I have to agree. The new Mac Player rocks and is one of the best media players around. I love that it uses the Safari rendering engine for the built in browser and has great on screen controls. I just wish you have Mac support for Rhapsody - the mac needs a subscription audio service as well...
You repeatedly make the comment about the mini not having a keyboard nor a mouse, yet a combination keyboard and mouse cost as little as $25. Then you discuss things like: 1. PC does not come with OS. 2. PC does not come with DVD reader, 3. PC does not come with X Y and Z. I think for the $25 you get the keyboard and mouse with, and then $50 for the cheap monitor you get with the PC, you still end up with a MUCH better deal with the Mac.
I don't know why this is not being mentioned - the Real store DOES use AAC. In fact, it uses 192 AAC (instead of 128) and is can encode in AAC. The issue is PURELY the DRM. They use Helix, Apple uses fairplay. They would like to continue using AAC in their store, but to sell AAC that cannot play on the iPod right now is pure death - what players support Helix AAC? One or two... What players support FairPlay AAC? The only one that counts....
Real wants to keep its SOFTWARE player alive. It is no threat to Apple, and Apple could even require Real to include iTunes with every install of Real. In all honesty, to me it seems like a win win for Apple. And I TOTALLY understand why Real would switch to WMA if Apple turns them down - they have had very little traction getting vendors out there to support Helix DRM in their players, but everyone supports WMA DRM. If Apple will not license FairPlay, who will ever buy Real's songs in AAC? I mean, what will they play them on, other than in RealPlayer, and only on the PC? We know it sucks...
Here is what they need to do (IMHO):
* Agree with Apple to not create a store for the Mac, or only if Apple approves, and if they do, have the files go into iTunes and ONLY be a store (not a player for AAC) on the Mac.
* Agree to include QT with every install of Real on the PC, and have it leave the playback of MOV and other Apple Specific video formats to QT. Who cares about where AAC gets played on the PC? Shouldn't people have an option?
* Abandon Helix, make a convertor app that converts all the current Helix DRMd songs to FairPlay DRM so as they will play on the iPod - NOT try to make the iPod play Helix DRM.
* Enter a Multi-Year exclusive contract to only support the iPod in the Real Player on the PC and to resell it for Apple.
From what I am reading, it sounds like that is what Glaser wants. He really has no option other than choosing WMA instead of the AAC he chose in his store - I mean, you can view it as a threat, but really, who else does AAC? What plays DRMd AAC? He really has no choice....
Just my.02
--
"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you."
- Pericles, 430 BC
Timbuk2 too complicated?
You must be kidding me....
been using it for years. It is one of the best and most well written applications for the Mac, always embraces great technology, and easy to learn and use. If you have not checked it out, you owe yourself to.
--
"Why of course, the people don't want war. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders...All you have to do is tell them that they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." - Hermann Goering to G.M. Gilbert at the Nuremberg war-crimes tribunal.
"You don't know your past, you don't know your future." - Bob Marley
I would be amazed to find anyone buying any old hard drives for any server. Not saying you can't, just like you can with any XServe, but you usually buy a drive designed to work with your server solution. Everything you indicated is that you buy everything made by one vendor- HP/Compaq. Why any different than it is on the Macintosh? We bought an external FireWire HD for our macOS X Server - a generic FW case that we stuck a Maxtor in. But when we wanted a managed, hot swap drive, we did what any admin on any platfrom would do - we bought a drive designed by the vendor for their hot swapped slot - wheteher it is Apple with the XServe or HP with a smart array controller.
--
"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you."
- Pericles, 430 BC
Because this proprietary hardware is just like all servers, proprietary (when you buy a box from Dell, or Compaq/HP, or IBM, you are buying into THEIR hardware upgrades, etc.) The server market is very different than the desktop market - you don't want to put together the box, you want to buy something DESIGNED to work together and supported by the company that sold it to you. We never put in our HP Server anything other than HP hot swap hard drives - I didn't run to CompUSA and pick up the cheapest Maxtor available. And the Apple Based hardware (the XServe) coupled with Mac OS X Server's software (unlimited license included in the hardware cost) HAS been found to actually be cheaper than competitive hardware from HP/Compaq, Dell, and IBM, even without the costly MSFT Server licenses (yes, cheaper even than these servers with Linux installed). And if the server can run all these non proprietary Unix apps, on supported hardware, that can outperform other hardware, for less money, why wouldn't EVERY system admin with any sense at least give them a look? Don't believe me, read any of real cost/performance analyses of the new Xserve raid (just coming out - the cost performance of the previous model was also the the best) and the Xserve (again, new ones coming out as we speak) and they will tell you that the Xserves are the best bang for the buck with MacOS X installed on them.
