Well for every new release posted there are a ton of out of print albums posted or albums that are expensive imports. If somehow media companies would provide better audio samples for new releases we wouldn't have so many people who feel they need to send samples to friends to help them decide if it is any good. 90% of the time people I know download not so much to save buying anything but to avoid buying stuff that turns out to be shit. Before the internet, it was common to buy stuff based on friend's recommendations and familiarity with the artist but people now want to expand their horizons and try before they buy. And if the only thing stopping them from doing so is a threat of a low probability of getting sued for downloading, they do it in a heartbeat. Sure there are people out there who don't want to buy ANYTHING but give them a year or two of downloading stuff and they will realize that they should support the creators and will eventually do so when they have money. Every person I know who now buys as much as they can afford used to download indiscriminately and eventually wised up and decided to start buying the content. Then we would instead have filesharing limited to the stuff that is hard to buy new and/or sold out completely and only available on the secondary market. This material should be shared freely because it is better to download it for free than pay far more than retail price for it.

Why would I stop using a great service that provides me moderate protection in my online transactions simply because they do something I don't like? That is like ignoring movies of an actor you enjoy just because he does something stupid in his private life. The two are completely unrelated and to deprive yourself of the pleasure in protest makes no difference but simply makes you feel better.

The funny thing is you can still buy singles for the most part in Japan and most artists have at least four singles out before each album. The majority of these singles are featured in anime shows so it is easy to get a taste of the new direction a group is going down before the new album is released. Of course in Japan you can rent a CD from a store like blockbuster to listen to it before you buy it if you wanted. It is only because we don't have such a system in the US that we are forced to download stuff first. I buy most of my music from small soundtrack labels putting out old Hollywood scores and metal bands in Europe where they still write good music. Some bands blow me away with their samples posted from a new album enough that I buy it but most of the time I wait to listen first. These bands don't do the mainstream fail of one or two decent songs per disc and if I like the band I like the full albums. I've bought the occasional American metal/rock album as well but the bands good enough to support are few and far between.

Yeah but it's a lot higher quality than the usual mp3s we get. Sure it isn't 24 bit audio like you could be getting if it was made direct to a DVD but lossless ripped from a CD is far superior to digital download files from itunes.

Actually I bought around 60 physical CDs combined this year because buying a physical CD is most often the only way to get lossless quality audio. I also paid to download lossless files of a couple of releases and would do so for all my music if it was an option.

Looks similar to the UDAC. Should work nice for an entry level.

On a budget, you can go with the NuForce uDAC2 that supports 24 bit audio and can output to headphones, RCA, or digital coaxial. I use it for all my audio on the PC and it works great on those laptops where you have little choice on the soundcard. Laptops are the best example of the terrible sound of interference if you plug your headphones direct into the sound card so need the DAC the most. It is also small and portable so easy to switch between devices.

Yes so because I can't hear the difference means I should pay for less quality. If MP3s were $5.00 per album or so then it would be worth paying for. However, when you buy a CD you can make a lossless rip for your proper setup and a mp3 rip for your portable listening. I think the main reason Apple doesn't put out an option for lossless is that they would have to sell the normal lossy itunes files for cheaper because nobody would pay more than $9.99 for lossless downloads of the same music. Plenty of bands have an option to buy a lossless download of their album for $9.99.

Well actually online stores are the exclusive way to purchase some sorts of goods now. I could certainly do without Amazon though because I have specialty stores for different things. Want to buy new metal? Why go to amazon when I can buy it from CDINZANE. Want to buy some new soundtracks, buy direct from the label or through screen archives entertainment. I would have a hell of a time finding the music I want in stores whether I go to best buy or barnes and noble and if they did stock it they would charge a hell of a lot more for it.

FM radio also sounds like shit. The audio quality is so terrible it isn't worth it even if they played good music.

Exactly. Every time my dad tries to tell me that I am wasting my time playing video games, I point out that he is wasting time watching sports and getting mad at things he has no control over.

Yes an un-skippable video ad in a video game is not a good thing. I would probably end up boycotting the publisher if I found out such things were in a game I bought. However, I can see the advertisements on free e-books to be more akin to magazines where you have ads every other page which I wouldn't mind. Throughout 700 page book they could show me quite a few advertisements and I wouldn't complain.

Exactly so even your positive review of 3D notes what most people are mentioning, the lack of quality content available in 3D that is worthwhile. I would love to play Samurai Warriors 3 or Sengoku Basara 3 in 3D if I had a 3DTV but since the games I play aren't in 3D yet, I am not too excited to buy one. Probably in a couple of years if it becomes standard for video games I'll buy one and go from SDTV to HD3DTV and die from awesome!

Well now you don't even need to go more than a year or two behind new releases. God of War 3, FFXIII and many other big titles that came out earlier this year are now available through Gamefly's used game sales for $20 or so and they haven't even been out an entire year. I only buy a game new if I know that I am going to get tons of hours of gameplay out of it.

Also who uses laptops on their lap for extended periods of time really? I always use my laptop at a desk like it should be.