screen.
Man, why don't these scientists dudes stop concentrating on worthless stuff like increased vocabulary and mobility!?! The real money to be made is making these robots look like hot chicks. Intelligence means nothing when your robot has soft lucious ta-tas.
You know, I'm at the point where I rarely even click on links from/. They are always deader than dead. Why can't we get torrents of stuff like this ready before a story is posted?
I've been a Netflix subscriber for about a year now, and I've been consistently pleased with the service I receive. I signed up after a frustrating attempt to find an older movie on DVD at the local brick & morter rental stores. They mainly deal in new releases, and typically limit their offerings to pan & scan.
It really doesn't matter to me if Blockbuster's Netflix-ripoff is cheaper. I've had enough bad experiences using Blockbuster in the past that I'll never subscribe to their service. Never.
And...something tells me that once B.B. builds a customer base, they will suddenly become must less forgiving of DVDs lost in the mail or damaged in shipping (Things Netflix has never given me a hard time about, BTW). Blockbuster isn't on the same level of evil as... say Walmart, but they are a shitty company, regardless. I'd rather give my money to the new kids on the block, until they shit on me.
A few months ago I had to attend a week-long training class that was taught by a lawyer. He and I got to be pals; eventually one of our conversations led us the mirky woods of music piracy. Long story short, he brought me his mp3 collection on many many DVDs. I brought my iPod in the next day for him to leech to his laptop. I got an email from him yesterday asking where to go now that Suprnova is defunct.
I got a chuckle from this lawyer who makes his living from the application of law and has absolutely no reseverations about pirating movies and music.
I'm going to laugh my ass off when some 15 year old releases a hack that strips the DRM out of these Napster songs. Millions and millions of "rented" songs will become permanent non-DRM overnight.
iPods are by no means a superior product. it uses dated technology and lose out in terms of features and price to other players. What makes it sell is that it has the Apple brandname behind it.
Spoken like a person who has never used an iPod for any significant length of time. No, the iPod is successful because of the incredible interface and easy of use. And don't forget iTunes, one of the best mp3 jukeboxes on the market, free or otherwise. The seemless interface between iPod and iTunes is what people pay a premium for.
Oh, and doesn't hurt that the iPod is easy on the eyes.
My wife works for Comair here in Cincinnati. The computer system under discussion was in the process of being upgraded prior to the crash. Comair's IT recognized weaknesses in the current system some time ago. The upgrade just happened to be taking a little longer than anticipated.
Timing is a bitch, isn't it?
There are some benefits to this. Case in point, for me.
I've been wanted an iPod for a couple of years now. I've been desperately craving and iPod since 4G was announced. My wife, however, has discouraged me from buying one because she doesn't think they are worth the money. But now, with the "HP branded" iPod being sold at places like Walmart, I can have one. I've been holding on to some gift certificates for Walmart for a few months left over from my birthday. Now my iPod is ordered, and I couldn't be happier. I'm finally getting one, even though it has the HP logo on the back. Big whoop, I can cope.
Re:I'll stick to my LaserDiscs....
on
Star Wars on DVD
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· Score: 1
Not true. I have the original trilogy box set, THX Widescreen Edition, in front of me right now. Cost about $50 in '96 but well worth it. Even though I'm completely sick of Star Wars, I'm holding on to them for my kids to enjoy someday (assuming I can still find a working VCR then).
I have to call B.S. on your 40MB requirement for Windows 3.1. My first computer ran 3.1 and it only had a 40 MB hard drive. I had plenty of space left over for games and other programs.
When my wife and I moved into our new house, we hesitated on transfering our cable (>$60/month) because we were considering satellite. We were without cable for a month before we decided we didn't miss it. It's been over a year now. We have rabbit ears on our HDTV that we use to watch the occassional episode of Jeopardy or the local news. The rest of the time, we make good use of our Netflix membership. We buy the really good stuff (Firefly, Futurama, Family Guy) on DVD. Strange how the stuff I buy was on TV at one time, but cancelled. Maybe that's why I don't miss my cable...
So advertising spammers may figure out how to circumvent pop-up blockers. That will bother me for about a week. You can be sure that some industrious Mozilla/Firebird user will release an extension to block their new intrusion method. Those of us smart enough to avoid IE will surf blissfully, while the rest of the world suffers until MS releases XP SP3.
