Mac Questions

Ennis Snavely · October-29th-2004, 09:04 AM

I'm thinking of going over to a Mac for my home computing. I initially want a laptop for my music room. So what I'm thinking is using it for I-tunes, ripping CDs, maybe digitizing LPs, etc.. I'd like to get Airport Express to connect the laptop to my stereo. At some point I want to have Airport attached to broadband somewhere else in the house (with another Mac).

So:

Should I get a i-book or a power book? Since I'm thinking of storing a lot of music files, I think that I might need a hard disk larged than the 80G offered as the max for the i-book.

What is "Garage Band" and what can you do with it?

Is it possible to record analog sources direct to the laptop (i.e. LPs and tapes)?

Thanks!!!

kh1958 · October-29th-2004, 09:23 AM

I don't know the answer to your questions, except to say that my imac is great, and windows is a nightmare. That's one switch I've never regretted.

If you can afford it, that 17 inch powerbook is a beauty.

Jim Dye · October-29th-2004, 09:28 AM

If storage is your main concern, you might just want to get an external hard drive (firewire) to store all your music files. That way you have the flexibility to move them between computers.

I'm also considering an Airport Express. You know you can use it with a PC as well! For a while, I was considering getting a Squeezebox, but now i'm not so sure.

I'm building myself a cheap little barebones PC for a few hundred dollars. I'm going to slap a big hard drive in it and use it to house my music collection. I'll be able to do without a monitor now that Microsoft has RDC (Remote Desktop Connection) for OSX. (read about using RDC here.) I'll be able to control it from my eMac. I'm still not sure quite how I'm going to hook it to the stereo. I'll either do a wireless network incorporating Airport Express, or maybe a direct connection.

Good luck!

Coda · October-29th-2004, 09:38 AM

I own both a Mac and a PC. For what you've suggested, either system will work fine. To record LP's or Cassettes you simply use the mic input on your computer and the output on whatever device you're using. The problem, and why most folks don't do this is that you manually need to stop the recording after each tune and give it a file name. Otherwise you'll end up with one file for the entire side of the LP or tape.

Which do I like most? The Mac, hands down. I do have the high end system - dual G5 - and use it for photography and video editing. It's Unix based, has never crashed and doesn't get viruses. Woohoo!

Jimmy Cantiello · October-29th-2004, 10:00 AM

I think this is just your sneaky way of getting Albertson to start posting on JC again. Nice try, though.................

Ennis Snavely · October-29th-2004, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmy Cantiello

I think this is just your sneaky way of getting Albertson to start posting on JC again. Nice try, though.................

Was Chris a Mac enthusiest? Either way, I hope he comes back.

moneyp · October-29th-2004, 11:46 AM

I'd get a powerbook and an external hard drive, as Jim suggested.

I think the Airport Express is great. I wired up my previous boss's (very large) house using two Airport hubs and a bunch of Airport Expresses, including a bunch hooked in to the upstairs and downstairs stereo. Very cool.

Sand · October-29th-2004, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ennis Snavely

Was Chris a Mac enthusiest? Either way, I hope he comes back.

He is Chris A Mac Enthusiast. Personally, I'm just a Mac enthusiast.

Kevin Bresnahan · October-29th-2004, 12:21 PM

Do not use the microphone input to your PC for recording. It has the wrong impedance and it will add noise to your digitized music. On top of that, most mic inputs apply EQ.

Use the "line in" to record.

Later,
Kevin

Jimmy Cantiello · October-29th-2004, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ennis Snavely

Was Chris a Mac enthusiest? Either way, I hope he comes back.

Mac enthusiast is an understatement. He loves Macs more than he hates Bush. Actually, I think he hates Bill Gates more than he hates Bush...........

Ennis Snavely · October-29th-2004, 02:34 PM

Gates is a Bush supporter, FWIW, and Jobs is a Kerry guy.

Dr Dave · October-29th-2004, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Bresnahan

Do not use the microphone input to your PC for recording. It has the wrong impedance and it will add noise to your digitized music. On top of that, most mic inputs apply EQ.

Use the "line in" to record.

Later,
Kevin

Pay attention to Kevin. He makes the cleanest, neatest LP-to-CD transfers ever.

jesus marion joseph · October-29th-2004, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmy Cantiello

I think this is just your sneaky way of getting Albertson to start posting on JC again. Nice try, though.................

I had the same thought as soon as I saw the thread title.

frank m · October-30th-2004, 09:28 PM

I've been using computers back to the time when there were no digital machines. I've been using PC's for years, finally ending up with a Mac and I'm never going back. I'm also a believer in a zip drive or other external hard drive.
final selling point is UNIX, a vastly superior system. IMHO.And go for the best machine you can afford.

