I'm typing this in the brand new apple browser, Safari. It lacks the spell checker that omni web has so it might not be my number one.

Using Safari - so far so good...

:-) One tries. And yes, I am CubeBoy.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/142/wo/WM3bT1sv77q920jKn8y1xbtaAis/4.7.0.3.27.1

but what's
bluetooth,
VGA & S-video out?

Ed - report the bug using the handy bug report button - a mate has done it for Safari's display of another messageboard.

Ditto. I was excited about hopefully meeting Ned in a few weeks when we tour down that way, but now, now I'm mostly excited about meeting someone who owns a cube!

Dammit I wish I had money. My original-style iMac is still doing me fine after all these years, but it sure would be nice to have a newer model...

And you're touring down here, Mr. Piuma? You are welcome to crash at my apartment, though I can't fit too many people in here unless you all don't mind sprawling on the floor. Drop me a line privately.

I had one for awhile. Picture evidence here

I've already had to use the bug button twice. I'm having to use omniweb for ILE though. That sucks.

The Titanium on Powerbooks (like mine, hem) is heavily enamelled, so it's not suprising you couldn't corode it. I don't like the 17" one at all - why didn't they put a full size keyboard on it? Plus they've changed the keyboard font :(

If apple are going to take on microsoft, as they may well do if they are forced to move to intel chips. Apple seam to have got the open source thing down and so far seam to be working well with the open source community which can only be a good thing.

(nosebleed)

Ech! Is that a real piece of jargon?

That is all.

Oops, wrong thread.

also Apple music download service

- $0.99 per song
- Can use your music for iPhoto etc...
- If you buy a new Mac, you need to deauthorize one and reauthorize another
- Play your music on up to 3 Macs.
- Put your music on an unlimited # of iPods
- Playlist must be modified for every 10 burns.
- 200,000 tracks, unlimited CD burn for personal use.
- Previews
- 128 kpbs AAC quality, every song

Question is would you use it. Its pretty open although you'relimited to burning out an album as the people intended 10 times, which is pretty generous. How many independents are going to sign up though?

First impressions, it isn't great.

I need an iPod and a new Mac PRONTO, I have actually been retuning my methods of music purchases in the past several months in preparation for iTunes and the iPod. Okay i'm done really.

fr apple: Download the iPod Software 1.3 Updater (5.2MB)
Select the download for your platform (Windows version available early May):

I gots to get me one of those 15gb fellers...

I'm pissed that there's no date set for when the service will be availible in the UK. I functions well and the previews are good. It needs a hell of a lot more catalogue, (1 Sun Ra album just ain't going to cut it), Apple need to work at picking up some large independents.

Or fly...

I disown you.

Obviously I did not have a satisfying lunch today and am extremely agitated

Anyway, that said: No, I'm sorry, I tried to read the Hobbit when I was a kid and didn't get into it; I am not interested in seeing the movies before reading the books but I also doubt I'll get around to reading the books anytime soon. I have read some about the creation of the various languages in the books and that was interesting...

So anyway. The "of course not" wasn't so much hobbit-hatin' as it was a reflection on the fact that I almost never see movies.

The glowing keyboard is pretty cool, though.

Dude, this so should have said "his mac is pretty cool too"

Well, the nickname I have for it is "the penis".

Ah, now this I fully sympathize with. :-)

Also there are rumours of the 15" Powerbooks being G5 and that the whole range going G5 by christmas, I find this a little harder to belive. Also the best speculatuion is that the 17" powerbook will become dual processor, something taht is more possible with the G5 as it consumes less power than the G4 but still not that believable.

apple knows it will be wise to re-ignite interest in the desktop range first. after all, there are still G3-based portables that fly off of shelves.

Personally, I'm more interested in the Panther announcements.

Anyway, I'm ignoring the rumors for now - however I WILL be at my local AppleStore to watch the keynote Monday morning.

"OPTICAL AUDIO = Pointless, unless you have a cable travelling hundreds of miles. Once it goes into the computer it has to be converted into electrical signal anyway, so why not just have a digital SPDIF copper cable for the few metres the signal is going to travel from your audio equipment without having an unnecessary conversion stage?"

But it's what a most of consumer digital audio devices have for digital input/output (and some pro ones for that matter). The question is will it be plain s/pdif or will it support ADAT lightpipe as well?

