IPOD questions
 

Most of the accessories don't work with the iPod Mini, and the capacity is too small, I think. Others might disagree, but at least with the 20G, you can put all or most of your shit on there. With 4G, you're changing it around constantly.

Blu Ray
 

Reason #168 why I'm more than a little frightened of you. But intrigued.

Blu Ray
 

HEY!!!!!!!!!

Blu Ray
 

Relax, you have always been my favorite.

IPOD questions
 

The iPod is the best one out there. As for capacity, I'd look at how much music you have. If you have more than the capacity, you'll need to shuffle playlists. If you have so much music that you'd need the biggest ipod ever then it really doesn't matter. I have a 15gb, which isn't big enough for all my music. But honestly it doesn't matter, because I don't really need to shuffle through all 4000 songs. Instead, I create playlists, which are a much better way of using things. Then, I can alter the playlists when I sync. Not a huge hassle. Small one, but not huge.

As for accessories, it depends on which accessories you're talking about. If the car adaptor is a cassette from the audio out, or an FM adaptor, they work with all of them. In fact, you don't need an apple branded thing to use that. As for others, like the dock, I don't know, but I suspect they may be different.

Blu Ray
 

What came was 6 hour VHS tape, vs. 4.5 hour beta. That mattered to consumers, but not to pros, who still use Beta (or at least until DV).

Blu Ray
 

HEEEYYYY!!!!

Blu Ray
 

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blu Ray
 

That was the initial knife in the heart for the format (even though Sony stood by the notion that Americans would want a better picture not longer recording - ha) but my response was to your "less easily adopted techonology" comment. VHS Hi-Fi was not supposed to be possible. And, at the time, it wasn't. That's why VHS was MTS for so long and not Hi-Fi.

Blu Ray
 

You have always been my favorite.

Blu Ray
 

You have always been my favorite.

Blu Ray
 

Cozyland is closed to you.

Blu Ray
 

Hey!!!!!!!!

Blu Ray
 

You have always been my favorite, and I really mean it this time.

Blu Ray
 

Au contraire, I bought the an(nu)al pass.

IPOD questions
 

The speakers/docking thingy that we have works with both the iPod and the iPod mini. I use the mini and it is just about the right size to hold everything I might want to listen to. Of course our music library on the computer is far larger than that. I'm a creature of habit, I'm afraid.


CTF: HEY!

IPOD questions
 

CTncs: You know you've always been my favorite. I'm not bluffing.

Blu Ray
 

Read the fine print. We reserve the right to refuse admission.

networking
 

OK, the build out we've been doing on the house is now complete and we're adding the final touches. So we need to go from a one computer stuck in the spare bedroom to a multiple computers in studies for each of Greedy, Greeda and the Greedettes. First time home networking.

Do I hang terminals off the current CPU (two computers will be on 2nd floor, 2 in basement for kids) by hard wire, set up a hardwired network with separate CPUs, or set up a wireless network? My current CPU has a lot of computing power, and all computers will get used for stuff like photo and video editing/playing.

Oh, and you're my favorite favorite.

networking
 

wireless network. if you can deal with the hassle of getting it set up properly, it is really quite cool. of course, I'm not the one setting it up properly, so no advice beyond that. (except for the advice that you might want to wait until your kids are out with their friends to set it up if you are a swear-when-stupid-electronic-things-don't-work-right kind of a person. I know one of those.)

networking
 

If he has Dell, they will help (over the phone) with the wireless setup. I have had problems setting up wireless to work with SBC Yahoo twice, and they have walked me through it with good humor. It takes freaking forever, but it's not an unpleasant experience. And, if I actually have them on the phone seeming pleasant and trustworthy, I let them bear the frustration burden and just patiently wait to do whatever they tell me to do next.

MP3 Players
 

Rio stuff is absolute shite. I went through about 3 RIOS before I got tired of sending them back. That company couldn't sell ass to a prison.

IPOD questions
 

No. Ipod is worlds ahead of anything else.

networking
 

Good advice on kids. It's not the swearing, it's the general Satan-is-on-my-ass demeanor I have when stupd-electronic-things-fail-to-work.

If I go wireless, it really won't slow me down? I hate slow computers. (Boy, I'm sounding like a bundle of joy tonight!)

networking
 

I despise telephone support. I just can't bear hanging on a telephone for a prolonged period of time doing what I'm told - I'd rather tell them to go to hell and figure it out myself.

It's a personality flaw when dealing with computers, but works pretty well when dealing with opposing counsel.

But if I do this wireless networky thing, do I just coninue to send the broadband through the one terminal now or do I hook up the broadband to all the terminals? I know the folks doing the wiring in the house put hook-ups in almost every room.

networking
 

no noticable difference in speed on our wireless network. they basically make them as fast was whatever speed internet you can get. unless you are paying hundreds per month on some crazy-fast connection (technical jargon, I know).

networking
 

I rescind my comments. I forgot I was dealing with "make it as difficult as humanly possible" guy. I think you should go with a wired network that has three levels of redundancy to ensure that you never lose connectivity, and that you use a color-coded, custom-built system of differentiating between the different levels of redundancy.

