Posts by simon maasz

Just about any music editor software can record what is being played internally on a PC. If you can hear it, you can record it at the same quality it is being played at.

So what is the real distance?

This reminds me of what someone told me 30 years ago. When working on the very first satellite navigation systems I found they calculated distances that were different to the longhand spherical trigonometry. - Navigation - the science of estimation and the art of guesswork. And here is the clue. What is the "real distance". A nautical mile is defined as a minute of arc, but because the earth is not a true sphere the length varies depending where it is measured. It differs by nearly 20m between poles and equator, so an average length is used. Of course, the satellites follow orbits that follow the shape of the earth - an oblate spheroid. So which is correct? the distance measured by GPS calculation from a satellite with a non-spherical orbit, or a land-based calculation with all sorts of averaging and compensation to arrive at a standard datum? Its easy to fix a position by lat and long.It's not quite so easy to decide exactly what the surface distance is between those two points.

One World. One Price?

I too have been using Mozy for a year or so, no problems, unobtrusive, seems to work well. I note that there is now a website at mozy.co, mozy.co.uk and mozy.ie (their Europe HQ is in Cork)

Guess what - all the same price - 4.95. just the currency changes $, £, € !!

Think I'll stick with $$

No such thing as a free lunch

Don't understand why everyone runs away from BT. I have BT Business on a residential line (opt 2) Its not the cheapest, but.... I can watch iplayer HD most evenings. Its an unlimited package (OK fair use, but I don't peer to peer or have massive DLs except for iplayer) I get free openzone minutes which I find useful and they threw in a mobile dongle I'm not supposed to have on this package. Plus I get UK based support with real people on the end which was good when I moved house and ran in to an exchange problem when my number was moved. Think I'll stick with them - they've never let me down yet

Problem. What problem?

So they want to check that the person signing up for a gmail acct is a real person. Since robots don't tend to have mobiles, this is a pretty robust way of sorting real people from the bots. It looks like it is only intended for the sign up process. If you change/cease your number it has no effect. They will retain your number for future reference, but won't pass it on under the T&Cs.

Where's the problem?

In any case, I gave my mobile number to google ages ago because I quite like having gmail pushed out to my phone using their activesync service. I certainly haven't noticed it being spammed.

BBC doesn't just broadcast real audio

Actually, most (all?) national BBC stations are also available as WMA streams, although the URL's are not easy to track down. Alternative Roku media streamer maintains all the links through radioroku, and I routinely listen to BBC WMA radio streams. I guess, if you track down the URLs the squeezebox can listen to them too.

Exception or example?

There is a band - Show of Hands - who have been around for many years on the Folk/Rock circuit. Pretty big - played the Albert Hall a couple of times, regularly win awards, easily fill provincial venues like The Lowry, and as far as I can see make their living entirely from playing their music and selling CD's.

When I have seen them play live they have always made a point of telling people to go out there, copy their CD's, give them to your friends, tell them to copy them etc. Last time I saw them they told a story about how a chap came from Germany just to see them just because he'd heard a copy CD and explained that this demonstrated how they wanted their music to reach people. They have always worked on the basis that CD copying spreads the message of their music - the more copies, the more potential concert goers.

At concerts, people queue for the original CD's the same as anywhere. The only conclusion is that if the music is any good, and listeners respect the effort that is made to produce it, they will pay to own a part of it. Music is more than the sound, it is part of life. Owning an original CD is like keeping family photos; every so often, you dig out the old stuff, do a bit of reminiscing, remember the good times.

The record companies have to find a means of adding value to physical sales. Perhaps artwork, discount vouchers for concerts, access to limited edition clothing. Whatever. The only certainty is the present model will never work.

Also, regional copyright deals are nuts. I have ordered CD's from the USA of bands I have heard on Pandora/Radioparadise etc. Many American bands are losing potential sales with the restriction on world wide airplay caused by the stupid regional restrictions that are now being put in place on some net radio. The World is crazy.

digital but not DAB

I have digital radio in my kitchen. It comes via a neat little wireless media player talking to the internet via my wireless router. I get all the Beeb radio stations, all the commercial stations and have access to about 6000 other worldwide stations, all neatly categorized by genre and name. (try out radio paradise, or smoothjazz for no-chat background music and you're hooked) Many of the best stations display artist/album info (not The Beeb tho'). This little box was about the same price as a DAB radio, and also plays all my music on my home PC over the network as well. Surely *this* is the future, not some line-of-sight signal attenuated by buildings/trees that will only give a decent signal if you are lucky.