Every member of the class gets a few dollars maybe a few tens of dollars if it's a major tort. In return they lose the right to sue in the future. In the Sony rootkit case they got a $5 coupon iirc.
The lawyers walk away with millions of dollars.
So yeah, the class members get screwed as badly as the companies their suing to give the lawyers millions of dollars they don't deserve.
I remember when I got my first cell phone around 1996, Clearnet at the time (now Telus), made it very, very clear that this was a government regulatory fee.
Yeah, but Virgin's website makes stupid noises that I guess some people with no taste might call music. I'd pay the system access fee just to not have to listen to that garbage every time I want to check my account online.
Seriously, what kind of demented company alienates 90% of their potential market within 10 seconds of them visiting the site?
Since it screws over the customers worse than the companies just to make the lawyers rich.
But in this case, these ripoff fees have been bugging me for 10 years, so I'm all for this on. If they roll in the fees with the normal rates, good, that's how they should do it.
But what if they're blocked from the web as well as eliminated in the classroom and all books on or talking about the subjects are made illegal with hefty penalties?
TNT is kind of a low power explosive by modern standards, that hardly rates blacklisting slashdot;)
It's amazing how stupid people in power are. Do they really think censoring that sort of information on the web will stop anyone who wants to build a bomb? My university chemistry textbook has plenty of instructions for things that can be used for terrorism.
The next step would have to be to stop teaching science and burn all science books. The dark ages were several centuries ago, maybe it's time for another one.
So windows gives you a blank screen after 1 hour of use? What different from a genuine copy besides the fact that it's normally a blue screen and you're lucky to get an hour before it happens?
I used slackware on my desktop for many years (I started with 2.3 and kernel 1.0.8). A few years ago I decided it was just too much trouble, between regularly updating the kernal for security patchs (involving recompiling, redoing lilo, etc) and other system maintence, I was spending more time administering my system than using it.
Are things that different with linux now? (I'm not bashing slackware here, I tried many distros and always found slackware to be the best)
With digital, you can get extremely high quality very cheaply and easily. With analog, the same quality will be hugely expensive and much more difficult. Compare a $20 portable CD player to anything you can do in analog for $20 or even $200.
At the high end when you get into SACD and keeping it digital as long as possible, the analog will not sound better to anyone who wants to be honest with themselves.
Sorry, but audiophiles generally ignore PC's for serious listning. There hasn't been a sound card invented yet that has the same quality of output as even mid-grade hi-fi stereo equipment. Sure, you folks that consider your Bose system "audiophile" quality won't understand this, but actual audiophiles will.
All this says is that audiophiles are idiots who have no ability to distinguish what sounds good but believe snake oil salesmen who tell them this $1000 piece of wire is better than that $2 piece of wire. It's a game of the emperor's new clothes.
The implicattion from the summary was the PC's automatically can't generate good audio. Digital outputs aren't that all uncommon right now. USB headsets and notebook speakers are becoming fairly common, and while they're not the greatest quality yet, it's absolute idiocy to say *because they're PC based* they won't sound good. Even your own statement that *most* PCs still use analog implies you can get good audio by going digital, so to make the distinction that PC audio = bad is foolish.
audiophile writes "Just because it's a PC doesn't mean it can't output good-sounding audio.
Why would anyone even think that? Just because you have a processor that can perform gigaflops you'd think you can't output good quality sound? The only reason such a perception would exist is to get so-called audiophiles to spend more on garbage that doesn't make a difference to sound quality but they can pretend it does.
For proof, just look at this $1200 Power Cable. How stupid does one have to be to spend $1200 on a power cable. What do you think conducts the power from the breaker box to the wall outlet? Why would someone build a $3000+ amp and not properly condition the power inside the power supply?
I use both Macs and PCs and it seems like I buy and upgrade PCs a lot more often. My latest Mac is a Powerbook G4 from early 2004 and I'm just now starting to think about a replacement. Over those last 3 years I've bought 2 PCs and will probably buy a 3rd long before I replace the Mac. The PC's just feel dated after less than a year while the Macs take about 3 years to feel the same way. At least to me.
If PCs have a much shorter useful life, their percentage of sales will be higher than their actual percentage of machines in use.
People don't need to know what an "audio file format" or "codec" is to think they know the term mp3. I'm always hearing people call their iPod or other player an "mp3 player". I've seen Sony MiniDisc players called mp3 players, as well as portable CD players that can play mp3 CDs.
The term "mp3" is part of the general lexicon as almost synonymous with "digital music".
You're right, but it's perception that makes the format, and now everyone perceives mp3 as the format that's everywhere. The point of this article is to be propaganda to make people think AAC is more pervasive than it is.
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Unfortunately for purchasers, the laptop won't boot on tuesday mornings until early afternoon, and some days you just won't be able to log in.
That was great.
Why should I have to do that? I want to view the content as intended. And if the intended way annoys me, I'll take my business elsewhere.
Every member of the class gets a few dollars maybe a few tens of dollars if it's a major tort. In return they lose the right to sue in the future. In the Sony rootkit case they got a $5 coupon iirc.
The lawyers walk away with millions of dollars.
So yeah, the class members get screwed as badly as the companies their suing to give the lawyers millions of dollars they don't deserve.
