mgraham333

By mentioning payless I guess you are bringing up cost as one explanation for the dominance of MS/PC. I think that has a lot to do with it. Apples/Macs have always been more expensive than PCs because there's only one source. In fact, I think one of the biggest blunders in the history of Apple, perhaps in the history of the tech industry is Apple's refusal to license it's hardware architecture. IBM did that with the PC architecture and PCs became the dominant platform. Didn't turn out all that well for IBM (although there are tons of other factors involved in that equation). But had Apple not been so short sighted, and greedy I think the Apple/Mac platform might be more widely adopted. But that raises a question if Macs are soooooo much better can cost alone explain their lack of market share?

But...

Back when I susbscribed to PCMag, I always flipped to John C. Dvorak's Inside Track first! He was usually way ahead of the pack when it came to reviewing new technology and tech biz happenings.

Journalists May Be Biased Toward Apple Wednesday, October 19, 2005 By John C. Dvorak As big and as important as Microsoft is, the coverage of the company is quite mediocre. This is particularly true in the mainstream press. The reason for this is that today's newspaper and magazine tech writers know little about computers and are all Mac users. It's a fact. This is why when Microsoft actually does have a good idea, people look to trash it out of hand. With 90 percent of the mainstream writers being Mac users, what would you expect? The top columnists in the news and business magazines fit this model too. The technology writers fit this model. The tech writers and tech columnists for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and Fortune are all Mac users. I could list them by name, but I'd hate to leave one out. Maybe I'll blog them by name. I could list 50. Readers should thus not be surprised by the overcoverage of Apple Computer (search). Every time Steve Jobs (search) sneezes, there is a collective chorus of "Gesundheit" from tech writers pounding away on their Macs. This reality is not going to change. In fact it will only get worse as technology coverage is handed to newer, less-qualified observers who simply cannot use a Microsoft Windows computer. With no Microsoft-centric frame of reference, Microsoft cannot look good. The company essentially brought this on itself with various PR and marketing policies that discouraged knowledgeable coverage. I'll save those complaints for a future gripe session. What's bad for Microsoft is that the bias against it is subtle — kind of like any sort of media bias, whether religious or political. As one critic once said regarding the supposed left-wing slant of the daily news media, "It's not what they write, it's what they write ABOUT that matters." Story selection. Microsoft can roll out a dozen cool products, and the media goes ga-ga over the video iPod (search) — a rather late-to-market Apple product. They all swoon over the prospect of paying $2 to download an otherwise free TV show so they can have the privilege of watching it on a 2-inch screen. The newsroom editors are generally so out of touch that they can't see this bias. Besides, they use Macs too. There are entire newsrooms, such as the one at Forbes, that consist entirely of Macintoshes. Apparently nobody but me finds this weird. Even Jack Shafer, who recently wrote about Apple's skewed coverage in Slate, fails to point out the connection between the skewed coverage and the existence of this peculiar conflict of interest based on the national writers' use of Macs. I often confront these guys with this assertion, and they, to a man (I've never confronted a female reporter about this), all say that they use a Mac "because it is better." Right. And that attitude doesn't affect coverage now, does it? Now this phenomenon is nothing new. I mean the phenomenon that an analyst will compare everything to his or her personal preferences, and naturally do it to excess. I first observed this during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, when all the writers, myself included, used WordStar (search). Everyone used WordStar. I would run into writers here and there and grill them about what they used. Anne Rice used WordStar, for example. Thus, when a new word processor came out, it was naturally compared to WordStar and, unless it was a clone of WordStar, it was always given poor marks. It was only the catastrophic failure of the WordStar company that ever allowed the competition to take over. Probably the smartest thing Microsoft could ever have done was copy as much of the Mac OS (search) as it could insofar as look and feel were concerned, since in the final analysis there were customers doing AB comparisons between the Mac and the PC—which kept the PC on the desktop. The PC was cheaper and seemed about the same functionally. Microsoft should make some headway with this biased crowd once the fanciful Xbox 360 (search) arrives. It's got a creative GUI, is easy to use and navigate, and kind of has a Mac look to it. It also interfaces perfectly with the iPod. "Oh golly gee whiz wow!" And that feature alone will be the clincher. source: Fox News/PC Mag

Which one? And have you done a K2 vs SACD comparison? I noticed the SACDs with the exception of Relaxin' run about double the cost of the K2s.

I've been living with the standard OJCs of these for a while and am wondering what the consensus is about the improvement (if any) of the K2s.

ahhhhhh... ahhhhhhhh...... ahhhhhCHoooooooooooooooo

Anyone have release date updates on the new Mosaic Selects?

I named my website (SparkyHadSkin) after a quote from an MST3K episode. See this clip (5 MB)

Please check out: Car Wheels On A Gravel Road Live @ The Fillmore West

Exactly. Washing by hand just gives those germs a bath.

I just listened to the soundclip again for the Tolliver select. I'm really excited about this one.

No hint intended. Although all board members should consider themselves invited.

For me Symphony For Improvisors is the Conn and Where Is Brooklyn? is the RVG. I couldn't make it through the former, but appreciate and starting to enjoy the latter.

Go ahead and confess Christiern we know it was you who leaked Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine to the internet.

