Monday, November 19, 2007

It's Time

It's exactly 7 days before my II MBBS University Final Exam starts.. I still have a lot to cover.. I need speed and at the same time memory.. Time is too short to cover everything.. I don't know how.. Only God knows.. May God bless me, grant me more wisdom and knowledge, take away every single distraction from me, give me the lightning speed to go through the chapters and at the same time strengthen my memory and expand my brain capacity.. 2nd years's stuffs are just too much and too hard.. I hope i can pass all and go into 3rd year and relax...

My exam finishes on 20th of Dec, and i'm going back Malaysia on the 19th, cz i think my batch will finish the practicals before the last date, and i bought an earlier ticket.. I wanna enjoy my holiday fully and not worry bout my results.. I'll be in Malaysia for 1 month plus till the 25th of Jan.. Supposed to come back on 15th, but i extended myself cz i wanna wait for my bro CK to come back from Tasmania on 21st of Jan.. We'd not met each other for 1 whole year, and i hope we'll have some quality and fun time together.. And i hope to spend time with all my long-lost friends back home.. Miss you guys..

Ok, it's time to study again.. Time is coming real fast.. Shit.. Please pray for me.. Signing off here.. Bye

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Let It Rock (ver 2.0)



iPod Classic 80GB: Rs 11500

Belkin iPod Brushed Metal - Clear Acrylic Casing: Rs 900

Medical Textbooks: Rs 3000
Music experience while studying in library: PRICELESS!

I bought a black 80GB iPod Classic last week from eBay India. I bought it much cheaper than the market price (Rs. 13400). I had been dreaming for an iPod for almost half a year, but i was very unimpressed by the previous 5.5 generation one (too low battery life, less space, finger prints), so i waited and waited and waited till Steve Job announced the latest models of iPod in the beginning of Spetember. At first, I was really impressed by iPod Touch - a touch screen ipod with 3.5 inch display plus Wifi and Safari internet browser, it is basically an iPhone without the calling functions. It was so so cool cz it is exactly what i was waiting for for the past 6 months, but in the end, after much consideration, i think the iPod Touch carries too little space (16GB can't even fit my 17GB big music collection, not to say movies and photos), and it attracts finger prints like hell, which is one of the most troublesome issue u can get with such a nice and cool gadget. I opted for iPod Classic instead, which had improved quite much from its predecessor. It now has 2 times longer battery life, thinner, scratch prove front body, and all new interface. Decisions? What decisions? It is absolutely a no-brainer for me to get the iPod Classic. People might ask me why not get an iPod nano which had improved so so much with video function? My answer is very simple: "iPod nano is for women; iPod Classic is for men - a true classic never gets outdated"


Why would i want an iPod? First and the most important of all, my music collection! I am very very particular on my music collections, i don't simply add whatever music i stumbled upon or whatever so called good and popular musics or chart toppers. My music collection is 5 years old already, and through these years it went through many improvements, additions, deletions, fine tuning, tagging etc, till today's 17GB of mostly rock, christians, oldies, plus some pop, jazz, country and instrumental. Every single of my songs are tagged properly with correct song names, artists, album name, album art, and lyrics. If one fine day, my laptop broke down and all my music and pictures are irretrievable, i can really die. But with an iPod which acts as a backup of my iTunes library, i'll have no worry. Besides, since i'm now going to library almost everyday, this iPod simply become a very good companion. Whenever you're alone on a long trip, music and entertainment is always there.


That's what most people do with their iPod - listening to music. But using iPod to listen to music actually is only using 50% of the functions of iPod, never mind most of the people don't organize their music properly with album art and lyrics. I personally put my pictures, music videos, tv shows, movies, podcast, audiobook, notes and games into my iPod, to make sure my iPod is serving me to the most, value for every single paisa i pay for it. I have an iTunes account (thanx to CK), and with it i can watch Podcast for free, get nice album art, buy extra games for my iPod and download one free song every week. Without an iTunes account, your iTunes is like without a limb.

Enough for internal functions, how about externally? iPod is still very fragile, though now with a scratch prove front body, but the back shinning mirror side still get scratched super easily, as well as the 2.5" screen. To counter this, i bought a high quality transparent protector for it, both at the back and the screen, plus a Belkin super cool looking and durable casing. In addition, i also bought a Apple iPod Power Adapter from eBay as well so i can charge it any where i go, in case a computer is not available. All these accessories are not cheap at all, but my principle always tells me to get one of the best item around with the cheapest price possible. So i still saved quite a lot in the end.