Yes, he did. And so did Asimov with his neuronic whip or some-such.
Fact usually does follow fiction, but that's one reason we love sci-fi.
So, exactly how hard is to to wear some clothing over your whole body that will block this non-penetrating radiation?
I remember when I got my first cell phone around 1996, Clearnet at the time (now Telus), made it very, very clear that this was a government regulatory fee.
Yeah, but Virgin's website makes stupid noises that I guess some people with no taste might call music. I'd pay the system access fee just to not have to listen to that garbage every time I want to check my account online.
Seriously, what kind of demented company alienates 90% of their potential market within 10 seconds of them visiting the site?
Since it screws over the customers worse than the companies just to make the lawyers rich.
But in this case, these ripoff fees have been bugging me for 10 years, so I'm all for this on. If they roll in the fees with the normal rates, good, that's how they should do it.
I see you voted for Bush.
But what if they're blocked from the web as well as eliminated in the classroom and all books on or talking about the subjects are made illegal with hefty penalties?
It protects them from knowledge, isn't that the real goal of people like this?
Knowledge only leads to questioning religion and authority.
TNT is kind of a low power explosive by modern standards, that hardly rates blacklisting slashdot ;)
It's amazing how stupid people in power are. Do they really think censoring that sort of information on the web will stop anyone who wants to build a bomb? My university chemistry textbook has plenty of instructions for things that can be used for terrorism.
The next step would have to be to stop teaching science and burn all science books. The dark ages were several centuries ago, maybe it's time for another one.
So windows gives you a blank screen after 1 hour of use? What different from a genuine copy besides the fact that it's normally a blue screen and you're lucky to get an hour before it happens?
I used slackware on my desktop for many years (I started with 2.3 and kernel 1.0.8). A few years ago I decided it was just too much trouble, between regularly updating the kernal for security patchs (involving recompiling, redoing lilo, etc) and other system maintence, I was spending more time administering my system than using it.
Are things that different with linux now? (I'm not bashing slackware here, I tried many distros and always found slackware to be the best)
With digital, you can get extremely high quality very cheaply and easily. With analog, the same quality will be hugely expensive and much more difficult. Compare a $20 portable CD player to anything you can do in analog for $20 or even $200.
At the high end when you get into SACD and keeping it digital as long as possible, the analog will not sound better to anyone who wants to be honest with themselves.
Sorry, but audiophiles generally ignore PC's for serious listning. There hasn't been a sound card invented yet that has the same quality of output as even mid-grade hi-fi stereo equipment. Sure, you folks that consider your Bose system "audiophile" quality won't understand this, but actual audiophiles will.
All this says is that audiophiles are idiots who have no ability to distinguish what sounds good but believe snake oil salesmen who tell them this $1000 piece of wire is better than that $2 piece of wire. It's a game of the emperor's new clothes.
The implicattion from the summary was the PC's automatically can't generate good audio. Digital outputs aren't that all uncommon right now. USB headsets and notebook speakers are becoming fairly common, and while they're not the greatest quality yet, it's absolute idiocy to say *because they're PC based* they won't sound good. Even your own statement that *most* PCs still use analog implies you can get good audio by going digital, so to make the distinction that PC audio = bad is foolish.
audiophile writes "Just because it's a PC doesn't mean it can't output good-sounding audio.
Why would anyone even think that? Just because you have a processor that can perform gigaflops you'd think you can't output good quality sound? The only reason such a perception would exist is to get so-called audiophiles to spend more on garbage that doesn't make a difference to sound quality but they can pretend it does.
For proof, just look at this $1200 Power Cable . How stupid does one have to be to spend $1200 on a power cable. What do you think conducts the power from the breaker box to the wall outlet? Why would someone build a $3000+ amp and not properly condition the power inside the power supply?
I use both Macs and PCs and it seems like I buy and upgrade PCs a lot more often. My latest Mac is a Powerbook G4 from early 2004 and I'm just now starting to think about a replacement. Over those last 3 years I've bought 2 PCs and will probably buy a 3rd long before I replace the Mac. The PC's just feel dated after less than a year while the Macs take about 3 years to feel the same way. At least to me.
If PCs have a much shorter useful life, their percentage of sales will be higher than their actual percentage of machines in use.
People don't need to know what an "audio file format" or "codec" is to think they know the term mp3. I'm always hearing people call their iPod or other player an "mp3 player". I've seen Sony MiniDisc players called mp3 players, as well as portable CD players that can play mp3 CDs. The term "mp3" is part of the general lexicon as almost synonymous with "digital music".
You're right, but it's perception that makes the format, and now everyone perceives mp3 as the format that's everywhere. The point of this article is to be propaganda to make people think AAC is more pervasive than it is.
It will run windows and the TOS will say MS owns all your thoughts and you can't think bad things about MS.
Why do you think MMORPGs are so popular?
Until they unplug the computer...
But if you use a battery backup for the electrified case, all they need to do is ground the case through the procedure.
I would like to see a mac mini with TiVo-killer hardware and software, but I doubt it will exist as long as Apple is selling TV shows in their store.
The movies and TV shows are in crappy quality aimed at the iPod screen size too, so they're a gross ripoff given that they're priced like DVDs.