Ennis Snavely · October-30th-2004, 11:26 PM

Thanks everyone. I think I'm getting a power book with the 15 inch screen plus the airport express gadget and an i-pod. I'm not sure whether or not I really need the 1.5G processor or the super drive, though.

Frank: I go back a ways to, but only to punch cards and IBM 360s. I've been a Win32 developer for about 10 or 12 years (however old Win32 is) and I'm pretty soured on the whole MS world. I'm mostly doing Java now, though, and I love it. I still work on a Win2K box at work, but I only user open source IDEs on it, emacs and the cygwin shell for line command stuff. I avoid as much of the MS stuff as I can since it all mostly sucks. The .NET development environment is OK, but with Eclipse and all of its open source plugins, J2EE, etc., why bother. I did like Visual Studio 6 for C++ development, but its been a few years.

My plan is to turn this machine (a PC) at home into a Linux box after replacing it with an i-mac.

Ennis Snavely · November-20th-2004, 09:02 AM

Got my new Power Book. I'm in love!

The iPod is great too. We've got broadband (finally) and we're all hooked up wireless via Airport.

It's a new world!

kh1958 · November-20th-2004, 01:01 PM

I bought an ipod a couple of months ago; I had no idea that I would like it so much. I have had a lot of fun going through my CD collection, picking my favorite tracks. It has been great for getting me back into my collection, avoiding my tendancy to focus on the CDs I've bought recently.

chuckyd4 · November-20th-2004, 03:30 PM

Woo-hoo!!!! I just splurged yesterday and got myself a spanking new 12" Powerbook. I love it - I've been sick of Windows for a long time, but never really had the money to make the plunge. Still don't, FWIW, but I don't really care, I love this little thing so much. I already had a 250 gig Lacie external drive (about half full), and just wanted to work exclusively on a Mac, since I've been using iTunes for quite a while now.

It seems like such a great investment, I'll report back if I change my mind in any way.

As far as the Garage Band question (though you probably know by now if you have one), I think it's just for making/producing your own music, much like the iDVD is to a normal DVD player.

Ennis Snavely · November-21st-2004, 09:44 AM

The wireless feature is great. I've got Airport Express and am looking forward to getting it to work (a little trouble with it so far: I'm finding, disapointingly, that Apple's help features are a bit lame; google works great, though, and I've found a lot of resources for help on the WWW).

I bought an iMic so I'm ready to start recording LPs.

graypencil · November-21st-2004, 02:36 PM

Sitting here reading all this on my new iMac ( my second one ) with the added pimp-ride 2096 RAM and my 20" LCD screen!

Witing music with Finale on this puppy is really a dream!

And I've added Toast Titanium to burn CDs and AIFF files from Finale..

clinthopson · November-22nd-2004, 12:25 PM

I'm considering the same thin for home. I've loaded my ipod from my PC but frankly, Musicmaker is a pain in the ass.

I've been usining a standalone 160G hard drive to store music. Can this same hd be plugged into a apple.

Also when I make the move, I'll go to a desktop, I have no need for a notebook. Which model would you recommend?

Jim Dye · November-22nd-2004, 12:31 PM

Clint! Are you still using Musicmaker to load your iPod? You know they make iTunes for the PC. It's MUCH easier to use.

Also, you can plug your 160 gig drive into a mac and use it.

If you do decide to go Mac, I like the new iMacs. A friend just bought one of the 20" screen models and absolutely loves it.

clinthopson · November-22nd-2004, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Dye

Clint! Are you still using Musicmaker to load your iPod? You know they make iTunes for the PC. It's MUCH easier to use.

Jim, I tried itunes and it wreaked havoc with my 5 year old computer, even with XP pro. After many atempts, I gave up. I don't download, just transfer cds to the ipod.

Thanks for the information.

Jim Dye · November-22nd-2004, 02:30 PM

That makes sense. The PC version of iTunes is a resource hog.

Ennis Snavely · November-22nd-2004, 08:06 PM

I've got Airport express hooked up and I'm listening to KKJZ over the stereo right now.

I love this stuff!

chuckyd4 · November-22nd-2004, 09:40 PM

Windows XP and iTunes wouldn't get along at all on my Dell Inspiron. Naturally, iTunes gets along swimmingly with OS X.... including ripping CDs about twice as quickly. My brother also introduced me to a cool little application for iTunes called Synergy... http://synergy.wincent.com - it costs 5 bucks, but is well worth it IMO if you use iTunes for a lot of music listening.

Basically a way to control iTunes with hotkeys instead of opening it up each time, as well as having a really cool floating display every time the track changes so you don't have to keep opening it to see what's playing. Worth checking out.