thinking of getting a powerbook....

[sparklingpink]

hi! my dad is thinking of getting a new laptop and i have suggested that he get a powerbook nalang. he is a music lover and would like to upload his VAST cd collection in his laptop... anyway, i just have some questions.

1. right now he is using a beat-up and outdated laptop (no burner, usb port) and a lot of his music files are in it.. when he gets a powerbook, how can he transfer all these files? he copied it from his cd's so i dont know what format are these saved in.. he wants to make sure that these files can be transferred before getting a new one.

2. what powerbook model do you recommend for him? basically, its going to be used for his music collection, some office x programs and some games (text twist and bookworm)

3. other add-on's that he can get for his powerbook in relation to the music library he is planning to build on his unit?

[peter_ob]

1. right now he is using a beat-up and outdated laptop (no burner, usb port) and a lot of his music files are in it.. when he gets a powerbook, how can he transfer all these files? he copied it from his cd's so i dont know what format are these saved in.. he wants to make sure that these files can be transferred before getting a new one.

iTunes is your answer and it comes with the Mac OS free.

2. what powerbook model do you recommend for him? basically, its going to be used for his music collection, some office x programs and some games (text twist and bookworm)

the bottom of the rung PBook would more than suffice, even an iBook would do.

3. other add-on's that he can get for his powerbook in relation to the music library he is planning to build on his unit?

I would recommend an iPod for music player portability.

[nargalzius]

I'd recommend he get an external hard disk for his music library.

You say his collection is vast - i'm sure my collection isn't vast but I can fill a 40GB ipod easily with it hehehe.

And considering 80GB is the standard "biggest" HDD you can get for a laptop, having the music along with his usual stuff MAY eat up his space mighty fast.

Ditto, that the bottom pbook would suffice (or an ibook like you said), since hindi naman issue sa kanya masyado "performance" considering his use, but space i'm sure he'll mind

Ahhh, men and our music talaga hahaha.

[Edited on 12-4-2004 by nargalzius]

[sparklingpink]

i just checked.. all his files are saved in wma format.. how is that? he doesnt want to go through the hassle of copying from his cd's all over again..

[nargalzius]

hehehe, i havent ever tried wma even if i'm a pc user.

assuming iTunes on the mac can at least read/play wma, then you can convert it there, prolly take a bunch of hours, but it's easy to delete the wma's after the conversion.

if it can't, then he has no choice but to play them via wmplayer for the mac or simply not make the switch if he really bases his decision on his music collection.

but i think converting or reripping to mp3 would be a good "waste of time" i mean in the long run kse we have all these formats competing and claiming to be better - and they MAY be better, but i like to stick to standards specifically for intances like these.

what if in the future, biglang hindi na pala ipod yung coveted player (or the whole mac music media craze for that matter), and instead we had some obscure player ulit na panibagong format yung main technology. In that case, even the supposed "better" AACs (or whatever the hell proprietary format the corporate machines come up with) would be useless... but i'm pretty sure that mp3 (or if god willing, vorbis or some other decent open format) will be the common denominator in all players, since there's no DRM involved in it.

Though you can make non-DRM versions of formats that support DRM, the fact alone that the format has that legal component suggests that any OEM provider would think twice before actually developing hardware (or software) that supports it since legal issues will COMPEL them to support all the bells and whistles it may entail... so i think the easiest for them is to just pick a format that is not a s complex, and that everyone's used to one way or the other.


[Edited on 12-5-2004 by nargalzius]

[jorweeck]

Don't make the same regret I'm having right now. If he has the cash to go for the 15 incher, better! It has a PCMCIA port for a wifi card that sure beats the hell out of the Airport Extreme Card. I'm now stuck with a 12 incher with lousy signal for wifi and I wish I had a bigger screen...

[nargalzius]

jor, pare pareho ba yung issues ng AE? yung 15" ko AE tas nasa harap ko yung router ko mismo at hindi pa rin full signal! i mean it's strong enough to reach all areas of our unit, pero nakaka-oc na kahit nasa harap ko na yung access point, ay hindi full hahhaha.

about the sizes naman depende din kung ano type ng user, if he prefers the overall size of the machine, or he likes a lot of desktop space to work with (we're obviously the latter)

But the 12"s have their pros - like you can probably fit them in any bag you pull out of your cabinet (if they can't, chances are that most small laptops can't too), which parents really appreciate, (especially the moms out there hehehe)

[the_butcher]

i'm sure almost everyone will say, 'if you have the money, go for the 17 incher.' but there are a few, including me, who prefer to get the 12 incher not only because of money constraints but also of it's size, which compared to a 17 incher is easier and lighter to carry. this is true, especially for those who use their macs mostly for work (onsite, and outside the office), for school, or travels.

[PatrickGaerlan]

Originally posted by nargalzius
assuming iTunes on the mac can at least read/play wma, then you can convert it there, prolly take a bunch of hours, but it's easy to delete the wma's after the conversion.

iTunes for Mac can't, iTunes for Windows can. sparklingpink, your dad can convert his WMA songs to AAC all at once in the PC then transfer the converted files to the Mac. Around how many files are you looking at?

[super_ed]

if converting WMA files via iTunes PC is tedious try EasyWMA.

Btw, I'm sure you'll love a 15" incher, super drive pbook.

[Edited on 12-6-2004 by super_ed]