JB0

Which reall ymakes no sense, given a jet engine not only requires air, but sucks it like ... ummm... something that sucks REALLY hard.

Given my "playlists" consist of every file I have and a shuffle button, I prefer the fastest way to get 'em over there. Why it's not there is irrelevant to the fact that it's not there. Explaining why the sky is blue instead of green doesn't change the fact that the sky is blue. Which would be the thing to do, really. If you don't support the DRM stuff, you don't support MS's announced online music store, and there's no conflict of interest. Like I said, they didn't ban MP3s. Which is their big hot-button topic. BTW, Samsung supports OGG. And the resurrected licensed Napster download service(that no one uses). Though I do grant that as they don't actually OWN Napster, the example isn't quite the same. I was under the impression the iPod firmware wasn't upgradable. We could've saved a lot of trouble here if someone had just said "yeah it is" way back when I first said it wasn't. I think it's more like MS not fixing PNG support on MSIE(a long-promised upgrade that's never materialized). They don't really have to, so why bother doing it? GAH! I'd've SWORE that said work. I even read it multiple times, too. Sorry.

Some of the products. I dislike the company as a whole, though. Much like I dislike EA as a whole. I'd welcome some healthy competition in the OS market, but MS has it locked up pretty good. And I use full Mozilla for my browser. I very rarely pop up MSIE, but yah, a few sites just don't work right in Mozilla. Usually due to sloppy coding, sometimes because they use some idiotic MS-exclusive extension.

Cheaper-made is debatable. Sure Creative's fall apart. We've got that established pretty well here. But what about other brands? There's about a dozen out there, I'm pretty sure. Every quality comparsion has been to a Creative Labs product. And like I said, it's not just space, but features. I think the iPod is a tad light on some features it SHOULD have. I like the red/orange combo. Another fine improvement over white-on-white.

Whoawhoawhoa! You can GET PAID for that? Where's my check?

As I understand things, others can tell when you send them music, so using them as a hard drive works equally well for data warehousing AND music installation. It's certainly how I'd design one. The iRiver devices, for example, have twin USB ports. One for normal data, the other for DRM files, it looks like. For normal files, it's simple drag&drop, even if they're music. The player software just ignores any file it doesn't know how to handle. Irrelevant to the fact that it's a popular format that the iPod doesn't support and CAN'T support. Besides which, they could support unlocked WMA and not the DRM-enabled WMA files. In fact, I would ENCOURAGE such an action. DOWN WITH DRM! ... But that's another discussion all together. But if you ever WANT more, you can't have it with an iPod. Also note that if a glitch is discovered in the firmware(not likely, but possible) you can't fix it with an iPod. Umm, duh? Converting an MP3 to a better format won't get you any of the benefits, because the data is already lost. It's like converting a JPEG to a bitmap. The data lost is already gone. Chainging formats won't bring it back. Again, irrelevant to the fact that it DOESN'T support it and CAN'T support it. Besides which, I don't think the RIAA would complain that the iPod could read OGGs if they don't complain that it reads MP3s, which is what 99.99999% of the pirated stuff is available as. OGG is going to be almost exclusively the domain of people that already own the CDs. Joe Public still believes claims that a 64-meg player can hold a full CD's worth of music at reasonable quality. Joe Public can't tell the diffrence between mono and stereo most of the time, much less high-quality reproductions and low-quality ones. Joe Public knows nothing, and would buy a box of dried poop if it had an ad campaign like the iPod did. It IS to Apple's credit that they spent the money to make the iPod a decent MP3 player as well as a commercial success, but that doesn't change the fact that it's got limited features and is not upgradable. I wasn't going to, actually. But I DO notice a decided lack of IBM-compatibles at home. Work comps don't count, because you probably HAVE to use them. My opinion is that Macs are fine computers, but they don't run most of the software I want, and have a lousy price/performance ratio. Though there is a third factor, in that I enjoy playing with the hardware. All my IBM-compatibles have been home-built. I do all my own upgrades. A day spent poking around in my beige aluminum box is a good day. I don't WANT a pre-made computer, regardless of brand, architecture, or price tag... well, if it's cheap enough, I may buy it to steal parts out of(assuming it has proper expansion cards instead of integrated peripherals). On the other hand, I like playing with stuff. I've long wanted a Mac just to goof around with. But I can't really justify buying a Mac just to say I own one. ... Of course, I WAS going to spring for that 20$ Silicon Graphics workstation for that exact reason, if he hadn't sold it before I got there... So never mind. If I find a used Mac with the right price, it will probably wind up with a home. If you like Macs, more power to you. I have no problem with it. I do not believe that "Mac user" is an insult in the least. Apple makes some fine products. Their LCDs especially are second to none, and all but the most die-hard anti-Apple people have drooled over the 30" LCD. I don't even LIKE LCD monitors(I prefer something with a beter contrast ratio and more variability in resolution) and I've drooled over it. However, I think that the iPod and Mac, while fine products, are overpriced for what they are, and would prefer to spend my money elsewhere.

Wow, that's very observant. I guess we're just going to pretend cobbling together 3 unrelated anime and editing out moons and such didn't creat any MAJOR flaws in their product. BTW Myriad, that map is going to come in very handy since I just got Zelda for my GBA. Thanks Isn't that quote from the interview where he says he fixed Macross and later Macross shows are more like Robotech than Macross? And hte map would be useful if I hadn't bought the "NES Game Atlas" years ago.

