MP3 is obviously the standard for music formats today. It is supported by pretty much everything these days, including Apple products. However, MP3 is a very old format as well. While it certainly does do a good job compressing audio, newer compression methods can show much better results. The .OGG format is an example of a newer format that can show some very impressive audio quality even at lower bitrates. In fact, a file compressed down to about 48kbps or so still sounds good enough to listen to in the ogg format, whereas in the MP3 format it would be unbearably horrible. Of course no format will be at its best at 48kbps, but ogg can do some pretty amazing things when it comes to audio compression. MP4/ACC is also showing slightly better results than MP3, although it still doesn't compare to the OGG format.

Many games are starting to use the ogg format to avoid licensing issues with MP3, and are also saving disk space in the process. Personally, I'd love to see OGG become the next standard, but unfortunately not all devices support it yet. Because of that, I still encode my files in MP3 at 192 or 256kbps. What's your opinion?

Currently, Makestation is powered by SMF. Some users have suggested that we convert to MyBB instead. MyBB is overall better forum software, but we'll also lose our current design and the user blogs functionality (although I will create a board for user blogs. ) If we convert, I'll probably have to wait until the end of next month when I'll have enough time to design a new site, but of course all members and posts would be seamlessly converted by the MyBB merge system, so there is no cause for concern there.

So, what is the community's vote on the idea? Be sure to vote in the poll!

Pretty self-explanatory.

Personally, I change mine every 6-12 months. What's your vote?

I just turned my computer on to find a busted $130 video card (discounted significantly from the original price), smoking in my PC. Of course I cut the power very quickly, as any smart computer technician would, but honestly going back to integrated graphics reminds me of how CPU intensive even basic graphics can become when you only have a dual core CPU to work with and a lot of multitasking to deal with as well.



So, anyone here have any experience getting busted cards to work? I don't have the money to easily replace this card out of pocket, so I'm hoping to be able to repair it. I've already dusted it quite a bit, and I'm not sure if there is really any hope left for a smoked card.

Personally, I think that is hugely overcharged for when it comes to home internet. In the webhosting/server world, it's surprisingly cheap, but for home internet, paying $50/month for a 10mbit connection capped at 40GB/month is a bit overboard. I could easily be missing one of the expense factors for the ISP companies as well, but at first glance it does seem to be overpriced.

What's your opinion?

This game is pretty simple. Your goal as members is to count to 10 before either myself or any makestation staff member posts. Currently that is only myself and the moderator account. As soon as any staff member posts, the counter is reset to 0.

So, let's get this one rolling. 0

Personally, foreign languages were always difficult for me, and I always found it amazing when people could just pick them up like it was second nature. I do know some Spanish, but I'm not particularly great at it by any means.

Be sure to vote in the poll!

Many people already are well aware of this website's existence. For those who aren't, it's a great place to get some simple, but funny memes generated with common background pictures and themes.

Anyone else a fan of memes?

Los Angeles is one of the obvious cities to be on the list. Atlanta is also easy to add. (3 hour traffic jams daily with the outbound traffic is an immediate qualifier in my mind. )

I'd also include the Hartford area. It is not far from NYC, and the whole general area is a bit of a mess traffic-wise. What cities would you add to the list?

Personally, I love guitars. I might not be an amazing player, but it is definitely one of my favorite pastimes to pick up an old acoustic guitar and play some simple stuff. I enjoy electrics as well, but given that my hands aren't as fast as those of some electric guitarists, acoustic guitar seems to be where I am at my best.

Any other los amantes de la guitarra here?