Recording software for Mac?
 

Any Mac users here who can point me straight the no-question best (free
would be nice) audio recording software for my Mac mini?

I downloaded Audacity the other day but took fright from the look of it
and unloaded it again, but might give it another go if anyone told me it
was the best option...??

TIA.

Recording software for Mac?
 

Keith G wrote:

Any Mac users here who can point me straight the no-question best (free
would be nice) audio recording software for my Mac mini?

I downloaded Audacity the other day but took fright from the look of it
and unloaded it again, but might give it another go if anyone told me it
was the best option...??

GarageBand is already on it.

I have no idea what 'best' means in the context of your requirements.

Daniele

Recording software for Mac?
 

D.M. Procida wrote:
Keith G wrote:

Any Mac users here who can point me straight the no-question best (free
would be nice) audio recording software for my Mac mini?

I downloaded Audacity the other day but took fright from the look of it
and unloaded it again, but might give it another go if anyone told me it
was the best option...??

GarageBand is already on it.



I looked at it and it didn't look suitable....??




I have no idea what 'best' means in the context of your requirements.



Creating wavs (and possibly MP3s as a bonus, but not essential) from
microphone recordings and 'digitising' vinyl.

Recording software for Mac?
 

"Keith G" wrote in message
...
D.M. Procida wrote:
Keith G wrote:

Any Mac users here who can point me straight the no-question best (free
would be nice) audio recording software for my Mac mini?

I downloaded Audacity the other day but took fright from the look of it
and unloaded it again, but might give it another go if anyone told me it
was the best option...??

GarageBand is already on it.



I looked at it and it didn't look suitable....??




I have no idea what 'best' means in the context of your requirements.



Creating wavs (and possibly MP3s as a bonus, but not essential) from
microphone recordings and 'digitising' vinyl.

I haven't personally used Garage Band (Macs are the work of the Devil as far
as I'm concerned....;-) ) but some of my colleagues with Macs use it a lot,
so it obviously works OK.

I use Audacity and Cool Edit 2000 myself, and both are quite suitable for
your application. Audacity has a useful declicking and noise-reduction
facility which was an option on Cool Edit, but I never got it to work
properly.

As Audacity if free, I suggest you have another look at it and compare it
with Garage Band and use whichever you get on best with.

S.

Recording software for Mac?
 

Keith G wrote:


Creating wavs (and possibly MP3s as a bonus, but not essential) from
microphone recordings and 'digitising' vinyl.

Why would anyone _want_ to create a .wav file when there are so many
lossless formats out there?

If it's simply from a mic then Audio Hijack should do it - either from
the mic or from anything else plugged in - and will also capture
streamed on the computer. It saves as either MP3, AAC, AIFF giving you a
choice of quality and is [fairly] simple to use.

--
David Kennedy

http://www.anindianinexile.com

Recording software for Mac?
 

Serge Auckland wrote:


As Audacity if free, I suggest you have another look at it and compare
it with Garage Band and use whichever you get on best with.

Audacity is simpler than GarageBand and will save as .wav [plus AAC,
AIFF, MP3] if you feel you really must.

--
David Kennedy

http://www.anindianinexile.com

Recording software for Mac?
 

On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:01:17 +0000, Keith G
wrote:

GarageBand is already on it.



I looked at it and it didn't look suitable....??

I think there's a perfectly functional audio recorder underneath all
that "make a collage of samples" stuff. Trouble is, Macs aren't
aimed at creative people, just at wannabe creatives who lack any
skills :-)

Recording software for Mac?
 

On 14/01/2010 15:01, Keith G wrote:
D.M. Procida wrote:
Keith G wrote:

Any Mac users here who can point me straight the no-question best (free
would be nice) audio recording software for my Mac mini?

I downloaded Audacity the other day but took fright from the look of it
and unloaded it again, but might give it another go if anyone told me it
was the best option...??

GarageBand is already on it.



I looked at it and it didn't look suitable....??




I have no idea what 'best' means in the context of your requirements.



Creating wavs (and possibly MP3s as a bonus, but not essential) from
microphone recordings and 'digitising' vinyl.