And, it's always a fucking personality flaw. It's just that you don't care when it's only your clients' interests that are compromised.

IPOD questions
 

well, iPod is the only way to go if you are planning to use iTunes. the Creative Labs players we had pre-iPod were quite good and their software was far superior to the iPod software, but for compatibility's sake we switched to iPods. anyone else think that the iPod software bites?

networking
 

Ah, Fringie, it is always a pleasure talking to you when I'm in a quasi-black mood. Point Taken.

I'm really not as impatient with legal things, and the opposing counsel bit was a joke, but phone support really does drive me batty. As a matter of fact, anything relating to the telephone while at home drives me batty - I get away from work and just want to not hear a phone ring. So, I'm painfully resistant to the helpful people from Dell.

networking
 

No crazy-fast connection. Just normal comcast service.

networking
 

The phone won't ring, because you call them, and have a couple drinks first (it's not like you need to be thinking during the call -- they are doing the thinking). Or, have one of your kids call. I don't care how young they are.

ETA note that the above represents a massive effort to grit my teeth and be nice and helpful.

Blu Ray
 

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Flinty_McFlint
Au contraire, I bought the an(nu)al pass.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh well, the lines were too long anyway.

Blu Ray
 

It's one of the most popular rides. What do you expect?

networking
 

Oh, sporadic service then. You'll notice no difference in speed. If you scroll back you'll see that I personally installed a Linksys wireless with some aggravation, but I notice no difference in speed in either computer. One is upstairs and 1 is downstairs in the kitchen, and even though all rooms are wired.

networking
 

Just to back up, G^3, the controlling factor on speed in a network is your router, which controls the network and serves as an interface with your cable modem. Instead of computer->cable modem->world it's

computer->
computer->router->cable modem->world
computer->

Routers can be either wired or wireless, and most wireless will also serve as wired routers as well.

Even a basic wireless router (802.11b, as opposed to g or a) is several times faster than normal home broadband connections (11Mb/sec vs. 2-3 Mb/sec for cable). I'd still get g at this point because the additional cost is very marginal, and you'll get greater capacity down the road and on the road.

If you notice any slowdown, it's on the pipe going out of the house. Two computers would only see a slowdown if they were simultaneously downloading high definition video. Four or five on one cable modem might notice slowness if one or two were streaming music while the others were doing graphics heavy internet browsing.

In other words, it's really not a problem.
Get a home networking for Dummies book and expect to spend an hour setting up the router, 30 minutes for the first computer, and 15 minutes per additional computer. Pay special attention to the security setting recomendations, especially if you go wireless. If your desktops don't have wireless cards (and they need to be in a different room than the router), consider USB wireless devices, which should be painless to install (no cracking open the case).

ETA: I've got one of these and I'm pretty happy with it:

Netgear 802.11g wireless router

home network issues
 

For some people, these issues are intuitive, but you might get an introductory book on home and basic networking to serve as a reference for all these issues. I think somebody mentioned the Dummies series. I like their level of coverage, and they usually have good references to web resources.

It sounds like you have cat5 to the relevant rooms. You should just use that for everything except laptops, unless the drop is in a bad location. For laptops and shitty wiring only, use wireless. It's still more of a pain in the ass to setup than easy wired access and you run into other issues. For example, you need to figure out what other cordless devices are on what frequencies. With certain cordless phones and wireless networking, you WILL get phone static and slower wireless access.

Put the router in your hub location. With phone access or cable access, put your modem in that location too. You can usually do most of the management functions of both remotely.

If you haven't already, make yourself think about spyware, virus and sharing issues. Your kids will want to be able to share music and video and all that stuff as they get older. Also, I am sure it goes without saying, but spend a little time understanding how you can monitor your kids' internet usage and make sure it is appropriate. A cousin of mine found out that her 8 year old was chatting over the internet. Smart kid, but it made her realize that she had to figure out what her kid was looking at and make sure that there was some contol over the level of depravity her kid could find over the internet.

networking
 

Wireless won't slow down the web, because the capacity constraint is the speed of the cable modem/DSL.

If you're transfering filed within the house (photos/video), wired will be faster. But wires mean wires, and I wouldn't do it unless you can put them into the walls. Wired is also somewhat more reliable--no radio interference to worry about, and obviously more secure (the only password is the key to your house, and an ability to hide near a network jack).

As for set up, either way you'll connect the cable modem to a router (wireless or wired). Then from teh router, you'll send the connection to each computer you want to have access. The router will allow you to "share" the bandwidth. Don't fool with "internet sharing" or some such garbage on your PC, because that means haveing that computer on allthe time. Far better to buy a $50 router (well, $30 or $100 depending on wired or wireless). If all thecomputers are in the same room, and aren't laptops, I'd go wired. Otherwise, wireless is a lot less effort, assumign it works.

Thanks!
 

Thanks for all of the Ipod information. I am going w/the Mini.

Neigh

networking
 

The USB wireless device is also useful for connecting your TiVo to the network.

networking
 

What does this enable you to do?