The new iPhone 3G...

[Hawaii Five-O]

iPhones don't work where I am, cause I can't get Cingular... pain.

You can buy iphones unlocked now, so you can use them with any service


The iphone is cool, but I would wait a few revisions or generations until they work out the bugs. I would like to get a Samsung Blackjack. I have to wait until Nov when my current phone contract is up though .

 

[usayit]

Personally, I avoid A2DP like the plague. There has never been a wireless protocol that can transmit high quality audio, and A2DP isn't one of the better ones. I've listened to some of Sennheiser's high end wireless headphones, A2DP, as well as some theatre monitor/mic packs. When audio quality is at stake, wires are your friend.

Works and sounds fine on my S9 headphones. Just like in photography, there are compromises.... zooms compromise IQ for the flexibility of focal range. Bluetooth headphones do the same... flexibility... less wires to get caught while traversing the tight foot traffic of New York City and the fact that I can pace around my office with no interruption.

If audio quality is the upmost importance, then why the hell would you listen to itunes MP3 or any other MP3 online format for that matter. MP3's are a compromise in audio quality themselves... my audiophile co-worker can't stand MP3 quality... Me... I'm ok with it but the difference is obvious even with wired headphones.

 

[clarinetJWD]

Works and sounds fine on my S9 headphones. Just like in photography, there are compromises.... zooms compromise IQ for the flexibility of focal range. Bluetooth headphones do the same... flexibility... less wires to get caught while traversing the tight foot traffic of New York City and the fact that I can pace around my office with no interruption.

If audio quality is the upmost importance, then why the hell would you listen to itunes MP3 or any other MP3 online format for that matter. MP3's are a compromise in audio quality themselves... my audiophile co-worker can't stand MP3 quality... Me... I'm ok with it but the difference is obvious even with wired headphones.

Who said I listen to mp3? Apple Lossless is the only thing I rip CDs in anymore, but a lot of my old stuff is AAC or OGG, but all VBR at least 250kbps. Did I mention that I'm an audio engineer by trade?

 

[Senor Hound]

You can buy iphones unlocked now, so you can use them with any service

I was under the impression that unlocking a GSM phone only lets it work with GSM carriers. I only can choose from two, Alltel and U.S. Cellular (which are both CDMA), so T-Mobile, Sprint and Cingular don't work around me.

Am I correct in assuming this? Cause if I can get an unlocked GSM phone from ANY carrier and use it with my U.S. Cellular plan, I'd be in heaven!

Who said I listen to mp3? Apple Lossless is the only thing I rip CDs in anymore, but a lot of my old stuff is AAC or OGG, but all VBR at least 250kbps. Did I mention that I'm an audio engineer by trade?

I have a question about this. If you converted a lossless file at 250kbps, and ripped it to an mp3 at 256kbps (or higher), would there still be lost information?

 

[Easy_Target]

There's a reason why I don't ever plan on buying an iPhone.

 

[clarinetJWD]

I was under the impression that unlocking a GSM phone only lets it work with GSM carriers. I only can choose from two, Alltel and U.S. Cellular (which are both CDMA), so T-Mobile, Sprint and Cingular don't work around me.

Am I correct in assuming this? Cause if I can get an unlocked GSM phone from ANY carrier and use it with my U.S. Cellular plan, I'd be in heaven!



I have a question about this. If you converted a lossless file at 250kbps, and ripped it to an mp3 at 256kbps (or higher), would there still be lost information?

Yep, only GSM carriers...of which Sprint isn't, so in the US it's T-Mobile or AT&T for the big players.

As for your question, I'm not quite sure what you mean...lossless isn't 250kbps, it's on average well over 400, and there's no lost information. An mp3 made from a lossless format will still be lossy, regardless of the bitrate. As for taking a 250kbps and ripping it at 256, even worse, because mp3 compression assumes full uncompressed quality, and always will make it worse.

In fact, mp3 was agreed upon by record companies as the format of choice for digital distribution/standard ripping because each time it's burned/ripped, the quality gets worse and worse. They thought that this would discourage piracy... they've been wrong before...

edit: You can unlock your iPhone yourself using Jailbreak or AnySIM, but you can't buy them unlocked as far as I know. You can buy them un-subsidized with no contract, but it's still locked to AT&T until you jailbreak and void the warranty. This is moot anyways, because during the next while, you can't even do this because the 2G is off the market, and it's not yet offered for the 3G

 

[Senor Hound]

Yep, only GSM carriers...of which Sprint isn't, so in the US it's T-Mobile or AT&T for the big players.

As for your question, I'm not quite sure what you mean...lossless isn't 250kbps, it's on average well over 400, and there's no lost information. An mp3 made from a lossless format will still be lossy, regardless of the bitrate. As for taking a 250kbps and ripping it at 256, even worse, because mp3 compression assumes full uncompressed quality, and always will make it worse.

