[ScRyX]

Hi,
so the time has come for me to buy a new notebook for college(I am gonna study computer science)
One candidate is a macbook pro(the other is a Sony VAIO F series). However I haven't worked with OSX that much(I own an iPhone and love it and that's why I would like to try Apple again) and that's why I'm asking you guys here. I really love the software that I use currently for music playing, ripping, tag editing etc....and would like to know wheter I can find adequate alternatives for OSX.
Maybe some of you have switched from windows and could answer my silly questions. I have heard that Mac computers are better suited for media playback, is that true? Will it be easier for me to manage my music on a Mac? Is iTunes the only option? (I know it's fast on osx, but it lacks a few features, e.g. enqueue a song). 
I mean especially programs like Foobar2k, MP3tag, ExactAudioCopy...
If you could recommend some 'equivalents' for the aforementioned programs, I would be glad since I might be able to try them and try them on OSX tiger I managed to install this week on my old notebook.
My last question is, how do you deal with various types of audio files, like APE, FLAC, WAV, ALAC...since iTunes can't play them all, do I have to convert the files before playing them?
I hope my questions aren't too silly. I can't decide which notebook to buy so I hope you guys will help me .

 

[Hybrys]

For studying Comp Sci, I'd HIGHLY recommend going with a Windows computer.  For anything else, a Mac would do just aswell, but I'm imagine it easier to run C/C++/Java/Flash/Apache/Python/etc. on Windows.  Infinitely easier.
 
Grab a Dell Studio XPS 16, imo.  High powered i7, and a decent, but not overpowered video card.
 
To answer your questions...
 
OSX better for media?  Yes, to an extent.  If you put in a little bit of effort, and don't plan on recording, a Windows machine is just as good.
 
iTunes is the only solution?  It's not, but, the others don't compare well in categorizing capabilities.  Many solutions exist for playback and ripping that would give you similar quality, though.  Play, XBMC, Max are some, to name a few.
 
File format situation?  ALAC is obviously the format of choice, but, there is an extension to play FLACs in iTunes.  For most other players, they support the usual wide array.
 

 

[qusp]

but you can just run windows on your mac if it comes to it anyway. linux also. i'm a died in the wool mac person due to a design and music background and realy, having used both side by side at college; there realy is no comparison. Now that the price isnt that much more and you can run mac os with windows in a window simultaniously, why bother unless you are the type that likes to do hardcore hardware tweaking. I can tell you what you would end up using though, with the ability to use either one.
 
you can play all those file types without issue and all except APE in itunes (FLAC with a plugin). I tend to stick with ALAC, but you dont have to. but seriously, just pick a file type and stick to it; trust me, it'll make life easier at some point

 

[Hybrys]

Quote:

but you can just run windows on your mac if it comes to it anyway. linux also. i'm a died in the wool mac person due to a design and music background and realy, having used both side by side at college; there realy is no comparison. Now that the price isnt that much more and you can run mac os with windows in a window simultaniously, why bother unless you are the type that likes to do hardcore hardware tweaking. I can tell you what you would end up using though, with the ability to use either one.
 
you can play all those file types without issue and all except APE in itunes (FLAC with a plugin). I tend to stick with ALAC, but you dont have to. but seriously, just pick a file type and stick to it; trust me, it'll make life easier at some point

I really dislike the Mac notebook products for their pricepoints, or I'd own one.  If I was to buy a high end computer today, these are my two choices.
 
i7 620m 2.66ghz dual core, 500gb 7200 rpm drive, nVidia GT330m, 4gb of ram.  Windows or OSX.  $3000 CAD + 14% taxes
 
or
 
i7 720m 1.66ghz quad core, 2x500gb 7200 rpm drives in RAID, Radeon 4970 (approx 1.7 times the processing power of the GT330), 8gb of ram.  Windows or OSX.  $1700 CAD.to my door.
 
Which would you choose?

 

[qusp]

the mac obviously , you will find that mac users manage to keep their computers far longer than with PC's, the build quality is superb and the software that comes with it is actually quite useful. if you value your time and sanity at all, the mac is the better option IMO
 
I still bought macs when they were far more expensive than that. in this case the sum of the parts is most definitely larger. I have used both extensively due to circumstance, but no way would I buy a PC, I like to spend my time at home on the computer and having it work, if I wanted to tweak the thing or run a cheaper system it would be linux, bugger windows 

 

[digger945]

I don't know if there is any truth to it, but I've read in more than one place that the reason Amarra exists is to bring a Mac up to Windows quality sound wise. On my current budget it will be a long time before I find out for myself.

