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A Rewind on Music Subscriptions
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Game On
The next-generation game consoles unveiled at E3 raise anew a question that continues to baffle me: Why do people spend so much money on gaming-oriented PCs?
Consider the math: An Xbox or PlayStation 2 console will run you about $150 and should never require you to replace any interior components, update driver software or tinker with system settings as long as it continues to boot up. A four-year-old model will play games just as well as one shipped today. Internet connectivity is built into both consoles, and a rich library of games is available for each -- in many cases, the same titles that are released for the PC.
Computers can be purchased for not much more than $150, but if you want to play most games you'll need to spend enough money for a PC with a respectable graphics card. Now, if you want a machine that can handle any titles you throw at it, you'll need to throw down some serious dollars -- and clear some serious room under your desk, as illustrated by these two gaming-oriented PCs: Dell Dimension XPS Gen 4 and Alienware Area-51 5500.
Spending even $300 or $400 (or whatever the cost will be) for an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or Nintendo Revolution when any of them ships seems an outstanding deal in comparison.
Tiger Updates
Apple's first bug-fix update for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger arrived barely two weeks after Tiger itself. Mac OS X 10.4.1 contains a variety of useful security and reliability improvements. I installed it Friday morning without incident.
Unfortunately for those of you with dial-up modems, it's a 37-megabyte download. The simplest option in that case is to borrow a friend's broadband bandwidth: Bring a blank CD and burn the downloaded update onto it, then take the disc home. Or go to an Apple store and ask if you can burn a copy on one of the machines there.
The last few weeks have also seen a more positive development on the Tiger front -- an enormous increase in the variety of Dashboard widgets available for download. The inventory of these tiny programs, which do such simple tasks as looking up weather forecasts online, has grown from about 25 the day Tiger launched, to 63 on May 4, to 210 on Friday morning.
