Tag Archives: Radio

5 BAD Reasons to Delay the Digital TV Transition

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The House is re-examining a bill to delay the transition to digital television, a switch which has been years in the making. The mainstream media echo chamber, meanwhile, is uncritically parroting some extremely stupid reasons to delay the transition. 1. The transition will disproportionately affect elderly people. This is false. According to a January 22 report from Nielsen - the most recent report available - people over age 55 are actually more prepared than the general population as a whole. Only 4% of older folks are unready, compared to 5.7% of the general population and 8.8% of folks under age 35. 2. Old people are idiots. I'm shocked the AARP hasn't gotten up in arms about the portrayal of everyone over 60 in this nation as a bunch of drooling infantile idiots, who think their TV is a magic box with little people inside, and when the little people stop dancing, they will sit in a pool of their own pee and cry. The infantilization of older Americans by the anti-transition crowd has to stop; it's simply disgusting. More after the jump. The people I know over the age of 80 aren't stupid. They're just stubborn and would rather not bother with something unless it's an imperative. My grandmother is still on dialup Internet, not DSL, because it works fine for her. My grandfather watches a TV with a busted vertical hold because he just doesn't care enough to get it fixed. They're not incompetent, they've chosen to conserve their energy and not bother. Big difference. The result: no string of PSAs will get the last few percent of people to suddenly get up and go get a converter box. They will not go get a converter box until their TVs stop working. Then they will all do it, or maybe just watch less TV. Choosing not to bother is different from being an infant. 3. TV is an essential service for public safety. This is often said by anti-DTV forces in Congress, and I can't believe they say it with a straight face. TV is an awful way to get public safety messages out. TVs are generally bulky, stuck in one place, and dependent on house power. Never mind that the last time there was a disaster in my hometown - in the fall, about seven years ago - it took out the TV towers. Radio, on the other hand, works great in disasters. Radios are portable and durable. Many work on batteries or even with hand cranks. In a disaster, every major AM radio station goes into disaster-relief mode. TV is totally irrelevant. 4. The switch will require you to go up on an icy roof in the rain. This is also false. A small number of people will be have to switch from indoor to rooftop antennas, true. But for most Americans, a $19.99 set of rabbit ears from Radio Shack will do just fine. I've put my eyeballs where my mouth is and tested those Radio Shack rabbit ears, along with an even cheaper RCA antenna and a downright nice $60 Winegard indoor antenna. With the Winegard, I can pull in stations 25 miles away, across the gigantic wall of radio interference that is Manhattan. Also, many channels won't be able to transmit at full digital power until they turn off their analog signals. So you'll get much better digital reception after the transition. Here in New York, for instance, our PBS station is currently transmitting at low power on channel 61. After the transition, they'll switch to much higher power on channel 13. Pow - reception will get much easier for many people. 5. Delaying the switch hurts no one. Since we've been preparing for this switch for years, the government went ahead and sold the analog spectrum that will be abandoned to various paying customers who want to use it for new services. Think they'll all like not getting what they paid for? I suspect there will be a legal and financial reckoning. Let's also take a moment to think of the TV stations themselves, who didn't budget for broadcasting dual signals for another four months. In an extremely weak economy, do we want to punch broadcasters in the gut so a tiny percentage of dead-enders can continue to procrastinate? I don't think so.
Gearlog

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How-To Scrobble Internet Radio Stream using Winamp and Audioscrobbler plugin

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Link to a Winamp Last.FM plugin for those of you that need one is at the end of the post.

This is the description of a way to scrobble traditional internet radio (shoutcast/icecast streams) with Last.fm, using Winamp with the Audioscrobbler plugin, the Last.fm for Windows application, and the Streamripper plugin for Winamp.

The problem: Though the Audioscrobbler plugin works very well on transferring the data of currently played local tracks to the Last.fm for Windows application (and thus to Last.fm), it can not do the same for streamed tracks, even when correct artist and title information is sent within the stream.

A way to a solution: Before actually playing the streamed track(s) with Winamp, have them converted to single tracks. This is done by utilizing the free Streamripper plugin for Winamp, which at the same time adds time-shifting functionality to the playpack. "Time-shifting" means, that you can skip back and forward during playback and repeat tracks, a functionality known from modern "personal video recorder" set-top boxes for digital TV.

How to: First, Winamp and the Last.fm for Windows application have to be installed, and the Audioscrobbler plugin must be present in Winamp. Easiest way to install the Audioscrobbler plugin is to use the installation wizard of the Last.fm application (menu: Tools/Get Plugin...). Check if scrobbling works for local files.

Note: I don't know if the following setup will work with the alternative Winamp plugin "AWAAS - ActiveWinAmpAudioScrobbler" (without the Last.fm application), but it probably does. I'd love to get reports.

Next is to install Streamripper, a free Open Source software. It includes a Winamp plugin. When Streamripper and its plugin is installed, it will automatically load when Winamp is started. Streamripper adds an icon ("SR") to the tray area, which provides control of the Streamripper window and settings. The Winamp plugin allows to control whether Streamripper is automatically started and enabled with Winamp. Now, use these settings in Streamripper options:

Connection Try to reconnect to the stream if it drops [yes] Create relay stream [yes if you want to be able to get playback on another computer] Don't rip over X megs [yes and a value if your hard disk space is quite limited] Local Machine Name: localhost File Output directory [choose a directory on a drive with at least 1 GB of free space, preferably not the system drive (C: usually) - or set "don't rip over X megs" to a value of at least ~1 GB less than your free space] Rip to seperate files [yes] Rip to single file [no] ! Overwrite tracks in complete: Always Add ID3 V2.3 info to the tracks [yes] Add finished tracks to winamp playlist [yes] Number of initial songs to leave incomplete: 0 Pattern Output file pattern: %1q Skins [as you wish] Splitting [leave at default] Ext/Codeset [leave at default]

Usage: Choose and start playback of an internet radio station with Winamp as usual: By clicking a link on a website, i.e. http://www.shoutcast.com/, http://somafm.com/ and many others, a saved link in a Winamp bookmark, a saved .pls or .m3u file, or from the shoutcast radio page of Winamp's media library (online services).

