Neil

Agreed and I'm to blame as much as anyone else. Let's try and get this back on topic please everyone. The ins and outs of MP3 encoding would be best covered in a new thread in the Gaming and Technology forum.

None that sell 320kbps music that's for sure! The only exceptions to this I can think of are when I've purchased releases directly from the artist. Nine Inch Nails and Saul Williams being recent examples. However, I can't think of any online "music store" that offers 320kbps. Do you know different?

Agreed, I still think most people don't back-up their data though even though they know they should be doing so. But that's the problem. With a physical medium like a CD I can just rip it again to whatever the latest and greatest audio codec of the day is. Time consuming yes, but not a big deal. However, what do I do with the MP3s I downloaded years ago that now won't play on the latest audio players? I could transcode it to the latest and greatest audio codec, but as you are probably well aware, audio quality suffers greatly if you do this. So what are my options? Do I buy and download the tracks again? Because that would be rather costly.

I'm still waiting for an example. I honestly can't think of one.

I agree completely. I'm playing Devil's Advocate a bit here as I do buy and download music online quite frequently and listen to my MP3s much more than I do to any of my CDs. I can quite happily say I've not been in a music store now for some years. If I need to buy a CD I'll buy it online as that is where I'll find it cheapest - even for rarer releases. However, I still agree with some of the arguments for why music on a traditional, physical medium such as CD or Vinyl is preferred to a digital copy be it an MP3 or some other file format. The fact is that yes, CDs can get scratched or lost but it is considerably easier to destroy an MP3 or even your entire collection of downloaded music. How many people back-up their music collections? The average life of a computer hard-disc is about 5 years so you have to back-up your music. I've got CDs sitting in my collection that are coming up to being 20 years old and still play fine. MP3s will be long obsolete within 20 years - then what? Buy copies of your digital music again?

Define "typical". And how many online music stores do you know that allow you to purchase 320kbps MP3s?

Or it could be because the sound quality of MP3s is inferior to that of a CD.

http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=060810_evo_rank_02.jpg∩=A+chart+showing+public+acceptance+of+evolution+in+34+countries.+The+United+States+ranked+near+the+bottom%2C+beat+only+by+Turkey.+Credit%3A+Science

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed - Movie - Review - The New York Times

But seriously, Tattoodles is a fairly decent place for tattoo designs. You have to pay a little for the hi-res versions of the designs though.

It's a good idea but I just don't have the time to look into this to be honest. I barely use any of the features of these social networks as it is. Maybe I should hire another couple of peeps to the staff... Why don't I use Bebo? Because I hate it more than death itself (although I also hate MySpace as well). I should probably get a Bebo page set-up though, as I know a lot of UK peeps use that particular social network. Watch this space...

They relocated to Glasgow. I think they are still on the go.

...because if you do then here is a polite reminder that aberdeen-music is a member of a few them. Namely: Facebook Last.fm MySpace.com So please help and give the web site some free exposure and become our friends and fans! Thank you.

These bomb disposal guys are having a busy time of late. Someone put a WWII grenade outside our living room window the other day: Press & Journal - Home Page - Live grenade found in car park for city flats

97 minutes if the DVD is anything to go by. And very good it is too. Definitely worth checking out.

And he's dead... BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV host Mark Speight 'found dead'

I was feeling quite depressed about The Rams being down 3 - 0 at home before even half time. Then I learned of the Aberdeen result. You gotta laugh eh?

Your point being?

Yup, bearing in mind it doesn't even come with a display, 400 pounds for that system is a rip-off. For nearly half that price you can buy a better system for brand new: dabs.com - Acer Power FH Pentium Dual Core 925 1GB 250GB DVDRW Windows Vista Home Premium (PS.PFHC3.U01) Your system is worth 150 pounds at the very most I'd say.

That should be a good 'un. I'm going to catch them at the Tripytch all day thing in Glasgae though.

Do you always have to pay a reconnection charge though? I rent as well and I'm sure when I asked BT to re-connect the line here they did so for free (because they are getting you as a new customer anyway).

Evening Express - Underground club to shut down

If you aren't interested in playing the latest games and you plan to use it as a home computer (as opposed to a computer in an office/business environment) then yeah, I would recommend you switch to a Mac. Some people don't appear to be aware that Microsoft make software for Macs as well. Microsoft Office 2008 has just been released for the Mac (no, that's not a typo - it's 2008 - newer than MS Office for the PC!) and you can download MSN Messenger for the Mac from Microsoft's web site (although Adium is much better IMO). Aside from games, the old argument of there not being the same selection of software for the Mac as there is for the PC doesn't really hold true any more. The popularity of the Mac these days means there is more software than ever before and lots of it is in fact Mac only (e.g. Adium). If you really do need to run a Windows application then you can use something like Parallels to run it virtually on the Mac or simply install Windows XP / Vista as a dual-boot on the Mac using Bootcamp. I could list a million reasons of why OS X is better than Windows XP and Windows Vista but you can find information about that elsewhere. The best idea is to play with a Mac in the shop or have a shot on a mates machine and see the difference for yourself. The only two negatives I can think of are the usual disadvantages. Namely that there is still a price premium on Macs and Macbooks over PCs (you can always find a similarly spec'd PC for less cash). Although the difference is not as big as it once was. And aside from upgrading the RAM or the hard disk the upgrade options on an iMac or Macbook are non-existent. PCs can be upgraded much more easily. Hope that helps.

Myspace.com Blogs - Aberdeen, Scotland show CANCELED!!! - Poison The Well MySpace Blog

I suspect it is because his only knowledge of Charlton Heston has come from a Michael Moore documentary. He might have supported the NRA but he did a lot of good things as well: Charlton Heston - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia