mac questions

toasterman

Hi guys,
I might be in the market for a new computer in the next 6 months or so, and I'm considering a mac because I like the sound of leopard.

I also prefer the interface layout.. so much so I've installed Objectdock (which is a kinda copy of the shortcut thing you get on a mac at the bottom of the screen.. and moved my Windows start button to the top.

However - I have a few questions about macs..
1. Do you have to defragment?
I've never heard any mac users mention doing it, but loads of windows users have no idea they have to do it either, and I don't deal with a lot of macs in my day-to-day work.

2. Is there anything for sound editing that works like cooledit/adobe audition/goldwave? These products seem quite similar but I tried audacity on windows and its very basic. I guess the mac version is the same.
I've seen screenshots of garageband on a mac, and it looks like a multitracker - can you use it for editing recordings, fading music in/out, cutting bits, maybe a bit of hiss/pop removal? I also use the "mix paste" option from adobe audition a lot.
Whats the mac equivalent, or does garageband do all these things?

3. Is it similar to windows to record your own output? i.e. I play bbc listen again, and record 'stereo master' in Audition, so I can listen again later to Siobhan Donaghy live at any point in the future I like. Is this just as easy to do on a mac?

4. Is there anything for cataloguing music? I have some software on windows at the moment called "whereisit".. that lets me search my music collection.. track names, artists, album names, full id3 tags, etc.. and find things. I use it because I do a bit of hospital and community radio and if I'm looking for music related to what I'm going to be doing, its useful. Anything thats good for this on a mac? Somerthing that let me add keywords to my radio show recordings would be amazing.

5. I use openoffice on windows - I know its available for mac, but apparently its not the same. Is it still in beta, or just missing a few bells and whistles from the windows/linux versions?

6. Would I be right in thinking the mac equivalent of nero is toast? Do Macs come with any software that does the same job?

I use flash, dreamweaver, firefox, thunderbird, limewire, bit torrent, and am between ftp clients - a quick google search tells me these are all available for mac. My printer i bought recently has drivers for windows and mac and the same for my new digital camera. My mobile phone (k800i) just shows as an extra drive letter in windows and linux so I guess its the same on a mac. I haven't got anything else hardware wise it has to work with.

BigBouncyBall

toasterman wrote: »

Hi guys,
I might be in the market for a new computer in the next 6 months or so, and I'm considering a mac because I like the sound of leopard. OUT IN OCTOBER

I also prefer the interface layout.. so much so I've installed Objectdock (which is a kinda copy of the shortcut thing you get on a mac at the bottom of the screen.. and moved my Windows start button to the top. - NICE

However - I have a few questions about macs..
1. Do you have to defragment?
I've never heard any mac users mention doing it, but loads of windows users have no idea they have to do it either, and I don't deal with a lot of macs in my day-to-day work.

Nope - built on unix platform the files organize themselves properly anyway. OS X runs maintenance scripts in the background to keep on top too - also can download things like "cocktail" than perform maintenance like that

2. Is there anything for sound editing that works like cooledit/adobe audition/goldwave? These products seem quite similar but I tried audacity on windows and its very basic. I guess the mac version is the same.
I've seen screenshots of garageband on a mac, and it looks like a multitracker - can you use it for editing recordings, fading music in/out, cutting bits, maybe a bit of hiss/pop removal? I also use the "mix paste" option from adobe audition a lot.
Whats the mac equivalent, or does garageband do all these things?

Garageband and Audacity (free d/l) are what you need here

3. Is it similar to windows to record your own output? i.e. I play bbc listen again, and record 'stereo master' in Audition, so I can listen again later to Siobhan Donaghy live at any point in the future I like. Is this just as easy to do on a mac?

