WEBVTT - Are more expensive cables worth it? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.800 It's ready. Are you Get in touch with technology with 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:12.200 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com, and be 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:14.400 sure to check out the new tech Stuff blog now 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:19.119 on the how Stuff Works homepage. This podcast is brought 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.400 to you by Audible dot com, the Internet's leading provider 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:25.599 of spoken word entertainment. For a free audio book of 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:34.320 your voice, go to audible podcast dot com slash tech Stuff. Hello, everybody, 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:37.040 welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Polette. I'm 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:39.360 an editor at how stuff Works dot com and sitting 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.240 next to me as usual as senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:45.880 Hey there, and uh, I think we're going to uh 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:49.919 talk some cable today. Yeah, we're gonna talk cable kind 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:51.919 of the way we talked megapixels. And you know, it's 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:54.320 funny because all this WiFi we've been talking over the 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:58.200 past few months, and now we're talking cables. Cables. We're 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:01.600 not we're not necessarily talking cable television or cable modems. 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.040 We're talking about the actual physical cables that tether one 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:07.800 device to another. And if you're not familiar with cables, 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:12.039 ha ha, they're basically long strings of copper wire that 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:15.400 you plug one thing into another thing to connect them. Yeah, 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:18.560 to allow electrons to pass okay, jokes aside from one 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.200 to another. Um. The question has been posed by many 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:26.440 people over the centuries that we've had electronic equipment. Yes, 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:29.920 I remember Shakespeare himself wondering about this question. You know 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:33.880 we're gonna get an email saying you don'ts no, seriously, Um, 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:36.480 there have been people who have asked for a long time, 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:38.440 you know, because they are all kinds of cables you 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:40.400 can get in the store. Some of them are really cheap, 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:42.200 some of them are really expensive, some of them are short, 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:44.560 some of them along and people go, what the heck 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.160 is the difference? Does it really matter what cable I get? 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:51.520 And the answer to that is, well, answer is no, 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:54.520 it's not No. Answer is more or less no, Okay, 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:57.120 more or less no, I will accept. Okay, there, but 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:00.160 actually there's some there's some gray area in there, all right, Yeah, again, 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.840 there's some gray area. Okay. So what we're talking about 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.040 here are let's say that you just bought a really, 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:09.400 really nice sound system and you want to hook your 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:11.359 sound system up, and you know, you don't want to 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:13.320 just use the cables that came with it. You want, 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:16.920 you want some nice cables. Um, you don't wanna you know, 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:19.119 full around, because I mean, if you spent this much 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:21.400 on a on a sound system, you don't want something 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:24.600 as simple as cables making it sound crappy. Right, Actually 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:26.959 that sounds a lot like what a salesperson would ask 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:28.760 you in the store. I know, this is why I'm 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:31.960 going this way. So then you go down to the 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:34.880 audio aisle and you look at all the different cables 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:37.440 and you see some they're they're you know, fifteen dollars, 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:39.880 and you see some of they're twenty dollars. And then 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:41.840 you look and you see some that are a hundred 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:45.000 and twenty dollars and they're the same length as the 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:48.280 twenty dollar ones, And you think, huh, the d and 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:52.079 twenty dollar ones must provide a much better sound than 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.960 the twenty dollar ones. I've spent all this money on 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:57.799 my uh stereo. I'm going to go ahead and get 0:02:57.840 --> 0:02:59.600 the top of the line. And you take them home 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:01.200 and you look so and you think I've got the 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:04.799 best there is. Well, would you have had the same 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:06.800 experience of you about the twenty ones? Would it really 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:09.919 have sounded that much different or would it sound different 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:11.760 at all? Would you even be able to detect it? 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:16.000 Perhaps the most sensitive sound detecting equipment could pick it up, 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:20.160 but would your ear pick it up? And that's the question. 