While bluetooth is really cool, I'd be worried about being "bluejacked" ("bluespammed"?). With the current generation of bluetooth phones (US only?), you can supposedly scan for and send messages to any nearby bluetooth-enabled phone. There seems to be no way to prevent from getting spammed, aside from disabling bluetooth on your phone (which is a real bummer, as bluetooth headsets are really cool).
And, yes, I know that bluetooth does have provision for security. It's just that the current generation of (US GSM/GPRS) phones don't seem to be using it (and, I'd loved to be proved incorrect).
Re:... at the same time as the IPv6 upgrade! ???
on
Replacing SMTP?
·
· Score: 5, Informative
After all, it's now past the death of typewriters, and we're still using the typewriter keyboard from nearly two centuries ago. And we use a ridiculous rail gauge, because the standard was set centuries ago.
Don't laugh. The following might be apocryphal, but it's still interesting.... I don't know where it comes from, though:
The US standard railroad gauge (width between the two rails) is 4 feet,
8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used?
Because that's the way they built them in England, and the US railroads
were built by English expatriates.
Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines
were built by the same people who built the pre railroad tramways, and
that's the gauge they used.
Why did "they" use that gauge then? Because the people who built the
tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons
which used that wheel spacing.
Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well,
if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on
some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the
spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in
Europe (and England) were built by Imperial Rome for their legions. The
roads have been used ever since.
And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots first formed the initial
ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their
wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for (or by) Imperial Rome,
they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.
The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives
from the original specification for an Imperial Roman war chariot.
Specifications and bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are
handed a specification and wonder what horse's ass came up with it, you
may be exactly right, because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made
just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses. Thus,
we have the answer to the original question.
When we see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big
booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are
solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their
factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs might have
preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by
train from the factory to the launch site.
The railroad line from the factory had to run through a tunnel in the
mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is
slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track is about
as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, the major design feature of what is arguably the world's most
advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years
ago by the width of a horse's ass!
While I like m0n0wall (seriously -- check it out!), it's based upon FreeBSD, and not Linux.
M0n0wall (yes, the l33t spelling is correct), was originally written for the low-cost Soekris communication PCs, which I also recommend that people check out, although the new VIA EPIA boards are also attractive (but more expensive).
While it is quite impressive, the PIMs still suck (the impressiveness comes from the non-PIM stuff). As an example (and this is just one of many), try creating an appointment that lasts only 15 minutes, and give it an appropriate description. Now look at it in the full-day view; is that usable????
(For those of you without a Z, you see something like the top 5-pixels of an area that is supposed to display your appointment, of which around the top three pixels of your descriptive text are displayed (most of the text -- the bottom part -- is chopped off). The result is quite unreadable.)
Please note that, when I compare the Z to the palm, I'm comparing it to third-party software like DateBk5 or Agendus. I wish that there was something comparable to these for the Z, but there isn't (and I'm more than willing to pay $100 for something that is as good and reliable as DateBk5 for the Z).
If you want a cool handheld linux device, and you don't care that it is very "sub-optimal" for appointment/contact management, the Zaurus is very nice. Your geek coolness goes up by +10 if you have one.
If appointments/contact management are important to you, you want some kind of palm or palm-compatible. IMO, the PIM software available for the palms are way beyond anything available for the Zaurus (and I'd be willing to pay US$100 for something really good for the Z, but it just doesn't exist).
I have (or used to have) a Palm III, a TRGPro, and a Zaurus 5500. While the Zaurus is cool, I need good PIM apps, and the ones available for the Z do not meet my needs (the Z makes a really cool wireless web browser, though). Because of this, I can't use the Z, and so I recently started looking for a color palm. I eventually settled on a refurbished Sony Clie (the Zire 71 was attractive, but it uses Palm OS 5.2, which has the "new" grafitti, and I did not want to learn a new system). I'm really happy with the Clie (even though I personally try to avoid Sony products in general).
Also, while you can, in theory, run palm apps on the Z, they supposedly run very slowly. I've thought about doing this, but decided against it after reading the reports.
The battery life doesn't bother me (as long as it's > 1yr). The things that are important to me are (1) it's reasonably accurate (< 1 minute -- important for us type AAA personalities), and (2) I don't have to screw with yet another clock during the daylight savings switchover times (and, in fact, I can use it to set the other clocks, without having to set it first).
