The Back of Tuor's Head

Really.

They're overextended, under supplied ( Long before the Democratic Congress, remember the lack of armor?), denied benefits, kept in squalor, and forced back into duty despite medical and mental health.

Excepting the iPod (and I'll tell you why in a minute) there has been no evolution in consumer audio since the CD.

There certainly have been many attempts to release new formats, two formats of digital cassette tape, DVD-Audio, Super Audio CD, and many I'm sure to have forgotten. There is of course one reason why they have all failed: the hassle of the new format has outweighed the benefits.

The one core reason is copy-protection. All the mentioned formats have one thing CD does not, integrated copy protection. You can listen to a CD, you can copy it, and you can play burned CDs on any player.

The digital cassette formats all suffered form some sort of copy flag (just like in some HDTV services) that could prevent home users from making a copy of the cassette. People wanting an extra copy for the car or a mix tape were out of luck, and the cassettes were only stereo audio anyway, they did not sound much better. Since CD was better quality, had non-linear access, did not degrade, and, very importantly, was usable in a car the format won out. It also was easy to copy onto mix tapes, and soon by computer.

DVD-Audio (DVD-A) and Super Audio CD (SACD) suffer the same problems digital cassettes did, except for the linear access part. They are encumbered with significant copy-protection schemes that make them awkward for all but the most dedicated users.

Home component systems (usually the early-adopters) avoid these new media because the multi-channel format is only available as a six-cable analogue connection, or as a licensed digital connection, but not either one of the common unencrypted single-wire digital connections available on modern audio components. In other words, they are either complex and of (perceived) lower quality, or incompatible.

Because of the complexities of licensing the new formats, car and portable audio equipment makers have produced little equipment for the marketplace, and with few early-adopters, there is little demand to do so.

Which brings us to the iPod (or any digital music player). It is a common fallacy to look at the iPod (or MP3, WMA, etc.) as the new "format". What is really happening when you look at the use is that people are copying their CDs to their iPod for the convince and the ability to mix.

Since MP3-CD players are often overlooked (no one is marketing MP3 CDs) even though they are nearly ubiquitous, and players offer a much more flexible means of playback, they have become the new trend. You may be unaware, however, that most new car stereos, video game systems, and DVD players can all play MP3 CDs. Really, what everyone is doing with their iPods, is making "mix tapes" of their CDs.

Which brings me to the reason I started this: I want a multi-channel audio player.

We have had Quadraphonic sound since the 1970's, but the technology to play them has lagged behind. The two most popular formats to arrive after Quadraphonic sound, CD and Cassette, were stereo only. It wasn't until the advent of DVD with built-in 5.1 sound that people started amassing the equipment necessary to play it. (Ironically, car stereos have had four speakers for ages, but no medium since the 70's has taken advantage of it.)

We are, unfortunately, tied to the CD. No one is interested in complex and unusable new formats so no one releases on them. Therefore, no music is remastered or recorded to the new formats, and no Quadraphonic recordings are re-released on the new formats.

What, then, could break us out of the cycle? First off, we need an MP3 player capable of multi-channel output without encryption. Perhaps the new Video iPods will do that soon. When they can connect to the average 5.1 home system, we'll have a start. Likely, car audio will soon follow with multi-channel inputs.

Next, the file sharing community will come to play, with people uploading all their old Quadraphonic recordings and ripped DVD-As and SACDs. Also important will be the adoption of selling multi-channel MP3s, since non-licensed manufacturers are essentially locked out of the hard formats. This will most likely be done by small labels, Indies, and artists.

Eventually, people will demand some way to move this music around, and it will probably be the flash keychain. Already many car and home units have USB inputs. Late in the game, depending on many other factors, the labels will release under a usable format. Everyone will know when it arrives, because like the CD before it, the new format will be instantly popular, but I expect it will be created by someone else besides the Labels.

My guess for the new format would be something like an MP3 CD with just a new file type, perhaps on DVD instead of CD.

I can't wait for the day.

I'm enjoying the pre-election fiasco. You know, if the "war" were going better we'd be at code topaz again instead of ignoring the threat.

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I heard this, and I think I believe it.

When E85 is being made, the refinery has to have the regular gasoline shipped into their location so that they can add it (15 percent) to the alcohol. Prior to it being added the alcohol is basically 100 percent moonshine. As I understand it the 15 percent gasoline must be added to it before it leaves the alcohol refinery in order avoid breaking laws when it crosses state lines.

Oh, the joys of prohibition.

RIP Steve Irwin.