Again, you run commodity software on the most cost effective and powerful solution, and beleive it or not, these days that is an XServe. Go figure.
--
"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you."
- Pericles, 430 BC
WMA Specifications may be available, but to play DRMd WMA files you must pay MSFT a licensing fee - that is where they make money...
I really doubt Apple will even allow HP to add WMA support - you really think Apple engineers are so dumb that they need HPs help on this? Come on. If they wanted to add it, they would have.
This one guy is the ONLY guy saying HP is adding WMA support. What the f*ck does he know? Heard it here first? Yes - we did. He wanted hits, and he got them. I am sure it will not be the last time we hear this - but I honestly doubt you will be seeing WMA support in the iPod anytime soon. Or ever. You heard THAT here first...
Eytan
--
"To announce that there be no criticism of the President, or to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
However...
the UI of the Nomad sucks and is inelegant. It is fairly difficult to navigate the Nomad family to pick your tunes, and the Jukebox 2 is a large product. Lastly, the nomad family is not well integrated with any music store, although it does work reasonably well with Musicmatch. I do wish Apple had an easily replaceable battery, because one time when I was skiing it ran out of juice. In usual use however this has yet to be an issue for me.
I really do love the way my iPod works, and I agree with you that the $249 is ridiculous, but I think Apple is squarely going after the other small 4 GB models from RIO and Creative, not the large Nomad 2 (REALLY large) or the medium size Zen and iRiver (priced competitively to the larger iPod). Those just announced 4 GB products from both Rio and Creative are, surprise surprise, $249.
Eytan
--
Q: How do you convert ordinary water into Holy Water?
No, you are right. Apple is not giving up the ability to have others sell it, it is HP that cannot resell other products, like MusicMatch (I don't know if it is MusicMatch specifically.) HP may not partner with other vendors of these kind of products for a few years [multi-year, however many that is...]. Apple, on the other hand, has no such clause.
Eytan
The big gain for Apple is QuickTime. Apple once had a deal with Compaq to include QT on every Compaq shipped. This was back in the days when MSFT played dirty (I guess I should say dirtier) Anyway, MSFT scuttled that deal.
This is a HUGE win for Apple. As has been said many times by many pundits, Apple was going to lose EVENTUALLY if they did not support WMA on the iPods or start supporting WMA in the music store. It was only a matter of time.
This move, however, gives MPEG4/QT/AAC legitimacy, and creates an installed base for these [more] open standards than the proprietary WM formats. Especially with HP being one of the first companies to come out with a Media Center PC (I think Gateway was the first). HP has traditionally been MSFTs showcase company for new technology, like the concept computer last year. Now HP may be saying, if we are creating a media center type machine we want to develop it around OPEN standards, not ones where we pay MSFT at every stage of the game.
All of a sudden, AAC, FairPlay, MPEG4, etc., all look like they could succeed in the industry - hell, even win. You never know. But no longer can you look at AAC and QuickTime and say that it is only a matter of time.
It surprises me (hell - it really doesn't) how the pundits have missed this. This is NOT about the iPod. This is NOT about the Apple Music Store. This is ALL about the competing media standards and what this means for QT and the MPEG alliance going forward. This IS huge.
Eytan
--
Q: How do you convert ordinary water into Holy Water?
No you cannot. The eMac does not have USB 2.0. The eMac is as "Ready" as any computer for Bluetooth - it has no internal antenna or bluetooth option other than a USB Bluetooth option. Not that I don't think the eMac is a good deal, but you should not spew nonsense...