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:23.480 I mean. I wasn't long ago that I uh, that 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:26.799 I edited Dave Russ article how do I know which 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:29.560 cables use? And it doesn't really talk about this, at 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:32.480 least not mostly. But he did put a sidebar in 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:35.440 there about an experiment that was held not too long ago. 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:39.560 They got picked up and it made headlines, well sort 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:43.240 of headlines, blog headlines all over the internet about these 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:47.839 people who substituted coat hangers for Monster cables. Let's see 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:51.120 if they can tell the difference. Actually, no, they couldn't, 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:54.680 yeh um. And let's just say this. We're not talking 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:59.840 about a double blind study held in um a lab 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:02.680 and the results were published in a peer review journal. 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:07.400 But um, the original of this appeared in an audio 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:12.920 file um uh message board. It's the audio Holics Home 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:18.719 theater forum and basically, um, some serious serious listeners decided 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:20.760 to do a test on two different kinds of cable, 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:24.839 basically trying to figure out because Monster has a reputation 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:27.719 for making really good cables or at least really expensive 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:31.040 or at least really expensive, wasn't And and uh, if 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.240 anybody's name is thrown around with are these really expensive 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:37.160 cables worth it, it's theirs. Um. So they said, okay, 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:39.640 well let's do let's do a taste test, if you will, 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:44.400 And they plugged in some really nice monster cables and 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:47.640 they also put in some fourteen gauge oxygen free Belden 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:52.040 copper wire and tested them and basically, um, all this 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:55.320 wasn't a scientific, scientific test. It was pretty scientific. They 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:57.840 picked a band that none of them were familiar with 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:00.840 so that nobody would have a personal biased that they 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:04.599 used the exact same length of wire and said, okay, 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:06.680 they hooked it up to an eight B box so 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:09.760 they could just throw a switch and uh. Basically they 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:13.359 exposed five people. Again not a giant scientific example, but 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:16.920 two of the five could accurately identify the monster cable 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:21.440 out of the two as sounding different. And then they 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:23.880 threw him a loop and pulled out the belden wire 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:27.000 and swapped it for coat hanger that had been rigged 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:30.280 into speaker wires, and uh, and ran the A B 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:32.240 test again, and not one of them could tell the 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:37.479 difference in Monster cable or the the coat hangers. Not 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:39.960 that we recommend you going out and replacing all of 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:43.440 your wires with coat hangers. No, No, that could potentially 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:47.600 cause you a little bit of a shock, exactly. And um, 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.440 not to disparage the work of the audio holics who 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:53.800 have who have done this study. It's it's certainly um 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:58.360 uh you know, somewhat scientific. Um. But they you know, 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:02.520 people have been really excited about this because you know, 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:04.839 people like to pick on Monster. Let's face Yeah, No, 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:08.360 they're They're an easy target because their products are very 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.839 very much in the you know, the limelight, and they 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:15.679 are very expensive or for the high end ones anyway, 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:19.720 And uh, I just want to really quickly go into 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:21.880 what a double blind study is in case you're not 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:26.960 aware of what that is. Double blind is a methodology, 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:30.159 and it's one in which both the person administering the 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:33.159 tests and the person undergoing the test have no idea 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:38.320 which of the two or more UH scenarios they are 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:41.560 encountering at any one time. So, in other words, the 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:45.080 person who is pushing play on the stereo U doesn't 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:47.760 know which wires are being used, and the person listening 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:49.800 doesn't know which wires are being used. Now, ideally you're 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.960 using the exact same equipment apart from the wires, and 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:56.039 you're using the exact same recording in all these cases, 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.840 so that you know, no, you don't have any other 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.560 variation there. The only variation you should get are from 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.359 the wires. And the reason you do these double blind 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:09.160 tests is to avoid a kind of almost like a well, 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:12.560 it's really a psychological effect. If you go in expecting 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:15.720 to hear a better sound, you might be convinced that 