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Adobe: Photoshop Goes Online and Free

Adobe has been impressing me on a weekly basis for the past year…

Regarding my post “To FLAC or NOT: A lossless vs. MP3 comparison”, I’ve gotten a lot of feedback on some forums questioning the intent, methods, and conclusions of this little experiment. There are some things that should be very clear:

• This was for me only. I’m not trying to persuade you to ditch MP3s and go lossless with everything.
• It wasn’t meant to be scientific, just a quick mathematical calculation. It’s interesting. It originally took all of 3 minutes. Doing it a 2nd time took much longer. I didn’t even use a phase scope.
• I wasn’t trying to prove that FLAC is better than MP3s. We all know that. All I wanted to do is listen to the differences between the two formats.
• I am not trying to replace a true double blind test. I’m not even saying everyone can hear the difference between MP3s and FLAC. I will say that I can distinguish a 192 kbps MP3 from a lossless file.

UPDATE (9.9.07): Corrections have been made… I did this again paying closer attention to detail. I found that the “Delete Silence” feature doesn’t really work. At least, it’s not always consistent. I ran it twice on the same file and it got different readings. It turns out that my original result files were affected by this.

With the new Apple iPod Classic available (almost) in 160GB, I’ve decided to freshen up my data with new CD rips. Yes, I still buy CDs. I like the idea of pure 16-bit/44.1 kHz audio when I want it. I began ripping CDs in 1998-1999, when Iomega offered me the opportunity to beta test their new HipZip MP3 player, which used 40MB Clik storage. I have to admit, those disks were cool, and the player was the best thing around. I ripped MP3s at 192 kbps, which back then was pretty high. Napster was just getting started and everything was usually 128 kbps. Even then, I thought those were mediocre. Since then, I’ve stuck with the 192 kbps bitrate simply for consistency. I’ve maintained all of the MP3s since then, never once losing any data. Now, I’ve been trying to decide whether to do 256 kbps AAC (which is what Apple iTunes Plus is) or to do a lossless codec. No, I wouldn’t do Apple Lossless.. I don’t want Apple owning the format of my music. I’ve been reading about FLAC. Read on for a simple, quick comparison.

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Apple – To all iPhone customers

So, you cried and Steve’s going to give you $100 store credit. Yay. But really, the simple fact is that when the iPhone came out, you just HAD to have it even though you don’t NEED it.. and you were willing to pay any price for it. That’s all I have to say about that.

This is a little quote from Steve Job’s keynote.. I found it on Gizmodo’s Live Blog of the event today (yesterday).

Jason Chen:

Steve says: “Wi-Fi, as you know, is not only faster than 2.5G, but it’s faster than any 3G network”. Yes, Steve, keep saying that and people will forget that the iPhone only has EDGE. We’ll print that sentence out on a piece of paper and look at it every time an email takes 5 minutes to download.

Now that’s funny.

Men want hot women, study confirms – CNN.com

So, this is officially the “DUH!” post of the month. And why is it posted under Technology? Because it is, I guess I should too.

‘The Beat Goes On’ Rumor Roundup

I guess by this time tomorrow there will all kinds of iPod frenzy going on.

Lawsuit claims Apple, AT&T weren’t forthright about iPhone batteries

Oh no! Another Apple battery issue. I’m so proud of myself for not buying one of these pretty devices.

300-Page AT&T Bill for iPhone

Ok, that’s a little ridiculous. Even if it were an electronic bill, do they really need to itemize every single text and data usage? Watch the video, it’s kind of funny.

Some iPhones developing touch-screen issues

Nice! The phone has been out for almost a month and a half? What do you do when you can’t touch the “buttons” you need?