Key paragraph:

-----
Last night, while experimenting with the new iChat AV and speaking with a friend in Montreal (we both have cable modems), we were both experiencing very "muffled" sounding audio. We could hear each other, but it was hardly clear. After some experimentation, we found a couple of things that really help.

The first is probably obvious -- headphones made a big difference. Still, though, things sounded quite muddled. We then took a look at iChat -> Preferences -> Video, and found the real key to success. In the "Bandwidth Limit" drop-down, the initial setting is "none." When we lowered it to 100K, audio quality went up dramatically, but, of course, video quality suffered. After some epxerimentation, it seems that (between two cable modem connections, anyway), the 500K rate gives the best balance between video and audio quality. Your experience may differ, of course, but it's worth trying the different bandwidth limits to find one that strikes a good balance between audio and video quality.
-----

Sorry, Millar, looks like laptops will be G4 for a while (Apple, you just put back my next computer purchase from you, I hope you're happy)

I reallly like the G5 case design and its a great computer but quite simply I am not a desktop person.

Currently my Apple lust object is a G5 laptop, but Im guess I'm going to have to wait. I'm also lusting after an airport hub (a fairly simple lust) and a machine i can use as a webserver.

http://www.macspeech.com/images/resellers/apple_logo.gif

YAY

1U G5 Xserves

3.5 TB XServe RAID, also Windows XP Pro/2003 server and linux certified

New audio recoding sequencing app: Garage band, 64 track recording, virtual instruments, effects, midi etc. Not free to dl, booo. free with new macs.

Also Apple usb keyboard and music expansion pack.

4Gig credit card sized iPod mini, availible in Gold, Silver, Blue, Pink and Green

and the mini ipod thing is a HUGE bust. $249 for 4 gigs or $299 for 15? well duh. you didn't need to make it SMALLER apple, you needed to make it CHEAPER. $149 for a 1 gig model would've broken the market wide open.

hugely disappointing.

best post ever.

Yes folks, the standard lineup, it starts with a bass drum and ends with a TB303. Where is the sample of the Flash Gordon opening dialogue? You tell me.

Step 1: Carry computer.
Step 2: Date Jay-Z (optional).
Step 3: Have body parts replaced by cybernetic servos and microprocessors.
Step 4: Get hi-top fade/mocha braids.

INSTANT ROBOT.

xpost Dan Step 2 is not optional.

Also Spencer that's really fucking creepy, don't they actually have oxygen bars in LA?

http://www.lefigaro.fr/dossiers/adv/figaro/vins/_art/vin_fonseca_tbogaty_2704/vin_fonseca_tbogaty_2704_251.jpg
Indeed!

xpost

My euphemistic mind starts pondering.

xpost the Frampton is still on offer, you want it Spencer?

Whatever, I feel like fucking Criswell at the end of Plan 9 right now. YOU KIDS AND YOUR...VITAMINS!

GARAGE BAND

I know, though, I thought that as soon as I hit submit.

garage band:soundtrack::final cut express:final cut pro?

FUCKING IDVD4 PROMPTLY FUCKING CRASHED WHEN ENCODING A DVD.

I had major problems with iDVD3. It took me hours and dozens of restarts in order to be able to burn a DVD and once I burned it I had artifacts all over the place. It was fucking unusable. And I'm on a dual 2hz G5!

Panther has been a horrible upgrade for me, and I tend to blame it on G5 technology being so new. I get kernel panics at least once a week, etc. Very annoying. I never had one kernel panic ever with my old G4 and Panther.

iPhoto is seriously faster though. Final Cut Express 2 is faster as well and is optimized for my dual G5 which is awesome. Garageband is better than Soundtrack, methinks.

This makes no sense. The definition of an acronym is an abbreviation made from intital letters that is pronounced as a word. So AIDS is an acronym, IRS is not.

(can you tell I'm trying to convince myself to buy ilife?)

DVDSP!!!!!

Oh, UPS, speed my baby to me!

Recording and chopping up the vocals was frighteningly easy. If I were inclined to make funhater indie artowank shit with crap drumbeats I'd have an album out by midnight. That brings up another point, the drum kits are kind of crap (predictable coming from me) and no fussing with the compression and overdrive settings thus far has resolved the issue.

1. built-in effects surprisingly good
2. vocals through laptop microphone scarily decent-sounding
3. built-in synth editor also suprisingly effective and rather simple
4. Sequencer needs work and lots of it (WHERE IS MY SHUFFLE KNOB FAGTOGS)
5. Drumkits and included breakbeats all shit
6. Have yet to import any of my own samples but watch this space (see 5 above)

I spent the first few days with my iPod hoping that there were all kinda of feautres I couldn't find. I still want some programmable function keys, dammit.

The rest of iLife 4 is great. GarageBand is very, very serviceable. I mean really, for $49 you can't expect killer drums...is it just me or are drums THE hardest thing to put into a computer application and get a killer result?

airport extreme base station
airport extreme card
512 megs ram for my ibook
new ibook battery
lacie external hard drive

are there deals/combos/anything like that anywhere???

Y4nc3y, my advice to you is to find a job working for the government or educational institution of some sort. Failing that, enroll in a school. Also if you order online have it delivered to an address in a state that has no Apple Store, to save on sales tax.

tom! u r OTM. my moms works for a college, so maybe i'll see if she can order for me. dunno why i didn't think of that.

if i buy a new battery will it extend my life?

how long have you had your battery?

I bought this on Amazon for $230 I believe. Works great.

on the train home from work a few minutes ago, my ipod froze. on restart i got the folder with the exclamation point screen. my computer won't recognize it. i'm on hold with apple now. fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuc kfkjdfkdsjgkfsjdpvsdk

Why does my battery say it's got like 30% remaining, then suddenly sleep? I realise that it's needing to keep some power back to keep data in the memory etc until such time as I can recharge or hook up to power, but if so, then its very un-apple to not show usable' power and time remaining, isn't it?

Is there a way to make sure that the battery guagues on the menu show me what I've got to play with as a user rather than what the machine has to play with?

On the Mac if you want to reset the Power Management Unit, to get better battery life accuracy,this article shows you how.

and Dan I,

% uptime
19:25 up 26 days, 5:38, 6 users, load averages: 0.69 0.32 0.28

% uptime
0:45  up 31 days,  6:13, 2 users, load averages: 0.00 0.02 0.00

And that last restart was just to run the 10.3.2 update

I am really angry and waiting for the customer service line to wake the fuck up.

The pdf turned out to be a red herring, sadly. :(

Starts with "L"...ends in "ogic Platinum"...

are there deals/combos/anything like that anywhere???

I would look around for different FW drive possibilities. Sure they (Lacie) are reliable, but I bought an Iogear case that is just as neat looking (and matches my powerbook, mixer, and MIDI controller to boot) for $119 CAD. Sure it's empty, but the price of a new ATA-133 HD still makes it cheaper than a Lacie.

http://www.elgato.com/products/eyehome.html

Although, I have to wonder if there is a significant loss of sonic fidelty when you shoot audio over an Airport Extreme.

However I really don't feel like bitching too much since a $50 program like this is really no sweat, I could have spent 6-8 times as much and probably would have very very similar complaints (see me being totally sketchy about buying any studio program for my computer for 4 years, resulting in my complete lack of recorded output since 1998).

OK, here's a question. You know how they claimed that Mac Office came preinstalled - how come mine is just a "test drive" version that expires in 30 days? Do they expect me to pay for Office, coz they can fuck right off if they do. Or do I just need to register to get the real version? (Or do then Windoze sweep down and eat my soul for getting a Mac in the first place?)

CAN I JUST PLEASE REITERATE HOW CUTE MY POWERBOOK IS?!?!?

God, I need some actual software or MP3s or something for him soon!

Updated PowerBooks expected later Today.

you can probably trade it up or something, can't you?

i fear for its life every day. i *wish* they would take trade-ins!

No, that's fine. Sadly, I just don't have the time to read such sites. BUT...I got a brand new Powerbook for free. And it's fucking great. So I can't really complain.

Heathen!

- even though i set firefox as my default browser, if i click on a link in my email, safari opens up. ?Q!?wefifowh!@~!#>

- why does everything have to be all big and icony? this shit looks like it was designed for idiots. is there any modification/plugin/etc that can make the interface look more like Classic?

maria, that's what in the beginning the apple was for: idiots. just kidding.

what i HATE about OSX: i want to install imovie but i can't do it with ilife cause my version of itunes is too high or sth. so it refuses to do it. i downloaded it from direct connect but some of the thinsg (like title) don't work.

i recently discovered .mac. Expensive but oh so much fun.

