Posts by Simon Grigg
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But isn't this also a problem with conflicts with device filters installed by other third-party apps -- and with the way Windows allows third-party apps to hose parts of the system?
so it seems but the guy in the HP service centre seemed to think this was usually associated with the third party software licensed in by Apple, the Gear software. Either way, since Apple know about this, and clearly a solution is not that difficult, surely the company should have made some effort to resolve it rather than continuing to offer software which is causing the OS that the overwhelming bulk of QT / iTunes is run under, problems.
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Thanks for the report, Simon. I still don't know if the 80 is affected (though I can't see why it wouldn't be). Might have to, sadly, pass on the Classic for now.
But what really got on my wick last week was Quicktime's nuking of my CD drive. I mentioned it in another thread but here goes again (I'm guessing the DRM thread is on most folk's ignore list now). It happened when I downloaded the qt 7.5 update via Apple Updater. Bang..CD drive gone..disappeared from my Explorer window (although the Bios could still boot off it). There are pages and pages of people complaining about this and seeking solutions. Most are fixed by a registry tweak which disables itunes burning and ripping ability but it didn't help me.
Eventually I took the laptop into the HP centre here and a young guy sighed..said it was extraordinarily common, and ran a batch file on the PC which fixed it. He wrote it himself as Apple have only been promising a fix for a year or three.
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That's promising, if those problems have been dealt with. Specifically, I was talking mainly about the sound problems related to the supposedly inferior D/A converter in the Classic (does this not apply to the 80 Gb?),
Sadly, no as that Apple thread indicates, Apple haven't sorted out the sound issues on the Classic (I have a 160)..it remains trebly and furry. It's not overwhelmingly awful but it's annoying and should never have left the factory as it was. I only use mine at the Gym & in the air so I can live with it. I've long since passed on it in the car and returned to CDs at it sounds rather worse through speakers than headphones.
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Other than that, it's. A. Phone! Its primary purpose is making and receiving calls, and sending and receiving short messages. On any other phone, that'd include MMS.
Yep, indeed and for most folks that is all it will be..a very pricey one at that.
When I can edit a PDF or an excel spreadsheet or a word document, take a reasonable shot of an item I'm trying to sell someone and then email it to them, cut and paste anything or a dozen other pretty basic things I can do on a Blackberry or a bunch of other Smartphones can do easily then it's a business device. Until then this sums it up quite well.
But it will be accessory de rigour in Ponsonby for a while I guess.
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The appeal of the iPhone seems to me to be to be to people who have no business need for a phone or are not used to higher end devices like Blackberrys or IPaqs. Essentially it's targeted at those who currently run a phone and want a few more pretty features that they are unlikely to use after the first week or so of showing the thing off. And if you are willing to pay the premium for that then you get exactly that.
It's pretty, well marketed and the must-have gadget of the moment, but it's got a long way to go before it's as useful or functional as either of the above beyond casual private use.
And they were anticipating selling people phones that would do video calling (a service no one was likely to use)
One of the things I noted in China a while back was the number of people who use their phones for just that, plus the number of video calling terminals in the subway stations.
Here in Indonesia where data is pretty cheap, video calling is increasingly common too. You offer it at a doable price, it gets used.
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which begs the question. what option did the majors really have on moving to a new format. it seems to read to me that the new digital format was coming whether they liked it or not and it made them feel better about it when someone said you can sell some people an updated version of the same music they already own.
its kind of a chicken and egg situation.Not really an argument..who was gonna sell this format it the majors, who owned about 90% of the market then, were not interested? Who was gonna stock it? Who was gonna pay for the plants and manufacture it? Pagan Records? Rough Trade?
Simon you're saying it was egg first in that majors decided to go for cds cos they got to sell the same product twice over to the same people,
No I didn't say that at all but labs produce multitudes of inventions every year and the tipping point on this was the fact that the clients that were vital to it's success knew from research that there was a resale value in the enforced obsolescence of the prior format.
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In your case simon who knows why your drive was screwed. does quick time have anything to do with drm? I take it you're running a pc so it must be bill gates fault, or apples for quicktime or the music industry. does it matter any more who's fuck up it was?
I'm not blaming DRM Rob but Quicktime / iTunes fucking up both PCs' and Macs' CD drives is much documented online. Apple have been promising a fix for some time now. And yes, it matters to me as I can't burn all those legitimately bought CDs to my iPod or Zen. I might have to find a copy of each online now.
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I suspect they've reached the apex (or nadir?) of (probably expensive) discouraging campaigns & what's next?
And the big-bacco companies really care?..over here there are two current campaigns..one tells you that ciggies make you virile, the other, my favourite, tells the viewer that the best way to kill the flu is with a fag or two.
Seriously....
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Me, I find iTunes fills me with irrational rage. Always trying to play every CD, copy stuff, sync up this or that, wanting to link to i-store USA or trying to update to the latest version.
And you forget..wrecking my CD drive. There are acres of web pages and forums where people are trying to work out how to get the CD drive back that iTunes, in an update, has nuked. Mine died three weeks ago when I let it update Quicktime..disappeared and no amount of system restores or registry tweaking of UpperFilters will bring it back despite the BIOS still seeing it.
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But in NZ at any rate, CDs were sold for $4-10 MORE than vinyl.
Actually it doubled overnight. List price of an LP in 85 was $14.99 and a CD was $29.99 or $32.99 depending on the label. It was a huge royalty bonus for all labels too, especailly the majors who were hitting their artists with a 75% royalty reduction for "new technology" until Simply Red and Dire Straits sued and won.