I actually forgot it was my birthday until this morning when I got a bunch of "happy birthday" emails from people. I mean, I knew my birthday was coming up (Halloween decorations are the tip-off) but I didn't realize it was actually today.
Needless to say, I haven't made any plans. But it's kind of refreshing to do nothing special on your birthday. Kind of like seeing a movie by yourself -- very liberating.
Which portable MP3 player has the best sound quality? Which has the best equalizer? Should I wait for Zune to come out?
Thanks, Bruno
Bruno,
Relatively speaking, the physical MP3 player has very little to do with overall sound quality. The two biggest factors are headphone quality, and the quality of the actual MP3 file (record them at 192 khz or better).
Upgrading your headphones will make the biggest difference. The stylish white headphones that come with Apple's iPod? They suck. Try these and you'll be blown away -- won't believe what you've been missing. In general, Koss headphones ("stereophones") offer the best bang for the buck for portable stuff.
As for equalization, you generally want to keep it flat. The people who record and master your music have spent countless hours and dollars making each song sound just right. If you're using weak headphones, yes, you may need to crank up the bass a little -- though most mastering engineers have already taken this into consideration, cranking mid-bass frequencies for smaller and weaker speakers.
Microsoft's new Zune? Remember the first-generation iPod -- the one with the scrolly wheel that kept breaking? Don't buy a first-gen Zune, either.
Isn't Google worried about YouTube's copyright issues?
Denali
Okay,
Every article and blog posting that mentions YouTube (and now GooTube) says something about "ooh, but what if the scary copyright police strike down on YouTube."
They won't.
So please shut up already.
TV and movie studios know that lots of people are shifting from TV to the Web. And, for now, YouTube is the place where we watch this stuff.
And most importantly, YouTube is trying to play nicely with the studios, working on deals to cut copyright owners in on the ad revenue. This changes the way content producers have been getting paid for the past 50 years. It's not perfect, but you have to admit it's a compelling pitch.
Sure, the studios are a little worried about the shift to the Web. But unlike Napster, which had no clear revenue opportunities, it's easy to put ads on YouTube. It's the studios'wet dream-- not their enemy.
All those YouTube haters? They're just mad knowing that if they started a website that freely distributed copyrighted video, they'd be shut down in a jiffy. And they would, but that's because they're not as smart as YouTube.
YouTube's brilliance? Making friends in high places, not enemies.
Why is it when I go to Blockbuster, I see so many new straight-to-DVD movies with big name celebs in them?
Art
Art,
Most of these movies were shot before the stars were "big name celebs." The movies are usually too old (and sometimes bad) for theaters, but their newfound star power works well for the video store.
A good example of this is Knockaround Guys starring then-unknown Vin Diesel. Filming wrapped in 1999 and it was never released.
Years later, Diesel became a star with hits like Boiler Room, The Fast and the Furious, and xXx. It was at that point, 3 years after production, when interest in Knockaround Guys brewed and the movie was finally released -- straight to video and just a few movie screens.
wots up wiv mobog? will it be fixed soon? hope so! :( haha
vicki
Hi Vicki,
"What's up with it" is a pretty general question. So I'll give you general answer. And for those who don't know, Mobog (warning: not safe for work) is a site I made a few years ago so I (and others) could easily post pictures to the Internet from any cell phone camera.
The site became really popular really fast.
The rest of the story isn't so great. Firstly, any site that displays unmoderated user-submitted photos on its homepage will turn into probably 50-75% porn. As did Mobog. The other problem is that I basically neglected it, so it's been riddled with server issues and slowness for the past 2 years or so.
Which caused a traffic decline.
Not to mention I still get at least 2 or 3 emails every day from random people who are like "I can't get Mobog to work for my phone!"
It's kind of heartbreaking, knowing that it's not working for some people, and not having the time to fix it. Which is a shame because I think it would probably be pretty popular, like Flickr or something if it were faster, moderated, and had new features.
Anyway, it still gets a little more than 200,000 pageviews per day, and lots of new pictures are sent in, so I'm still weirdly proud of it.
Hey, thanks for asking this question! You've motivated me to take a break from this post and spend 30 minutes fixing it. I switched to a new system for leaving user comments and I think its sped the site up a little.
Notice in the right column of this blog, "latest mobile pic." This is one of the cool features of Mobog... I can be anywhere and send a picture from my cell phone directly to the homepage of Pud.com.
So, yeah, this wasn't supposed to be an advertisement for Mobog. Actually, any more users and it would probably start crashing again...
Pud is an expert in many things including money, sex, business, arts, music, food, fashion, technology, nightlife, travel -- almost everything except sports.
