PC-Chips M787CL+ V3.0 Socket 370/667M CPU/SIS/A&V&L&M/MATX/Bulk Motherboard for $49
$49!!! Now that's cheap! I've done several systems, you can replace the fan/heatsink with a Zalman northbridge heatsink, then run it with only the power supply fan. The only noise audible is the harddrive whine.
CPU: SOCKET 370, BUILT IN VIA C3 1GIGA PRO CPU ON BOARD (CYRIX 734MHZ) CHIPSET: SIS630S (FSB133) MEMORY: 2 DIMMS FOR PC133 SDRAM UP TO 1G SLOTS: 3PCI, 1AMR AUDIO: AC'97 ON BOARD VIDEO: INTEGRATED ADVANCED 128BIT 2D/3D GRAPHIC ENGINE LAN: INTEGRATED IN SIS 630E (ON BOARD) MODEM: 1AMR CARD MICRO ATX, BULK
[2221 lilo`(lilo@lilo.staff.opn)] you're saying that my asking for voluntary assistance based on my work on the network is abusive?
[2222 msg(lilo`)] I'm saying that your using the network to ask for personal donations which will benefit no one but yourself is an abuse of power. It's also arguable that such use of the network is now illegal given the NPO you formed to oversee the network.
Re:Obvious use - Voice
on
HighWLAN
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Cell phones cost money per minute, and as you may have read in the article, their Cell service was uneven, the WAN was far more reliable (connected 99% of the time). Those are a couple pretty big downsides to Cell.
Also Voice over IP is as good as your bandwidth.
With their WAN they could VASTLY exceed the sound quality of any Cell phone. If they could stream MP3s, all they had to do is encode MP3 realtime from an external Mic and Voila, Voice over IP.
Obvious use - Voice
on
HighWLAN
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Pity they didn't setup Voice over IP.
Granted CB or other no-license radio is cheaper, and easier. But it still would have been secure, high fidelity and fun.
I wish I had some mod points left today for you, I'd mod you up.
I sorely miss "Taste". I don't think David Rosengarten is even on TV anymore? In some ways it was a better show than Good Eats, more "pure", more about the food. I still have his PrimeRib and Steak episodes on tape. Classics.
He has a web page and newsletter, and a couple books in print.
http://www.davidrosengarten.com
You should also check out America's Kitchen on PBS, it's "Cook's Illustrated" done for TV. The host is the creator/editor of Cook's, doesn't have perfect teeth or hair, he's a real person, not a TV personality. It's a delightful show.
In case you haven't seen "Cook's Illustrated", it has NO ADS! It has no "LOW FAT", or "DIET" recipes! It doesn't have any sort of article that would appeal to advertisers. It's all about food. They print up the entire years issues in book form at the end of each year, fascinating reading. In fact as much as I like Alton's book, I would pick up those back issues in book form first.
I'd say the Cook's Illustrated TV show is closer to the spirit of "Taste" than "Good Eats".
The article was about Japan vs the US, and specificly about the fancy phone features that seem to be unique in Japan. It went into detail about odd and uniquely Japanese phone fashion culture.
Are phones commonly used in Finland and Sweden as a PC alternative for things like email?
1. US landlines are virtually free (local calls unbilled, long distance 2 to 3 cents a minute with calling cards, or services like BigZoo). So few use Cell instead of landline.
2. US providers charge for incomming calls, so no one gives out their number, and often leave their phone off.
3. US workers tend to drive to work. So less idle time to play with phone features.
4. US system is disorganized so your services and messaging often do not work across providers.
5. US has FAR higher ratio of PC owners than Japan. So many features like email/messaging are done from PC.
6. US is a very large place, with many different providers often with incompatible networks. So access/reception is not reliable enough replace land lines.
To those who say use in the US is low because voice rates are too high here. They are not, they are often cheaper than other countries like Japan, Germany and Finland. But a fixed line is FAR more expensive in those countries than the US.
Anyway, standardize the system, make rates competitive with land lines and you will see an explosion in use (but that raises the other issue, capacity).
You don't need cheating to ruin a new users experience.
