Curious Question For Curious People

[northside lurker]

I got a new smart phone late last winter, and I find I use it a lot more than I thought I would, considering my poor eye sight makes it difficult to see the screen.   Originally, I just wanted a better built-in camera, and something that I could listen to music with.  But I find that I also do a lot of web/facebook surfing while I have some down time. (great for passing time while waiting for something: bus, doctor's office, etc.)

I only have about 107 hours of music on my home PC, but I've never bothered to copy any of it to the phone. (although I originally planned to do just that)  Instead, I use Pandora. (also free)  I've never just listened to music from a full charge to empty, so I couldn't tell you how long it would last.  But I have listened to it for hours, without it going dead.

In the end, would the phone replace my PC?  No.  But, I'm definitely glad I have it.  And, if I were more tech savvy, and had a need, I could dump my PC's internet connection, and use my phone's network capabilities through the PC.

[Towntalk]

I understand that electronics companies have to be innovative and keep coming up with newer devices ... that's a given, but what chaps my hide is that the computer publications and their writers go to extremes pushing the newer technology with little or no concern for the ultimate consumer. Not everyone needs a tablet. We also know the problems centered around texting while driving, or even walking.

I'll bet that were you to go down on one of those days when recycling is taking computers and you were allowed to boot some of them up, you'd find that they work just fine, the only difference being that they are older models.

Now I realize that computers like Commodore 64 and the early Apples are worthless in that even as game machines they might work for 5 year olds, but beyond that they're useless, and the same is true for early 90's computers which can only be expanded so far and are useless on today's internet, but my desktop is only 5 years old, it functions fine on the internet, it's running on an average of 12 hours a day 7 days a week, and with the tons of files I have on it, I've only used up half of its total capacity, it's never crashed on me, the only time I've ever lost files are through my own error, and the only change I've made is to replace my read/write disk drive, and got a new led monitor, and I suspect that I'm no exception.

Because I use dial up on the internet speed in downloading is not as fast as I would like it, but still I've been able to download almost 6000 audio files, so I'm not complaining about that.

Oh by the way one good advantage about dial-up is that I don't get a lot of  calls trying to sell me something, and that is great.

Do I plan to buy a new computer any time soon? Not until I've totally worn the one I have out.

[Rick Rowlands]

That really is a fallacy iwasntthere.  As computer technology advances, a machine bought today might be obsolete when compared to one purchased six months from now, but who really makes that comparison?  When a machine is purchased, it is evaluated by its ability to do the job that is required of it.  I know some people who won't buy a computer because of this very excuse.  They claim that as soon as they buy it, it becomes obsolete.  Well when a machine becomes "obsolete", as compared to the latest model, it still has all the functionality as it did the day it was purchased.

[Towntalk]

iwasthere my friend, I couldn't agree with you more.

By the way, here is a link to a very huge library of FREE music with the biggests stars in music history ... Frank Sinatra ... Sammy Davis Jr. ... Dean Martin and on and on and on.

This is a great link and simple to use NO SIGNING UP ... totally free ... all you have to do is: (1) type in a one time three letter code ... Pick the artist you want or the name of the song then you're good to go. So far I've added 100 songs to my library from this site ... quality is 100% good on all the music.

http://abmp3.com/artist/a/1

[iwasthere]

my frd tt, computer technology is like buying a new car, once you drive it out of the showrm. it is a yr behind the new options. my opinion of computer tech, if your computer works for you, why fix it.

[jay]

One city councilman looks and types on his i-pad during city council meetings.  I doubt that he is giving full attention to a citizen who is speaking before council or to his fellow councilmen during the meeting.  Maybe this is why he often makes mistakes when trying to follow council's procedures.

[Youngstownshrimp]

I've always believed in More's law.  I was waiting for the state-of-the-art leading to the cell phone.  Yes, my smart phone is taking over my laptop use.

[Rick Rowlands]

I guess the modern equivalent is that I go to Youtube and play my favorite videos in my playlist on the laptop.

If by newfangled toys you are referring to smart phones, ipads and iphones, I have a smart phone and its nice, but it is for keeping tabs on email and doing rudimentary Google searches when I am out of the office.  to do real work I need the laptop and probably always will.

[Towntalk]

I've been inundated with eMails proclaiming the death of desktop PC's, so I ask this question ... just how powerful are the new fangled toys that are being called the wave of the future.

On any given day I can open up one of my OTR folders, click on play all, and walk away from my computer for the rest of the day and listen to old radio shows for the rest of the day, and if I'm in the mood for music, I simply open up one of my music folders and bingo 24 hours worth of music without having to shut down to charge a battery.

What new fangle device would allow me to do that?

One of my favorite OTR folders is the Jack Benny Show ... if I had the mind to, by one click I can spend the next Five days listening to that folder non-stop.

What new fangle toy will allow me to do that?

Now I know that most folks wouldn't think of doing that, but then I'm not like most folks. (Thank goodness).

Also if I've a mind to, I can go on-line to surf the internet and still have these audio files running.