Gears did it!

[Killer 57]

Gears of War did what I thought only Halo 3 was capable of doing; It knocked off Halo 2 from the most played online game for week, so more people played GoW than Halo 2 during the week of 11/3. Yeah I know not that big of a deal but it's still an accomplishment.

http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2006/11/18/xbox-live-activity-for-week-of-11-13.aspx#comments

[Blaze Lord]

Wow. That's definitely a milestone.

...You aren't really getting the Zune Store subscription, are you?

[carocat]

http://www.360monster.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6355

:p

[Killer 57]

...You aren't really getting the Zune Store subscription, are you?

Got it and loving it.

and Cat, Damn I missed that thread oh well.

[Blaze Lord]

You're out of your mind. I hope it doesn't take too long before you realize just how high a price you paid.

[mjmaskrey]

have you downloaded any album covers off it yet? lol

:)

[Killer 57]

You're out of my mind. I hope it doesn't take too long before you realize just how high a price you paid.

Well in the the past week I've downloaded 70 Albums, that's about $700 not including the many Special editions. It's hassle free, I just click the "download Album" button and within 10 minutes it's mine.

[Blaze Lord]

It's also wrapped in the worse DRM ever. It's not the equivalent of $700, because you aren't buying the songs at all. You can't keep them, you can't burn them, you can't transfer them to someone else. You're beholden to the system. What if someone else comes out with a subscription store that's $10 per month? You can't switch over to the better price without having to delete and redownload the 1200 albums you're sure to get in the coming months. What happens when the Zune store shuts down? You're screwed. No, you're paying $15 a month for the privilege of listening to someone else's library, and that's a big hassle.

[Kalou]

No, you're paying $15 a month for the privilege of listening to someone else's library, and that's a big hassle.

Really? do you pay a subscription to "download" the albums yet you can't even keep them?

[Blaze Lord]

As I said, you can't burn them, you can't transfer them. And if you ever stop paying the monthly fee, you can't listen to the songs you already downloaded.

[carocat]

As I said, you can't burn them, you can't transfer them. And if you ever stop paying the monthly fee, you can't listen to the songs you already downloaded.
Can someone explain to me how that works? Tbh I haven't looked into it at all.

How do they know you've stopped paying for it?

[Kalou]

Yeah I was asking the same, seems like a ripoff if you pay $15 a month to listen to albums.

[Blaze Lord]

I'm assuming that every song comes with rights that expire at the end of the month. At the end of that month, if the Zune store knows you're a paying customer, it tweaks the rights of every song on your computer, giving you play-rights for another month.

[carocat]

That kind of sucks if you lose your internet at that time... Considering I was without the net for 6 weeks during the summer, that would really suck.

[mjmaskrey]

So it's like subscribing to a online radio station in essence....you're paying to listen to songs but you can only listen as long as you're still paying...ewww.

Sounds even worse now I know that...and it sounded pretty horrible after reading the Engadgets article on it.

:)

[Killer 57]

It's also wrapped in the worse DRM ever. It's not the equivalent of $700, because you aren't buying the songs at all. You can't keep them, you can't burn them, you can't transfer them to someone else. You're beholden to the system. What if someone else comes out with a subscription store that's $10 per month? You can't switch over to the better price without having to delete and redownload the 1200 albums you're sure to get in the coming months. What happens when the Zune store shuts down? You're screwed. No, you're paying $15 a month for the privilege of listening to someone else's library, and that's a big hassle.



I understand what you're saying, and it was one of the things that I debated with myself before I got the Zune Pass. I know that it's not my music and once I cancel or it shuts down I'll no longer have the music. The $15 a month amounts to about $200 a year, $200 for the previledge of listening to almost all the music I want. I can deal with that, I much rather use the Zune Pass then actually buying music from the Zune store, which if a new and better service comes about I'm Really screwed. If a new and cheaper subscription service comes out or the Zune Store shuts down, I can cancel my subscription and move their service. Yes re-downloading the music collection would be a pain in the ass, but chances are I won't have to do it.

[Blaze Lord]

Yeah, it's pretty horrible. And from the sounds of it, the only reason Killer signed up for this travesty is because ID3 tags on Limewire are crappy. (For indie, unsigned artists, of course!)

[Killer 57]

Yeah, it's pretty horrible. And from the sounds of it, the only reason Killer signed up for this travesty is because ID3 tags on Limewire are crappy. (For indie, unsigned artists, of course!)

I don't use LimeWire, I download Albums via bitorrent. Yes the ID3 tags are crappy, another reason is I have a hard time finding Albums that I want on torrent sites, and when I do, three things happen:

1. I find it, and it downloads in about 3 days, cool.
2. It's dead, it just sits on my torrent client and never downloads.
3. I don't find the Album.