Eytan
My Powermac G4, bought in 1999, was the first one with an AGP port. I waited for it precisely because I KNEW I would not be locked into what it came with... It was a 400 MhZ system that came with 64 MB of RAM. It is now configured as such:
1.1 GhZ G4 (GigaSystems 1 GhZ overclocked to 1.1, 2 MB L3 cache)
Sony DVD+-R/RW
ATI8500 dual headed AGP card attached to 2 monitors
1GB RAM
Sonnet Trio FireWire/USB2.0/ATA 133 card - to add USB 2.0, and 2 more FireWire ports, and 4 IDE 133 connectors (the G4 Motherboard I have has an internal FireWire port, so you can add a 3rd drive without an additional controller inside using this dohicky...
http://www.wiebetech.com/products.html#firewiredd
You can even get one that allows daisychaining...)
But I just Don't have room, not that this case would have that additional room - remember, I can have 6 Internal drives with the space inside the G4 case - and that is excluding the DVD and Zip I already have...
AudioWerks 8 Digital Audio board (yes - the mac unfortunately ONLY supports "higher" end audio cards - but that is because they all come with reasonable audio built in...)
5 (yes, 5!!) INTERNAL Hard drives, with room for a 6th...
4 of my 5 drives are off the shelf Maxtor drives...
My Sony DVD recordable drive said "For Windows" all over the box - nice that I could use it beautifully with iTunes, iPhoto, and most importantly, iDVD...
external Firewire OWC case 120 MB drive (another Maxtor, my 6th drive)
2 2.5 inch drives in Mercury to Go cases (the 30 GB drive I replaced the 12 GB drive in my PB G3 with, and then the 40 GB drive that came in my replacement 15" TiBook that I replaced with the 60 GB I pulled out of the PB G3 after I put the 12" back in the PB G3 when I returned it to Apple, after 3 years, under AppleCare, when they replaced it with the brand new 15"!!!!)
So yes, they have a long life span, and are very upgradeable. I don't see the value of this box over going out and buying a used G4 tower - It can be had for the same amount of money, and you can stuff the same stuff in it - the ONLY benefit I see is a second 5.25 removable bay - but I have a Plextor off the shelf burner in an external FireWire case, and it has the added benefit of being able to connect it to the aforementioned laptop.
I am not saying this is not interesting, but for my money I would MUCH rather buy a used G4 tower, with case, and get the benefit of a VERY elegant and easy to use case...
And oh - the specs for this unit do not include the modem, that came in mine.
I really see NO price saving, and it is ugly to boot...
Again, Really please explain to me the true benefit of this machine over a used G4?
Eytan
P.S. Of course, I also have a MSFT Internet USB Keyboard that when I bought it had NO Apple Drivers, and NEVER said Apple on the box (I had started writing my own custom driver for the cool media keys when MSFT came out with a really nice driver for it,) USB hub, media reader, Keyspan Digital Media Remote, MSFT joystick, MSFT steering wheel, Smartmedia Reader, Cannon $50 USB bus powered scanner, Wacom tablet, etc., etc....
You are all wrong...
Sorry to put it that way...
the Apple//e was always the//e, even before the//e enhanced (mousetext and 65c02)
The ][+ was the last ][ model...
see here:
http://apple2history.org/history/ah07.html
Eytan
I agree. i remember not being able to find the right pots to build paddles (remember, we used paddles instead of joystcks for most games) so I wrote alookup table that I would load in that mapped my 150 possible values to the 255 that the joystick port handled...
It is true - the only machine I ever ENJOYED writing asssembly language for was my Apple ][+ (and then my Apple//e). I was programming for that machine for a job as late as 1990, and continued to update software until as late as 1996 (I worked for an educational software company). What memories this talk brings back...
Bought my Apple ][+ April 1, 1981, a a computer trade show in NYC...
I remember adding 16K of RAM for $275 to take my Apple ][+ to a whopping 64K
Ah.. Nostalgia...
I even still have my stack of was it Nibbles Magazine?
Eytan
I stll haven't found a.sig I like
If you were trully the nerd you claim to be, you would know it was the Apple//e, and the Apple ][+
there was no "Apple ][e"
I still have my Apple//e Enhanced (the enhanced had the 65C02 and the "MouseText" caharacter set to help you run such great progeams as AppleLink PE, later known as AOL. Boy were we pissed when the added the Mac users..., with 2 5.25 drives, a 3.5, a Street Electronics Business Card (Dual Serial/Clock), a mouse, a PCPI CP/M card, a 1 Meg RAM Disk, a 20 MB Sider hard Disk with Prosel as it's menuing system...
Don't remember the last time I looked at it, or unpacked it, but I am a pack rat and still have it...