What is it with Dunkin' Donuts anymore? All the ones in Western Pennsylvania seem to be turning into Donut Connections, and as soon as that happens, quality goes downhill and so does variety.

I just found the Retorbits Podcast and I have to say it is one of the more fun things I have run accross in a long time.

I have been a collector of old Macs and Apple IIs for a while now, reliving the coputers I was using in school. I have an Amiga 2000 around that I play with occasionally (unfortunately the space for it is lacking, but I hope to fix that soon) and have always wanted a Commodore 64 (but now a 128 looks much better).

Well, it's one of those "hobby" things. There is still quite a bit of life in old computers, though. Fire up AppleWorks or WordStar sometime when you want to write that great American novel. It provides for less distractions. There's only one thing to do, and no fancy formatting to get in the way of a good book.

Really, short of web surfing, there's not much that these old computers can't handle with a few finishing touches and maybe an accelerator. You might need a couple of them to replace your modern rig, but hey, they're cheap.

With bush, it's not Washington DC, but Washington BC.

I just saw an interview on CNN where some neo-con perscribed embracing imperialism for the United States. Someone forgot their history. We've tried this and it doesn't work.

Remember we had Cuba, Panama, the Philipiens, and we know how well that has worked out.

The outlying territories of the United States include:

1. Puerto Rico
   
2. The Virgin Islands of the United States (purchased from Denmark in 1917)
3. Guam (ceded by Spain after the Spanish-American War)
4. The Northern Mariana Islands (a commonwealth associated with the United States)
5. American Samoa
6. Wake Island, and several other islands.
   

The United States also has compacts of free association with the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia.

Oh, yeah, and Iraq.

I feel like an expansionist empire. Oh, hello Britain.

Like so much, this is not as new as the "News" makes it out to be. However, it is a prime example of "Darwinism" at work, just so long as they don't do it around me.

I am going to avoid going on about this; as so many people have pointed this out over the years.

NASA needs to move to a new launch vehicle. A new rocket style (similar to the Saturn V) to allow large payload and interplanetary travel, and a smaller vehicle similar to the new private vehicles.

Since they also have several smaller rockets payload in a shuttle is not a priority. They simply send up the payload seperately and fly up after it.

With Apple's recent announcement that they are adopting Intel's cpus into newer Macintoshes, there have been a lot of opinions and speculation. These fall into a few general groups:

1) Woe is me! PPC is a superior architecture.
2) Yay! More 1337 p0w3r!
3) Wild speculation about compatibility, pirating and gaming

What they miss is probably the most important part: it's Apple's ace in the hole.

Think about it for a moment. If you were a big company like Apple, would you put all your eggs in one basket? Apple was part of the PPC alliance, with Motorola and IBM under the hopes that having two suppliers would incite competition and keep their CPUs equal or better then the competition.

Steve knew when he came back that while having great cards on the table was a good idea, Intel had another great hand; and he needed an ace in the hole. So he continued to develop the x86 port of OSX under wraps, with controlled leaks, to keep IBM and Motorola interested in pushing the envelope for them.

I believe this is the crux of the announcement. Remember, IBM didn't officially find out until shortly before we did. Apple was snubbing its nose at them; saying "Fine, if you're not interested, we'll take our business elsewhere. We're not as afraid to do it as you thought."

IBM recently announced the low-power and faster versions of PPC chips Apple had wanted, and I bet they're working on more. IBM and to a lesser extent Motorola need Apple in ways that aren't obvious.

Primarily, they need the CPU advocacy and the enthusiast experience that a desktop CPU can afford, especially IBM. IBM has been betting itself on PPC Linux on small to mid-range servers. These ports have of course come from the community porting the OS themselves. Mostly on Macs, but also on Amiga & derivatives. (Not to exclude the few true Linux PPC boxes, but these of course came after the initial port.)

Without Apple, IBM is out of the desktop market. They loose their "Street Cred" as it were. They chance becoming a footnote in the processor wars; a lost architecture like the 68000 series, the 6502 or the Z80. Other companies, like Amiga and PegasOS are dependent on Apple too. When Apple drops PPC, they must also, or face a CPU with no future.

What does the future hold then? Well, either Apple is committed to Intel (Doubtful), or playing the field, seeing who shows up with the best CPUs (my bet). The future really is up to IBM and Motorola. If they step up to the plate, whether for financial, publicity, or other intangibles, Apple may continue to be a dual-chip platform for years to come and everyone uses fat binaries. (They did for years until OSX shipped.)

Whats really going on right now is that Apple has been letting its partners rule the roost, they were in the weaker position up to this point, but now Apple is whipping out the big stick and letting everyone know who's boss.