The fact the Volume Logic plug-in "Galley" mentions is so popular confirms to me that people don't know what audio quality is... given good enough marketing the crappiest audio will sound amazing to the average shmo. I'm a sound engineer, and couldn't uninstall the Volume Logic plugin fast enough after I tried it... the effect is as if there's a slow-reflexed monkey sitting next to you with its finger on a volume slider: "Oh, it got quiet... quick, turn in it up until it distorts! Oh, it's getting louder... quick, turn it down!" Who needs dynamics or nuance when you can have your craptastic music served to you at a roughly-constant volume?

Monk

"Heaven's Eyes" by Eclipse

Am I the only one wondering why "badbob" needs to get a video stream between two apartments on opposite sides of a condominium building? Little voyeurism going on, badbob?

I spent quite a bit of money at allofmp3 a while back (I *can* ABX 128kbps MP3s and prefer higher bitrates). I rationalized that the transactions are occurring on servers physically located in Russia, where unlicenced music sales are legal.

Well, I finally got to the point last year where I no longer felt ok exploiting this moral loophole (after all, *I'm* fully half of each transaction, and I'm *not* in Russia!).

But I still didn't have the cash to buy every album I thought (based on previews) I might like... I hate risking even $10 on a CD I might not love.

So I've adopted a "piracy-lite" lifestyle. I made a list of all my (pirated) favorite albums. Then I joined the good-ol' BMG music club & fulfilled the "buy 1 get 12 free" commitment with albums from my list. (Yep, BMG's still around... the 12for1 promo works out to just over $4 a CD, when you add S/H). The moment I got my last CDs I cancelled my BMG membership and joined yourmusic.com, a BMG affiliate that sells all CDs for $5.99 shipped. I buy at least 1 CD a month from them... their shipping's not the fastest, but I don't care... I already have the music!

Since then BMG has offered me another 12-for-1 deal to rejoin... I'm doing that again, and will cancel again after I'm done.

Albums not available at BMG I get used on Amazon, or pay-per-song at any music store out there... I archive the purchased songs, but use either pirated versions or DRM-circumvented versions on my iPod. Point is, I'm slowly paying via legal channels for the music I love. The RIAA would have a fit over my little scheme, but it's good enough for me!

Definitely the WWJD 3 results (http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/27/wwjd-3-results/)... the iPod Shuffle Video and iPod yocto were AWESOME!

Let it be me!

I want this phone more than any of the other people posting.

One crucial bit of info missing from your segment on cell phone interference is that the distinctive "ta.. ta-da-da... ta-da-da..." chatter is a side-effect exclusive to phones with TDMA technology (used by Cingular, T-Mobile, etc.), and does not happen with CDMA phones (Verizon, Sprint, etc.).

Also, to piggyback off the first comment... I think you guys need to drop a teensy bit of money on audio production software that includes a compressor, or if you've already got a compressor, start using it! Yes, the volume level is too low, but it also has too wide a dynamic range. In a work environment that means that in order to get the volume loud enough to hear in quiet sections it's going to get way too loud when you guys get more animated. Compressors are *made* for this type of situation... they let you maximize your volume while constricting the dynamic range.