What? 16-bit / 44.1 kHz? Screw that. DVDs and DVD players have been forever standardized on 24-bit / 48 kHz audio, superior to CDs cruddy bit rate and depth. While I'm unaware of any artists that are releasing entire albums on DVDs, i.e. not a mixed format but purely intended for audio, I'm hanging on to my trusty old DVD player with optical outputs just in case labels get wise to this and the desireability of this kind of reproduction and start re-releasing records in 24-bit / 48 kHz on... you guessed it, the venerable DVD.
No really, you don't have to have golden ears to hear the difference.
Well, apparently, you do. While the ALAC format may have technical characteristics that aren't as desirable compared to other lossless formats, the audio itself isn't one of them. In case you missed it, lossless means "lossless," and the information you linked to says nothing about how any of those formats sound... because its a comparison of lossless formats, thus, by definition, they sound exactly the same as the original uncompressed digital commercial format. If they didn't they couldn't be lossless. Not only can't I hear the difference between one lossless format and another, no one can.
Beyond that, I appreciate your post... but saying that you can hear that ALAC is inferior to other lossless formats is pure fantasy.
Just something to consider... I know what you're saying, but "good" of course has different meaning for different applications. I've never heard Bose headphones, but I have heard other Bose audio, and while it sounds very nice, for what is popular today in what people want to hear, in my experience, Bose can almost never actually be considered having fidelity, that is, faithful to the actual audio that is being amplified... because I have discovered they are always incredibly bass heavy. In a studio, this might be fine for cans for a drummer... if an expensive option. For purely enjoying music, they are pleasant I have little doubt, Bose does some pretty incredible things. But you're hearing more than the artists intended, FWIW. I'm no Bose expert, haven't listened to any of their headphones, but I would expect if you tried to mix music with them, all your music would end up sounding weak in the low end... because you're mixing with a heavy bass handycap. If the music you listen to is traditionally bass heavy anyway, I wouldn't expect Bose to be considered good for that application, unless you just really love low end and don't mind that you're hearing more of the headphones and less of the music.
Again, I am no expect, but I would consider the best headphones those that faithfully reproduce music flatly, in all its gory sonic imperfection, and not try to boost any frequencies because the sound of it happens to be popular right now.
I like Bose radios for their compactness... big sound, small box... but I have no delusion as to whether the audio coming out of it is actually really what I am listening to... if that makes any sense (how much is the artist, how much is Bose?). Most people would hate the way studio monitors sound, but if Bose made such a thing in a compact box that didn't boost frequencies and faithfully reproduced the signal no matter what it was, I'd be all over it.
Or the first thing you do when you plan to install linux - replace the hard disk with a fresh one. Then put the original one on a shelf until you either run out of warranty or return the computer.
Well, that's what I'm doing from now on. If the machine makes it through the warranty period, then it will seem like getting a newish, hardly used HDD free (always feels free when it was paid for a long time ago), when I can finally use it for something.
Perhaps... TOR should be implemented at the kernel level in Linux and FreeBSD, in the network stack... that would increase its legitimate users. Or maybe at the network level, create a new standard for the Internets so everything is always, always enchrypted. If I could I would wave my hand and make it so...
Is it even possible? Once TOR gets a reputation for this crap, it's going to cast dispersion on all legitimate users of TOR, and further, on all who wish to have privacy for the sake of privacy, not merely for the nefarious purposes of trying to cloak illegal/immoral activity.
I wonder what the motivation behind this is... is it to take a competitor out of the road? Or maybe it's more bening, such as gaining qualified employees?
Thanks, I stand corrected. I think this is nuts, though. If you're going to adapt Thunderbolt to Ethernet, at the very least have it be able to daisy chain more Thunderbolt devices, or give it two Ethernet ports... or... 100. This is a silly accessory... but I guess it is for a specific mobile purpose.
The MacBook Pro with a Retina Display of 220ppi sounds great, but I have a serious question.
