What do I need a computer for nowadays?
- Thread starter danny la rouge
- Start date
mwgdrwg
Be a Pisces. Jam.
mauvais
on reddit or something
Aye, but that's half the point too - I reckon piracy has peaked. Maybe not in total volume but in terms of how likely a frequent internet user is to pirate stuff. Trackers and the like are really niche now, in small part due to enforcement but really because it's a horrible use case when compared to the volume of content available legitimately for very little outlay.Basically the main reason not to go down this route at the moment is piracy.
Nemesisuk
Active Member
Indeed brother, low powered potatoes
I may now back away before this turns all PC vs Potato based device. Seriously though PC gaming is cheaper than console gaming. Whats the buy a game and then pay again to play it all about?
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
True. I've started paying for music because it's all in one place and finding torrents or what I want is hard. Or rather the only place I can find them makes it so hard, even paying for a VPN it just isn't worth the hassle.
We're not quite there yet with film though, but I hope it will come. However seeing how much Sky can charge I think it may be a while till it's a price I'm willing to pay.
Those various pirate streaming sites are shit though. Give me a high quality torrent any day.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
It depends on how much gaming you do. For an occasional player like me, it was cheaper to buy a PS4 (first consol ever) then go down the route of upgrading my PC.
mwgdrwg
Be a Pisces. Jam.
I was only on a wind up. I love consoles too and have an Xbox One and a Wii U under the telly. I will also be day 1 on the Nintendo NX
Nemesisuk
Active Member
I play games at every opportunity I can. I have no problem with consoles as a gamer is a gamer. I do get offended when being told a console is better than pc as thats just complete nonsense. I also have issues with the anti consumer exclusives.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Me too. I've always been something of an inveterate for throwing a PC together out of bits, and then giving it a job to do. I have no idea how many hundreds of pounds I must have spent powering computers that remained on for months doing, essentially, nothing. Still, there are worse hobbies...
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
proprietry hardware you aren't supposed to mod, fuck at. All hail the PC master race
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
See, this is the kind of culture shock I keep coming across. To me they're not something to "remember": they're still new technology I haven't quite got the hang of fitting into my life yet. If I have to give mine up, it'll be CDs and vinyl I return to, not any other newer technology. If optic drives vanish, all it'll mean is that I'll probably revive my casette deck to make what I still call "mix tapes".
I've never used my phone for playing music. I prefer having separate devices. I like to lay my hands on something and say "this is my toaster: it makes toast" and so on.
I've tried streaming services like Spotify (on my PC), but I wouldn't chose them to actually listen to music. All I've done is use them to hear what an album sounds like prior to buying the CD. (If I want to listen to music, I put on the CD). But I don't use Spotify et al any more because they don't really fit into the way I live. They don't really make sense to me.
I have an iPhone (5c), but I know very well I don't use its full potential: I don't want to. I'd actually rather have a dumb phone and a small laptop. And separate stereo, TV, and toaster.
Orang Utan
Maybe I like the misery
you wasted your money big time on that iphone
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
so you've not had a skypewank on your phone? missing out
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
you might as well just have bought a Nokia 100 for 25 quid
Orang Utan
Maybe I like the misery
a skypewank?
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
Everyone kept telling me how much it'd change my life. That I wouldn't understand how useful it was until I had one.
Well, it's true that I can surf the net and answer emails from it. And I can read Feedly. All of which I used to do on my PC. Which is why I was wondering why I needed a PC as well. But if I had to type more than a post's worth of words (which I hardly ever do nowadays), the touchscreen would drive me to distraction.
mauvais
on reddit or something
My main music device, on the move anyway, is an iPod Classic, no longer made. It's been a losing battle to maintain this kind of thing for a decade or more now - iRiver anyone? At home I have hifi separates. I don't have Spotify.
However I'm under no illusion that this is representative - I'm out on a limb and eventually I'll have to adapt.
I don't have an inherent problem adopting new tech, I'm not my dad. I do find some new patterns don't work well for me. So I'm sympathetic to a fair bit of what you say, but ultimately there's no escaping that we're both going to be left behind.
Orang Utan
Maybe I like the misery
everyone has different preferences - i got rid of all my records and CDs long ago and even my hifi - I listen to nearly all my music on my phone with earphones when i'm out and about, and on a Bluetooth speaker when I'm indoors.
