| Author | Message | ||
| Henry Draper (146.129.147.120) Rating: N/A |
Hi Folks, I’m sitting at me desk, listening to some music my 19-year old son Jamie helped me get onto an MP3 player and feeling…old! Out of my depth! Feeling like the guy in the movie, The God’s must be crazy! How can this thing be producing the music I’m hearing through these headphones?! There are no moving parts!! I’m 53 years old and have loved and listened to music almost all those years. I’m a fairly technically-savvy guy, taken apart and reassembled computers, built electronic kits, that kind of stuff. But this little device has me flummoxed! All my life, every thing I’ve encountered that produced music, except the radio, had some moving parts, and made music in a way I could see and understand, kinda. It was mostly rotational; records, reel-to-reel and cassette tapes—even eight-track cassettes, CDs, DVDs. I marveled at the advances, but I could follow what was going on and I was fine. Now this!! This little, palm-sized device just sits there, and by no method I can comprehend, produces great music. But to my mechanical mind, nothing’s happening!! I pick it up, turn it over, look at it from all angles and it’s just a lump of plastic. That produces great music! As if by magic!! I don’t get it. I don’t understand. How can this be?! So today, my place in and understanding of, the world is a little less secure. And I’m feeling—OLD! Thanks for listening. (And see a bunch of you, I hope, at the Busn USA convention in a few days!) HenryDraper '64 Eagle Edmonds, WA | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A |
Quite interesting things are going on these days. MP3 is the name given to a technology used to convert music into digital form and then compress the heck out of the data so it can fit into less "holding space" ie memory of some sort. Many of the MP3 players have enough flash-ram (basically the same thing as what holds photos in the new digital cameras)to hold a lot of music with zero moving parts. But the hot new thing is Apple's Ipod. They are smaller than a pack of cigarettes, and inside they have a physically TINY hard drive that data-wise is gigantic... mine is 40 gigabytes! Actually in Ipods, MP3 technology is rapidly being superceded by a new encoding method, AAC, which is even more compacting and sounds flawless. You feed all your CD's to your desktop computer, organize all the music you've fed into it, into playlists, etc, then connect your computer to the Ipod via a firewire cable and within just a few minutes the Ipod contains your entire music collection! Any changes or updates are done via your desktop computer, and the process is totally brainless to do. What this means for me is that I filled my Ipod with EVERY CD I own and every CD of a buddie's of mine, and it's only 1/3 full! I then mounted an "Ipod Dock" on the dash of my bus and permanently wired it to my stereo... (it's a little "stand" that the ipod sits in, with a connector built in), now I just tell the ipod what to play via it's amazingly simple controls, set it in it's dock, and instantly have virtually unlimited music playing in the bus. Perfect audio quality. The only thing bad about the silly thing is that it's so small and I use it so often that I often misplace it and have quite a hunting session sometimes when I want to get on the road. There are other cheaper devices competing with Ipod, but Apple has the best interface and also "itunes store" where you can buy music online and download it for a dime a song. Here's the photo of it in my bus: http://www.heartmagic.com/0Ipod.jpg Bye Bye CD's...... It's an amazing changing world... | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.79.46)
Rating: N/A |
Hey Gary, yer Ipod's already obsolete: http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/sonys-first-walkmanbranded-hard-disk-player-nwhd1-017091.php That's gotta hurt. It does have moving parts though. Gary | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A |
Go for it! It's got kinda sucky encoding, same price, half the storage space, not compatible with itunes... Hmmm, doesn't seem like Ipod's obsolete yet... ...and Gawd, here we go on STUPID corporate driven "standards" wars again. You'd think Sony and the rest of the world would have learned with Betamax... all we need is a bunch of new incompatible playback devices that don't talk to each other. Ugh. Why don't companies just realize when a good "defacto standard" has occured, and follow it, at least for a few years. Sure would be a better world  G | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.79.46)
Rating: N/A |
Actually, I couldn't find the exact model I was looking for, but didn't realize that it was the wrong model until agfter I made the post. They have one they will release in Japan in a month or so that is 30% more capacity than Ipod, should release to US market Q404. I'm n MD guy anyway, just givin' you a hard time. I thought Apple started the politically driven standards thing anyway.... ;-) gary | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks) (66.167.165.87)