I'd probably give Audacity a while. Maybe Wavepad but I didn't get on
with the multiple windows/floating toolbars. Twistedwave looks good -
but pricey.

I can't fathom GarageBand, at least for the stuff I do (similar to you).
Curiously, it does work with a Yamaha keyboard I have, but I haven't
gone beyond noticing.

Or there's:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/audio/

and

http://www.pure-mac.com/audio.html

Or Mac's own Logic Studio/Express - people speak highly, but I can't
seem to get into their whole 'workflow' way of going things. I think it
works well if you do things a lot, as a job for example, but it just
seems like too many steps to do one thing to me.

I've stuck with Audacity.

Rob

Recording software for Mac?
 

Rob wrote:
On 14/01/2010 15:01, Keith G wrote:
D.M. Procida wrote:
Keith G wrote:

Any Mac users here who can point me straight the no-question best (free
would be nice) audio recording software for my Mac mini?

I downloaded Audacity the other day but took fright from the look of it
and unloaded it again, but might give it another go if anyone told
me it
was the best option...??

GarageBand is already on it.



I looked at it and it didn't look suitable....??




I have no idea what 'best' means in the context of your requirements.



Creating wavs (and possibly MP3s as a bonus, but not essential) from
microphone recordings and 'digitising' vinyl.

I'd probably give Audacity a while. Maybe Wavepad but I didn't get on
with the multiple windows/floating toolbars. Twistedwave looks good -
but pricey.

I can't fathom GarageBand, at least for the stuff I do (similar to you).
Curiously, it does work with a Yamaha keyboard I have, but I haven't
gone beyond noticing.

Or there's:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/audio/

and

http://www.pure-mac.com/audio.html

Or Mac's own Logic Studio/Express - people speak highly, but I can't
seem to get into their whole 'workflow' way of going things. I think it
works well if you do things a lot, as a job for example, but it just
seems like too many steps to do one thing to me.

I've stuck with Audacity.

Rob


OK, I've got Audacity recording as I type - still feels and looks like
'toy stuff'...??

We'll see!

Thanks everyone for your replies!!

Recording software for Mac?
 

Laurence Payne wrote:
On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:01:17 +0000, Keith G
wrote:

GarageBand is already on it.


I looked at it and it didn't look suitable....??

I think there's a perfectly functional audio recorder underneath all
that "make a collage of samples" stuff. Trouble is, Macs aren't
aimed at creative people, just at wannabe creatives who lack any
skills :-)



I don't claim to have any 'skills' but I seem to be importing non-Mac
software for the jobs I need to do! iPhoto is a handy, simple/simplistic
prog for dealing with my snaps, but I haven't really gone with any other
of the bundled Mac software yet!

That said (Rob) I do like the machine a lot - it's nippy, neat and has a
clean-looking front end with a much better 'feel' than 'bloaty' old
Windows Vista!!


Early daze....

Recording software for Mac?
 

On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:11:11 +0000, Keith G
wrote:

I don't claim to have any 'skills' but I seem to be importing non-Mac
software for the jobs I need to do! iPhoto is a handy, simple/simplistic
prog for dealing with my snaps, but I haven't really gone with any other
of the bundled Mac software yet!

That said (Rob) I do like the machine a lot - it's nippy, neat and has a
clean-looking front end with a much better 'feel' than 'bloaty' old
Windows Vista!!

"Bloat" always makes me think of a Mac, with those inflatable icons
:-) I'm sure it can be configured not to do this. Even Vista is
pretty configurable too. What's important is how it behaves when
you're in an application. On Mac I'd be paying for a suite of
entry-level "creative" applications that I don't want or need. I
guess that's "bloat" as well.

Recording software for Mac?
 

On 14/01/2010 17:11, Keith G wrote:
Laurence Payne wrote:
On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:01:17 +0000, Keith G
wrote:

GarageBand is already on it.


I looked at it and it didn't look suitable....??

