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What grinds your gears then?

Henry David

By Henry David
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PSYCHOcatholic seahorse

PSYCHOcatholic

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Paul, I'll definatly be thinking of your family today. Life does move on but, holidays are tough! :crazy:

However, I'll never forget meeting (paging Psycho Catholic! PsychoCatholic, please meet your party....). Remember? :laughing:

Ya know because of the whole "Psycho" word...they gave me a Cavity search. That wasnt fun at all...so ill be sure to give my real name when wanting to meet someone at an airport from now on.

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Kevin orca

Kevin

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God bless the USA ... :) A serviceman in uniform getting a full body search - in an American airport - by Americans - for Americans ... I hope you sleep better tonight . When will this end ?! I think it would be best to go butt naked to Hawaii in September after reading that ! :)

Joe , what are the words to ' The Communist Internationale ' , again ? It was kind of doo-woopy ... ;) :laughing: :thumbsup:

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edna land shark

edna

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I´m using a modern pc, with a wonderful screen and so... but I´m so used to my old crappy Mac... :P my husband is working with it, he still uses some Mac desing tools but he usually waits till I´m asleep... the little cat is puzzled, she can´t understand why the witch (me) is sitting on her beloved master´s chair...

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Shawna land shark

Shawna

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learning a new computer is not fun. I just got a laptop with an updated version of Word on it. I'm pretty expert at Word 2003, and now they've taken that away and given me this new version with a new keyboard that I'm having trouble with, because I don't know where all the buttons are anymore! }:(

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Kevin orca

Kevin

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" You're a Mac -girl - and and you've gone too far , but you know it don't matter anyway ...You can rely on the Old Man's PC , you can rely on the Old man's PC... It's a bitch girl , but you've gone too far , but you know it don't matter , anyway ... "

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fpatrick Member

fpatrick

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Now, this is a subject I will claim some expertise on. It really depends on what you use a computer for, cost and learning curve.

The Mac has always been the better Operating system. Windows was built incorrectly. Windows versions 1.0 - 3.1 were actually applications that ran on DOS and did not come close to any computer science definition of an operating systems. The Microsoft deal with IBM PCs grew faster than anyone predicted. Had they know that, it wouldn't have happened. Microsoft tried several times, but they never truly made Windows a good OS. There are very smart people at Microsoft - it's just that when code is built wrong it's very hard to fix at such a big company. I used Windows for many years because I was a software engineer and it still has 90% of the workstation market share. Every sane person I know in the industry hopes Vista is good. It's barely out and the complainers and people with causes are already bashing it. I worked at Lotus (now IBM/Lotus)for 4.5 years and Ray Ozzie was there. I can't give you any indide info, but I can say he's a very strong leader and isn't afraid to do what it takes to get his way. He's been the top technical person at Microsoft since last June, and is very well regarded in the industry. They just used all that money to delay it, which was a very responsible thing to do and that was intentional. I think people should give them a chance, because Windows is entrenched in the large markets and big corporations can't change quickly. Every version of Windows from 95 to XP has 16 bit code from in it and we're up to 64 Operating systems now. This causes performance problems. This shouldn't bother you if you use the web, email, word processing, but if you do music or video it is a definite issue because that requires high performance. XP is pretty good - I use windows machines for some reasons.

I did just buy an early Intel/Macbook pro in May 06 and maxed out the memory and disk space and rebuilt my music studio. Intel has always been the superior chip for multimedia so they perform much better than the Motorolla Macs. I chose to be an 'early adopter' (which someone I know that is very accomplished in the industry says is another way of saying "damned fool") You take a risk buying something so new. Still, the compatibility problems I've had were not that bad. Price is an issue, but if you want the best music and multimedia home studio, the Mac has had that market forever. You can synch Macs and Windows machines already and that will only improve. It's also important to keep in mind the money you have invested in software and hardware that doesn't run on both platforms. I have Sonar 5 on an XP machine and Logic Pro 7 and Reactor on the Mac. Sonar 5 is expensive so it's in my interest to keep using it, since upgrading is cheaper. If you want to use both windows and macs, there has been a lot of software and hardware that runs on both developed since Apple announced it's switch to Intel in May 05. And Windows machines are still cheaper, but all computer hardware continues to fall in price. And I agree that learning a new OS or any software isn't easy. There's a word for what you get when you learn complex software like Logic Pro or Sonar: "feature fatigue".

And remember, Linux will continue to grow. The vast majority of web servers run a Linux OS and an Apache web server, which are both Open Source - you can go download them for free. This site uses the server side scripting language called php, which is also free. When I overcome some feature fatigue, I'll set up a Linux server on a desktop machine to save costs, but that's for geeks, mostly.

Linux will be used more often as a desktop OS as more software is written for it. Linux is a great Operating system. It's very similar to UNIX and there are many good free versions. If you want to know why they can offer quality free Operating systems and other software for free, see GNU, Richard Stallman, Free Software Foundations (FSF)

So, it's what you use the machine for and costs and learning curves that make the decision easier, IMHO.

