New x86-based Macs are out!

[lharless]

in my opinion, mp3s are the worst thing that ever happened to the entertainment industry, second to piracy. perhaps this is apple's little way of pissing in the punch bowl? in the pc neighborhood, we were having quite a loud, raucous party without them. granted they weren't invited, but they snuck in after all eh? (macintel). if you were a scorned nerd, what would you do in that situation? i'd piss in the punch bowl. or at least stick my dick in the mashed potatoes.

thanks for the ipods steve! now i can cut corners on mastering, thanks to the huge mp3 market!

it's the consumer who really suffers. they get half the information crammed into a little 2.5" hdd with a headphone jack on it, at the price of a small home stereo system.

[Sleepwalker]

in my opinion, mp3s are the worst thing that ever happened to the entertainment industry, second to piracy. perhaps this is apple's little way of pissing in the punch bowl? in the pc neighborhood, we were having quite a loud, raucous party without them. granted they weren't invited, but they snuck in after all eh? (macintel). if you were a scorned nerd, what would you do in that situation? i'd piss in the punch bowl. or at least stick my dick in the mashed potatoes.

thanks for the ipods steve! now i can cut corners on mastering, thanks to the huge mp3 market!

it's the consumer who really suffers. they get half the information crammed into a little 2.5" hdd with a headphone jack on it, at the price of a small home stereo system.

you can also play wav, aiff and lossless on ipods...

[machinesworking]

lharless,
I was going to take your bait, but the conversation so far in this thread has been pretty dammed cool, so hey! happy PC zealot posting!

Mp3s suck, but so do cheap stereos and CD's. That people are happy with Mp3's is nobodies fault but the consumer, the market isn't driven by purists, unless you think money hungry stockholders are purists.

[lharless]

lharless,
I was going to take your bait, but the conversation so far in this thread has been pretty dammed cool, so hey! happy PC zealot posting!

Mp3s suck, but so do cheap stereos and CD's. That people are happy with Mp3's is nobodies fault but the consumer, the market isn't driven by purists, unless you think money hungry stockholders are purists.

that made absolutely no good sense, lolz.

but hey, go on with your bad self...

im going mac on my next laptop purchase. this is the only pc i've ever owned. the only problem is that ill lose my vst's. but i have to make the move.. but yeah, i don't like mp3s and i think they're the scourge of the entertainment industry.

"...and that's all i have to say about that" -F. Gump

cheers,
lee-lee

[Borogove]

but yeah, i don't like mp3s and i think they're the scourge of the entertainment industry.

Anyone who talks about the sound quality of mp3s without qualifying the statement with a data rate looks to me like a fool.

[machinesworking]

but yeah, i don't like mp3s and i think they're the scourge of the entertainment industry.

Anyone who talks about the sound quality of mp3s without qualifying the statement with a data rate looks to me like a fool.

Well it's not a big mystery that mp3s cut off the bottem at 30Hz and the top at 1700Khz. While it's not noticeable on cheap systems, on better systems, it's there. As far as whether or not the compression does anything to adversely affect the sound, I'm not sure?
I would say that would be noticeable to somebody with better ears than me.

[AD80]

the only problem is that ill lose my vst's.

Why would you want a computer that makes you loose the tools you love? I'm only getting a macintelosh if they run Windows aswell as OSX. Man I really hope thats the case!

[AD80]

but yeah, i don't like mp3s and i think they're the scourge of the entertainment industry.

Anyone who talks about the sound quality of mp3s without qualifying the statement with a data rate looks to me like a fool.

Well it's not a big mystery that mp3s cut off the bottem at 30Hz and the top at 1700Khz.

1700Khz?! Mp3's are better than I thought.

[machinesworking]

1700Khz?! Mp3's are better than I thought.

Doh!
Around 17Khz. Though I think they tend to claim higher like around 24khz.... they cut the hell out of the low and high end to save space etc.

A sample rate of 44.1khz gives you roughly 22.5khz in sound quality. I'm sure you know all this though.......... obviously, since you schooled me.

[AD80]

1700Khz?! Mp3's are better than I thought.

Doh!
Around 17Khz. Though I think they tend to claim higher like around 24khz.... they cut the hell out of the low and high end to save space etc.

A sample rate of 44.1khz gives you roughly 22.5khz in sound quality. I'm sure you know all this though.......... obviously, since you schooled me.

Yeah I did know that actually. But its good info to know. Too bad my hearing is so damaged I'd be surprised if I can hear anything above 15khz.

[machinesworking]

Yeah I did know that actually. But its good info to know. Too bad my hearing is so damaged I'd be surprised if I can hear anything above 15khz.

Have you been tested? I was really surprised that my hearing isn't that damaged, now, my ears? that's another story. Pretty sensitive to loud high end screeches, they rattle like torn speakers at the sound of a skill saw etc.

[AD80]

Yeah I did know that actually. But its good info to know. Too bad my hearing is so damaged I'd be surprised if I can hear anything above 15khz.

Have you been tested? I was really surprised that my hearing isn't that damaged, now, my ears? that's another story. Pretty sensitive to loud high end screeches, they rattle like torn speakers at the sound of a skill saw etc.

No I havent been tested in a long time. I gave myself a ghetto style hearing test using my wave editor tho . I could hear sine tones up to 17500hz. But thats not exactly scientific. Plus I had the TV on in the background which could have affected it.

[machinesworking]

No I havent been tested in a long time. I gave myself a ghetto style hearing test using my wave editor tho . I could hear sine tones up to 17500hz. But thats not exactly scientific. Plus I had the TV on in the background which could have affected it.

The TV would affect it, static noise of any kind would have a broad range, but that's really not so bad. Most people can't hear much past that anyway.

[egbert]

If mp3s were just band limited to 30 -17kHz (and no other problems) I don't think most people listening on most reproduction systems would be able to tell the difference. In fact people actually like top end rolloff - especially if there is any audible distortion in the signal - eg old AM radios with < 5kHz bandwidth sound great to lots of listeners.

Full band (20 to 20kHz) systems make distortion - even 0.1% - quite obnoxious to listeners in experiments that have been done on this and experimental subjects (not audiophiles I guess) will prefer the same signal with the top end rolled off.

As far as MP3s go, there are a whole heap of other nasty artifacts - especially obvious at low bit rates. Listening to a mix with drums - esp cymbals - makes picking the source wav from the mp3 really easy.

[james0tucson]

Listening to a mix with drums - esp cymbals - makes picking the source wav from the mp3 really easy.

I've ruined it for a couple of people who claimed to be happy with MP3. I told them "just listen to the cymbals, that's where you'll hear a lot of the high frequency stuff that supposedly doesn't matter."

After that, it was like they suddenly were aware of audio quality for the first time. It's kind of sad, since they thought they were happy before, but not after.