Feedback: The “Ranger Procrastinates Yet Again” Edition

I found out that if you semi abandon your blog, for whatever good reasons like life getting in the way or something, the thing you must do is lock down your comments. What a magnet this thing became while I was off doing.. stuff.

While deleting ads, questionable links, more ads, odd random posts in languages I don’t speak and even some ads, I found that there were real comments from real nice people amongst all the chaff. I pulled these nuggets out and I really do apologize for not responding to you sooner.

Here is a comment from the Windows 7 launch day post.

California State University Northridge said...

We have a few college students online from California State University Northridge College and we love your blog postings, so well add your rss or news feed for them, Thanks and please post us and leave a comment back and well link to you. Thanks Jen , Blog California State University Northridge

Thanks for reading. Sometimes I forget just how big the world part of the world wide web can be.

Once at CSUN 2007 someone yelled out to me on the Exhibit Hall floor “Hey there Ranger!”. And three people I had never met before in my life stopped me on the way to my friend to thank me for the blog. The same thing happened at the NFB Convention in Detroit this past year. It makes me feel guilty at not being so prolific in 2009. In fact, it could drive aguy to answer his comments some eight months after they were posted. But I digress.

This comment came from the July/August Poll results on updates and upgrades.

john said...

Hello Ranger. It seems it's been a while since you've written here. And so I'd like to welcome you back to the world of blogging, confusing as it is. It's great that you're back and all, but just to be frank, or steve, or some other guy, I've got a suggestion. No, it really is great that you're back. You put, on the list of upgrades, snow leopard. It's only worth $30 if you already have leopard. So, I'm thinking: is there any other software that may be, just maybe! should be on this list?
Thanks and good times and such,
John

Oh, if Windows 7 was as cheap as 30 bucks then I’d say that without hesitation. It isn’t, but I still recommend Windows 7 to anyone who can run it without the hardware upgrade hassles or the required upgrades for their AT products. Even then you could go with System Access, NVDA or a payment plan through G.W. Micro for Screen Reading. System Access with Windows Magnifier isn’t a bad combo either, however, it can’t replace some of the features found in today’s leading Screen Magnifiers.

Snow Leopard, if you aren’t a Power PC based Mac, can be a wonderful cheap boost to Voiceover access. Except there are some issues with some program compatibility on third party programs, not related to Voiceover, and Boot Camp isn’t Windows 7 friendly yet. In some ways 10.6 has become a little bit like Vista with 10.5 taking the role of Windows XP. I know that is blasphemous to some that I even consider that analogy, however, it is kind of apt depending on if you can or cannot run Snow Leopard. Plus any minor niggles I can make about how Apple acts like Microsoft at times are always worth the seconds it takes me to type them out. 

And now a correction on my Book Sense post thanks to a fellow Blogger at this little site you may have heard of called Blind Bargains.

J.J. said...

NLS support is already there. Perhaps you mean RFB&D support?

Oops, he is right. Not to mention that the keys are now available for the Book Sense as well.

http://www.blindbargains.com/bargains.php?m=4925

I made a post about music from March that garnered this comment.

Anonymous said...

Hi ranger,
I am not an audiophile, but I agree with you about current recordings. The new Metallica cd was recorded so loudly, that it's actually distorted in some places. What a shame, as it's quite good from an artistic standpoint. I think the recordings from decades past are much more pleasant to the ear, even when compressed into reasonably sized mp3 files. No lower than 160 KBPS for me.

If you look on the net, possibly in some nefarious places, you may find that there is a better recording of the last album. It seems that the masters, depending on your viewpoint of how that is defined by the band or the label, were given to a famous Videogame for their inclusion to their track lists. If you look around for Metallica and Guitar Hero… ahem. Uh, the live tracks could be a better alternative. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Remember that you can leave a comment here on the blog, direct message me on Twitter and forget about me on Facebook because I’m hardly ever there. One social media meem at a time I guess.