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:19.640 you are hearing a better sound, even if on any 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:21.840 other day, if no one had told you that, you 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:26.200 wouldn't have that expectation. So, I mean, someone could tell you, oh, well, 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:29.240 these are the high high end speaker wires, and and 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:32.080 be pulling your leg, and you might convince yourself, wow, 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:34.840 those really do sound great, and then it turns out 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:37.600 that you know another the cheap little fifteen dollar ones 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:41.800 you can get on the aisle um. That's why double 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:45.679 blind tests are important. It takes that kind of bias out. Actually, 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:48.360 James Randy, do you have you do you know who 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:51.440 James Randy is? I've heard his name, James Randy. Uh, 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:56.960 it's a professional magician UM and also a noted skeptic, 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.560 and he has the one million dollar Chi Lenge, which 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:05.640 really is open to various claims of um of abilities 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:08.320 that fall into the paranormal range. But he opened it 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:11.720 up the one million dollar challenge to anyone who could 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:15.040 reliably tell the difference between I think it was a 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:21.120 seven thousand, five hundred dollar cable and a I think 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:23.240 a two hundred dollar cable. So we're still talking about 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:27.200 high end cables on both ends, but one that's incredibly 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:30.960 expensive versus one that's just expensive. And his argument was 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:35.120 that the human ear would be unable to detect the 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:37.720 the difference between these two cables, even if the two 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:42.040 cables performed exactly the way they were supposed to perform 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:46.640 according to advertisements and packaging. UM. As of right now, 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:49.160 no one has uh that they have not done any 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:52.760 of these tests. I think because the company that was 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:58.040 going to supply the cables backed out in the last second. Yeah, 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:00.440 maybe they just didn't want anyone to find how that 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:04.760 their product may or may not be distinguishable from significantly 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:07.440 cheaper products. I think that might be it. That that 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.000 could be it. Yeah, we don't know. We can't say 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:13.480 it may be a totally different reason. Um Wilson Rothman 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:16.800 UH from Gizmodo has done a series of articles about 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:21.440 Monster cables and whether they're worth it UM and worth 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:24.400 worth the price. And you know, he actually met with 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.840 some some folks at Monster and they explained to him 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:31.160 some of the reasons why they feel UM their cables 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:33.880 are worth it. And I should point out that UM. 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:36.160 According to one of his posts, uh it talks about 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:40.280 the the consumer blog Consumerist, UM, they got an inventorialist 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:43.680 from radio radio shack employee and there was a a 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:48.560 cable that had a markup of actually UM and nineteen 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:51.959 h d M I d v I digital cable was 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:57.040 a hundred wholesale was which is a profit of eighty 0:09:57.040 --> 0:09:59.720 dollars and fifty four cents, which is actually, as Monster 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:03.360 points out, a margin of which is just a little 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:06.760 higher than their normal margin, which is thirty seven. That's 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:10.320 according to Monster them, you know, the company itself. UM, 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:12.880 but there are a lot of things that Monster says 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:16.679 makes a difference for them. Um. They make heavier duty cables, 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:19.960 which UH, in the long run will save one wear 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:22.839 and tear. They showed Um Wilson Rothman and an X 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:26.320 ray of a monster cable and a less expensive cable, 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:29.600 and they showed the difference in wear and tear just 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:32.760 at the point where the connector touches the cable and 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:35.840 just bending it back and forth can can damage the 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:39.000 cable where the Monster cables were more robust. Also, they're 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:42.480 certified for things like h technologies like h d M I, 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:44.880 and they're saying, you know, basically, when you pay for us, 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:48.640 you're getting a higher quality copper cable. You're getting, you know, 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.640 a more robust cable that will last longer. The connectors 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:55.360 tend to be made out of pretty expensive material as well, 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:57.360 with the idea that you know, this is the part 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:01.080 that actually you insert into whatever equipment you're going to 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:05.760 plug the cable into and for it exactly and that 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:10.720 therefore it does make a difference which material you use. 