I mentioned before that while about 6% of the general population uses macs, about 30% of those periodically seated on TYC do.
Since then, the proportion has jumped to over 40%. So now I find myself in a dilemma.
Buying one is out of the question, since all my software is PC-based. But it does seem that I am going to be forced to deal with some kind of congruence between people who like to read what I've written (or see what I've shot) and people who like to use macs. Many of them seem to be the same people.
You can see that this is fraught with danger for me. Any anti-mac joke I make now is just going to come back and bite me. Even the one-button mouse is, I'm sure, in on it, somehow. I don't know if this is some kind of cosmic conspiracy to make me quit using wma files (they just sound better at lower bitrates! I can't argue with that!) or a joke that Macworld is going to be publishing in an upcoming issue.
I guess the good news is that, if they are, at least I won't see it. I still have that going for me.
For now.
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25 comments:
You're just jealous. Mac is awesome.
Somebody please give him an iPod... It's the only way to get him started. Baby steps, baby steps.
I am a lot of things. Jealous is not one of them.
And when you can get iPods that have removable batteries, will play WMA files, and ditch the screens to reduce the usize, let me know and I'll start the line.
Now their monitors, on the other hand...
You saw my ipod Shuffle. NO batteries (plug it into any computer to charge up), plays anything I stick on it (even you doing "Hurricane"), and no screen. Size of a pack of gum, as my sister loves to say. I never use my ipod Nano... I just use this one.
You are too jealous. You want all the mac toys without having to change... and you can't. We'll pray for your conversion.
Yeah, but no batteries doesn't really help me... unless it will go for 16 hours on a charge. Otherwise, it just means that instead of carrying a AAA battery in my pocket, I need to bring my computer along with me as I'm out taking pictures on vacation.
If you can play this (a file from my mp3 player) I'll be one step closer. Let me know:
http://www.fileden.com/files/26600/song.wma
Indeed I can import that... if I buy QuickTime Pro.
The battery works for a few days straight. Definitely beats 16 hours. I think you could play for 4 days all day long.
Additionally, to download music, you don't need any cords - just stick it in a USB slot. You can register a few computers to it. And, you'll remember - to play the music on your stereo, all you need is that little connector we used, and voila. Or if you have a tape deck in your car (can't remember what you had), one of those tape adapter things that plug into a CD player will plug into your shuffle instead.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I think our friend is ready for an ipod shuffle.
Yeah! Now where's that line he was speaking of?
p.s. That's my favorite Derek Webb solo song. Just because the words are killer. Now is that you hiding in the harmony? I tried singing your Hurricane harmony tonight in the car but I just couldn't do it. It's all you... send that in...
None of me on the Derek Webb tune... it's okay the way it came.
And you can get quick time pro on your shuffle?!?
Give it up, you guys. All this bickering is getting to me. Let's all just learn to get along!!! (Do I sound like a Mom, or what??)
Ok, Darryl's Mom, on this one, you'll just have to trust me.
We're trying to help Darryl find real life... as far as computers go. This is for his own good. This is an intervention, in rehab-speak. We want him to get away from the dehumanisation of run-of-the-mill PC's and discover the free, unhindered facilitation of all his creative genius that he will find in a Mac. We do this because we love him and want to see his talents "soar", to quote him...
If you love him, you will cooperate. We are getting very close here. Don't mess it up. ;-)
Darryl: listen to me. You get the quicktime pro on your computer (mac). It gives you all kinds of video and audio capabilities. It downloads anything and everything into your itunes, which then downloads any music into a shuffle, and just plain anything into a bigger ipod.
Mac, my friend, offers everything a creative genius of your caliber could ever want.
Come on, take the plunge. You can do it. Come join us on the sunny side of the street. Better light for your flower shots anyway.
Darryl you heard what I can do with Garage Band. And I'm close to retarded when it comes to sound engineering! Imagine what YOU could do with it. I didn't have to install ANYTHING. My Mac came with it. I just plug in the guitar, the mic, try to find a decent melody (the hard part) and voilà! Then it's just copy paste and you have a song.
It only sounds like bickering because you can't see my grin (basically ear-to-ear) as you read it. But it's not really bickering... it's more like... negotiating.
Caro, I'm not knocking Garage Band... but my Yamaha hardware has terrible driver support for Macs... it just doesn't work. So, even if I would have considered trading in my PC (just to give the rest of the fingers on my mouse-hand a break), once I chose the hardware, there was really no option.
