"Hey Mike,
Just wanted to add my experience with using the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 sound card under OS X 10.3.3. On my dual 1.42 GHz G4 system it's running very well.

I get Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound via the Apple DVD player and the sound is crisp and clean on all channels via my Logitech Z680 speakers using the coax digital output from the card.

Note: to get Dolby Digital output from DVD player I had to go to the preferences in the player and under the "Disc Setup" tab where it says "Audio output:" I had to select "Revolution Digital Out" instead of the default "System Sound Output." Before making this change I could only get ProLogic surround. With the correct setting Dolby Digital works and sounds fantastic.
Cheers - Fourth Horseman
...forgot to mention that I'm running the latest 1.2.9 drivers from M-Audio. "

" Mike, I received Toast 6 with Jam 6 yesterday and thought you'd like to know a user's experience with its DVD Music Album feature.
Roxio seems to have invented a way to create music DVDs that aren't DVD Audio so they work on any DVD player. The sound is either PCM (16 bit, 48 khz) or 2-channel Dolby Digital AC3, so it is not the 24-bit quality of DVD Audio. However, most hi-fi systems are 16-bit anyway. So this is the music DVD system for the rest of us. Maybe in the future Roxio will upgrade the sound to 24-bit when more people can play it. This enhanced version of Toast is 6.0.4.

With PCM sound you can get about seven hours of music on a DVD. With AC3 it is more than 30 hours (I haven't tried the AC3 music DVD as yet). Toast will convert the tracks from a large variety of formats including the iTunes music store's format.

A common way to proceed is to drag files from iTunes to the Toast Audio window. Each time you drag a group of tracks to the window you create a new playlist. Each playlist shows up as a item on the DVD's title window. Next to each playlist in Toast there is an edit window. Here you can add artwork for TV display with each track and change the track info (which comes from the track's ID tags). It works just like a Toast video slide show except you're using audio files rather than still images.

The burned DVD Music Album can be set to autostart by playing the first track in the first playlist when inserted into a DVD player. The progression goes consecutively through each song in one playlist and then to each song in the next playlist. There is no random or programmable play. You do get a sub-menu from the title menu that allows you to quickly find and play any playlist or individual track. Click on the playlist image in the title menu and an individually selectable list of all tracks in that playlist appear.

The TV image that appears with each track has a box with a picture you've selected to show with that track. Often people will choose that to be the CD album art. It also lists the track name, performer and source album name (this information can be edited in Toast). The TV image swaps the art and text from one side of the screen to the other when you go from one track to the next. It looks good.

When using CDs instead of ITunes for the source music, Toast automatically writes the CD tracks as AIFF files when they are dragged to the Toast audio window. The files are placed in the Roxio Temporary Items folder which is emptied when you quit Toast (unless you set the preferences differently). I just want to warn those who plan to create their DVD music album over a period of time and find their source files were deleted each time they quit Toast.

I congratulate Roxio for this well-executed and innovative way to make long-playing music albums available with DVD media. Now I have to figure out where to start with arranging my collection.
Thomas S. "

Another Jam6/Toast 6.0.4 user wrote regarding a bug:

" In case people are wondering, there's a bug in Toast 6 version 6.0.4. I usually tweak a bunch of mp3 or mpr files in Jam then save as a disc image, which I then open in Toast, export as .aiff files, then convert back to mp3 or mp4 through iTunes. (I asked him why all the conversions from MP3 to AIFF then back to MP3.) This is where it gets goofy. Once the .aiff files are converted they are all named the same as the name given to the original disc image (.SD2f) from Jam. Very odd. It seems it's a Toast/iTunes thing because I don't get the same result with other mp3 rippers. Toast 6 version 6.0.3 doesn't have the same problem and can still be downloaded from Roxio's website. This version does not make DVD music discs though.

I spent a good deal of time with Roxio on the phone so they are aware of it. It took some time but I must say they were actually open to listening and even went through the process of replicating it themselves.
Mike D. "

If you own this software, I welcome other feedback on it. (Include your system/OS used details also.)

" To my surprise, UT2K4 (Unreal Tournament 2004 Demo) now runs like a dream with the m-audio revolution (7.1) card installed in my single G5 1.8GHz (and in the 133 MHz slot). Perhaps, this was the problem the programmer was referring to, about the performance. (I didn't know what he was referring to but see another reader's comments on this below.) Maybe the programmer's machine includes an m-audio card, and during compiling he linked it to libs associated with the m-audio card? (see comments below) In UT2K4, the assault level and the onslaught level are fluid, with very little hitching. I never though just adding the sound card would make such a huge difference. This certainly makes me very curious.
(he previously wrote)
This card is absolutely required for any gamer on the G5! :) Games feel more fluid and faster. I have tried UT2K3, UT2K4 demo, MOH Spearhead Demo, and Jedi Academy. All my games run great! Perhaps my CPU is getting some resources back? Note, on UT2K3 I copied the openalib from the from the UT2K4 into the system of UT2K3. First trial of UT2K3 gave garbage, after replacing the openalib, it runs great! What a deal!
I am so far very happy with this card for $78.00. I highly recommend any G5 owners who play games to get the m-audio revolution PCI card.
Best Regards,
Jeffrey M. "

I asked if he was running 10.3.3 and he said yes, along with the 1.2.9 rev 7.1 Drivers. Another Rev. 7.1 owner replied to the post above regarding the programming bug and resources comments:

