“iTunes 4.5 just completed transcoding the WMA portion of my music library, or about 700 songs. It took the application 5 hours to do this, on a Pentium 4 2.8 GHz system with 768 MB of RAM. That seems a bit excessive, but hey, you only have to do it once,” Paul Thurrot writes for Paul Thurrott’s Internet-Nexus.
“A number of people wrote in, taking exception to my ‘sounds like crap’ comments about transcoding. As I suspected, however, none of these people had actually spent time transcoding,” Thurrot writes.
Thurrott then goes into some depth about transcoding, writing that his “personal experience with transcoding is actually pretty vast.” And he can’t resist throwing in the line, “I’ve switched from the iPod to a Dell DJ,” to explain why he has to transcode so much.
Thurrott writes, “I’m happy to report that the [iTunes 4.5 WMA to AAC transcoding] results are decent within the confines of the limitations of transcoding. Yes, there are obvious issues with tinniness, but these are more obvious with headphones, and less so from the PC speakers. I haven’t listened to every song, of course, but I do have a selection of three songs I’ve set aside specifically for testing purposes, and I’ve been analyzing how they sound compared to online store-purchased WMA and AAC originals. They exhibit the same issues I’ve described again, but… you know, they’re not horrible. Unless you’re an audiohphile, I guess. The end result, of course, is that I’m still surprisingly positive about iTunes 4.5. Good stuff.”
Full article here.
Thurrott is a Windows fanboy. Itunes is the best damn Windows app I have ever seen. He had better give it an honest review. Microsoft pays him a lot of $$$ to promote the Windows experience. Badmouthing the best jukebox app on the platform, no matter who makes it, should not be his job.
On 28/04, I sent an e-mail to Thurrott
[I]Paul,
So now we see your morality in all its glory.
By posting a link to FairTunes, and by exhorting people to download now, you are – whether you like it or not – promoting copyright theft.
So as you once referred (in an e-mail to another correspondant) to Apple as “rotten from the top down”, what does that make someone who encourages people to break the law. How would you feel if I went online and encouraged people to ‘acquire’ photocopies of your doubtless incredibly turgid books? What a truly wonderful example to set to your children: theft is alright, so long as you’re screwing someone you don’t like.
Don’t bother replying, as I’m not sure I can stand to read another of your Goebbels-like pieces of revisionist drivel.
Example:
Claiming that, by incorporating a WMA conversion utility into iTunes 4.5 for Windows, Apple has fulfilled your discredited prediction of WMA support in iPod.
Here’s another spin: WMA audio stores have failed in the marketplace, and Apple – despite the fact that it is under no obligation so to do – has created a lifejacket for all the poor saps who bought into the Microsoft ‘vision’ (how strange those words look together) of inconsistent usage rights, poorly designed software and cheaply-built players.
In case you haven’t guessed, I’m not a fan.[/I]
His pithy and intellectually reasoned response : –
[I]I think it’s classic that you spend time on this, btw.[/I]
So having said ‘don’t bother replying’, and instead of leaving sleeping dogs lie, he comes back with the weakest response imaginable. Truly, it’s like having a battle of wits with an unarmed man.
I don’t normally read Thurrott because he is full of shit. I’ll admit I didn’t read his article, but only MDN’s version of it. That said, how can he (or anyone) claim to compare the quality of music when he primarily listens to it over his PC speakers? That’s like listening to the sound of a symphony using a tin can and a string.
This guy is not qualified to talk about computer technology. He’s shown us that time and time again. He’s even less qualified to talk about audio quality. I wonder if this clown has a real job.
And Alice stepped through the looking glass!
—
http://homepage.mac.com/johnhood
yeah i emailed him yesterday and thought he was in a good mood.. i told him he must have gone to a strip joint or sth..
it’s no point calling him an idiot.. as a mac fan we should really be pointing out things, rather than just getting cheap shots in…
there are better ways of getting your point accross..and for what it’s worth..he has replied w good stuff..but ultimately his argument is that, ‘well the ipods the best, but if it weren’t, you apple users would hate apple’s strategy’
uhm.. really someone mentioned that the dell dj might die and dell might rebrand an ipod in the future (salt required, it was a dopey stock analyst)
obviously, anyone who uses the musicmatch store is not really up on things..
uuuuh just checked his site.. he seems impressed with Linsipire(formerly Lindows)
Okay.. this guys all of a sudden a complete slut, she likes everything.. her taste for the mac os or itunes is suddenly not that impressive..
linspire.. butt ugly GUI and sketchy OS..way to go
I wrote Thurrott a letter that went something like this
Paul
There is more computing knowledge in one of my discarded fingernails than you have in your entire body, and even if you spent the next six months stuffing your face at Krispy Kreme, this would not change. Wake up to yourself!!!
Regards<i>
His reply was
<i>I hate you. Hurry up and die!!!
Ok, so the above actually all happened in my head, but I bet that’s what he would have said.