Apple by and large were about computing for the masses from simple kits to some of the first home computers with disk drives, colour and expansion slots, to the first successful gui.....

I must have missed something -- what came out today?

System related grouses: I want to be able to view by date created in Open File boxes within programs. System 9 could do that, but OSX can't. I also want to have non-sticky text select. At the moment my text select is 'intelligent', ie it selects a whole word then a whole line, and it's very difficult to just place the cursor somewhere. Maybe this is a configuration thing, but I don't know how to switch that off.

Ah right, I didn't realize it had never been there before! (When you live very near one you get a bit spoiled.)

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10548

(Other/better recommendations welcomed.)

providing updates nothing new announced so far

01:05 PM - Spotted on stage, small metallic box with Apple logo...

01:04 PM - The president of Sony is on stage talking about HD. Steve is a fan of Sony's prosumer HD video camera (just $3499).

12:58 PM - iMovie 05: Faster, non destructive trimming, more transitions and effects, mpeg 4 video, Magic iMovie (auto movie). Biggest feature: HD.

12:45 PM - iPhoto '05: Better searching, More formats, far more powerful editing, more book designs, better organization (folders, calendar view), advanced slide show (Ken Burns!). Supports MPEG 4 movies. Supports RAW. Prices for prints cut to 19 cents a picture. Really plugging the books feature, auto layout etc. New sizes: softcover 11x8.5, softcover 8x6, pocketbook 3.5x2.5. All 20 pages minumum, double sided printing.

12:44 PM - iLife '05: Major upgrades of everything but iTunes.

12:43 PM - Next topic: HD. 2005 will be the year of HD video. Final Cut Pro HD is the leading HD editing product in the world. But that's not enough: Final Cut Express HD. LiveType, SoundTrack, seamless iMovie import. Motion importing. Price point is $299 and available next month. $99 upgrade price.

12:42 PM - Tiger: Long Before Longhorn.

12:41 PM - The usual iChat demo, showed off 4 way video conferencing. Paris included as one of the video feeds.

12:40 PM - AAPL is trading down nearly 6%. Better hope for the $499 iMacs.

12:38 PM - The Apple Store is down... New toys are on their way!

12:36 PM - Funny: currency exchange rate--ooh might not want to do that (Dollar vs. Euro).

12:35 PM - I'd like to thank Om Malik for the internet access--everyone's trying to get on and I have a speedy connection from Verizon.

12:34 PM - Speaking of AAPL, it's trading down. Steve sez: "Still more Keynote to go!"

12:33 PM - Now demoing Dashboard. "Dashboard is a place for widgets to live." New converter module and a ditcionary. Stock ticker (with AAPL). Flight tracker. Translation. Yellow pages. Weather.

12:31 PM - Steve is showing off QuickTime 7's H264 features in QuickTime 7. Lossless scaling video.

12:29 PM - QuickTime 7 will be in Tiger, biggest update in the last decade. Live resizing. Full screen overly controls, HD playback. MPEG-4. New codec, h.264.

12:27 PM - Still showing Tiger, Mail.app being shown off. Ties in with iPhoto to add pictures you get in an email.

12:23 PM - Demo not working, Bill Gates style "I have a little bug here."

12:18 PM - Showing off Spotlight in Tiger.

12:16 PM - Tiger should ship in the first half of this year, over 200 new features. He's going over what was shown at WWDC

12:15 PM - Now for an update on OS X.

12:15 PM - The new iMac (LCD) is the most popular Mac.

12:15 PM - Please do not refresh the page, auto refreshes every 2 minutes. The server load is obviously high.

12:13 PM - Steve giving update on the iMac

12:12 PM - First MacWorld with HD projection

12:11 PM - Steve is on stage

12:11 PM - Make sure to join the chat.

12:04 PM - U2's Vertigo playing loud warming up the crowd.

