2012 — 23 June: Saturday
I fear I was led astray this morning1 following an ebuyer link to an elderly YouTube clip "demonstrating" the Seagate 500GB Momentus XT hybrid SSD, and its performance up against an SSD, a 7,200 rpm HD and a 10,000 rpm HD. I would probably have got more enjoyment from the closing minutes of Brian Matthew's "Sounds of the 60s" to be honest. Parts of it were a bit like watching paint dry fairly quickly. Good price, though. (Link.)
As I was watching, Brian (¬Matthew) sent me the same link, so I guess he gets the same email newsletter. The video is, however, over two years old, so I suspect the technology has either moved on or become extinct in the time since then. I can't help thinking that attaching an SSD flash drive to the PCI bus is going to be a lot more productive than popping it on the disk controller interface bit of the gubbins. But what do I know? It's nearly a year since I started using a 10,000 rpm Velociraptor as my boot drive.
Besides, you don't get nowhere if you're too hasty, do you? It's now a slightly disgraceful 11:10 and time for my next cuppa.
Comparisons aren't always odious
Having been lent a set of lossless FLAC files, I converted them into VBR MP3s at the highest bit-rate so I could then compare them to the quality of that third "Imagined Village" album that I recently downloaded from Amazon's MP3 store. The conversion process took just over a minute, and I have to say I simply cannot detect any significant difference in perceived quality, though there is a substantial difference in the total file size.
Here's the detail for just one track — #4: "The Guvna":
| File Format | Size (MB) | Playing time | Bitrate (Kbps) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MP3 | 11.4 | 6' 9" | ~260 | |||
| FLAC | 41.3 | 6' 9" | 939 | |||
| WAV | 62.0 | 6' 9" | 1411 |
The MP3 download version of the album clocks in at 98MB, give or take. The FLAC files tot up to 372MB or so. And converting them back to 16-bit stereo WAV format (as on the original CD) took less than 10 seconds to generate 560MB. (55 minutes and 32 seconds playing time.)
Time (14:26) for a spot of lunch, methinks. Then I shall 'fess up to Mr Postie's morning delivery (beyond, that is, news of dear Mama's latest win from Uncle ERNIE).
Having had the...
... wotsit scared out of me as a schoolboy when I first read Charles Eric Maine's superb 1962 SF novel "The Darkest of Nights"...
... I live in hope (and fear, I guess) of one day finding a film that does justice to the same sort of plot. Hence "Contagion"...
And "Haywire"? I saw a trailer for it just the other evening before "Shame" started. Who can dispute the therapeutic effect of an occasional blast of mindless violence? Besides, Steven Soderbergh is usually pretty reliable.
Considerable pause
Well, "Haywire" was excellent. A quick dash to the kettle, then I shall see how infectious "Contagion" is. It's 21:06 and all's well. Mind you, although we've arranged a walk tomorrow, overnight rain will almost certainly necessitate another mostly road-based route, I expect. [Pause] Another excellent film which, as far as I can tell, was remarkably authentic, too. It even made the same point, about the rapidity of evolution of the little perishers, that I made myself in an email to Carol a little over quarter of a century ago...
"Poetry Please" has just yielded my next Amazonian purchase: Snail in my prime by Paul Durcan. And that's on the strength of a single poem ("Sister Agnes Writes to Her Beloved Mother") that made me splutter with delight. And somewhat reminded me of the delicious six-limerick series "Nuns" by James Fenton and John Fuller.
It's both cold, and raining, out there as midnight approaches. G'night.