I still haven't come across a.sig I like
What are you talking about...
48 is for professional DAT recording, and is what most music is still mastered in. Consumer DAT decks had SCMS to protect, not a sampling rate issues. If you look at the math, 48 works much better into 96, 192, etc. - not 44.1.
When I record at 24 bit, I always use 48 - NOT 44.1. The difference in bringing that down to 44.1/16 is amazing - sounds way better than originally recording at 44.1/16.
48 was NOT chosen by the RIAA. I have no idea why people use the letters RIAA whenever they want to complain about ANYTHING music related - as far as I know they did not set the digital audio recording standards......
That creative labs stuff is subpar, I will agree, but research your facts on 48Khz and why it was chosen before making such a silly post...
Eytan
At this point, the fastest ones are 5400 RPM. IBM is one of the suppliers. I have a 60MB 5400 RPM in my PB G3. It was an upgrade from a 4200 RPM 30 GB. There are fewer 9.5 mm 5400 RPM drives than 11-12 mm drives.
Eytan
There are more and more people who are using laptops to record music in the field. Often they are recording at 24/48 or 24/96. This wide bandwidth consumes huge amounts of power because of the continuous disk access (I have found that recording at 24/48 takes 1.5 times the battery power of 16/44.1). When you are recording live music in the field, you do not have the luxury of putting your laptop to sleep - you never know how long they will be playing for. In addition, you may be powering an external USB or FireWire based A/D converter/Microphone preamp - for example, the Digidesign M-Box.
For all of these situations, this sounds like an ideal supplement to the internal battery. The #1 reason I have not upgraded from my FireWire PBG3 is because it has 2 battery bays and one you can swap batteries without powering down/sleeping.
Lastly, a unit like this has much more of a life than your laptop. Because of the modularity of a battery and a power cable, you don't have to concern yourself with laptop upgrades - I'm psyched I have 3 batteries for my PowerBook G3, but when I do upgrade, all those batteries will be useless. With something like this, all I would need would be a new cable.
Again, this is great News!!!
Eytan
Slashdot Mirror
I have to agree. The new Mac Player rocks and is one of the best media players around. I love that it uses the Safari rendering engine for the built in browser and has great on screen controls. I just wish you have Mac support for Rhapsody - the mac needs a subscription audio service as well...
because you don't have to worry about spyware on the other platforms...
You repeatedly make the comment about the mini not having a keyboard nor a mouse, yet a combination keyboard and mouse cost as little as $25. Then you discuss things like: 1. PC does not come with OS. 2. PC does not come with DVD reader, 3. PC does not come with X Y and Z. I think for the $25 you get the keyboard and mouse with, and then $50 for the cheap monitor you get with the PC, you still end up with a MUCH better deal with the Mac.
I don't know why this is not being mentioned - the Real store DOES use AAC. In fact, it uses 192 AAC (instead of 128) and is can encode in AAC. The issue is PURELY the DRM. They use Helix, Apple uses fairplay. They would like to continue using AAC in their store, but to sell AAC that cannot play on the iPod right now is pure death - what players support Helix AAC? One or two... What players support FairPlay AAC? The only one that counts....
.02
Real wants to keep its SOFTWARE player alive. It is no threat to Apple, and Apple could even require Real to include iTunes with every install of Real. In all honesty, to me it seems like a win win for Apple. And I TOTALLY understand why Real would switch to WMA if Apple turns them down - they have had very little traction getting vendors out there to support Helix DRM in their players, but everyone supports WMA DRM. If Apple will not license FairPlay, who will ever buy Real's songs in AAC? I mean, what will they play them on, other than in RealPlayer, and only on the PC? We know it sucks...
Here is what they need to do (IMHO):
* Agree with Apple to not create a store for the Mac, or only if Apple approves, and if they do, have the files go into iTunes and ONLY be a store (not a player for AAC) on the Mac.
* Agree to include QT with every install of Real on the PC, and have it leave the playback of MOV and other Apple Specific video formats to QT. Who cares about where AAC gets played on the PC? Shouldn't people have an option?
* Abandon Helix, make a convertor app that converts all the current Helix DRMd songs to FairPlay DRM so as they will play on the iPod - NOT try to make the iPod play Helix DRM.
* Enter a Multi-Year exclusive contract to only support the iPod in the Real Player on the PC and to resell it for Apple.