As long as you have uniq IDs, and some degree of anonymity, you will have "better" players (either by skill or cheating) wanting to beat lesser players. It's some sort of easy ego boost I suppose, or the joy of bullying?
A simple example is Yahoo chess. I had a business associate admit to me that he regularly plays online, but uses chess software to beat all comers. He said the number of new players had steadily declined to the point where he didn't play much anymore because all the other players left were cheating as well (they even discuss what chess software they use in chat).
Even in legit games where there is a constant battle against cheaters (like many Unreal Tournament servers), what do you do when the majority of players still playing (not exactly a new game) are experts who are so good the game isn't fun anymore even for intermediate players (like myself) let alone new players? You can never attract new users to online play of Unreal Tournament because the existing userbase is too experienced.
This may be less of a problem where players don't compete with each other, but instead work against non-player characters (like in EQ). But in true competition games I don't see any easy answers even if cheating is somehow completely supressed.
I agree the "what filter acted upon me" feature in Eudora is nice. But it's nice because we are stuck in this world of hand tweaked filters for doing what 99% of us do the same way.
I guess automaticly generated filters would be a step in the right direction, but only if they were automaticly updated on the fly. What I was thinking was more of a database operation, a search query (much like others have described above), but without the hassle of actually creating or maintaining this list of queries.
As for backup and archiving! Absolutely! Which is one reason why I love keeping my mail as seperate files, one per message. Then I can use common utilities to backup and archive my mail, as well as look for large attachments (for example, after I remove all very large attachments, my massive mail folder (over 130,000 messages) fits nicely on a CDR without compression). I archive the large attachments every once and a while, and thereby keep my mail folder size down.
What's particularly nice about single files is keeping machines in sync. With most mail programs, syncing up machines is a horror! You may have 100mb or more of data to copy, and if both machines have new data it's hopeless! But with single files, it's a simple file copy done with any operating system. You only copy the files with new dates. (this is why I find it so hard to give up on PMMail)
Automatic creation of folders would never happen for just a few messages, they would just dump into the inbox. I was suggesting only when the number of messages exceeds some criteria (5? 10? 20? messages ever recieved/sent from that person?).
Folders would default to 1 deep, there would not be some kind of huge tree to traverse.
Folders would clearly be labelled as the name of the sender.
Folder icons would highlight in a dramatic way (not a tiny check or X) when new mail is available in that folder.
When users do choose to nest folders (like creating a "Family" , or "Friends", or "Sales", root folder, not an automatic operation), that folder's icon would also highlight in a dramatic way when new mail is available in one of it's subfolders. So if the folder tree is not expanded you can still see if there is new mail under which catagory.
As for "Folder list? What folder list?", anyone who has EVER used any GUI email client sees a list of folders right now! If they have been using this automatic email client for any period of time, they would see these new folders appear nicely named after the people they corrispond with.
Anyone I've ever recieved more than N messages from, make a folder for me, and setup the filters to automaticly put messages from that person into that folder.
Also put symbolic links to any messages I've ever sent that person (or list) into that folder.
Why do I say put links?
Ever write a message to multiple friends and you have no idea which folder the message was filtered into? It's either in some random folder for whichever filter was first, or worse there are multiple copies of the message in each persons folder.
I want it all to be automatic, so automatic that magicly my mother's 500+ message InBox is suddenly cleaned up as a series of neat and clear folders.
If it's not automatic, 99% of users (like those who never program their VCR) will never use filters for folders. At most I see people using folders manually. It needs to be all automatic!!
I'd also like all my messages stored as plain text, one file per message, one directory for each folder (like PMMail except use better filenames). I want my mail to be indestructable, and not tied up in anyones database format. Screw mbox or worse the encrypted junk in Outlook. Let the OS do the work! Then I can search for messages, move messages between folders, do all sorts of cool stuff directly to the message base.
My favorite is the Long Island Business news article about how filing lawsuits is this guy's "hobby".
Re:If you care about digital audio, no choices
on
Comparing the DVRs?
·
· Score: 2
> no monthly service fee
If that is a cricial factor, then consider the TiVo as costing $250 more than advertised and get the lifetime subscription. The estimated price for the DishPVR 721 is $600, the DirecTiVo list price is $300 plus the $250 lifetime is $550, so the service fee is a non-issue.