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:14.560 And uh, you know, to his credit, uh, you know, 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.839 Rothman was really sort of skeptical about the whole thing 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:21.040 going in, but he said, you know, these things honestly 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:23.200 do play a part in whether or not the cable, 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:27.559 um you know, is worth more to the to the consumer. 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:31.319 But he also advocates trying a cheaper cable to start 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:33.640 out with because he said, you know, for the most part, 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:38.400 most people can't tell the difference, UM, and for shorter lengths, um, 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:41.560 it doesn't matter as much. He said. What's really funny 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:45.240 is the cables that seem to be the most overpriced 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:48.280 are the mid range cables, because you sort of get 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:50.240 what you pay for when you buy an inexpensive cable 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:53.720 or the monster cable. But the mid range cables really 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:56.120 aren't that much better than the cheap ones, and you're 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.600 paying a premium for that in between, and you're not 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.760 really getting that much more for your money. And when 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:05.199 you're talking about longer cables, that's when you're getting into 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:08.000 situations where you may have to, you know, move the 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.959 cable around corners and things like that, and this is 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.800 stuff that can produce wear and tear, or you may 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:16.280 have to if you're if you're wiring through the walls, 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:18.200 that may also play a factor. If you you know, 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:20.440 there may be a point where you have to kink 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:22.199 the wire a little bit in order to get around 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:25.520 a certain point um. And of course the heavier duty 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:28.200 ones can take that better than the cheap ones. So 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:31.440 in that case, yeah, if you're using a long cable, uh, 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:33.600 you may need to look into one of the more 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:37.000 expensive ones if if a cheaper one just isn't giving 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:40.720 you the quality of picture that you really want. And uh, 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:43.520 and it is true that there are times where you'll 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:46.160 look at an image on a TV and you'll think, 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:49.080 this is a high definite definition television. Why don't I 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:51.200 have a better picture? And sometimes it is the cable. 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:55.920 Sometimes the connectors not not quite sitting right, or uh, 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:59.720 the cable itself has a weak spot. Um, if the 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.320 fielding around the cable isn't very strong, there could be 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:06.960 interference from other cables. Keep in mind that you know, 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:11.040 cables that don't have any shielding are essentially emitting radio waves. 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:13.920 So if there if you have a whole bunch of 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:17.640 these together, there is chance of interference. If you've ever had, um, 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:21.960 for instance, a a cell phone near cheap set of speakers, 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:25.440 and the cell phone updates and then you start hearing 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:27.120 this did it? Did it? Did it? Did it? Sound? 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:31.120 That's because the the uh, the speakers are picking up 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.720 the interference from the phone. Actually the speaker wires are 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:35.760 picking it up and sending it to the speakers. I 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:37.880 always thought that was the ghost of Porky Pig could 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:42.280 also be that. So the we miss you mel blank 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:46.280 the but no, the shielding around the wires is very important. 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:49.120 So if you have a lot of if it's gonna 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:51.800 be laying around a lot of other cables, I mean 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:55.640 my house, that's the case behind any entertainment system. But yeah, 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:57.000 if there are a lot of cables there and they 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:59.080 have poor shielding, then you can have interference and that 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:01.400 can affect your pictures. So in that case, you may 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.880 need to look at a better, better set of cables. 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:08.360 But in general, like like s net, c net reviews 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:12.280 lots of products, and one of the things they review, 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:16.600 among many others, are home entertainment systems, and they have 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.080 the people have seen it, have gone on record saying, 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:21.480 you know what, there's a two h d M I 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:23.400 cable that we could get, and there's a twenty dollar 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:25.640 h d M I cable we can get. We stuck 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:28.440 with the twenty one. We can't tell the difference. Uh, 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:30.880 you know, we compared the two. We've used the twenty 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:33.760 dollar one for all of our tests from that point forward, 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.560 and that's what we're gonna stick with because for the 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:39.400 purposes of our tests, it's exactly what we need and 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:43.000 you're talking about, you know, testing really high end systems. 