Has Apple fixed the problem with the system font being sized in a fixed number of pixels? My parents' 17" MBP with hi-res display is almost unusable with my parent's aging eyes (or even my middle-aged eyes), and it doesn't have a ppi anywhere near 220. I'm incredulous that Apple has allowed this UI flaw to persist for so long -- my parents cannot be the only ones who would appreciate a larger system font.
Yes, Apple has a solution for you. It's about time you upgraded those aging parents for new shiney Apple parents! Your children are likely due for a parent upgrade as well.
Are you saying that Laptop should be held up thickness wise, at the point where the body can accomodate an RJ45?
Oh come on, this isnt a difficult engineering problem. You have a springloaded pop-out RJ45 jack that is a rigid frame with 8 electrical connector pins. Ive seen it done on older laptops. It doesnt need to be terribly thick (just thick enough for rigidity), and doesnt require a dongle.
Just curious... do you regularly use a computer that still has a 1.44mb floppy disc drive? You are my hero. fight the progress!
But seriously, Apple has always dropped technology that was still in common use, and introduced technology first that no one was yet using; their products are always in front of the bleeding edge and state-of-the-art. If all technology manufacturers were doing this, it would be a problem. But that isn't the case... it's only Apple. So it's not a big deal.
WiFi isn't everywhere. But it's at a hell of a lot more places than ethernet
Unless you run Linux... what a pain it is these days to get legacy computers wireless on linux. I love Linux... just saying... the only problem ever have with wifi is in Linux world, trying to get drivers (if they can be found) to recognize the interface. In Linux world, Ethernet "just works."
People are starting to think of laptops as fashion statements foremost, rather than as tools. It's fine to want good aesthetics (a good-looking laptop is nicer than a bad-looking one), but one should never give up functionality for the sole purpose of aesthetics.
While I agree with you, it won't be long before this kind of powerhouse technology appears to us as no more than a pair of odd looking sunglasses. When that day comes, probably within the next 5-10 years, I will laugh at your stupid looking sunglasses/supercomputer that have put function over form.
Thunderbolt? Did I miss something? Is a USB dongle which you can buy new for $30 not fast enough?
For me it's not an issue of speed, it's an issue of me not wanting to use up a USB port for it. The only thing for me that really eases the pain of the lack of ethernet is that they have TWO thunderbolt ports, I can use one of those for the ethernet instead.
When the Thunderbolt adapters appear, there will likely not be any for Ethernet, more likely Thunderbolt--> 2x superspeed USB3.... it's a 10Gigabyte/s connection... you'd be thick to waste it on an adapter that relegated it to a gigabit connection. Want more USB3? 2 Thunderbolt ports would provide 4 more at full speed.
And The Australian? Your 4x4 counter example is inapplicable. The hw in the iPad WiFi + 4G is not deceptive, but in fact, by all definitions and standards of 4G, actually 4G hardware. If Australian consumers wish to convene their own standards organization and redefine 4G, they are welcome to do so, but they have not. So as it stands there is ONLY ONE DEFINITION of 4G, and the new iPad meets the definition, regardless of the self-deception of Australian consumers. The model name is NOT marketing... it's a name. If you examine the marketing, Apple makes it clear that it will be unable to interface with AU 4G infrastructure... but THIS IS INCIDENTAL, not intentional deceptive marketing.
LOTR actually have some relevance to Finland as Tolkien essentially picked Waelish worlds and mutilated them with Finnish grammar to create the elven language.
The Tolkien conspiracy goes deeper... apparently much of Tolkien's mythology has been borrowed from Finnish mythology, and is, for instance, the origin of the character Gandalf. I'll let the reader decide what familiar continent is seen when s/he holds Tolkien's map of Middle-Earth up to a mirror.
When I was last visiting Buenos Aires Jenna Bush (George Bush's daughter) was robbed while she was dining with friends - while being protected by Secret Service!