One Month With... The Book Sense

I’ll say this upfront. There is nothing wrong with the Victor Reader Stream. It is a good unit, well designed and it has some great features. For me, however, I found that there were some things about the Book Sense that were more appealing to the type of user that I am. So if you choose to stay with a Stream, upgrade from a Stream or skip buying a Stream all together and buy a Book Sense .. it’s okay. Both devices sound pretty darn good.

Now while I’m being honest here, I don’t really use Audible or NLS. I’m mostly a MP3, podcast and alternate media kind of person. I have a few MP4s and a lot of MP3s. I scan text and read via doc. Or docx. At times. And I listen to music just about, as much as I listen to podcasts. The next bit will be slanted to my style of use. Thought I should clarify that first.

I purchased the Book Sense XT. That is the “off white” and more expensive unit. It is also the one that has Bluetooth headset support, a FM Radio and 4 GB of flash memory on board. I specifically wanted the radio and Bluetooth support. Therefore, my path was set to go for the XT model instead of the Ruby Red model.

I have stayed away from reviews, discussion threads and other avenues of those who have put up their views of the device. I’ve done this for two key reasons. The first being that I’m odd and what I use it for isn’t the norm. The second is that making a direct comparison of the Stream V Book Sense can’t be done yet as the Book Sense is still adding features to its firmware. I can’t tell you how the NLS book reading experience is because that support is coming in an updated software release. Thus, I’m skipping that head-to-head battle cry for now.

My quick impressions though do end up making some connections between the two units. And I see why it is difficult not to pair the two off in a steel cage and watch. With that said, here are some very rough ideas I have about the Book Sense.

It’s a little more complicated than I thought initially. What I mean by that is the addition of a directional pad, to go along with the numeric keypad, ends up making some things a little more confusing at first. You may want to use the numbers for a lot of navigation-based tasks, I know I sure did, but that would be wrong. Learning when to use the nav pad and when is a good time to utilize its powers does take some getting used to for someone who has used the Victor Reader prior to working with the Book Sense. It isn’t a bad thing.. it’s just different.

I absolutely LOVE! The clock and alarm options. Now I know how late I am to the bus, to work or to a family gathering. All along, I’m doing my best to be blissfully ignorant that I am doing so by listening intently to something else instead of said clock and time. No really having that thing say the time in the same pair of headphones has helped me tremendously. This is one key feature that the BS has and that the VRS doesn’t.

I know its super silly but I use the radio .. a lot. I can catch a weather or traffic report then skip back to a book or podcast with just a couple of button presses. Again, this sounds like a minor feature for some. And I know other devices have a talking radio in them. I still like that it is in the same device with the time and alarm on board.

The switch for the key lock! That thing rules. I know it sounds trivial again but I really do like moving that switch to the lock and unlocked position. As often as I travel knowing that I’ve locked the device has saved me tons of time in having to go back to find my place in a file.

Not all, of course, is perfect. And here are a few of my minor quibbles.

I’m not a fan of any equalizer settings. I like the way that you can customize the sound of the Victor Reader Stream more than the preset options on board the Book Sense. Pop sounds too bright and Rock is a little too compressed. I’d love to see a Custom option with bass, treble and controls like those found with the Stream.

The key for jumping to a percentage of a file also just so happens to be the key for deleting a file. And to make matters more confusing the key is context sensitive. So if you are in a file then you jump to a percentage. If not you had better pay attention when the unit asks you if you’re sure you want to delete that file. I know.. I’ve done it when traveling on autopilot.

The buttons can feel mushy at times. It isn’t a deal breaker but for some who need button definition this isn’t for you. The distinct and raised buttons of the Stream may be easier to find for those who have less sensitivity in their fingers. Or, like me, you may find that you press downwards with too much force when multitasking and you flinch when you do this because the front of the device has some give. I also kind of end up pressing too lightly as a result when trying to complete button presses where you have to hold down the button for two seconds. I want to press downwards for the needed number of seconds but I do end up a lot of times not doing so because I don’t want to press down too hard on the face of the unit.

Overall though I can say that I am really happy with my purchase of the Book Sense XT. I would tell those on the fence to wait for the features to show up that they may want. Alternatively, to bite the bullet and buy the device before it goes off sale this September 30th if you are a bargain hunter. Once NLS support arrives, however, the real deal begins and I will revisit what I’ve said here and update things more feature to feature and pound for pound.

