CDs without Anti-consumer measures have a lot better quality than any MP3.
I think it is important to note the difference between "quality" and "acceptable quality".
Yes, a CD is better quality than an mp3. For $20 it should be. But, an mp3 is often of acceptable quality to the consumer. A high quality rip is barely distinguishable to someone with consumer quality playback equipment.
I understand that Kazza usually doesn't provide high quality full albums and I'm not familiar with the program used by the original poster, but I have seen and used other distribution systems that delivered very high quality, properly tagged full albums for free.
People who can get acceptable quality for free will rarely pay instead, unless out of some moral concern. In the end, I think the RIAA is hurting themselves by pushing casual users away from Kazza and into other channels where they might be more likely to get files of an acceptable quality.
I haven't used kazza in about a year and a half. I didn't stop because I thought it was wrong. I stopped because I fould a better source for what I wanted. I wonder how much of the drop in Kazza is made up of users moving on to a better source.
I'm just sorry I don't have mod points to save your comment from troll status. I used to live in a town that was devastated by the loss of textile jobs, same deal...different scope.
As one example, even on the easiest level of CivIII, the computer players somehow, magically, know more about the map and areas they cannot possibly have seen (even by trading maps with each other). Only by clamping down on the computer players' ability to produce units/buildings does it rein in its knowledge. At the higher levels, not only does it know more about the map than a human player ever could, it outproduces you dramatically.
That's entirely the point of the more difficult levels of play in Civ III. The AI is not able to outplay a skilled player, so it is given production and starting unit bonuses to make the more challenging difficulty levels...well...more challenging.
Read more about difficulty levels in Civ III here.
But the problem with N64, imho, and with Gamecube (which was instead going the Dreamcast way) was that there are no crappy games produced for the masses, no serial soccer/american football/whatever (like that ugly game series of FIFA and EA sports series).
I think the lack of variety turned off the hardcore audience as well (You can only play the same great titles for so long before you need to move on to another great game). I felt burned by the N64 not because there weren't good games for it, but because there weren't enough of them to go around. I decided not to buy the GameCube because of the long dry spells the N64 had near the mid-to-end of its shelf life. More variety and quantity of titles will mean a greater quantity of crap, but it also allows more opportunities for quality titles.
Actually, I am a self-admitted cubicle monkey at my day job. The most exotic thing I do on my work PC is run SQL queries against a database server. I spend most of my time working in Excel. The only reason I know anything about Linux is because I've used it at home.
Some of my fellow cubicle monkeys struggle enough with Windows, and they've been using it for years. If Linux distros want to compete with Windows and sell to cubicle monkeys, they need to cater to that audience. If they don't care about competing, it doesn't really matter what they do.
That was the point of my original post. Sorry if the shiny penny of "Cubicle Monkey" rolling across the floor was so distracting to you. Hope I did not offend (cubicle monkey, cubicle monkey, cubicle monkey, cubicle monkey, cubicle monkey).
Besides, there is no point just making another windows. Linux developers should aim at a different market, people that WANT choice and play around, technology people.
People who enjoy using computers want choice. Cubicle monkeys typically want a standardized and easy to use interface.
Want to topple Windows? Target the cubicle monkeys. Want to promote some philosophical ideal? Don't target anyone.
I think this is both the draw of Linux and the issue that prevents it from mass adoption. Very few people want to use Windows in the sense that they are excited about the brand and feel a deep sense of loyalty towards it. They just want a solution that they don't have to think about.
Typical ignorant reply. If someone develops a game, and does not want it to be modded then what is wrong with that?
Everything. Once I bring it home and tear off the shrinkwrap, it belongs to me. I bought it. I'll use it as I please.
The developer should be happy that someone bought his product so he can keep making games instead of pumping gas or dicking around with spreadsheets. It's none of his business if the user wants to use it differently than he expected. Maybe I want to use it as a coaster instead. My money, my decision. If he can't handle that, he has no business releasing his games to the public.
It's true, the best I can suggest is for you to buy used and let yourself fall behind the new release curve. A used game in the $25 US range is new to me if I've never played it before. Just take some time and fall behind. If you see a new game you want, make a note of it and come back when the price is reasonable. Added bonus: by postponing your purchase you stand a better chance of hearing if a game is crap or not before shelling out for full retail price. You can easily double your games for each dollar spent and make better purchasing decisions about what to buy this way.
Well, I guess if they're too stupid to reinstall an OS, they're also stupid enough to buy a new PC when the OS needs an upgrade or when Microsoft releases a new OS.
I'm not knocking Apple, I love my iBook, I'm just not as cynical about the typical user as you are. Maybe I need to spend some time in tech support or something.
