Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 50 posts ] 

Board index : Music Talk : Rock/Pop

Go to page Previous  1, 2
Author Message
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:33 pm 
Offline
Go Platinum

Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2005 7:04 pm
Posts: 9783
Location: NOLA
I have had my ipod for about 3 years. Pretty much no problems. I also buy songs from Itunes.

I think Natural Mike forgets 1 key element that is vital to apple's success. Ease of use. Itunes is very easy in my opinion for normal people who don't get involved with the higher end of tech.

_________________
I tried to find somebody of that sort that I could like that nobody else did - because everybody would adopt his group, and his group would be _it_; someone weird like Captain Beefheart. It's no different now - people trying to outdo ! each other in extremes. There are people who like X, and there are people who say X are wimps; they like Black Flag.


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:47 pm 
Offline
Gayford R. Tincture

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:22 pm
Posts: 13644
Location: The Weapon Store
Elvis Fu Wrote:
To be fair, his argument was also against the iTunes music store. At a buck for a shitty mp3 with or without DRM, this ain't that a good deal.


But again, what are the competitors offering? Granted, I haven't tried Rhapsody, but emusic and Napster aren't really comparable. Napster, for one, just flat out sucks balls. Emusic, while cheap and mostly doing it right for a pay-for-mp3 service, only offers a large portion of their catalog at 128 kbps. Plus emusic and iTunes have a fairly different inventory so they work pretty well when used in conjunction. Of course whenever I get the opportunity, I grab everything I can from slsk...

And the quality of the few things I've bought at the iTunes store has been fine* so I don't really get what this is about other than DRMing. That's pretty easy to get around, and I think most of us can understand why Apple does that.

*maybe buying on a PC gets you a different file than buying on a Mac?


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:59 pm 
Offline
frostingspoon
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 8:50 pm
Posts: 15260
Location: Raised on bread and bologna.
Better doesn't necessarily mean good, that's where I stand.

_________________
A poet and philosopher, Mr. Marcus is married and is a proud parent.


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:24 pm 
Offline
frostingspoon
User avatar

Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2005 3:59 pm
Posts: 24583
Location: On the gas and tappin' ass
Drinky Wrote:
I would think that anyone who will spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 for a portable electronic device will also take some steps to protect it.


As a former cellphone tech, I can unequivocally say that this is NOT the case. Gadgets are supposed to be perfect, bulletproof, waterproof, eternal, pleasant-smelling, and free to replace for any reason.

If someone pushes you into a pool, that's the gadgetmaker's fault, and he/she owes you a new one.

If you keep it in the same pocket as your keys and you scratch the shit out of it, the gadget has failed, and you are owed a new one.

If you get drunk (*actual customer testimony*), steal food out of a fridge at a party, try to walk home and cook it cuz you're drunk and hungry, pass out on the way there on someone's lawn, and your body heat melts the stick of butter in your pocket next to your gadget, filling the gadget with butter and rendering it both useless and disgusting, and you wake up 6 hours later in someone's begonias with shiny, greasy pants and a non-working gadget, you are due a new one.

_________________
[quote="Bloor"]He's either done too much and should stay out of the economy, done too little because unemployment isn't 0%, is a dumb ingrate who wasn't ready for the job or a brilliant mastermind who has taken over all aspects of our lives and is transforming us into a Stalinist style penal economy where Christian Whites are fed into meat grinders. Very confusing[/quote]


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:27 pm 
Offline
Go Platinum

Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2005 7:04 pm
Posts: 9783
Location: NOLA
Cap'n Squirrgle Wrote:
Drinky Wrote:
I would think that anyone who will spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 for a portable electronic device will also take some steps to protect it.




If you get drunk (*actual customer testimony*), steal food out of a fridge at a party, try to walk home and cook it cuz you're drunk and hungry, pass out on the way there on someone's lawn, and your body heat melts the stick of butter in your pocket next to your gadget, filling the gadget with butter and rendering it both useless and disgusting, and you wake up 6 hours later in someone's begonias with shiny, greasy pants and a non-working gadget, you are due a new one.


I absolutely whole heartedly approve of giving such a customer a new phone. That is awesome.