Anyway, until the DishPVR 721 is released, the TiVo/UltimateTV options both have the unique ability to record two shows while viewing a third using a single unit.
As for the existing DishPVR software, it's still lacking some key features like recording a show by name (wishlists) and only recording non-repeat episodes, also any kind of suggestions feature.
Then you have the issues of upgradability, and hackability.
If you care about digital audio, no choices
on
Comparing the DVRs?
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Yes you could buy an external TiVo or ReplayTV for your DishNetwork box.
But once you decide digital audio is important to you, then you MUST go with the integrated PVR since no external PVRs have digital audio input.
And as others have said, same with zero loss video. Any external PVR is going to have to redigitize the video instead of recording the original data stream.
You should have considered your PVR options before choosing DishNetwork since the DishPlayer software is not so great.
For instance someone recommends OnStream, the 30GB or 50GB models.
Well, those models are really 15GB and 25GB, the 30GB and 50GB numbers are based on expected compression.
Of course you can use the same compression to fit more on ANY backup media!!!
Why not call DVD 4.7GB media as 9.5GB media?
Or CDR media as 1.4GB?
Remember JPG, MP3, AVI, MPG, ZIP, RAR, GZ and so on will not compress at all. So you begin to see what a farce tape capacity is.
Given the REAL capacity, how much do you pay for a Onstream tapes per real GB?
15GB for $30
25GB for $40
So the best price is $1.6 per GB.
Then there is the drive cost, figure $300 for the 50GB model. So let's say you buy 12 tapes, and a drive, 300GB of backup storage for $780.
That's a real cost of $2.6 per GB, for data that can only be read on another tape drive, and is not random access.
Harddrives are cheaper per GB, faster, and can be plugged into any computer. The price keeps falling everyday. So only buy what you need now, and pay much less in a year.
Uncomfortable with IDE? Go Firewire, it's hot plug and play (no reboot), about $3 per GB (and falling).
> They're out of 24x SCSI CDs, at least it
> wouldn't let me order more than six. Only $90
You got the last of them! They are no longer listed. The only SCSI drives they have left are 1x and 2x.
When I posted the link, they must have had more, I was able to put in 7 drives (but I didn't order them, I was concerned about their quality and speed of ripping).
If you want more of the 24x CyberDrives, they have them here for $16 each:
Problems with using external home audio jukeboxes are:
1. Top ripping speed is 1x... slow
2. No disc info, so no CDDA type track ID info, are you going to type in all the track info?
3. No standard interface for controlling the external jukebox.
So although it would be GREAT to rip 50, 100 or more CDs at a time, there is no inexpensive way to do it.
A few years ago there were SCSI jukeboxes commonly available. I have a couple 7 disc ones sitting on my shelf, one 2x, the other 4x. Sadly both are so old they do not support audio ripping.
Unfortunately that market seems to have all but disappeared to be replaced with SCSI jukebox towers. You can build one yourself using cheap SCSI CD-ROM drives, and a big SCSI tower case. ComputerGeeks sells 24x SCSI CD-ROM drives for $15 each:
http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=240S
You don't even REALLY need a case, you could just stack them up, tape them together, and use an old AT power supply to give them juice. Heat is not an issue since you are only using one at a time.
Re:Archos is bigger (Noman is MUCH bigger)
on
Apple releases iPod
·
· Score: 2
For the same price, I can have an Archos 20GB, (IBM 20GB Laptop drive is around $100, leaving you with a 6GB drive to sell off or use for some other project).
But, don't underestimate the advantage of HALF the weight! I've tried to put an Archos in my shirt pocket, and it's not practical, something thinner and half the weight would be acceptable.
As for the talk of using a RIO Volt, it's not entirely practical to carry around. Even with the improved firmware the skip protection only works on long tracks without much seeking around. Each time you switch tracks you need to stand still or walk very carefully.
The iPod is suprisingly small, compare to the Archos (which is quite a bit smaller than the Creative Nomad):
Dimensions: 115 x 83 x 34 mm. (4.5 x 3.2 x 1.3")
Weight: 350 g (12.3 oz.)