I think there's a perfectly functional audio recorder underneath all
that "make a collage of samples" stuff. Trouble is, Macs aren't
aimed at creative people, just at wannabe creatives who lack any
skills :-)



I don't claim to have any 'skills' but I seem to be importing non-Mac
software for the jobs I need to do! iPhoto is a handy, simple/simplistic
prog for dealing with my snaps, but I haven't really gone with any other
of the bundled Mac software yet!

That said (Rob) I do like the machine a lot - it's nippy, neat and has a
clean-looking front end with a much better 'feel' than 'bloaty' old
Windows Vista!!


Splendid!


Early daze....


Indeed - it is all a different way of doing things. I use very little
non-OS Apple software - iPhoto, iTunes, that's about it.

Recording software for Mac?
 

Laurence Payne wrote:
On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:11:11 +0000, Keith G
wrote:

I don't claim to have any 'skills' but I seem to be importing non-Mac
software for the jobs I need to do! iPhoto is a handy, simple/simplistic
prog for dealing with my snaps, but I haven't really gone with any other
of the bundled Mac software yet!

That said (Rob) I do like the machine a lot - it's nippy, neat and has a
clean-looking front end with a much better 'feel' than 'bloaty' old
Windows Vista!!

"Bloat" always makes me think of a Mac, with those inflatable icons
:-) I'm sure it can be configured not to do this. Even Vista is
pretty configurable too. What's important is how it behaves when
you're in an application. On Mac I'd be paying for a suite of
entry-level "creative" applications that I don't want or need. I
guess that's "bloat" as well.



I have a feeling I shan't use the bundled applications either and I did
get an 'Audacity has closed unexpectedly' message a while back so who
knows how it'll work out, but the fact is when I had 3 machines on the
go, swapping stuff between them, the Mac and the XP machine felt faster,
neater and generally less 'encumbered' than the Vista machine!

One really good thing is that with all my pix (17,000) and music
(18,000+ tracks) from the last nn years on the piddly little Mac now,
there is enough disk space left to *double* it all!!

Let's just hope I live that long!! ;-)

Recording software for Mac?
 

On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:31:51 +0000, Keith G
wrote:

when I had 3 machines on the
go, swapping stuff between them, the Mac and the XP machine felt faster,
neater and generally less 'encumbered' than the Vista machine!

You'll like Windows 7 then.

Recording software for Mac?
 

Laurence Payne wrote:
On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:31:51 +0000, Keith G
wrote:

when I had 3 machines on the
go, swapping stuff between them, the Mac and the XP machine felt faster,
neater and generally less 'encumbered' than the Vista machine!

You'll like Windows 7 then.


Unlikely - I have no plans to buy it!!

;-)

Recording software for Mac?
 

"Keith G" wrote in message

Laurence Payne wrote:
On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:31:51 +0000, Keith G
wrote:

when I had 3 machines on the
go, swapping stuff between them, the Mac and the XP
machine felt faster, neater and generally less
'encumbered' than the Vista machine!

You'll like Windows 7 then.


Unlikely - I have no plans to buy it!!

That's like saying that you don't intend to buy a new PC for the next 5-7
years.

Recording software for Mac?
 

In article , Arny
Krueger
wrote:
"Keith G" wrote in message

Laurence Payne wrote:
On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:31:51 +0000, Keith G
wrote:

when I had 3 machines on the go, swapping stuff between them, the
Mac and the XP machine felt faster, neater and generally less
'encumbered' than the Vista machine!

You'll like Windows 7 then.


Unlikely - I have no plans to buy it!!

That's like saying that you don't intend to buy a new PC for the next
5-7 years.

Especially since even if you don't want or use it, most 'PC' sic
hardware makers and retailers tend to force you into paying for it
regardless. So much for the 'free market' sic again. :-)

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Recording software for Mac?
 

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message

In article
, Arny
Krueger wrote:
"Keith G" wrote in message

Laurence Payne wrote:
On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:31:51 +0000, Keith G
wrote:

when I had 3 machines on the go, swapping stuff
between them, the Mac and the XP machine felt faster,
neater and generally less 'encumbered' than the Vista
machine!

You'll like Windows 7 then.


Unlikely - I have no plans to buy it!!

That's like saying that you don't intend to buy a new PC
for the next 5-7 years.

