All tech, no personality...

What the hell is wrong with us?

What the hell is wrong with people these days? In particular I'd like to highlight a particular facet of our current society: nerds. First the defenition of nerd and geek:
A nerd is "A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept." A geek is defined by websters as the same thing but they are generally better looked upon than nerds due to a) a better sense of style; b) better grooming and personal health care habits; and c) they have better personalities and know how to interact with other generic carbon units!

Where's this all going? I was just on a site that is a commented techie blog. The problem with all of this? It gives space for the technically, though only sometimes sound, minded people to 'voice their opinion' on a particular news story. Only they aren't always the most intelligent people. One person, for instance, goes off on Sony's MiniDisc technology, stating "Here we go again, In the tradition of the Mini-Disc and other sony-only Proprietary formats, We are presented with yet another "this is the future" format that will flop within its first year..." Yeah, like that's even remotely true. MD is a very viable format. The problem is the i-Pod fever that's bitch-slapped the market-whores and teeny boppers of America. Do I hate i-Pod? Yes, but that's a personal thing. Am I a market whore? No. I'm a brand whore. Sony owns my soul and half of my body, but that's beside the point. I'm still objective.

The American marketing firms would have us believe that you have to have 250 GB on one device to be cool or have any kind of capability to carry music around. And then they put video on such devices. Is it so much to ask to have one fucking device do one fucking thing? And if hard drive type players are so fucking great then why doesn't everybody have a Kenwood Keg? Because it's not worth it. Back to the point...

MiniDisc: Generates shitloads of money for Sony and the other MD makers in the US. And God only knows how much money it makes in Japan. A couple of my friends recently came back from Japan and they made an interesting observation: there were more MD players walking around than there were mp3 players. Hell, even little grandmas were walking around with MD players.

According to them there were very few players on the market and in the shops there that weren't MD players. I've even read tales on the net of people being ostracized for having an mp3 player because the general opinion is that MD players are better. But it's the opposite in America. I have personally been made fun of for not carrying an mp3 player. Then people listen to me and the player for a few minutes. Here's my spiel (and do remember we're talking about Hi-MD players):

MD players cost about $100 - $200 less than the i-Pod. They come with a 1GB disc that is capable of holding (at max compression) approximately 45 hours of music. 1GB discs cost about $8 per. 80 minute discs cost about $10 for a pack of ten, or $1 per disc and hold about 13 1/2 hours of music max. i-Pods hold about 15,000 songs for a 60GB pod, 4 minute average at 128 kbps. The comparable MD format is Hi-LP, 64 k. How much for MD? Well, My player costs about $200. i-Pod 60GB costs about $400. That's about $200 worth of MDs.
Formula: (10.14 (hours approx) * 60 (minutes) / 4 (avg. song length in minutes)) * 200 discs = 30,420 songs. Run it yourself.

What does this have to do with BD?
Nothing. The point is that Sony has had the better tech for years and will continue to do so, considering market trends. The BD format has a higher bit compaction rate allowing for more storage. Better laser technology allows it to stay far ahead of the game. The number and size of studios already onboard, with lists of media ready to go, beats the hell out of HD-DVD.

The worry is that consumers won't buy either technology. Considering the format wars between plus and minus media over the past couple years gives them reason to do so. But that doesn't mean that adoption will be slow. The tech heads always lead the way and input from the geeks trickles down to the average consumer market area. Think people don't listen to guys like me? You're wrong. I spent 4 years in the tech-oriented sales field. I still have contacts within the consumer field who value my input. I see them in stores and they ask my advice. Now they trust me on blu-ray.

Look at the facts from both sides and the independant media and make the decision yourself. I'm just here to tell you that going with HD-DVD over BD is a bad choice. The more viable option, in this case it's honestly blu-ray, is the one that wins.

Enough of that tech stuff
So now it's time for the rant. Nerds. They're not all bad, just most of them. I'm a geek. The difference between myself and a nerd is that I have a sense of style and am good at, and actually enjoy on occasion, interacting with other Homosapiens Sapiens. Nerds on the other hand have poor hygeine, bad manners, and are 'wiring closet gnomes'. Don't get me wrong, I like the wiring closet. But I like to leave it and go enjoy the burning ball of death... on occasion.

The people I meet in message boards like the one above are spread in to these two categories. There's always a split when it comes to tech. xBox vs. PS (duh, PS is better. Fuck you if you don't think so you damn jock.) Jock vs. Nerd (I've been both and don't like either.) Gamer vs. Athelete (again, I've been both and gamers are a hell of a lot more intelligent. I've made my choice.) etc...

I'll not ask if we can all just get along. I'll just ask that the nerds shut the fuck up until they can articulate their thoughts better and the geeks to keep the bullshit down. We all love to do it, some of us are good at it and the rest are just dumb.

And the next person who calls me a biggot is going to get the tongue lashing of a lifetime. Not my fault that your world is black and white.

Believe it or not there is a grey area. That's where I live, I know it well and it gives me excellent perspective.

Links
Blu-ray official site
MiniDisc info site
The xBox deserves this. I'll watch later for the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Revolution just for fun.

Beware what you do and watch what you say. I practice my thoughts carefully so as to offend completely.