Of course the Archos is cheaper, can record, and supports up to 30GB (just swap drives). The Archos drivers have no digital rights protection, and no special software. The device just appears as a standard USB external drive (FAT32) when you plug it in.
Firewire is quite appealing, consider copying a few GB at USB speeds... ughhhh.
Go to http://www.r3mix.net and read the articles and follow the links. Great info!!
In february 2000 c't magazin organised a blind listening test. 300 Audiophiles were involved, finalists tested 17 1-min clips from different artists (classic and pop):
original CD recording
128 Kbit/s Joint Stereo [MusicMatch (FhG) v4.4] encoded PC decoded Mac
256 Kbit/s Joint Stereo [MusicMatch (FhG) v4.4] encoded PC decoded Mac
Basicly it says, under most circumstances, 256kbit is indistinguishable from original CD (not the same, just that humans can rarely hear the difference).
But since size is a consideration, you can get close to the same quality using VBR with the latest LAME.
Hey says forget Xing, use either Lame or Fraunhofer for CBR, for VBR Lame is the only decent choice.
With my files --r3mix tends to average around 170kbit, some as high as 214kbit, some as low as 130kbit.
Go check it out, in particular the quality page:
http://users.belgacom.net/gc247244/quality.htm
Now if only someone sold a CD changer with a PC interface so I wouldn't have to rip my CD collection one CD at a time....
Slashdot Mirror
NOT $170!! That's not cheap!
PC-Chips M787CL+ V3.0 Socket 370/667M CPU/SIS/A&V&L&M/MATX/Bulk Motherboard for $49
$49!!! Now that's cheap! I've done several systems, you can replace the fan/heatsink with a Zalman northbridge heatsink, then run it with only the power supply fan. The only noise audible is the harddrive whine.
CPU: SOCKET 370, BUILT IN VIA C3 1GIGA PRO CPU ON BOARD (CYRIX 734MHZ)
CHIPSET: SIS630S (FSB133)
MEMORY: 2 DIMMS FOR PC133 SDRAM UP TO 1G
SLOTS: 3PCI, 1AMR
AUDIO: AC'97 ON BOARD
VIDEO: INTEGRATED ADVANCED 128BIT 2D/3D GRAPHIC ENGINE
LAN: INTEGRATED IN SIS 630E (ON BOARD)
MODEM: 1AMR CARD
MICRO ATX, BULK
How much is your Tape per GB?
DVD-R is around 25 cents per GB. DVD-R burners are now around $250
(and that's a real GB, not a silly fake compressed GB they use when advertising Tape drives!)
From June 13th:
Trolling for Dollars
From July 8th:
The Big Bully
[2221 lilo`(lilo@lilo.staff.opn)] you're saying that my asking for voluntary assistance based on my work on the network is abusive?
[2222 msg(lilo`)] I'm saying that your using the network to ask for personal donations which will benefit no one but yourself is an abuse of power. It's also arguable that such use of the network is now illegal given the NPO you formed to oversee the network.
Cell phones cost money per minute, and as you may have read in the article, their Cell service was uneven, the WAN was far more reliable (connected 99% of the time). Those are a couple pretty big downsides to Cell.
Also Voice over IP is as good as your bandwidth.
With their WAN they could VASTLY exceed the sound quality of any Cell phone. If they could stream MP3s, all they had to do is encode MP3 realtime from an external Mic and Voila, Voice over IP.
Pity they didn't setup Voice over IP.
Granted CB or other no-license radio is cheaper, and easier. But it still would have been secure, high fidelity and fun.
Here is the corrected URL:
u m.php?set_albumName=autobahnwahn2002
http://review.lanwahn.at/php-cgi/gallery/view_alb
I wish I had some mod points left today for you, I'd mod you up.
I sorely miss "Taste". I don't think David Rosengarten is even on TV anymore? In some ways it was a better show than Good Eats, more "pure", more about the food. I still have his PrimeRib and Steak episodes on tape. Classics.
