Compressed Audio Thread (Codecs, not bad mastering)

From Edison cylinders to pre-amps to ProTools: talk about it here.
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lukpac
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Postby lukpac » Mon Oct 04, 2004 2:01 pm

Seagates are quiet and now have 5 year warranties.

I've got two Maxtors that are fine (and don't seem loud), but another one from my friend's machine is dead. Well, it kind of works at some times, but certain parts of the disk just can't be read or written.
"I know because it is impossible for a tape to hold the compression levels of these treble boosted MFSL's like Something/Anything. The metal particulate on the tape would shatter and all you'd hear is distortion if even that." - VD

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krabapple
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Postby krabapple » Mon Oct 04, 2004 2:43 pm

Maxtor received a lot of complaints about the previous drive (the 5000DV) , so one would hope that whatever caused that, has been corrected. I'm going to keep tabs on online reports for the rest of my year-long warranty period, just in case. (maxtor supposedly has or is going to increase the warrantee period to 3 yrs).

http://reviews.designtechnica.com/revie ... y1084.html

For what it's worth, I've had mine on for weeks at a time with no problem. Hwoever, I never use it for backing up my main HD, which is what the 'One Touch' feature is for. Apparently that's caused a few systems to crash, when used with a USB connection.

For me, Seagate was a no go because they don't have anything >200Gb.
Last edited by krabapple on Mon Oct 04, 2004 2:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"I recommend that you delete the Rancid Snakepit" - Grant

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Patrick M
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Postby Patrick M » Mon Oct 04, 2004 2:43 pm

Chuck thinks that I look to good to be a computer geek. I think that I know too much about interface design, css, xhtml, php, asp, perl, and ia (too name a few things) to not be one.

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Rspaight
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Postby Rspaight » Mon Oct 04, 2004 6:03 pm

I tried FLAC on Mac. Too problematic. Slow encode, iTunes won't play it, and so on. Apple Lossless is a godsend. (Though I rip the aiffs with cdda2wav, not iTunes.) Fast, simple, easy tagging. Works equally well on iTunes for Windows too.


I've never actually tried it, personally. I was just poking fun at complaints I'd heard from Mac users about the FLAC experience on that platform.

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krabapple
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Postby krabapple » Wed Oct 06, 2004 9:26 pm

Now thqat you guys have sensitized me to it -- I can hear my Maxtor drive's high-pitched whir competing with the fan on my PC. Damn you all to hell.
"I recommend that you delete the Rancid Snakepit" - Grant

Kjoerup
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Postby Kjoerup » Thu Oct 07, 2004 2:16 am

These Mercury Elite firewire drives at Other World Computing (can't seem to make a direct link to the firewire drive page, sorry) are supposed to be the most quiet, fastest, and most reliable. The 250 GB one goes for $260. I guess I'll give it a try.

Sorry for unintentionally pointing out the HD whine, Krabapple. I know it all too well. I have a Western Digital firewire drive, and it's "quiet" whine has been driving me nuts. That's the reason why I asked about the Maxtor in the first place.

I'll let you know how the Mercury Elite works out. If it too drives me crazy, I'll send it right back, but it damn well better be as quiet as all the geeks are claiming it is.

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Postby Kjoerup » Sun Jan 02, 2005 8:44 pm

If anyone cares, here's the follow-up story.

Received the OWC "Mercury Elite" drive. 250 GB (well, 231 ACTUAL GBs). Very solidly built, nice looking. Extremely fast bus. I'm impressed. So quiet you have to place your ear directly on the case to hear much of anything. I'm sold!

I plan to buy another soon.

By the way, Other World Computing specializes in rugged storage solutions for demanding pros -- hence the emphasis on Mac there. I am also a Mac user, but the drive is compatible with Windows, if that's a concern for anyone.

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krabapple
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Postby krabapple » Mon Jan 03, 2005 1:06 am

Thanks, Kjoerup. My Maxtor's about filled up (and I've fortunately not become permanently sensitized to its noise) so I'll be in the market for another external later this year. The Mercury Elite looks like a winner.
"I recommend that you delete the Rancid Snakepit" - Grant