What OS/Browser are you using at AR?

[nightflier]

mlsstl, recoveryone, thanks for that info. I'll be checking it out. Any suggestions on where to get a good price?

[recoveryone]

The only places I know is the Slim Device web site or Ebay (thats where I got mine, brand new). I suggest you go read the forums so you will have a ideal of what to look for and ideals on how you may want to have it set up. And most important get inside knowledge of possible problem that you may run into.

[mlsstl]

The normal price is $300. Right now Slim Devices is selling the white SB3 for $250 and they have a special offer for another $20 off using the promo code "LIVE365" so that's a pretty good deal. I think the deal ends the end of May. (I've come real close to buying a second for backup but just can't quite justify it since I have no immediate use for it.)

Also check out the forums over at Slim Devices - http://forums.slimdevices.com. Pretty much any question you may have about a Squeezebox has likely already been asked and answered.

[brulaha]

I've always used IE. Why do others migrate to other browsers and say that they only use IE when necessary? I'm just curious. Am I missing out on something, and if so, what?

[Woochifer]

I've always used IE. Why do others migrate to other browsers and say that they only use IE when necessary? I'm just curious. Am I missing out on something, and if so, what?

I went to Netscape 7 (based on Mozilla 1.7) and then Firefox because they offered up tabbed browsing and built-in pop up blocking, ran faster and more reliably, and they chewed up less in the way of system resources. With IE6, it just ran slower and if some poorly written Active X plug-in or website crashed the browser, it would often take down more than just the browser since IE is so embedded into the OS. If I crash Firefox, I simply restart the program and it gives me the option of restoring my previous session if I want (very handy if you had multiple tabs open when the browser crashed).

The only time I ever use IE is when I need to use a site that has Active X controls (e.g., Microsoft Update). If a site is simply unreadable with Firefox, I might e-mail the administrator and let them know that I ain't visiting their site until I can actually read the content.

Now that Microsoft has finally updated IE to include tabbed browsing and pop-up blocking, they made IE7 more bloated than ever and changed the user interface in ways that make it less intuitive. I never migrated away from IE because I've always used alternative browsers as my default (Netscape, Opera, Mozilla, and now Firefox). Between IE6 and IE7, those browsers simply didn't give me any compelling reason to switch. The constant security concerns about IE give me further pause.

[kexodusc]

Wooch nailed it.

IE is embedded in the OS, and presents a back door the size of the house to security threats. Boo that.
Reliability, stability, and conformity with internet standards could be a few other reasons to switch.

Besides, Firefox is orange and IE is blue, and everyone knows orange is better than blue

[emorphien]

I used netscape for years over IE because I liked the interface and security as well as some of the other features. I eventually switched to Firefox when it matured some and have been using it since. Tabbed browsing now in IE (I have to admit I've used IE7 some and it is nice) still doesn't catch it up to all the other features I can add to Firefox.

Opera has a lot built in that Firefox doesn't (and as a result a lot of it works better) but I just prefer Firefox to Opera still.

[kexodusc]

Opera has a lot built in that Firefox doesn't (and as a result a lot of it works better) but I just prefer Firefox to Opera still.

I dunno if that's really true though. Opera out of the box has a few features that Firefox doesn't, but Firefox seems to offer every feature that IE, Opera, Safari, and other browsers offer with their add-ons (widgets, thumbnail windows, etc) and a lot more.

I use to love Opera back when it was a more compact, streamlined program. Firefox just seems to offer a bit more everything now though.

[Feanor]

With the number of Linux and Mac, Firefox or Opera users around here I'm feeling like a contrarian using WinXP and IE 6/7.

Yet I know it these people who are the contrarians, not I.

[emorphien]

I dunno if that's really true though. Opera out of the box has a few features that Firefox doesn't, but Firefox seems to offer every feature that IE, Opera, Safari, and other browsers offer with their add-ons (widgets, thumbnail windows, etc) and a lot more.

Uhh, reread it. That was my point. Opera has features built in that Firefox doesn't. I never said you couldn't add them to Firefox. The problem is a lot of the extensions are RAM hogs and not always as elegantly programmed and efficient as Opera which has it all built in and runs a lot of them more smoothly.

[kexodusc]

Uhh, reread it. That was my point. Opera has features built in that Firefox doesn't. I never said you couldn't add them to Firefox. The problem is a lot of the extensions are RAM hogs and not always as elegantly programmed and efficient as Opera which has it all built in and runs a lot of them more smoothly.

No need to reread anything. You said "and as a result a lot of it works better". I don't find that the case at all, Firefox allows you to use what you want and not bother to install the rest. Less bloated if desired which I find keeps Firefox running faster. This very obvious on my older P3 machine. Guess it depends on the degree of customization you apply. If you're one of those nuts that installs every single add on, well, you're going to get bogged down pretty fast.

As for RAM hogs, a few may be, I've yet to run into that on either browser (except some widgets and 3rd party amateur stuff). The only thing I've noticed is Firefox to consistently run a bit faster and smoother than Opera. Especially with Linux or MacOS.

