Anyone use a tablet?

I am considering getting a tablet and am looking at a Toshiba Thrive 10.1. Anyone use a tablet now? Opinions on everyday use? Favorite brand? I also thinking of going all digital and saying goodbye to cds.

I have an iPad 2 but still use my trusty Acer Netbook a lot more for surfing, streaming and downloads, my DELL i5 as a pure workstation for editing all sorts of stuff...I just can't get accustomed to the touchscreen interface, too tiring

RE CDs : All of my 900 + CDs are in the attic now..and contrary to popular BS, MP3s are just as good as long as you Rip them nicely...CD Audio > WAV > 320 kbps using Lame...Trust me in a Blind test you 'almost' won't be able to tell the difference, unless you have a super expensive equipment or a really good ear

I have another 500 GB Acer Netbook + 1 TB external ( if I want to listen to LOSSLESS ) stationed in my living room as my dedicated Music Player connected to my Vintage AKAI stereo...I mean, WHY DO WE REALLY NEED CDs ANYWAYS?

EmoElmo wrote:

...I mean, WHY DO WE REALLY NEED CDs ANYWAYS?

Honestly, I don't need them, but I prefer them. There's something about collecting CD's that downloading mp3's doesn't do for me. But I definitely see why someone would prefer digital only.

I have an iPad but I think it's a waste. I prefer my laptop for almost everything I do. I find the iPad to be a glorified Angry Birds machine or just a really big smart phone.

Witchfinder wrote:

I have an iPad but I think it's a waste. I prefer my laptop for almost everything I do. I find the iPad to be a glorified Angry Birds machine or just a really big smart phone.

For Apps / Games usage, the iPad is pure bliss, other than that it's meh...I still laugh at those idiots shelling out extra hundreds of bucks buying iPad accessories such as wireless keyboards and many others

for the price, the iPad is an underspec'ed piece of garbage, too expensive for what it is

RE Android -powered tablets (Samsung, Toshiba etc), I think they offer better value since they can play Flash

EmoElmo wrote:

RE CDs : All of my 900 + CDs are in the attic now..and contrary to popular BS, MP3s are just as good as long as you Rip them nicely...CD Audio > WAV > 320 kbps using Lame...Trust me in a Blind test you 'almost' won't be able to tell the difference, unless you have a super expensive equipment or a really good ear

It's not pure "B.S.", I can most definitely tell the difference (and so can many others). There is no reason to use a degraded format like .mp3 any longer, not with hard drive space as cheap as it is. .flac or any other lossless format preserves ALL the CD information and reduces the size significantly from .wav. I use Apple Lossless (alac) primarily.

S.D. wrote:

EmoElmo wrote:

RE CDs : All of my 900 + CDs are in the attic now..and contrary to popular BS, MP3s are just as good as long as you Rip them nicely...CD Audio > WAV > 320 kbps using Lame...Trust me in a Blind test you 'almost' won't be able to tell the difference, unless you have a super expensive equipment or a really good ear

It's not pure "B.S.", I can most definitely tell the difference (and so can many others). There is no reason to use a degraded format like .mp3 any longer, not with hard drive space as cheap as it is. .flac or any other lossless format preserves ALL the CD information and reduces the size significantly from .wav. I use Apple Lossless (alac) primarily.

Still, the very subtle degradation that you hear is relevant to the musical genre, production quality or 'portions' of a song that is, , I suggest you to do a random blind test played thru your computer, one is LOSSLESS the other is 320kbps Lame, try to rip 5 individual songs in 320MP3 + 5 LOSSLESS copies... then PLAY THOSE 10 SONGS IN RANDOM ORDER, if you can 'pass' this test by correctly identifying at least 8 out of Ten, congratulations... you can substancially eliminate your 'luck factor' by choosing another batch of different songs

Easier said than done

I'm an audio engineer, I've done plenty of side-by-side comparisons of multiple formats on multiple systems using multiple masterings. I don't need to test "my" ears.

S.D. wrote:

I'm an audio engineer, I've done plenty of side-by-side comparisons of multiple formats on multiple systems using multiple masterings. I don't need to test "my" ears.

Aww, afraid to fail? just try it , it won't hurt your ego

EmoElmo wrote:

S.D. wrote:

I'm an audio engineer, I've done plenty of side-by-side comparisons of multiple formats on multiple systems using multiple masterings. I don't need to test "my" ears.

Aww, afraid to fail? just try it , it won't hurt your ego

No, he can tell - his ears have been trained to tell the difference. Here's an experiment to you - listen to a CD followed by the MP3 and listen closely to the way the cymbals sounds, you will be able to tell. I can tell and I I haven't been trained as an audio engineer.

As far as MP3's, they are fine for an ipod and the car, but on a good home system, you want the lossless format.

I have an iPad, but rarely use it for anything but gameing.

I have a Kindle Fire, I use it to read books and surf the net when I am away from home. Much cheaper than an I-Fad and does everything I need

thejokeriv wrote:

EmoElmo wrote:

S.D. wrote:

I'm an audio engineer, I've done plenty of side-by-side comparisons of multiple formats on multiple systems using multiple masterings. I don't need to test "my" ears.