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.720 So again they're using you know, an average length of cable. 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:48.880 I think I think two meters is like the longest 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:54.040 one they use. Um. And so they they say straight 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:57.320 out like, don't bother buying the really expensive ones because 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:01.760 you're just wasting money. Um yeah, and that's uh yeah. 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:06.560 Rothman sort of tempered his his message after having met 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.440 with the Monster folks. Basically he said, we're not saying 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:12.000 that Monster cables aren't the best. That's not what we're 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:15.120 saying at all. We're saying you may not need, you know, 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.880 to buy a really expensive cable unless you're using it 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:22.000 for specific applications where you need an extra long cable 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.160 or you know you're going to need heavy duty cable 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:27.560 to to run through the walls, you know, things like that, 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:29.560 if you need you know, if you don't use that 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:33.080 for for that, then it's it's seriously unlikely that you 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.200 need to spend the extra money on a Monster cable 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:37.280 because you know, after all, they did do some lab 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:41.040 testing and the Monster cables tested very very well. Um, 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.760 you know, so you know, sure you can you can 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:45.480 buy that if you really want to. And they you'll 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.200 get an excellent product, but you know you may not 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.720 need require it, maybe more than what you need exactly. Yeah, 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.600 audio files and video files will often tell you they 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:57.040 want the absolute best in order to get the best, 0:15:57.040 --> 0:15:59.680 and that they can tell the difference. I can tell 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:02.200 you as someone who has looked at a lot of 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:05.440 these things personally. Um, there was a time actually at 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.880 the last consumer Electronics show where I was walking around 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:10.920 and I was walking into a booth. This is the 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.560 first day of the show, and they had not yet 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:17.440 put up the signs for which TV was which for 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.320 certain things, and I couldn't tell the difference. And I 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:22.040 came back to that booth later and then I saw 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.280 which one was supposed to look better than the others, 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:27.280 and I thought, you know, I still can't tell the difference. 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:29.280 But if I had walked into this the first time 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:32.040 and saw those signs, I probably would have thought to myself, hey, 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:35.040 that that picture does look better than this other one. 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:37.520 But without the without that information, there there was no 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.560 way for me to tell. So no, not granted, perhaps 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:44.480 that's a fault that lies on yours, truly, you know, 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:49.280 maybe I'm incapable of seeing those differences and that's my 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:52.280 my burden to bear in life. But I'm just saying 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:54.360 I couldn't tell. Yeah, And I'm sure that if I 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:57.640 had been there for the audio Holics testing procedures, I 0:16:57.640 --> 0:16:59.280 would not have been able to tell the difference in 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:03.760 speaker wire versus uh, you know, code hangers either, um, 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:07.320 you know. And they're a lot more highly developed ears 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:10.359 than mine, certainly, And this just n yes, the j 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:13.880 REF challenge I was talking about earlier, it was seven 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.879 speaker cables versus eighty dollar speaker cables. So I just 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:19.920 want to get that straight before we started getting emails 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:22.000 about it, all right, I hope people didn't pause the 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:24.479 podcast and type out an angry email and then started 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:26.600 up again. If it makes you feel better, I'll send 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.440 you an angry email. It always makes me feel better. Well. 