If you don't understand the coolness of an atomic watch, well I guess you're not a big enough geek.;-)
If you're used to powerful address/phone book capabilities (e.g., DateBk[345] on the Palm), you're pretty much stuck with getting another Palm compatible (have you looked at the TRGPro's, 330's, or Clie's?). As much as I love the Zaurus (5500D), it blows chunks when it comes to advanced PIM features (even considering commercial third-party apps). There's no hyperlinking from appointments to phone book/note entries, no integration of appointments/to-dos, etc., etc. The PIMs available for the Zaurus are very primitive compared to what's available for the Palm.
On the other hand, if you've never used a PDA before, or if you don't use advanced PIM features, the Zaurus PIMs are fine -- many people are certainly happy with them. Only if you're used to advanced features, will you find the Zaurus lacking.
[ The Z is a really cool linux handheld. I just wouldn't recommend it for PDA purposes. ]
Purify, an expensive, proprietary piece of commercial sofware, has got to be the most unbelievably timesaving debugging software out there.
While not perfect, it's a bloody godsend, because it detects (at runtime, usually when it happens, and not long afterwards, like program termination):
The use of uninitialized variables.
Reads/writes past the end of allocated memory.
Memory leaks.
Re-use of free'd memory, as well as free()'ing freed memory.
Open file descriptors.
Lots of other nasty things.
It basically helps you quickly track down the really nasty bugs. Instead of spending days pulling your hair out, you can nail the bugs in minutes to hours. It does cause your program to run 3-10X slower, though.
Yes, there are other, open-source alternatives that do some of the above, but none do everything, and many have problems. The closest things are the various debugging malloc()s, but they're useless for tracking down the nasty uninitialized variables (or for showing you the exact line of code that trashed the malloc()'d memory). One of the really nice things about Purify is that Purify works at the object file (.o,.a,.so,.lib,.obj,.dll, etc.) level and does not need access to source code (purify is generally a link-time option). You can run purify on other proprietary code for which you have no source code (very nice for seeing if the bug is caused by your code or someone else's).
It exist for both Unix and Windows. I'm pretty sure that it exists for Linux, too.
It also works with most (all?) debuggers, including gdb.
It's good. It's really good (even though it's proprietary). If you develop commercial software, and your competitors use it and you don't, you're at a serious disadvantage. It's that good.
(And, no, I don't work for Rational (or IBM). I'm just a very happy user.)
Unfortunately, like subversion, opencm is still a work-in-progress, but it appears to have a lot of potential. Progress appears to be occurring at a steady, but moderate, pace.
Features:
Doesn't require (part of?) apache to build, unlike subversion. (yay!)
Developers have explicitly stated that repository replication and disconnected commits will be implemented in a future version. I think subverion might someday support these (and I wouldn't hold my breath), but the opencm developers seem to have put a much higher priority on these (i.e., explicit mention as "coming soon" features).
For small routers/firewalls (and if you don't mind spending a modest amount of money), check out the small PC-compatibles from Soekris Engineering. Their (well, his) main product is a small PC-compatible board designed for routers/firewalls: a 133MHz 486 class processor (AMD ElanSC520), 64MB RAM, three (3) LAN ports, a type II compact flash socket, BIOS, and a serial console port. Note that there's NO video, sound, or IDE ports (you boot from LAN or from the compact flash port, which can be used with an IBM microdrive). It's low power (under 20 watts), very quiet (no fans), and pretty small. Cost with metal case and US wallwart power supply is something like $250 plus tax and shipping (bare boards are available, too). In the past, availability has been a bit intermittent ("in stock" maybe once a month), as they seem to sell out their incoming production batches fairly quickly, so be warned.
Also, I believe that they're about to ship a version with PCMCIA slots (but only two LAN ports), basically designed for people to build wireless access points/firewalls.
People have FreeBSD and Linux (I think) currently running on it. I bought one to create a FreeBSD-based home firewall, and it's pretty cool (I haven't yet deployed mine, but I'm getting close). There's also a mailing list (check out the web site).
However, if you need video, sound, or IDE ports, one of the Shuttle boxes might be a better match (although they'll probably use up a lot more power).
Re:Programmable Meade Telescope, part III (or IV)
on
Beginning Astronomy?
