OT: Technology and Geek Stuff Thread

[dwt1]

Really the only formats that matter are MP3 and WMA since that is the format most people code there songs. IPOd used to make you code your own songs in their prioritory format. they getting tem to play on any other player.

Not true, but you do like to make shit up. BTW the reason to use the IPod prioritory format, it does a better job of compression (ie, more songs can be stored in the same amount of space) and it does a better job of retaining the original sound quality.

[YT]

Yeah I was pleasantly suprised by it. Right after I bought it the Costco Coupon Booklet was advertising 30 dollars off the 8 Gig one. 2 Gig is nice but it's probably the minimum I'd want. One thing I've noticed is the random shuffle option isn't all that random, it seems like the same songs come up.

I would like to have something bigger than the 2Gig, but the one thing I do like about it is I can get a micro-disk to expand the capacity.

I've never used the random shuffle option....I have a bunch of mp3's on CD and I go through them about once a month and pick out the songs I want to download to my mp3 player, so I usually get a good mix of songs when I just start playing them from the begining.

[dwt1]

Random shuffle come in handy when you're listening for long periods of time. For example, when skiing.

[froot loops]

Or when you're running.

[Newbomb Turk]

or listening to the wife complain

[Jdoggie]

Not true, but you do like to make shit up. BTW the reason to use the IPod prioritory format, it does a better job of compression (ie, more songs can be stored in the same amount of space) and it does a better job of retaining the original sound quality.

Not saying it isn't a great format, but the most common most would encode there music to is .wma and .mp3.

Aslo, wmas are smaller then .mp3s and sound just as good.

well, to his credit...accuracy isn't Jdoggies strong point. Making shit up is where he shines

Yeah...you sure are accurate. That decade disussion was spot on, Holgren and Mooch do run the EXACT same offense, and Joey was the team whole problem.

Actually, yes.

Apple did indeed invent the Apple Lossless format, so upon reflection I should have included it as a proprietary format. But it's a compression technology that's in the iTunes software for both Windows and Macs. It's a compression option that the user can choose to rip their own CDs into if they want higher quality audio while still having significant data compression. It contains no DRM. I'm not sure how having the ability to play back Apple Lossless files makes the iPod worse than the Vision.

Well the disadvantage is when you encode all your music to them, then you decide one day that you might want to purchase a different player, you have a bunch or songs you can't use or have to recode.

Mp3s and WMA will always be two of the best formats. MP3 because it is so universal and wma because most people own PCs.

Well, I wasn't talking about the iTunes Music Store. Despite what "most people" do, I've only used my iPod to play tracks ripped from actual CDs. But you are correct?if you want to download music legally and play it on a portable player, the iTunes/iPod combination is hard to beat. By comparison, the Vision can download legal DRMed music and video from Walmart or Napster, although those services don't have the selection the iTunes Music store has.

As do I, but I also download a occasional track of a song I heard or remember.

If its a song I heard on popular radio it will probably be on Itunes for a buck, or I could get it legally from another legal website for .10. I get all mine from Russian.

So now the number of formats supported isn't important, just the ones "that matter"? Okay, fine. But if you're talking about encoding your own music, then the variety of supported formats is irrelevant; why encode a file in a format that you can't use?

Again wma and mp3 are the most widely used and most accessable to everyone.

That's flat out untrue?the iPod has supported MP3 since day one, which is not proprietary. The iTunes software package has also never required the user to encode in a propietary format.

It does support mp3s and that is a good thing, but it should support .wma as well. The default is Apple format, so it is not REQUIRED, just encouraged.

That is true. However, since video needs to go through your computer to get to the device, you can encode it into whatever file you wish (i.e., a format that your device will play). Therefore, I don't think the number of video formats really matters that much, for same reasons you stated above.

It matters because the trend is moving toward video and music players. I do reencode so shrink the flie size, but most will play exactly as they are.

The video iPod also supports TiVo to GO (see this link?http://reviews.cnet.com/4531-10921_7-6546050.html). It also syncs with Outlook, can be used as a hard drive, has a calender application (which also syncs with one's PC), etc.

My bad.

Furthermore, the 80gb Video iPod has more than twice the storage of the Vision, longer battery life, a smaller form factor, compatibility with the iTunes store (i.e., the best legal music/video download service there is, although I don't use it), and costs about $30 more ($300 vs $330). My vote goes to the iPod

There is a 60G Zen. Twice would be 120G.

[SeattleLionsFan]

Or when you're running.

Or when you are studying...

The biggest problem with my little samsung, is that it doesn't store playlists seperately. If you want the same song on two playlists, you have to record it twice. It makes the playlist function nearly worthless...

[froot loops]

Yeah that's a problem, same thing with the Sansa. I found something that could make seperate playlists but it created them as album lists. Everything in an album directory was created as a list. If I tried to manually edit the file the playlist to put other directories in there, it didn't show up. I was throwing around the idea of putting all of the files in one directory and then editing the file to see if it would show up.

[LightninBoy]

The biggest problem with my little samsung, is that it doesn't store playlists seperately. If you want the same song on two playlists, you have to record it twice. It makes the playlist function nearly worthless...

Wow. That is moronic. The one thing I've noticed with cheap electronics is that the human interface design usually suffers.

[unknown lions fan]

I've always been critical of Sony and their poor interface design. And they're certainly not cheap...

[LightninBoy]

I've always been critical of Sony and their poor interface design. And they're certainly not cheap...

You're right. I just bought a $1500 TV (JVC - not Sony) with one of the the worst menu systems I've ever seen.

What I meant was that as the consumer electronic market continues to compete primarily by price and specs, less concrete aspects like human interface design seem to be given little thought.

[SeattleLionsFan]

The worst part is that I really like to listen to opera when I study, but other stuff when I'm not...

So I'll be listening to Dr. Dre and then Mozart comes on...

[dwt1]

Yeah...you sure are accurate. That decade disussion was spot on,

you mean when I said accurately that because the calendar started with year one that decade, century and millinuim start with years that end in one - uhmm thats accurate, it may not be the "popular way of thinking about it, but it is accurate. Here argue with the US Naval Observatory http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/millennium.html or the National Observatory Greenwich http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.2939

Holgren and Mooch do run the EXACT same offense

, I never said EXACT (why did you feel a need to add that?) I said the same, and they did. Both of their offenses had recievers running long, short and medium routes and counted on the QB to find the open reciever. The difference was the QB execution.

and Joey was the team whole problem.

never said that either, but you are an expert at MAKING SHIT UP.

[Jdoggie]

I never said EXACT (why did you feel a need to add that?) I said the same, and they did. Both of their offenses had recievers running long, short and medium routes and counted on the QB to find the open reciever. The difference was the QB execution.

The difference was the run first mentally of Holgrens offense, against the old unimagitive schemes of Mooch. Holgren adapted to players, Mooch did not. However, I do agree that Qb exacution had some to do with it, just as poor line play, Poor route running, lack of decepline, bad schemes, etc.. all had a piece as well.

never said that either, but you are an expert at MAKING SHIT UP.

Well if there was another probelm I never heard you utter a work of it.

[Coop]

doggie - one thing about Apple's DRM and Itunes - they do give you an option to burn the DRM's content to a CD. Once burned, it can be re-ripped and encoded to a non DRM'd MP3.