Radorn Keldam

Well, it all depends on what you are looking for, and how much you want to involve yourself in getting the maximum fidelity from your CDs. The problem with redbook audio CDs is that the disc data structures they use are not too tuned for perfect data preservation and perfect reading. A CD's surface is addressed by sectors which are 2352 bytes each. That's common to any CD format, but the way they are used varies completelly. On a redbook audio CD (your standard audio cd) all the data is used for audio samples. at 44100hz 16 bit (2 bytes) stereo, each sector contains 1/75 of a second of audio data exactly: 44100samples * 2channels * 2bytes = 176400 bytes 176400/75 = 2352 So, an audio CD is all audio data, except for the initial area in which the TOC (Table Of Contents) is written, which says how many tracks there are and where they all start and end. But there's no tracking or synchronizing information or some other important things to allow for good error detection, even less correction. This is because PCM audio can be reasonably reproduced with some jitter, ie, some bits being incorrectly read and not causing a big quality loss most of the times. For CD-ROM, a single incorrect bit can be disastrous. CD-ROM is designed to carry any possible kind of computer data, and it cannot accept that uncertainty about how it will reproduce. It should allways read correclty, and if not, try to fix the error or at the very least, report it to the host computer. For that end, CD-ROM uses part of those 2352 bytes for what its called "the subchannel", whic is a fixed quantity of NON USER DATA with error correction codes, cheksums, seeking information, etc. This all allows for a much more robust and resilient data storage, which is vital for its integrity. Now, after this explanation. There are many CD audio extractors. What they try to do is recover the digital PCM data from a redbook disc as reliably as possible, but given that the format doesn't quite colaborate for that end, its a really complex task, and for now, nobody has it PERFECT UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES. Its a really difficult subject and I don't have all the answers. Sometimes I even get a bit depressed when I try to impose myself with making such PERFECT rips, but then I can't be really sure if I succeed or not. If the program says there was an error, you can be sure there was, but if it says all went perfect... you can't be absolutelly sure that's the case, which is a bit of discouraging if you are like me. The selection of the ripper/grabber/extractor to use should be done depending on your taste and a vague idea of the "secureness" level you feel comfortable with. AFAIK, no pogram has it perfect. I used to think that of EAC, but if you read a bit in hydrogenaudio.net, you'll soon discover that things are not so clear cut. There are many good ripping engines in many programs. Normally they talk about "secure ripping" in their specs. I'm not quite sure what exactly does that imply, but now I know it is no guarantee of a perfect rip. More advanced rippers, such as EAC, and dbpoweramp and some other I don't remember it's name, have a lot of settings and tweaks which are meant for EXPERTS, or, rather, magicians. The more I understand them, the less comfortable I feel seeing how all that work doesn't guarantee perfection by any means. CDex should be good, as should be foobar2000 or EAC with "normal settings". Hope you found this useful. Knowledge is fear... but don't be too afraid

aaargh! Friggin truncated forum descriptions! from the forum view it reads "MasterBoy is a Game Boy, Sega Master and Game Gear Emulator for the PS" I though it was for the original playstation, but it turns out there was a missing P. flock!

I never have had an opportunity to try the original GP2X, so I can't say how good is the thumstick, but I really have a hard time swallowing that mobile-phone-style directional pad is in any way and improvement over a thumbstick. Also, everybody says the hardware, even though seemingly powerful, performs poorly, being surpassed by lower powered machines like the DS or even lower in analogous applications, like snes emulation and others... Hope that doesn't change so I don't feel compelled to buy it, because I have no money! xDD Nah, I hope they make it right this time, although I really don't have money.