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Aug. 21st, 2004 12:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miko2Today's project is to buy a new router. Mine is a Netgear, which everyone says is good but it's been buggy for forever. It likes to stop working and I have to reboot it... it used to do this a few times a week at most, but it's been doing it every 15-30 minutes since I came home last night. So it's time for a new one.
I've been reading Wee Free Men this week. Very good book. For some reason I've fallen behind on my Terry Pratchett, very very far behind. When I got Night Watch a year or so ago, I tried to read it and it didn't grab me immediately, and I wound up setting it aside. I read Maurice, but I'd borrowed it from someone, Gene & Mike or Jeff & Jeri-Lynn, I don't remember now. So I didn't own my own copy. And then Monstrous Regiment came out, and Wee Free Men, and at some point I realized I was three books behind in my collection, so I ordered those three but my order for Wee Free Men was cancelled (the book got mangled en route and sent back to the seller apparently), and I didn't immediately order a new copy. Nor did I read Monstrous Regiment when it came in. So when I figured out that Hat Full of Sky was out, and I ordered it, it occured to me that I still didn't even own Wee Free Men yet. So it came last week and I started reading it immediately. I was 1/3 through the story before I even knew it.
I also picked up a couple of classical music cds this week. I've been listening to a show called Music Mavericks on NPR, hosted by Suzanne Vega. I've never really liked Suzanne Vega that much, and I can't say that this series of shows has changed my opinion... unlike other NPR shows they seem to not just be in the business of providing information, but also seem to be trying to sell you something. They continually harp on how wonderful their web site is and how you should go check it out immediately, and they do this in a very scripted tone that sounds very calculated and not at all spontaneous. It's annoying. Not to mention at the end of every show they have to tell you about Suzanne Vega's latest cd, which has absolutely nothing to do with the subject of their show.
But anyway, some of the shows have been interesting, and two weeks ago they did a show on modern classical composers who have been inspired by rock music. This is the sort of thing I've been wanting to hear for a long time, and two pieces that they played in particular caught my ear, and I wrote them down. When I got home I checked out their supposedly awesome web site. It was not quite as awesome as advertised.
For one, you can't listen to anything they have at the site without first installing Real player. I despise Real player. Not that Win Media is such a great system, I just despise any program that wants to place shortcuts in every concievable corner of your computer, and place itself in your startup menu, and associate itself with all of your related files. And I despise any web site that doesn't give me a choice of programs to use. So their site gets a big F from me in that department.
Not that it was really that helpful otherwise. I was able to find one piece immediately, and yes they had everything set up to allow you to purchase it right there, surprise surprise. But I could buy it used at Amazon for cheaper. :D On the other hand, I couldn't find where I could buy the other piece I was interested in, which was Leading The Machine by Mikel Rouse. It took me a while to locate him at all because I didn't have his name written down correctly, but I was able to track down the right radio program and go through everything they'd played for that show. But I still wasn't able to buy the cd from them. As it turned out, it's an out-of-print cd, so that's why they weren't selling it... but nowhere on their site did it even tell me what cd that particular piece of music came from. I had to do some other web research to find out, and then I was able to buy it used from Amazon.
So their site gets a poor grade in the information department from me as well.
Anyway there was a bug with my purchase of these two cds. Amazon said my credit card was rejected. There was no reason for this that I could find, I make payments on my credit union Visa twice a month (every time I cash a paycheck) and I'm well below my max balance, and all of my information at Amazon is up to date, but their stupid system refused to allow me to resubmit the purchases until I changed to a different credit card.
Anyway I got one of the two cds, the Mikel Rouse one, in the mail earlier this week. It's interesting. He mostly uses synthesizers to produce his music, so really the distinction between him as a classical music composer and other electronica music is pretty slim. The music is somewhat repetetive, but it's not minimalist. It's interesting.
The show they did this week was on minimalism. Philip Glass, that sort of thing. I've read a lot about minimalists without ever really listening to them, but in essense minimalist classical music is like listening to early Tangerine Dream. It's repetetive trance-like music that doesn't really develop or go anywhere. Some of it is interesting, but ultimately not all that interesting.
I picked up another cd this week, the latest from Sahara Hotnights. Although brand new the cd was only $10.99 at Fred Meyers. This surprised me. Then I noticed that it had FBI warnings against copyright infringement on it, which amused me at first. But after reading more closely I realized that it comes with anti-copy protection. This means I can't rip mp3's from the cd. I can't listen to it on my computer. I can't place any of these songs on a mix cd or an mp3 data cd to play in my mp3 player.
In short, I can only listen to this cd by placing the cd itself in a cd player. If I don't like listening to the whole cd, too bad. And it's not that great a cd to be honest. I know there are ways to get around this, but basically this is bogus, I expect to be able to mix and match my favorite songs and listen to them on my computer or mix a cd and listen to it in the car or on my cd/mp3 player. If I can't then your cd is basically just a $10 coaster to me.