I loved Opera back when it was a no-frills, slim trim web browser. Now, I rank it somewhere between IE and Konqueror. The only reason I still use it is because I haven't figured out how to save/load mutliple tab-bookmarks like Opera can. Though I'm told Firefox stole that ability in the latest version.

[emorphien]

You can set your "homepage" to open multiple tabs, bookmarks may be the same way but i haven't tried it (try separating the URLs with the | symbol).

As far as in OSX, I find Opera to be faster/more responsive and even on Windows it's a little smoother at times but not drastically. I have a lot of addons on my Windows systems for firefox, some giving it features Opera has and others being things neither has without extensions. The core of firefox, as with Opera, works quite well (Opera still handles RAM better in my experience, I've never seen anything other than Firefox inflate to 1.5GB ram usage) but Opera includes more clever features out of the box and hardly feels bloated.

Hell opera has a built in mail client but it never gets in your way, in fact a lot of people never notice it being there. I'd probably switch, but I'm more comfortable with firefox. I don't know many people that use Opera, but those that do praise it's responsiveness and page rendering.

[brulaha]

Okay....wow....based on this lovely community's advise, i switched to Firefox. I'm impressed. It really is a lot faster, and the spell check is pretty cool too, hence why you can read this post with our any of my many spelling errors. Thanks for the advice.

[nightflier]

Brulala,

Any other cool PC-Audio/Video integration technologies in use?

[brulaha]

Brulala,

Any other cool PC-Audio/Video integration technologies in use?

No...not really. I did find a cool web site yesterday called last.fm, which if you subscribe to (which is free and painless), will allow you to type in a favorite artist and they will stream music which is similar in content. The track list they played when i typed Elton John was really diverse and intriguing. For example, they played some new Madonna, Old school Stevie Wonder, Lynard Skynard, Beatles, the list went on and on.

Unfortunately, I'm not into this hobby as much as i used to be. I built my system, and now i use it, but I don't seek out new things anymore. So I just cruse by here every once and again to stay up to date.

I do have to say, however that i miss the P&B pub, and watching a beer go through the plate glass window every Friday night. That will take you back for you old timers.

[jocko_nc]

I've been using Firefox for quite some time as well. I basically hate using any product from MS, their methods are so insidious and they always have an alternate agenda. IE is a bloated pig that I do not trust, from a company that I do not trust.

I cannot stand the fact that my computers have been progressively hijacked over the years. I am still running Windows XP on this computer only because it is quite new, less than a year. Otherwise, its Linux for me and no looking back.

I began using OpenOffice a couple of months ago on this computer and I like it. It feels good to make the break away from MS.

I think the era of monopolistic software and their BS revenue streams is coming to an end.

jocko

[audio_dude]

1. I use Fedora Core 7, sometimes Ubuntu/Kubuntu. But XP home for gaming.
2. Firefox 2, I won't touch anything else with a ten foot pole.
3. I don't really listen to much from my PC, but I just use whats built into fedora.
4. audacity
5. well, right now our livingroom stereo has a Yammie HTR-5890 hooked up to a pair of Mission m35i's and the source is mostly radio, but the PC for CD's. ( this will change soon as the receiver will be moved to start a hometheatre, and a new amp and CD player will be purchased.)


On the linux debate: well, I started experimenting with linux a couple years ago, got to know it pretty well. tried OpenSuSe, Knoppix, Ubuntu, Fedora, plus about a thousand other specialty ones (BlueFlops, full linux w/graphical browser on two diskettes!) and I eventually settled on Fedora and sometimes Ubuntu/kubuntu. I still have to use winxp for my gaming needs as i really don't have the urge to set up an emulator.

As for the quantity of programs available for linux, other than games, I'm ready to say it outclasses even windows, not in quantity, but for what you can get, especially for free. Sure, sometimes it may take a day or two to hunt down all the nessesary dependencies to install a particular program, but that doesn't bother me. Although this wouldn't be nessesary if I did the full installation...XD

[Feanor]

Yesterday I download and tried out Apple's Safari 3 (Public Beta) for Windows.

This babe is really fast. Loads snailish AR pages a lot faster that Internet Explorer 7 that I've been using for a while. Problems is that does handle all eBay features or Yahoo Mail Beta which I use.
...
http://www.apple.com/ca/safari/

[Robert-The-Rambler]

I'm using Windows XP SP2.
Netscape 8.1
Listening to upconverted MP3 with Creative Mediasource Player
(A Zelda 3 remix that sounds great in 7.1 at 24bit 96khz)

I always listen to some kind of music when I check out Audioreview. It is mostly videogame remixes blaring through my Onkyo 804 and 8 Behringer EP2500s. I use my full setup for everything.

[emorphien]

Yesterday I download and tried out Apple's Safari 3 (Public Beta) for Windows.

This babe is really fast. Loads snailish AR pages a lot faster that Internet Explorer 7 that I've been using for a while. Problems is that does handle all eBay features or Yahoo Mail Beta which I use.
...
http://www.apple.com/ca/safari/

For the most part I've heard it's pretty bad. I'm in no rush to try it because I don't care for Safari on a Mac to begin with.