He has a web page and newsletter, and a couple books in print.
http://www.davidrosengarten.com
You should also check out America's Kitchen on PBS, it's "Cook's Illustrated" done for TV. The host is the creator/editor of Cook's, doesn't have perfect teeth or hair, he's a real person, not a TV personality. It's a delightful show.
In case you haven't seen "Cook's Illustrated", it has NO ADS! It has no "LOW FAT", or "DIET" recipes! It doesn't have any sort of article that would appeal to advertisers. It's all about food. They print up the entire years issues in book form at the end of each year, fascinating reading. In fact as much as I like Alton's book, I would pick up those back issues in book form first.
I'd say the Cook's Illustrated TV show is closer to the spirit of "Taste" than "Good Eats".
The article was about Japan vs the US, and specificly about the fancy phone features that seem to be unique in Japan. It went into detail about odd and uniquely Japanese phone fashion culture.
Are phones commonly used in Finland and Sweden as a PC alternative for things like email?
1. US landlines are virtually free (local calls unbilled, long distance 2 to 3 cents a minute with calling cards, or services like BigZoo). So few use Cell instead of landline.
2. US providers charge for incomming calls, so no one gives out their number, and often leave their phone off.
3. US workers tend to drive to work. So less idle time to play with phone features.
4. US system is disorganized so your services and messaging often do not work across providers.
5. US has FAR higher ratio of PC owners than Japan. So many features like email/messaging are done from PC.
6. US is a very large place, with many different providers often with incompatible networks. So access/reception is not reliable enough replace land lines.
To those who say use in the US is low because voice rates are too high here. They are not, they are often cheaper than other countries like Japan, Germany and Finland. But a fixed line is FAR more expensive in those countries than the US.
Anyway, standardize the system, make rates competitive with land lines and you will see an explosion in use (but that raises the other issue, capacity).
You don't need cheating to ruin a new users experience.
As long as you have uniq IDs, and some degree of anonymity, you will have "better" players (either by skill or cheating) wanting to beat lesser players. It's some sort of easy ego boost I suppose, or the joy of bullying?
A simple example is Yahoo chess. I had a business associate admit to me that he regularly plays online, but uses chess software to beat all comers. He said the number of new players had steadily declined to the point where he didn't play much anymore because all the other players left were cheating as well (they even discuss what chess software they use in chat).
Even in legit games where there is a constant battle against cheaters (like many Unreal Tournament servers), what do you do when the majority of players still playing (not exactly a new game) are experts who are so good the game isn't fun anymore even for intermediate players (like myself) let alone new players? You can never attract new users to online play of Unreal Tournament because the existing userbase is too experienced.
This may be less of a problem where players don't compete with each other, but instead work against non-player characters (like in EQ). But in true competition games I don't see any easy answers even if cheating is somehow completely supressed.
As many have said, Gigabit switches are priced WAY out of proportion to the price of Gigabit NICs.
So how about filling up a cheap PC with cheap NICs and using it as a switch?
Granted as others have said, the PCI bus is a limiting factor. But it will certainly blow away any 100mbit switch.
Another possibility is to put two Gigabit NICs in every machine, and run a daisy chain or even a ring type network.
Sounds like a fun project!
Archos model 500277
Jukebox MP3 Recorder 20 - 20GB HD (USB 2.0)
PriceWatch lists it for $315
Jukebox MP3 Recorders / USB Hard Drives
Can both record and playback MP3s
USB 2.0 is standard on newer PCs
I agree the "what filter acted upon me" feature in Eudora is nice. But it's nice because we are stuck in this world of hand tweaked filters for doing what 99% of us do the same way.
I guess automaticly generated filters would be a step in the right direction, but only if they were automaticly updated on the fly. What I was thinking was more of a database operation, a search query (much like others have described above), but without the hassle of actually creating or maintaining this list of queries.
As for backup and archiving! Absolutely! Which is one reason why I love keeping my mail as seperate files, one per message. Then I can use common utilities to backup and archive my mail, as well as look for large attachments (for example, after I remove all very large attachments, my massive mail folder (over 130,000 messages) fits nicely on a CDR without compression). I archive the large attachments every once and a while, and thereby keep my mail folder size down.