When I was last visiting 6th Street in Austin, a then under-aged Jenna Bush (President George W. Bush's daughter) was there and, same as me, desperately trying to get back to her car while avoiding the steadily advancing street-width rows of riot police - while being protected by Secret Service!
For a soccer mom to avoid nations with shaky economies? Fine, if a bit wimpy
Obviously, you are unaware of how relentless and dangerous the competitive parents of athletic children really are here. With the wrong mother behind the wheel, even a minivan can ruin your whole week. Avoid at all costs.
Ok, that's nice. So how much effort does it take to install those ports and how many average Mac users know about this stuff?
Its a wonderully implemented source based package manager that is ridiculously easy to install and use. On Snow Leopard, for example, after installing XCode, there's a few ways to install macports, either with a packaged binary installer (install it like any other installable package or application with the OS X Installer app, using the GUI and mouse/trackpad), or command line binary installer, or you can even download the source and build it using the command line:
Once installed, there is a small learning curve but not if you've ever used command line for anything, and if you wish to use CLI as little as possible, there are graphical frontendsavailable.
If you're looking to install something, like, say, virtualbox, and your $PATH is set up, typing:
port search virtualbox
will return
virtualbox @4.1.14 (emulators) open source virtualization technology from Oracle
Found 1 ports.
Installing it is pretty easy...
sudo port install virtualbox
and macports determines dependencies and installs the port. There are switches you can use to force ports to build everything from source, or use binaries when available, or you can stick with the default without switches. Its a fairly decent and easy to use package management system, and all open source. Support is available on the web or on irc.freenode.net at #macports. Fast service! Highly recommended! A++++++++++
This means that you can choose a PC that won't have a Thunderbolt IO port, but a couple of additional USB3 ports instead
Your post makes a decent point, and really... I'm sort of picking on you because of this statement alone, and only because it sticks out in your otherwise reasonble examination. Now, granted, Thunderbolt adapters are few and far between for the time being, but basically, the complaint here, if I may use metaphor, is that the Apple bank gives you a hundred dollar bill and no choice, when other PC banks let you choose between that or two fifties.
Because "Dubya" wasnt as smart as Daddy. Daddy booted them outa Kuwait, then left them to stew in their own juice.
It's difficult to believe that someone could get through Yale, (a difficult school to get through even for smart people) and still sound and act as silly as President George Walker Bush had at times... part of me thinks it was an act to earn votes from a large portion of our population that found his behavior endearing. But I never had any doubts about the great subtlety and intelligence of President George Herbert Walker Bush, Sr., a fact that is often overlooked, who was not exactly the most successful politician or president, but interestingly enough, was a spymaster at one point in his career. Though I have always registered independent, no one would ever consider my political views even remotely conservative... I've always voted Democrat. I am, however, looking forward to visiting his Presidential Library someday. I wish I could meet him.
In Japan and Canada, private citizens aren't allowed to even own handguns.
I like your comment, but we actually are allowed to own them. I wouldn't even know where to buy one and I'm pretty sure I'd end up qualifying for a Darwin if I had one, but they'll let me nonetheless.
I believe the GP's exaggeration was really meant to express that, unlike in the US –and specifically against the clear and explicit intentions of our country's Founding Fathers as we can tell from the first few words of our Second Amendment to The Constitution– in Canada handguns and other firearms are regulated.
Slashdot Mirror
Get yourself a portable, skipless CD player
What? 16-bit / 44.1 kHz? Screw that. DVDs and DVD players have been forever standardized on 24-bit / 48 kHz audio, superior to CDs cruddy bit rate and depth. While I'm unaware of any artists that are releasing entire albums on DVDs, i.e. not a mixed format but purely intended for audio, I'm hanging on to my trusty old DVD player with optical outputs just in case labels get wise to this and the desireability of this kind of reproduction and start re-releasing records in 24-bit / 48 kHz on... you guessed it, the venerable DVD.
This is a good idea... someone mod me up!
They compress the music until it's shit
I have to agree... very few lossy options do not... I am unaware of any.
and no, their ALAC isn't worth a damn:
No really, you don't have to have golden ears to hear the difference.