Especially since even if you don't want or use it, most
'PC' sic hardware makers and retailers tend to force
you into paying for it regardless.

Dell has done a good job of maintaining the availability of XP throughout
the Vista catastrophe. HP as well, perhaps. Their corporate clients demanded
it.

So much for the 'free market' sic again. :-)

Windows 7 is going to be sold by the fact that it has the definitive
implementation of both 64 bit hardware support and also virtual machines.
There are enough applications that pretty well tie up a complete 32 bit
address space that multitasking them immediately propels you into 4 GB
RAM, and 64 bits.

Recording software for Mac?
 

In article , Arny
Krueger
wrote:
"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message

In article , Arny
Krueger wrote:
"Keith G" wrote in message

Laurence Payne wrote:
On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:31:51 +0000, Keith G
wrote:

when I had 3 machines on the go, swapping stuff between them, the
Mac and the XP machine felt faster, neater and generally less
'encumbered' than the Vista machine!

You'll like Windows 7 then.


Unlikely - I have no plans to buy it!!

That's like saying that you don't intend to buy a new PC for the next
5-7 years.

Especially since even if you don't want or use it, most 'PC' sic
hardware makers and retailers tend to force you into paying for it
regardless.

Dell has done a good job of maintaining the availability of XP
throughout the Vista catastrophe. HP as well, perhaps. Their corporate
clients demanded it.

I'm sure that is of interest to those who 'want' XP. However some of us
don't want/need/wish to have to pay for or use any Windows OS of any
version.

So much for the 'free market' sic again. :-)

Windows 7 is going to be sold by the fact that it has the definitive
implementation of both 64 bit hardware support and also virtual
machines.

In the UK, Windows is mainly "sold by" the retailer/maker attitude, "That's
what the PC comes with, Sir. It is a part of the package price. We don't
sell the hardware without it." You can perhaps choose XP rather than 7,
but what if you don't want either, or any version of Windows, but want
the hardware?

Is that different in the USA? Do most 'PC' sic retailers there stock most
of their hardware with a choice of Windows and Linux so buyers can compare
and don't have to pay for Windows if they don't want it - just to get the
hardware? Is the same hardware then always cheaper when you don't get
Windows on it?

This is veering OT, I suppose. But perhaps we can at least get a strained
link by noting that MacOS these days is in some ways a commercial BSD
distro IIUC. :-)

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Recording software for Mac?
 

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message

In article
, Arny
Krueger
wrote:
"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message

In article
, Arny
Krueger wrote:
"Keith G" wrote in message

Laurence Payne wrote:
On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:31:51 +0000, Keith G
wrote:

when I had 3 machines on the go, swapping stuff
between them, the Mac and the XP machine felt
faster, neater and generally less 'encumbered' than
the Vista machine!

You'll like Windows 7 then.


Unlikely - I have no plans to buy it!!

That's like saying that you don't intend to buy a new
PC for the next 5-7 years.

Especially since even if you don't want or use it,
most 'PC' sic hardware makers and retailers tend to
force you into paying for it regardless.

Dell has done a good job of maintaining the availability
of XP throughout the Vista catastrophe. HP as well,
perhaps. Their corporate clients demanded it.

I'm sure that is of interest to those who 'want' XP.
However some of us don't want/need/wish to have to pay
for or use any Windows OS of any version.

That's a choice you get to make.

So much for the 'free market' sic again. :-)

Windows 7 is going to be sold by the fact that it has
the definitive implementation of both 64 bit hardware
support and also virtual machines.

In the UK, Windows is mainly "sold by" the retailer/maker
attitude, "That's what the PC comes with, Sir. It is a
part of the package price. We don't sell the hardware
without it."

The US, perhaps being a more diverse place, has a number of examples of
retailers and manufactuers who aren't that narrow-minded.

You can perhaps choose XP rather than 7, but
what if you don't want either, or any version of Windows,
but want the hardware?

That's a choice you get to make.


Is that different in the USA?

I cited 2 examples, and there are others.

