Removable battery - another reason why it's a good thing.

[Silent-Hunter]

that's why you need backup power supplies for these sorts of things... didn't they know that in advance?

After it happened in 1973 they moved it to another building with a backup supply, but that 2013 incident was a failure of the backup. Guinness also told them turning it off to move it was also alright.

And anyway, what's amazing is that it still works after all these years of use. Turning it off and on just makes it even more impressive.

 

[hitbyambulance]

i have many songs in various digital audio codecs and files, but i still prefer to put an actual CD (or tape, or record) in the player.

 

[TrashyMG]

i have many songs in various digital audio codecs and files, but i still prefer to put an actual CD (or tape, or record) in the player.

I think the last CD I bought was in 2002, 1996 for audio tape.

 

[Silent-Hunter]

I usually use Google Music, but I did buy an 8-track a few weeks ago.

 

[Klumpen]

I still have to buy CDs since most of my favourite music simply isn't available as flac and I have to make those myself. -.-

 

[ThinkPad]

FLAC is unnecessary big and useless format.
Better just use 320kbps mp3 instead.

 

[Klumpen]

FLAC is unnecessary big and useless format.
Better just use 320kbps mp3 instead.

FLAC is the best solution for lossless archiving and making .oggs or whatever.
It's my base for everything. You can't make proper lossy files without having a lossless source and CDs are impractical.

 

[levi]

Indeed. FLAC might be overkill for my purposes, but being able to reproduce the CD audio data bit for bit means I can always make the best 320kbps from them, for example.

Archiving FLACs is perhaps slightly messy - I currently have them stored on 10-15 CDs per DVD, but that results in dozens of DVDs, and creating a MP3 copy of all my CDs would require a lot of disc swapping. I've had my finger on the button to buy a USB hard disc for a while now, and that could fit on all of my FLAC files on quite affordably, but I also need one to restart doing offsite backups again, and I could use one to fit all of my gamecube rips on for my Wii, and I can't decide whether to buy 1, 2 or 3 of them and what size, so for the time being I've bought none.

 

[TheOldOne]

I think the last CD I bought was in 2002, 1996 for audio tape.

I last bought a CD 2 weeks ago. I also still use audio tapes and have a VCR hooked to my HDTV. I no longer have a working Betamax player unfortunately.

 

[Klumpen]

Indeed. FLAC might be overkill for my purposes, but being able to reproduce the CD audio data bit for bit means I can always make the best 320kbps from them, for example.

Archiving FLACs is perhaps slightly messy - I currently have them stored on 10-15 CDs per DVD, but that results in dozens of DVDs, and creating a MP3 copy of all my CDs would require a lot of disc swapping. I've had my finger on the button to buy a USB hard disc for a while now, and that could fit on all of my FLAC files on quite affordably, but I also need one to restart doing offsite backups again, and I could use one to fit all of my gamecube rips on for my Wii, and I can't decide whether to buy 1, 2 or 3 of them and what size, so for the time being I've bought none.

I simply use several regular 3.5 HDDs in two USB docking stations, this way I can easily extend my external storage whenever there's a need without having to replug anything or having more cables and power supplies around than necessary.

 

[DrHAX]

The electronica, or bizarre Australia bands I listen to I prefer to use FLAC, and many of these artists provide downloads for it. It's really great for equalizers and getting that extra bit that seems to get muffled out.

My Pandora was my music player until the headphone snapped half way into the jack... And I couldn't justify bothering ED for it.

 

[PCXT]

Removable batteries are good for a simple reason: There are still places you can't charge your device or you have to pay a fortune for it. And it is in Europe, in 2016. The only better solution than replaceable batteries are replaceable standard batteries, which, if fail, can be bought in any store, but it requires a very low-power device.
It is interesting how much current will Pyra draw from battery on suspend-to-RAM and will it be possible to have some interrupts from this state. I remember some old palmtops could be modified to support battery hot-swap as the current draw was so low that two 3F supercapacitors gave enough power to support the suspended machine for a second or two when the battery was replaced.

I remember being told in school that nobody would make an everlasting light bulb, for similar reasons. That hasn't stopped manufacturers first coming up with CFL bulbs and now LED bulbs. If this continues, we'll be passing our light bulbs down to our children

Well, I have a 35W light bulb my grandmother got in a desk lamp in 1960s when she was in Soviet Union. Works in my desk lamp. Desk lamp broke first. The bulb has military stamp and unusually thick glass. The filament looks like it is wound on some core which probably slowly evaporates to darker spot inside bulb.

 

[levi]

Yeah, the tungsten filament tends to vaporise in standard bulbs, and result in a dark spot at the top for desk fit lamps - on ceiling mounted bulbs where the bulb is usually suspended inverted, the dark spot ends up in the terminal end of the lamp and isn't as obvious.

I guess if you make the filament thick enough it'll last a lot longer, but just doing that would result in lower resistance - more wattage but a dimmer bulb. I guess you could offset that by making the filament a lot longer, but then you have to be confident there's no flaws in that long filament. I guess so many years later only the bulbs with no significant flaws remain, so you might get an artificial impression of their longevity. Not to mention that tungsten is an expensive metal compared to all common metals I could find a price for, but perhaps the military have access to it, being a dense metal used in armour piercing bullets. On the open market bulbs made that way would be a lot more expensive than bulbs made with a thin short filament so wouldn't sell at all well I reckon.