Well, apparently, you do. While the ALAC format may have technical characteristics that aren't as desirable compared to other lossless formats, the audio itself isn't one of them. In case you missed it, lossless means "lossless," and the information you linked to says nothing about how any of those formats sound... because its a comparison of lossless formats, thus, by definition, they sound exactly the same as the original uncompressed digital commercial format. If they didn't they couldn't be lossless. Not only can't I hear the difference between one lossless format and another, no one can.
Beyond that, I appreciate your post... but saying that you can hear that ALAC is inferior to other lossless formats is pure fantasy.
Not as good as $200 Bose
Just something to consider... I know what you're saying, but "good" of course has different meaning for different applications. I've never heard Bose headphones, but I have heard other Bose audio, and while it sounds very nice, for what is popular today in what people want to hear, in my experience, Bose can almost never actually be considered having fidelity, that is, faithful to the actual audio that is being amplified... because I have discovered they are always incredibly bass heavy. In a studio, this might be fine for cans for a drummer... if an expensive option. For purely enjoying music, they are pleasant I have little doubt, Bose does some pretty incredible things. But you're hearing more than the artists intended, FWIW. I'm no Bose expert, haven't listened to any of their headphones, but I would expect if you tried to mix music with them, all your music would end up sounding weak in the low end... because you're mixing with a heavy bass handycap. If the music you listen to is traditionally bass heavy anyway, I wouldn't expect Bose to be considered good for that application, unless you just really love low end and don't mind that you're hearing more of the headphones and less of the music.
Again, I am no expect, but I would consider the best headphones those that faithfully reproduce music flatly, in all its gory sonic imperfection, and not try to boost any frequencies because the sound of it happens to be popular right now.
I like Bose radios for their compactness... big sound, small box... but I have no delusion as to whether the audio coming out of it is actually really what I am listening to... if that makes any sense (how much is the artist, how much is Bose?). Most people would hate the way studio monitors sound, but if Bose made such a thing in a compact box that didn't boost frequencies and faithfully reproduced the signal no matter what it was, I'd be all over it.
...just my uninformed $.02... YMMV
sound like people with BAs in CS doing IT
They may have book smarts but there IT smarts are mostly theory with out the hands on parts.
Not to bash the Arts degree, but a CS degree is BS. Also, IT isn't science. A computer scientist working in IT is akin to an MD striping candy.
Or the first thing you do when you plan to install linux - replace the hard disk with a fresh one. Then put the original one on a shelf until you either run out of warranty or return the computer.
Well, that's what I'm doing from now on. If the machine makes it through the warranty period, then it will seem like getting a newish, hardly used HDD free (always feels free when it was paid for a long time ago), when I can finally use it for something.
Shoulda' installed NetBSD.
"Of course it runs NetBSD"
Bye-bye... So I sez to him... The real way that it should be done is to...
Perhaps... TOR should be implemented at the kernel level in Linux and FreeBSD, in the network stack... that would increase its legitimate users. Or maybe at the network level, create a new standard for the Internets so everything is always, always enchrypted. If I could I would wave my hand and make it so...
Is it even possible? Once TOR gets a reputation for this crap, it's going to cast dispersion on all legitimate users of TOR, and further, on all who wish to have privacy for the sake of privacy, not merely for the nefarious purposes of trying to cloak illegal/immoral activity.
I wonder what the motivation behind this is... is it to take a competitor out of the road? Or maybe it's more bening, such as gaining qualified employees?
I think it's definitely Bennings.
Thanks, I stand corrected. I think this is nuts, though. If you're going to adapt Thunderbolt to Ethernet, at the very least have it be able to daisy chain more Thunderbolt devices, or give it two Ethernet ports... or... 100. This is a silly accessory... but I guess it is for a specific mobile purpose.
The MacBook Pro with a Retina Display of 220ppi sounds great, but I have a serious question.