Taking a super cool and slim gadget in my pocket; listening to music every where i go; watch Grey's Anatomy when i'm too free; view some Podcast of Happy Tree Friends for a disgusted laugh; listening to bible Audiobook while reading my bible, watch some nice short films by Pixar; flip through those captured memories on the photos; play some games when i feel bored; view memo or to-do-list as useful reminder; backup my important files when i need to reformat my laptop.... "An iPod in hand keep the boredom away"


Earphone
My Apple iPod Earphone juz spoil 4 days back.. I was like, what the hell, i just bought the ipod for like 2 weeks n the earphone that came with the box spoil n i dun even remember anything i did, maybe it had a slight drop, or maybe it can't sustain my volume etc.. Whatever it is, i went back home to check online and found 8 out of 10 pppl complaint bout the Apple earphone.. Many ppl might think the white earphone look damn cool n it is a real gem.. Tell u what, the truth is, the earphone they provided is something like a RM5 earphone u get in pasar malam, bad sound, spoil super easily n expensive.. Your iPod can produce much much better sound than what is emitted from the Apple earphone.. So my solution is- hunt a new earphone.. After i researched online for some time, n got to understand all the technical terms.. I found out of all the high-class earphones like Sennheiser, Shure, Etymotic, Bose, V-Moda, Logitech, Creative etc, n was shocked to see that a real good one cost RM4000, a normal good one with high performance cost RM400, n those RM 100 one can basically throw away after few months.. Swt. So i went to eBay India again and checked the most expensive earphone available there, and i am stuck with only one choice: Creatve EP-630. It cost me Rs. 820 (RM 70):It's an in-ear ear bud, noise isolating, high frequency range, nice bass sound, gold-plated jack, and ergonomic design.. I checked the review for the earphone and it has high rating, good feedback, it's the second best Creative earphone and with cheap price.. So i bought it without thinking twice and it juz arrived today.. The earphone fit right into my ear canal n it's like blasting the music straight into my brain, produce clear sound with nice bass, n i cant hear the noisy Indian traffic with the earphone on, good!! I was happy with the performance and it definitely sounds better and louder than the stupid Apple iPod earphone.. Besides, it is black in color, which suites my black iPod really well..
I just personally tested the difference between my new Creative EP-630 n Apple earphone, it was like, what the heck, the Apple's quality is not even 50% of the Creative's- so much softer, can't hear the base, n can't hear the words properly, very blur.. Then i tested another in-ear earphone that came with my Sony Ericsson W810i, the bass is loud, but the treble is soft, n the words are blur.. So, if you're really serious bout music, throw away the Apple's n get a new good earphone. And in addition, make sure ur mp3 files are at least 192bps, better to be 320 kbps, chuck the lowsy 128kbps ones, cz they really make a difference to the quality of sound..

What i use:
  • iTunes 7.5 (to me it is the best program for arranging my music library, WMP sux)
  • iTunes Online Store Australia (For free songs, album art and podcast, buy games)
  • iTunes Companion Yahoo widget (for free album art, lyrics, album name, track listing)
  • SoThink iPod Video Converter (very fast and good quality, can convert any file types to mpeg4)
  • mininova (for searching illegal illegal musics, movies, tv shows, audiobook, music videos :P)
  • uTorrent (for downloading illegal musics, movies, tv shows, audiobook, music videos)
  • Airtel internet connection 512 kbps (for fast download speed)
  • http://www.ilounge.com (For in depth tutorial and just anything you need to know on iPod)
  • http://www.apple.com (I'm a big big fan of Apple products)
p/s: for people in Malaysia, 1 ringgit = 12 rupee, so u juz divide the prices by 12, n judge the cost youself.

Shh..i'm the pirate for Sothink Ipod Video Converter
username: SeVeN / FFF
key: 000017-AKY297-AGEQWM-TEAVBF-4AGHQA-N050Z7-ZBNP4Z-BFGFQ5-K158P5-N99QB1

For opening a free iTunes account:
http://forums.mactalk.com.au/20/45826-how-get-us-itunes-account-free.html