For anyone doing any creative arts music, video editing which require performance - I'd get an Intel Mac if you can. I prefer the laptops because good sound cards and monitors are so small, you're studio is very portable. Also, there is this very clever concept Apple came out with called the Mac Mini. If you have a PC moniter, mouse and keyboard (which cost next to nothing) you buy a small box with an Intel CPU and the Mac OS as low as 600$ + 100$ max for the other stuff if you don't have it and you have a cheap Mac.

My other rule is don't buy a machine until you have time to use it. Within a year and a half, the new machines will be faster, cheaper and smaller by a factor of 1.5-2. This was predicted long ago - See Moore's law. Open Source and other factors continue to drive the cost and size down and performance up as well.

I'm not really that much of a geek, I'm trying to get back to music actually and for that - Get an Intel Mac if you can afford it. With a good sound card and monitor speakers, you can make recordings at above standard CD quality. You'll notice that music is being released on DVD with higher quality and 5.1 surround. And this matters - iPod/iTunes has that market and they run on windows as well. Also, and keep any Intel machine you have (or give them to me - I'll take them!). Then you can have a cramped studio like me which causes you to waste time rearangings things and finding stuff that you lose which is a constant annoyance. I value music over living space, personally, but it makes me crazy. Every other day this room looks like a bomb hit it. Get some geek to synch them up for you, but get someone you trust. There are a lot of sharks in those busineses. And some 'computer experts' that fix Windows problems are being sponsored by a large retail chain and are running a total scam. I won't name them, just don't accept that name brand stores necessarily offer quality. Who ever set that scam up is really shameless.

I do have a hidden agenda in writing this. The music industry has changed so radically in the past five years especially, many musicians don't see it. That's understandable, but many I've met seem to be in denial and don't ask someone that knows something or won't listen. I'm trying to move into a training or support role in this industry soon, so I'm trying to generate business. That area has a lot of demand - and I almost got a job at Apple last year, but I wasn't ready because of the learning curve. So, don't read the manual - take courses or call tech support - it's easier and you'd be helping me too.

Actually, asking someone you know and trust is what I do. I was an ok engineer, but since the modern industry grew up in Boston/Cambriddge (where I am) and Silicone Valley, I am lucky because I know people that know far more than I can dream of, so I listen to them.

Thanks.

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Shawna land shark

Shawna

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I've found that if you don't bother to master the old software, the updates are much easier to learn.

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

this is true when learning Steno shorthand, too... the less shorthand words you learn in the first semester, the more (better) shorthand words you learn in the second semester, without having to un-learn the others. Sleeping through the first semester really helped :grin: :grin:

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fpatrick Member

fpatrick

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I'd agree. Actually I and most people learn only the features they need. In many ways, writing software was easier than using it, because the goal was to make it simple. Another good method is to get some of the good training videos for the complex software. And there's some really powerful easy to use software now. All the Apple iLife software for 06 is really well done and works together well. They designed it to have fewer features - it's 5 programs that share components and work really well together. iLife is iTunes, iWeb (web site creation and publishing), iMovie (video editing), iDVD (CD Dvd burning), Garageband (music for anyone and podcasting), iPhoto (photo editing).

An example of how they do it is iWeb uses iPhoto for images, Garageband for podcasting, etc..

It has limitations but for 79$, I was very impressed. I'm sure there is software for Windows that's like this too.

The professional programs are the hard ones. I use Logic Pro 7.2 and it has tons of features, but it's really impressive. The machines are so fast that they can do mixing, recording live instruments, all the synthesizers are on the computer. And the digital editing features are really amazing. The downside is that it's drivin down the demand for 'traditional musicians' and 'recording studios'. A lot of the music for ads, tv shows, some pop music and some film music is done by fewer people. It's just another example of automation replacing humans which is nothing new. I'm an ok musician - I have talent and training, but there are a million people as good as me, but I always did it for fun anyway. The people that do the 'sound design' are the ones who are born with that gifted. I had been neglecting music and apparently it really took off around 2003-2004. I don't watch TV much, but I heard the best sound designed music was on those CSI shows (which I know are popular) I just heard about 10 minutes of one recently and it's really good. My cousin is at my level but he has this friend who is one of the 'gifted ones'. He went on tour with Bruce Sprinsteens band in 06. He's a monster jazz trumpet player and is one of the top sound designers too. They have to use the gifted people because they are under really strict deadlines for TV shows. I met the guy that was 'filling in for him' at a seminar at Berklee and has was doing NYPD Blue and some major ads. It's very realistic sounding. What's driving up the demand for training and support is that all this multimedia publishing, educational courses, audio books, the amature market are all using it and it's constantly changing. I don't have a full grasp of it. It gets really boring following it after a while. But there are some real benefits. It's becoming fragmented like the mainstream computer industry did - people patch together more part time work now.