A program called AudioHijack (~$10 but WELL worth it) will do this - records as BIG AIFF files - will need to convert to MP3 either with iTunes or audacity

4. Is there anything for cataloguing music? I have some software on windows at the moment called "whereisit".. that lets me search my music collection.. track names, artists, album names, full id3 tags, etc.. and find things. I use it because I do a bit of hospital and community radio and if I'm looking for music related to what I'm going to be doing, its useful. Anything thats good for this on a mac? Somerthing that let me add keywords to my radio show recordings would be amazing.

iTunes should do ALL of this and more!

5. I use openoffice on windows - I know its available for mac, but apparently its not the same. Is it still in beta, or just missing a few bells and whistles from the windows/linux versions?

Not sure sorry - i use Microsoft Office which is a bit buggy but does the job most of the time

6. Would I be right in thinking the mac equivalent of nero is toast? Do Macs come with any software that does the same job?

No need for burning software - you create "Burn Folders" to do simple things like burning files to a backup disk say - iTunes handles burning of CD's itself

I use flash, dreamweaver, firefox, thunderbird, limewire, bit torrent, and am between ftp clients - a quick google search tells me these are all available for mac. My printer i bought recently has drivers for windows and mac and the same for my new digital camera. My mobile phone (k800i) just shows as an extra drive letter in windows and linux so I guess its the same on a mac. I haven't got anything else hardware wise it has to work with.

Avoid limewire - its getting buggy and full of crap files(!) - use Transmission (free d/l) for BitTorrent (LEGAL FILES ONLY, eh? )

Other hardware works fine - all printer drivers are easy just plug in and takes 30 seconds to set up and you'll be printing with in a minute - i've got a k800i too and no probs with syncing files with it either

Good luck with it - enjoy your mac. Wait until october for the new OS mind. there should be harware updates by then too.

any other q's just ask!

Asus_Mobo

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

Avoid limewire - its getting buggy and full of crap files(!)

Thats baloney, limewire itself is ok its what you download thats full of junk.

BigBouncyBall

Asus_Mobo wrote: »

Thats baloney, limewire itself is ok its what you download thats full of junk.

yeh i think you're right actually! lol

I don't bother with limewire anymore - it's ok for the odd track but for 79p itunes is much easier.

superscaper

The forum rules prohibit discussing p2p programs.

toasterman

Thanks for the info BBB.
Yes I was disappointed to hear leopard has been delayed because of staff being switched to the iPhone. Still it'll give me longer to save up.

I won't be buying Ms Office for it - I think from the amount I use word/excel, I can probably get away with whatever openoffice/neooffice is like. Failing that, theres always google docs - which I find myself using more and more lately as I can access all my documents from anywhere.



Just a couple more questions below:

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

No need for burning software - you create "Burn Folders" to do simple things like burning files to a backup disk say - iTunes handles burning of CD's itself

Will OSX burn .iso files and do straight copies of discs?
Ripping cd albums would be an itunes job I guess.
And would I be right in thinking dvd playback is included? No powerdvd or windvd or anything required to play discs?

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

all printer drivers are easy just plug in and takes 30 seconds to set up and you'll be printing with in a minute

My printer is currently connected to another computer via usb - on windows xp. Can I print to it from a mac, or will I have to move it to my new machine?

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

A program called AudioHijack (~$10 but WELL worth it) will do this - records as BIG AIFF files - will need to convert to MP3 either with iTunes or audacity

Thats very good. Just googled for that and it will record from individual programs. Thats better than I have now because at the moment when email comes into Thunderbird, if I'm recording I get the "new mail" sound on my recording.



** New questions **

MSN:
90% of my friends online use MSN messenger. I prefer Trillian though, plus I can also talk to the odd 1-2 friends I have on Yahoo and AIM.
A quick google search for instant messaging on os x gives me something called Adium. Is it any good?


FTP Clients:
I've tried a few FTP clients on Windows and most are pretty rubbish. Have you used any on OS X you could recommend?
I read online about one-click blog and podcasting features, but I have a domain and hosting elsewhere I'm quite happy with, and it says you need to be using a .mac account to use those.