·
· Score: 1
I've been thinking about getting the ETX-90EC, and here are my $0.02 (I still haven't made a decision, though):
It only makes sense to get if you also buy the optional (~US$100) GoTo computer. Without the computer, you simply have an expensive ~3.5-inch motorized telescope. You can get cheaper telescopes with larger apertures (aperture is king).
e) No, I just run virtual machines on my one system. It the same computer, just running different operating systems at the same time. I was running my completely-approved MacOS with Virtual-PC open to Win98 which was running VMWare with Linux as a kind of side project to see how running a virtual machine in an emulator affects performance.
f) oh
(click)
You forget:
g) Either pay up or we'll disconnect you.
h) H*ll no! I won't pay!
i) You get disconnected.
Now, you can try suing, but you're probably better off just avoiding them. They've got the power, after all -- not you.
One possible method would be to use the same "OS fingerprinting" techniques used by port scanners.
I imagine you should be able to fingerprint firewalls in the same way you fingerprint OSes.
WARNING: Judging from the posts in various newsgroups, the power supply is one of the top two causes of instability in Athlon-based systems (the other cause is cheap RAM).
For many people, using a non-AMD-approved power supply is a sure-fire method of creating your worst nightmare (nasty, intermittent crashes). Yes, it is possible to use a non-AMD-approved power supply (and I just happen to be using one in my system), without any problems, but don't be surprised if you end up with a nasty, intermittently-crashing system, if you use non-approved power supplies.
If you like taking chances, sure -- go ahead and use a non-approved supply... but don't be surprised if you end up with an intermittently crashing system. Just be prepared to replace the power supply.
Basically, if you want something that looks cool, and is geekily cool to hack (e.g., Linux), the iPaq is great. However, it's not very useful, compared to everything else that's out there -- especially palm devices.
If you want something useful (but possibly boring) get a Palm. I've got a TRGPro, and it's wonderful. The biggest problem I have is that I only have a 64MB CF card plugged into it -- one of these days I'll get a 128MB card (the IBM microdrives use too much power for my tastes).
Most of the available software is not open-source (but some programs, like DateBook4, are worth the modest cost). However, there are a few gems, like plucker (an open-source web page snarfer, similar to AvantGo).
Keep in mind, however, that in a lot of markets, agents can sell houses a lot faster than someone can enter
them in the MLS database. My wife and I recently bought our first home -- doing so before it was even
"officially" listed. It was never on the web, in the paper, or even had a sign. An agent will also have search
capabilities in the MLS software that the web site probably won't provide. In most situations your best bet
is probably to use an agent.
Yes. In ``hot'' markets, desirable houses will often go on sale and be sold before they even have a chance to get listed on the Internet. If you want a good chance of getting a nice house, a realtor is highly desirable (however, locating a good one may be problematic).
Also, in California, at least, it's the seller that pays for the buyer's realtor.
It doesn't cost the buyer anything, when the seller is using a realtor to sell their house (which is the usual case). It can be an issue if the homeowners are bypassing the realtors and are selling the house themselves, however.
Another reason to use a realtor is that they know the area. This is very important when you, the buyer, are unfamiliar with the area and are unaware of potential problems. For example, many Californians are unaware of the radon gas issues elsewhere in the country.
The removable drive bay is a cheap solution, but it's not very easy to use (for non-technical types), and it's not very portable (unless you can install a drive bay everywhere you're going to use it -- and this doesn't solve the laptop problem).
A "better" (but a bit more expensive) solution is to buy an external drive case with either a USB or firewire interface. It's pretty easy to find these (although USB is the only really ubiquitous interface supported by all the major OSes). You'll probably want to get the version for 2.5" drives, as the 3.5" drive cases are pretty big. The 2.5" drives also tend to be more shock-resistant than 3.5" ones. These cases are more portable and are easier to use (just plug them into the USB or firewire port -- you don't have to crack the case and hope there's a free IDE cable).
Also, with MH-style mailboxes (and maildir, if I understand maildir correctly), you have the additional advantage of being able to search the folders using glimpse. Glimpse allows you to do efficient full-text searches (it's light-years beyond grep). It's only "disadvantage" is that you've got to build an index (database) of your mail messages. However, disk space is cheap, and I have a nightly cron job that auto-indexes my messages. It's VERY nice.