I know of at least two people recently who bought a whole new computer cause they fucked up their Windows installation and figured it'd be easier to buy a new machine. This is an excellant example of how little choice consumers feel they have in the OS world. Who the hell buys something, watches it break from every day use, and goes out to buy the exact same thing? Obviously, somebody who feels that there isn't much else to buy.
I'm sorry, but anyone who buys a new computer because they screwed up the configuraton of the old is either fucking retarded or has more money than sense. In either case, I don't think these are good examples of typical consumers.
Not even close. The Xbox and the PS2 both have headsets, which are better than a keyboard for chatting.
For a small chat, maybe, but the voice model would be inefficient in the MMORPG where I play because of the number of chat channels I "listen to" at once. I typically have a server-wide-OOC channel, a buying/selling channel, and a looking for team channel open at the same time. I often have both vicinity chat and team chat running as well.
Possible with headsets? Maybe, but the sea of voices would be incomprehensible and the bandwidth of incoming voice might be a problem. Also, negotiating the price of an item is easier with text than voice due to misunderstood accents and slurred words.
Good point, until you consider communication with other players. The five buttons may be a beautiful control scheme, having a quick conversation (beyond scripted common phrases) would be near-impossible without a keyboard. I remember trying to do this in PSO for the Dreamcast before breaking down and buying a keyboard to help me communicate.
So maybe they charge you a fee, maybe they tell you that you can't transfer out until you pay an early termination fee, maybe they tell you you can't transfer out until you pay them a disputed amount on your bill, or until you pay your last bill in full, etc, etc
This kind of makes sense since the company wants you to stay. Sad that some might try to strong-arm you into it. At least not every carrier is planning to make this a business practice.
It's unfortunate that you didn't try going to AO's official forum as there are number of helpful players there who would have answered your questions and given you some guidance about game areas that would have worked with your preferred style of play.
There is a crafting system in place, again you would have found helpful players in the forums who would have helped explain the basics to you. Certain classes are better suited to this path than others, others curious should check out the Engineer Class Board for more details about how crafting works.
I'm sure that single-player got boring after a while, the missions are really a lot more fun when you play with a group. Perhaps if you had tried the in-game chat channels you would have found a way to socialize and a group of other players to game with. There are channels, turned on by default, that are used by players looking for teams. Other channels are also available for OOC chat. I had no problems finding others to play with, even being new to the game with a low-level character.
Sorry you had such a bad experience, I hope that other who try the game are as fortunate as I was when I tried AO. The forums and in-game chat are really the best tools for getting in touch with others.
The game mechanics can be complex, but that's part of the draw of the game for me. The gameplay system is fairly deep and, combined with the large number of classes, might seem intimidating at first. But others are there to help you get the hang of what goes on. Once you get past the initial learning curve, AO can provide fun and varied play experiences.
FFXI sports an eBay-style auction system that augments the local array of NPC-owned marketplaces. Players put items on the auction block to go to the highest bidder less a small service fee collected by the NPC auction house owners.
Nice, this sounds a lot better than the crap I have to go through to buy and sell at my current online RPG. I hope this becomes the standard way of doing things.
Is there an existing game that uses an ebay style player economy? This seems like too good of an idea to be unique to FF XI.
Anarchy Online shares some of the same themes as SWG, if players were going to leave one game to join another this would probably be the one.
There's been some discussion of this on the AO boards. From what I hear, SWG is too buggy and requires too much sit-around-and-wait time compared to AO for the players who post there to switch.
Of course, we'll have to wait and look at the numbers. Also, AO is releasing an expansion this month, that might keep a few would-be-switchers to stick around.
Too bad that AO got off to such a rough start. The game is stable and fairly deep now. The SW license doesn't mean much to me, I plan on sticking around at AO for a while.
So if the US rewards someone for saying they will kill a Middle Eastern leader and then going through with it, it's intelligence gathering...yet if someone in North Korea made the same system for killing a US leader, it would be seen as rewarding terrorists.
I think any organization bright enough to pull off a major terrorist act would also be bright enough not to make a bet with the pentagon about when and where it would happen.
The stupidity involved in designing this system is amazing.
Slashdot Mirror
CDs without Anti-consumer measures have a lot better quality than any MP3.
I think it is important to note the difference between "quality" and "acceptable quality".
Yes, a CD is better quality than an mp3. For $20 it should be. But, an mp3 is often of acceptable quality to the consumer. A high quality rip is barely distinguishable to someone with consumer quality playback equipment.
I understand that Kazza usually doesn't provide high quality full albums and I'm not familiar with the program used by the original poster, but I have seen and used other distribution systems that delivered very high quality, properly tagged full albums for free.