_________________
I tried to find somebody of that sort that I could like that nobody else did - because everybody would adopt his group, and his group would be _it_; someone weird like Captain Beefheart. It's no different now - people trying to outdo ! each other in extremes. There are people who like X, and there are people who say X are wimps; they like Black Flag.


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:31 pm 
Offline
frostingspoon
User avatar

Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2005 3:59 pm
Posts: 24583
Location: On the gas and tappin' ass
I got it working long enough for him to get some #'s out of it. But as soon as I opened it, I put it down in front of him and demanded to know what that congealed off-white stuff was before I'd touch it again. Eventually he told me.

_________________
[quote="Bloor"]He's either done too much and should stay out of the economy, done too little because unemployment isn't 0%, is a dumb ingrate who wasn't ready for the job or a brilliant mastermind who has taken over all aspects of our lives and is transforming us into a Stalinist style penal economy where Christian Whites are fed into meat grinders. Very confusing[/quote]


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:31 pm 
Offline
British Press Hype
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 3:15 pm
Posts: 1451
Location: Philadelphia
Cap'n Squirrgle Wrote:

If you get drunk (*actual customer testimony*), steal food out of a fridge at a party, try to walk home and cook it cuz you're drunk and hungry, pass out on the way there on someone's lawn, and your body heat melts the stick of butter in your pocket next to your gadget, filling the gadget with butter and rendering it both useless and disgusting, and you wake up 6 hours later in someone's begonias with shiny, greasy pants and a non-working gadget, you are due a new one.


Fabulous


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 2:33 pm 
Offline
Winona Ryder wears my t-shirt on TV
User avatar

Joined: Tue Nov 09, 2004 8:30 pm
Posts: 2563
Location: Place where it is to be
Drinky Wrote:
Emusic, while cheap and mostly doing it right for a pay-for-mp3 service, only offers a large portion of their catalog at 128 kbps.

I just joined Emusic and I thought one of the big draws was that their entire catalog was 192 VBR. I haven't downloaded that much yet, but nothing I've found is below that.

_________________
People in a parade are cocky, you know. They think that they attracted an audience but really it's just people waiting to cross the street. I could attract a crowd if I stood in everybody's way.

--Mitch Hedberg


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:11 pm 
Offline
Gayford R. Tincture

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:22 pm
Posts: 13644
Location: The Weapon Store
Mot, no hoople Wrote:
Drinky Wrote:
Emusic, while cheap and mostly doing it right for a pay-for-mp3 service, only offers a large portion of their catalog at 128 kbps.

I just joined Emusic and I thought one of the big draws was that their entire catalog was 192 VBR. I haven't downloaded that much yet, but nothing I've found is below that.


I know of at least 2 things, Albert Ayler - Spiritual Unity & Faust - Tapes, that were only 128 kbps. I know I saw several others.

edit: Actually that Faust album is VBR. That and some of the other VBR things I got do fall well below 192, but I don't know if that matters.


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:07 pm 
Offline
A True Aristocrat of Freedom

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 11:46 am
Posts: 22121
Location: a worn-out debauchee and drivelling sot
Cap'n Squirrgle Wrote:
Drinky Wrote:
I would think that anyone who will spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 for a portable electronic device will also take some steps to protect it.


As a former cellphone tech, I can unequivocally say that this is NOT the case. Gadgets are supposed to be perfect, bulletproof, waterproof, eternal, pleasant-smelling, and free to replace for any reason.

If someone pushes you into a pool, that's the gadgetmaker's fault, and he/she owes you a new one.

If you keep it in the same pocket as your keys and you scratch the shit out of it, the gadget has failed, and you are owed a new one.

If you get drunk (*actual customer testimony*), steal food out of a fridge at a party, try to walk home and cook it cuz you're drunk and hungry, pass out on the way there on someone's lawn, and your body heat melts the stick of butter in your pocket next to your gadget, filling the gadget with butter and rendering it both useless and disgusting, and you wake up 6 hours later in someone's begonias with shiny, greasy pants and a non-working gadget, you are due a new one.


These things are all absolutely 100% true. I am no longer responsible for any of my actions, please refer all other inquiries to Uncle Brian, my massive attorney.