Rating: N/A |
In everything they currently make, anything "Apple" is, to all their wannabe competitors, as the finest coach you've ever beheld is to stick/staples mass consumer. It shall always be so. PS: Welcome back, GHG - I thought leaving CA would make you less nutty...;) | ||
| Robert Wood (Bobwoodsocal) (4.47.58.156)
Rating: N/A |
You guys are funny! A couple years ago i bought a mp3/cd player for the car, 100+ songs per disc, obsolete already! looks like the bus will get an iPod or similar, can't wait to see what they come up with next!!! all the best guys, Bob | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.79.46)
Rating: N/A |
It didn't take long for this to turn into a religious discussion, I've been in IT for over 15 years and have still never used anything apple. Their product quality and manufacturing standards of everything apple is beyond question, however I've never seen them do anything useful in business (I'm in the manufacturing industry). My buddy, however, who publishes the SCCA publication for the San Francisco region, could not live without his. His Girlfriend has the notebook which is unquestionably cool, but not as cool as my Toshiba of the same vintage. As for nuttiness, I moved to a place that gets 20 below zero in the winter, so they put salt on the roads, the sky turns green so you know the tornado is coming, and it can be 85 degrees and raining. the west coast is lookin' pretty sane to me. thanks anyway Chuck, gary | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks) (66.167.165.87)
Rating: N/A |
The product quality and manufacturing standards of everything NOT Apple is always uncertain, and I've never seen them do anything that inspires delight, wonder, awe, or inspiration in anything. But they're ok for business. Hee Hee, ok, enuf for me. I need to go get some Pex. | ||
| madbrit (67.136.117.49) Rating: N/A |
Hmmmm, is that Apple flavored Pex? (Grin) Peter. | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.79.46)
Rating: N/A |
chuck, with a slight modification to your statement, we agree. I only use HP equipment, Very high QC, great implementation of standards, not so with Brand X. I'f I'm looking for delight, wonder, awe or inspiration, I get as far away from any computer as I can go. It usually works for me. Peter--he said Pex, not Pez Gary | ||
| CoryDane RTSII (66.155.188.176) Rating: N/A |
Oh you guys Well, you use what you need I guess. The CD is the best music sound quality, even surpassing the old LP records (this point is still argued by true audiophiles, but I question the "True" quality when snaps and Pops come from the needle). The sizes range from a hip hanging portable to full sized stereo unit. the Next was the Sony MD (Mini Disk) recorder/players. The recording analogs would condense the media to a sound that sounds so close to the CD product that most people cannot hear the difference. I especially like them because the disk is tiny and the players come in all sizes from placing in your pocket to full sized stereo unit. The MP3 uses another condensing system that allows the music to be "good" quality but can be differentiated from the "better" quality MD. My beleif in music qualities and the ability to actually differentiate the great from the good with the noise in a moving vehicle had always depended on the vehicle and how much of an 'audiophile' the listener is. Other than ownership, most of this info is from printed reports. No favorite choices here. lol "Imagine" cd | ||
| Henry R. Bergman, Jr. (Henryofcj) (67.136.241.182)
Rating: N/A |
All your people are simply incredible. I just finished taking another 2 hour weekly class on THE VERY BASIC computer literatcy and I HAVE A POUNDING HEADACHE!!! He he he. You guys sound like you are speaking a very foreign (space alien?) language. I understand most of the words, but I have NO IDEA of what you speak. AAUUUGHHHHH! | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.79.46)
Rating: N/A |
Cory-- I had an instructor that was so uptight about CDs and the low sampling rate, it was an ongoing personal peeve for him (Nyquist, all that). I believe my MDs use the same sampling as CD, however MP3's use a compression that's greatly reduced. I have a mini-recording studio, with the MD, and a Stereo Mic, we go to traditional music events and record performances, most times we catch too much background noise but the "Good ones" are gems. Henry, you must be a masochist. If you've gotten this far in life without High-tech, why torture yourself now? Besides most of the stuff you're learning in class is wrong/obsolete anyway. Gary | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks) (69.3.74.63)
Rating: N/A |