From what I am reading, it sounds like that is what Glaser wants. He really has no option other than choosing WMA instead of the AAC he chose in his store - I mean, you can view it as a threat, but really, who else does AAC? What plays DRMd AAC? He really has no choice....
Just my
--
"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you."
- Pericles, 430 BC
Yes, I've been using it for years, but my experience from the getgo has been "wow, this is easy and elegant" Good luck with it! Eytan
Timbuk2 too complicated?
You must be kidding me....
been using it for years. It is one of the best and most well written applications for the Mac, always embraces great technology, and easy to learn and use. If you have not checked it out, you owe yourself to.
--
"Why of course, the people don't want war. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders...All you have to do is tell them that they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." - Hermann Goering to G.M. Gilbert at the Nuremberg war-crimes tribunal.
"You don't know your past, you don't know your future." - Bob Marley
I would be amazed to find anyone buying any old hard drives for any server. Not saying you can't, just like you can with any XServe, but you usually buy a drive designed to work with your server solution. Everything you indicated is that you buy everything made by one vendor- HP/Compaq. Why any different than it is on the Macintosh? We bought an external FireWire HD for our macOS X Server - a generic FW case that we stuck a Maxtor in. But when we wanted a managed, hot swap drive, we did what any admin on any platfrom would do - we bought a drive designed by the vendor for their hot swapped slot - wheteher it is Apple with the XServe or HP with a smart array controller.
--
"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you."
- Pericles, 430 BC
Because this proprietary hardware is just like all servers, proprietary (when you buy a box from Dell, or Compaq/HP, or IBM, you are buying into THEIR hardware upgrades, etc.) The server market is very different than the desktop market - you don't want to put together the box, you want to buy something DESIGNED to work together and supported by the company that sold it to you. We never put in our HP Server anything other than HP hot swap hard drives - I didn't run to CompUSA and pick up the cheapest Maxtor available. And the Apple Based hardware (the XServe) coupled with Mac OS X Server's software (unlimited license included in the hardware cost) HAS been found to actually be cheaper than competitive hardware from HP/Compaq, Dell, and IBM, even without the costly MSFT Server licenses (yes, cheaper even than these servers with Linux installed). And if the server can run all these non proprietary Unix apps, on supported hardware, that can outperform other hardware, for less money, why wouldn't EVERY system admin with any sense at least give them a look? Don't believe me, read any of real cost/performance analyses of the new Xserve raid (just coming out - the cost performance of the previous model was also the the best) and the Xserve (again, new ones coming out as we speak) and they will tell you that the Xserves are the best bang for the buck with MacOS X installed on them.
Again, you run commodity software on the most cost effective and powerful solution, and beleive it or not, these days that is an XServe. Go figure.
--
"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you."
- Pericles, 430 BC
WMA Specifications may be available, but to play DRMd WMA files you must pay MSFT a licensing fee - that is where they make money...
I really doubt Apple will even allow HP to add WMA support - you really think Apple engineers are so dumb that they need HPs help on this? Come on. If they wanted to add it, they would have.
This one guy is the ONLY guy saying HP is adding WMA support. What the f*ck does he know? Heard it here first? Yes - we did. He wanted hits, and he got them. I am sure it will not be the last time we hear this - but I honestly doubt you will be seeing WMA support in the iPod anytime soon. Or ever. You heard THAT here first...
Eytan
--
"To announce that there be no criticism of the President, or to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
--Theodore Roosevelt
However...
the UI of the Nomad sucks and is inelegant. It is fairly difficult to navigate the Nomad family to pick your tunes, and the Jukebox 2 is a large product. Lastly, the nomad family is not well integrated with any music store, although it does work reasonably well with Musicmatch. I do wish Apple had an easily replaceable battery, because one time when I was skiing it ran out of juice. In usual use however this has yet to be an issue for me.
I really do love the way my iPod works, and I agree with you that the $249 is ridiculous, but I think Apple is squarely going after the other small 4 GB models from RIO and Creative, not the large Nomad 2 (REALLY large) or the medium size Zen and iRiver (priced competitively to the larger iPod). Those just announced 4 GB products from both Rio and Creative are, surprise surprise, $249.
Eytan
--
Q: How do you convert ordinary water into Holy Water?
A: You boil the hell out of it.