Aww, afraid to fail? just try it , it won't hurt your ego

No, he can tell - his ears have been trained to tell the difference. Here's an experiment to you - listen to a CD followed by the MP3 and listen closely to the way the cymbals sounds, you will be able to tell. I can tell and I I haven't been trained as an audio engineer.

As far as MP3's, they are fine for an ipod and the car, but on a good home system, you want the lossless format.

I agree with this - I can tell when I hear the cymbals. They sound different when not lossless.

EmoElmo wrote:

RE CDs : All of my 900 + CDs are in the attic now..and contrary to popular BS, MP3s are just as good as long as you Rip them nicely...CD Audio > WAV > 320 kbps using Lame...Trust me in a Blind test you 'almost' won't be able to tell the difference, unless you have a super expensive equipment or a really good ear

Depends.
Of course if you play it over some crappy PC speakers, cheap headphones or some 200$ "HI-FI" stereo system, there's a good chance you won't be able to hear any difference because the speaker suck. Once you use a really good audio system or high quality headphones you can hear a big difference.
I had the chance to use some really good headphones (Sennheiser HD 800 and Denon AH-D7000) and i could easily tell the difference between the file formats. I can easily tell them even on my own soundsystem which is just some HK Audio speakers, an ecler amp and a Pioneer mixer, it's nothing fancy, nothing 'audiophile' but MP3 sounds bad.
You can easily spot MP3 (though it gets difficult with 320 files) if you know the songs and can hear the subtle stuff. MP3 uses auditory masking, basically deleting everything that is either 'too low in volume' or masked by louder music or uses higher frequencies. Also MP3 has a problem with frequencies about 14KHz and it gets even easier if you listen to some classical music from a real orchestra.

I think the sad thing is that most people by now are just accustomed to the sound of MP3. They use their iPods (with the crappy smurf poo earphones that come with it), their cheap PC Speakers or watch teenagers on a bus using their cell phone as a boom box and think it sounds great. Then there's the loudness War (and a lot of people think Metallicas Death Magnetic sounds 'awesome') and you get compressed music everywhere. Video games use compressed music (either MP3 or OGG), the Xbox 360 uses compressed music in a very low quality (192 kbit/s WMA).
And of course a lot of people just damaged their hearing. With loud concerts or constant listening to loud music over headphones (especially when using those crappy in ear plugs) it's no wonder most people can't tell the difference anymore. They don't hear from 20Hz to 20KHz anymore but maybe only 1 KHz to 13KHz with a constant tinnitus in the background

Overall, the MP3 thing is just the same as DivX videos. A lot of people are actually happy with the picture 'quality' they get on those pirate streaming sites. I remember my friends downloading movies in DivX with 700 MB and you had those big pixels and so many flaws, but they were happy with it and thought it was great.
I'm not saying that Audio CDs are the best format, they are not, but they are still miles ahead of the destructive compression formats. It's a shame that neither SACD nor DVD-Audio got a real chance on the market. They sound really great.

thejokeriv wrote:

I have a Kindle Fire, I use it to read books and surf the net when I am away from home. Much cheaper than an I-Fad and does everything I need

I want to try out a tablet. Reading, surfing and videos is what I'd be using it for. I would love an iPad but just like a lot of other people, I can't afford it.

Kindle Fire is what I've been leaning towards. How is the websurfing? Do you find it's manageable to actually get on a forum or anything like that? I know the Fire 2 is rumored to be coming out later this spring with a 9 or 10" screen so I'm holding off for now until a date/price is announced.

Thinking of getting a cheap little notebook as well because all I really do is websurf anyway and I'm tired of not being able to relax while on the computer (I have a desktop)!

Metal Misfit wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

I have a Kindle Fire, I use it to read books and surf the net when I am away from home. Much cheaper than an I-Fad and does everything I need

I want to try out a tablet. Reading, surfing and videos is what I'd be using it for. I would love an iPad but just like a lot of other people, I can't afford it.

Kindle Fire is what I've been leaning towards. How is the websurfing? Do you find it's manageable to actually get on a forum or anything like that? I know the Fire 2 is rumored to be coming out later this spring with a 9 or 10" screen so I'm holding off for now until a date/price is announced.

Thinking of getting a cheap little notebook as well because all I really do is websurf anyway and I'm tired of not being able to relax while on the computer (I have a desktop)!

I'd wait for the bigger Kindle Fire 2, but I am really happy with it. I have posted here using it lots of times. The web surfing is fine, no issues. Plus, for people like me that needed glasses to read small print when they hit 40, you can enlarge the web pages so you can read the small print. I can actually read books on the Kindle without my glasses.

how is the kindle with playing music? Can you put your own on it?

The thing about the Thrive is it has USB, mini usb, sdcard slots whereas apple has none.

exact33 wrote:

how is the kindle with playing music? Can you put your own on it?

The thing about the Thrive is it has USB, mini usb, sdcard slots whereas apple has none.

Haven't used it for music, I use my 160GB ipod for that

I have an iPad 2 and my family fight over daily. About the only time I get on my desktop computer now is to do real work. I think this thing ( posting from it now) is the coolest thing to come around in a long time.