Henry, a year ago I felt just the same about busses. Believe me, they're every bit as intimidating to the newbie as computers. Learning new stuff at any age is what keeps the brain matter from turning to mush. Keep it up, but keep in mind that unlike being successful with a motorcoach, you don't have to know _that much_ about how computers work, only how to use them for YOUR purposes. | ||
| LABryan (63.198.141.130)
Rating: N/A |
Roger that, Chuck. I feel exactly the same way. Speaking of feeling old, I was at a swap meet with my 6 year old a while back when we came across a guy selling a collection of 1970s LP's. Sam asked me what they were. I then realized that he had never even SEEN a record or a phonograph. Those things which were so common in my youth have almost entirely disappeared from use. I finally explained that records were like "old fashioned CDs". Bryan | ||
| Stephen Fessenden (Sffess) (65.154.176.89)
Rating: N/A |
I have been converting my old record collection to MP3 using Sony SoundBlaster 7.0. My son and his friend set me up and taught me how. I will be looking for a CD, MP3, DVD player to replace my current bus radio. With MP3 on DVD I will be able to have all my music on one disc. I believe that CD, DVD and MP3 are technologies that will be around a long time, like 45 RPM records were. Even if we progess well beyond these technologies, they should be able to be played on newer equipment for many, many years. Have you checked out the CD, DVD, MP3 juke boxes that hold 400 discs. That would be a great built in library. I use FreeRip 2.6 to transfer my CDs to MP3. It automatically labels each track from its own database as it rips to MP3. It is freeware. All my MP3 files are on my computer stored in My Music in Windows XP ready to copy to disc. | ||
| CoryDane RTSII (66.155.188.154) Rating: N/A |
Gary your comment: "I believe my MDs use the same sampling as CD, however MP3's use a compression that's greatly reduced" No, not the same system. If I can kinda remember the sampling, the MD loses 3 of 10 but the MP# loses 5 or 6 to 10. I am sure I am off but it does indicate the difference between the MD and the MP3. The argument with the CD versus LP had always been a hot one. Those vinyl audiophiles just did not want to try the DC. The reports I read rated the sound as the same as far as sound quality analog vs analog but they felt the digital was superior. MD are very close to the sound quality of CD, like I said, the sound quality to the human ear is nearly impercevable. The article stated that the MP3 sound reproduction, due to the sampling during compression, can be heard. If you were to record an MP3 on a MP3 recorder, it will take the sampling of the original compression and in effect, double the sampling rate which would become even more obvious in the audio production. The MD will also see an effect but it is a much slower deterioration of the sound since the sampling is much smaller. I think this came from HI FI mag. "Imagine" cd | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A |
I'm coming at this with some experience...I own a fairly sophisticated recording studio and I compose/produce music as part of my living, when I'm not under the Crown getting greasy. From my experience,(using CD as a comparison) MD sounds the worst of all the encoding schemes, MP3 is quite a bit better, AAC (apple's thing) is a bit more compression data-wise than MP3 but I can't tell the difference between it and a standard 16bit/44.1k CD. Yeah, the Vinyl vs CD wars rage on, (just like tubes/solid state)...There is definitely a difference (I won't argue that it's better or worse though) but for me the lack of pops and clicks is well worth the difference, whatever it is. It's funny how the audio industry is continually trying to steer production studios towards 96k sampling rates and 24+ bits resolution, when in the end most of the music that gets sold ends up in compressed formats like MP3 anyway. | ||
| bill keel (Crptklnr) (68.155.196.36)
Rating: N/A |
My son's response to his first face-to-face with an LP, at a garage sale; was "Dad, look at the size of this CD! | ||
| Casper (52.128.30.25) Rating: N/A |
Hi Henry, Now I'm not an electro tech, but as I understand it, there actually is a moving part in there. When a particular mineral (Quartz?) is sandwiched between 2 pieces of ferrous material and a current is allowed to flow through this mass, the little chip-let will vibrate at a given frequency that never varies. The whole thing is ridiculously tiny. This is how electronic watches keep time. Now you understand how software can be "burned" into a chip as "firmware". Your new Johnny Paycheck record is actually a piece of software that looks something like this: "Millisecond 00001 = play sound at 200 kHz at volume 2.25 / play sound at 201 kHz at volume 2.23 / play sound at 202 kHz at volume 2.00 ,,,,, etc. etc. Millisecond 00002 = play sound,,, etc. etc." The little computer brain in your MP3 player uses the vibrating crystal to establish time, and uses that information to run your favorite "program" (my favorite is "Don't take her she's all I've got", but a lot of people really like "Take this job and shove it"). That's this dolt's understanding of the whole thing. I'll check with my 14 year old later to see if I've got it right. Casper | ||
