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186
 
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Thought this was a really good read...
http://www.businessweek.com/
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Octo-core Atom @ 233GHz (ES)
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It's an intersting summation of the current state of play. I'm not sure it really says anything we didn't already know (or could have guessed), though.
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Pentium
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As the article infers in the last paragraph, it appears to be a case of Apple's clever marketing more than anything else. They sell iPods to our children who then move on to bigger and 'better' things under the same brand name.
Having been in the position to compare Apple portable audio devices with those from other manufacturers, some of whom charge considerably less for devices that perform considerably better on the whole, I can fully understand the recent appearance of Apple Mac clones from the Far East.
For Apple's sake, I hope that Macs are genuinely as good as they say they are, because iPods certainly aren't. 
Cheers, Slipstreem. 
System specs: "Phoenix" - Intel C2D E4500 overclocked to 3GHz with ACF7Pro HSF on Volt-modded ASRock 775Dual-VSTA mobo (modded BIOS rev 3.10A and VNB=1.65, Vagp=1.8), 2x1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 RAM (3.0,3,3,8,1T @546MHz), Sapphire ATI HD3870 512MB GDDR4 PCIe graphics card overclocked to 850MHz GPU & 2.4GHz RAM. Powered by Hiper Type-M 580W PSU. Guess who likes overclocking on a budget. 
MP3 Encoding for Audiophiles
Fun MPEG-4 Encoding Race
MPEG-4 Playback Enhancement Using FFDShow
How good is the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro HSF really?
Boosting ATI Framerates with CCC (X700 on)
Optimise ATI Image Quality And Framerates With ATT (X1XXX Series under WinXP)
   
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486
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ipods look good, for defo, but as far as audio quality go out of all the mp3 players i have ever used my current creative has to be one of the best! (bloomin ugly tho!)
Steve B
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What boots up must shut down
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186
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Last Login: 24/11/2008 00:14:09
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Is audio quality that important? A whole generation of people have been brought up downloading low quality mp3's and I think that shows in the fact that for most people audio quality isnt even on the list of things to find out about when looking for an mp3 player?? I know it is still important for some (myself included) just an observation.
As far as the iPods are concerned I've always thought that it isn't the hardware itself, it's iTunes and that seamless integration of the two that appeals to people. I really think its the software that makes the iPod what it is.
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2Ghz MacBook, 2Gb RAM, OS X 10.5.2
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486
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Pentium
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I can see your point, PK. But the glaring omission of VBR support for MP3 on iPods until relatively recently when it's been a part of the MP3 spec since 1991 does tend to leave "those in the know" with the impression that Apple don't have the faintest idea what they're doing when it comes to designing hardware.
If they can't be trusted with the relatively simple task of designing a portable audio player properly without making a total pigs-ear of it, how can they be trusted by people who understand kit at the hardware level to build something as complex as a computer? They publicly lied about MP3-compliancy on the players that didn't support MP3 in VBR, so how can I be certain that they're not lying about the capabilities of other products in the Apple range?
Working on the basis of pulling the punters in when they're too young and inexperienced to appreciate the difference between quality and dross sounds like a very underhanded business strategy to me. Not that Apple are alone in selling dross for a small fortune. It's a fairly common business ethic nowadays.
Cheers, Slipstreem.
System specs: "Phoenix" - Intel C2D E4500 overclocked to 3GHz with ACF7Pro HSF on Volt-modded ASRock 775Dual-VSTA mobo (modded BIOS rev 3.10A and VNB=1.65, Vagp=1.8), 2x1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 RAM (3.0,3,3,8,1T @546MHz), Sapphire ATI HD3870 512MB GDDR4 PCIe graphics card overclocked to 850MHz GPU & 2.4GHz RAM. Powered by Hiper Type-M 580W PSU. Guess who likes overclocking on a budget.
MP3 Encoding for Audiophiles
Fun MPEG-4 Encoding Race
MPEG-4 Playback Enhancement Using FFDShow
How good is the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro HSF really?
Boosting ATI Framerates with CCC (X700 on)
Optimise ATI Image Quality And Framerates With ATT (X1XXX Series under WinXP)
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186
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 24/11/2008 00:14:09
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All valid points!
Just seems that a lot of kids I know have no idea what VBR is or how 128kbps compares to 256 or 320 etc. It's a shame. I'm glad though that there are places to get higher quality stuff other than iTunes. Personally though I still buy mostly CD's but I am leaning more to the convenience of iTunes (only the DRM free, 256kbps stuff though) as time goes by.
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2Ghz MacBook, 2Gb RAM, OS X 10.5.2
Fave software : Newsfire, Handbrake, Macromedia Studio, Flock
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