Tweet Weekly Rollup: April 20th Edition

I’m going to take the old “random Goodness” and “Quick News” formats and roll them up into this new post. Twitter has become my default way of posting information for things I don’t want to expand on but feel like they should get some attention on the blog. I’ll go back over the week and summarize the best of the best each Monday.

Mono vs. Stereo: A neat article on how some believe that the original Beatles mono recordings are better than the remixed stereo ones.

http://digg.com/d1oy32

IT Power Up Myths: Should you power cycle your system to save energy or is it better in the long run to leave your system on for hard drive safety? This link gives more information on this and other IT Pro Myths.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/16/1819206

Attack Of The Zombie Macs!: Take that Apple marketing..

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/04/evidence-suggests-first-zombie-mac-botnet-is-active.ars

Office 14 Is Now Office 2010: Paul at the Windows Super Site has updated his Office 14 FAQ to reflect all the news that came out this week about the next version of MS Office Suites.

http://www.winsupersite.com/office/office2010_faq.asp

Office 2007 SP2: Word is that the date for the next Service Pack for Office 07 is April 28th.

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/04/confirmed-office-2010-will-come-in-32-bit-and-64-bit.ars

Firefox Looks Forward: XP support may fade in the next generation version of Firefox that is in early development.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131576

Follow me on Twitter if you would like to see more information like this in real time. Or review the Tweets whenever you want at..

http://twitter.com/RangerStation

Music: Its The Return Of Depeche, Prodigy And Static

Old names with new music. I’m going retro but not really. Here are some highlights on what rocks the Station’s orbit these days.

DM: I’ve seen the band a few times, however, I never saw them in the keyboard glory days of the 80’s. Although I can imagine what those shows were like by watching “101”. I’m keen to see this tour as the new music is a throwback to the days of “Master and Servant” or “Black Celebration”. A preview of the new album can be found at the band’s MySpace page.

http://www.myspace.com/depechemode

The Prodigy: I’m a bad Ranger. I really like “Fat of the Lamb” which by all accounts of the true fan places me in the *sell out* camp. I can’t help it. There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t hear “Firestarter”, “Breathe” or “Smack my B” on a passing car stereo or TV program. The disc is ingrained in my memory and every time I think I can walk away… someone licenses it for a movie trailer and I dig the CD out again. I mean I even liked the band’s abandoned attempt to recapture the lightning twice with “Baby’s got a temper”. Over the years, sadly, I lost my fuel for the fire that was The Prodigy. The new album is out and I’m playing with matches in hopes of rekindling a lost love. Hear for yourself at the link below.

http://www.myspace.com/theprodigy

Static X: I came late to the party with StaticX. I admire “Wisconsin Death Trip” but I came along fully around the “Shatter Zone” era. The band’s last outing, “Cannibal”, was a nice blend of Industrial, Metal and a hint of Techno. But the new disc is a straight time warp back to the age of Ministry’s early works and it isn’t for the faint of heart. I’ve got a cover that the band did of Ministry’s “Burning Inside”. So this move wasn’t a surprise to me. But I tend to like the early 90’s Ministry more than the later works. And this new Static record harkens me back to the summer that saw the return of the mega festivals like Woodstock 94.

http://www.myspace.com/staticx

Music: Shuffle Your Compressed Ideas On What Is Good For You

Some days I have nothing to write about. And then some days I find links that just click together. Today is one of those “click” days. Observe that I have a theme, and per the usual, something to rant on about. Bad coffee in the mornings may be my new muse!

Steve Took Your Button: The new iPod shuffle talks but it has one of the oddest of interfaces.. well ever. It is nice that Apple finally has come round to speech on these devices but the ship has sailed for most of us. And basic MP3 playback on NLS enabled devices will take care of a lot of people’s needs. Still for those who are all into being hip with the rest of the kids I say read the link below.

http://www.macworld.com/article/139333/2009/03/ipod_shuffle_design.html?lsrc=rss_main

Beauty Lies In The Ear Of The Beholder: Speaking of the kids.. It seems that highly compressed audio is becoming the standard by which we judge good or bad music. Between the compression on the new Metallica and Red Hot Chili Peppers albums and the death of music in general by American Idol it is no wonder why some love the sound of a 128k MP3.

