Apple won for one reason, iTunes. their PC transfer and management interface did not SUCK horribly like every other mp3 player out there.

Even now the software to manager and transfer your music on non apple ipods sucks horribly. the first thing I did with my iRiver was the firmware change to make it a USB drive so I could avoid their garbage software for music transfer.

But you're right. Pre-iPod, almost no one had MP3 players. Before iTunes, almost no one bought music online.

Really... The sales of the Diamond Rio PMP300 were very high, but the RIAA tried to kill the mp3 player by suing them hard and getting injunctions on sales. Other companies started making players, iRiver being one tiny startup that still makes one of the best players out there. The RIAA and Diamond would eventually settle their differences in August 1999, but by then Rio was a household name, especially among internet users busily sharing MP3 music on the internet using newly created peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing software.

A lot of people I worked with had the PMP300 in 1999-2000 as many as I know that have ipods today.

And it makes adult men cry when they watch the odo roll from 149999 to 150000 on a car they bough new 3 years ago... God I need to move closer to work....

HA!

Gas will be over $3.00 a gallon soon enough. it's been creeping up ever since that mess. It's simply that the oil companies discovered that big jumps will get americans freaking out and actually conserving. but if you raise it by 0.02-0.03 a month they dont notice.

Linux can run the majority of hardware. in fact it runs more devices than Windows Vista or 7 can use.

Dont believe me? I've got 5 scanners that are not Vista or 7 compatible, yet hey work perfectly under linux.

And also abandoned a large swath of users.

I love my mac, but I am pissed that they flipped all us PPC hardware owners the bird. Not all of us Apple users have buckets of money laying around.

um bullshit.

90% of all OSX software installs to the applications directory and DO NOT REQUIRE admin password for install.

the only apps that need admin acces are ones that try to install services or files to the system folder.

Did you even use a mac or are you making this stuff up? Because in the last 5 years of OSX use at home and work I have NEVER ran into what you are talking about except for highly system invasive apps.

Yup if Modern Warfare 2 was realistic, nobody would play it past the opening battle. one shot and you're dead... Screw this game, I'm gonna play something else.

Non of these have signed an extradition treaty with the USA. Granted if you are enough of a ass-hat they will simple come get you or send someone to put a bullet in your head. See the countries we have decimated "looking" for Bin Laden. P.S: that took 3 seconds on google to get this list. did you even try?

Bhutan
Botswana
Brunei
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
China
Comoros
Djibouti
Equatorial Guinea
Ethiopia
Gabon
Guinea

Many more, slashdot filters are crappy and cant tell a list from ascii porn. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Which_countries_have_no_extradition_treaties_with_the_United_States

You do know there are countries where you can run to that you cant be extradited from. Problem is 99.99785% of all criminals are too stupid to do that. Hell this specific dork cant stop posting on facebook.

No, amtrak has a problem that their rates make air travel look cheaper.

Amtrak from Kalamazoo, MI to Washington DC $890.00 round trip. I can get a flight from the nearest metro airport to DC for 1/2 that and take 2 days less to get there.

Amtrak is a joke. pay extra for slower travel and disgusting accommodations.. the last Amtrak I rode on was dirty gross..

Amtrak needs to cut their prices by 2/3 to even attract customers.

There is already an express train from Chicago to Detroit. It's just not a high speed train but standard light rail on a heavy rail run.

Right.... tell all the people near the airport that.

Or the people near the mall that was built 3 years ago.

I suggest you actually learn a bit about how often that actually happens in the USA.

If you want to stop buying china products them you need to stop buying any Laptop sold in the USA.

Dont buy Ford, GM or any car made at a car company that has more than 300 employees, Lamborghini does not use any china made components.

you need to buy from a local artisan. BUT WAIT! that metal he/she used could easily be china made. same for the other raw materials.

It is almost 100% impossible to not buy a china made something in the USA.

Bald eagle is not extinct. in fact it's not even endangered. You can eat them. Hell they are almost a pest here in Michigan.