So I will be certain to never buy another such encoded cd ever again. There's lots of music out there to spend my money on, I don't need to give my money to corporate idiots like this. I listen to a lot of independent music, and it will be rare that I like a particular major-label artist so much that I can't stick to my principles. :D
I've been reading Wee Free Men this week. Very good book. For some reason I've fallen behind on my Terry Pratchett, very very far behind. When I got Night Watch a year or so ago, I tried to read it and it didn't grab me immediately, and I wound up setting it aside. I read Maurice, but I'd borrowed it from someone, Gene & Mike or Jeff & Jeri-Lynn, I don't remember now. So I didn't own my own copy. And then Monstrous Regiment came out, and Wee Free Men, and at some point I realized I was three books behind in my collection, so I ordered those three but my order for Wee Free Men was cancelled (the book got mangled en route and sent back to the seller apparently), and I didn't immediately order a new copy. Nor did I read Monstrous Regiment when it came in. So when I figured out that Hat Full of Sky was out, and I ordered it, it occured to me that I still didn't even own Wee Free Men yet. So it came last week and I started reading it immediately. I was 1/3 through the story before I even knew it.
I also picked up a couple of classical music cds this week. I've been listening to a show called Music Mavericks on NPR, hosted by Suzanne Vega. I've never really liked Suzanne Vega that much, and I can't say that this series of shows has changed my opinion... unlike other NPR shows they seem to not just be in the business of providing information, but also seem to be trying to sell you something. They continually harp on how wonderful their web site is and how you should go check it out immediately, and they do this in a very scripted tone that sounds very calculated and not at all spontaneous. It's annoying. Not to mention at the end of every show they have to tell you about Suzanne Vega's latest cd, which has absolutely nothing to do with the subject of their show.
But anyway, some of the shows have been interesting, and two weeks ago they did a show on modern classical composers who have been inspired by rock music. This is the sort of thing I've been wanting to hear for a long time, and two pieces that they played in particular caught my ear, and I wrote them down. When I got home I checked out their supposedly awesome web site. It was not quite as awesome as advertised.
For one, you can't listen to anything they have at the site without first installing Real player. I despise Real player. Not that Win Media is such a great system, I just despise any program that wants to place shortcuts in every concievable corner of your computer, and place itself in your startup menu, and associate itself with all of your related files. And I despise any web site that doesn't give me a choice of programs to use. So their site gets a big F from me in that department.
Not that it was really that helpful otherwise. I was able to find one piece immediately, and yes they had everything set up to allow you to purchase it right there, surprise surprise. But I could buy it used at Amazon for cheaper. :D On the other hand, I couldn't find where I could buy the other piece I was interested in, which was Leading The Machine by Mikel Rouse. It took me a while to locate him at all because I didn't have his name written down correctly, but I was able to track down the right radio program and go through everything they'd played for that show. But I still wasn't able to buy the cd from them. As it turned out, it's an out-of-print cd, so that's why they weren't selling it... but nowhere on their site did it even tell me what cd that particular piece of music came from. I had to do some other web research to find out, and then I was able to buy it used from Amazon.
So their site gets a poor grade in the information department from me as well.
Anyway there was a bug with my purchase of these two cds. Amazon said my credit card was rejected. There was no reason for this that I could find, I make payments on my credit union Visa twice a month (every time I cash a paycheck) and I'm well below my max balance, and all of my information at Amazon is up to date, but their stupid system refused to allow me to resubmit the purchases until I changed to a different credit card.
Anyway I got one of the two cds, the Mikel Rouse one, in the mail earlier this week. It's interesting. He mostly uses synthesizers to produce his music, so really the distinction between him as a classical music composer and other electronica music is pretty slim. The music is somewhat repetetive, but it's not minimalist. It's interesting.
The show they did this week was on minimalism. Philip Glass, that sort of thing. I've read a lot about minimalists without ever really listening to them, but in essense minimalist classical music is like listening to early Tangerine Dream. It's repetetive trance-like music that doesn't really develop or go anywhere. Some of it is interesting, but ultimately not all that interesting.
I picked up another cd this week, the latest from Sahara Hotnights. Although brand new the cd was only $10.99 at Fred Meyers. This surprised me. Then I noticed that it had FBI warnings against copyright infringement on it, which amused me at first. But after reading more closely I realized that it comes with anti-copy protection. This means I can't rip mp3's from the cd. I can't listen to it on my computer. I can't place any of these songs on a mix cd or an mp3 data cd to play in my mp3 player.
In short, I can only listen to this cd by placing the cd itself in a cd player. If I don't like listening to the whole cd, too bad. And it's not that great a cd to be honest. I know there are ways to get around this, but basically this is bogus, I expect to be able to mix and match my favorite songs and listen to them on my computer or mix a cd and listen to it in the car or on my cd/mp3 player. If I can't then your cd is basically just a $10 coaster to me.
So I will be certain to never buy another such encoded cd ever again. There's lots of music out there to spend my money on, I don't need to give my money to corporate idiots like this. I listen to a lot of independent music, and it will be rare that I like a particular major-label artist so much that I can't stick to my principles. :D