 

[Hybrys]

Quote:

the mac obviously , you will find that mac users manage to keep their computers far longer than with PC's, the build quality is superb and the software that comes with it is actually quite useful. if you value your time and sanity at all, the mac is the better option IMO
 
I still bought macs when they were far more expensive than that. in this case the sum of the parts is most definitely larger. I have used both extensively due to circumstance, but no way would I buy a PC, I like to spend my time at home on the computer and having it work, if I wanted to tweak the thing or run a cheaper system it would be linux, bugger windows 

One, that's not true, in a real hardware to hardware situation.  It might be true in a MBP baseline vs Dell baseline situation, but, I've seen people keep PCs for 6+ and drop the MB/MBP in 2.  I'm fine with Windows, and I'm good at it.  Haven't had a problem I couldn't solve in ten minutes in 5 years.  (With direct contact, not counting remote troubleshooting)  Build quality is the only place they win out.  If the Mac was $2000 instead of $3000, I'd get it.  But at that price, it's a ripoff.
 
But, at that, we shouldn't continue this conversation.  I tend to rant, and the side get very divided and loud quickly.
 
Quote:

I don't know if there is any truth to it, but I've read in more than one place that the reason Amarra exists is to bring a Mac up to Windows quality sound wise. On my current budget it will be a long time before I find out for myself.

Yes and no.  That statement might be making the realization that WASAPI should be able to auto-adjust the OS to the sample rate of the source information, which CoreAudio+iTunes can't do without Amarra.  That said, some find sound quality improvement with Amarra...  I know for sure that I won't believe it until I try it.

 

[qusp]

strange with my RME mixer, sample rate changes without issue, I never even think about it. agreed we wont go there. my experience is more with desktops in a production environment anyway, so I cant really speak WRT the lappies. I tend to prefer not to have the problem in the first place

 

[Hybrys]

Quote:

strange with my RME mixer, sample rate changes without issue, I never even think about it. agreed we wont go there. my experience is more with desktops in a production environment anyway, so I cant really speak WRT the lappies. I tend to prefer not to have the problem in the first place

That might be something to do with the device... Interesting.
 
Yeah, in a high end production environment, I probably wouldn't argue with Macs.  However, I'm planning on being either a live sound tech or a theatrical sound designer, so I can work in Windows all I wants.  (To a degree as a 'live' sound tech, I guess.  <_<)

 

[krmathis]

I have just one thing to say - Go for the MacBook Pro!
As they are beautifully crafted machines, with the ability to run any OS and/or software you want.

 

[qusp]

Quote:

That might be something to do with the device... Interesting.
 
Yeah, in a high end production environment, I probably wouldn't argue with Macs.  However, I'm planning on being either a live sound tech or a theatrical sound designer, so I can work in Windows all I wants.  (To a degree as a 'live' sound tech, I guess.  <_<)

sure, well I would recommend it for most situations for the reasons mentioned above, there are no limits on what software yo can run and you can do it all simultaneously if need be. but if it works for you, im not arguing. yeah with the RME hardware mixer, I only really use the mac audio panel for selecting devices, grouping them into environments, patching one to another etc. otherwise the driver handles all the audio tasks including automatic sample rate changes. with the RME unless you select it to resample, if you manage to play something of the wrong sample rate, it will play fast or slow, if its higher bitrate it will play slow, filling up the buffer with the expected amount of samples and if its lower than expected it will play fast. but this is only if you have overridden the automatic switching, or if there is a task open in logic that takes priority, thus holding the master clock at that rate

 

[adrift]

I use both Foobar2000 and MP3tag in OS X Snow Leopard. A fellow named Dibrom at Hydrogenaudio created a Foobar/Wine app bundle located here. And you can easily bundle a copy of MP3tag with a Mac app called Wine Bottler per instructions found here. Works for me. I even have Foobar themed out with Foonight. No issues so far (though I did initially have some issues finding an updated theme that could run without any Windows dependencies).

 

[FUZZBALL]

For an EAC replacement, look into Max or XLD. They are both very good solutions for ripping CD's and transferring FLAC to MP3.
 

 

[clarence35]

I can't comment about the mac vs windows audio/recording software, but coming from a recent compsci grad, you probably won't want a windows only computer. Depending on your school, most or all of your work will be done on some kind of unix. You'll want something that can setup terminals for ssh and vnc sessions natively, meaning if you do end up going with a pc, make sure all the hardware is well supported in linux. This can all be done with windows, but the workflow isn't nearly as fluid in my opinion. You will probably have school servers used to compile your software, so you won't really need a fast computer processor-wise.
 
Personally, if I were you, I would go with the macbook pro (my old work macbook pro had a better headphone out than any other pc laptop i've used), though I have a thinkpad x201 now and love it. For you, I would go for the smallest/lightest computer with the highest resolution at which you can comfortably read. Good luck in school!

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

Didn't we just have this thread?
 
P