Re: How to outfit a "typical" 2gs

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

Paul Guertin <pg@sff.net> wrote:

>Roy and/or Janet Miller <millers@inetnebr.com> wrote:
>
>> Supertimer wrote:
>> 
>> > Of course there is fun stuff too.  Once you have
>> > hard drive space, you can convert your MP3 files
>> > to play on the IIGS.  Now THAT is really something
>> > to hear.
>> 
>> There are people moaning on the 68040 Mac list that they can't play MP3s
(well,
>> neither can 486 people)
>
>I think the Mac and 486 people are saying they can't decode and play
>MP3s *in real time*, which I believe is also the case for the IIGS
>(hence Supertimer's use of the word "convert"). If you allow pre-
>processing, then any SoundBlaster-equipped PC clone can play MP3s.

Any PC with an IDE hard drive maybe. I do not believe the old MFM
hard drive equipped XT models with 640k would be able to keep up
with a direct play of a multi-megabyte sound file off the hard drive
at any reasonable sampling rate.  In contrast, I've converted MP3
files and played them at 44Khz through the IIGS with ease.

XTs were still popular when the IIGS was released and the IIGS
was released with the Apple SCSI card which is all that is needed
for this kind of playback.

I still think the IIGS is impressive for this capability given when it
was released.  ;-)