Re:Would they consider ogg vorbis and or flac?
on
No WMA for HP iPod
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· Score: 1
I had ripped all my CDs to OGG, but I recently re-ripped everything to MP3, even though I consider it an "inferior" format. I did this because eventually I'm going to buy an iPod or similar device. Whatever I end up buying, I can be darn certain that it will play MP3s. Why wouldn't I take advantage of the defacto standard and the cross device/program portability that it offers?
Ethically and technically, OGG is great. But it means squat if no one uses but me and a handful of other geeks.
If you think iTunes is cool, you should look into Media Jukebox (or it's big brother Media Center). Both surpass iTunes in power, speed, and flexibility.
disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the company that makes MJ or MC aside from the fact that I bought the program, and I think it's excellent.
Slashdot Mirror
Of course a walled garden is safer than the wild west. I bought into Apple's ecosystem for my phone, because reliability and stability are very important qualities to me for that type of device. And I haven't been disappointed with my choice. Where this approach suffers is with my newly acquired iPad. The iPad is quickly becoming my laptop replacement; I do way more with it than is practical with my phone. I've started to bump my head on the roof of Apple's iOS. The limitations can be irritating. I'd be willing to sacrifice a little safety for more options. Perhaps that will come with time.
I can only speak for myself, but my Wii is gathering dust. I've had it since launch day, and once I finished Zelda and Elebits, it sat unused until Metroid. I blew through Metroid in a week and set the Wii aside again. My seriously consider skipping the next Mario (me? skip a Mario?) Yeah. The Wii is been a big disappointment for me. I picked up a 360 last month and I am blown away by the online functionality (you listening Nintendo?). Plus, there is a huge library of killer games with more coming this holiday. I can't believe I'm supporting a MS console.
I don't know 20 people with 360s, but I do know 5. All 5 have experienced the 'red ring of death' and sent the box back to MS for repair. That failure rate, from my limited perspective, is totally unacceptable. As much as I'd love to get a 360, I absolutely refuse to do so until MS corrects whatever issues is causing this problem or extends the warranty to 3+ years.
I installed Ubuntu a couple of months ago. Amarok saw my iPod without problems. I could easily pull mp3s off the device and put new ones on. Amarok really couldn't have been easier.
But...
I could never get the goddamn thing to actually PLAY any mp3 files. I installed all the plugins, visited message boards, uninstalled, reinstalled. Nothing worked. This may have been an issue with Ubuntu, who knows. VLC played mp3 just fine, though.
Modern linux distros have the iPod connectivity thing down, but there are other serious issues that prevent me from using linux for any length of time.
I recently bought my first Mac, a 2.0 Ghz MacBook. I've admired OS X from afar and during visits to the nearest Apple retail store for a couple of years, but I finally took the plunge. Why'd I finally do it? 1) Intel chips are fast enough that a Mac is performance/price competitive 2) I can dual boot to Windows or run Parallels Desktop if I want to 3) I'm sick of Microsoft's B.S.
So now that I've logged some time on a Mac, doing the types of things I used to do on my windows box, I can honestly say it was worth every penny of the "premium" to own an Apple machine vs. a Dell/HP/Compaq. The hardware is beautifully designed, the included software is actually USEFUL, and OS X is to die for (a geek's dream come true).
While I'm head and shoulders above the "average computer user" (read: drooling moron), I'm a fairly typical Slashdot reader. If the Mac lineup is compelling enough to make me switch, there has to be hundreds of people reading this that are thinking of switching too. My advice... do it, you won't be sorry.
Seeing how most consumers don't own televisions that support hi-def content, the only people who will care about Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD are the geeks, folks who are likely to understand the difference and who will extract benefit from one format over the other. Joe Sixpack is perfectly happy watching his full frame flicks that he rents from Blockbuster on his 27" set.
This may be one format war where the best product actually wins.
I can't speak for other iPod fans, but for me, the real difference is iTunes. I've fumbled around with other players' software; most of it is clunky. I'll pay a $50 premium for a player that integrates seemlessly with the best jukebox software available.
The click wheel on my 4th gen iPod sure doesn't hurt either. The interface is genius.
Makes sense really. If a large portion of the target customers have seen SM2 (and likely own a copy of it on DVD), bundling the film costs them fewer sells, and they get to show off the capability of the screen.
Man, why don't these scientists dudes stop concentrating on worthless stuff like increased vocabulary and mobility!?! The real money to be made is making these robots look like hot chicks. Intelligence means nothing when your robot has soft lucious ta-tas.
You know, I'm at the point where I rarely even click on links from /. They are always deader than dead. Why can't we get torrents of stuff like this ready before a story is posted?
