I mean, let's face it, there are really just two kinds of people in the world: Those who use Macs and those who use PCs. Sure, there are some folks out there who don't use computers at all, but if they did, they would like the rest of us choose a side and stick to it. I, as it happens, am a Mac person. There are millions of us, but we are few in number compared to the legion of PC users out there in the world.

What brought all this on? Good question. I was recently forced to use a PC to complete a sound design project and let me tell you, I am still recovering from the experience. Like all Mac users, I am used to a drag and drop, double click kind of reality. My mouse, I am not ashamed to admit, has but one button. My G4 does not even have a floppy disk drive . . .

My friends, after being thrown (defenseless, I may add) into the strange and double-buttoned land of the PC, it didn't take me long to loudly cry "Uncle." Trapped in a room with a PC, I felt as though I were in some sort of alternate universe where the most basic of rules that I live by no longer applied. Truth is, after weeks of living in PC land, I still don't know which button on the mouse I'm supposed to click on to open a file in Windows. More importantly, I don't care I just want my Mac!

See, I'm not afraid to admit that I'm just not tough enough to make it out in the world of Windows98. More importantly, I'm overjoyed that I don't have to be. Sure, I know I'm in the minority, but that's absolutely okay by me. Still, I have friends who swear by their PCs (and most of them actually still like me, despite my "prejudice"). It's just that a lot of their "pro PC" arguments no longer hold water.

They say: "You get more for your money with a PC." They claim that the PC world has infinitely more options available and that PCs are faster than Macs. Finally, they say "You Mac people are in the minority and you'll never catch up."

While statement number one was true a few years ago, you only have to look at today's Mac prices to see you get a whole lot of computer for your hard-earned cash. What's more, you can yank most Macs out of the box and be browsing the Web in less than ten minutes. I swear, it took me two days just get that PC configured properly and able to figure out where the heck my files went.

As for options, you only have to browse a catalog from one of the Mac super retailers or talk to your Sweetwater Sales Engineer to see that there's no lack of options for anything you may want to do on a Mac.

Speed? Well, if you just look at numbers (say a 800mHz PC vs. a 500mHz G4), it may look on the surface like the PC will be faster. But that doesn't take into account everything that happens inside a personal computer when you tell it to perform a task. Those speed numbers merely indicate how fast the processing chip deals with the actual math, not how much information can be processed at one time. The new "super" Macs process data in huge 128-bit chunks, while most PCs are still slogging away trying to process 32- or 64-bits of data. To put it into music terms, think of a sampler that's outputting 8-bit sounds vs. one that is outputting 16-bit sounds. Which one do you want?

In fact, Apple just released this bit of information: Using six of Intel's own tests (they are, after all, the developers of the Pentium processor), the 500MHz G4 (with its 128-bit Velocity Engine) operates twice as fast as the 800MHz Pentium III.

Hey, I'm not writing this to sling mud at PCs or their owners. I think everyone should own the computer that makes him or her the happiest particularly since I cannot imagine a world any longer that is without computers. If you are a PC owner, I'll take your word that Windows is wonderful. Only please, don't make me use it!

I also have to sneak this in: Statistics show that while PC users may switch over to Macs, the reverse is not likely to happen. Mac owners like me love our machines. Yes, there were dark days when we honestly didn't think Apple had a clue where they were taking their products. Thankfully those days are over, and today's Macs are unquestionably the best ever. Don't believe me? Try one for yourself. Whatever model you might be looking for is almost certainly sitting in the Sweetwater warehouse, just waiting to be shipped to your door. But don't be surprised if you decide to make the switch yourself and join the millions of us who wouldn't trade our G3s, G4s or Powerbooks for anything.

I guess that ultimately, it comes down to personal preference. Some people like to drive a car with a stick shift. Myself, I prefer an automatic. If I'm going somewhere, I want to enjoy the ride, not have to do the work of changing gears manually (particularly in traffic).

Having said all that and hoping that you're still with me I want to say that it's great that we live in a time and in a country where we actually have such choices. There are still a lot of people in the world who will never, ever see a Mac or PC, let alone own one. We can pick up our phones, call Sweetwater and have a brand new Mac at our doorstep the next morning. Really, how cool is that?

Just as this issue was approaching deadline time, Daniel Fisher from our Soundware Development Facility sent me an e-mail to say that our "Total Stereo Session Drums" CD had just won a "Key Buy" award from Keyboard magazine. Now I don't usually take up space here saying how great my samples are or how terrific the programming is on the Sweetwater CD ROMs (you know, like the 20 out of 20 stars the magazine gave us for our "Ultimate Guitars" disc), but to get recognized twice in a row by those picky people at Keyboard (and I mean "picky" in the best possible way), well I felt I had to mention it here.

Considering the fact that Sweet Notes now has more than double the circulation of Keyboard, there are thousands of people out there who won't see the review, so I thought I'd throw out a few quotes. "Considering the hundreds of sample libraries on the market today," writes Greg Rule, "you might wonder why a company would bother making another collection of drum and percussion samples . . . Then I loaded these kits into my K2500 and . . . cowabonga! These samples are gorgeous, lush, and exquisitely recorded." Aww, pardon me if I blush. After all, I spent many months tracking down great kits and the drummers to play them, so it's very gratifying to know that the Editor of Keyboard recognized how special these samples really are.

Greg continues later in the review: "Of the 29 kits in this collection, almost all put a smile on my face. Love those muted and slappy samples in the Garage Kit, to name one." Jim Aiken, who is Senior Editor at the magazine (and a man who can detect even the tiniest flaw in any sound) also had a listen and concluded: "Overall, I'm knocked out by the sound of the samples. They have plenty of presence and just the right amount of room ambience. I'd recommend this CD in a heartbeat to anyone who is trying to sequence realistic drum tracks."

Sound design isn't a high profile gig. I don't get recognized by people on the street ("Oh wow, that's the guy from Stratus Sounds who played and sampled all those incredible guitars!"). The hours are sometimes long and arduous. So when people whose opinions I respect bestow my "babies" with so much praise, it feels pretty darn good. Of course, a lot of the credit also goes to Daniel Fisher and Gary Phillips, who took my raw samples and turned them into terrific kits and used their programming wizardry to take the sounds right up to the next level. Thanks guys!

And thank all of you out there for your correspondence lately. Seems like I spend at least an hour a day responding to your e-mail. I just hope that I've been able to help in some way, get you pointed in the right direction. I'm honored that you feel like you can come to me with your questions and even more pleased when you just write to say you appreciate some particular column or support one of my more outlandish theories. Believe me, it's one of my greatest joys to hear from you!

Jim Miller can be contacted at "jim_miller@mindspring.com"