SpookyFrank
Don't swallow the cap
mp3 player batteries last a shitload longer than phone batteries.
Orang Utan
Maybe I like the misery
true, but it's another cost I could do without
SpookyFrank
Don't swallow the cap
TBF I use an old blackberry as an mp3 player because it's so much cheaper than an actual mp3 player.
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
I was on holiday in Ireland two years ago and a friend there told me I should get "Apple TV" or I'd be "left behind". At the time I thought an Apple TV was a TV set made by Apple, maybe like a Samsung smart TV. I now realise it's like Chromecast. But since that does something I don't actually need to do, I don't see the need for it.
That's the thing. I have nothing against new technology. A few years ago I'd have said I actively liked it. But now I feel like technology isn't getting better at doing the things I want to do, it's now changing to solve problems I didn't have. If you see what I mean. So actually I would be changing my way of living to fit the latest developments rather than them changing to fit me.
That said, I love GarageBand. I still have my old casette based 4 track. But the amount of hiss you'd build up was outrageous. Now I can multitrack myself and email it to my collaborators instead of posting a cassette. But I'd still prefer it on a standalone GarageBand device. Getting texts while I work on the screen is annoying, for example. And I don't know how I'll cope if I have to use Apple headphones if I have to upgrade to socketless model. (No self respecting musician would chose to use GarageBand with the headphones that come with an iPhone. I have overear cans I use).
I too have an iPod Classic. On it I have MP3s of CDs I own, not downloads.
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
Well, I only ever Skype my daughter, so no.
But I'm up for new experiences. PM me.
Orang Utan
Maybe I like the misery
i just find it handy being able to do many things with as few devices as possible - tv, music, reading, radio, podcasts etc.
And, despite Danny's claims about cost, I like the fact that I can get free tv and films via torrents and listen to some music for next to nothing on Spotify
And, despite Danny's claims about cost, I like the fact that I can get free tv and films via torrents and listen to some music for next to nothing on Spotify
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
That's great. And you'd appear to be amongst a large number. Maybe even the majority. So it's working out for you. And I know very well, for example, that a CD collection the size I have is not the norm, and many people would prefer not to physically store their music.
All I'm trying to do is work out what I need in order to keep on doing what I like doing. And to try and avoid being forced to start doing things I don't want to if at all possible.
cybershot
Well-Known Member
There's a great community keeping the iPod Classic alive, if anything the mods to them now make them ever better devices then they already are. SSD drives, new batteries. Yes please!!
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
I have a wall socket charger for mine. So even if at some point I can no longer synch it to a PC, I'll still be able to keep it alive.
mauvais
on reddit or something
My iPod Classic is full of music I stole via torrents. But as I said earlier, even that MO belongs to a time, mid/late 2000s.
I like it because of the storage capacity, battery life, and in particular battery life independent from my phone.
I remember going through this with phones in the 2000s, before Android/iPhone made things a lot more consistent. Every time a new phone came out, it would lose something I valued or be worse in some way. Then - some time later - progress eclipses that and it balances out.
That's still to happen with 100GB+ players, but may never come about now because separate devices are unpopular. Like cybershot says, at least there's a bit of a cottage industry around it.
You don't get automatically left behind as such by not adopting or adapting to most things, it just presents you with bigger problems when trying to maintain (either keep in service or keep compatible with) the things you rely on.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
How big is the ipod classic? 128gb memory cards aren't that expensive now and will hold a fair bit unless you want to start storing it all as FLAC.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
One thing the current model of everything being online doesn't cater for is those who still have shit Internet connections. I've spent most of my adult life living in rural areas, where streaming is patchy at best. With a torrent you can leave it overnight or even days if need be and have a hard disk full of stuff. I've become a bit of a horder because of this.
I picked up the keys to a new place today and will probably get 100mbs cable, just because I can. However when it comes to equipping the house I'm still thinking NAS boxes and the like. It will be interesting to see how my thinking changes as I get used to having fast Internet all the time (when I'm not staying in a bunkhouse in Wales).
I picked up the keys to a new place today and will probably get 100mbs cable, just because I can. However when it comes to equipping the house I'm still thinking NAS boxes and the like. It will be interesting to see how my thinking changes as I get used to having fast Internet all the time (when I'm not staying in a bunkhouse in Wales).
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