I HATE APPLE

I can only effectively use a third monitor if I have two keyboards and two networks

OK technically i have a four monitor setup but it’s still two networks and three keyboards

1: two monitors, work shitbox which is basically an O365 thin client at this point

2: ipad pro with keyboard cover, for work-related videoconferencing

3: personal macbook air, the least annoying of the three tbf (because O365 on iPadOS is often disappointing)

Oh wow, in 'things I wish I'd known years ago or possibly did but then forgot', you can move (rather than copy) files within Finder by pasting with Command+Option+V.

Never knew that!

i have a playlist in apple music - of local files (i don't subscribe to the apple music service).

i want to give this playlist to a friend (my wife, actually) so she can listen to it while she runs.

i can't do it, can i?

Replicate the playlist in itunes and then export them? They are local files, so you have them.

Found this but I've not used or tried it: https://www.noteburner.com/apple-music/export-apple-music-playlist-to-other-services.html

i'm going to flex here - some of these songs are rare, weird, mashups etc - not on a music service.

i mean, i know i could drag the files from apple music into a folder, airdrop them to her, go over to her computer, drag them into apple music, rearrange them so they're in the same order but man, come on - surely that drudge work is what computers are FOR.

Ha yeah, otm on the latter.

Someone else is paying for me get a new, small laptop for general writing/internet use but also some coding and Jupyter Notebooks, etc.

planning to procure a macbook pro, but is it better (if forced to choose) to privilege the fastest processor possible, or the most RAM?

RAM
For light work you won’t notice a difference in processors.
Having a lot of RAM makes the computer snappier overall, able to have more programs open at the same time, etc

don't get an MBP, MBPs are bricks
get an air like a regular person

even if doing some light ML/coding stuff stuff? it's not just going to be an internet machine

we're looking at getting a new laptop too for my wife to use for work, and i'd rather get an air but a 13" screen is just too small for real work

run your machine learning in the cloud imo

yes, the heavy processing all happens there

Would I not notice the difference between a MBA and MBP running Adobe Lightroom?

Bricks? The pro weighs like an ounce more.

Would I not notice the difference between a MBA and MBP running Adobe Lightroom?

I’m a machine learning engineer. Get an mba. Max out ram then disk then cpu in that order.

MBP was the right choice for me. my laptop (even pre-covid) moved between my home office and my living room, so size and weight were pretty much irrelevant.

Mbps are pointy slabs and have touchbar. They suck.

but the fan noise makes me feel like I'm piloting a jet! whooooooooo

Tracer - sadly my only solution to your problem - copy all the song mp3s into its own folder, make a playlist in VLC, then export the m3u, zip it all up.

Thank you Nhex

Little things like this really make me feel like we took a wrong turn with computers somewhere. It's 2020. It should be easy to share a playlist of music with my wife in the default application of the richest computer company in the world.

No problem. Sadly, I feel like this is one of those things that happened by design - Apple likely doesn't want users sending music to anyone else, going back to the P2P sharing days. At least they lost the DRM fight, I suppose.

Yes I'm sure that's right.

You can do 'Home Sharing' but both devices need to be signed in with the same iCloud account i believe.

does this process not work for exporting the playlist? Apologies if I misunderstood the requirement:
https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/music/mus27cd5060f/mac

(and Show in Finder for each of the tracks so you can drag to a USB)

Ah that's nice. I'd still need to manually copy the songs as a separate operation though, I think? i.e. save them out, Airdrop, go over to her computer, drag into Music. But this will help get the playlist in order quickly once I've done that without using VLC or something else.

Yeah - if you go through the list and press cmd-shift-R (for reveal) you will bring up a Finder window with the track file highlighted, so you can right-click to Airdrop or drag it to a USB and copy it. Sucks that there's not a batch export but at least track files plus playlist should do it?

No batch export? Not in Catalan yet but you’ve always been able to just drag songs out of iTunes directly into a finder window.

Yeah you can do that. And then I guess you export an XML playlist into that folder following the technique above. Then Airdrop all that. Then on the other computer drag contents of that folder into a new playlist in iTunes and if the XML is included in what you're dragging it... ought to work. Of course a computer could simplify that process. But no.

burn a cd

You lose all the ID3 data that way, but at least it would keep the tracks in order lol

C30 C60 C90 Go!

Man up and make a proper mix, ditch the tracklist and let the music speak.

tags for life

dan you’re otm. easiest solution just one long file. i could even paste the tracklist into the lyrics field for old times’ sake.

^ yeah pretty easy to do that in GarageBand

is there any reason not to buy a macbook from amazon instead of directly from apple (not an ethical question)

I was about to say you’d have to jump through some hoops to get applecare but it appears they have it as an option when you buy on Amazon, so... no

is applecare worth it? i find it confusing and am skeptical

all insurance is a risk, one bad experience taught me to just go ahead and do it

i never get it fwiw but it depends on individual circumstances (are you a dropper, do you have other insurance, how much is the hardware to replace, etc.)

I haven’t done the newer one with accidental coverage on a laptop, but yeah.. it’s a gamble like all insurance

Basically if something dies on your mac after the initial warranty and it’s still under applecare they just fix it. I know people who have had the logic board die, I think I’ve only ever used it when I had a hard disk die over a decade ago.

Apple care worth it for the air pods. Replace the batteries right before the two years are up = new air pods basically

I had an iMac that turned out to be a lemon once and now get AppleCare for everything basically. Go to store, get work done (or replacement issued), the end. It's really simple.

fwiw apple hardware has a one year warranty and if you live in a country with a working government (not the US) then you are covered by consumer protection law too. AFAICT applecare is useful in year 2+ or as accidental damage coverage. if you buy the hardware with a fancy credit card you probably get accidental damage coverage for 3-4 months too.

i don't really get the math. i saw a person online say they had to pay $400 to repair a cracked screen when they didn't have applecare. but applecare costs $379 for three years (on a macbook) and there's a $99 service fee for screen repairs so that's more than just paying for screen repair.

It depends. I've never seriously cracked a phone screen, and usually replace a phone within 5 years; not so for my last several desktops. My last iMac had a power surge kill the hard drive, and I had to have it sent into a third party which cost me a lot more than than $130 for Applecare would have. I understand the cost of Applecare is much higher for phones and laptops, though, so harder decision.