Sadly, I encountered 2 & 3 most of the time.

[Blaze Lord]

Sounds like you need an Oink invite? Did noone give you one?

[phatmuther]

I don't use LimeWire, I download Albums via bitorrent. Yes the ID3 tags are crappy, another reason is I have a hard time finding Albums that I want on torrent sites, and when I do, three things happen:

1. I find it, and it downloads in about 3 days, cool.
2. It's dead, it just sits on my torrent client and never downloads.
3. I don't find the Album.

Sadly, I encountered 2 & 3 most of the time.

well learn the system a bit better, there is more than one torrent site.

Pfft ID3 tags, what a baby.

[Killer 57]

Nope, I'd spend most of my time browsing websites like mininova, torrent portal, piratebay etc looking for Albums.

well learn the system a bit better, there is more than one torrent site.

Pfft ID3 tags, what a baby.

Again, ID3 tags was only on of the reasons I stopped using it, the biggest reason was having to wait 3-4 days to get an Album I wanted, that's if I found it. I know there are more then one torrent site, I browsed about 5-10 of them daily looking for music.

[Blaze Lord]

PM me your email addy. Just FYI, don't even think of using a ratio cheater. Oink's the one site that has detection scripts down pat, and if you get me kicked too, I'll be mad enough to spit.

[Killer 57]

No thanks I'm ok.

[carocat]

So what is so special about Oink then?

[Tobes]

Nothing. It's just a great torrent site because you HAVE to share. Which means you should be able to download faster.

[Headshot]

thats wel of topic- lol

[Tobes]

Yeh but Cat has a thread on this already so it can go OT

[linkofhyrule]

The Zune Pass is not bad.. yes, you pay $15 a month to not really own it, but if you buy a single album a month you might as well just do this. You get all the music you want as long as you pay. And if you lose your net, you could go to some public place like a library and pay it..

I have it and love it, there's something very cool about having all this music I like but would have never listened to if I paid for them all alone.

Yeah, it's got DRM, but it's a trade-off for getting all this music.

[phatmuther]

but you dont get the music, you rent it off em, which means eventually at some point you will have to give it back.

[Tobes]

or they may give it to you at some point?

[phatmuther]

doubtful, if its unlimited songs for $15 a month, you could download every song, which is quite some, they wouldnt let you keep em.

[Blaze Lord]

By the way, what's the bitrate? Some typical 128, I assume? Enjoy wasting your money, guys.

[yomamma246]

gears of wars was well getting

[Killer 57]

By the way, what's the bitrate? Some typical 128, I assume? Enjoy wasting your money, guys.

192. I am enjoying wasting my money thankyouverymuch.

[Blaze Lord]

Well, at least that's better than iTunes.

[damien©]

It's good idea but as the others say you are only renting them and not keeping them unfortunately. Personally I hate DRM so I'll do it the old fashioned way.

[Raisedbyflames]

192 or nothing at all is it only 128, if you crank 128 up loud it sounds naff

[phatmuther]

Well, at least that's better than iTunes.

Why? Not having a go, i'd just like to hear your views on the itunes store. :)

[Killer 57]

Please Please talk about how crappy Itunes or something that doesn't involve me, please.

[Raisedbyflames]

can you not get your own mp3s on it you know ones you got off of your cds and other places

[Blaze Lord]

Why? Not having a go, i'd just like to hear your views on the itunes store. :)
iTunes Music Store is 128.

[phatmuther]

iTunes Music Store is 128.

isnt that AAC though? which is the equivelent of 160 mp3? I dunno, dont care to be honest, dont use it, plus i dont really notice that much difference generally, only with the headphones on.

[Blaze Lord]

Nah. The idea that AAC is instantly better than MP3 is pretty much bull. AAC's better at certain genres than MP3, but almost all of that difference is within confidence intervals.

[Tobes]

plus AAC is MASSIVE. I download songs which are 320 and don't tend to download anything less. It's just way to eay to tell the difference.

[Blaze Lord]

Massive? How so?

[Tobes]

I was checking out some torrents on Oink and the AAC versions seemed to be a lot bigger than the 320 ones.

[Blaze Lord]

You mean file sizes? Nuh uh.

If it's the same song, the two different formats, in the same bitrate, have the same file sizes. By definition, an AAC format 320 kbps is the same size as an MP3 format 320 kbps. Kbps is a unit that means kilobits per second, so if the two songs have the same length, encoded at the same bitrate, they have to be the same size.

edit: Are you sure you arent thinking of FLAC?

[Tobes]

im thinking of flac

[Blaze Lord]

FLAC is lossless - perfectly CD quality.

[phatmuther]

yup, FLAC is big

[Tobes]

No... FLAC is "PHAT" LOL. I made a funny