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/11/153205

The Death Of High Fidelity: Now if the last two articles don’t prove that I am getting older and I am rapidly losing touch with today’s youth, or reality for that matter, then this article from Rolling Stone may explain the reasoning for my take on the audio recordings of the last six years.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17777619/the_death_of_high_fidelity/print

Music: More On XM/Sirius And Other Odds’n’Ends

As a follow up to the poll question on the XM/Sirius merger, I found this post from the Derby Viewpoint interesting. I also thank this blogger for the links to Orbitcast as well. I’m adding that one to my lists for sure.

http://wesderby.blogspot.com/2009/01/post-merger-state-of-satellite-radio.html 

I have to say that not all my time post merger has been wasted. While I prefer the XM style of things, I have to say that I did hear some stuff on the other side that has now made it into rotation in my offline listening. Here are a few bands I want to shine a spotlight on that are never too far away from my MP3 Player. 

Blonde Redhead: The band would fit right at home in between Radiohead and Starsailor on a playlist. Or even next to Kate Bush if I’m feeling retro. Check out the song “23” as it was the one that I heard first and moved me to find out more about the group.

 http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=31272122

Pendulum: Some people never left the land of “drum’and’bass”. If you are searching for a more melodically inclined 80’s new wave throwback with a little ELO syth voice then you have to check out this group. For nothing else but the fact that they make the Realspeak voices say nasty things on Youtube with some killer grooves. 

http://www.myspace.com/pendulum

Billy Talent: While XM did play this Canadian fave of mine, other Sirius channels played them a bit more often. I’m looking at you Faction. The band has a new single out and it continues there take on the Millennial Punk style. Their early work is fantastic too. So going deeper into their discography will be a treat if you like what you hear from the link below.

http://www.myspace.com/billytalent

Polkadot Cadaver: I miss Faith No More. And try as I might Mike Patton’s 5,000 side projects doen’t give me that fix for the old FNM sound. Dog Fashion Disco, however, does fit the bill quite nicely. I hadn’t kept up with this band and I was stunned to hear that this new group is a reforming of some of the members out of DFD. Manic, frantic and even a bit Zappa like the band will keep you guessing on what comes next.

http://www.myspace.com/polkadotcadaver

December’s Poll Results And January’s Poll Added

This is kind of neat. We have a tie on the question I was asking and a real winner in the area of paid radio. See the results below.

December’s Poll Question: Do You Like The New Combined Serious XM Radio?

Yeah 2 (25%)
Nope 2 (25%)
I don’t hear a difference 0 (0%)
Dude.. the radio is dead, I gave up and only listen to MP3s 4 (50%)

So the winner was MP3s and User Generated Content I guess. I’ve met many who have stopped their subscriptions to both services who say that they don’t like the music changes to their fave stations. Others who I know still hang in there with Serious because of the sports content. Personally I tend to listen to XM more because the music channels are on my DirecTV. I haven’t been a big fan of the changes at all. Although I have heard some new music I didn’t hear on XM pre merger. In fact that is how the new Metallica disc ended up as a link on the right side of the page. XM plays it a lot and it gave me a good look at the thing because prior to the merge I had no plans on buying it at all.

And now another mini poll for January…

January’s Poll Question: Are You Excited About Windows 7?

Yes, I’m there on launch day!
No, I’m fine thanks.
Yes! I’m running the Beta right now..
What? I don’t use this Windows thing you speak of..

Thanks and a shout out go to Rick who’s comments in the last post inspired this month’s question. Well that and I don’t want to make a Assistive Tech question this close to ATIA. Still, this is a valid discussion topic. And I have already committed myself to jabbering about it in 2009 anyways.

November’s Poll Results And December Mini Poll Added

I know the results have been on the sidebar for weeks, however, for posterity's sake I’m posting them here.