No, you are right. Apple is not giving up the ability to have others sell it, it is HP that cannot resell other products, like MusicMatch (I don't know if it is MusicMatch specifically.) HP may not partner with other vendors of these kind of products for a few years [multi-year, however many that is...]. Apple, on the other hand, has no such clause.
Eytan
This is touched on a bit here, but not enough...
The big gain for Apple is QuickTime. Apple once had a deal with Compaq to include QT on every Compaq shipped. This was back in the days when MSFT played dirty (I guess I should say dirtier) Anyway, MSFT scuttled that deal.
This is a HUGE win for Apple. As has been said many times by many pundits, Apple was going to lose EVENTUALLY if they did not support WMA on the iPods or start supporting WMA in the music store. It was only a matter of time.
This move, however, gives MPEG4/QT/AAC legitimacy, and creates an installed base for these [more] open standards than the proprietary WM formats. Especially with HP being one of the first companies to come out with a Media Center PC (I think Gateway was the first). HP has traditionally been MSFTs showcase company for new technology, like the concept computer last year. Now HP may be saying, if we are creating a media center type machine we want to develop it around OPEN standards, not ones where we pay MSFT at every stage of the game.
All of a sudden, AAC, FairPlay, MPEG4, etc., all look like they could succeed in the industry - hell, even win. You never know. But no longer can you look at AAC and QuickTime and say that it is only a matter of time.
It surprises me (hell - it really doesn't) how the pundits have missed this. This is NOT about the iPod. This is NOT about the Apple Music Store. This is ALL about the competing media standards and what this means for QT and the MPEG alliance going forward. This IS huge.
Eytan
--
Q: How do you convert ordinary water into Holy Water?
A: You boil the hell out of it.
No you cannot. The eMac does not have USB 2.0. The eMac is as "Ready" as any computer for Bluetooth - it has no internal antenna or bluetooth option other than a USB Bluetooth option. Not that I don't think the eMac is a good deal, but you should not spew nonsense... Eytan
1.1 GhZ G4 (GigaSystems 1 GhZ overclocked to 1.1, 2 MB L3 cache)
Sony DVD+-R/RW
ATI8500 dual headed AGP card attached to 2 monitors
1GB RAM
Sonnet Trio FireWire/USB2.0/ATA 133 card - to add USB 2.0, and 2 more FireWire ports, and 4 IDE 133 connectors (the G4 Motherboard I have has an internal FireWire port, so you can add a 3rd drive without an additional controller inside using this dohicky...
http://www.wiebetech.com/products.html#firewiredd
You can even get one that allows daisychaining...)
But I just Don't have room, not that this case would have that additional room - remember, I can have 6 Internal drives with the space inside the G4 case - and that is excluding the DVD and Zip I already have...
AudioWerks 8 Digital Audio board (yes - the mac unfortunately ONLY supports "higher" end audio cards - but that is because they all come with reasonable audio built in...)
5 (yes, 5!!) INTERNAL Hard drives, with room for a 6th...
4 of my 5 drives are off the shelf Maxtor drives...
My Sony DVD recordable drive said "For Windows" all over the box - nice that I could use it beautifully with iTunes, iPhoto, and most importantly, iDVD...
external Firewire OWC case 120 MB drive (another Maxtor, my 6th drive)
2 2.5 inch drives in Mercury to Go cases (the 30 GB drive I replaced the 12 GB drive in my PB G3 with, and then the 40 GB drive that came in my replacement 15" TiBook that I replaced with the 60 GB I pulled out of the PB G3 after I put the 12" back in the PB G3 when I returned it to Apple, after 3 years, under AppleCare, when they replaced it with the brand new 15"!!!!)
So yes, they have a long life span, and are very upgradeable. I don't see the value of this box over going out and buying a used G4 tower - It can be had for the same amount of money, and you can stuff the same stuff in it - the ONLY benefit I see is a second 5.25 removable bay - but I have a Plextor off the shelf burner in an external FireWire case, and it has the added benefit of being able to connect it to the aforementioned laptop.
I am not saying this is not interesting, but for my money I would MUCH rather buy a used G4 tower, with case, and get the benefit of a VERY elegant and easy to use case...
And oh - the specs for this unit do not include the modem, that came in mine.
I really see NO price saving, and it is ugly to boot...
Again, Really please explain to me the true benefit of this machine over a used G4?