Note that exmh contains glimpse support. Check it out.
Hard-disk-based MP3 players have the big advantage of storing obscene amounts of music.
I have an MPMAN, one of those portable MP3 players that hold a piddly 64MB. If you like listening to a lot of music, 64MB is just too small.
CDR/CDRW-based MP3 players are nice, but they only hold, oh, say 10-14 CDs. Not bad, but not a lot. I bought a Genica, but it broke.;-(
I'm now looking for an hard-disk-based MP3 player.
The Creative Nomad jukebox looks good, but is a bit pricey. After my genica experience, I'm leaning away from "cheap, no-name" products, but this PJRC player is somewhat tempting (I like playing with hardware, and I figure I can attach a 10BT LAN interface (not 100BT, unfortunately) plus microcontroller for less than US$100.
Although what I really want is an hard-disk-based *PORTABLE* MP3 player, having a LAN-based one would also be cool.
Side note: Yes, I could build a LAN-based MP3 player out of an old PC, but (1) it would suck up LOTS of unnecessary power (the motherboard alone would eat 30-35W), and (2) it would be huge (even small ATX cases are huge).
Slashdot Mirror
(You have to watch nearly the entire movie, to understand why I'm mentioning it. Sorry, can't explain any more, as that would spoil the joke. ;-)
And, yes, I know that bluetooth does have provision for security. It's just that the current generation of (US GSM/GPRS) phones don't seem to be using it (and, I'd loved to be proved incorrect).
Don't laugh. The following might be apocryphal, but it's still interesting .... I don't know where it comes from, though:
No, thed need to talk to the Tokyo Police Cataclysm Division:
(You have to go to the strip after this one to get the joke.)
While I like m0n0wall (seriously -- check it out!), it's based upon FreeBSD, and not Linux.
M0n0wall (yes, the l33t spelling is correct), was originally written for the low-cost Soekris communication PCs, which I also recommend that people check out, although the new VIA EPIA boards are also attractive (but more expensive).
I have the latest (stable) OpenZaurus 3.2.
While it is quite impressive, the PIMs still suck (the impressiveness comes from the non-PIM stuff). As an example (and this is just one of many), try creating an appointment that lasts only 15 minutes, and give it an appropriate description. Now look at it in the full-day view; is that usable???? (For those of you without a Z, you see something like the top 5-pixels of an area that is supposed to display your appointment, of which around the top three pixels of your descriptive text are displayed (most of the text -- the bottom part -- is chopped off). The result is quite unreadable.)
Please note that, when I compare the Z to the palm, I'm comparing it to third-party software like DateBk5 or Agendus. I wish that there was something comparable to these for the Z, but there isn't (and I'm more than willing to pay $100 for something that is as good and reliable as DateBk5 for the Z).
It really depends on your needs.
If you want a cool handheld linux device, and you don't care that it is very "sub-optimal" for appointment/contact management, the Zaurus is very nice. Your geek coolness goes up by +10 if you have one.
If appointments/contact management are important to you, you want some kind of palm or palm-compatible. IMO, the PIM software available for the palms are way beyond anything available for the Zaurus (and I'd be willing to pay US$100 for something really good for the Z, but it just doesn't exist).
I have (or used to have) a Palm III, a TRGPro, and a Zaurus 5500. While the Zaurus is cool, I need good PIM apps, and the ones available for the Z do not meet my needs (the Z makes a really cool wireless web browser, though). Because of this, I can't use the Z, and so I recently started looking for a color palm. I eventually settled on a refurbished Sony Clie (the Zire 71 was attractive, but it uses Palm OS 5.2, which has the "new" grafitti, and I did not want to learn a new system). I'm really happy with the Clie (even though I personally try to avoid Sony products in general).
Also, while you can, in theory, run palm apps on the Z, they supposedly run very slowly . I've thought about doing this, but decided against it after reading the reports.
The atomic watches automatically adjust for daylight savings. It's a no-brainer.
The battery life doesn't bother me (as long as it's > 1yr). The things that are important to me are (1) it's reasonably accurate (< 1 minute -- important for us type AAA personalities), and (2) I don't have to screw with yet another clock during the daylight savings switchover times (and, in fact, I can use it to set the other clocks, without having to set it first).