Okay, Dave H, you’ve unmasked me, but only partially. I do live at Krispy Kreme – but I’m more than that! I’m Satan Himself!. Bwahahahahahaha! Feel the sulpherous flames of the nether real licking at your feet!
…Okay, that’s my tongue…
Bwahahahahahahah…erp….bwahahahahahahahaha!
Thurrott seems to have an “anger management” problem. He is a person who revels in the idea of attacking. He can give it out but can’t take it. Most opinionated people behave this way. Their whole world would collapse if they ever admitted to being wrong – even once in a while. He will just be a blip in the history of self-proclaimed tech writers. A trip to the Betty Ford clinic would do him good.
Mr. Thurrott must have FAR too much time on his hands, why in the name of Jeremy Clarkson would you need to convert the same music 3 times? If he’s running out of room, buy a d2 and just plug it in.
What a tool. I’ve nearly vomited into my teacup reading his techno-babble bs.
he is so high he doesn’t even know what he’s talking about.
Iv’e said it before and I’ll say it again, thurrot blows goats
MCCRF
Don’t bother replying, as I’m not sure I can stand to read another of your Goebbels-like pieces of revisionist drivel.
Replace that G�ebbels with Bush Senior and Junior with no push
Dave
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> Thurrott does not reply to email that he get�s. There is 25 000 000 Mac users who tells him to hang himself.
You wish
He could have a automated answering mail system.
Actually he does have that.. He only send sex spam with viagra, because he does not control his PC.
Quoted from mrcllv’s post (it’ll do since I am not going to his site)
“I used to use a Microsoft audio conversion tool to move files from 160 Kbps MP3 format to 64 Kbps WMA “
Holy cow! I won’t be caught dead with 64Kbps of any format at current generation. I am not an audiophile with ‘golden ears’ but they are working well enough to hear crappy 64 Kbps audio. This guy is almost deaf and should not give opinion on audio quality.
My thinking is that apple will be able to keep the leadership in the music market with iPod and iTunes then the company will have a good chance in the future, if not like it happened in what, 1985 when apple was the most popular in teal windows came then people like microsoft will be able to make the biggest market share again, killing off apple products. So basicaly the futeure of iPod nad iTunes will deside how apple is really future proof. If microsoft will win again then there will be no poin sticking to apple products since they were with the biggest advanyage in the audio market.
Almost makes we wish I hadn’t started this…
http://www.petitiononline.com/muapt1/petition.html
(Nah, not really)
Now you know what would be a great thing is if iTunes could play dvds like windows media player, that means you dont need a dvd player on apple mac, just use iTunes for everything. Apple could also put whole of the quick Time into iTunes making all in 1 program. And since iTunes are preatu popular people could change to the apple format that it supplies, making media player less popular.
Simply one man’s opinion. If I need a drink of water I will not be going to Thurrot’s well.
nah nah nah
That was just a perfect display of one foot in and one foot out.
This thread reads like a Whose Who of MacZealots.
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— Mac & PC Guy
— A fellow Mac User
This thread reads like a Whose Who of MacZealots.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”raspberry” style=”border:0;” />
— Mac & PC Guy
— A fellow Mac User
Thurridiot just spouts whatever happens to pop into his head at the time. Doesn’t have to have anything to do with reality but sometimes it does just by chance.
Crikey! He rights a lot of stuff, mustn’t have much time to think before the hands hit the keyboard methinks. Normally, when someone tells me somthing like “I have a lot of experience in transcoding”, I would expect that they understand the process and possibly have written some software that does it. Clicking a button in a program to do it doesn’t count as “experience” to me, any more than driving a car gives you experience in making cars.
The worst part is when I have to deal with people who’ve been “educated” by self-proclaimed “experts” like this dude. I’ve learned that the first thing someone says if they know nothing is “I know a lot about computers…”
�My personal experience with transcoding is actually pretty vast. I’ve now ripped my entire CD collection to disk at least three times, once in WMA format to the PC, once in MP3 format to the Mac (with iTunes), and once to MP3 format to the PC.�
Wow, I�m almost as impressed with Thurrott as he is with himself. I think that his ego is a bit more vast than his expertise.
��in my experience, a 128 Kbps WMA or AAC file sounds identical to a 160 Kbps MP3 file, and the resulting WMA/AAC files are smaller.�
�Any time you move from one format to another, you’re just going to lose quality. It’s a fact.�
�Well, now I’ve transcoded almost 700 songs from WMA to AAC using Apple’s new converter in iTunes 4.5.�
What a dumbass. First, he states that translating from one conversion format to another reduces quality then he does what he says ought not be done.
Also, IF (according to his opinion) WMA and AAC format are equal in quality then why waste all that time converting to the less useful and larger MP3 format? Sounds like twice the work and twice the disc space for no real benefit.
Not too bright for someone with �vast� experience. Uh, Mac and PC Guy, what is the problem with your daddy?