November's Poll Question: My MP3 Player Of Choice Is..

The New Apple 4 Gig Nano 2 (10%)
The Victor Reader Stream 9 (47%)
The Icon/PAC Mate/Braille Sense/Braille or Voice Note 2 (10%)
Rockbox Enabled Players 1 (5%)
Some Other Accessible Player 2 (10%)
I Use An Off The Shelf MP3 Player With No Assistance 3 (15%)

In less than 18 months the Victor Reader Stream has dominated the landscape of how Blind people are accessing text and MP3s. Even with iTunes support more readily available out of the box for JFW and Window Eyes, I find that others are still opting for the VRS because the usability of iTunes its self is such a mess. The iTunes program, from my perspective, should be thought of as bloatware or malware in the fact that it pushes so much stuff we Blind users don’t use. The App Store for the iPhone? Whatever.. And the Apple Software Updater is almost as bad as the Adobe Updater. It makes me almost long for the days of the Real Player updates. You had a bit more control over those but not by much. Real Player Games Updates anyone? No thanks. I just want to hear a song. And three pop ups and two tool tips in my taskbar later I finally got to hear that song I forgot that I wanted to listen to in the first place.

A really interesting delema for Humanware will be how they release and market a Victor Reader Stream 2. With so many great features already included in the 2.0 software one would be hard pressed to upgrade to a better model when one finally does come along. That is a real problem for Apple as they too are reaching the end of the feature list for the iPod lines.

Speaking of music, I’ve been listening to the newly combined Serious and XM radio stations. I have my own thoughts about the merger but I thought that this would make a good Mini Poll Question to ask all of you before I pull out another soapbox. So..

December’s Poll Question: Do You Like The New Combined Serious XM Radio?

Yeah
Nope
I don’t hear a difference
Dude.. the radio is dead, I gave up and only listen to MP3s

I’ll run this until the early part of January and then I will come up with something more exciting. We are less than a month away from ATIA and the press releases should start picking up steam again very soon. We may have some neat things to talk about as we stand in the shadow of another version of Windows and Office. 2009 is shaping up to be a weird kind of year for sure.

October’s Poll Results And November Poll Added

Well it looks like we had a landslide victory for the choice I probably would have chosen myself. And I sure don’t blame anyone for going with the winning option, however, it does make for little content for me to ramble on about this month.

October’s Poll Question: All I Want For Xmas Is ...

An Upgrade For My Screen Reader/Magnifier/OCR 2 (11%)
A Note Taker Like a PAC Mate, Voice Note, Icon Or Braille Sense 3 (16%)
A Victor Reader Stream 1 (5%)
A New Video Magnifier/Hand Held CCTV 0 (0%)
Starbucks, iTunes Or Other Online Gift Cards 0 (0%)
Money, Because It Goes With Everything I Already Own 12 (66%)

Looking back at that one I could have changed the last choice to “All of the above” and gotten almost the same results huh? Still I can’t disagree with the winner.

Let us try something new then. Recently Apple has released the 4 GB Nano which supports a spoken interface. And many of the leading Screen Readers have offered either free updates or third party scripts for iTunes access. The question is now.. is Apple too late? With Milestones, Plextalks, Olympias and that juggernaut known as the Victor Reader, has Apple done enough to get you on board with everyone else who doesn’t already own a Zune? Personally I use my ARCHOS 604 often because it has a very large screen and I can customize the way that the text and backgrounds look. But how do the rest of you feel about the options you have for MP3 playback?

November’s Poll Question: My MP3 Player Of Choice Is..

The New Apple 4 Gig Nano
The Victor Reader Stream
The Icon/PAC Mate/Braille Sense/Braille or Voice Note
Rockbox Enabled Players
Some Other Accessible Player
I Use An Off The Shelf MP3 Player With No Assistance

I know this is a lot like a poll we did before, however, we never had Apple as a real contender before. So we will see where this one takes us.