Video editing:
I have a homebrew PVR (running windows xp, which will probably remain that way) which records tv shows for me to big mpeg2 files (about 2gb an hour).
I'd like to be able to edit these - just to remove commercials from things I intend to keep, and this has become very complicated on Windows.
I think Windows Movie Maker will do it, but it will only save the files back in windows media or avi format afterwards. I want to keep it as mpeg2 so it is playable in any standalone dvd player, or at least burn as a dvd.

I've got a thing that cuts bits from mpeg2 files and rejoins them but the preview doesn't work half the time so you don't know where to cut.
At the moment I have to run it through something which separates out the audio and video streams, then another program which lets me edit blocks i want to keep (but not join them together), then save each block like that number 1-4 for example as mpeg2 files again, and burn them back to a dvd.
Does iMovie do this, or does it insist you save in Quicktime as its the preferred mac format?

Thanks for all your help with these questions.

BigBouncyBall

toasterman wrote: »

Just a couple more questions below:


Will OSX burn .iso files and do straight copies of discs?
Ripping cd albums would be an itunes job I guess.
And would I be right in thinking dvd playback is included? No powerdvd or windvd or anything required to play discs?

Yes it will.... I've done it myself before. I think its straight forward - cant quite remember. a quick google of "burning .iso mac os x" should give you a guide of sorts

Yes DVD playback is really easy - has own DVD player included with all codecs and all that nonsense.

Download VLC player (free) to to cope with anything DVD player/quicktime can't

My printer is currently connected to another computer via usb - on windows xp. Can I print to it from a mac, or will I have to move it to my new machine?

Wireless printing? Just don't go there - Mac/Windows/Linux/Other all struggle with wireless printing (*cue disagreers*). Print server an option? Maybe. TBH its so easy to create a PDF (cmd-P>print to PDF) and email it and print from elsewhere thats what i tend to do.


Thats very good. Just googled for that and it will record from individual programs. Thats better than I have now because at the moment when email comes into Thunderbird, if I'm recording I get the "new mail" sound on my recording.

Yes AudioHijack is a fantastic program - well worth the money i use it weekly.

** New questions **

MSN:
90% of my friends online use MSN messenger. I prefer Trillian though, plus I can also talk to the odd 1-2 friends I have on Yahoo and AIM.
A quick google search for instant messaging on os x gives me something called Adium. Is it any good?

Hmmmm. It's ok i spose. You can use Apple's iChat (included) and the Jabber servers to connect to all services (MSN, AIM, yahoo etc) - google it for a guide. I dont use those much.

FTP Clients:
I've tried a few FTP clients on Windows and most are pretty rubbish. Have you used any on OS X you could recommend?
I read online about one-click blog and podcasting features, but I have a domain and hosting elsewhere I'm quite happy with, and it says you need to be using a .mac account to use those.

There's something called cyberduck or ciderduck or smthg that is supposed to be good - dont venture into that world myself

Video editing:
I have a homebrew PVR (running windows xp, which will probably remain that way) which records tv shows for me to big mpeg2 files (about 2gb an hour).
I'd like to be able to edit these - just to remove commercials from things I intend to keep, and this has become very complicated on Windows.
I think Windows Movie Maker will do it, but it will only save the files back in windows media or avi format afterwards. I want to keep it as mpeg2 so it is playable in any standalone dvd player, or at least burn as a dvd.

I've got a thing that cuts bits from mpeg2 files and rejoins them but the preview doesn't work half the time so you don't know where to cut.
At the moment I have to run it through something which separates out the audio and video streams, then another program which lets me edit blocks i want to keep (but not join them together), then save each block like that number 1-4 for example as mpeg2 files again, and burn them back to a dvd.
Does iMovie do this, or does it insist you save in Quicktime as its the preferred mac format?

eeek - not sure. iMovie is a very flexible piece of software, but the next thing up, final cut express might be better (not cheap) **see below for d/l's

Thanks for all your help with these questions.

