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I do not see on the Metallica website where you can download their live performances. But wow! Way to tug at the heartstrings, eh? People who work in the music industry out of a job eh? Probably doing something they hate? Crawling under a cardboard box on the side of the street, for just a little warmth? Sifting through garbage for perhaps - a meal? Heh. Please - let's not get so overly dramatic here. I really do not believe that file sharing takes that big of a bite out of the music industry. Heh. And artists need to understand, you can no longer expect to last as long as some bands with studio recordings - tshirts - and keychains alone. If an artist can put on a good live performance, they really have nothing to worry about. But if they cannot, or they don't feel like touring - then they aggressively protect their studio recordings in order to shake every penny from their fans. I don't download music illegaly, I can sleep at night. But artists who protect their studio recordings so aggressively need a serious reality check. - Steven

Yeah but, There's nothing wrong with downloading music if it's legal. A lot of artists encourage their live music to be distributed free of charge - it's not frowned upon. And why wouldn't an artist want their live music to be distributed free of charge? It makes sense. It's not like an artist could possibly profit from all of those live shows, the fans get what they want, the music is preserved, etc. It's really good business when you think about it. - Steven

Well, I wouldn't be able to listen to a 'greedy artist's music anyways. I have to like the person or people I'm listening to. Metallica could make excellent music, but I still would not buy their CDs or download ther music, or listen to them on the radio. Heh. "And I don't think there is a Single artist out there that would rather you download their songs for free instead of Buying them. If they say they "don't mind" people downloading, it's just because they don't want to be labeled a "greedy artist." Actually. Think again. A lot of bands encourage that their live performances be recorded and distributed free of charge. The Grateful Dead for example, their policy was that their live performances could be recorded and distributed free of charge. However they were against people downloading their studio recordings. A lot more artists and bands have followed this type of policy. http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&PHPSESSID=527249ce34c40cc0be59b5b7666bb336 Need I say more? - Steven

I really can't tell the difference between a high bitrate MP3 and an OGG file - but I hear that ogg files are better (shrugs). FLAC, eh? Yeah - I hear FLAC is supposed to be the best quality really because it is uncompressed. Just curious about what you people thought. All of my Grateful Dead collection is in high bitrate MP3's. I guess that's ok though because if I had them all as .ogg files I wouldn't be able to burn them to CDs as I often do (well at least not as easily - I use Nero). - Steven

Ah, thanks Daddy Dee! WMA, eh? Hmmmm. Well from what I have read a lot of people no longer use the mp3 format and are starting to use the .ogg file format. I hear the .ogg format is supposed to be one of the better formats. - Steven

Boom3, You go to archive.org too? Heh. I love that website. www.archive.org has hundreds of Grateful Dead shows, all that can be downloaded without signing up and for free. Ah, what a great website it is! They have a lot of other artists as well - with their live shows that can be downloaded for free. - Steven

Marvel, Ultra Player, eh? I'll probably give it a try! If you ask me, WinAmp is just too crowded. You know? You have an EQ over here, bass and treble nobs over there, playlist at the bottom, some other useless featuers that are stuck inbetween... Heh. It's just such a nonsensical layout. And granted a lot of that (or rather all of that) has to do with the skin. But I've tried a whole lot and they all have their flaws. I like WMP 10. I just wish it supported FLAC and OGG file types. Thanks for the reply! - Steven (Stephen? - I kind of like that spelling better the more I see it written. Heh.)

Marvel, Thank you for the response! And as it turns out, WMP won't play the Ogg file format. Because I am not a fan of Winamp, nor a fan of Foobar2000 (well, I would be if it had easy-to-install skins) - I guess even if ogg files are better then mp3 files there isn't much I can do about it. - Steven

klipsch-enough-said: "credited for the dumbest thing ive ever heard." (Wonders if anyone actually likes klipsch-enough-said. Heh.) (cough TROLL cough)

Hey everyone, I was curious as to whether .ogg files are really better than .mp3 files - and would like to hear what you all have to say about this. I have compared two songs - the same song, one encoded in the ogg format and the other encoded in the mp3 format. I cannot hear a difference. Here let me make this more clear. File A: VBR MP3 File B: OGG VORBIS So File A is an mp3 with a high bitrate. Or it is supposed to have a high bitrate (224kbps) but Windows Media Player shows it playing at only 185 kbps. Also File A is 9.16 MB! File B is an ogg file with a bitrate of about 128kbps. It is 6.6 MB. Now 3MB may not sound like a lot, but I have over 400+ songs that I have downloaded from that website all in the vbr .mp3 format! I could save a lot of space if I were to make the switch to .ogg files. But I wouldn't be able to use WMP anymore as it does not support .ogg files (and I love WMP!) Heh. All that aside, I cannot hear a difference in sound quality. Can any of you? - Steven

Happy New Year everyone!