Music: XP, C64, 8 Bit, Bionic Commandoes And More

I can’t stand being idle on the bus. So I multi task by learning via Podcast. Well I did until I explained to a co-worker what a Podcast was and what I listened to daily on the way to work. I told this person about how I enjoyed a description of how the WEP key works and how WPA was stronger for some tasks. The person said to me “Ooo, how boring”. And then I promptly fell asleep on the bus while listening to a lengthy conversation on Windows Live, Chrome and Firefox exploits. After that event I decided that Fridays would be music only days on my rides to work.
Of course I’m still a Geek by nature, therefore, some of that comes through in my links today.

Music via XP: Some people tap pens and pencils to tunes but how about striking your keyboard melodically? Yep, you too could be an orchestra of one with Windows. See the link below for more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsU3B0W3TMs&feature=related

C64 Orchestra: Speaking of orchestral arrangements.. Some classic games have gotten modern reimaginations via the C64 Orchestra. Hear samples and an interview on who and why they chose the Commodore 64 as their basis for inspiration at the link below.

http://current.com/items/89398718_commodore_64_orchestra

8 Bit Weapon: There are some real musicians out there in the Nerdcore parts of the world. The Mini Bosses, Jonathan Colton, MC Chris and one of my personal faves is 8 Bit Weapon. Check out their site to learn more about their brand of music and you can even pick up a couple of free tunes to boot. Get it.. 8 Bit .. boot? Never mind it was lost in Eprom anyways.

http://8bitweapon.com/news.htm

Bionic Commando Rearmed Soundtrack: I’m sporting the new remixed Bionic Commando soundtrack today and man is it a blast. Very much in the style of the band I just mentioned 8 Bit Weapon. To pick this up or to learn more check out the link below.

https://www.sumthingdigital.com/AlbumDetails.aspx?albumid=3664

OverClocked Remix: And if you don’t want to spend any money but still lay your hands on some fantastic electronic goodness you can check out the Granddaddy of them all when it comes to amateur videogame music mash ups at the Overclocked Remix. Some of these musicians have gone on to doing original works in new games or they have seen their remixes used in rereleases of others. Get a listen at the OC Remix site at the link below.

http://www.ocremix.org/

Really Random Goodness: Ear Wax, Rock! And Happy Fun Ball

Can You Hear Me Now: The first link below talks about a possible cure for deafness and the second one mentions why ear wax is a good thing. Personally I can’t deal with the stuff but maybe that is just me.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/08/27/scideaf127.xml

http://www.livescience.com/health/080829-earwax-removal.html

Rock!: And when you have finished cleaning your rears you could venture out this weekend to Houston where an “Austin City Limits” of Rock .. of sorts is taking place. There is a real trend for the US to go the route of European styled festivals. And if you are into that sort of thing then this lineup will blow you away. But if you didn’t watch “Headbanger’s Ball” in the late 80’s or early 90’s then just be amazed at the names appearing at this event.

http://rockthebayou.com/

Too Many Manuals: I’m reading a ton of product manuals and release notes this week. And from out of nowhere I remembered one of the greatest disclaimers ever. Please hit the link below to know just how to play with “Happy Fun Ball”.

http://www.luvistheanswer.org/videos/snl-happy-fun-ball.html

Random Goodness: Smart Contacts, 78s and Snowl

Smart Contact Lens: I’m all about the tech, however, I put the brakes on when we get to Wetware. Too much reading of Bruce Sterling and William Gibson I think. Well for glaucoma patients this contact lens may just be the thing to catch those pesky eye pressure spikes.

http://thefutureofthings.com/news/1278/smart-contact-lenses.html

Before LPs There Were 78s: We have reached an age where if you discuss Vinyl with younger people they think you are talking about clothes instead of the long playing record variety that so many of us grew up with prior to the MP3 generation. This article talks about one man’s crusade to digitize as many 78s as possible.

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/08/one-mans-quest.html

And if that doesn’t take you back you can read this about albums being reissued on Reel to Reel.