Has Apple fixed the problem with the system font being sized in a fixed number of pixels? My parents' 17" MBP with hi-res display is almost unusable with my parent's aging eyes (or even my middle-aged eyes), and it doesn't have a ppi anywhere near 220. I'm incredulous that Apple has allowed this UI flaw to persist for so long -- my parents cannot be the only ones who would appreciate a larger system font.
Yes, Apple has a solution for you. It's about time you upgraded those aging parents for new shiney Apple parents! Your children are likely due for a parent upgrade as well.
Are you saying that Laptop should be held up thickness wise, at the point where the body can accomodate an RJ45?
Oh come on, this isnt a difficult engineering problem. You have a springloaded pop-out RJ45 jack that is a rigid frame with 8 electrical connector pins. Ive seen it done on older laptops. It doesnt need to be terribly thick (just thick enough for rigidity), and doesnt require a dongle.
Just curious... do you regularly use a computer that still has a 1.44mb floppy disc drive? You are my hero. fight the progress!
But seriously, Apple has always dropped technology that was still in common use, and introduced technology first that no one was yet using; their products are always in front of the bleeding edge and state-of-the-art. If all technology manufacturers were doing this, it would be a problem. But that isn't the case... it's only Apple. So it's not a big deal.
WiFi isn't everywhere. But it's at a hell of a lot more places than ethernet
Unless you run Linux... what a pain it is these days to get legacy computers wireless on linux. I love Linux... just saying... the only problem ever have with wifi is in Linux world, trying to get drivers (if they can be found) to recognize the interface. In Linux world, Ethernet "just works."
People are starting to think of laptops as fashion statements foremost, rather than as tools. It's fine to want good aesthetics (a good-looking laptop is nicer than a bad-looking one), but one should never give up functionality for the sole purpose of aesthetics.
While I agree with you, it won't be long before this kind of powerhouse technology appears to us as no more than a pair of odd looking sunglasses. When that day comes, probably within the next 5-10 years, I will laugh at your stupid looking sunglasses/supercomputer that have put function over form.
Thunderbolt? Did I miss something? Is a USB dongle which you can buy new for $30 not fast enough?
For me it's not an issue of speed, it's an issue of me not wanting to use up a USB port for it. The only thing for me that really eases the pain of the lack of ethernet is that they have TWO thunderbolt ports, I can use one of those for the ethernet instead.
When the Thunderbolt adapters appear, there will likely not be any for Ethernet, more likely Thunderbolt--> 2x superspeed USB3.... it's a 10Gigabyte/s connection... you'd be thick to waste it on an adapter that relegated it to a gigabit connection. Want more USB3? 2 Thunderbolt ports would provide 4 more at full speed.
And The Australian? Your 4x4 counter example is inapplicable. The hw in the iPad WiFi + 4G is not deceptive, but in fact, by all definitions and standards of 4G, actually 4G hardware. If Australian consumers wish to convene their own standards organization and redefine 4G, they are welcome to do so, but they have not. So as it stands there is ONLY ONE DEFINITION of 4G, and the new iPad meets the definition, regardless of the self-deception of Australian consumers. The model name is NOT marketing... it's a name. If you examine the marketing, Apple makes it clear that it will be unable to interface with AU 4G infrastructure... but THIS IS INCIDENTAL, not intentional deceptive marketing.
There are advantages to having first learned programming on a computer whose memory was only 5Kb, with a 1 Megahertz processor. (A Vic 20.)
One of them undoubtedly is being able to say with a certain smug satisfaction:
Only real men program in assembly!
LOTR actually have some relevance to Finland as Tolkien essentially picked Waelish worlds and mutilated them with Finnish grammar to create the elven language.
The Tolkien conspiracy goes deeper... apparently much of Tolkien's mythology has been borrowed from Finnish mythology, and is, for instance, the origin of the character Gandalf. I'll let the reader decide what familiar continent is seen when s/he holds Tolkien's map of Middle-Earth up to a mirror.