I prefer them at the end of the disc. Multiple takes can get pretty tiring when they are back-to-back. Fortunately mp3s largely make track order irrelevant. But at the office I still use a CD player. I know those can be programmed, but I never have really used that feature.

Reading BruceH talk about the Kelly/Chambers Mosaic suffering from "altake-itus" made me wonder if we'd ever had a poll on this. I couldn't find one so here it is.

Mobley and Byrd/Adams

NEW YORK (Billboard) -- Major labels Sony BMG and EMI are releasing more and more new CDs that block fans from dragging their tunes to iPods. Now, in the most bizarre turn yet in the record industry's piracy struggles, stars Dave Matthews Band, Foo Fighters and Switchfoot -- and even Sony BMG, when the label gets complaints -- are telling fans how they can beat the system. Sony BMG Music Entertainment now regularly releases its new U.S. titles on CDs protected with digital rights management (DRM) that dictates which file formats consumers can use to digitally copy the music. MP3 is not one of those formats. The DRM also limits how many copies of the files consumers can make. EMI Music is testing a similar initiative for wide-scale use by 2006. But these decisions are not sitting well with some of the artists whose CDs have been secured. A number of leading acts are using their Web sites to instruct fans on how to work around the technology. (Others, including Jermaine Dupri, have expressed support for anti-copying efforts.) For now, the copy-protected discs work only with software and devices compatible with Microsoft Windows Media technology. Apple -- the dominant player in digital music -- has resisted appeals from the labels to license its FairPlay DRM for use on the copy-protected discs. The DRM initiatives are generating complaints from fans, many of whom own iPods. The message boards of artist fan sites and online retailers are filled with complaints from angry consumers who did not realize they were buying a copy-protected title until they tried to create music files on their home computers. One solution artists offer to iPod users is to rip the CD into a Windows Media file, burn the tracks onto a blank CD (without copy protection) and then rip that CD back into iTunes. Columbia Records act Switchfoot, whose latest album, "Nothing Is Sound," is copy-protected -- and debuted at No. 3 on The Billboard 200 last week -- recently took copy-protection defiance one step further. Band guitarist Tim Foreman posted on a Sony Music-hosted fan site a link to the software program CDEX, which disables the technology. The post has since been removed. "We were horrified when we first heard about the new copy-protection policy," Foreman wrote in the September 14 post. "It is heartbreaking to see our blood, sweat and tears over the past two years blurred by the confusion and frustration surrounding new technology." To add some minor injury to insult, EMI Christian Music Group had to recall copies of "Nothing Is Sound" that were shipped to Christian retailers. Under an agreement with Sony BMG, the EMI imprint handles manufacturing and distribution of Switchfoot to the Christian market. The EMI discs have incorrect DRM settings that do not allow consumers to rip or burn secure tracks. Switchfoot is not the only band upset by copy protection. "I'm completely frustrated," says Jason Brown, president of Philadelphonic, a management company that represents Tristan Prettyman. The artist's Virgin Records debut, "Twentythree," is among the albums in the EMI copy-protection trial. "Copy control as it stands right now is in its 1.0 phase. It was rushed through and into a system that wasn't prepared for it." Sony BMG says it is not trying to prevent consumers from getting music onto iPods. Fans who complain to Sony BMG about iPod incompatibility are directed to a Web site (http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp) that provides information on how to work around the technology. The company, which has sold more than 13 million copy-protected discs to date, is urging people who buy copy-protected titles to write to Apple and demand that the company license its FairPlay DRM for use with secure CDs. The bad thing is that you are almost promoting what you are trying to protect against. You are upsetting the fan that went out and purchased the record. -- Jason Brown, whose agency represents an artist whose album in among those in copy-protection suit.EMI is not quite so helpful. A source says the company will not instruct consumers on how to work around copy-protected discs. Sony BMG, EMI and Apple officials all declined comment. However, both majors have said that increased CD burning has forced their hands on copy protection. But artists and consumers are bristling at the notion of being caught in the middle of this test of wills. Some managers express doubt about the Sony BMG and EMI strategy in dealing with Apple. "Anything that smacks of corporatism, people don't like," says Jamie Kitman, president of the Hornblow Group USA, manager for Capitol Records act OK Go, which was considered for, but ultimately left out of the EMI trial. "There's no doubt this has the whiff of punitive activity." What is more, artist managers are upset that the security is so easily beaten -- in the case of Sony BMG, with the company's assistance -- that it makes a mockery of content protection. Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group are taking a wait-and-see approach to copy protection. Neither has announced plans for secured U.S. commercial releases. "The bad thing is that you are almost promoting what you are trying to protect against," Brown says. "You are upsetting the fan that went out and purchased the record." Source: CNN

I know. I know. We decided to go the more traditional route.

Soulstation, Is that set from DG the same material as these: Four! Straight, No Chaser

We're going to NYC for the honeymoon. A stop by the Village Vanguard seems in order! I pre-ordered the Selects anyway...

wouldya stop already, I have wedding to pay for! 45 days and counting...

I really really hope there is no battery problem (again). After the last go 'round with that crap you'd think they'd get it together. C'mon this is a music player first, fashion accessory, second. Neveronfriday, where'd you hear the battery news?

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Why is it that when something from Gates goes wrong consumers call for Bill's head and yet when something from Jobs goes wrong the Apple faithful make excuses and keep drinking the kool-aid?