" Hi Mike, In regards to the reader report (above) about the Revo 7.1 and UT2K4 performance, I'm pretty sure it's all placebo effect. The Revolution 7.1 does not offload any sound processing from the CPU. All it is to Mac OS X is another sound output device. The OS still processes all of the sounds. The bug in UT2K4 had nothing to do with sound cards but was a misuse of the sleep() function within the sound code (milliseconds vs microseconds). There are no libraries to link to for specific Revo 7.1 programming as there's no API for it.
I agree with Jeffrey in that the Revo 7.1 is a nice card. I've been using one for over a year in my dual 1.2 GHz Quicksilver G4. I have had no serious problems (read: no kernel panics) I can directly relate to the card or drivers.
Ciao, A.J. "

I don't own this card but if anyone else that does has seen improved game performance with it let me know. Previously a Revolution 7.1 PCI Audio card owner noted improved performance after the 10.3.3 update. (There were some problem reports last fall from G5 owners - some due to early revisions of the card and drivers.) I've added Jeff's comments to the previous page of M-Audio Revolution 7.1 feedback/tips

" Mike, not sure if this is appropriate content for your site or not, but I have posted a web review as a companion to a brief review I did for TapeOp Magazine of the Marantz PMD670 digital recorder. Thought maybe it would go along with the audio articles that you post occasionally. It's not Mac compatible per se, but it's functionality mimics something that could only be done with the Freeware app Coaster on the Mac for many years - split a recording on the fly (now there are several apps for OSX that do it and one lame shareware piece for Windows.) And since it uses Compact Flash to record to, any Mac running OS8.6 or above can read the files with a USB or FireWire reader. I have dialoged extensively with Marantz about numerous things, not the least of which was true Mac compatibility and a FireWire port instead of the USB-2 port it currently has.
http://sldghamr.faithweb.com/PMD670.html
Regards, Rick "

• About the Mac OS X Server 10.3.3 Update
• Mac OS X Server 10.3: "Repair Disk Permissions" can disable mailman lists
• Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server: 10.3.3 Update overwrites /etc/ttys file
• Mac OS X Server 10.3: Enabling VPN-PPTP access for users in an LDAP domain
• Xserve RAID Admin 1.3: Documentation for v1.2 also applies to v1.3
• Applications don't work after reinstalling Mac OS X
• Can't log in after installing Mac OS X 10.2 over 10.3
• Mac OS 8 and 9: Compatibility with Macintosh computers

" Hi Mike, Two new articles that are relevant to your site I think. The first on LaCie's Big and Bigger disks:
http://www.it-enquirer.com/index.php/ite/lacie_big_disk/
(click on the heading to see full comments - notes big disk multiple drives are raid 0 striped)
The second on Sony's new Hi-MD walkman format:
http://www.it-enquirer.com/index.php/ite/hi_md/.
Hope you'll find these of interest for your readers.
Cheers, Erik "

• Other World Computing G4/1.3GHz in (Digital Audio) G4/AGP (rated 10)
• Other World Computing G4/450 (at 500MHz) in Beige G3 (rated 7)
• Powerlogix Dual G4 1.4GHz in G4/AGP (rated 1)
• Sonnet G4/1.2GHz in G4/AGP (rated 10)
  
  (My reviews of G4 and G3 upgrades w/apps/game tests, install info, etc. are linked on the CPU upgrades page. OC/CPU module articles are on the Systems page.)

(Warning - Overclocking may not be reliable and could lead to hardware failure or corrupted data.) You can find the full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, please post an entry in the database. Search the database for entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. (Searchable by mac model/upgrade brand). For detailed reviews with performance tests and install tips, see the CPU Upgrades page.)

CDRW Drives:
• Firewire cased AOPEN CRW-4850 (48x12x50x) used w/PowerBook G3 lombard (OS X 10.3) (listed under "other" brands, using Patchburn II for Panther burn support.)
  
  DVD+RW Drives:
• IDE Liteon LDW-401s in G4/AGP (OS 9.2)
  (no native burn support)
  (FYI - Illustrated CD drive install guide here covers G4 towers up to the Digital Audio Model, Beige G3 MT and B&W G3 Macs)
  
  Hard Drives:
• IDE Serial ATA Maxtor 120GB in G5 Tower (OS X 10.3)
  (problems noted formatting drive)
• IDE Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 120GB in Beige G3 (OS X 10.3)
  (Beige G3 MT illustrated HD upgrade guide here)
  
  Multi-Format Card Reader
• USB Asante GINI UMR-106 used w/Powerbook G4 (OS X 10.3)
  (listed under other brands - may be typo on brand)
• USB Keyspan GINI UMR-6x used w/Powerbook G4 (OS X 10.3)
  (listed under other brands)

You can find full owner reports (latest shown first) by searching the database by drive/brand/interface/mac models (the latest reports are shown first in searches). For guides to installing CD/CDRW/DVD drives or Hard drives in many mac models, see the IDE Articles page. The Firewire articles page also has guides on case kits, installing drives, etc.
If you've added a IDE, SCSI, Firewire or USB hard drive, CDRW, tape drive, etc. make sure you add a report to the database. (If you post an updated entry - make sure you use the same name, etc. as you did before so I can find your past entry. Thanks.)
(Incomplete entries are deleted. Do not post questions in the database, it's for drive reports not questions on what drive to buy - for that try searching the database for reports from owners of your mac model on the drive type/brand/interface, etc. you're interested in.)