06:50 AM PT - This page is the placeholder for MacMerc's live keynote coverage for MacWorld SF 2005. To the right you should see a box that will (once the show starts) contain the biggest news items. Underneath will be images from the show so it's quite likely that this space will house some of the first images of new Apple products to hit the web. This show is the first Steve Jobs MacWorld keynote in quite some time (1 year) which has added to the buzz factor. Moreover, there are tons of rumors about new products that will keep us all on the edge of our seats. So sit tight and get ready--the good times start rolling at 9AM PT.

realtime notation
crowd impressed with the demo
John Mayer comes on stage to demo
debuted 1 year ago - great response - lots of requests
multitrack simultaneous recording added
recorded tracks now as flexible as loops
new jampacks available today
Next - Garageband
iDVD demo over
another demo
_R, +R, -RW et +RW supported
demo of iDVD
one step dvd creation
Next - iDVD

(msg brought to you by "clicked on this thread by accident but decided to be bitchy anyway inc.")

demoing pages
invites Phil on stage
awesome starting points for documents
40 apple design templates included
all featured you expect in a good word processor
pretty easy to work in Pages
can do almost anything
Pages - word processing
flash output
scrapbook
animation built in - fully automated
new presentation styles - new transitions, animated text
Keynote 2
Appleworks long in the tooth - time for replacement
Next - iWork

Liking Apple is sometimes oh so hard.

You guys actually try to watch computer expos live on the internet? I'm dating one of you and yet still amazed any of you get laid, ever.

Does this say more about us or more about you? *flees*

now over 400 accessories available
amazon's top buy consumer electronics product
crossed 10 million ipods sold
ipod & ipod mini
constantly retooling for new contents
15 countries, 70% global market
70% market share, even with all the competition
averaging half a billion songs per year
iTunes - more than 230 million songs sold
http://webpages.charter.net.nyud.net:8090/mattman7/mini.jpg
$499 with 1.25 G4, 256, 40 gig, Combo
prices for mac mini: $499 and $599
available Jan 22
most important new mac 'ever'
another at 1.4 Ghz
1.25 Ghz G4
coming 1st half of 05
half as high as an iPod Mini, surface of a little dish
comes with Panther & iLife 05
analog, digital video out
pizza box style - like engadget fake
quiet, fw, usb2, video out, ethernet - very very tiny
very tiny
Mac Mini
Headleass stripped mac - Macs

my fucking $3K powerbook is 1.25Ghz. God dammit.

I need Garageband 2

Also: Pages.

Is anybody else hitting refresh on the apple store page over and over again right now or just me?

iPod Shuffle
new device
something happened in the ipod market - became most popular way to listen - shuffle
flash player based around shuffle
want to make something really great
forget batteries - no need to make music hard to find on player
next?
marketshare of players has DOUBLED since last year
Going back to Jan 2004 - marketshare was decent - introduced mini to go after high-end of flash market
did phenominally
cell phones -
itunes client on cell phone - showing sample to the crowd
brought cars to preview - on floor at macworld
show
mercedes offering ipod jack in new cars
new ways to use ipod in the car

http://grizzlor.org/mini.jpg

iPod shuffle: Apple introduces iPod shuffle, its flash based player. Its maller than most packs of gum and weighs the same as 4 quarters (less than 1 ounce). iPod shuffle features volume up/down controls, a simple LED to provide feedback, but no display. The player offers both shuffle or album-based playback. It uses a USB 2.0 transfer connector at its base to interface with computers and sports12-hour rechargeable battery. Available for both Mac and PC. iPod shuffle ships with a lanyard that connects directly to bottom connector for easy carrying. Jobs shows new Apple commercial for iPod shuffle.

wowsa is nothing british, I'm thinking he's channeling rodney dangerfield

http://www.apple.com/macmini/

"Now, when you’re finished recording a performance on a real or software instrument, you can turn your recording into a loop."

"Now, when you’re finished recording a performance on a real or software instrument, you can turn your recording into a loop."

"Now, when you’re finished recording a performance on a real or software instrument, you can turn your recording into a loop."

But I wish there was an upgrade model, say at $149USD, that had Bluetooth headphones. Wires are the bane of working out or running with music.

I've never seen the Apple Store website so hosed. This is nuts.

very neat, but shouldn't there be more ins?

I'm done reading about bitching. Slashdot, engadget and now ILX too. Do you people not notice what the retail price is? Go buy a fucking iMac G5, they've been out for months.