What's particularly nice about single files is keeping machines in sync. With most mail programs, syncing up machines is a horror! You may have 100mb or more of data to copy, and if both machines have new data it's hopeless! But with single files, it's a simple file copy done with any operating system. You only copy the files with new dates. (this is why I find it so hard to give up on PMMail)
Some points:
Automatic creation of folders would never happen for just a few messages, they would just dump into the inbox. I was suggesting only when the number of messages exceeds some criteria (5? 10? 20? messages ever recieved/sent from that person?).
Folders would default to 1 deep, there would not be some kind of huge tree to traverse.
Folders would clearly be labelled as the name of the sender.
Folder icons would highlight in a dramatic way (not a tiny check or X) when new mail is available in that folder.
When users do choose to nest folders (like creating a "Family" , or "Friends", or "Sales", root folder, not an automatic operation), that folder's icon would also highlight in a dramatic way when new mail is available in one of it's subfolders. So if the folder tree is not expanded you can still see if there is new mail under which catagory.
As for "Folder list? What folder list?", anyone who has EVER used any GUI email client sees a list of folders right now! If they have been using this automatic email client for any period of time, they would see these new folders appear nicely named after the people they corrispond with.
Anyone I've ever recieved more than N messages from, make a folder for me, and setup the filters to automaticly put messages from that person into that folder.
Also put symbolic links to any messages I've ever sent that person (or list) into that folder.
Why do I say put links?
Ever write a message to multiple friends and you have no idea which folder the message was filtered into? It's either in some random folder for whichever filter was first, or worse there are multiple copies of the message in each persons folder.
I want it all to be automatic, so automatic that magicly my mother's 500+ message InBox is suddenly cleaned up as a series of neat and clear folders.
If it's not automatic, 99% of users (like those who never program their VCR) will never use filters for folders. At most I see people using folders manually. It needs to be all automatic!!
I'd also like all my messages stored as plain text, one file per message, one directory for each folder (like PMMail except use better filenames). I want my mail to be indestructable, and not tied up in anyones database format. Screw mbox or worse the encrypted junk in Outlook. Let the OS do the work! Then I can search for messages, move messages between folders, do all sorts of cool stuff directly to the message base.
Big difference between a research lab refining the lightbulb, and a zillion overfunding dot-bombs selling dog food at a $50 loss per customer.
Staying up all night trying to fix yet another eCommerce site before the VC funding dries up is 100% perspiration and 0% inspiration.
Web talk lands some in hot water
My favorite is the Long Island Business news article about how filing lawsuits is this guy's "hobby".
> no monthly service fee
If that is a cricial factor, then consider the TiVo as costing $250 more than advertised and get the lifetime subscription. The estimated price for the DishPVR 721 is $600, the DirecTiVo list price is $300 plus the $250 lifetime is $550, so the service fee is a non-issue.
Anyway, until the DishPVR 721 is released, the TiVo/UltimateTV options both have the unique ability to record two shows while viewing a third using a single unit.
As for the existing DishPVR software, it's still lacking some key features like recording a show by name (wishlists) and only recording non-repeat episodes, also any kind of suggestions feature.
Then you have the issues of upgradability, and hackability.
Yes you could buy an external TiVo or ReplayTV for your DishNetwork box.
But once you decide digital audio is important to you, then you MUST go with the integrated PVR since no external PVRs have digital audio input.
And as others have said, same with zero loss video. Any external PVR is going to have to redigitize the video instead of recording the original data stream.
You should have considered your PVR options before choosing DishNetwork since the DishPlayer software is not so great.
For instance someone recommends OnStream, the 30GB or 50GB models.
Well, those models are really 15GB and 25GB, the 30GB and 50GB numbers are based on expected compression.
Of course you can use the same compression to fit more on ANY backup media!!!
Why not call DVD 4.7GB media as 9.5GB media?
Or CDR media as 1.4GB?
Remember JPG, MP3, AVI, MPG, ZIP, RAR, GZ and so on will not compress at all. So you begin to see what a farce tape capacity is.
Given the REAL capacity, how much do you pay for a Onstream tapes per real GB?