| CoryDane RTSII (66.155.188.1) Rating: N/A |
I assume, Gary, that you must have some background, in that case I think HiFi Mag must have made a mistake since they were quite specific about the sampling rates and the MP3 was the worst. They Considered it the ultimate for joggers and kids on the go where vibration would not interfere with its operation. A forum I used to go to dedicated to the MD users also shared similar information. The users were quite familiar with MP3's as well as some owning them. There was a deep discussion on this topic as well but the final outcome paralleled the HiFi magazine artile. Some actually had some comparisons that indicated the differences between the two including the sampling rates. A lot of work for a hobbyist, I should talk, the bus awaits...... Its just amazing all the great things that are dreamed up and the ones that actually come to production are fabulous. Have you seen the vidio camera that uses a memory card, like that of a camera, for video storage? guess my VHS vid camera is a bit outdated?/? Those cameras fit the palm of your hand now. Who would have imagined that? I wonder what will be dreamed up in the next 100 years???? Have you seen the flying cars? LOL. They have one but the government does not know if they want to let it loose in the skys. Hmmm, imagine, a flying bus? OOOW bad day if the battery wears down. Well I have some walls to build and won't get done If I stay on this thing, another wonder of the future. "Imagine" cd | ||
| CoryDane RTSII (66.155.188.1) Rating: N/A |
HEY I got so involved with the article and numbers that I went off board. Sorry guys, just trying to be informative. Take my last post with a grain of salt, eh? I guess sometimes I just talk/type too much. "Imagine" cd | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (68.79.122.176)
Rating: N/A |
As for MD Sampling rates, I took a look around and found this from: http://www.tbeach.com/site/kb_ftp/6006007.asp Format Bit Depth Sampling Rate ------ --------- ------------- CD Audio (stereo) 16 bits 44.1 kHz DAT (stereo) 16 bits 48 kHz (most can also use 44.1 kHz) DAT (extended play) 16 bits 32 kHz MiniDisc (compressed) 16 bits 48 kHz MiniDisc (extended play) 16 bits 32 kHz ADAT XT (black face) 16 bits 48 kHz ADAT XT20 20 bits 48 kHz DVD Audio (projected) 24 bits 96 kHz Pro MO disk 24 bits 96 kHz (192 kHz, 88.2 kHz also used) From the chart you can see that MD is actually better than CD sampling, I thought this was the case when I bought them. Not that I care if it's CD Quality really, I just wanted a very compact recorder that was better than cassette. to take to sessions with me. Actually--I think most solid-state audio devices, (MP3 players) use a CMOS Frequency Synthesizers and have eliminated the crystal. I'm not positive about that, but part of Miniturization and power consumption reduction would seem to move in this direction. Gary | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A |
Gary and Corey, You're seeing part of the scheme but you're missing some important parts that aren't as obvious- and this is why MP3 and Sony MD (etc) formats will always sound noticably worse (Hmmm, shall I say "different" instead?) than original CD's. While the table you posted and articles you read seem to make it appear that Minidisk encoding uses the same amount of bits and equivalent sampling rates as a CD, well yes they do but in the overall picture they actually don't. First, yes the "sampling rate" and "bit depth" might be the same as a CD but that is where it ends. CD's simply record all that data directly as it's sampled. MP3 and Sony MD formats gather the data at those rates but then CRUNCH all that data using very complex algorithms, to reduce the amount of data that's been sampled by ten or more times, and only then does it get laid down on the media. This is where and why the audible differences occur- in the crunch and de-crunching of that data. Also, besides the fact that CD's, DAT's, ADAT, and DVD audio all use linear encoding (which means that the data isn't compressed), in addition to each recorded 16 or 20 bit audio word there is another entire error detection/correction word that is never mentioned in the bit depth/sampling rate charts, and these error correction words add almost twice the recorded data to the melting pot. Bottom line: All in all, for CD or Dat recorded music, it takes about 10 megs of data per minute of stereo sound. Once compressed by MP3 or MD technology, it tales roughly 1 meg or less of data per minute of stereo, as shown here in a typical chart: Orig. CD 16 bit/44.1K 