I've been a Netflix subscriber for about a year now, and I've been consistently pleased with the service I receive. I signed up after a frustrating attempt to find an older movie on DVD at the local brick & morter rental stores. They mainly deal in new releases, and typically limit their offerings to pan & scan.
It really doesn't matter to me if Blockbuster's Netflix-ripoff is cheaper. I've had enough bad experiences using Blockbuster in the past that I'll never subscribe to their service. Never.
And...something tells me that once B.B. builds a customer base, they will suddenly become must less forgiving of DVDs lost in the mail or damaged in shipping (Things Netflix has never given me a hard time about, BTW). Blockbuster isn't on the same level of evil as... say Walmart, but they are a shitty company, regardless. I'd rather give my money to the new kids on the block, until they shit on me.
Why is this moderated as "funny?" It's 100% true. I've echoed the same sentiments many times, and I wasn't trying to be funny when I said it.
Speaking of lawyers and P2P...
A few months ago I had to attend a week-long training class that was taught by a lawyer. He and I got to be pals; eventually one of our conversations led us the mirky woods of music piracy. Long story short, he brought me his mp3 collection on many many DVDs. I brought my iPod in the next day for him to leech to his laptop. I got an email from him yesterday asking where to go now that Suprnova is defunct.
I got a chuckle from this lawyer who makes his living from the application of law and has absolutely no reseverations about pirating movies and music.
I'm going to laugh my ass off when some 15 year old releases a hack that strips the DRM out of these Napster songs. Millions and millions of "rented" songs will become permanent non-DRM overnight.
Oh, and doesn't hurt that the iPod is easy on the eyes.
My wife works for Comair here in Cincinnati. The computer system under discussion was in the process of being upgraded prior to the crash. Comair's IT recognized weaknesses in the current system some time ago. The upgrade just happened to be taking a little longer than anticipated. Timing is a bitch, isn't it?
There are some benefits to this. Case in point, for me. I've been wanted an iPod for a couple of years now. I've been desperately craving and iPod since 4G was announced. My wife, however, has discouraged me from buying one because she doesn't think they are worth the money. But now, with the "HP branded" iPod being sold at places like Walmart, I can have one. I've been holding on to some gift certificates for Walmart for a few months left over from my birthday. Now my iPod is ordered, and I couldn't be happier. I'm finally getting one, even though it has the HP logo on the back. Big whoop, I can cope.
Not true. I have the original trilogy box set, THX Widescreen Edition, in front of me right now. Cost about $50 in '96 but well worth it. Even though I'm completely sick of Star Wars, I'm holding on to them for my kids to enjoy someday (assuming I can still find a working VCR then).
I have to call B.S. on your 40MB requirement for Windows 3.1. My first computer ran 3.1 and it only had a 40 MB hard drive. I had plenty of space left over for games and other programs.
When my wife and I moved into our new house, we hesitated on transfering our cable (>$60/month) because we were considering satellite. We were without cable for a month before we decided we didn't miss it. It's been over a year now. We have rabbit ears on our HDTV that we use to watch the occassional episode of Jeopardy or the local news. The rest of the time, we make good use of our Netflix membership. We buy the really good stuff (Firefly, Futurama, Family Guy) on DVD. Strange how the stuff I buy was on TV at one time, but cancelled. Maybe that's why I don't miss my cable...
File sharing helps CD sales of good music.
File sharing can help or hurt CD sales of mediocre music.
File sharing hurts CD sales of bad music.
So advertising spammers may figure out how to circumvent pop-up blockers. That will bother me for about a week. You can be sure that some industrious Mozilla/Firebird user will release an extension to block their new intrusion method. Those of us smart enough to avoid IE will surf blissfully, while the rest of the world suffers until MS releases XP SP3.
I had ripped all my CDs to OGG, but I recently re-ripped everything to MP3, even though I consider it an "inferior" format. I did this because eventually I'm going to buy an iPod or similar device. Whatever I end up buying, I can be darn certain that it will play MP3s. Why wouldn't I take advantage of the defacto standard and the cross device/program portability that it offers?
Ethically and technically, OGG is great. But it means squat if no one uses but me and a handful of other geeks.
That's Superman III... not II.
If you think iTunes is cool, you should look into Media Jukebox (or it's big brother Media Center). Both surpass iTunes in power, speed, and flexibility.
disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the company that makes MJ or MC aside from the fact that I bought the program, and I think it's excellent.