Rick, Thank you for that article! It answered my question. So I guess it is not illegal to make a copy, or 'rip' a CD onto your own computer so long as the CD was legally obtained (i.e. you purchased it) and so long as it is for your own personal use and you have no intention of redistributing the copies. Excellent! Thanks a lot! - Steven

Daddy Dee, After some Googling, apparently they use their own format - ".nap" So I guess it works the same as iTunes. Thanks for the reply! - Steven

Daddy Dee, What format do the files come in? When you download from Napster? It's pretty stupid though, in my opinion. Because they have to stay on your computer. I don't think it's too much to ask. $10 for an album that you can do whatever the hell you want with so long as you are not redistributing it. - Steven

Kentraboy, You took the words right out of my mouth! I feel the exact same way you do! A lot of the bands I listen to allow their live music to be freely distributed, I have 100's of Grateful Dead songs that I downloaded for free and it's completely legal. I would never purchase a Metallica CD. Ever. I do not mind, however, spending money to purchase the CDs of artists I enjoy and who do not try to shake every penny out of their fans. Thanks for all of the replies! The debate between my friend and I really got me thinking about the subject. Heh. - Steven

Yeah, but that's not really the point. I'm against file sharing not because I could get caught - because I think it is wrong is most cases. Because it is disrespectful to the artists. But my friend thinks it is illegal to rip a CD because technically you're making another copy of it (on your hard drive). I think that's kind of stupid, you know? If it is for your own personal use only, you have no intention of distributing the music - then I think that's fine. - Steven

Hey, thanks for the response Paul! So I guess there are some real advantages that purchasing the CD in a retail store has over iTunes. Unless, as you said - you only want a few songs. - Steven EDIT: Though it does say on most CDs, "unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws"

My friend and I recently got into a discussion about iTunes. And if it is really better then buying the CD from a store. Apparently it is quite a bit cheaper, but there are some cons that I've discovered. The songs you download from iTunes apparently come in .m4p format at a 128 bitrate. Also, it is apparently illegal to convert these files to any other format? I'm not sure but that's what I've heard. The m4p files are protected, I do know that. And even if you did convert them to another format you're probably going to lose sound quality. And if you haven't backed up your songs to discs, the songs you've downloaded from iTunes - and if your hard drive goes (ka-put!) then what are you to do? Heh. Are you beat? Now if you purchase the CD yourself, you can rip it in any format you want. And the songs are already backed up to the disc so you only have to worry about physical damage to the disc. But is it illegal to rip the CD? My friend said that it might be illegal to rip the CD. What do you guys think about this? - Steven

A 1950's home? That's pretty sweet. Heh. I hope it isn't carbon monoxide. That wouldn't be good. So you should probably find out as soon as possible if in fact it is carbon monoxide. Drive over to your local Wal*Mart and pick up one of these: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=1586935 That one isn't too expensive, it's portable, and it'll work. Heh. But if you'd like to see how much carbon monoxide is in the air, http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=1586926 That carbon monoxide detector will tell you. But it's a little more expensive. That's the one I would go with though, so if there is a reading of carbon monoxide in the air you can ask your doctor (or Google - heh) how much carbon monoxide is too much. We have a cabin in New Hampshire that we just installed propane heaters in (so the foundation won't crack during the winter - it already had last winter). They give off CO but if you open each window only slightly (about 3 or 4 fingers wide) - the carbon monoxide detector will show a reading of 0 carbon monoxide in the air. In the mean time I'd open the windows like someone else I believe suggested. - Steven

Is it that big of a problem? I think Craftsman might be right, that's probably just the way it is. Do they sound ok or is it really annoying?

Hm, so basically you want to make an exact copy of a CD? To be honest I'm not entirely sure what a 'disk image' is. Have you tried using Nero? Heh. It's what I use. (shrugs). Sorry I couldn't be of any more help. - Steven

I got the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1's. Couldn't be happier. - Steven

No matter your level of experience, I think we can all agree that Monster Cable needs to be boycotted. They're out of control, suing Disney, the TV show 'Monster Garage', monster.com, clothing store 'MonsterVintange', the Chicago Bears (their nickname is the 'Monsters of the Midway'), The Boston Red Sox, etc. Well I don't think that the lawsuits have been filed yet but they're being threatened. I'd recommend NOT buying a Monster Cable product.

Hey Gil! Well, I don't think that economically they are 'all wrong'. Think about it, let's say I buy a new computer from DELL for about $900. In three years I need a new one, another $900 - that's $1,800 in six years. But, this computer I have here is custom built. It cost me about $900 and is far better than any $900 DELL. Heh. But that isn't the point. In about three years or so from now it may need to be upgraded, some components will not need to be upgraded and some components will. I'll end up spending maybe $300. That's not bad, considering I just saved about $600. - Steven

Are you in four speaker mode? Double click the speaker icon in your taskbar, under 'Output Configuration', 'Speaker Mode:' Make sure that it says '4 Speaker' If it doesn't say '4 Speaker' than switch it so that it does say '4 Speaker' If it already says '4 Speaker', hmmm.. I have no idea, call Turtle Beach I guess. (shrugs) Sorry! I hope that - sort of helps? - Steven