6 Megabytes ATRAC3 @ 132kbps 580KB ATRAC3 @ 105kbps 460KB ATRAC3 @ 66kbps 290KB MP3 @ 56kbps/24khz 245KB Last, about crystals, Correct, many digital devices use frequency synthesizers to create various internal clocks within the device...but... they ALL start with a crystal if the device needs to reference itself to any outside standard, like audio, radio, video, etc. Every MP3 player, Ipod, CD player, etc that records or reproduces music HAS a crystal, period. With regard to a crystal being considered a "moving part", the electronics industry does not consider it as such. The movement you'd encounter inside a crystal as it oscillates is real- the crystal does vibrate, but it's movement is soooooo small, (measurable on the order of wavelengths of light at most), that it's not really thought of as a moving part. "Moving parts" (as far as electronics goes) are things that can be physically seen moving or caused to move by mechanical means, like tapes, spinning hard drive discs, etc. Hmmm... lotsa strange stuff for a bus board!!! Cheers Gary S | ||
| CoryDane RTSII (66.155.188.27) Rating: N/A |
Yeah, just like I said! LOLOL "Imagine" cd | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (68.79.122.176)
Rating: N/A |
Ah-Ha! So I looked around some more and I fiund this guy's chart comparing various disperate audio formats: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~leopold/Ld/AudioFormats.html As you say, it shows no compression on CD, but 5:1 compression on MD (Which I guess is ATRAC). All this time I thought MD was RAW. I didn't know that. Still makes a whoppin good pocket recording studio though... As for Xtals, when I went into IT 15 years ago, I hung up my EET Pocket-Protector. when I was poking around some of the datasheets on the web though, it seemed like the synthesizers wer not xtal-ref. In any case, as this started out as a thread about how amazing MP3 players are--that, to me, is not so amazing, given the Japanese minitureization and all, what really gets me is Cell Phones. How can they make a 2-way radio, with over a mile range, the size of a keyfob. Now that's magic. Gary | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A |
Talk about a whopping "pocket" recording studio...well almost... I just got back from Australia three weeks ago, recording parts of my next CD with a gal I work with who lives there. I took a nifty little thing called an "Mbox" made by Digidesign, my Mac laptop, and a teensy pocket firewire hard drive, plus some microphones, cables, and headphones. The whole mess fits in a smallish backpack, doesn't rile airport security in the least, and what did I have with me? A full-on high-quality 32 track recording studio, complete with recording, editing, and mixing capabilities!!! I spent a good deal of the flight back home doing the mix and editing the music, right there in the airplane on my laptop! It totally blows me away what amazing technology can be had for a song these days (no pun). Two years ago I did this same thing out of my bus- the minimum rig weighed about 250 pounds, and didn't do as half as much as my little backpack.... what's gonna happen in ten years!!!! (and at least I did mention "bus" in this post!!) G | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.79.46)
Rating: N/A |
Wow. very cool. Makes sense though. Imagine what that functionalithy would have cost ten years ago. the same level of stuff is available for Video too. Way Cool. What Kinda Music? Gary | ||
| DrivingMissLazy (66.168.175.51) Rating: N/A |
Since I@N has been good enough to allow this off topic to continue for so long, maybe somebody can answer a question for me. I would like to convert my wifes collection of Karioke CD's to my computer hard drive. Any suggestions. The Karioke is a combination of both audio and video. Thanks,Richard | ||
| Airless in Mississippi (69.92.6.103) Rating: N/A |
You will need a special program that will allow you to illegally make copies. This program is available via the inet. I would suggest that you not do this, however if you chose www.yahoo.com and search for (karaoke ripper warez) It is a really simple thing to do even though it is totally illegal. | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A |
Go to Apple's website and download Itunes for windows. http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ There's nothing illegal about it, it's braineless to load your CD's into your computer, and they will get encoded to the format of your choice. (Apple's AAC is better than MP3 but it's your call...) You can then play them out of your computer with ease, and if you ever get an Ipod, it's so totally simple to get the tunes loaded into it that it will amaze you (-you simply plug the ipod in to a firewire port, Itunes automatically does the rest... that's all!!!) Cheers | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks) (66.167.143.185)
Rating: N/A |
