Cross platform software is a very possible to write, but it requires commitment to a tool that supports it from the beginning. For example, with Java, it really will run anywhere. This is even possible with compiled code. Using C carefully with APIs that run everywhere (like GTK+ instead of WIN32 widgets).

Some programs are just written in languages or using libraries that are toxic to portability, and the only option is to basically re-write them.

All I am saying is give your programmers a break if they are maintaining code... some things are not as simple as hitting a switch to make portable. If portability is important, make it important during initial design and tool selection... not later.

It kind of depends on what language it is written in... Cross platform is easy if you start with something that supports it well, but if you started with C# or some other .NET stuff, it would probably mean rewriting the turd, or at least porting it to a unsupported reverse engineered run-time.

Is XM satellite radio an internet streaming service?

The internet is not involved in any way... hmmm.

Streaming services allow for users to select songs and skip to any position... no XM can not do that either.

XM does not even claim to be a streaming service, but instead a satellite based broadcast radio... that doesn't seem good.

I have often noticed that XM sounded like crap though.

Have you considered that this is only common in regards to your arguments? How many times is a coincidence?

AM radio was restricted to 30khz channels even in its best days, which would mean a maximum frequency response of 15khz. Now it is even lower, something like 10khz. Pretty awful compared to the 22khz that can be expressed by modern digital audio stuff.

Beyond that, AM is antique. It is vulnerable to multipath propagation, and the receivers generally have awful noise rejection.

It would feel warmer because of the implicit low pass filter effect, and more natural because of the terrible SNR. It renders voice in a non-annoying way. Super low bitrate MP3 is poppy and twangy.

Note very carefully that I never mentioned anything about comparisons, or anyone telling the difference between two codecs or signals.

My interpretation is that you are making an argument that is weak, and that you are doing so by discussing situations where lossy encoding is clearly inferior as if they were relevant, when they are not.

Presenting the opposition argument in an overly broad, narrow, or otherwise indefensible manner, is called the straw man fallacy.

To rise above the standard of internet trolling, this discussion must consider formats and bitrates relevant to online streaming, and nothing else.

To be perfectly fair, nobody is talking about bit rates that would be considered low in any universe.

Most streaming services use at least 256kbps, and some use much more. Most streaming services use vastly superior codecs to MP3, such as Vorbis or AAC, that fully eliminate any rational complaint about lossy compression, even at low bitrates (which is irrelevant still, because we are literally only talking about extremely high bitrates).

Nobody has made the claim that lossy compression never perceptively degrades quality. You argument is a straw man.

The whole quote is not on your side here, find it!

Yes, he even considers AM radio better, which is provably false... using math!

For my money, 320kbps Ogg Vorbis is just a *slight touch* better than cassette tapes!

Free: Anyone can get on the bus at any time and use it as an air conditioned adventure ride. Probably the same people that used to stand beside the road.

It would need to be fast, safe, and not infested with creepy weirdos. Free would probably only hurt all three of those things.

I agree that the idea of a ten year sentence is totally absurd, particularly considering the class of crime that you would then need to compare it to (ie. people actually died).

It is unfair to imply that justice in the USA is absurdly excessive... people are tried and sentenced in a court of law, and not Slashdot comments, for a reason. For the misdemeanor charge here there is not even a minimum sentence!

In the case of this guy, there must have been circumstances surrounding his extended stay in prison. Something is unsettling about the wanton but brutal nature of the crime.

Enforcement is a deterrent as well. When law enforcement has the capabilities to find these people, and district attorneys are willing to extradite people, this swatting thing will get much less popular.

In Arizona, there is a rather precise limit, and it is a serious crime. Saying that section B is relevant seriously questions the restraint and professionalism of the raiding police officers, but a class 1 misdemeanor has a 6 month maximum sentence.

13-1201. Endangerment; classification
A. A person commits endangerment by recklessly endangering another person with a substantial risk of imminent death or physical injury.
B. Endangerment involving a substantial risk of imminent death is a class 6 felony. In all other cases, it is a class 1 misdemeanor.