Do most 'PC' sic
retailers there stock most of their hardware with a
choice of Windows and Linux so buyers can compare and
don't have to pay for Windows if they don't want it -
just to get the hardware?


The market for PCs in the US does not support *that*.

Linux support is a niche market. If you ask around in the right places you
can obtain *bare* PCs, and you can also obtain PC's with *inux pre-loaded. I
believe that a large retailer in the US named Tiger Direct has off-the-shelf
*inux PCs for sale. I think that IBM sells them, but you have to buy their
services package. I think that a little sweet talk to Dell and HP might get
you what you want for a respectible price.

Is the same hardware then
always cheaper when you don't get Windows on it?

I am unaware of the details of that segment of the market. I just know it is
relatively small (meaning that it might be impressive on its own right but
gets dwarfed by the rest of the market), and it has non-trivial support. I
also know that my local office supply superstore won't go there. Truth is
someplace in-between.

This is veering OT, I suppose. But perhaps we can at
least get a strained link by noting that MacOS these days
is in some ways a commercial BSD distro IIUC. :-)

That would be no joke. That it runs on hardware that would be a PC aside
from some artificial roadblocks, is yet another triumph of commerce over
technical diversity.

Recording software for Mac?
 

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...

In the UK, Windows is mainly "sold by" the retailer/maker attitude,
"That's
what the PC comes with, Sir. It is a part of the package price. We don't
sell the hardware without it." You can perhaps choose XP rather than 7,
but what if you don't want either, or any version of Windows, but want
the hardware?

Hmm. Interesting. The situation is very different here, probably because
a variety of language versions have to be offered. So you can specify
Swedish/Danish/Norwegian/Finnish OS either XP, Vista, or 7. You can
also buy a system (at reduced cost) without an OS.
That seems a lot fairer to me.

This is veering OT, I suppose. But perhaps we can at least get a strained
link by noting that MacOS these days is in some ways a commercial BSD
distro IIUC. :-)

People's discontent with Vista has been good for Mac. Keith is one
of the many who made the change, and are now enjoying the benefits
of a stable OS, with less resemblance to a Swiss cheese and less
vulnerability to viruses.

Recording software for Mac?
 

Iain Churches wrote:

People's discontent with Vista has been good for Mac. Keith is one
of the many who made the change, and are now enjoying the benefits
of a stable OS, with less resemblance to a Swiss cheese and less
vulnerability to viruses.

I'll say a lot of nice things about the Motorola M688000 derivatives some
other day .... it appears that you have not had to support a user who
wanted to vpn into the office from his mac, a VPN client has been a part of
windows since win95, it is still experimental third party payware-add-on for
the mac.

Kind regards

Peter Larsen

Recording software for Mac?
 

Iain Churches wrote:
"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...

In the UK, Windows is mainly "sold by" the retailer/maker attitude,
"That's
what the PC comes with, Sir. It is a part of the package price. We don't
sell the hardware without it." You can perhaps choose XP rather than 7,
but what if you don't want either, or any version of Windows, but want
the hardware?

Hmm. Interesting. The situation is very different here, probably because
a variety of language versions have to be offered. So you can specify
Swedish/Danish/Norwegian/Finnish OS either XP, Vista, or 7. You can
also buy a system (at reduced cost) without an OS.
That seems a lot fairer to me.
This is veering OT, I suppose. But perhaps we can at least get a strained
link by noting that MacOS these days is in some ways a commercial BSD
distro IIUC. :-)

People's discontent with Vista has been good for Mac. Keith is one
of the many who made the change, and are now enjoying the benefits
of a stable OS, with less resemblance to a Swiss cheese and less
vulnerability to viruses.


Indeed - we are called 'Switchers' apparently!!

I'm getting along fine, even if my 'documents folder' went *poof*
earlier today and looks like it's gone forever!!

:-)

Recording software for Mac?
 

Keith G wrote:

Iain I'm getting along fine, even if my 'documents folder' went *poof*
earlier today and looks like it's gone forever!!

It can't. What, exactly, went poof and from where? The only things that
are allowed to go poof are ones that can easily be but back.

Daniele

Recording software for Mac?
 

