tvad

Hypnotoad - "Interesting, tvad how most of your problems were with the battery." The reason the batteries kept going bad was ultimately due to the mother board. There is a history of this issue in various discussion boards. Motherboard problems can arise in any Mac. The point is that technology turns over so fast that unforeseen problems can and do arise during the course of ownership, and having an extended warranty helps, IMO. I'm not an extended warranty guy by nature, and it took owning a few Macs that developed problems before I broke down and bought AppleCare, but I always purchase it now. There's no right answer to the question, but the Risk Management approach seems reasonable if you're the type to stay on top of the deadlines and then shop around for the best AppleCare price. For me, the cost of the plan amortized over the life of the warranty is worth not having to stay on top of this. I have more important other day-to-day details to keep straight in my life. Everyone has to weigh the cost and the benefits for themselves.

Buy the AppleCare Warranty. I have owned a MacBook Pro for four years. During that time, I have replaced the battery five times (twice after the original warranty expired), and the motherboard has been replaced once (after the original warranty expired). The cost of those out-of-warranty parts and repairs would have approached $2000. Fortunately, I learned my lesson and purchased AppleCare after my previous Mac's motherboard died. You may not need the warranty, but if you do, you'll be glad you have it. The Risk Management approach mentioned above also sounds like a good approach if you are diligent about following up as deadlines approach.

"3) Gapless playback - works perfectly with playlist - so what is the problem here?" - blueixus My comments regarding the problems with gapless playback were a result of using playlist. So, it appears some folks have gapless/playlist issues and others do not, and comments can't be universally applied.

I had a case in which the transition from first to second tracks of a gapless recording went seamlessly, but after the second track Mini 2.3 played a couple seconds of the first track before skipping to the third track. Too bad. PM 1.82 does gapless playback perfectly, but I prefer the sound of Amarra.

I find PM 1.8 to sound inferior with Channel D PAD installed...whether selecting Audio Playthrough and playing streaming internet music or selecting Audio File Player and playing music files in iTunes. Music is more grainy, hashy, and bass is less extended. If I uninstall Channel D PAD, both streaming music played from iTunes (PM 1.8) not running) and Pandora sounds more natural and more balanced. Bass weight returns. The same holds true when running PM 1.8 and playing music files from iTunes...more natural, less grain, and better bass extension. I'm using an M2Tech HiFace, and native integer format support is not selectable.