With the PPC being phased out they could take the "loss" that would occure through the PPC.
My guess is that it came down to something else: Apple is gaining in market share and ships more and more computers, I would guess that if the industry really demanded stricter DRM from Apple they did this eying the future and considering the impact Apple may have down the road.
Yeah, go figure, the industry is getting "proactive", as usual though not in a good way.
But all the whiners here on Slashdot always tell me that they can get a more powerful, better PC for $300 or less while Macs are overpriced.
Reality is: A good PC can cost just as much as a Mac.
Yeah, I know not very popular to say that, because after all all we Mac Users are Snobs (and all the PC users are just envious because they cannot afford one*).
* What gave you away was the purchase of Cinema Display. Other manufacturers use the exact same panel, put in more features, and sells it for 1/3 less. Mac users may hate Dell but go the the Macnn forums and you will find Dell LCDs one of the most, if not the most, popular monitors for a Mac.
The Price difference here in Canada for the Dell to the CinemaDisplay was a whopping $25.
For that amount I rather took the Cinema Display as I liked the look better.
And yes, I am aware that Dell in the US had a good deal, but I really have no use for any analog inputs as all the computers I have have DVI. So why even bother?
We're talking about cheap cases here. Yes, I know there are nice ones out there too, but they aren't that much cheaper than what the Apple case would be like.
I can pay the same for a PC as for a Mac and I get the same "feeling" and experience with it, but for some reason here people tend to compare their cheap $300 PC with an Apple Powermac only on the merits of CPU speed.
Personally the Powermac (and even the Powerbook) have more than enough "ompf" for me to do what I want to do in the time I want to do it.
They don't have to reach 100% they just have to make it complicated enough so that the majority doesn't care.
It's the same thing with wireless networks. Sure, Encryption and hiding the SSID is not makingn it a whole lot safer, but if I do this and all my neighbours don't then I am more of an obstacle and less likely that someone will bother.
Same goes for Apple. If they make it complicated enough only the "hardcore" people will do it and those wouldn't have bought a Mac in the first place, out of "ideological" reasons I guess.
You are a Mac Zealot are you not? How dare you to defend Apple to produce something that is actually worth it's money?
Okay, all kidding aside: I agree. I look at my Powerbook, Powermac and Cinemadisplay and I do not feel like I got ripped off.
Three weeks ago I was arm deep in the guts of my cheapo Linux File Server and I once again realized just how ugly the majority of PCs are. The replacing of a harddisk alone takes forever, on the Powermac? 2 Seconds, slide in disk, plug in cables, lower lock. Done.
Memory? Same thing. Open Case (no Screwdriver), take out the plastic side panel, pull Fan Assembly, put in Memory, plug in Fan Assembly, put in side panels, power on.
On the PC? Unscrew case, remove the HDD Cage as the memory bank just HAPPNES to be half way under it, make sure to unplug all cables because they are running all across the main board, then put in memory and reverse the whole thing. Takes me roughly 4x as long to upgrade the RAM in a standard PC than in the Mac.
But I guess some peoples time is just not worth anything.
because if you think about it: We are paying for those downloads already, with our bandwidth, after all it is OUR bandwidth that facilitates the distribution.
This, in and on itself, should not prevent someone like Apple to open a store, because people did download Music "for free" before iTMS was around, and yet, it is selling Millions of songs.
Too bad that the majority of console buyers though are not Nerds, they buy what they think as the cooler games.
I think 50/50 Marketshare is possible. Where this leaves Nintendo I don't know... I bought a Gamecube not too long ago and I have to say it is a nice machine, more quiet than the XBox and some truly fun games.
You can call the current controller whatever you want, but "Perfection" is not what comes to my mind.
I hate that thing. It is too small, I tend to cramp easily.
Sure, if you're a short Japaense person with tiny hands or a kid they're great, but the original XBox controller must be one of the most comfortable ones I have ever have had in my hand.
I really really wish that Microsoft would not have listened to all the fanbois who complained about the controller (heck, they usually don't listen to their customers, why this time when they get something right for a change?"
So we'll see. Right now the PS3 looks almost better (spec wise) than the 360... Guess it'll be the games and the controller that make the decision for me.
It's meant for websurving and email, not to do heavy lifting.
I have a Powerbook G4 here and a G5 Tower as well as an old iBook G4 and I played with the mini.
The iBook and the Mini can do well for those tasks, I wouldn't even dare trying to play games on them or do anything else "crazy".
Reality is that for what most people use their computer (email, surfing, DVD Watching, IM) the MacMini is powerful enough, even for the photo editing in iPhoto it shouldn't be a problem.
Not everybody is that speed obsessed as the slashdot crowd.
"The experience of downloading copyrighted films and TV shows is not what it used to be," added Glickman. "We intend to make it even worse."
Of course a smart company(ies) would have realized the market potential and started to sell their own downloads, but I guess that would make too much sense.
How long before other sites pick up the slack?
Actually, the latest Dr. Who last night downloaded faster than it did the weeks before. So far I only see an improvement in download.
