When you get down to brass tacks, there isn't THAT much difference between the two of these in file size or quality in MOST cases. I have ripped CD's into both formats (usually ogg quality=2 and mp3 bit rate of 128 or 192 though I've used 256 or 320 for classical music) and I don't notice ANY difference between them on a player running rockbox (might be different using my stereo / home theater speakers).
So I would be willing to buy tracks in 320kbs mp3 format and I can still rip my own cd's into ogg. I'm going to have to take a look at the Deutsche Grammophon catalog. WOW, someone is now offering Classical music for download. Their prices aren't that great (but then again D.G. cd's were always high priced in the stores, so nothing new here). At least I can buy only the tracks I want. (How about offering the album liner notes in pdf format guys?)
When people complain about CD's with 2 good songs and 10 yucky ones they are talking about popular music, IE: rock, punk, rap, etc. While this may be the largest segment of stuff in your local music store, there are other genres where the entire CD is wanted material. Classical music (you know Beethoven, Bach, Rachmaninoff, etc), Movie and Broadway sound tracks remain staple areas. As long as there is a demand for this kind of material CD's won't completely disappear.
Last year when the new PS came out THAT was the thing you couldn't find, and the Wii was the second best. Can you imagine if the Wii could play Bluray disks?
Music can be a service. Some FM stations carry a sub-carrier to broadcast commercial free music ("musak") to stores, doctors offices, etc. A fee must be paid for this. Homebrew illegal adapters used to "steal" this channel in a commercial setting would be a theft of the music "service". Granted copyright law is often applied here, but it is still theft of an intangible item. Check NYC case law on the subway theft of service bit. Yeah they could slap on a trespassing charge too, but since the subway itself is public access (for a fee) they usually don't. Now if you got into the train yard to spray paint the off duty trains they WOULD charge you with trespassing as well as destruction of property.
Actually it IS theft in a way. "Theft of service". That's where you make use of something without paying for it and without removing it. Like sneaking onto the subway without dropping your token into the turnstile. You didn't steal the subway. You can be charged with theft of service and go to jail.
Years ago my wife's Panasonic 13" tv died. It started to 'smoke' and then went black. Normally not worth fixing, but she liked the set. So I opened it up and discovered a fried flyback transformer. Just so happened that a local parts outlet listed a replacement on their website in a cross reference to the orig. part number. And it was cheap. So I picked up a new part and installed it (simple unsolder/solder job on the main pc board). This didn't fix the set, but I then noticed a burnt out power resistor. Tracing the circuit it also showed me a suspect horizontal output transistor as well. So I went back to the jober and got a replacement power resistor and transistor for a few bucks more. I installed these parts and the tv came back to life. Next I had to re-adjust the crt setup pots and align the color convergence. These I did by eye (ok, I ALSO ordered a service manual for the set, which it being a major brand was available). Total out of pocket cost for parts and the manual was under $50. "My Hero" look in wife's eyes was priceless. We still have that tv today, and it still works fine.
It wasn't just government regs that changed all this but law suits. With the "CYA" mindset, toy makers have had to dumb down their science sets. You can still get test tubes and some other glasswares in hobby shops and school supply stores that cater to the science classes. Various bits of glassware ARE hard to find because you could make "bongs" or "hookers" out of them.
JOKE: did you hear about the hillbilly terrorist dirty bomb? (A bag of horse shit with a stick of dynamite in it).
Hard disk mp3 players like iPods are very aggressive with power savings. Don't they also treat their hard disks badly? I know that the disks made for use in mp3 players are NOT quite the same as those in laptops (1.8" or 1" instead of 2.5") and perhaps these drives are built with frequent spin up/down in mind.
If that happened to me I'd simply refuse the charge on my American Express card after phoning Amex and Best Buy would be shit out of luck. Already been there and done that with other ass hole vendors.
Why do we need both USB2 and Firewire? Unless you do video editing from mini-dv camcorders or have a 1g/2g ipod you probably DON'T need Firewire. USB is slowly catching on in the video capture area, but Firewire is still the way to go (most DVD recorders have a Firewire connection to download video from dv camcorders but NOT USB).
If you HAVE CTS then computer usage might be that much more painful, but using the computer might not actually give you CTS in the first place. Kinda like root canal. Someone asked me if it hurt to have root canal. Well, I had a good dentist and my answer was "having root canal performed was uncomfortable, but not painful. NEEDING root canal in the first place was painful!"
Reminds me of my teenage years with model rockets. I've seen some "EnerJet disasters" before, and this one was up there the best of them. At least the 'chutes worked!