15GB for $30
25GB for $40
So the best price is $1.6 per GB.
Then there is the drive cost, figure $300 for the 50GB model. So let's say you buy 12 tapes, and a drive, 300GB of backup storage for $780.
That's a real cost of $2.6 per GB, for data that can only be read on another tape drive, and is not random access.
Harddrives are cheaper per GB, faster, and can be plugged into any computer. The price keeps falling everyday. So only buy what you need now, and pay much less in a year.
Uncomfortable with IDE? Go Firewire, it's hot plug and play (no reboot), about $3 per GB (and falling).
> They're out of 24x SCSI CDs, at least it
d =C YBERDR_CDX24SCSI
> wouldn't let me order more than six. Only $90
You got the last of them! They are no longer listed. The only SCSI drives they have left are 1x and 2x.
When I posted the link, they must have had more, I was able to put in 7 drives (but I didn't order them, I was concerned about their quality and speed of ripping).
If you want more of the 24x CyberDrives, they have them here for $16 each:
http://www.pcbuyerclub.com/shop/IPS003.asp?ProC
Problems with using external home audio jukeboxes are:
S
1. Top ripping speed is 1x... slow
2. No disc info, so no CDDA type track ID info, are you going to type in all the track info?
3. No standard interface for controlling the external jukebox.
So although it would be GREAT to rip 50, 100 or more CDs at a time, there is no inexpensive way to do it.
A few years ago there were SCSI jukeboxes commonly available. I have a couple 7 disc ones sitting on my shelf, one 2x, the other 4x. Sadly both are so old they do not support audio ripping.
Unfortunately that market seems to have all but disappeared to be replaced with SCSI jukebox towers. You can build one yourself using cheap SCSI CD-ROM drives, and a big SCSI tower case. ComputerGeeks sells 24x SCSI CD-ROM drives for $15 each:
http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=240
You don't even REALLY need a case, you could just stack them up, tape them together, and use an old AT power supply to give them juice. Heat is not an issue since you are only using one at a time.
For the same price, I can have an Archos 20GB, (IBM 20GB Laptop drive is around $100, leaving you with a 6GB drive to sell off or use for some other project).
But, don't underestimate the advantage of HALF the weight! I've tried to put an Archos in my shirt pocket, and it's not practical, something thinner and half the weight would be acceptable.
As for the talk of using a RIO Volt, it's not entirely practical to carry around. Even with the improved firmware the skip protection only works on long tracks without much seeking around. Each time you switch tracks you need to stand still or walk very carefully.
The iPod is suprisingly small, compare to the Archos (which is quite a bit smaller than the Creative Nomad):
Dimensions: 115 x 83 x 34 mm. (4.5 x 3.2 x 1.3")
Weight: 350 g (12.3 oz.)
Of course the Archos is cheaper, can record, and supports up to 30GB (just swap drives). The Archos drivers have no digital rights protection, and no special software. The device just appears as a standard USB external drive (FAT32) when you plug it in.
Firewire is quite appealing, consider copying a few GB at USB speeds... ughhhh.
Go to http://www.r3mix.net and read the articles and follow the links. Great info!!
In february 2000 c't magazin organised a blind listening test. 300 Audiophiles were involved, finalists tested 17 1-min clips from different artists (classic and pop):
original CD recording
128 Kbit/s Joint Stereo [MusicMatch (FhG) v4.4] encoded PC decoded Mac
256 Kbit/s Joint Stereo [MusicMatch (FhG) v4.4] encoded PC decoded Mac
Basicly it says, under most circumstances, 256kbit is indistinguishable from original CD (not the same, just that humans can rarely hear the difference).
But since size is a consideration, you can get close to the same quality using VBR with the latest LAME.
Hey says forget Xing, use either Lame or Fraunhofer for CBR, for VBR Lame is the only decent choice.
With my files --r3mix tends to average around 170kbit, some as high as 214kbit, some as low as 130kbit.
Go check it out, in particular the quality page:
http://users.belgacom.net/gc247244/quality.htm
Now if only someone sold a CD changer with a PC interface so I wouldn't have to rip my CD collection one CD at a time....