Re: Rip, just another rip-off or money well spent?

[Ken K <ellipsis@concentric.net>]

J. Arthur Davis wrote:
> 
> >
> > For $250, you get a damned nice printer, plus software,
> > from Epson.  RIP vendors only have to supply the
> > software.  You're telling me they can't get adequate
> > profits at $250 a pop?  If the quality and *utility*
> > of such a thing were apparent to us amateurs, there
> > would almost certainly be a sufficient market to make
> > such a thing profitable.

This is an industry-wide phenomenon. Add-ons can eat your budget up in a
hurry. Doesn't take long to exceed the cost of the original software
(e.g. Quark, Photoshop) with third-party plugins, most of them having a
rather limited feature set. (Admittedly, a few of them are as complex as
stand-alone applications) We keep buying into it though, thus
perpetuating it.

Compact disks are cheaper to manufacture than a cassette, however they
cost about $4 more. There's a real 'RIP' for ya. It's whatever the
market will bear.

> As you mentioned you purchased low priced rips and they were not worth
> the cost. The old adage says you get what you pay for.

I think the Birmy RIP, for it's few faults, fills an important niche. I
use it to proof PostScript projects that are headed for offset press.
Granted, the screening isn't perfect, but it does a fine job, and the
fact that it incorporates a genuine Adobe Level 3 interpreter is an
advantage not to be downplayed. It allows me to image full-bleed tabloid
pages with all printers marks using my Epson Photo EX and 11.7" x 19"
paper.

It's just the ticket for what I do.

Ken
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