I think a lot of little programs that might help you with these various media applications can be found on

https://www.freemacware.com

great site and is a goldmine of useful little programs that are carefully reviewed/tested before so aren't lemons.

You see another thing people don't realise is that although macs are more expensive than a dell or smthg they come with a hell of a lot of useful software that you'd normally have to pay another ~£300 on all the stuff you'd need for a windows pc (movie editors, sound editors, photo packages etc)

toasterman

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

Wireless printing? Just don't go there - Mac/Windows/Linux/Other all struggle with wireless printing (*cue disagreers*). Print server an option? Maybe. TBH its so easy to create a PDF (cmd-P>print to PDF) and email it and print from elsewhere thats what i tend to do.

No no.. not wireless. Its cabled - I've got a network running around my house. At the moment I'm on pc01 say. My printer is plugged into pc02. To add it in windows, I just browse to pc02, select the printer and connect.. and it works. I guess this is possible if one of them is a mac..[/quote]

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

Download VLC player (free) to to cope with anything DVD player/quicktime can't

I should have known. I've used VLC on windows and linux and while it doesn't have the slickest curviest interface, it does play absolutely everything.

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

I think a lot of little programs that might help you with these various media applications can be found on
www.freemacware.com

Thanks for that. I like to think I'm quite knowledgable in the ways of windows, but I've not got a clue where to use/trust in the mac world...and as I work in windows IT support, everyone I know is just as clueless about macs.

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

You see another thing people don't realise is that although macs are more expensive than a dell or smthg they come with a hell of a lot of useful software that you'd normally have to pay another ~£300 on all the stuff you'd need for a windows pc (movie editors, sound editors, photo packages etc)

You're quite right. As I say, I work in windows IT support, and copies/hacks of windows software are easily available if you know where to look - but I'm trying to stay legit.

A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to see a guy have a problem with his mac (they DO crash..sometimes). It wouldn't boot at all. So he got out some restore discs, and reloaded OSX. Once he'd done that, all his software he had prior to the crash...worked. He hadn't lost anything - nothing else needed reinstalling afterwards...it was like it had never died. I guess there's no equivalent of the windows registry on a mac?

Macs are hard to compare to windows pcs because theres no cheap ones..you either have the expensive stylish ones, or nothing. It'd be like if you could only buy the Sony Vaio end of the pc market (except vaios aren't particularly reliable).

I was supporting the pc department of a company once and a guy in the mac section asked me to swap some ram from a g5 to another g5 for him..thought i'd give it a go, opened it and the thing was so well built I couldn't believe it. No sharp metal edges, proper slots for everything, not a bit of dust thanks to some clever kind of..almost...air-lock..system.

Upgrading would mean either Vista or OSX (i've tried linux a lot of times, but the sound components in it, "Jack" etc... are too fiddly and hardware manufacturer support just isn't good enough..it seems to be 90% hit and miss whether your particular configuration works).
Windows Vista has put in an improved movie maker, photo editor, etc.. but it still lacks anything for editing sound as far as I can see...and adobe seem reluctant to say whether things will or won't work in vista. Adobe Audition 1 or 2 don't support aero, so as soon as you open it, all your expensive pretty transparency disappears. Ditto for trillian. And working in windows support, it's annoyed me they've renamed half of the features, and moved everything about. I might get paid during the day to fix computer problems,
but I'd rather not get bogged down in phone calls asking me where something has gone that was there on the old one.
And at night I'd rather just come home and have it work.

I'm sold on OSX...I've got 4 months to save the money for my mac, and perhaps more importantly, decide whether to go for a mac mini or an imac or a macbook or what. Tiny impossibly small pc with separate screen..or all in one impressively small imac. Or maybe I want to carry a macbook and make people jealous when I'm out and about...