This just in, for those who just love to scratch at itches... Apple has accused Sony of "misleading" claims about the company's new 20 GB Network Walkman, claiming that Sony's calculations are based on files that have a greater compression and ultimately lower quality than the calculations made for file storage on the Apple iPod. Sony revealed last week that the new digital Walkman can hold up to 13,000 songs using ATRAC compression while Apple's 40 GB iPod can hold up to 10,000 songs. According to Yahoo! News, Apple released a statement saying that the company is "disappointed that Sony has decided to make their first impression by attempting to mislead the press and customers." With the release of the 20 GB Walkman, Sony is hoping to take the spotlight from Apple's iPod that has dominated digital music market since its release three years ago. Sony's ATRAC system compresses songs at the relatively low rate of 48 Kbps, while Apple's measurement is based on the AAC compression system at 128 Kbps. | ||
| ktrout01 (24.2.168.127) Rating: N/A |
I haven't posted anything in a while so I'll jump in. I'm a geek (network administrator), computer junkie and music nut. A real bad combination. I have my entire 2000 CD collection ripped to MP3s at 192kbps and stored on a server in my home office. I bought an iPod while I was deployed to the Persian Gulf and love it. It's been dependable and the sound is great. I use iTunes to keep everything orginized on my desktop although I have had problems with the 35,000 songs stored on my music server crashing the directory structure on iTunes. Let's talk a little about sound quality...After 5 years of working on a flight deck, hundreds of concerts, working on large diesel engines and so on, I can barely tell the difference between technoligies. Yes I can tell the difference between 128 and 192 kbps when I rip a CD but it's not something I worry about. My dog, with his hearing can probably hear the difference better than I. I'm not sure he likes Van Halen as loud as I do. Now, how this affects my pride and joy 4905A...I'm planning on wiring my bus for cat5e cable so I can have a small LAN on board. I want to be able to plug in the bus while we're home to update the music library and mapping software I use with my GPS receiver. I also want to be able to play DVD's on either the 19" flatscreen monitor that I'm going to use as a computer monitor and TV and my wife's laptop. It's a long way down the road from where my bus is today but I also want to be able to connect in the satelite TV and internet connection to be able to surf on the fly. ktrout01 4905A | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.79.46)
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Gary S-- I think "Airless" is talking specifically about ripping Karaoke. Chuck-- The article they reference is the exact one I read... How about that? ktrout-- I'm an IT guy as well, but nobody gets to call me a geek. I was planning to just use Wi-Fi inside the bus, but then again, I'm going to use remote console to do a couple of things, so I just may string some cable. I wanted to Mention, we have about 30 Verizon 5220 cards that we reliably get over 100K and in optimal conditions, we get almost 150. It is my understanding that in a G3 area you will get a reliable 300K. Given the cost and delay factors of Satellite, I would never consider it now. My $.02 gary | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A |
Yeah, for a while I had a satellite dish and Wifi in the bus, and it was a pain (Sorry Scott, I tried, I really did...) Always took a lot of time and hassle to find the satellite, Never worked when I absolutely needed it. I finally removed and sold it, and got a cheepo Verison $35 per month cell phone and a data cable that hooks it to my laptop. I call the phone my laptop's "antenna", and that's about all I use it for. Verison's data service works at over 100k always, so far no matter where I've been. Definitely happier with it than I ever was with the Datastorm, and only $35 per month! MUCH happier! Yup..... G | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.79.46)
Rating: N/A |
Sara and I do remote support, and some of the applications we run won't tolerate the round-trip time to the satellite and back. They don't mind the round trip from the nearest Cell Tower though. We started with a phone and USB cable, which was OK, but the 5220 card is much more stable. and get this, it has an external antenna connector. I guess the bad news is it only comes in "Unlimited Use", so $80/mo. I'm planning to stick one in a server2003 box and connect the external antenna to a high-gain roof antenna. If they have a Wilson Amp for PCS I'll get one too (4W-- Woo-Hoo!)at that point I'll make an entry with dynamicDNS and I'll have a webserver on the bus! this may sound ridiculous, but I started my first ISP with a 128K Frame-Relay line. About the same speed as the Verizon card. Gary |