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/28/albums-reissued-on-r.html

Snowl: I’ve been hearing about this Firefox extension that lets you read your messages within the browser. I don’t have the time to play with this now but I think I might come back to it later. Here is a Windows Super Site blog entry on Snowl.

http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2008/08/12/introducing-snowl-an-experiment-with-messaging-in-the-browser.aspx

Music: Love Me Dead

Here is another one of those songs that I may end up buying the CD of because.. well in this case I like the lyrics. Kind of a Ben Folds quality. I really didn't know much about Ludo. This single has me interested though. And it took a while for me to hum this one at work without realizing that I was doing it. Take a listen to "Love Me Dead" and see what you think.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SCU1JYmGxcA

Audio Illusions.. Don't Believe Your Ears

A few months back I talked about how I was totally impressed with the way ZBS did their binaural sound schemes. Well the New Scientists site has a special up on music and music recordings. Take a listen to the five examples given to how some of this magic is achieved. Follow the instructions though as you have to do some of this the right way in order to hear the full effect. 

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn13355-music-special-five-great-auditory-illusions-.html

MP3: Hey Brother Can You Spare A Dime?

The recent Writers Strike finally broke the hold on me that LOST, 24, Heroes and about six other TV series had on me in any given fall/spring. To fill this void left by the lack of good drama and crass marketing tie ins I turned to my massive collection of growing Audio Dramas and I rediscovered my desire to collect more music as a byproduct of the odd web search. I ended up making a few wish lists, I read up on some new media players and I rolled around the net to occasionally hear a few new bands. Here are some highlights of my ventures into Music tech.

Rent A MP3 For A Dime?: I am one of those folks who misses the Specialty "old school" Record store. Snobbish people who knew their store like the back of their hands who also made the occasional great recommendation is something that I do actually long for every time I go to a Big Box retailer to pick up a new Limited Edition of the new release of the week. Don't get me wrong I like buying music Online [as long as it isn't iTunes]. But I don't know if I am ready to step back to the era of "pay per play" unless it involves a smoke filled pool hall. See what I mean by this article that talks about an experiment to see if people will rent a MP3 for a dime.  

http://michaelrobertson.com/

MP3 Licensing: You do know that MP3 is not an open format right? Companies have to pay a licensing fee to use the format. Learn about this and the new MP3 Surround initiative at the link below. 

http://mp3licensing.com/

Flobots: I heard this band's single "Handlebars" a few months ago and it didn't instantly stick for me. But hearing it a few times more has me now hooked. If you took a look at my CD pick for March, Quarashi, you may get the impression that my musical style is all over the place. Well this little band from Denver fits my off beat sound and it is on the Amazon Wish List.

Youtube link

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AuK2A1ZqoWs

Flobots My Space page
http://www.myspace.com/flobots

Jeff Healey Passes Away At 41

Back in my radio days I heard about this Blind musician who played his guitar in his lap. A friend of mine at the now defunct KLOL 101 FM in Houston told me about Jeff and his amazing talent. Another good friend at the time, Doug from King's X, told me that I had to hear this demo. Soon all of Houston rock radio knew of Jeff and his music. I was even asked backstage by bands "Do you know about this cat who is Blind and plays his guitar in his lap?". it was the second most asked question of me beyond "Do you have a Guide Dog?.. I love dogs!". Since Jeff came up into conversation a lot back then I naturally became aware of his recordings. I admit that I haven't heard any of his Jazz materials but I think I will seek them out when I trip back into a Jazz kind of mood.

The article link below is a well written overview of Jeff's career and illness.

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2008/03/02/obit-healey.html

January's Poll Results And This Month's New Poll

As you might remember last month's poll came to me when I was picking up one of many moving boxes that contained tons, or at least it felt that way, of Cds. I had ripped some of them but I had not really nabbed the majority of my collection yet because I kept flip flopping on the bit rate I wanted to use. Hence the poll.

January Poll Question: At What Bit Rate Do You Archive Your Music?