This whole white thing is really starting to get on my nerves. WHY does the PSP need WHITE Earbuds? Or a white wriststrap when the rest of the thing is black?
I just don't get it.
When I replaced my three year old iPod the other week the first thing I did was replace the white earbuds, I just hate the white look, and these days when you look around it seems EVERYBODY has an iPod (or at least pretends to have one by using white earbuds).
I guess white is the new black.....
MMMhhhh... I wonder if I could spraypaint the console and controllers?
Unfortunatly Handbreak right now doesn't really give a lot of control with the Audio Portion, there are some parts where less would do (e.g. the Audio Commentary, they don't have to be Stereo or a high bitrate).
But yes, I am deeply impressed and I started to encode the DVDs I take along on my Powerbook with H.264, which has the added benefit that for a "cool" factor I can play them back in the Desktop Movie Player;)
Oh that would be spiffy, then I could finally run Windows on my PowerMac!!!!!!!
Just what I am waiting for, this Mac OS X thing just isn't all it is cracked up to be. I am always happy when I can work at XP here at work (although it looks like Mac OS X for some reason).
Actually I have done some ripping with the H.264 codec using Handbrake on some of my DVDs and I cannot tell a difference between an Episode of Stargate SG1 compressed with it and the same Episode playing straight from DVD.
Using the MPEG4 Layer 10 (I think that's the "official" title) the resulting file has a combined bitrate of ~1000kBit/s which results in a file roughly 335MB in size.
I wish I had some HD source material right now to see how that would look if being compressed, alas right now I don't have really the option.
Granted though that Apple is doing some nifty bitrate juggeling with their HD Promos, but if you look at the Nasa Reel that's pretty sweet. It is 1 Minute and 1 Second long and 46MB in size, if they would have dropped the resolution a tad they could probably have squeezed it in even smaller.
But even so, if you do the math you'll see that you would get an hour movie in ~3GB which is a lot of data but ohh so sweet and with new Capacities becoming available I recon with in two years you can use this probably even over the net.
Slashdot Mirror
I wouldn't count on that.
With the PPC being phased out they could take the "loss" that would occure through the PPC.
My guess is that it came down to something else: Apple is gaining in market share and ships more and more computers, I would guess that if the industry really demanded stricter DRM from Apple they did this eying the future and considering the impact Apple may have down the road.
Yeah, go figure, the industry is getting "proactive", as usual though not in a good way.
Good point.
But all the whiners here on Slashdot always tell me that they can get a more powerful, better PC for $300 or less while Macs are overpriced.
Reality is: A good PC can cost just as much as a Mac.
Yeah, I know not very popular to say that, because after all all we Mac Users are Snobs (and all the PC users are just envious because they cannot afford one*).
*Broad Generalization in the spirit of Slashdot.
The Price difference here in Canada for the Dell to the CinemaDisplay was a whopping $25.
For that amount I rather took the Cinema Display as I liked the look better.
And yes, I am aware that Dell in the US had a good deal, but I really have no use for any analog inputs as all the computers I have have DVI. So why even bother?
We're talking about cheap cases here. Yes, I know there are nice ones out there too, but they aren't that much cheaper than what the Apple case would be like.
I can pay the same for a PC as for a Mac and I get the same "feeling" and experience with it, but for some reason here people tend to compare their cheap $300 PC with an Apple Powermac only on the merits of CPU speed.
Personally the Powermac (and even the Powerbook) have more than enough "ompf" for me to do what I want to do in the time I want to do it.
They don't have to reach 100% they just have to make it complicated enough so that the majority doesn't care.
It's the same thing with wireless networks. Sure, Encryption and hiding the SSID is not makingn it a whole lot safer, but if I do this and all my neighbours don't then I am more of an obstacle and less likely that someone will bother.
Same goes for Apple. If they make it complicated enough only the "hardcore" people will do it and those wouldn't have bought a Mac in the first place, out of "ideological" reasons I guess.
You are a Mac Zealot are you not? How dare you to defend Apple to produce something that is actually worth it's money?
Okay, all kidding aside: I agree. I look at my Powerbook, Powermac and Cinemadisplay and I do not feel like I got ripped off.
Three weeks ago I was arm deep in the guts of my cheapo Linux File Server and I once again realized just how ugly the majority of PCs are. The replacing of a harddisk alone takes forever, on the Powermac? 2 Seconds, slide in disk, plug in cables, lower lock. Done.
Memory? Same thing. Open Case (no Screwdriver), take out the plastic side panel, pull Fan Assembly, put in Memory, plug in Fan Assembly, put in side panels, power on.
On the PC? Unscrew case, remove the HDD Cage as the memory bank just HAPPNES to be half way under it, make sure to unplug all cables because they are running all across the main board, then put in memory and reverse the whole thing. Takes me roughly 4x as long to upgrade the RAM in a standard PC than in the Mac.
But I guess some peoples time is just not worth anything.
Actually the backlight can fade and fail on an LCD as well.
So even though they are getting better and more durable, it is just as fragile as the CRT.