If you don't understand the coolness of an atomic watch, well I guess you're not a big enough geek. ;-)
Cool, but, for the US folks, it needs atomic capability (as in automatic synchonization with the NIST atomic clock in Boulder, CO), as in:
It's way cool to have a watch that's always correct.
If you're used to powerful address/phone book capabilities (e.g., DateBk[345] on the Palm), you're pretty much stuck with getting another Palm compatible (have you looked at the TRGPro's, 330's, or Clie's?). As much as I love the Zaurus (5500D), it blows chunks when it comes to advanced PIM features (even considering commercial third-party apps). There's no hyperlinking from appointments to phone book/note entries, no integration of appointments/to-dos, etc., etc. The PIMs available for the Zaurus are very primitive compared to what's available for the Palm.
On the other hand, if you've never used a PDA before, or if you don't use advanced PIM features, the Zaurus PIMs are fine -- many people are certainly happy with them. Only if you're used to advanced features, will you find the Zaurus lacking.
[ The Z is a really cool linux handheld. I just wouldn't recommend it for PDA purposes. ]
Purify, an expensive, proprietary piece of commercial sofware, has got to be the most unbelievably timesaving debugging software out there.
While not perfect, it's a bloody godsend, because it detects (at runtime, usually when it happens, and not long afterwards, like program termination):
It basically helps you quickly track down the really nasty bugs. Instead of spending days pulling your hair out, you can nail the bugs in minutes to hours. It does cause your program to run 3-10X slower, though.
Yes, there are other, open-source alternatives that do some of the above, but none do everything, and many have problems. The closest things are the various debugging malloc()s, but they're useless for tracking down the nasty uninitialized variables (or for showing you the exact line of code that trashed the malloc()'d memory). One of the really nice things about Purify is that Purify works at the object file (.o, .a, .so, .lib, .obj, .dll, etc.) level and does not need access to source code (purify is generally a link-time option). You can run purify on other proprietary code for which you have no source code (very nice for seeing if the bug is caused by your code or someone else's).
It exist for both Unix and Windows. I'm pretty sure that it exists for Linux, too.
It also works with most (all?) debuggers, including gdb.
It's good. It's really good (even though it's proprietary). If you develop commercial software, and your competitors use it and you don't, you're at a serious disadvantage. It's that good.
(And, no, I don't work for Rational (or IBM). I'm just a very happy user.)
As others have hinted (but did not provide any details), an alternative to subversion and arch is "opencm":
Unfortunately, like subversion, opencm is still a work-in-progress, but it appears to have a lot of potential. Progress appears to be occurring at a steady, but moderate, pace.
Features:
clisp runs on the Zaurus. Does that count?
For that matter, maxima also runs on the Z (using the clisp interpreter).
For small routers/firewalls (and if you don't mind spending a modest amount of money), check out the small PC-compatibles from Soekris Engineering. Their (well, his) main product is a small PC-compatible board designed for routers/firewalls: a 133MHz 486 class processor (AMD ElanSC520), 64MB RAM, three (3) LAN ports, a type II compact flash socket, BIOS, and a serial console port. Note that there's NO video, sound, or IDE ports (you boot from LAN or from the compact flash port, which can be used with an IBM microdrive). It's low power (under 20 watts), very quiet (no fans), and pretty small. Cost with metal case and US wallwart power supply is something like $250 plus tax and shipping (bare boards are available, too). In the past, availability has been a bit intermittent ("in stock" maybe once a month), as they seem to sell out their incoming production batches fairly quickly, so be warned.
Also, I believe that they're about to ship a version with PCMCIA slots (but only two LAN ports), basically designed for people to build wireless access points/firewalls.
People have FreeBSD and Linux (I think) currently running on it. I bought one to create a FreeBSD-based home firewall, and it's pretty cool (I haven't yet deployed mine, but I'm getting close). There's also a mailing list (check out the web site).
However, if you need video, sound, or IDE ports, one of the Shuttle boxes might be a better match (although they'll probably use up a lot more power).
I've been thinking about getting the ETX-90EC, and here are my $0.02 (I still haven't made a decision, though):
You forget:
g) Either pay up or we'll disconnect you.
h) H*ll no! I won't pay!
i) You get disconnected.
Now, you can try suing, but you're probably better off just avoiding them. They've got the power, after all -- not you.