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:31.840 I think now's a good time to thank our sponsor, 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:35.280 audible dot com. And hey guys, if you go to 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:39.000 www dot audible podcast dot com slash tech stuff and 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.959 sign up there, your first download is free, and we 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:45.200 have a couple of suggestions for what that first download 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:48.399 could be. If you like Chris, what what suggestions do 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.600 you come up with? We'll see this was obvious for me, 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:56.560 I chose Nick Hornby's High Fidelity right. Well, of course, 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:58.800 you know, I don't think there were any code hangers 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:03.120 in it. Anyway. It's narrated by David by David Kale, 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:05.840 and you know, it's an excellent it's an excellent book, 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:10.720 so it's an excellent one for their free download. Yeah, 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:14.280 it's a good one. Okay, Well, well mine, Uh, mine 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.080 takes a little explanation, but I'll go out and say 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:20.200 what it is. First. It's Love is a mixtape Life 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:22.200 and Love one song at a time, and that's by 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:25.280 Rob Sheffield, who also narrates it. Now, this is a 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:30.719 story about Rob and it's it's autobiographical. Um. He he 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:34.560 describes himself as a shy, skinning Irish Catholic geek from Boston, 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:37.920 and it's kind of about his love affair with a 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:41.800 young woman named Renee, who he describes as an Appalachian 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:45.399 punk rock girl from nor across Georgia. I feel a 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:48.159 certain kinship with both of these people, being both a 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:51.359 geek and a punk rock fan. And uh, it's a 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:56.080 great story. It's very funny, it's very very sad um 0:18:56.160 --> 0:19:00.119 and he narrates it. So that's my recommendation excellent, and 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:03.200 remember you can get that or one of fifty other 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:05.919 audio books for free as your first download if you 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:09.960 sign up at www dot audible, podcast dot com slash 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.280 tech stuff. And now you know what time it is, 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:21.520 don't you. Yes, that's right, it's listener mail. So this 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:26.960 is from Catherine from Philly. Hey Katherine, and uh, I've 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.320 expurgated your email slightly. It's I just took out the 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:34.080 middle part. Hey guys. As a lifelong geek girl, I'm 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:36.159 quite enjoying the podcast and hope you keep up the 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:38.800 good geeky work. Well, we don't have a choice in 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:42.959 the matter, so thanks Katherine. But she also says also 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:46.120 in your podcast where you talked about which platform is better, 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:50.199 a harry topic to say the least. Kidding, she's not 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:53.640 reading the other emails that you mentioned that if you're 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.600 doing web development, it really doesn't matter which platform you use. 0:19:56.880 --> 0:19:59.760 This is true, but it's important for any web developer 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:02.760 to be sure to test their website on both platforms. 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:05.680 I developed sites on my PC, but I'm always sure 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:09.200 to check them on a Macan Safari browser has around 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:11.480 a ten percent share of the browser usage at the moment, 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:13.960 so let's not forget about our Mac friends. When we 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.879 PC users build our sites. Keep on seeking. Katherine from Philly, 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:21.520 who was incidentally saddened to report that tagging web pages 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:25.520 with HTML does not technically count as programming. Sorry, guys, 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:29.320 it's well, you know, and we we did say coding. 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:32.520 We said that wasn't programming, it was coding, and we 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:35.160 were we were kind of weakling out of that one. Anyway, 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:38.440 that was a great point, Katherine. Um, and a lot 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:41.520 of web developers do have to check on multiple not 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:45.199 just multiple platforms, but multiple browsers to make sure that 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:49.199 a website looks correct in every single one. So you 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:51.520 might have to, you know, check your website and Chrome 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:56.760 and Safari and Opera and what's that big one, uh Firefox, 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:00.399 that's it. No, of course, we mean Internet Explorer. I 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:03.720 meant Firefox. Okay, when you meant Firefox. We do have 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:06.040 some Firefox fans out there who are very adamant about 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:07.879 us talking about Firefox. And I mean, if you're going 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:10.480 to get into the whole extra browsers thing, we could 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:14.360 get into Flock and Camino and anyway, right, So anyway, yes, 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:17.040 you do have to take that into considerations. Um, and 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:19.720 the same thing goes for people who are developing programs 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:21.879 you know that they want to run on both platforms. 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:24.920 Obviously that that's a lot more work you have to 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:27.720 you know, and you often have to build from the 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:30.520 ground up on both versions. So and then you have 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:32.720 to take into other other stuff into account, like the 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:35.159 colors are different on Windows versus a Mac. The actually 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:38.800 display different colors slightly, one darker, one finer. It's kind 0:21:38.840 --> 0:21:41.879