Greetings from a bemused Ppuker

[Moo]

I would like to convey my warmest good wishes to Milady and Mr S-H. I hope that you both have received gifts that exceeded your wildest dreams.


And I would like to share two examples of the bizarre nature of modern living, both of which happened today:

I bought a splendid printer/scanner/copier machine from John Lewis. As the machine was half price I thought I might as well get a spare set of inks. But when the assistant fed all the information into his till he discovered that the inks were going to cost more than the machine itself. So, in the interests of economy, I bought a second machine.

We've just got round to rationalising our audio system downstairs, so that we can listen to the radio and music in the breakfast-room and the kitchen simultaneously, with two loudspeakers in each room. The cabling from the amplifier to the kitchen speakers has cost twice as much as the speakers.

And lastly, to bring a smile to everyone's faces as the year nears its end, here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0REJ-lCGiKU

 

[Flyfisher]

Sadly, modern printers are almost given away these days as the real money is in selling the ink or toner cartridges.

The bottom line is that printing is an expensive business and far better done on someone else's printer (usually the office one :shock: ).

If you print infrequently then inkjet printers are prone to 'gumming up'. I gave up printing colour photos at home a few years ago as the online options are fast, reliable and cheap - especially if you take into account the ink and photo paper wasted during the inevitable nozzle-cleaning process.

Laser printers are probably the cheapest to run, and they don't suffer from blockages, but although a new toner cartridge will last a long time, the cost is pretty high. I have an old Xerox laser printer and the last replacement toner cartridge cost over £90 - and that's just for a monochrome printer! But it has lasted about 18 months so far, so not too bad.

Small laser printers have become quite affordable in recent years, but be aware that they are often sold only with an "economy" cartridge, i.e. one that won't last anywhere near as long as a standard cartridge.

As for extending loudspeakers, I'm not al all surprised at the relative costs. Cheap mass production means it's often cheaper just to buy a second (or third!) radio or CD player than bother with sophisticated 'whole-house' systems. I regularly use three radios dotted around the house (including the garage/workshop) so I can listen as I walk around from room to room. A single, multi-room system would undoubtedly cost far more than the individual radios.

In fact, such radio receivers could be made even cheaper if they didn't bother to include fancy tuning and memory facilities. I'd be quite happy with just an on/off switch and a volume control with tuning being fixed to just Radio 4. And even the on/off switch could be optional. :lol:

 

[Penners]

As FF said, printers are priced as a "come-on". What the manufacturers really want to sell you is their outrageously over-priced ink cartridges.

You can, of course, buy refilled or re-manufactured cartridges, at a fair cost saving. You can even buy kits to enable you to refill your own cartridges (although this can be problematical if your printer has microchipped cartridges). But in my experience the print quality can sometimes be rather inferior. If you're only printing letters and suchlike you probably won't notice too much of a difference, but for high quality photo printing results can be variable.

Here's the company I use, but there are many of them - search online for "ink cartridges".

http://www.stinkyinkshop.co.uk/

I'm mightily impressed by young Jonathan's conducting - he even manages to pick his nose in time to the music!

 

[Moo]

We went for the loudspeaker option because it will enable us to listen to our increasing collection of music CDs via an iPod, and free up some valuable space in the kitchen (one cupboard is almost full, and there are stacks of the darned things sprouting like weeds at one end of the worktop), as well as getting rid of the cheapo radio/CDplayer we bought from Currys about eight years ago.
There has been a saving on the iPod front, though; the ancient (ie 4 years old) iPhone that I inherited from our son will, it seems, hold an enormous amount of music so until we have a sizeable lottery win we'll use that.
I must say, though, that in retrospect the idea of a wireless system seems increasingly attractive!

On the printer ink business - we've been using cheap inks for years with our old Epson, but must stick to the branded ones for the duration of the guarantee; once that's up, it's back to Inkbox.

And I recently learned something about photo printing from a friend who is a professional photographer: it's much cheaper to have one's photos printed by one of the on-line companies, and the results are way better than anything we can do at home. It's all to do with colour recognition, apparently: I was complaining about the way in which what appeared on-screen was difficult to replicate on paper and was comforted to learn that it's an almost universal problem that the high-end printing firms solve with incredibly sophisticated equipment.

 

[Penners]

It's all to do with colour recognition, apparently: I was complaining about the way in which what appeared on-screen was difficult to replicate on paper and was comforted to learn that it's an almost universal problem that the high-end printing firms solve with incredibly sophisticated equipment.

Yes, professional Photoshop users probably spend more time on the complexities of colour profiles than they do on any other aspect of obtaining a true representation of what is required on paper. It's a quagmire.

However, I have found that one invariably achieves the best results at home by using the printer manufacturer's own inks and papers.

But oh, the cost....

 

[Moo]

But oh, the cost....

That's why my expert chum advised me to use an on-line firm. She told me the name of the one she uses, which is excellent, but I've forgotten the name. Would you like me to send it to you when I've found it?

 

[Flyfisher]

I must say, though, that in retrospect the idea of a wireless system seems increasingly attractive!