There is a PowerPod?
If I take "Sin City" in comparision where everything was green screen as well I would say it CAN be done.
Maybe Lucas is just a horrible director / writer?
I am talking about someone using Bittorrent as a distribution medium. And yes, I do pay with my bandwidth for it.
If a company would release their TV shows with ads and all intact via Bittorrent then they shouldn't also charge me an arm and a leg for it.
BTW, if I buy a DVD from Amazon I do pay Amazon, not Universal or whoever.
Not really,
because if you think about it: We are paying for those downloads already, with our bandwidth, after all it is OUR bandwidth that facilitates the distribution.
This, in and on itself, should not prevent someone like Apple to open a store, because people did download Music "for free" before iTMS was around, and yet, it is selling Millions of songs.
Too bad that the majority of console buyers though are not Nerds, they buy what they think as the cooler games.
I think 50/50 Marketshare is possible. Where this leaves Nintendo I don't know... I bought a Gamecube not too long ago and I have to say it is a nice machine, more quiet than the XBox and some truly fun games.
You can call the current controller whatever you want, but "Perfection" is not what comes to my mind.
I hate that thing. It is too small, I tend to cramp easily.
Sure, if you're a short Japaense person with tiny hands or a kid they're great, but the original XBox controller must be one of the most comfortable ones I have ever have had in my hand.
I really really wish that Microsoft would not have listened to all the fanbois who complained about the controller (heck, they usually don't listen to their customers, why this time when they get something right for a change?"
So we'll see. Right now the PS3 looks almost better (spec wise) than the 360... Guess it'll be the games and the controller that make the decision for me.
Doom3 came to mind, but that doesn't really play all that well on the G5 either ;)
Actually all of the Pro line from Apple has 800, my Powerbook has an 800 Port as well as the Powermac I am writing this on right now.
They reserve the 400 for the User Level (i* series) products.
I just wish that there were cheap FW 800 External HDD enclosures out there.
It's meant for websurving and email, not to do heavy lifting.
I have a Powerbook G4 here and a G5 Tower as well as an old iBook G4 and I played with the mini.
The iBook and the Mini can do well for those tasks, I wouldn't even dare trying to play games on them or do anything else "crazy".
Reality is that for what most people use their computer (email, surfing, DVD Watching, IM) the MacMini is powerful enough, even for the photo editing in iPhoto it shouldn't be a problem.
Not everybody is that speed obsessed as the slashdot crowd.
In the american system the question seems to be more if you can afford to win.
Of course a smart company(ies) would have realized the market potential and started to sell their own downloads, but I guess that would make too much sense.
How long before other sites pick up the slack?
Actually, the latest Dr. Who last night downloaded faster than it did the weeks before. So far I only see an improvement in download.
I think I saw the same show two days ago. Are we already in rerun season?
Not true, when I shoot a camear in as Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell I can move through the area without anybody noticing!
It's probaby more about the idea that the console can fully involve your (digital) life....
Of course one could come up with less favourable analogies (say, coming full circle back to were we started).
This whole white thing is really starting to get on my nerves. WHY does the PSP need WHITE Earbuds? Or a white wriststrap when the rest of the thing is black?
I just don't get it.
When I replaced my three year old iPod the other week the first thing I did was replace the white earbuds, I just hate the white look, and these days when you look around it seems EVERYBODY has an iPod (or at least pretends to have one by using white earbuds).
I guess white is the new black.....
MMMhhhh... I wonder if I could spraypaint the console and controllers?
Unfortunatly Handbreak right now doesn't really give a lot of control with the Audio Portion, there are some parts where less would do (e.g. the Audio Commentary, they don't have to be Stereo or a high bitrate).
;)
But yes, I am deeply impressed and I started to encode the DVDs I take along on my Powerbook with H.264, which has the added benefit that for a "cool" factor I can play them back in the Desktop Movie Player
Oh that would be spiffy, then I could finally run Windows on my PowerMac!!!!!!!
Just what I am waiting for, this Mac OS X thing just isn't all it is cracked up to be. I am always happy when I can work at XP here at work (although it looks like Mac OS X for some reason).
Actually I have done some ripping with the H.264 codec using Handbrake on some of my DVDs and I cannot tell a difference between an Episode of Stargate SG1 compressed with it and the same Episode playing straight from DVD.
Using the MPEG4 Layer 10 (I think that's the "official" title) the resulting file has a combined bitrate of ~1000kBit/s which results in a file roughly 335MB in size.
I wish I had some HD source material right now to see how that would look if being compressed, alas right now I don't have really the option.
Granted though that Apple is doing some nifty bitrate juggeling with their HD Promos, but if you look at the Nasa Reel that's pretty sweet. It is 1 Minute and 1 Second long and 46MB in size, if they would have dropped the resolution a tad they could probably have squeezed it in even smaller.
But even so, if you do the math you'll see that you would get an hour movie in ~3GB which is a lot of data but ohh so sweet and with new Capacities becoming available I recon with in two years you can use this probably even over the net.