So buy Sega's next game anyways. Prove everyone wrong that this is the end of video football.

Fine... a card that matches the product. At LEAST chopped out the mini-con line, as there's clearly no mini-con in there. Personally, I'd've cut/paste'd some old Jetfire box art onto it.

Uh...Gen1 which was Apple only. Gen2 was when they started selling it for Windows. You needed to use the Windows CD install for it be Windows Compatible. Gen2.5-Gen3 and up they've been PnP as long as itunes was installed on your windows machine. EXACTLY! iTunes is what we like to call extra software. It's quie easy to have a player be seen as a "removable mass storage device." AKA an external hard drive. True plug and play. No installs of anything if your OS properly supports USB mass storage devices(anything above Win98 does on the maintream side of things). Even ones that need software usually can get by with Windows Media Player, which most comps already have. I think it shipped with late versions of Win98. Furthermore, many players such as the RCA Lyras and iRivers are upgradable. You can stuff other codecs down their throats, expanding their capabilities. iPods are limited to the few formats Apple thinks you need. Yes, MP3 is everywhere. No, it's not the only option. WMA and OGG are two other popular formats iPod doesn't support, and current models CAN'T support. Ogg in particular is often looked to as an MP3 upgrade. As for aesthetics... the solid white iPod is TOO minimalist for my tastes. The U2 iPod looks nice. And the blue iPod mini is as sexy as everyone acts like the solid white one is(too bad the drie is a bit cramped for my tastes). iRiver's current HDD models give me a style I like in a size I can use, though. Yes, the iPod has good quality playback. It's among the best. But it has too many strikes against it IMO.

*runs off to look for imports*

Presumably they'd already paid for the license before they realized the NFL wouldn't be amused, and weren't going to waste the cash. After that, well, why mess with a winning formula? Because even the most retarded executive could see the XFL was ... stupid, for lack of a better word? I've shared my guess. I'm interested in alternate viewpoints. Good. I hope they come up with something better than "run away with tail between legs."

Oh. Because cconversion rates fluctuate? Bah. If youre in Japan, get a J region PS2 in sexy "pearl white"(I think those are still on the shelves). It looks so much more awesome than a black one with a flip-top.

I didn't think Photoshop. A Photochopper would've taken the Optimus Prime identifications out. I figured that he bought a cheap Prime toy, carefully opened it, and dropped a mod'ed bootley Valk into the package. But insanely lazy chinese bootleggers? I'm really just disapointed now. They could've AT LEAST made up a new box card.

Footnote: Midway has oannounced the first unlicensed football game. Blitz: Playmakers. Featuring football, ultra-violence, drugs, hookers, and all the other fun stuff a licensed NFL game isn't allowed to have in it. "Midway has hired the writer of the show "Playmakers" to develop a new title, Blitz: Playmakers. The game will feature everything the NFL hated about the TV show, including drug use, and off-the-field habits the NFL likes to pretend never happens." ... "When IGN contacted Midway about the rumored Blitz: Playmakers, a spokesperson confirmed the game's existence and told us: "Enough of the 'No Fun League'…it's now time to talk about and prepare for the game the NFL wouldn't let anyone make…Blitz the way it should be played."" And apparently, ultra-violence was planned for the first Blitz title but the NFL veto'ed it.

Actually, I think he's pulling duty these days as Macek's personal ball washer. Macek's a big bowler, is he? </fake_naive>

The PS2 Macross game IS an import, if you're paying for it. IF you're pirating it, then don't whine about hte price.

Nice fake, really. In the future I'd recommend photoshopping the box, though. The Prime in the upper right is a dead giveaway. Also, revesre the autobot logo on Jetfire's nose. It faces the wrong way.

Hypothetically they do. As it turns out, the method they implemented is worthless as copy protection. It only ensures that A. you have to pay a license fee to make legal players, B. regional lockouts are enforced on legal players,. and C. it's a pain in the ass to get specific clips out of the show, because the data IS encrypted, but it only stops you if you want to do something besides a straight bit-for-bit copy.

Puh-leeze... like buying a cheaper and more poorly made competitor's mp3 player makes anyone any cooler? I've had 2 Creatives and they both went to crap after a year of service. There's nothing lemming-like about buying the superior product. And that iPod is kickass... but it totally should have come in black or Unit 01, Unit 02, and Unit 00 colors. That would be kickass. Personally, I think the iPod is just too expensive for what it is. I'd have to do a bit of research before I could say which one, though. There's many quite fine devices out there for the having, I'm sure.

Yes. Import games are pricey.

I think that's debatable, really. Voltron stuck with me in a way Robotech didn't. And what REALLY got me looking at anime was (shamefully enough) Sailor Moon. Largely because it was the first one I recognized as "anime" and not just cartoons in general. And after Sailor Moon I was reintroudced to Robotech, started doing some research, found out about it's deep dark secret, and became a true Macross fan.

I think they assume there's actually game upgrades. ... But it's POSSIBLE that they're all insane and think they need the new stats. Speaking of hacking the new stats in... I've seen a site that has Tecmo Super Bowl with 2004 stats hacked in. Why mess around with pretenders when you can have the one true video football game?

Now we know both A. that the disks last longer vertically(which seems counter-intuitive to me, but whatever), and B. ADV has really crappy glue.

Kite on the control area, Macross on the back.