Wholeheartedly agreed. It was late and I misinterpreted the intent of the post, it is other people’s music that is the problem that OP was referring to, not the accessibility of music in general.

I have AirPods and headphones and love music. I have plenty of ways to stream it from the ether and into my head without others listening but I don’t like to do that in nature. I like records better for that because it has to be intentional and, from a functional perspective, I’d like to be able to hear a rattlesnake rattle before it bites me, or a bear or wild boars rustling in the trees/brush before it becomes an issue and they are right on me, with earbuds in or headphones on in nature can cause a safety issue. I like to be in the moment in nature and there are plenty of times where I do listen to the crickets or the lapping of the water with no music playing. I like feeling vibe of the moment, select the record and then have ~20mins of that music until it stops playing and I either switch records because the vibe has changed or I want to bring a different energy to the moment. It is more situational and tactile with records. Not having an endless stream of random music on a constant cycle is key for me to enjoying those moments in nature.

Like I said, I thought the OP was talking more about accessibility of music in nature in general, not the intrusion of other people’s music onto your life while one is in nature. It is a problem that is not specific to just campgrounds but I can see where it is a bigger problem in a campground than in normal daily life nowadays. With the advancement of technology in regards to streaming, wireless earbuds/headphones and personal technology I think music intrusion on a day to day basis is less intrusive now than it was 10 years ago or more. There are still people blasting music in their cars at midnight driving down city streets but there are less people playing boomboxes while walking down the street or while on the bus, subway or other public places because technology has advanced to a point where we can limit that intrusion on others and most reasonable people take advantage of that more now than they ever have before.

Ahhh, well, it is just me out there so no one else can hear my music, there isn’t another house for a mile in any direction… but this is not an issue with just camping. Jerks blasting their music from their boats as they go by on the lake is a problem but that has been going on since the invention of music. Spock had to Vulcan nerve pinch a dude on the bus across the Golden Gate Bridge in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home back in the 80s because someone was playing music too loud and wouldn’t turn it down.

Yeah, the variety of music got more accessible I suppose but group camp grounds have been filled with music for a long time now, it was something that bothered me back in the 80s when I was a kid. This isn’t really a new issue due to technology, I am sure plenty of bards have been killed throughout history for playing their music too loud in the woods, or in parks, or wherever. Everywhere music can be played it has been played too loud.

I just got back from 3 nights out at a rustic cabin I use as a retreat when I need to get away. I took my portable record player and about 20 records. The record player has an internal rechargeable battery that I recharge with the solar generator I brought with me.

Where is the line where these things ruin a spot versus contributing to it?

I am with you here. I have a 2003 BMW Z4, not as expensive as people expect it to be, fun to drive and have had very few problems with it. 114k miles on it.

Though I have not had to do any major fixes on it I do sleep better at night knowing that I have several friends who are car guys that have all the equipment and tools to pretty much fix anything on it, within reason.

Also, lots of enthusiasts for those cars out there, plenty of forums with 20+ years worth of documentation from people fixing their own roadster and helping others fix theirs. Small car, physical buttons and controls, well engineered, fast, fun and reliable.

Whoa, you are right!

It sounds like you lived through some rough situations; it is a tough climb out but I am glad to hear things have gotten better for you. Keep climbing, friend!

Unfortunately not long after the first movie came out some component company on the back end had financial troubles and the rights to the movie got caught up in an ownership battle or something like that. It’s been a while since I read about why the sequel was never made even though everyone seemed primed to do it so my details may be fuzzy on it but it had something to do with the rights halting the project for a long time, like 15-20 years or something like that.

There are 10s of us!

Yes!

Love that game, and the sequels; EV Override and EV Nova. I was looking for a game that played like Starflight, a PC game from the 80s, found EV and was pleasantly surprised.

Though I do hold Starflight in higher regard than EV. It deserves a solid remake.

I can tell you are a person of refined quality and sophistication; you didn’t forget to add Gunter!

Well done!

My first thought upon seeing the picture;

“Why is Ice King not wearing his crown?”

It took me a few seconds to realize it wasn’t him… the similarity has to be intentional.

I never looked it up but I always heard it was written in 1948 and he just reversed the last two numbers as it was an easy way to put it in the not too distant future.

Like I said though, I never had the inclination to look it up, maybe he wrote it in 1948 but it was first published in 1949.

I get your point too. Kevin Sorbo was the name that came to my head first, for some reason, and Kevin Costner followed. TBF though, Kevin Costner has won 2 Academy Awards, one for Best Director (Dances with Wolves in 1991) and has been nominated for a best actor award. He does have a long list of industry accomplishments in various roles. Kevin Sorbo doesn’t have anything close to that. I’m not a big fan of Kevin Costner but objectively speaking he is accomplished in his career.

Kevin Spacey wouldn’t have been better though, with his rapey background and all that, wouldn’t feel right putting him forward as something to aspire to.

Maybe Kevin Sorbo and Kevin Kline would have been a better comparison.

I have both and the Quest 3 is definitely not capable of the same stuff.

Kevin Sorbo and Kevin Costner are capable of the same stuff too but there is a clear difference in performance and value.