And I can't believe I don't get even a LITTLE credit for openly wanting one of the apple displays. That's got to be worth something?!?
That's just cheating. That's wanting a beautiful piece of hardware without the beautiful capabilities running ON it, you goof.
I still don't hear you admitting that I answered all your obstacles against an ipod shuffle. Which you could have even with a PC, and no Quicktime.
Which toy did you bring to the airport?
Well, kind of. The thing is, wma files sound better at a lower bitrate (which means at smaller file sizes) than mp3. If I understand, you're telling me that it won't play these files, but if I buy qtpro, I can con convert them to mp3's, which it will play.
So if quicktime just converts them into mp3, lose any advantage of the better format, PLUS I make my mp3 from an already compressed file, rather than from the original wav file, which isn't the key to sonic wonderment.
Does the shuffle do playlists (or at least folders) now, or if I'm looking for something, do I need to go song by song?
Close, maybe, but I don't think apple and I are quite there yet...
Oh, and I think I already have beautiful capabilities along with my great hardware. So far, I haven't found anythings audio-wise that a mac will do but a PC won't. Which makes me wonder, actually, what the deal is. In terms of functionality they are the same - is it that macs are quicker? Easier to set up (assuming you don't have my mixer)?
Little Lamb came to the airport, but was only needed very briefly. It was good.
I guess that the advantage would be that they're easier to set up as you put it. They're also quicker in my experience. But then again I haven't worked with quick PCs. Ever. Ok maybe at the beginning of their lifespan but after that it just gets frustrating waiting forever for things to open. Not that that doesn't happen with particular files on macs. The other thing is that most macs now already come with OS X and that includes most of the software you'll ever need. So that means quite a lot of value for your money (remember I'm a student, this is important!) and freedom to do pretty much anything you want or need from day 1. Microsoft Office is the only thing that I have had to buy separately because it wasn't included. For obvious reasons... I don't think you can have folders in an iPod Shuffle because you don't have a screen. I guess the makers assumed that finding a file by memory wouldn't be very comfortable, so you basically have play, pause, forward, rewind. An iPod Nano on the other hand does. And it's tiny! Helen has one. She'll probably bring it this evening. About the way you're chopping off files I agree that it ain't pretty when it's done from an already chopped up source. But that's why I do mine from the CD directly. It doesn't take very long. I think I already have my entire collection in mp3 format. I do have a longing for vinyl sound though... Either that or a really really good amplifier that will give me all the textures of low and high frequencies. *sigh* One day I'll have a job.... I'll be able to dream then.
What's Little Lamb?
OK guys - I don't think you sensed my ear to ear grin when I was talking about getting along. I think this is great. What a wonderful forum. It's cool to watch people trying to "rescue" my son - especially when it involves computers, etc. Good luck to you! Thank you for putting up with my comments, even though I don't have any idea of what most of you are talking about (in this column)!
Darryl's Mom:
Glad you are enjoying this. We enjoy you! For me it's not negotiating though, because I'm not trying to get anything. Really all this is just an opportunity for me to write free unhindered smack.
Which is a big reason why I remain anonymous.
Plus my (Canadian) lawyer says I need to, for my own protection. ha!
But if I can out-argue Darryl into buying anything Mac, it's all the better. Because, my friends, he and I are both persuaders by nature and he's smarter than me.
"Good luck to you."
I guess that about sums it up. Live on a different continent for 7 years, but she still knows me pretty well...
Reading your blog is helping me to get to know you better!
How many entries is the most that one of your blog entries has gotten? This must be getting close to a record... Mine will be the 20th comment.
I think this one probably has the most comments. Remember, though, to be fair you need to divide the number by 2 in order to get out all of mine...
All you have to do is offend a few Mac users and BLAM! Comment explosion.
Or maybe just creativity explosion. Mac users tend to have a high concentration of that. Still can't figure out why that isn't a natural draw for you.
I don't need luck. :-) I've got a pocketful of Kryptonite.
That's the good thing about me - no response to Kryptonite. Now, if you had a pocket full of those little sausages, it would be a whole different story...
And macadamia nut ice cream.
Maybe he was adopted from Hawaii.
Well, ice cream is not that great after some pocket time. Those little sausages, though... they just get better and better.
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