Have you looked at the Apple Airport Express gadget Moo (I believe you're a Mac user)?

You could store all your CDs on your Mac (using iTunes) and then stream them wirelessly to the Airport Express gadget and into a hifi system or set of powered speakers. You can also use the iPhone as a remote control by downloading the appropriate application.

I've never used one myself, so I can't vouch for their range, but I do a very similar thing with my music, although I use 'WinTel' PCs and a (mostly) wired network.

And I recently learned something about photo printing from a friend who is a professional photographer: it's much cheaper to have one's photos printed by one of the on-line companies, and the results are way better than anything we can do at home. It's all to do with colour recognition, apparently: I was complaining about the way in which what appeared on-screen was difficult to replicate on paper and was comforted to learn that it's an almost universal problem that the high-end printing firms solve with incredibly sophisticated equipment.

Colour calibration is, indeed, an issue when printing photos at home. There are ways to overcome this but it requires some additional widgets to correctly calibrate screen colour profiles, e.g. http://spyder.datacolor.com/product-mc-s3pro.php. But I've never used such devices myself as I've also found it to be cheaper and easier to use online printing services, especially as I only tend to print enlargements or compile a collection into a photobook.

I'm certainly not dismissing home printing; I've managed to produce some excellent prints in the past, but in the end I also came to agree with Penners' conclusion!

 

[Penners]

Would you like me to send it to you when I've found it?

Yes, please. There are lots of online suppliers, but I'm always interested to know of another one who comes with a personal recommendation.

 

[Penners]

Apple Airport Express

The only problem with Airport, of course, is that it tends to grind to a halt in the snow.

 

[Flyfisher]

:lol:


I've been very pleased with Photobox, especially a few photos I've had printed to 20x16 inches, which I thought would be a bit beyond the capability of my 8MP DSLR but, after upscaling with Photoshop, I really couldn't see any pixellation. I've also been very pleased with their Photobooks, although the very flexible layout options means it's very easy to lose an hour or so before deciding on a final layout. The end results are very good though.

 

[Moo]

The highly recommended printing firm is http://www.loxleycolour.com.
Mind you, I didn't ask about price - they may well turn out to be prohibitively expensive!

EDIT :

A better link is http://www.loxleycolour.com/default.aspx?id=32

 

[Feltwell]

I've been very pleased with Photobox

+1 for Photobox, quite cheap, good results and quick delivery - only negative is they do tend to bombard you with marketing emails, you can unsubscribe if they get on your nerves though.

This is a "very" amateur view by the way - I've just ordered a new 12Mp camera to replace our ageing 3.1Mp model, but still only of the "point & snap" compact variety. I'm not into photography as an enthusiast.

 

[Penners]

The highly recommended printing firm is http://www.loxleycolour.com.
Mind you, I didn't ask about price - they may well turn out to be prohibitively expensive!

EDIT :

A better link is http://www.loxleycolour.com/default.aspx?id=32

Thanks, Moo. Unfortunately those nice Loxley people have decided that I'm not allowed to see their prices unless I register with them, which I'm reluctant to do as (in my experience) this normally opens the spam email floodgates.

 

[Flyfisher]

+1 for Photobox, quite cheap, good results and quick delivery - only negative is they do tend to bombard you with marketing emails, you can unsubscribe if they get on your nerves though.

I wouldn't use 'bombard' to describe their marketing emails, but it's a fair point - they are certainly 'regular'.

But I use this to my advantage when buying their photobooks. As I previously noted, they can take some time to compile and tweak to the point where I'm happy with them and this whole process seems to take out the urgency to actually order one. So, when I do have a completed compilation, I just sit back and wait for the 'half-price on photobooks' offer, or a '2-for-1' offer before ordering. Skinflint that I am.

 

[Moo]

What an excellent idea!
It's easy enough to 'unsubscribe' from irritating snowstorms, but if the price of a bargain is no more than the occasional dab at the delete button, on my income I reckon it's well worth paying.

 

[Penners]

I just sit back and wait for the 'half-price on photobooks' offer, or a '2-for-1' offer before ordering. Skinflint that I am.

Well, I just hope you can sleep at night. After all, the two-for-one offers aren't meant to be accepted.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I just sit back and wait for the 'half-price on photobooks' offer, or a '2-for-1' offer before ordering. Skinflint that I am.

Well, I just hope you can sleep at night. After all, the two-for-one offers aren't meant to be accepted.

I'd never fall for a two for one offer - they're always rigged. I'd hold out for a BOGOF if I were you...

 

[Penners]

I'd never fall for a two for one offer - they're always rigged. I'd hold out for a BOGOF if I were you...

Such wisdom...

And in one so young...

 

[Flyfisher]

I suppose there are always two ways of looking at things. :lol:

 

[Moo]

Another recommendation:

The nice young man in John Lewis* today recommended a firm called Snapfish - cheaper than Jessops and Boots and providing much better prints.

*where I had been getting my money back on the second printer, having realised that (a) the cartridges that come with the machine contain very little ink, and (b) my daughter (the intended recipient) would never be able to afford to keep it in inks.