Thanks again for all your help BBB

Nickygoat

toasterman wrote: »

Thanks for the info BBB.
Yes I was disappointed to hear leopard has been delayed because of staff being switched to the iPhone. Still it'll give me longer to save up.

I won't be buying Ms Office for it - I think from the amount I use word/excel, I can probably get away with whatever openoffice/neooffice is like. Failing that, theres always google docs - which I find myself using more and more lately as I can access all my documents from anywhere.



Just a couple more questions below:


Will OSX burn .iso files and do straight copies of discs?
Ripping cd albums would be an itunes job I guess.
And would I be right in thinking dvd playback is included? No powerdvd or windvd or anything required to play discs?


My printer is currently connected to another computer via usb - on windows xp. Can I print to it from a mac, or will I have to move it to my new machine?




Thats very good. Just googled for that and it will record from individual programs. Thats better than I have now because at the moment when email comes into Thunderbird, if I'm recording I get the "new mail" sound on my recording.



** New questions **

MSN:
90% of my friends online use MSN messenger. I prefer Trillian though, plus I can also talk to the odd 1-2 friends I have on Yahoo and AIM.
A quick google search for instant messaging on os x gives me something called Adium. Is it any good?


FTP Clients:
I've tried a few FTP clients on Windows and most are pretty rubbish. Have you used any on OS X you could recommend?
I read online about one-click blog and podcasting features, but I have a domain and hosting elsewhere I'm quite happy with, and it says you need to be using a .mac account to use those.


Video editing:
I have a homebrew PVR (running windows xp, which will probably remain that way) which records tv shows for me to big mpeg2 files (about 2gb an hour).
I'd like to be able to edit these - just to remove commercials from things I intend to keep, and this has become very complicated on Windows.
I think Windows Movie Maker will do it, but it will only save the files back in windows media or avi format afterwards. I want to keep it as mpeg2 so it is playable in any standalone dvd player, or at least burn as a dvd.

I've got a thing that cuts bits from mpeg2 files and rejoins them but the preview doesn't work half the time so you don't know where to cut.
At the moment I have to run it through something which separates out the audio and video streams, then another program which lets me edit blocks i want to keep (but not join them together), then save each block like that number 1-4 for example as mpeg2 files again, and burn them back to a dvd.
Does iMovie do this, or does it insist you save in Quicktime as its the preferred mac format?

Thanks for all your help with these questions.

OSX will burn .iso files through Disk Util Link.

Adium is good enough. It's usually a generation behind Messenger in terms of features but it's good enough.

Try Cyberduck or Transmit for FTP clients.

You won't get a homebrew PVR on OSX, but eyeTV will do all of that for you. Starts at £60 and will output MPEG 2.
It offers you the option of cutting out all the ads in one go, and will give you a preview. iMovie won't do this sadly.

OpenOffice is good enough,providing you don't need advanced Excel functions. TextEdit (built in) will read and write Word documents. Be aware that OpenOffice needs X11 (a free download from Apple) to run whereas Neo Office runs natively. I haven't used Neo so I can't offer an opinion.

iTunes will do all that you require in terms of cataloguing music but for sheer goodness have a look at Delicious Library. £20 but well worth it

toasterman

Nickygoat wrote: »

OSX will burn .iso files through Disk Util Link.

Adium is good enough. It's usually a generation behind Messenger in terms of features but it's good enough.

Try Cyberduck or Transmit for FTP clients.

You won't get a homebrew PVR on OSX, but eyeTV will do all of that for you. Starts at £60 and will output MPEG 2.
It offers you the option of cutting out all the ads in one go, and will give you a preview. iMovie won't do this sadly.

OpenOffice is good enough,providing you don't need advanced Excel functions. TextEdit (built in) will read and write Word documents. Be aware that OpenOffice needs X11 (a free download from Apple) to run whereas Neo Office runs natively. I haven't used Neo so I can't offer an opinion.

iTunes will do all that you require in terms of cataloguing music but for sheer goodness have a look at Delicious Library. £20 but well worth it

Cheers Nickygoat for all that.
A generation behind MSN messenger in terms of features sounds great - can chat without the interruption of the new features I never use.