For myself and someone else to use at the same time and in conjunction with each other for work purposes. I explain it a few times in other comments I have made here.

Read some of my other comments here, I have used pretty much every headset out there and these work better for my needs, by far, than all the rest.

I cannot put into words how much I appreciate your kind reply but these will have to do, thank you!

Wise to wait a month or two, maybe, maybe not, i have a window to return them free of charge so if they didn’t work for me it would be no cost to me and I wouldn’t have to wait for them to come back in stock if they did indeed work for me, this way I don’t have to stress about it.

I agree with Marques Brownlee, they are incredible but not for everyone and they are definitely not perfect. I think the outward facing screen is ridiculous but I do get where Apple was going with it and do not fault them for trying. This type of product is a moonshot and testing different ideas to see what works in an untested product space is a risk but I am happy Apple is able to release something like this. Could it fail, most definitely, but trying new things is an important component of success.

Do not get me wrong, I am critical of this device, there are many things that either weren’t implemented in time or just do not work that well, but I also bought the first iPhone on release day too and watched as that developed into something more useable and fully featured. I expect the same with the Vision Pro and see many areas where there is room for improvement or functions that work but aren’t quite refined enough yet for the general population. This thing is incredibly niche, I do not deny that, but what gets me about the people who are overly critical of it are that they are so narrowly focused on what they want it to be and at the price they want it to be at that they are completely missing the point that this product is not for them, it is the precursor to what they are envisioning in their mind.

The price is very much what to expect with future technology, and I don’t mean it is fully realized technology of today, I mean it is high priced because it is using a lot of non-standard tech in non-standard ways. It is a prototype of what we will be seeing in 3-5 years as normal. The doubters and critics in this tread are looking at this thing as a failure because it isn’t a product for the masses right now and my point is it is a viable product but for niche markets, of which I feel I am directly targeted as the exact demographic for this and I am incredibly grateful for that.

I do not think it is silly to say it isn’t a viable product, which is what many of the naysayers in this thread who I have been discussing this with are saying, my point is that it is not a viable product for them. Apple had roughly 80,000 Vision Pro’s available for purchase on release day and I am willing to bet that of the target market that is a good mount to out out there. And if you are manufacturing something with this amount of cutting edge tech at that low of a product run then yeah, $3,500 is not a startling amount. The comments are expensive and so is the tooling and manufacturing, licensing and etc is all very expensive to get this thing to market. I am not surprised, that is just the price of niche hardware. Look at RED cameras or professional camera drones or any high tech/low volume device, it is in line and not unexpected to hit a price point in that range. What I find frustrating in all this is how little people understand the costs of what goes into making something like this and the assumption that anyone buying it is getting ripped off. It happens often with Apple products, especially their more high end lines. Sometimes the cost is way out of whack with comparable products, like those way overpriced and outdated Mac Pros, but that is because there are viable alternatives where you do not have to pay the Apple tax to get a similarly spec’s computer. The Vision Pro is a different beast because there really isn’t anything else like it.

I am well aware not everyone can afford a Vision Pro and not everyone has a use for them, but that should not be a criticism for the product, it says more about the person making the criticism than anything else. If it isn’t what you want or is too expensive for you then don’t buy it, no one is forcing this thing on anyone. I am not gloating or bragging about being able to afford buying 2. I am tired of people judging those who bought it and saying they are idiots for wasting their money. I am not an idiot and I did not waste my money on it, I very much feel I got the better end of this deal. I don’t see why I need to accept being maligned for that. Heck dude, there are a lot of people, probably many in this very thread, who have spent more than $5,000 on their gaming computer setup (monitor, computer, gfxcard, keyboard, mouse, etc) and that is more or less just for a hobby. As a business expense that will save me tons of time to review footage and watch cuts in a virtual space with interested parties from across the globe in real time, the price I paid is well worth and much more value than that money other spent on their gaming setup. As a life expense, being able to tune out the myriad distractions and sensory issues I face at every moment, to turn on noise cancellation on my AirPods and tune out the world around me in the Vision Pro so that I can focus on work tasks or just mediating, listening to music or watching a tv show, all things I find difficult to do regularly, this thing is a godsend and that too is well worth the money spent. My issue is when others tell me that I wasted my money on it. Who are they to decide how I should spend it and what I should spend it on and what value it should have to me. That is what is infuriating about some of these vehemently negative comments on here. So immature and clearly biased by other things than just the price of the Vision Pro

There will be competition that will copy parts of the Vision Pro and they will make cheaper variations of the headset and that is ok. That is what competition is all about and how the tech industry works. Products like this are what push that boundary forward faster and if it isn’t a perfect fit for everyone right now, well, that is normal for things like that and is just how these types of products develop over time.

Hey though, Mr_Dr_Oink, I just want to say, in the sea of thoughtless replies and snarky, immature discussion around this I do want to say that I appreciate your well reasoned response to me. Thank you.

Oh yeah, that is a problem…

Well, SatansMaggotyCumFart, I think you spent $15,000 on three pretty awesome cameras actually. Just use a mirror and take a screenshot!