Ever since Edison it has been possible for the average Joe to make copies of music he didn't buy. Either by putting the horn of the Grammarphone in front of the radio, by use of a tape recorder, or (today) with his computer. As long as it was done in the privacy of your own home, and the copies were for your own use you weren't going to get sued or arrested. That's STILL true today. The internet changed everything. IF you post copies of music you copied onto the 'net you might as well be on the corner dressed in an over sized raincoat selling the stuff on the sly. The only safe way for people to share digital music is by swapping CD-r's (usb flash drives, or even floppies), or having private bring you own computer lan-net parties (well that the RIAA might stage an FBI raid on).
What I fear is some spread of a computer virus that looks for music files on your computer that you are the legal owner of, that turns your machine into a file sharing 'bot. How would you defend yourself against that in court? (what ports in my firewall do I block to stop that?)
I hope $ms didn't put the same hardware locks on this one that the original one did (to prevent you from rockboxing it). Also I wonder it these models are clones of the Gigabeat like the first one was.
I will NEVER buy another product made by Sony. I will NEVER buy any music or video from a company they own. I hope BLUE RAY loses the format war I will NOT EVER buy a blue ray player. (I might buy a combo player if they get cheap enough, and consider it an HD-DVD player purchase and a RIP OFF of Blue ray.)
Well these sort of batteries DO work and work very well. The Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft were powered by a similar sort of thing (using Plutonium decay). When you're a zillion miles from the sun, there ISN'T much else you CAN use for power.
If I read this correctly it will record on standard dvd media using the blue ray laser. This may be possible, if the dyes used on standard media will respond to the blue laser. It would enable the pit size to be smaller and fit more data. I would suspect that it would also work with single layer media, but hold about half as much content. The disks might not be playable on a standard blue ray machine (without a firmware update).
Kinda pricey, but if Panasonic can get the cost down this would be a big boost to the blue ray camp. Note that it should be even easier for the hd-dvd guys to do the same thing.
Costco and Kmart ask to see your receipt and inspect your purchases. Costco's signs say they want to insure that you weren't overcharged for your purchases (ya, right!). The "inspection" is a joke, the guy at my costco just takes the receipt, glances at my shopping cart and then draws a smiley face on the receipt with a high-lighter.
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When you get down to brass tacks, there isn't THAT much difference
between the two of these in file size or quality in MOST cases. I
have ripped CD's into both formats (usually ogg quality=2 and mp3
bit rate of 128 or 192 though I've used 256 or 320 for classical
music) and I don't notice ANY difference between them on a player
running rockbox (might be different using my stereo / home theater
speakers).
So I would be willing to buy tracks in 320kbs mp3 format and I can
still rip my own cd's into ogg. I'm going to have to take a look at
the Deutsche Grammophon catalog. WOW, someone is now offering Classical
music for download. Their prices aren't that great (but then again D.G.
cd's were always high priced in the stores, so nothing new here). At least
I can buy only the tracks I want. (How about offering the album liner notes in
pdf format guys?)
Wow DEC registered BEFORE (but not by much) IBM!!
And that was AFTER Ken Olson had gone senile!
When people complain about CD's with 2 good songs and 10 yucky ones they are talking about popular music, IE: rock, punk, rap, etc. While this may be the largest segment of stuff in your local music store, there are other genres where the entire CD is wanted material. Classical music (you know Beethoven, Bach, Rachmaninoff, etc), Movie and Broadway sound tracks remain staple areas. As long as there is a demand for this kind of material CD's won't completely disappear.
Last year when the new PS came out THAT was the thing you couldn't find, and the Wii
was the second best. Can you imagine if the Wii could play Bluray disks?
Let's lock Gene Simmons in the bathroom with Warner's CEO and
see what happens.
Music can be a service. Some FM stations carry a sub-carrier to broadcast commercial free
music ("musak") to stores, doctors offices, etc. A fee must be paid for this. Homebrew illegal
adapters used to "steal" this channel in a commercial setting would be a theft of the music "service".
Granted copyright law is often applied here, but it is still theft of an intangible item.
Check NYC case law on the subway theft of service bit. Yeah they could slap on a trespassing charge
too, but since the subway itself is public access (for a fee) they usually don't. Now if you got into
the train yard to spray paint the off duty trains they WOULD charge you with trespassing as well as
destruction of property.
You know, Kiss and Simmons deserve the Weird Al treatment.
Come to think of it, Gene LOOKS like the character in the
Weird Al video "I'll Sue you!".
Actually it IS theft in a way. "Theft of service". That's where you make use of something without
paying for it and without removing it. Like sneaking onto the subway without dropping your token
into the turnstile. You didn't steal the subway. You can be charged with theft of service and go to
jail.
Sounds like something out of ghostbusters.
Years ago my wife's Panasonic 13" tv died. It started to 'smoke' and then went black.
Normally not worth fixing, but she liked the set. So I opened it up and discovered a
fried flyback transformer. Just so happened that a local parts outlet listed a replacement
on their website in a cross reference to the orig. part number. And it was cheap. So
I picked up a new part and installed it (simple unsolder/solder job on the main pc board).