Make sure the radio station is playing and delivering correct artist and title information. The track info shown in Winamp must comply with this scheme: Track Artist - Track Title (Station Name and Information)

While the station is playing that you want to scrobble, click on "Start" in the Streamripper window. Note that now two streams of the same station will be received: One playing "live" in Winamp, one for recording by Streamripper. To reduce load to your favourite station, you could now switch to another station in Winamp, just temporarily for the next few minutes.

As soon as one track of your recorded station ends, it will be added to the actual playlist in Winamp. But do not start playback of the first recorded track immediately, because playback will likely end (and set Winamp to stop) when it ends before the next track is complete. Wait until 2 or more recorded tracks are added automatically to the playlist. Also note, that the playlist window will be cleared, if you open some file or other radio station now. As soon as several tracks from your ongoing Streamripper recordings are in Winamp's playlist, you can pause, skip or replay tracks at will!

Streamripper will continue recording the station until stopped, or until your hard disk is full (or until the station stops playing of course). If you applied the settings correctly, Streamripper will automatically delete old tracks. Otherwise a simple script or scheduled Windows task could be set up to clear the download directory.

SOURCE.  If you found useful, give your thanks to him.

EDIT:   Since this seems to be a very popular post, the link below points to the WinAmp Last.FM Scrobble Plugin that I use.  This is NOT the one from the Last.FM client (that one currently doesn't work on my machine), but  a 3rd Party alternative that works very well.  As it is 3rd party however, it is not supported by myself or by Last.FM.  Simply put the DLL in the Winamp\Plugins folder, start up Winamp, it will ask for your username/password, and you should be good to go.

WinAmp Last.FM Plugin

StreamRipper Available here:

StreamRipper

Popularity: 15% [?]

The Warning signs of INSANITY

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  • Your friends tell you that you have been acting strange lately, and then you hit them several times with a sledgehammer.
  • Everyone you meet appears to have tentacles growing out of places that you wouldn't expect tentacles to be growing from.
  • You start out each morning with a 30-minute jog around the bathroom.
  • You write to your mother in Germany every week, even though she sends you mail from Iowa asking why you never write.
  • Every time you see a street sign, you have a tremendous urge to relieve yourself on it.
  • You wear your boxers on your head because you heard it will ward of evil dandruff spirits.
  • You're always having to apologize to your next door neighbor for setting fire to his lawn decorations.
  • Every commercial you hear on the radio reminds you of death.
  • People stay away from you whenever they hear you howl.
  • Your breath smells more and more like squirrel dung each passing day.
  • You laugh out loud during funerals.
  • Nobody listens to you anymore, because they can't understand you through that scuba mask.
  • You begin to stop and consider all of the blades of grass you've stepped on as a child, and worry that their ancestors are going to one day seek revenge.
  • You have meaningful conversations with your toaster.
  • Your father pretends you don't exist, just to play along with your little illusion.
  • You collect dead windowsill flies.
  • Every time the phone rings, you shout, "Hey! An angel just got its wings!"
  • You like cats. Especially with mayo.
  • You scream "I've got a knife!" to people who try to sell you things.
  • You scream "I've got a knife!" to people at your family reunion.
  • You cry at the end of every episode of Gilligan's Island because they weren't rescued.
  • You put tennis balls in the microwave to see if they'll hatch.
  • Whenever you listen to the radio, the music sounds backwards.
  • You have a predominant fear of fabric softener.
  • You wake up each morning and find yourself sitting on your head in the middle of your front lawn.
  • Your dentist asks you why each individual tooth has your name etched on it, and you tell him it's for security reasons.
  • Melba toast excites you.
  • When the waiter asks for your order, you ask to go into another room to tell him because "the napkins have ears."
  • You tend to agree with everything your mother's dead uncle tells you.
  • Every time you see the commercial for the Hair Club For Men, you think to yourself, "I think I'll kill the Pope today."
  • You call up random people and ask if you can borrow their dog, just for a few minutes.
  • Your main goal in life is to become the president of Bulemia.
  • Nearly everything you say involves the word, "P-toing!"
  • You argue with yourself about which is better, to be eaten by a koala or to be loved by an infectious disease.
  • You like to sit in cornfields for prolonged periods of time, and pretend that you're a stalk.
  • You think that exploding wouldn't be so bad, once you got used to it.
  • You try to make a list of the Warning Signs of Insanity. (cough)
  • People offer you help, but you unfortunately interpret this as a violation of your rights as a boysenberry.
  • You like reading lists like this.

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The World

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The World is a very good Public Radio show that focuses on world news and culture often overlooked or ignored by mainstream radio.  I listen to it daily on the drive home from work and it often gives an in depth look at current news, trends, and world events.  If you can't find a local public radio station that carries it in your area, you can also stream it from their website or even download the podcast of it to listen on your computer or MP3 player.  It's a refreshing change of topic from mainstream US as many stories in as short amount of time formula.

The World

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