A lot of the good studio musicians now offer their services over the web. So, if you have a song you can hire really good studio players to play record the parts you want. It's a bit pricey, but the laptops and software like Logic, ProTools, Sonar, Cubase has rendered most 'traditional audio studios' obsolete. If this interests you, this is a good short peice on it that NPR recently did.

This is a very short story on NPR you can listen to. If pressing the listen button doesn't play, check to see if a 'pop up blocker' is on. They did a nice job on the story, and it really is that easy if you learn it.

A Home Recorder's Dream: Playing with Pros Online

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9163100

Now, I'm more likely to do this by finding people that do it for fun. The odds were always low for making a living playing music and I didn't have the temperment. But, an obvious variation on that peice is that you can find musicians all over the world to play with over the web and do it for little or no money. You do lose the live feeling somewhat, but a lot of the colleges (like Berklee, where I went are really growing this as a world community) Their new president is really into it. It may sound idealistic, but if software I got to know people from so many nations in person and over the web. It's a lot harder to kick people around when you know what their going through - they have families in some of the 'extremist' nations and it makes it more real for me.

I always thought you had to play for fun. Some people make small amounts of money doing this too. It's trivial to publish songs to the iTunes store. Music I like never sold much, but I might try it as an excercise. There seems to be more publishing than purchasing. I'd rather teach people this stuff because I can teach the other computer software too. Lots of people do that and do the music they like in their spare time for fun and maybe some extra cash. I talked to this guy who was working at a mail order music place and he'd been a studio engineer at a lot of the major companies (Sony, Dolby, etc..) He seemed content enough. They make extra money from doing remixes. The definition of a studio engineer seems like - you goes to production company, installs the software, does some training and lose your job to the automation. So, I see that part as a positive, actually. Someone once told me that when there is fast change in an economic sector, you should step back and try to find out where the demand has shifting to because it's there - it's just harder to find. I'm no expert in economics, but it works. People are always happier when there in a field where there is demand, because their secure. What I worry about is that the health care system in the USA is so cost ineffective and keeps going up in price and is under tremendous stress. It's corrupt and sometimes predatory. That's the major basis of age discrimination. I don't mind doing contracts though. And there are alternative health care options.

I have no idea if or how this could be done, but this country needs to put recources for continuous retraining - private companies are doing a lot of this for music, (and video and other arts, I suspect) so there seems to be this training loop - trainers training other trainers. Occupations come and go so fast and you can't really stop it. It really stresses people which is sad.

I enjoy a good rant, now and then and I figure it's ok to go off on this, since 80% of the US public is against this fools war that is squeezing the whole middle class and below. Don't mistake this for any certainty. Writing bad prose is a hobby of mine. It's like purging all this information I gather up, I guess.

We went through this in the 80's and by 2000 we had a budget surplus, so I'm not fatalistic, but they really should stop wasting our money.

The U.S. keeps borrowing from the rest of the world to finance its huge trade and budget deficits and countries such as China and Japan are ringing up huge trade surpluses with the United States and lending their surplus funds back to the U.S. to finance its deficits. That's a loop that obviously can't sustain itself. Greenspan mentioned this before he left and it's not the complicated part. The Asian nations are already getting nervous because the interest on the debt is huge and they own too many our our dollars already. That part makes sense. Whatever they do to fix it - I haven't a clue, but they won't let the Global markets crash. And the US economy is too important, so we'll get by. So, the way I see it is the 'war on terror' will create many more terrorists because the 'developing nations' will suffer again. That's what we keep doing, it seems. But, I'm just ranting. It will get worse then better, but it seems so unnecessary to me.

I'm not one that thinks rich people are all evil - quite the contrary. The computer industry is creating a lot of value and are negotiating to offet these problems lately. People like Steve Jobs are under under a lot of pressure. I think the Gates foundation is necessary and Warren Buffet surely checked them out before he made that huge donation. And he was the one who advised Katherine Graham who was publisher of the Washington post during the Nixon years. I wouldn't want to be threatened by the US Justice department. It's sad that more people don't remember who she was. It's the exec branch's constitiency of "the haves and the have mores" that can only see things one way that I disagree with. The late columist Molly Ivans stated it kindly by pointing out that the Bush's have "total class blinders". I wish the 08 elections would get here sooner - maybe I'll take a long nap until then. I hope that was ok to editorialize. I doubt I'll get much disagreement.

Regards,

-Daniel Shore

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fpatrick Member

fpatrick

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Thanks Kevin. I wouldn't normally do that but the vast majority of the American public agrees with me. I wish people would make the connections with money more often.

I try to be respectful. I didn't think I critized any innocent bystanders. What innocents did I offend? I appologize if I did. I thought I only slammed the Bush adminstration and I have no problem with that. I do wish more people would vote, so maybe that's what you meant. I'm in Mass. and politics is like sports to a lot of us here. I still ask people I trust about some elections I don't follow. Who has time not to know everything. Bush ticks me off because he talks to us like we're children. It amuses me to think of him alone in a room with his soul mate Poutin. I bet he's really scared. I would be wouldn't you? Serves him right

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