This didn't fix the set, but I then noticed a burnt out power resistor. Tracing the circuit
it also showed me a suspect horizontal output transistor as well. So I went back to the
jober and got a replacement power resistor and transistor for a few bucks more.
I installed these parts and the tv came back to life. Next I had to re-adjust the crt
setup pots and align the color convergence. These I did by eye (ok, I ALSO ordered a service
manual for the set, which it being a major brand was available).
Total out of pocket cost for parts and the manual was under $50. "My Hero" look in wife's eyes
was priceless. We still have that tv today, and it still works fine.
It wasn't just government regs that changed all this but law suits.
With the "CYA" mindset, toy makers have had to dumb down their
science sets. You can still get test tubes and some other glasswares
in hobby shops and school supply stores that cater to the science classes.
Various bits of glassware ARE hard to find because you could make "bongs"
or "hookers" out of them.
JOKE: did you hear about the hillbilly terrorist dirty bomb? (A bag of
horse shit with a stick of dynamite in it).
Hard disk mp3 players like iPods are very aggressive with power savings.
Don't they also treat their hard disks badly? I know that the disks made
for use in mp3 players are NOT quite the same as those in laptops (1.8" or 1"
instead of 2.5") and perhaps these drives are built with frequent spin up/down
in mind.
If that happened to me I'd simply refuse the charge on my American Express card
after phoning Amex and Best Buy would be shit out of luck.
Already been there and done that with other ass hole vendors.
Why do we need both USB2 and Firewire?
Unless you do video editing from mini-dv camcorders or have a 1g/2g ipod you probably DON'T
need Firewire. USB is slowly catching on in the video capture area, but Firewire
is still the way to go (most DVD recorders have a Firewire connection to download video
from dv camcorders but NOT USB).
"Captain, his thinking is two dimensional." (Spock to Kirk from Start Trek II)
Make identity theft a capital crime.
Steal someone's life, lose your own.
If you HAVE CTS then computer usage might be that much more painful, but
using the computer might not actually give you CTS in the first place.
Kinda like root canal. Someone asked me if it hurt to have root canal.
Well, I had a good dentist and my answer was "having root canal performed
was uncomfortable, but not painful. NEEDING root canal in the first place
was painful!"
Reminds me of my teenage years with model rockets.
I've seen some "EnerJet disasters" before, and this one was
up there the best of them. At least the 'chutes worked!
Ever since Edison it has been possible for the average Joe to make copies of music he didn't buy.
Either by putting the horn of the Grammarphone in front of the radio, by use of a tape recorder, or
(today) with his computer. As long as it was done in the privacy of your own home, and the copies
were for your own use you weren't going to get sued or arrested. That's STILL true today.
The internet changed everything. IF you post copies of music you copied onto the 'net you might as
well be on the corner dressed in an over sized raincoat selling the stuff on the sly.
The only safe way for people to share digital music is by swapping CD-r's (usb flash drives, or even
floppies), or having private bring you own computer lan-net parties (well that the RIAA might stage
an FBI raid on).
What I fear is some spread of a computer virus that looks for music files on your computer that
you are the legal owner of, that turns your machine into a file sharing 'bot. How would you defend
yourself against that in court? (what ports in my firewall do I block to stop that?)
Well "hello world" won't compile on Windows until you BUY
Visual Studio for windows.
I hope $ms didn't put the same hardware locks on this one that the original
one did (to prevent you from rockboxing it). Also I wonder it these
models are clones of the Gigabeat like the first one was.
I will NEVER buy another product made by Sony.
I will NEVER buy any music or video from a company they own.
I hope BLUE RAY loses the format war I will NOT EVER buy a blue
ray player. (I might buy a combo player if they get cheap enough,
and consider it an HD-DVD player purchase and a RIP OFF of Blue ray.)
BOYCOTT SONY!
Well these sort of batteries DO work and work very well.
The Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft were powered by a similar sort of thing
(using Plutonium decay). When you're a zillion miles from the sun, there
ISN'T much else you CAN use for power.
If I read this correctly it will record on standard dvd media using the blue ray laser.
This may be possible, if the dyes used on standard media will respond to the blue laser.
It would enable the pit size to be smaller and fit more data. I would suspect that it would
also work with single layer media, but hold about half as much content. The disks might not
be playable on a standard blue ray machine (without a firmware update).
Kinda pricey, but if Panasonic can get the cost down this would be a big boost to the blue ray camp.
Note that it should be even easier for the hd-dvd guys to do the same thing.
Costco and Kmart ask to see your receipt and inspect your purchases.
Costco's signs say they want to insure that you weren't overcharged
for your purchases (ya, right!). The "inspection" is a joke, the
guy at my costco just takes the receipt, glances at my shopping cart
and then draws a smiley face on the receipt with a high-lighter.