Eytan
P.S. Of course, I also have a MSFT Internet USB Keyboard that when I bought it had NO Apple Drivers, and NEVER said Apple on the box (I had started writing my own custom driver for the cool media keys when MSFT came out with a really nice driver for it,) USB hub, media reader, Keyspan Digital Media Remote, MSFT joystick, MSFT steering wheel, Smartmedia Reader, Cannon $50 USB bus powered scanner, Wacom tablet, etc., etc....
Still have't found a .sig I like
You are all wrong... Sorry to put it that way... the Apple //e was always the //e, even before the //e enhanced (mousetext and 65c02)
The ][+ was the last ][ model...
see here:
http://apple2history.org/history/ah07.html
Eytan
I agree. i remember not being able to find the right pots to build paddles (remember, we used paddles instead of joystcks for most games) so I wrote alookup table that I would load in that mapped my 150 possible values to the 255 that the joystick port handled... It is true - the only machine I ever ENJOYED writing asssembly language for was my Apple ][+ (and then my Apple //e). I was programming for that machine for a job as late as 1990, and continued to update software until as late as 1996 (I worked for an educational software company). What memories this talk brings back...
Bought my Apple ][+ April 1, 1981, a a computer trade show in NYC...
I remember adding 16K of RAM for $275 to take my Apple ][+ to a whopping 64K
Ah.. Nostalgia...
I even still have my stack of was it Nibbles Magazine?
Eytan
I stll haven't found a .sig I like
If you were trully the nerd you claim to be, you would know it was the Apple //e, and the Apple ][+
there was no "Apple ][e"
I still have my Apple //e Enhanced (the enhanced had the 65C02 and the "MouseText" caharacter set to help you run such great progeams as AppleLink PE, later known as AOL. Boy were we pissed when the added the Mac users..., with 2 5.25 drives, a 3.5, a Street Electronics Business Card (Dual Serial/Clock), a mouse, a PCPI CP/M card, a 1 Meg RAM Disk, a 20 MB Sider hard Disk with Prosel as it's menuing system...
Don't remember the last time I looked at it, or unpacked it, but I am a pack rat and still have it...
I still haven't come across a .sig I like
What are you talking about... 48 is for professional DAT recording, and is what most music is still mastered in. Consumer DAT decks had SCMS to protect, not a sampling rate issues. If you look at the math, 48 works much better into 96, 192, etc. - not 44.1. When I record at 24 bit, I always use 48 - NOT 44.1. The difference in bringing that down to 44.1/16 is amazing - sounds way better than originally recording at 44.1/16. 48 was NOT chosen by the RIAA. I have no idea why people use the letters RIAA whenever they want to complain about ANYTHING music related - as far as I know they did not set the digital audio recording standards...... That creative labs stuff is subpar, I will agree, but research your facts on 48Khz and why it was chosen before making such a silly post... Eytan
IBM announced an 80 GB 2.5" (I think at 4200) and new laptop drives at 7200... See: http://www.ibm.com/news/us/2002/11/6.html Eytan
At this point, the fastest ones are 5400 RPM. IBM is one of the suppliers. I have a 60MB 5400 RPM in my PB G3. It was an upgrade from a 4200 RPM 30 GB. There are fewer 9.5 mm 5400 RPM drives than 11-12 mm drives. Eytan
There are more and more people who are using laptops to record music in the field. Often they are recording at 24/48 or 24/96. This wide bandwidth consumes huge amounts of power because of the continuous disk access (I have found that recording at 24/48 takes 1.5 times the battery power of 16/44.1). When you are recording live music in the field, you do not have the luxury of putting your laptop to sleep - you never know how long they will be playing for. In addition, you may be powering an external USB or FireWire based A/D converter/Microphone preamp - for example, the Digidesign M-Box. For all of these situations, this sounds like an ideal supplement to the internal battery. The #1 reason I have not upgraded from my FireWire PBG3 is because it has 2 battery bays and one you can swap batteries without powering down/sleeping. Lastly, a unit like this has much more of a life than your laptop. Because of the modularity of a battery and a power cable, you don't have to concern yourself with laptop upgrades - I'm psyched I have 3 batteries for my PowerBook G3, but when I do upgrade, all those batteries will be useless. With something like this, all I would need would be a new cable. Again, this is great News!!! Eytan