People who can get acceptable quality for free will rarely pay instead, unless out of some moral concern. In the end, I think the RIAA is hurting themselves by pushing casual users away from Kazza and into other channels where they might be more likely to get files of an acceptable quality.
I haven't used kazza in about a year and a half. I didn't stop because I thought it was wrong. I stopped because I fould a better source for what I wanted. I wonder how much of the drop in Kazza is made up of users moving on to a better source.
I'm just sorry I don't have mod points to save your comment from troll status. I used to live in a town that was devastated by the loss of textile jobs, same deal...different scope.
On civ3's easiest difficulty I find myself winning only about 20% of the time. I'm afraid to even try the higher levels.
You need to learn how to play the game, it is very different than Civ 2 and should not be approached the same way. Good pointers here.
As one example, even on the easiest level of CivIII, the computer players somehow, magically, know more about the map and areas they cannot possibly have seen (even by trading maps with each other). Only by clamping down on the computer players' ability to produce units/buildings does it rein in its knowledge. At the higher levels, not only does it know more about the map than a human player ever could, it outproduces you dramatically.
That's entirely the point of the more difficult levels of play in Civ III. The AI is not able to outplay a skilled player, so it is given production and starting unit bonuses to make the more challenging difficulty levels...well...more challenging.
Read more about difficulty levels in Civ III here.
But the problem with N64, imho, and with Gamecube (which was instead going the Dreamcast way) was that there are no crappy games produced for the masses, no serial soccer/american football/whatever (like that ugly game series of FIFA and EA sports series).
I think the lack of variety turned off the hardcore audience as well (You can only play the same great titles for so long before you need to move on to another great game). I felt burned by the N64 not because there weren't good games for it, but because there weren't enough of them to go around. I decided not to buy the GameCube because of the long dry spells the N64 had near the mid-to-end of its shelf life. More variety and quantity of titles will mean a greater quantity of crap, but it also allows more opportunities for quality titles.
But yeah, Nintendo farming out franchises is a newer phonomenon.
Don't forget about Square's Super Mario RPG for the SNES. In any case, I think it's too soon to say if this is a trend or not.
Worked for the Dreamcast, didn't it?
Actually, I am a self-admitted cubicle monkey at my day job. The most exotic thing I do on my work PC is run SQL queries against a database server. I spend most of my time working in Excel. The only reason I know anything about Linux is because I've used it at home.
Some of my fellow cubicle monkeys struggle enough with Windows, and they've been using it for years. If Linux distros want to compete with Windows and sell to cubicle monkeys, they need to cater to that audience. If they don't care about competing, it doesn't really matter what they do.
That was the point of my original post. Sorry if the shiny penny of "Cubicle Monkey" rolling across the floor was so distracting to you. Hope I did not offend (cubicle monkey, cubicle monkey, cubicle monkey, cubicle monkey, cubicle monkey).
Besides, there is no point just making another windows. Linux developers should aim at a different market, people that WANT choice and play around, technology people.
People who enjoy using computers want choice. Cubicle monkeys typically want a standardized and easy to use interface.
Want to topple Windows? Target the cubicle monkeys. Want to promote some philosophical ideal? Don't target anyone.
I think this is both the draw of Linux and the issue that prevents it from mass adoption. Very few people want to use Windows in the sense that they are excited about the brand and feel a deep sense of loyalty towards it. They just want a solution that they don't have to think about.
Typical ignorant reply. If someone develops a game, and does not want it to be modded then what is wrong with that?
Everything. Once I bring it home and tear off the shrinkwrap, it belongs to me. I bought it. I'll use it as I please.
The developer should be happy that someone bought his product so he can keep making games instead of pumping gas or dicking around with spreadsheets. It's none of his business if the user wants to use it differently than he expected. Maybe I want to use it as a coaster instead. My money, my decision. If he can't handle that, he has no business releasing his games to the public.
It's true, the best I can suggest is for you to buy used and let yourself fall behind the new release curve. A used game in the $25 US range is new to me if I've never played it before. Just take some time and fall behind. If you see a new game you want, make a note of it and come back when the price is reasonable. Added bonus: by postponing your purchase you stand a better chance of hearing if a game is crap or not before shelling out for full retail price. You can easily double your games for each dollar spent and make better purchasing decisions about what to buy this way.
Well, I guess if they're too stupid to reinstall an OS, they're also stupid enough to buy a new PC when the OS needs an upgrade or when Microsoft releases a new OS.
I'm not knocking Apple, I love my iBook, I'm just not as cynical about the typical user as you are. Maybe I need to spend some time in tech support or something.
