rostasi

Well, I guess we can always see him next month on That 70s Show! Also, there's this cult science fiction show that my wife likes to watch called Stargate SG-1 and I was walking thru the front room and there he was on the screen! (as some leader named "Tolok") R~

Nat Adderley/Woody Shaw/Joe Henderson/Nathan Davis/Curtis Fuller/ Kenny Drew/Walter Bishop/Jimmy Woode/Idris Muhammad:

Yeah, well there's a certain amount of 'dumbing down' that's a given with Apple, but that's because the jargon just gets in the way sometimes for newbies. The idea is to give just enuf info to get newbies interested and, I think, they can move on from there - to Toast w/Jam or Logic, etc...if they want to learn more. Good luck Brandon! Rod

You're just about right...there's some diff, but I'm trying to figure out a way to distinguish them both... RMS is calculated by using small slices and determining what properties the slices have (I'm trying to think of a good pound cake analogy) while compression gives the appearance of loudness by it's relation to non-peaking sounds. Actually, compression uses RMS to increase this perceived loudness, but it's used in a much broader way. hmmm...I'll have to think of a better way of explaining... Anyone good with pound cake Rod

Yeah, all this can be a real bugger, but there are certain complexities involving these various file formats (just the nature of how mp3 files are structured are enuf to cause audio fits). If you're burning a bunch of different file formats, then you need to, as you said, convert all to one, preferably uncompressed, format, then go from there. If you really want to give it proper attention, then you can dump 'em all into something like Jam 6 and begin adjusting your own levels. BUT i'm hearing "I don't want to do all that" which, of course, you don't, so it's best to use like files. The sound check function under the Playback heading is just that - for playback...there's another one at Advanced/Burning in your Prefs - that's the one that controls what's burned on to your disc. The differences (in a very tiny nutshell): Normalization finds the loudest part in a song and keeps it's relationship to the other sounds the same - so you are correct when you say that if you have a vinyl *pop* happen, then that could be heard (by the software) as the loudest and everything else is quieter in relation... but, Sound Check appears to use Root Mean Square calculation (at least, that's what my ears hear). Let's say that you want all of your song to sound at a hypothetical 90% loudness (where 100% is just running into the red), the algorithm makes it so that the loud segments (not just one loud sound) are playing back at 90% and the not so loud bits are a just a bit lower - say at 75% - and the quietest sections are even lower still - all done thru mathematics. A bit simplified, but this is basically it. This is what I meant when I said earlier that I don't know what that volume level is when it comes to the burning version of Sound Check. It may be really low. I haven't tested it, because I don't have that prob when burning discs for listening and for professional use, I use something else entirely. hope that helps, Rod

Yes, the loud *pop* becoming the loudest is what happens when you try to normalize the audio, but this doesn't seem to be what the sound check function does. It works more like a RMS power function that consistently raises the overall audio sound - different than normalization. I notice major differences with sound check especially during rodcasts of older less well recorded stuff (or non-pop recordings that don't boost everything up to the sky). Sound Enhancer seems to just give your treble and bass a boost - kinda like the loudness switch on your stereo. R~

I think that if you're a fan of the kind of 'wordless vocal" that would appear on an ECM date, then you may want to search out the Azimuth discs. Kenny Wheeler's on them too. I think that there was an Azimuth "reunion" disc that was released recently that may be worth checking out, (I haven't heard it). Rod

I'm more of a fan of her earlier, more experimental vocal side. She used to be with an ensemble called Azimuth and before that did a quite good album called Edge of Time. I may not have given her a fair shake when it comes to her singing of standards because it was a bit of an unexpected direction - one that I wasn't prepared for, so maybe I need to sit with Well Kept Secret some more. Rod

Don't recall there being anything other than a CD of that, and I seem to remember that it began with the title track. Rod --- Now playing: Grachan Moncur III - Exploration

Hi Brandon. There's a couple of things you can check on... in iTunes Preferences, you can go to Advanced/Burning and under Audio CD check to see if Use Sound Check is checked. This is supposed to make all of the songs play at the same volume level, but I'm not sure what volume level that is - in the Preferences under Playback you can put a check in the Sound Check there too. I use the Sound Enhancer function too (just above the Sound Check), but all of this is, of course, relative to your ears. If all of this doesn't make it loud enough for you, then you can always crank it up in your playlists by highlighting your songs (or the whole playlist) and pressing Command - i on your keyboard to open the info window and adjusting the volume there. hope this helps, Rod

No, Bruce...I agree too. ...or maybe it's just us Rod

Woo Hoo!