128 - 5 (25%)

192 - 5 (25%)

256 - 0 (0%)

320 - 6 (30%)

Lossless .. I Have Gigs Of Space! - 4 (20%)

I have to admit that this one surprised me a little. I was using 192 a lot as of late. But then the same number of you use 128. And that took away my thought that I was in a happy medium. but then I saw the 320 votes pull up and win by one. I use a 30 gig player, the Archos 604 if anyone is interested, and I can hold a good bit at 320. However I don't see myself going lossless. Probably due to my desire, no need!, to have the original physical media for those recordings I treasure most. Heck the link to this month's CD is a reissue of one I already have. Which sadly means I will be doing that standard "trade in and trade up" routine for a 24 bit master and one bonus track. Sigh..

This month's poll came from a discussion I had with some co-workers. Every once in a great while the Low Vision and Blindness community hits a trend. A "One product to rule them all" kind of thing. In 2007 we jumped from the Creative Stone to the Victor Reader Stream. Considering the recent news out of ATIA this begs the call for this month's poll question.

Poll Of The Month: Do You Own Or Are You Going To Buy A Victor Reader Stream?

Yes, I own a Stream and I love it!
Yes, I have one but I just don't get the hype..
Yes, I am thinking about buying a Stream
No, I am not interested in getting a Stream
No, I use another device like the Victor Reader Stream

Hopefully that list covers all the bases. I don't like to invoke the "other" option if I can get away with it in things like this.

December's Poll Results And The First Poll Of 2008

I guess the results below just add more weight to that old adage "Its a Wintel world and we just live in it".

December's Poll Of The Month: My Next System Will Sport Which Processor?

Intel Based System - 13 (76%)

AMD Based System - 3 (17%)

It will be one of those OLPC or other Linux styled boxes - 1 (5%)

"Other" like Transmeda and the like- 0 (0%)

I wonder if some opinions will change when the ATI and AMD relationship continues in the multi core era. And just in case you were interested I am a NVIDIA Intel fan for many years. Although my recent issues with Vista support does have me on the fence for my next purchase.

This month's poll question came to me as I carried 300 CDs in 1 box up a flight of stairs during last month's move.

Poll Of The Month: At What Bit Rate Do You Archive Your Music?

128
  192
  256
  320
  Lossless ..  I Have Gigs Of Space!

And while we are on the subject of music Ars has a not so surprising article on holiday sales.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071231-ho-ho-horrible-music-sales-plunge-20-percent-this-christmas.html

Also Rolling Stone has a nice primer on dynamic range compression and the effect it has driven into our ears in the MP3 generation.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17777619/the_death_of_high_fidelity

The Creative Zen Stone Is A Great Replacement For Your Shuffle. And It's Audible Friendly!

As many of you who have read this blog for a while already know I can't stand Apple's iTUNES. I don't like being locked into any software let alone software that is so unfriendly to the Blind like most of Apple's offerings in this space. To that end I chose an ARCHOS 604 for it's ability to copy music and video over directly to the player via it's Hard Drive mode. No software, no fuss and I can use Windows Explorer to view the data on the system. The problem of me recommending this to everyone is that it's more of a player for those who are visually impaired rather than for those who are totally Blind. Still if you are a Screen Mag user the ARCHOS rules because you can modify the colors on the menus. And if the 4.3 inch screen of the 604 isn't big enough you could opt for the 704's 7 inch+ unit. But this post oddly enough is not about me going on about my ARCHOS again.

I've been on the look out for a secondary player. I want something small. I want something simple. And I want something just as easy to use as my current player. For a long time I looked at the iRiver players and Rockbox. However I heard about this new player from Creative back at this year's Winter CES. A player the same size as the Shuffle for half the price. Could this be the one I was looking for all this time? I hope it is because carying around a heavy player in shorts means you have to wear a belt just to keep them up. And I am too young to start wearing the black socks with sandals and shorts.

A little research on the net shows that it might just be the perfect solution for an exercise room player. Or for that one you need instead of the big and bulky 30-80 gig monsters. Either way 40 bucks for an Audible friendly player that's super small can't be all bad. I plan on picking one up in the next month or so.

Here's two links if you are interested in knowing more about the Creative Zen Stone 1GB MP3 Players.

CNET Review
http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/musicplay/0,39050466,40511880p,00.htm

Amazon page for the Creative Zen Stone
http://amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/102-0025491-1641763?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=Creative+Stone