_________________
Throughout his life, from childhood until death, he was beset by severe swings of mood. His depressions frequently encouraged, and were exacerbated by, his various vices. His character mixed a superficial Enlightenment sensibility for reason and taste with a genuine and somewhat Romantic love of the sublime and a propensity for occasionally puerile whimsy.
harry Wrote:
I understand that you, of all people, know this crisis and, in your own way, are working to address it. You, the madras-pantsed julip-sipping Southern cracker and me, the oldman hippie California fruit cake are brothers in the struggle to save our country.

FT Wrote:
LooGAR (the straw that stirs the drink)


Back to top
 Profile WWW 
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:11 pm 
Offline
frostingspoon
User avatar

Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2005 3:59 pm
Posts: 24583
Location: On the gas and tappin' ass
Hey, you could be your own massive attorney if you play your cards right. Giant Matlock realized.

_________________
[quote="Bloor"]He's either done too much and should stay out of the economy, done too little because unemployment isn't 0%, is a dumb ingrate who wasn't ready for the job or a brilliant mastermind who has taken over all aspects of our lives and is transforming us into a Stalinist style penal economy where Christian Whites are fed into meat grinders. Very confusing[/quote]


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:12 pm 
Offline
A True Aristocrat of Freedom

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 11:46 am
Posts: 22121
Location: a worn-out debauchee and drivelling sot
Cap'n Squirrgle Wrote:
Hey, you could be your own massive attorney if you play your cards right. Giant Matlock realized.


Man who represent self, have fool for client.

_________________
Throughout his life, from childhood until death, he was beset by severe swings of mood. His depressions frequently encouraged, and were exacerbated by, his various vices. His character mixed a superficial Enlightenment sensibility for reason and taste with a genuine and somewhat Romantic love of the sublime and a propensity for occasionally puerile whimsy.
harry Wrote:
I understand that you, of all people, know this crisis and, in your own way, are working to address it. You, the madras-pantsed julip-sipping Southern cracker and me, the oldman hippie California fruit cake are brothers in the struggle to save our country.

FT Wrote:
LooGAR (the straw that stirs the drink)


Back to top
 Profile WWW 
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 7:20 pm 
Offline
High School Poet
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:29 am
Posts: 227
Location: tRUE nORTH
Sketch Wrote:
Natural Mike Wrote:
Mostly I just think it's sad when 2 horrible products (the iPod and music files from the iTunes store) are HUGE successes, even though there are much better choices available. Why people sometimes don't seek out better products for their money (especially when those better products are less expensive) is a mystery to me.

Maybe because some people who trash them don't suggest what products are better? Maybe because iPod is starting to reach Kleenex/Xerox-level of brand recognition in their market? Maybe because we as media-consuming human beings are victims of marketing and often settle for 'good enough' rather than 'optimal?'

Elvis Fu's Eagles analogy is a decent one, but by the same token the Beatles don't automatically suck because they have more number 1 hits than anybody else.


Exactly.


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 7:31 pm 
Offline
High School Poet
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:29 am
Posts: 227
Location: tRUE nORTH
Drinky Wrote:
I've tried, and the results have always been pretty inconclusive. Also I've been surprised to find that iPod prices aren't really that much higher than comparable models by competitors.

This is like the old Mac vs. PC argument. Meh.


I, too, tried my darndest to find something by a competitor that would be a) cheaper, b) similar in 60Gs of storage, and c) easy to use with an easy to use interface......... I spent 2 months researching this and ended up ordering the new 60G 5th generation iPod.
Liked the Samsung, but it just was not cheaper and it's interface was not as easy to use, as iTunes.
Go figure.

My black iPod should be arriving any day now.

audiobill


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:09 pm 
Offline
Second Album Slump
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 6:03 pm
Posts: 2065
Location: Chicago
Drinky Wrote:
I think the burden now lies on Natural Mike to name which products are so clearly better and cheaper than their iPod counterparts.


iRiver and Cowon both offer superior products for (generally) lower prices.

I will admit that my "horrible" comments applied more to the iTunes service than the iPod itself. With that said, hard drive-based iPods appear to have many more battery and hard drive problems than the competition. This is based on my own observations (this board, other boards, and friends who own iPods), along with newspaper and online articles. The flash-based iPods seem to be a step in the right direction, although storage capacity is still a big problem with those.