One possible method would be to use the same "OS fingerprinting" techniques used by port scanners.
I imagine you should be able to fingerprint firewalls in the same way you fingerprint OSes.
Memory expansion, as the CF slot gets filled with the wireless card Du Jour.
WARNING: Judging from the posts in various newsgroups, the power supply is one of the top two causes of instability in Athlon-based systems (the other cause is cheap RAM).
... but don't be surprised if you end up with an intermittently crashing system. Just be prepared to replace the power supply.
For many people, using a non-AMD-approved power supply is a sure-fire method of creating your worst nightmare (nasty, intermittent crashes). Yes, it is possible to use a non-AMD-approved power supply (and I just happen to be using one in my system), without any problems, but don't be surprised if you end up with a nasty, intermittently-crashing system, if you use non-approved power supplies.
If you like taking chances, sure -- go ahead and use a non-approved supply
I'll second this.
Basically, if you want something that looks cool, and is geekily cool to hack (e.g., Linux), the iPaq is great. However, it's not very useful, compared to everything else that's out there -- especially palm devices.
If you want something useful (but possibly boring) get a Palm. I've got a TRGPro, and it's wonderful. The biggest problem I have is that I only have a 64MB CF card plugged into it -- one of these days I'll get a 128MB card (the IBM microdrives use too much power for my tastes). Most of the available software is not open-source (but some programs, like DateBook4, are worth the modest cost). However, there are a few gems, like plucker (an open-source web page snarfer, similar to AvantGo).
Yes. In ``hot'' markets, desirable houses will often go on sale and be sold before they even have a chance to get listed on the Internet. If you want a good chance of getting a nice house, a realtor is highly desirable (however, locating a good one may be problematic).
Also, in California, at least, it's the seller that pays for the buyer's realtor. It doesn't cost the buyer anything, when the seller is using a realtor to sell their house (which is the usual case). It can be an issue if the homeowners are bypassing the realtors and are selling the house themselves, however.
Another reason to use a realtor is that they know the area. This is very important when you, the buyer, are unfamiliar with the area and are unaware of potential problems. For example, many Californians are unaware of the radon gas issues elsewhere in the country.
The removable drive bay is a cheap solution, but it's not very easy to use (for non-technical types), and it's not very portable (unless you can install a drive bay everywhere you're going to use it -- and this doesn't solve the laptop problem).
A "better" (but a bit more expensive) solution is to buy an external drive case with either a USB or firewire interface. It's pretty easy to find these (although USB is the only really ubiquitous interface supported by all the major OSes). You'll probably want to get the version for 2.5" drives, as the 3.5" drive cases are pretty big. The 2.5" drives also tend to be more shock-resistant than 3.5" ones. These cases are more portable and are easier to use (just plug them into the USB or firewire port -- you don't have to crack the case and hope there's a free IDE cable).
Also, with MH-style mailboxes (and maildir, if I understand maildir correctly), you have the additional advantage of being able to search the folders using glimpse. Glimpse allows you to do efficient full-text searches (it's light-years beyond grep). It's only "disadvantage" is that you've got to build an index (database) of your mail messages. However, disk space is cheap, and I have a nightly cron job that auto-indexes my messages. It's VERY nice.
Note that exmh contains glimpse support. Check it out.
Hard-disk-based MP3 players have the big advantage of storing obscene amounts of music.
I have an MPMAN, one of those portable MP3 players that hold a piddly 64MB. If you like listening to a lot of music, 64MB is just too small.
CDR/CDRW-based MP3 players are nice, but they only hold, oh, say 10-14 CDs. Not bad, but not a lot. I bought a Genica, but it broke. ;-(
I'm now looking for an hard-disk-based MP3 player. The Creative Nomad jukebox looks good, but is a bit pricey. After my genica experience, I'm leaning away from "cheap, no-name" products, but this PJRC player is somewhat tempting (I like playing with hardware, and I figure I can attach a 10BT LAN interface (not 100BT, unfortunately) plus microcontroller for less than US$100.
Although what I really want is an hard-disk-based *PORTABLE* MP3 player, having a LAN-based one would also be cool.
Side note: Yes, I could build a LAN-based MP3 player out of an old PC, but (1) it would suck up LOTS of unnecessary power (the motherboard alone would eat 30-35W), and (2) it would be huge (even small ATX cases are huge).