I've got a whole separate PVR system...running windows xp and gbpvr - doesn't do anything else - so I'm happy with that system for recording - its taken a long time matching hardware with encoders and decoders and transmitters and stuff to get it working - so I think I'll leave that as it is. It was just some software to edit adverts from the resulting mpeg2 files is all I wanted.

That delicious library looks very clever. As I don't have a mac at the moment though, I think I'll go for the iTunes option and import everything into it. Have started already. I always thought iTunes converted everything you imported into some weird protected format but it seemingly doesn't. I could have done this a long time ago.

BigBouncyBall

Sorry for late reply i've been banging my head against a brick wall with studentphil all day.

toasterman wrote: »

No no.. not wireless. Its cabled - I've got a network running around my house. At the moment I'm on pc01 say. My printer is plugged into pc02. To add it in windows, I just browse to pc02, select the printer and connect.. and it works. I guess this is possible if one of them is a mac..

Yes printing in parallel with windows is no problem


I should have known. I've used VLC on windows and linux and while it doesn't have the slickest curviest interface, it does play absolutely everything.


Thanks for that. I like to think I'm quite knowledgable in the ways of windows, but I've not got a clue where to use/trust in the mac world...and as I work in windows IT support, everyone I know is just as clueless about macs.


You're quite right. As I say, I work in windows IT support, and copies/hacks of windows software are easily available if you know where to look - but I'm trying to stay legit.

A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to see a guy have a problem with his mac (they DO crash..sometimes). It wouldn't boot at all. So he got out some restore discs, and reloaded OSX. Once he'd done that, all his software he had prior to the crash...worked. He hadn't lost anything - nothing else needed reinstalling afterwards...it was like it had never died. I guess there's no equivalent of the windows registry on a mac?

Macs are hard to compare to windows pcs because theres no cheap ones..you either have the expensive stylish ones, or nothing. It'd be like if you could only buy the Sony Vaio end of the pc market (except vaios aren't particularly reliable).

I was supporting the pc department of a company once and a guy in the mac section asked me to swap some ram from a g5 to another g5 for him..thought i'd give it a go, opened it and the thing was so well built I couldn't believe it. No sharp metal edges, proper slots for everything, not a bit of dust thanks to some clever kind of..almost...air-lock..system.

Upgrading would mean either Vista or OSX (i've tried linux a lot of times, but the sound components in it, "Jack" etc... are too fiddly and hardware manufacturer support just isn't good enough..it seems to be 90% hit and miss whether your particular configuration works).
Windows Vista has put in an improved movie maker, photo editor, etc.. but it still lacks anything for editing sound as far as I can see...and adobe seem reluctant to say whether things will or won't work in vista. Adobe Audition 1 or 2 don't support aero, so as soon as you open it, all your expensive pretty transparency disappears. Ditto for trillian. And working in windows support, it's annoyed me they've renamed half of the features, and moved everything about. I might get paid during the day to fix computer problems,
but I'd rather not get bogged down in phone calls asking me where something has gone that was there on the old one.
And at night I'd rather just come home and have it work.

I'm sold on OSX...I've got 4 months to save the money for my mac, and perhaps more importantly, decide whether to go for a mac mini or an imac or a macbook or what. Tiny impossibly small pc with separate screen..or all in one impressively small imac. Or maybe I want to carry a macbook and make people jealous when I'm out and about...

Decisions, decisions...i'd go for an imac, nice way to start. That is if you don't need portability.

Thanks again for all your help BBB

No probs, glad to have helped - final point if you ever need help on something just add the words "os x" to your google search and you'll get a host of articles helping you out with specific apple issues

[/QUOTE]