I've been wanting to see the movie just to sort of understand what Gore's trying to say, and then put that together with what I've learned from scientific facts, and see if the movie tells me anything more than I already knew.

And about Apple.  It's no worse than Microsoft.  Both are money-obsessed corporations.  And for the most part, with a Mac computer, you get what you pay for.  You don't really ever have to worry about viruses, and with the new Intel-based Macs, you can even use Windows XP on it.  The problem I've found with PCs, is that you get what you pay for.  You cannot expect a great computer with a $600 price tag.  It just won't happen.  Besides, with good secure software and various add-ons to get your computer up to speed with a great computer, you'd end up spending what you'd spend on a great PC or Mac.

Mac has its share of problems too.  When there's an error on your Mac, RARELY do you actually know what is happening.  Luckily there's plenty of help available for free.

iPods overpriced?  I don't think so.  A 20GB Sony MP3 player is about $250-300 compared to the $300 of the 20GB video iPod.

And iTunes converting your music?  I can explain that to ya.  Let's say you have an mp3 file on your computer.  You open iTunes, and find this song, and drag it to iTunes to add it to your library of music within iTunes.  When you add it to your library, essentially it creates a copy of the original songfile and organizes it into a folder labeled "X Song" under "X Album" under "X Artist" under iTunes Music, in that order.

When you create this copy, you can choose how you want it to be copied, using the preferences in iTunes.  You can convert it to a number of file formats (mp3 as one example).  For my Mac, these are the converting options:
-AAC - this is a format used widely now.  it's the format that the iTunes Music Store uses for all digital albums and songs.  it's comparable to that of an uncompressed CD quality.
-AIFF - this format is the format of the audio files on CDs.  this is completely uncompressed, and is about as good as you can get.  unfortunately the file size is very large.
-Apple Lossless Encoder - this new format is usable only with iTunes, Quicktime, and the iPod.  the filesize of a Lossless song file is very large, as there will be no quality loss in the process of copying.
-MP3 - This format is the generic format for songs.  It's a lossy format, which means that if you copy the original file, the copy will be slightly worse in quality.  If you copy that copy, the quality gets even worse, and so on.
-WAV - This format is basically the PC version of the AIFF format.

So those are the different formats that you can convert your songs into once you import them into your iTunes music library.

Hope that helped

well, like i said, i think even people who don't believe its real should see it, so i'm glad that you do.

 

Creative Zen has a 20GB mp3 player for $200

 

and i think i'm more confused. pretty much what people keep telling me is that iTunes converts songs into a format that is only usable by an iPod so if you use iTunes and then get another kind of mp3 player you have to convert them back.

not necessarily.

but i see what you're confused about.

see...if you plan on using iTunes as your one and only source for music, want your music on a portable mp3 player, but don't plan on buying an mp3 player, then you're out of luck

see, iTunes doesn't convert it to an iTunes-only format.  it only does that if YOU choose it as an iTunes only format (which would be AIFF, AAC, and Apple Lossless).
i'll try and explain the following as best as i can, haha...
you have a single song.  you add it to iTunes.  you have it set to where iTunes converts it to mp3 format.  mp3 is a generic format that works with every mp3 player out there, and iTunes DOES have the option to convert a song to mp3.  now that single mp3 song is on iTunes.  if you have an iPod, you can add it to your iPod no problem, because iPods work with iTunes.  that's the way it is, and always will be.  but that song is still mp3, and can be used by ANY player out there.
so you get an alternative player.  the Creative Zen, for example.
i'm not familiar with Creative, but i'm assuming that it comes with software to put on your computer to enable you to add songs to your mp3 player.

this is where i think people make it confusing.  iTunes works exclusively with iPods.  it's not that the songs you put into iTunes will be iTunes exclusive (unless you make them iTunes exclusive, as mentioned previously).  it'd be the same way if you bought a Creative player, and you used the Creative software to add songs to your Creative player.  you can't use the Creative software to add songs to an iPod.

but the thing that makes people mad is that iTunes is also a music player.  so it'd be as if the Creative software you'd use to add songs to the Zen was also the music player program you use for your music.  you'd add all your songs to the Creative music program to listen on the computer.  you can add all those songs to your Zen, but again, not the iPod.

haha i repeated myself a lot cause sometimes when i explain things it gets confusing.

i hope that sorta cleared it up?

3rd line - but don't  plan on buying an iPod****

also, another thing people get mad about, is that the iTunes Music Store, while selling music, sells it in a format that IS iTunes exclusive.  the format is AAC m4p, meaning it is a protected song.  you cannot open it in any other music player other than iTunes, and cannot add the song to any other portable player other than the iPod.  but again, if you use iTunes, it's expected that you'll buy an iPod.  it's the only option for putting that music portably from iTunes.

so it won't work with other mp3 players because it doesn't work with them?

yes, iTunes is only meant to work with the iPod...simply put (i hate when i don't think of the most simplest thing).

but there's dozens of other great options for music programs for non-iTunes/non-iPod/non-Apple users that it's not really worth pondering over.

so then its true that if i had another mp3 player, i'd have to put my music into some other software and then put it on there

Yes, but that's not a big deal

it is to me. i'm tech stupid and don't know what i'm doing.

If you choose to have all your music as mp3 when imported to iTunes, then you don't necessarily have to put it into another music program.

Let's say you get that Creatice Zen player.  It requires you install software that allows you to put music on your Zen.  After you install the software you could just go into your folders under iTunes and take the mp3 files and put them on the Zen player.  You wouldn't have to have a different music program other than iTunes.

hmmm, so does the software come with other mp3 players or...?

I was just stating an example.  Most mp3 players usually include software to enable you to add songs to it.  When you buy an iPod, you have to use iTunes to add songs.  If you bought "X mp3 Player", you'd probably use "X Software" to add songs to it.

oh ok, cool thanx

No problem.  Haha, sorry to have it take that long to explain it.  I know my explanations are somewhat confusing.

Apple really isn't as exclusive as people make it out to be.

well i don't know much about computers either, so its cool

Haha, for the longest time I thought that greenhouse gases ate holes into the ozone which made everything hotter and thats what caused global warming. Oddly enough, I learned the what actually happens when I watched that episode of Futurama where they were going to get rid of all the robots to stop global warming, and they showed that 50's-esque video explaining it xD

LOL! not only is that what i thought, too, but towards the beginning of An Inconvenient Truth when Al Gore is explaining how global warming works, but HE ACTUALLY SHOWS THAT CLIP, TOO! it was awesome!

I know, its weird. Back in the late 90's, you'd always hear about how about how aerosols are eating holes in the ozone and its giving everybody skin cancer, and yet thats not the cause of global warming at all, its the exact opposite o_O. So I guess we SHOULD be eating holes in the atmosphere, because its not so much ozone as it is pollutants by now.

yeah. but if you eat holes in the ozone then the initial light gets in and causes cancer. so its that, or raising sea levels, stronger storms, and draughts.

I saw the movie, and most of it sounds true.  Don't invest in beachfront property, because the ocean approacheth. And stock up on summer clothes. And I have yet to buy an iPod, that's a pain that we even have to deal with file formats.  With TV most people couldn't care less about how the TV transmission was encoded, nor should they have to care.  So the same goes for music file formats, in my humblest of opinions.

yeah. hopefully i can afford one, soon. and i read ur newest entry, but i'm way too stoned to try to give advice right now.

lol - that gave me a hearty chuckle and a smile - thanks. 

And I've love to hear from you later if you'd like.

aw damn, i'm high right now, too, lol. i'm not nearly as fucked up now though as i was last night. let me take a look at ur entry again