Having done extensive research on both legal and questionable download sites, it truly does appear as if iTunes offers the lowest bitrates and some of the highest prices. The only stores I saw with higher prices offered lossless file formats. Based on my own listening experiences, iTunes files sound like an AM radio station with a strong signal - tolerable for talk radio, but awful for music of any kind. I know there's at least one other major retailer with 128 kbs files (is it Napster?), but most now offer 160 kbs and above.

I guess I just don't understand why people would pay $9.99 for a DRMed album when they can buy the album in a store, copy it, and sell it on eBay. Assuming there's at least some demand for the title in question, you'll probably make at least $5 (sometimes much more), bringing your end total cost to around $8 (unless you bought it at Sam Goody). You save money and get a lossless copy.

_________________
not going to the Hidden Shamrock


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:18 pm 
Offline
Gayford R. Tincture

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:22 pm
Posts: 13644
Location: The Weapon Store
The 128 kbps iTunes files aren't mp3s. They're AAC, supposedly better compression, which is why they are able to use a lower bit rate. I can generally hear the compression in anything below 192 kbps, and I think most people can, which is why that is the standard for mp3.

I'm not saying the iTunes store is great or anything. All your points about the files being DRMed and overpriced I certainly can't argue with. I just don't hear the "AM radio quality".


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:25 pm 
Offline
Second Album Slump
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 6:03 pm
Posts: 2065
Location: Chicago
Drinky Wrote:
The 128 kbps iTunes files aren't mp3s. They're AAC, supposedly better compression, which is why they are able to use a lower bit rate.


I knew they were AAC files (I guess I should have mentioned that), but it doesn't make up for the fact that their files are (to my ears) the worst sounding of the major retailers. I've heard the "better compression" argument before, but the lower bitrate (128 vs. 160+ for other stores) does a good job of eliminating any benefits the AAC format may offer.

_________________
not going to the Hidden Shamrock


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:26 pm 
Offline
High School Poet
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:29 am
Posts: 227
Location: tRUE nORTH
Natural Mike Wrote:
Drinky Wrote:
I think the burden now lies on Natural Mike to name which products are so clearly better and cheaper than their iPod counterparts.


iRiver and Cowon both offer superior products for (generally) lower prices.



Hey, Mike.

Superior how? Please elaborate.


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:33 pm 
Offline
Second Album Slump
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 6:03 pm
Posts: 2065
Location: Chicago
audiobill Wrote:
Natural Mike Wrote:
Drinky Wrote:
I think the burden now lies on Natural Mike to name which products are so clearly better and cheaper than their iPod counterparts.


iRiver and Cowon both offer superior products for (generally) lower prices.



Hey, Mike.

Superior how? Please elaborate.


Longer life (based on articles and my own observations) and cooler looks.

_________________
not going to the Hidden Shamrock


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:37 pm 
Offline
Gayford R. Tincture

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:22 pm
Posts: 13644
Location: The Weapon Store
Natural Mike Wrote:
cooler looks.


uh


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:39 pm 
Offline
Second Album Slump
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 6:03 pm
Posts: 2065
Location: Chicago
That last bit is a matter of opinion, obviously.

_________________
not going to the Hidden Shamrock


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:41 pm 
Offline
Gayford R. Tincture

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:22 pm
Posts: 13644
Location: The Weapon Store
but just that last bit


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:42 pm 
Offline
Second Album Slump
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 6:03 pm
Posts: 2065
Location: Chicago
? I'm not sure what that last comment is supposed to mean.

_________________
not going to the Hidden Shamrock


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:44 pm 
Offline
Gayford R. Tincture

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:22 pm
Posts: 13644
Location: The Weapon Store
That's the only part that's "a matter of opinion".

Everything else you've mentioned is "fact". :wink:


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:02 pm 
Offline
Second Album Slump
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 6:03 pm
Posts: 2065
Location: Chicago
No argument here. 8)

_________________
not going to the Hidden Shamrock


Back to top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 50 posts ] 

Board index : Music Talk : Rock/Pop

Go to page Previous  1, 2

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 42 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
Style by Midnight Phoenix & N.Design Studio
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group.