Favorite Files

No favorite files added yet

Recent Posts

1. 
   Review - Apple iTunes for Windows

   10.5.3.3 (Jan 20, 2012)

   I'll go against the grain here and speak up for iTunes. I'm the last person in the world to defend Apple; don't own a single product. I think they produce quality gadgets, but I dislike their business model and I despise their 'cult'. The only reason I EVER broke down and installed iTunes was that I wanted some stray Beatles tunes I'd never owned on CD, and couldn't get them through Amazon downloads.
   
   To my pleasant surprise, I have never had any trouble with iTunes performance on either of my PCs. I don't find it slow, none of the background services intrudes in any way, and none of my other media players or computer media functions show any adverse effect.
   
   But the biggest surprise is that iTunes downloads AND rips generally SOUND BETTER than the alternatives. Especially on classical music. Perhaps on lower-end audio it makes no difference, but with Xonar sound cards and B&W speakers, an iTunes download will (usually, not always) sound better than its Amazon counterpart, and ripped symphonic CDs simply have a more realistic tone using iTunes/AAC as opposed to Exact Audio Copy & Ogg. As a long-time OGG snob, I found this hard to believe, but careful comparisons on hundreds of songs bears it out.
   
   I haven't used iTunes for much more than buying music and ripping CDs, so I won't speak to its other functions. I don't use it as my main player, I keep its library separate from my Win7 libraries, and I generally move my purchases and rips out of Itunes and into my Win7 libraries so as to use WMP or Winamp as my main players -- they play more formats. And I certainly have a few issues with the iTunes music store--but at least they give you 90 second excerpts, whereas Amazon still sticks with 30 seconds.
   
   But I can't find anything about iTunes to truly find fault with, and the music files it creates sound better, no matter which player you prefer for actually listening to them.

2. 
   Review - CyberLink PowerDVD

   11.0.2024 (Sep 2, 2011)

   The patch will not install in Win7/64 upgrade configurations. Check the Cyberlink forum.
   
   Version 11 also disables Windows Aero when I play even regular DVDs and is flakey about using my Xonar Essence sound card. And the installer for the 'upgrade' version requires me to install every previous version I've ever bought first, along with leaving thousands of unused leftover values in the Windows Registry from early PowerDVD versions. Ludicrous.
   
   I've basically had it with Cyberlink. Theoretically a good player, but overpriced and buggy. Media Player Classic plays DVDs just as well, or better, and comes in 64-bit. WMP and Windows Media Center also play DVDs satisfactorily. All of these are free. As for blu-rays, there are workarounds, such as AnyDVD in conjunction with other media players, that are cheaper than PowerDVD. Or, in my case, my 2nd monitor has an unused HDMI port, and for the price of PowerDVD ultra I can buy a standalone blu-ray player and plug it in there, without all these hassles.
   
   My advice: save your money for something else, or wait until (or if) Cyberlink ever gets its act together.

3. 
   Review - XMPlay

   3.6 (Dec 28, 2010)

   -Great sound quality. The better your equipment, the more you'll appreciate that.
   -Best ASIO support of any player, significantly better than Foodbar's. Best WASAPI support, too.
   -Plays anything you throw at it -- files, playlists, urls.
   -Their Winamp plugin converter wasn't working with the latest DFX, so I emailed them--and they wrote an update in 1 day. Show me that kind of service anywhere else.
   -Excellent file info.
   -Interface takes getting used to; try different skins until you find one you like.

4. 
   Review - Google Chrome for Windows

   9.0.597.0 Beta (Dec 3, 2010)

   If you like your aero peek feature enabled for individual tabs (Win7 taskbar), fuggetit. This build crashes 100% with that command switch enabled. I hope this is just a short-term glitch.

5. 
   Review - CyberLink PowerDVD

   10.0.2325.51 (Dec 2, 2010)

   I agree with the concensus here: it's overpriced. But it's better video/audio than windows native for regular DVDs, and it's the most reliable (and one of the only) ways to watch Blu-Ray [the Ultra version only]. If you have a good monitor and video card, Avatar can look awesome with this program. Whether it's worth its price is debatable. (I have no other way of watching blu-ray, and it's certainly cheaper than buying a big-screen.)
   
   Cyberlink puts its products on sale several times a year. I wish they would figure out that they could sell more licenses if they would lower the price. Performance-wise, it's worth 4 stars. Value-wise, only 2.

6. Comment - CES 'Better Questions' contest: Win Vista Ultimate, CS3, Zune and more

   10.0.2325.51 (Jan 4, 2008 - 4:51 AM)

   For Microsoft and the whole entertainment industry:
   
   Regarding content management, digital rights, copy protection, product activation, and that whole area:
   
   Has it occurred to you that maybe you have not struck the proper balance between negative reinforcement and positive reinforcement?
   
   Have you realized yet that by 'circling the wagons' with your 'zero tolerance' approach on digital rights, utilizing software/firmware/hardware mechanisms that remain buggy and imperfect, operating on hardware that will inevitably at some point fail (taking customers' rights down with it), you are alienating honest customers, current and prospective, at a faster rate than you are discouraging criminals?
   
   Don't you get it that widely available, high-quality, moderately priced, cross-platform media, that the consumer can TRUST to play where and when he/she wants, will bring the customers back?
   
   Don't you see that a less-draconian activation policy for Vista (currently much harsher than XP's, even and especially for the full retail versions), coupled with a more reasonably priced family/household license, will help finally wean customers away from XP?
   
   Don't you believe that a simpler, less byzantine series of hardware requirements for playing HD, coupled with more widely promulgated, easily understandable instructions, will ignite enthusiasm for the new technologies?
   
   Finally, to put it in a form that even corporate executives might understand: have you seen what has happened to Amazon's stock in the few months since they started selling unrestricted MP3s? Not to mention Apple's since Steve Jobs issued his 'manifesto' to the entertainment industry?
   
   Your policy has been all sticks and no carrots. Silly wabbits.