RE: Another Nail in the MP3 coffin? - Rant!

["jonathan.bhargava" <jonathan.bhargava@xxxxxxx>]

I recently got a new PC to add to my (& my neighbours) LAN so I could
dedicate one of them to homeseer.
This new pc came with windows ME & media player 7. I hadn't seen media
7
before & was frankly gobsmacked when i put an audio CD in the PC &
in a few
seconds, the tracklisting would appear - Brilliant! Then i noticed the
'copy
CD' & did. The sounblaster live card is connected to a sony EP90ES
dolby
digital processor by a coax cable, then to a sony TAV8ES amplifier powering
Bose acoustimass 10 speakers & the sound is fantastic. I have listened
many
times with many friends who swear by MP3 & we cannot tell the
difference
between the CD original, MP3 (128K) or media files (96k). Perhaps too much
'happy hardcore' has taken its toll on my ears, but i am more than
satisfied
with the sound.

I had been using a 200 DVD/cd changer for my collection, but fo cd's it is
a
bit cumbersome however fantastic for DVDs. But it 'only' holds 200 so i
have
been ripping my 300+ cd collection to windows media files, it takes sod all
time, the trcaklistings are saved & i can quickly burn a CD with
whatever i
like, with CDRs being very cheap, i can see my minidiscs gathering some
dust! although i can digitally record to minidisc from the computer, which
is nice.

So there is then the issue of sharing. Well i have backed up the license on
my new pc then restored it on the other 3, so whichever i am using, it will
play from my collection.

This is limited because i can't make a cd of media files & give them to
somebody else (like MP3), but music i have wanted & paid for is copied
onto
a system that is very accesible & far easier to than changing a cd
every 5
mins, even on the 200cd changer


One of my friends has over 600 MP3 albums on CD. The majority have been
ripped well, however some sound crap. He doesn't 'own' all these albums on
original CD - but that is a different issue.

I am very happy using windows media player 7 & will continue to do so.
Media player 7 does play MP3s as well!!!

£0.02

Jon B