You won't really know how hard a song is until you sing it...

Tonight, I tried to sing Kirakira by eufonius

Boy I sounded like shit

This song is much much harder than I thought to be on pitch and maintain a correct tone at the same time.

On the opposite side, Shinai by Mizuki Nana is way easier than it seems, despite all the high parts. She has numerous other harder songs.

Append:

BD rips rock, having your computer not able to play it sucks.

It's never enough

Last time - 640x360 was about the best you can get on your CRT TV
Just now - 1024x768 or 1280x720, average-quality rip
Near future - High-bitrate 720P or 1080P

Last time - Pentium 2 was all it took
Just now - Athlon 64 for the H.264
Near future - DXVA

Last time - 100+MB
Just now - 200~300+MB
Near future - 300-500MB and higher

Last time I thought I would be satisfied with just that much. Now it's all different.

Same thing applies to audio:

Last time - Creative 2.0
Just now - MX5021/AegoM or equivalent
Near future - A good pair of bookshelves below 1k

(Note: "Just now" did not really exist as I never really bought a $200 PC speaker, but that was what I thought I would be satisfied with at that point of time)

Last time - NeoMini
Just now - Zhaolu D2.5A w/OPA-Earth
Near future - Benchmark DAC1

Last time - 192kbps
Just now - 320kbps
Near future - Lossless
Far future - 24-bit and Vinyl

Whatever it is, one thing is for sure - BD rips rock.

When marketing becomes outright lying

It just occurred to me that most of my targets are from online forums.

Remember the post when somebody said that a pair of OPA627 on BrownDog costs more than $70 new? If you don't, here's the phrase - "Try buying the op-amp and the adaptor separately - it will definitely cost you more than $70."

Well, something just topped that -

"The Zero Dac Plus comes with the opamp 627 which supposedly costs 100 dollars on its own. Brand new bundle at j**** costs 400, hoping to sell this to upgrade my power supply."

Firstly, who the heck gave him the idea that a pair of OPA627 costs 100 dollars on its own?

Secondly, I know J**** sells things ex without bundle (cheap with bundle though), but since when did it sell a Zero+ DAC for $400?

He may think he can pull it off because others are noob, but trying to do that in a forum owned by the shop selling the product @ $270, good luck.

BTW, I am seeing a lot of people selling off their Zero DACs. Wonder why. No seriously, I'm not being sarcastic, I really don't know. Since selling of old DAC means upgrading to a new and better one. While I know (and the current observation shows) that the Zero DAC is prone to being upgraded, what would the users be upgrading to? Coz I don't remember the largest bringer of Zero Dacs having a better entry-level DAC apart from those from Firestone audio (and "better" is subjective, although "more expensive" is tangible). And this happens amist the ho-ha of the Zero DAC in forums, like it is the best you can get out of PC audio, together with the AegoM or T3 which are the best speakers.

It can't be the Compass DAC, since it is currently only available through overseas order. Same goes for the Y1 DAC. And most PCM270x-only-based DACs won't stand a chance against an AD1852 DAC.

Styleaudio suddenly comes into mind as I was typing "PCM270x".

Or, something else might be happening, something big. I sense a disturbance in the force.

This might be a good time to cash in on DIY. ZOMBiE where r u?

One song, three versions

I know most of you reading won't even care about this, but nothing beats having one of your all-time favourite songs being given a fresh look and re-released for more people to listen to.

Came across the third (or forth, see remarks below) version of the song White Album, this time as White Album Character Song 1 - Morikawa Yuki by Hirano Aya, released on April 1, 2009.

And boy this isn't like those remixes where you just change the singer or a little part here and there, or worse make into a techno or dance remix. All three are entirely different on their own and would've been mistaken for different songs if not for the melody. (And the 2005 version even has alternative lyrics)

One version in 1998, one in 2005, now one in 2009.

And this isn't mainstream, western, chinese, nor oldie music, where I understand such kind of remix happens often. Actually, not very often either. This is game/Anime music, a genre with a small market and little publicity and good songs often go unnoticed (see my post 3 posts back).

And actually, even the original 1998 edition has a variant which is just slightly different.

I still prefer the 2005 -Christmas Eve- version most, though this may change as I listen to the 2009 version more. IMHO the newest White Album Anime Character Song version has more technicality and feels more modern (compared to the first version which my brother commented as "very old school", which I agree), but feels too happy and loses the spirit of the original two versions.

This makes a better version for my Christmas playlist though.

And finally I got the lyrics and a karaoke version I can sing to. ^^

And the reason for this release? No need to guess, it's business. Usually character songs or drama CDs for a particular Anime/game are released to get more sales and profit, which shows how effectve this strategy is. Yet I (and all W.A. fans out there) will kill the company if they decide to release some wierd song for Yuki's character album (and Rina's too). I almost want to kill the company when they decided not to use White Album(the song) for White Album(the TV Anime)'s opening, but since the song "Shinai" by Mizuki Nana is so good, I have to thank them instead. Furthermore, White Album is such a great song, it'd be a waste not to reuse it, since a large number of people would not have heard the previous versions yet.

As I type, I'm starting to like the 2009 version more. It can overtake the 2005 version anytime now.

Random thought of the day - Demotivational quotes

"There cannot be US without U, but there is always an S (ass) in US"

and

"There is no I in TEAM, but there is ME in TEAM"

Not exactly a thought of the day, as the second quote has been in my mind since I first saw the poster in 2001.

Also - Top 40 Demotivational Posters