My son sed,What?

turtleman wrote:

I'm kinda with Jack the R there. Maybe it's partly pride, but I like having my own stuff. The cloud is convenient but it's not mine and not under my control so I'm not ready to put all my weight on it. If, god forbid, you don't have network access, you have nothing at all. Even when you download songs on itunes (which would be the cloud sending you data that you keep), all songs have restrictions which, again, reminisce to how they are only mostly yours. When I got my first ipod, I got like $20 in free downloads through the itunes store. I bought a couple albums and I was happy (even though they are compressed versions of the original format costing about the same money) until my hard drive crashed and that music I bought was history. There was no way to recover the music because I bought nothing but 40mb or so of data.

But unfortunately, you and AA are probably right. Fully functioning computers as we see them now will be specialized to single purposes and everyone's gonna have ipad-like interfaces that stream 24/7 from the cloud and what you own is nothing but a tiny thread of globally available broadband and the very few files we have will be stored in a gigantic hard drive in the middle of China... Or something like that.

It's a modern version of the Orwell story 1984, except they have figured out how to make the phlanxes of editors and revisers unnecessary.

Albertj

IBx1 wrote:

Windows media player has been a disaster on every computer I've dared to open it on. Takes forever to open, doesn't play most files, doesn't play videos(audio only for most of my files), doesn't connect with other computers or my Zune or Xbox, freezes after opening, and slows the rest of the computer down to about 40% of its normal speed while it's open.

Some monitors and video cards (ATI comes to mind) come with a codec that makes WMP work to play DVDs.

Albertj

IBx1 wrote:

Windows media player has been a disaster on every computer I've dared to open it on. Takes forever to open, doesn't play most files, doesn't play videos(audio only for most of my files), doesn't connect with other computers or my Zune or Xbox, freezes after opening, and slows the rest of the computer down to about 40% of its normal speed while it's open.

Were talking Media Center. Its an add in application into the Operating system. Not media player. And any player will have the same problems of audio only. Its called a codec. Install a pack and all the players on your computer will be able to open them. Often people think its the players fault because when the new player is installed it just happens to bring over the codec needed. Try www.cccp-project.net for an all covering codec pack. (Disclaimer: I'm also not a fan of WMP, but I just wouldn't list not having the needed codec as its fault.)

AA wrote:

I know there have been several attempts, but I don't think it's mainstream yet, at least not with non-techie folks. Some of these products have failed because either the interface wasn't perfected, or the buying public wasn't ready for it. I think in a way the world has been waiting for the Apple products. Compare Rio MP3 player to iPod.

I call it mainstream cause HP and Compaq laptops were sold with it installed and came with the media remote. The laptop becomes an instant media system when connected to the TV. Right out of the box. If you've tried it, the interface was pretty slick, and MythTV is very good too. The problem I think is most people didn't realize just what they had and what it could do. My point is that its not really the future, this is available right now. Maybe the masses just don't know about it yet.


Heres an example of WMC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZURyPvxXTDE
That was the Windows 7 version, but is similar to the look and feel of the older Winxp version. All function is done with a media center remote.

My mistake. Media Center is the program that takes forever to play a DVD, freezes up, can't access its own play/pause/rw/ff options, and has never worked on that stand-alone startup thing that computers with media center buttons have. I use that button to turn my computer on and it's never once in its life opened any media programs.

I've got a tech background, but I still prefer to have my own stuff. I bought a few things from the iTunes store, but my preference is still to get the CD, rip it at a bitrate of my own choosing, and put it on the device I choose. Then I put the CD down in the archives where it's safe. Currently I use high bitrate MP3s and my iPhone, but since the majority of my music collection sits on CD in the corner of my basement I can always re-rip if something happens to the computer. (yes, my files are backed up)

I have read a few books on digital form, and it's just not the same as holding a book. Plus, from the library they are free. Show me the book I can rent for $1 to read once and I'll be more interested. Typically I don't re-read books unless it's a particularly favorite series or author, then I'll buy the paperback to show my support.

I really enjoyed the stereo I put in my Riv. It had an aux input 1/8 jack for whatever, plus a USB input from which it could control my ipod/iphone, or would read MP3s off of a flash drive. In addition, it served as a bluetooth handsfree for phone calls. When a call came in, it would pause my music, enable the speakerphone, then when the call was over my music started again. Didn't matter what I was listening to. Brilliant. This was all in a stereo from Pioneer that cost $250 4 years ago.

wow! u guys are audio nuts!