In fact, mp3 was agreed upon by record companies as the format of choice for digital distribution/standard ripping because each time it's burned/ripped, the quality gets worse and worse. They thought that this would discourage piracy... they've been wrong before...

edit: You can unlock your iPhone yourself using Jailbreak or AnySIM, but you can't buy them unlocked as far as I know. You can buy them un-subsidized with no contract, but it's still locked to AT&T until you jailbreak and void the warranty. This is moot anyways, because during the next while, you can't even do this because the 2G is off the market, and it's not yet offered for the 3G

Thank you, Clarinet. You're really intelligent, and I've learned from you! I didn't know what bitrate a lossless, CD-quality audio file would be. I figured it would be around 250 or so, which is where that number came from. As far as the copy of a copy, I have a feeling mp3 format follows the same laws of degradation as a jpeg file, only in sound rather than image. If you could save a jpeg at a larger file size than a TIFF or DNG file, it still wouldn't be as detailed. Thank you for clarifying.

And as far as the phone, I wonder if you can unlock a CDMA phone in the same way as a GSM. I want a used blackberry off of E-Bay, but the ones for U.S. Cellular are a lot higher than ones for Verizon and Sprint. If they would work on the U.S. Cellular network, I'd be ecstatic!

 

[clarinetJWD]

Thank you, Clarinet. You're really intelligent, and I've learned from you! I didn't know what bitrate a lossless, CD-quality audio file would be. I figured it would be around 250 or so, which is where that number came from. As far as the copy of a copy, I have a feeling mp3 format follows the same laws of degradation as a jpeg file, only in sound rather than image. If you could save a jpeg at a larger file size than a TIFF or DNG file, it still wouldn't be as detailed. Thank you for clarifying.

And as far as the phone, I wonder if you can unlock a CDMA phone in the same way as a GSM. I want a used blackberry off of E-Bay, but the ones for U.S. Cellular are a lot higher than ones for Verizon and Sprint. If they would work on the U.S. Cellular network, I'd be ecstatic!

I'm not 100% sure, but I think you're out of luck...GSM phones get the network information based on the SIM card, but since there's no SIM in CDMA, I don't think they can be used on other networks...

Oh, and I'm always glad to help

 

[usayit]

Not good when the tech support kiddies need to go into forums to find solutions.

I can't believe the tech support guy actually admitted going to the forums for a solution... thats funny.


I don't miss my tech support days.... VERY tough work.. and stressful. Usually you end up supporting dozens of products and you have to spread yourself thin. Its not unusual to have a customer on the phone to know more about a particular portion of a product than you do.

On the other hand... its also not unusual to have a customer on the phone that couldn't tell you were the "on" button is located.

 

[usayit]

Clarinet

Compared to that CD you rip, there is quality loss when played on a portable player. You do seem to know what you are talking about but step back from being a pointy head. The point I was making was the difference between practicality of a portable media player versus quality. Lots of competing media products (portable music players) have support for bluetooth A2DP... it is a feature that many consumers are looking for. It is one of many features that I feel make the iphone a lacking product and doesn't live up to Apple's reputation.

Portable player..... bluetooth headset... marketed towards convenience/portability
Home audio.... wired headset... marketed towards high quality.

At certain times, I enter into a pretty loud workplace (loud area... music headset to help protect). A wired headset can actually be a bit dangerous....

BTW... I could care less if you were the inventor of such technologies. The most competent developer in our group has the worst understanding of the market for which our product thrives in. It doesn't make the content of my post(s) any less important.

 

[RyanLilly]

Also the audio quality is heavily dependent on the quality of the headphone design, not only, the drivers, but the physical construction, the headphone amp, and the DAC. There are compromises everywhere. A high bit rate mp3 with quality headphones, sounds better than than a CD with some toy headphones. Also think about the portable format before mp3s, Cassette tapes, yeah a lot of those were much crappier than mp3.

Dont get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of mp3, but it fills its place in the market very well.

 

[nab_55]

Maybe we are going to ahead with technology, but Apple never had any problem with there other products so why would this happen to the Iphone! Oh well.

 

[Corry]

Oh yeah, and I unbricked my 1st generation iPhone, so I'm back to loving it.

It seems to be more the fault of my computer than the phone, anyway, so I blame DELL!

 

[Trenton Romulox]

Oh yeah, and I unbricked my 1st generation iPhone, so I'm back to loving it.

It seems to be more the fault of my computer than the phone, anyway, so I blame DELL!

I'd never use an iPhone with any non-Apple computer, it's asking for trouble. Apple will definitely make their phone play nicer with their own OS, that and Windows doesn't play too nicely with a lot of things, haha.

 

[Senor Hound]

Oh yeah, and I unbricked my 1st generation iPhone, so I'm back to loving it.

It seems to be more the fault of my computer than the phone, anyway, so I blame DELL!

Just wait until the new DELLPhone comes out... you'll be sorry for saying that then!!!