When I was last visiting Buenos Aires Jenna Bush (George Bush's daughter) was robbed while she was dining with friends - while being protected by Secret Service!
When I was last visiting 6th Street in Austin, a then under-aged Jenna Bush (President George W. Bush's daughter) was there and, same as me, desperately trying to get back to her car while avoiding the steadily advancing street-width rows of riot police - while being protected by Secret Service!
For a soccer mom to avoid nations with shaky economies? Fine, if a bit wimpy
Obviously, you are unaware of how relentless and dangerous the competitive parents of athletic children really are here. With the wrong mother behind the wheel, even a minivan can ruin your whole week. Avoid at all costs.
Whenever someone mentions that living in Argentina is "bad" I just let pictures talk:
...https://ayudabuenosaires.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/obelisco-av-9-de-julio.jpg
...
OMG you bastards! You stole the Washington Monument!! Have you no decency?!!
Ok, that's nice. So how much effort does it take to install those ports and how many average Mac users know about this stuff?
Its a wonderully implemented source based package manager that is ridiculously easy to install and use. On Snow Leopard, for example, after installing XCode, there's a few ways to install macports, either with a packaged binary installer (install it like any other installable package or application with the OS X Installer app, using the GUI and mouse/trackpad), or command line binary installer, or you can even download the source and build it using the command line:
curl -O http://distfiles.macports.org/MacPorts/MacPorts-1.8.2.tar.gz
tar xzvf MacPorts-1.8.2.tar.gz
cd MacPorts-1.8.2/
./configure
make
sudo make install
Once installed, there is a small learning curve but not if you've ever used command line for anything, and if you wish to use CLI as little as possible, there are graphical frontends available.
If you're looking to install something, like, say, virtualbox, and your $PATH is set up, typing:
port search virtualbox
will return
virtualbox @4.1.14 (emulators)
open source virtualization technology from Oracle
Found 1 ports.
Installing it is pretty easy...
sudo port install virtualbox
and macports determines dependencies and installs the port. There are switches you can use to force ports to build everything from source, or use binaries when available, or you can stick with the default without switches. Its a fairly decent and easy to use package management system, and all open source. Support is available on the web or on irc.freenode.net at #macports.
Fast service! Highly recommended! A++++++++++
This means that you can choose a PC that won't have a Thunderbolt IO port, but a couple of additional USB3 ports instead
Your post makes a decent point, and really... I'm sort of picking on you because of this statement alone, and only because it sticks out in your otherwise reasonble examination. Now, granted, Thunderbolt adapters are few and far between for the time being, but basically, the complaint here, if I may use metaphor, is that the Apple bank gives you a hundred dollar bill and no choice, when other PC banks let you choose between that or two fifties.
Because "Dubya" wasnt as smart as Daddy. Daddy booted them outa Kuwait, then left them to stew in their own juice.
It's difficult to believe that someone could get through Yale, (a difficult school to get through even for smart people) and still sound and act as silly as President George Walker Bush had at times... part of me thinks it was an act to earn votes from a large portion of our population that found his behavior endearing. But I never had any doubts about the great subtlety and intelligence of President George Herbert Walker Bush, Sr., a fact that is often overlooked, who was not exactly the most successful politician or president, but interestingly enough, was a spymaster at one point in his career. Though I have always registered independent, no one would ever consider my political views even remotely conservative... I've always voted Democrat. I am, however, looking forward to visiting his Presidential Library someday. I wish I could meet him.
In Japan and Canada, private citizens aren't allowed to even own handguns.
I like your comment, but we actually are allowed to own them. I wouldn't even know where to buy one and I'm pretty sure I'd end up qualifying for a Darwin if I had one, but they'll let me nonetheless.
I believe the GP's exaggeration was really meant to express that, unlike in the US –and specifically against the clear and explicit intentions of our country's Founding Fathers as we can tell from the first few words of our Second Amendment to The Constitution– in Canada handguns and other firearms are regulated.