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Damn Apple..a fence sitter's dilemma

Almost ready to make the'move'...Buy the Mac mini, go with a firewire dac (seems to make more sense to my computer illiterate brain), decided on a simplified Raid backup, still worrying over format to rip cd's....And now Apple introduces a new connectivity mode : Thunderbolt. A zillion times faster than USB 2 and Firewire 800, single connectivity with audio, video, data, etc., and a whole lot of other things I don't understand.
Sure, it's only in the MBP's introduced this week, not the Mini; but trickle down is their modus operondi. Sure, I should get off the fence and make a move 'cause there will always be the next great thing coming down the pipe, but I sure hate to spend my pennies and be obsolete in 16 months. Whaddya' think?
farmdoc
jsd52756
420 posts
 
Bob; Dont feel bad, I've seen YMMV a plethora of times on A/Gon and havn't a clue what it means...
-John
darkj's avatar
darkj
150 posts
 
Um, what's to wait for. In addition to Thunderbolt, you need a Thunderbolt capable DAC. I can see getting the MBP (Macbook Pro) instead of the Mini as a home machine simply because it's nice to have a screen without turning on the huge Plasma, but I wouldn't wait for a Thunderbolt DAC. You'd miss out on at least a year's worth of enjoyment.
farmdoc OP
45 posts
 
Some of the later posts illustrate my confusion...two contributors, both of whom probably understand Macs/computers by a factor of 100 better than I, offer two different formats as the best for ripping cd's to a HD: Aiff vs. Apple Lessloss. Browsing computer audiophile sites, discussion groups, etc. the dicotomy of opinions is rampart; and I remain confused (since I am not very computer literate) about which format to use. I would hate to spend the time/energy to rip 600 cds only to find it is the lesser of formats to use.
mmike84
309 posts
 
Lossless formats can be converted other lossless formats. There is some debate is Apple Lossless is really lossless. Wav or Aiff are bigger files because there is less compression and therefore are a safer choice.
farmdoc OP
45 posts
 
Well, that's helpful, and succint.

Thanks, Mmike84
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