I know of at least two people recently who bought a whole new computer cause they fucked up their Windows installation and figured it'd be easier to buy a new machine. This is an excellant example of how little choice consumers feel they have in the OS world. Who the hell buys something, watches it break from every day use, and goes out to buy the exact same thing? Obviously, somebody who feels that there isn't much else to buy.
I'm sorry, but anyone who buys a new computer because they screwed up the configuraton of the old is either fucking retarded or has more money than sense. In either case, I don't think these are good examples of typical consumers.
Not even close. The Xbox and the PS2 both have headsets, which are better than a keyboard for chatting.
For a small chat, maybe, but the voice model would be inefficient in the MMORPG where I play because of the number of chat channels I "listen to" at once. I typically have a server-wide-OOC channel, a buying/selling channel, and a looking for team channel open at the same time. I often have both vicinity chat and team chat running as well.
Possible with headsets? Maybe, but the sea of voices would be incomprehensible and the bandwidth of incoming voice might be a problem. Also, negotiating the price of an item is easier with text than voice due to misunderstood accents and slurred words.
Good point, until you consider communication with other players. The five buttons may be a beautiful control scheme, having a quick conversation (beyond scripted common phrases) would be near-impossible without a keyboard. I remember trying to do this in PSO for the Dreamcast before breaking down and buying a keyboard to help me communicate.
That will probably depend on the company you're leaving. There was a blurb in the news last week about some carriers Trying to put obstacles in the way of leaving customers.
So maybe they charge you a fee, maybe they tell you that you can't transfer out until you pay an early termination fee, maybe they tell you you can't transfer out until you pay them a disputed amount on your bill, or until you pay your last bill in full, etc, etc
This kind of makes sense since the company wants you to stay. Sad that some might try to strong-arm you into it. At least not every carrier is planning to make this a business practice.
It's unfortunate that you didn't try going to AO's official forum as there are number of helpful players there who would have answered your questions and given you some guidance about game areas that would have worked with your preferred style of play.
There is a crafting system in place, again you would have found helpful players in the forums who would have helped explain the basics to you. Certain classes are better suited to this path than others, others curious should check out the Engineer Class Board for more details about how crafting works.
I'm sure that single-player got boring after a while, the missions are really a lot more fun when you play with a group. Perhaps if you had tried the in-game chat channels you would have found a way to socialize and a group of other players to game with. There are channels, turned on by default, that are used by players looking for teams. Other channels are also available for OOC chat. I had no problems finding others to play with, even being new to the game with a low-level character.
Sorry you had such a bad experience, I hope that other who try the game are as fortunate as I was when I tried AO. The forums and in-game chat are really the best tools for getting in touch with others.
The game mechanics can be complex, but that's part of the draw of the game for me. The gameplay system is fairly deep and, combined with the large number of classes, might seem intimidating at first. But others are there to help you get the hang of what goes on. Once you get past the initial learning curve, AO can provide fun and varied play experiences.
Hey, let's not start requiring people to read the instructions. Obviously the leet should have dropped dead from force of will alone. :P
FFXI sports an eBay-style auction system that augments the local array of NPC-owned marketplaces. Players put items on the auction block to go to the highest bidder less a small service fee collected by the NPC auction house owners.
Nice, this sounds a lot better than the crap I have to go through to buy and sell at my current online RPG. I hope this becomes the standard way of doing things.
Is there an existing game that uses an ebay style player economy? This seems like too good of an idea to be unique to FF XI.
Anarchy Online shares some of the same themes as SWG, if players were going to leave one game to join another this would probably be the one.
There's been some discussion of this on the AO boards. From what I hear, SWG is too buggy and requires too much sit-around-and-wait time compared to AO for the players who post there to switch.
Of course, we'll have to wait and look at the numbers. Also, AO is releasing an expansion this month, that might keep a few would-be-switchers to stick around.
Too bad that AO got off to such a rough start. The game is stable and fairly deep now. The SW license doesn't mean much to me, I plan on sticking around at AO for a while.
So if the US rewards someone for saying they will kill a Middle Eastern leader and then going through with it, it's intelligence gathering...yet if someone in North Korea made the same system for killing a US leader, it would be seen as rewarding terrorists.
I think I woke up in Bizzaroland this morning.
I think any organization bright enough to pull off a major terrorist act would also be bright enough not to make a bet with the pentagon about when and where it would happen.
The stupidity involved in designing this system is amazing.
I believe the article was refering to program crashes that triggers the error reporting software, not OS crashes.
Not a troll, just say no to zealotry.
The first rule of fight club is: You do not talk about fight club
The second rule of fight club is: You DO NOT TALK about fight club.