Keith G wrote:

I'm getting along fine, even if my 'documents folder' went *poof*
earlier today and looks like it's gone forever!!

Are you absolutely, positively certain that it hasn't just ceased being
displayed on the desktop?


Kind regards

Peter Larsen

Recording software for Mac?
 

Peter Larsen wrote:

Keith G wrote:

I'm getting along fine, even if my 'documents folder' went *poof*
earlier today and looks like it's gone forever!!

Are you absolutely, positively certain that it hasn't just ceased being
displayed on the desktop?

It's unlikely to have been there in the first place. Most likely, its
alias was dragged out of the Dock - it can just be reinstated by
dragging the Documents folder to the Dock (or perhaps it was from the
FInder window sidebar, but the same thing applies).

Daniele

Recording software for Mac?
 

"Keith G" wrote in message
...
Iain Churches wrote:
"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...

In the UK, Windows is mainly "sold by" the retailer/maker attitude,
"That's
what the PC comes with, Sir. It is a part of the package price. We don't
sell the hardware without it." You can perhaps choose XP rather than 7,
but what if you don't want either, or any version of Windows, but want
the hardware?

Hmm. Interesting. The situation is very different here, probably because
a variety of language versions have to be offered. So you can specify
Swedish/Danish/Norwegian/Finnish OS either XP, Vista, or 7. You can
also buy a system (at reduced cost) without an OS.
That seems a lot fairer to me.
This is veering OT, I suppose. But perhaps we can at least get a
strained
link by noting that MacOS these days is in some ways a commercial BSD
distro IIUC. :-)

People's discontent with Vista has been good for Mac. Keith is one
of the many who made the change, and are now enjoying the benefits
of a stable OS, with less resemblance to a Swiss cheese and less
vulnerability to viruses.


Indeed - we are called 'Switchers' apparently!!

Or Cross-DOS ers?

Recording software for Mac?
 

D.M. Procida wrote:
Peter Larsen wrote:

Keith G wrote:

I'm getting along fine, even if my 'documents folder' went *poof*
earlier today and looks like it's gone forever!!
Are you absolutely, positively certain that it hasn't just ceased being
displayed on the desktop?

It's unlikely to have been there in the first place. Most likely, its
alias was dragged out of the Dock - it can just be reinstated by
dragging the Documents folder to the Dock (or perhaps it was from the
FInder window sidebar, but the same thing applies).

Daniele



OK, Daniel & Peter - here's how it went:

I was (finally) watching the 'Getting Started' tutorial and it was
showing the 'stacks' in the 'Duck' when I noticed I didn't appear to
have either the Documents Folder or the Downloads stacks where they
should have been - between the Apps Folder and the Trash Can!

So I opened up the Finder and dragged the Documents Folder thingy down
to the Duck to squeeze a *copy* of it between the Apps Folder and the
Trash Can - thinking (hoping) it would duplicate it there but, to my
horror, it went *poof* (you know - puff of smoke animation) and disappeared!

I thought 'OK it's gone in the Trash Can and went in after it. It wasn't
there! It's been missing ever since - as has the Downloads Stack, it
would seem!

At this rate, I estimate the machine will be completely empty by Easter!

:-)

Recording software for Mac?
 

Keith G wrote:

So I opened up the Finder and dragged the Documents Folder thingy down
to the Duck to squeeze a *copy* of it between the Apps Folder and the
Trash Can - thinking (hoping) it would duplicate it there but, to my
horror, it went *poof* (you know - puff of smoke animation) and disappeared!

In that case all you did was drag it out of the Dock.

Your Documents folder, like the rest of your user files, is in your Home
folder. Drag it from there to the Dock.

u.comp.sys.mac is the best place to go for help.

Daniele

Recording software for Mac?
 

D.M. Procida wrote:

u.comp.sys.mac is the best place to go for help.

Or even uk.comp.sys.mac.

Daniele

Recording software for Mac?
 

In article , Iain Churches
wrote:

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...

In the UK, Windows is mainly "sold by" the retailer/maker attitude,
"That's what the PC comes with, Sir. It is a part of the package
price. We don't sell the hardware without it." You can perhaps choose
XP rather than 7, but what if you don't want either, or any version of
Windows, but want the hardware?