That box will do, mail, word processing, web, a wide spectrum of games (not 3d heavy obv), low end movie editing, compressing, watching, mid range photo editing, music making, and all sorts of other things admirably well. This is going to make a great (and great value) first or second computer for loads of people.

it is under rammed with RAM but then all Macs are and they'd be more expensive if they weren't. That's what crucial.com is for.

teeny, wouldn't you get more usb ins with the keyboard?

...and you can daisy chain firewire

xxx-post

That said, the mini is a giant step in the right direction pricewise.

Depending on the PC software you use, there might be crossgrade options. I'm pretty sure they had one for Cubase SX / Logic 5 PC users to move to Logic Pro 6 when it came out. Abelton offer a peridoc Acid to Live crossgrade as well.

http://images.apple.com/macmini/images/designinsides20050111.jpg

I am just kind of amazed at the amount of what I see as complete ignorance and misunderstanding about these new products' capabilities and target market going on in the media. I guess it's typical tech-journo-not-getting-the-consumer-at-all assumptions about the users, or maybe I'm the fool here. From The Register:

Apple's new tiny solid-state iPod, the iPod Shuffle, is more of a curiosity. It weighs only one ounce and has no display, and is priced at $99 for 512MB or $149 for 1GB. Apple hopes that iTunes users will have a list of "today's favourites" which they'll want to take with them, but will change frequently. So 'iPod Cache' or 'iPod On The Go' are equally appropriate.

It's not a bad assumption, and it certainly makes sense to capitalize on both the iPod's name recognition, and Apple's own synchronization software, which is head and shoulders above its rivals. The risk is diluting the brand. The iPod earned its reputation by being the jukebox that carries all your music ("Five thousand songs in your pocket"), in comparison to low-cost, low-capacity flash players which only carry a few songs. Apple must be hoping that there's a substantial market of potential customers who'd like an iPod, but can't tell the difference between the two.

Uh, iTunes store? uh, AAC? uh, low cost flash players compatible with AAC/iTunes music store? Uh, lower price points boost market penetration/the iPod shuffle wipes out the last bastion of competition in the arena right now? FFS

Ah yes, there is that slight hiccup.

The reason I will buy one is because the iPod (and even the mini) are not good for use when exercising. They are passable in the weight room but useless on a bike or running. And I don't need more than 100 songs to get a good workout in, even when I'm training for a marathon.

And frankly, the above reason is exactly why a lot of people buy flash-based players. A part of me would prefer a card-based iShufflePod, but it's a minor inconvenience. I'm pretty excited about it, actually. In fact, I'm not really sure that I'll be using my iPod that much after I buy an iShufflePod.

I totally agree w/ you Ed, but the idea that most folks can afford an AMD64 class machine if they have half an idea what they're doing building a system isn't ridiculous at all. Apple can't boast the same thing...

(I know, I know, broad generalization that really doesn't include laptops at all... Not considering Apple's target market, etc., etc.)

Oh, and that Mac Mini, for what it is, looks pretty badass.

That's why I think it would be totally cool if they made just the little mp3 player with a USB jack on one end that could read file systems the same way an mp3 discman reads them off of a cdr. Cause then you'd at least have the option to use it as a front end for a very large USB hard drive or a tiny stick... It'd probably appeal to a lot more people if that were the case (and it would be EVEN SMALLER, which after all seems to be Mac's new reason to exist).

Not at all. I know someone who was going to buy a cheapo Dell just for academic work that will now get one of the minis.

The MacMini maxed out to 1GB of RAM will do everything most people need for years, even Photoshop and InDesign (etc.).

Shame there's no spreadsheet though. It wouldn't have to be that advanced. Arithmetic and accounting functions only, no real need for geometric or statistical functions in a home spreadsheet.

just wanted to gush for a minute.

i also think the macmini and ipod shuffle are cool, and wish the shuffle came out this time last year, because i could have convinced work to buy it for me as a flash drive instead of the boring one that i got.

Getting this joke, in 2005, is making me suicidal. Thanks. At least I didn't make it.

Late 2005, I hear.

How much 64-bit software is out there so far? I know Photoshop... what else?

Ummmm...I french-kissed my Powerbook.