http://tinyurl.com/hmvzg LALA.COM -- A CO-OP FOR MUSIC LOVERS A Palo Alto start-up is launching a service that is a mix of social networking, Internet swap meet and music store. It's MySpace.com meets eBay meets iTunes. The company, Lala.com, is open for business now on a limited basis. It goes fully public this summer. (The company is offering 1,000 early memberships at www.lala.com/invite/sj beginning at 6 a.m Tuesday.) Lala.com, which has $9 million in venture backing from Bain Capital Ventures and Ignition Partners, presents itself as an online music co-op that allows members to trade in CDs in exchange for those they want from others. Those who want to obtain the used CDs must be willing to trade CDs from their own collection. Members pay $1, plus 49 cents in postage. But the site is more than a CD swap meet. Consumers will also have the option of buying new CDs, and, eventually, digital music. Members are encouraged to write reviews of CDs and join an online community of like-minded music lovers. Based on a member's music tastes -- music listed in their catalogs and want lists -- Lala.com will provide music suggestions gleaned from others who like similar bands. Lala.com believes its model enables it to tap into a nearly endless source of music, assuming it attracts enough members. Theoretically, it could have a catalog of $1 CDs that far surpass what is stocked by retail giant Wal-Mart Stores, the largest music reseller in the United States that sells about 1 percent of the available music, said co-founder Bill Nguyen. He points out that Apple Computer's iTunes online music store does not sell music from such rock giants as the Beatles or Led Zeppelin. ``How can you be a record store and not have Led Zeppelin or the Beatles?'' Nguyen said. It's not Napster Nguyen, who also founded mobile e-mail software company Seven, stresses that Lala.com is no Napster, the peer-to-peer music sharing service that allowed people to share MP3 format song files across the Internet, triggering the music industry's charges of copyright violations. When using Lala.com, people trading CDs do not violate the U.S. Copyright Act, which allows the owner of a CD to transfer it to someone else, he said. Lala.com will funnel 20 percent of revenue from the trading of used CDs back to the artists. ``It's completely legal,'' Nguyen said. This is how the service works: Individuals provide a list of their CD collection, which is open to other Lala.com members. They also compile a private want list. When a user spots a CD they desire in another member's list, he or she makes a request for it by clicking the want icon and adding it to their want list. Lala.com will then query all the members who have that CD. The first member who agrees to ship the CD is presented with the address of the requesting member and mails it using Lala.com prepaid shipping envelopes, which the service provides in a welcome kit. Upon reception of the CD, the receiver confirms the CD is in good condition and is charged $1.49. Nguyen said his dream is to create the online version of the quickly disappearing music store where shoppers could get recommendations from clerks or other music lovers. He also hopes to reverse the trend in which consumers purchase their music in individual song downloads, as opposed to entire CDs. ``It's a great way to discover new music,'' said Ben Bajarin, analyst with Creative Strategies. ``It's sort of like Netflix with CDs.'' The key to Lala.com's success will be offering up a catalog of millions of CDs, which requires a large membership willing to trade away their music collection, he added. Bajarin questions whether those in the targeted demographic groups -- late teens to thirtysomethings -- will have enough CDs to trade. In this era of digital music, music lovers are increasingly buying their songs as digital files. Apple's iTunes recently celebrated its billionth song download sold in less than three years. No enforcement Bajarin does not think the music industry will like the idea. Though Lala.com encourages members not to keep digital copies of the CDs they trade, there is no way to enforce that. ``If this takes off, it could steamroller the copyright protection on CDs the labels are pushing,'' Bajarin said. Nguyen, though, said talks with the music industry have been positive so far. He sees future relationships with labels that enables them to send targeted marketing messages to users of Lala.com for music they have already expressed an interest in. ``We are going to be working with the labels to sell more music,'' he said.

Is there a Cliff Notes version available?

Then there's the Bill Evans Verve that we all remember so fondly... R --- Now playing: Harold Budd - The Oak of the Golden Dreams (1970)

"Australian Whale Vomit Find Worth a Fortune" (an Agence France-Presse dispatch from Sydney on a vacationing family's discovery of a solid fatty substance somehow actually used in the fragrance industry and which was expected to bring the equivalent of about U.S. $215,000). "Why I Still Breastfeed My Eight-Year-Old Girl" (a News & Star of Carlisle, England, report on mothers who insist on breastfeeding as long as the child desires it). Rod --- Now playing: Wolf Vostell - Fluxus-Concert LE CRI 31_10_90

Not sure if it's worth a buck a disc, but here's an interesting product that uses a combo of a harder polymer and raised bumps on the outer edge that's supposed to make it harder to scratch your optical discs. Scratchless Discs Anyone try these yet? Rod --- Now playing: Susumu Yokota - Fearful Dream

We used Safeco/Lloyds for about 10 years (95-05). After much research we had decided to drop Nationwide and go with Safeco in 95. The price (then) was good and it seemed that they would be there if we had ever needed them. We did - and there was some resistance to our claim (we had to replace the roof due to a very damaging and widespread hail storm a few years ago). They were willing to reimburse for most of the damage, but they kinda played with the numbers some, etc...We stayed with them after the matter was resolved because it wasn't really a horrible experience - just a little bit of a nuisance... but our mortgage company gave us some new numbers connected with Travelers MGA and we found them to be a lot cheaper, so we changed to them back in Aug of last year. You may know this already: It's usually a good idea to try to insure both your home and your car with the same company because they most often give you discounts on both policies. don't know how much help this is, but good luck. (Also, I'd recommend the Consumer Reports research route too) Rod --- Now playing: Oum Kalthoum - Jamalak Rabbina Yiziduh

Does anyone else get this "Columbia" pop-up when they come to this page?

So the kids were there... ...and then they weren't? I'd call Steven King!

I was dreading this news...knew it was bound to happen soon. The past couple of days I'd just happened to have been listening to Velvet Donkey and Flat Man. I've thought that he may have been a difficult man in real life, but this never came across thru his recordings and live performances. A strong part of my adolescent years that's continued since. I will miss him. Now...to tell my sweetie (who's seen him with the Balanescu Quartet)...

Yeah! My friend in München sent me three pix this morning. Here's one:

...not a snowball in site...