Hmm. Interesting. The situation is very different here, probably because
a variety of language versions have to be offered. So you can specify
Swedish/Danish/Norwegian/Finnish OS either XP, Vista, or 7. You can
also buy a system (at reduced cost) without an OS. That seems a lot
fairer to me.

It also seems fairer to me. However IIUC in the UK the situation in most
shops is rather more basic. Chances are all 'PCs' will have Windows
installed, and if anyone asks for hardware without that they will get
either a blank look of puzzlement or a response along the lines, "Sorry, we
can't/don't so that, Sir".

There are specialist dealers. But they are often faced with a situation
where many makers only sell their hardware with Windows 'pre installed' and
refuse *not* to do this as part of the 'bundle'. So they either have to
waste money on an OS they don't want, or find some makes that supply sans
OS, or 'roll their own'.

The obvious problem is that this then restricts the customer choice. You
either have to rule out various hardware options, or pay for an 'extra' you
do not need or want, but which can be wiped once you have paid the 'Windows
Tax'. :-)

I understand that in theory you can reclaim the money if you can jump
though hoops and get Microsoft to give you a 'refund' sic. But I wonder
how many people in the UK have ever managed this and how hard it is. I also
wonder how happy they would be to have their personal details then perhaps
kept by the company as a 'refusenik'. :-)

On a day-to-day basis this doesn't bother me much. I've just resigned
myself to wasting some cash on wiped OSs. And most of my own computing
doesn't use Linux, either. But it does strike me as a shameful
anti-competitive practice which should be stopped. People should be free at
the point of sale to choose whatever OS they prefer that will run on the
hardware and *not* forced to pay for something they don't want and won't
need. Hence my comments about "free market", etc.


This is veering OT, I suppose. But perhaps we can at least get a
strained link by noting that MacOS these days is in some ways a
commercial BSD distro IIUC. :-)

People's discontent with Vista has been good for Mac. Keith is one of
the many who made the change, and are now enjoying the benefits of a
stable OS, with less resemblance to a Swiss cheese and less
vulnerability to viruses.

That;s funny, I thought he was using MacOS... Oh yes, it is a *nix distro
now, isn't it. ;-

Most of my own home computing uses RISC OS, and has done for decades. But
for other purposes I've used all kinds of OS and hardware. For obvious
reasons Unix has featured (mainly Solaris). However I've only recently
found Linux convenient for home uses. It offers the flexibility and
configurability of Unix with - nowdays - quite a neat selection of GUIs and
Desktops. I tend to prefer ROX filer/desktop running on top of Ubuntu or
Xubuntu. User experience similar to RISC OS and dead easy to write simple
applications. But I think some MacOS users might also like some of the
Mac-like GUIs/desktops.

However I'm personally quite happy with a "choose the tool that suits you
for the task in hand" approach, so don't expect everyone to have the same
preferences as myself. That's the reason for my concern for the way
alternatives to Windows tend to be suppressed by the behaviours of
retailers or makers. How can people make and informed choice if they aren't
informed and not given a choice on a fair basis?

I'll now veer even further OT by writing...

Hooray! The 4GB Compact Flash card I ordered has just dropped though the
letterbox. I can now spend some time today experimenting with a new toy.
The Tascam HD P2 recorder. :-)

That in due course may drag my attention back to things that are more
firmly on topic here. :-)

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Recording software for Mac?
 

D.M. Procida wrote:
D.M. Procida wrote:

u.comp.sys.mac is the best place to go for help.


I looked in there briefly - it's worse than this place!

:-)




Or even uk.comp.sys.mac.

Daniele



Sorted now, I found the folders in 'mu place' as you/Peter suggested -
thanks for your help!

Recording software for Mac?
 

Keith G wrote:

D.M. Procida wrote:
D.M. Procida wrote:

u.comp.sys.mac is the best place to go for help.


I looked in there briefly - it's worse than this place!