People buy iPods for the same reason people shop at the GAP. It doesn't mean there is some inherent "I would like to use AAC encoding and purchase things at Apple Music Store" situation going on. Anyone who is actually thinking about this enough to think about THAT realizes they could easily convert the damn files back to MP3 format (including purchased ones, cos I've done it for someone). Just because they've got the stranglehold on the market doesn't excuse them from releasing a crappy product with no fucking screen on it that only comes in the world's ugliest color besides, say, brown, anymore than market stranglehold excuses Starbucks for that "drinking chocolate" nonsense they've suddenly started in with.

I would purchase an iPod if it came in any colors besides "el gayo" though, that's really my problem with it.

xpost hahaha Mod J you know I'm bitching about this to prevent myself from the horror of actually going walking around DC.

(sorry ally)

I hear this a lot, but I run with mine (20gb) all the time and have never had a problem. What supposedly happens?

A KVM switch (Keyboard, Video monitor, Mouse). I have no idea what they cost. For a high-speed internet connection and network, a router wouldn't hurt either.

I was thinking about this, too.

Soulseek's popularity among the human race is really kind of exaggerated on ILM/ILX. And its popularity among Mac users is even less.

Soulseek's popularity among the human race is really kind of exaggerated on ILM/ILX. And its popularity among Mac users is even less.

I dunno, I've used it for over a year with no real problems.

I disagree with this in theory; I mean as far as I can tell as long as an end user has iTunes then they're not going to notice if they've downloaded an MP3 or an AAC file, for example, unless there one of the handful of people who have affixed $10,000 speakers to their computer and use it as proof that MP3 is a vastly noticably inferior product. The main problem that would back up your theory and refute mine though is the AAC doesn't seem to be supported by several popular music players, though that might've changed in the past year-ish.

xpost proving my point about the $10k speakers. Tom, you realize that on iPods, ie what you are saying is the selling point of this sound file type, the sound difference basically disappears? Or like at my house, without really nice speakers, the sound difference isn't noticable?

MY POINT HERE: 99% of iPods purchasers don't give a shit about file type/benefits/et al. As ModJ says, who wants a Dell MP3 player. That is all.

that'd be the garbage mp3 codec that apple bundles with itunes then? you don't get this kind of artifacting with lame mp3 vbs. and ed i'd switch to ogg in a heartbeat if more portable players supported it, apparently it's too memory-intensive a codec to support.

Those white earbuds SUCK, though.

I agree, btw, that for many intents and purposes AAC is a superior codec but I don't think the actual practical sonic difference between the two is enough to make most people actually give a shit, particularly for the usages most people are going to have for these files. Main tangible benefit seems to be it's a smaller file, IIRC without looking at iTunes right now to double check.

jesus christ Tom, xpost, why don't you marry an iPod.

*raises hand*

:(

for burning to cd, i think you have to look elsewhere, but this works for playing "live"

But when you're using it on its native machine, it's a whole different deal. On Windows, its only advantages are the way it organizes the music and edits ID3 tags. Other than that, it eats memory and processor by using QuickTime (yuck!) and works spottily with some PC hardware configurations (in my experience). But on a Mac, it's so seamless. You can't imagine using anything else.

xxpost:
I remember using macamp, which had a similarly small footprint.

Or were you asking a different question?

As for winamp 5, the way I use winamp it was very slightly slower. Maybe I'll try it again and try to get my head around the expanded features.

fwiw i found it slow at first too, i fixed that by changing back to the original skin.

xxxpost:
excellent, I'll try it with the old skin!

Or better yet, snag a copy of ssX. I was using nicotine for awhile and made the switch to ssX and haven't looked back. It's significantly stabler than nicotine and doesn't need X11.

Spencer, I can't for the life of me remember what the name of the program was, but Jen was recently messing with the trial version of a "media library" database/front end that was able to hit an online database similar to the CDDB to grab all data on a CD or DVD based on the barcode. It was compatible with barcode readers as well as codes manually entered via the keyboard.

For some reason she decided against paying for and using the program (I think it didn't have enough configurable fields to store her library with all the data she wanted to store), but we agreed that feature was pretty slick. She's on vacation at the moment, but if I catch her online or remember next time I talk to her on the phone I'll see if I can get the product name for you.

Oh, it was a Mac-only app...

Preference---->Burning----->Gap between songs: none doesn't seem to do the trick, still a little blip there...