9.28.2004
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In my September 20th post, I discussed how Sony's new Network Walkman only plays music files in its proprietary ATRAC format. Apparently, enough critics criticized. Sony recently announced that new flash memory-based players coming out later this year will support MP3 and ATRAC file formats. They also said they are working on software upgrades so that existing players will play MP3 as well, although they haven't announced if hard drive-based players like the Network Walkman will get the upgrade. I guess Sony finally realized that if you make things easier on the consumer, it positively affects the bottom line.
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Network Walkman More of the Same from Sony
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9.20.2004
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You've probably seen the Sony commercial on TV lately with Macy Gray singing Aerosmith's "Walk this Way." I really like the song, but watching Macy Gray sing and move the way she does, frankly scares me. It's ironic how Sony named their first hard-drive based digital music player the "Network Walkman". Walkman goes back to the 80's when Sony dominated the portable music market. Unfortunately for them, this player is about four years late to the market. The likes of Apple, Creative, iRiver, and others are dominating the digital music market today. Not only is the Network Walkman a latecomer to the market, but like most things Sony, it is proprietary. The player only plays music in Sony's proprietary ATRAC format. So, if you want to transfer your huge collection of MP3s to it, it has to convert them using Sony's software. Not only does this make transferring take a lot longer, but converting already compressed music into another compressed format makes the music sound worse. This makes the player doomed before even coming to market, especially considering that people that have 20 gigs of digital music most likely didn't get all that music legally and like the "openness" of technology. Not only that, but the ATRAC file format isn't going to play well with other devices, especially if you're into streaming music over a home network.
Sony just doesn't get it. Going proprietary just handcuffs consumers and we as consumers want freedom to do what we want with our technology, be it music or not. It looks like the Network Walkman is going to go the way of the Betamax player and MiniDisc format.
9.17.2004
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The industry has been buzzing the past few months that HP was going to sell its own version of the iPod as it moves into the consumer tech industry just like all the other computer manufacturers. The HP iPod has recently been released and boy, talk about non-news. The HP version looks exactly the same, costs the same, and sounds the same. There's talk that you'll be able to use an HP printer to design your own case cover. Big deal. Talk about a lot of hype for nothing.
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Beware of cheap computers with 128 MB RAM
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9.16.2004
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Every year at this time you'll see ads for incredibly cheap computers from Dell, Compaq, Gateway, and others. Most go down to $349.99 after rebates for a complete system. While these are decent computers that will work just fine for a large majority of people, they are dogs. Here's why: almost all of these computers come with 128MB of RAM. Cheap computers have integrated video on the motherboard instead of a dedicated video card. The integrated video shares that 128MB of RAM with the rest of the components in the computer, and video can eat up significant amounts of RAM. So essentially your computer has way less than 128MB of RAM. Microsoft says that Windows XP should have a minimum of 128MB of RAM to run smoothly. There's an easy fix for this, though. Just throw in a 256MB stick of RAM (app. $40, see DealRam). Installing RAM is as easy as pushing it into a slot and that is all there is to it. My Dad bought one of these cheap Dell computers about a year ago. Opening and closing windows and programs took forever. He threw in a stick of RAM and it was like a new computer. It's a shame that vendors will even sell computers these days with so little RAM. They are trying to cut corners to reach a price point and fool unsuspecting buyers. So buyer beware!
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