Yes, there are occasional - *issues*. Oddly, it has some of the same
distinctive features as this one: some genuine mental health issues,
oddball non-UK-based contributors with bees in their bonnets, harmless
monomaniacs, and - well, you get the picture.

Daniele

Recording software for Mac?
 

D.M. Procida wrote:
Keith G wrote:

D.M. Procida wrote:
D.M. Procida wrote:

uk.comp.sys.mac is the best place to go for help.

I looked in there briefly - it's worse than this place!

Yes, there are occasional - *issues*. Oddly, it has some of the same
distinctive features as this one: some genuine mental health issues,
oddball non-UK-based contributors with bees in their bonnets, harmless
monomaniacs.....


Seems to be a *feature* of 'technical' groups. :)


--
Bill Coombes

Recording software for Mac?
 

On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 12:52:48 +0000, bcoombes bcoombes@orangedotnet
wrote:

D.M. Procida wrote:
Keith G wrote:

D.M. Procida wrote:
D.M. Procida wrote:

uk.comp.sys.mac is the best place to go for help.

I looked in there briefly - it's worse than this place!

Yes, there are occasional - *issues*. Oddly, it has some of the same
distinctive features as this one: some genuine mental health issues,
oddball non-UK-based contributors with bees in their bonnets, harmless
monomaniacs.....


Seems to be a *feature* of 'technical' groups. :)

But it is all harmless. When all the posts are read, nobody is hurt,
no bones are broken. And it is a certainty that if the protagonists
met face to face in a social setting everyone would behave as normal
civilized people. This is just a little fantasy world where we can
pretend that any of it actually matters.

We can play Pommy bashing, Yank bashing, techno nerd, Luddite,
patriarch to our hearts' content. Even more fun, we can switch between
them when the mood takes us.

d

Recording software for Mac?
 

Don Pearce wrote:
On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 12:52:48 +0000, bcoombes bcoombes@orangedotnet
wrote:

D.M. Procida wrote:
Keith G wrote:

D.M. Procida wrote:
D.M. Procida wrote:

uk.comp.sys.mac is the best place to go for help.
I looked in there briefly - it's worse than this place!
Yes, there are occasional - *issues*. Oddly, it has some of the same
distinctive features as this one: some genuine mental health issues,
oddball non-UK-based contributors with bees in their bonnets, harmless
monomaniacs.....

Seems to be a *feature* of 'technical' groups. :)

But it is all harmless. When all the posts are read, nobody is hurt,
no bones are broken. And it is a certainty that if the protagonists
met face to face in a social setting everyone would behave as normal
civilized people. This is just a little fantasy world where we can
pretend that any of it actually matters.

We can play Pommy bashing, Yank bashing, techno nerd, Luddite,
patriarch to our hearts' content. Even more fun, we can switch between
them when the mood takes us.



:) :)


--
Bill Coombes

Recording software for Mac?
 

On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 09:29:27 +0000 (GMT), Jim Lesurf
wrote:

However I'm personally quite happy with a "choose the tool that suits you
for the task in hand" approach, so don't expect everyone to have the same
preferences as myself.

I'm intrigued whether this was really your procedure. You discovered
a nifty application that ran only on Linux or RISC so kitted up with a
suitable system to run it? I rather suspect it was the other way
round, you fell in love with the os and stoutly maintain the available
applications aren't really THAT bad :-)

Recording software for Mac?
 

Don Pearce wrote:

But it is all harmless. When all the posts are read, nobody is hurt,

I really don't think that's true.

Daniele

Recording software for Mac?
 

On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:15:02 +0000,
(D.M. Procida) wrote:

Don Pearce wrote:

But it is all harmless. When all the posts are read, nobody is hurt,

I really don't think that's true.


More please....?

d

Recording software for Mac?
 

On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:01:28 GMT, (Don Pearce) wrote:

But it is all harmless. When all the posts are read, nobody is hurt,
no bones are broken. And it is a certainty that if the protagonists
met face to face in a social setting everyone would behave as normal
civilized people. This is just a little fantasy world where we can
pretend that any of it actually matters.

http://www.stereophile.com/news/050905debate/

Download the MP3. Mostly passive-aggressive I suppose :-)