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Apologies for limited updates. I changed ISP to Broadband NTL (big phone bill before) but can't upload to here from an NTL login! Have to reconnect dialup just to do it! Could any site users please inform me about any dead links. There will be more frequent updates there. |
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Invitation to anyone who wishes to add a note on any artist featured here or anyone you think should be! Just send me an e.mail with the text or pic - or your own artwork. I'll put it up here or at Yahoo! (see Join Now! left) I have other Yahoo! groups for bands etc too. |
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A note to new visitors. This site predates those of Youtube, Wikipedia, Myspace etc. by some years. The links on it are to band websites as then existed. There will be additions to the newer ones as and when I become aware of them. You can help in this respect. Some links have been closed, which is rather sad in some cases, though the material may be elsewhere. |
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Note, as of February 2009 there will be differences between this site and the alternative at NTL (actually now Virgin). Updates there have now begun. Full search there shortly (By Freefind) |
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Music listening today. What is served up today is almost a travesty of what the performers produce. |
How many of you actually really listen to music? That means without doing something else at the same time! Do you use a music player as such? (NOT a mobile phone!) Is your current collection just a hard drive full of files? Do you consider 128kbs or less good enough to play music? The majority of computers do not do justice to the music, many adding (fan noise, digital artefacts etc) more than analogue tape hiss or vinyl surface noise! |
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New Page on MP3 and downloads in general. Has actual links on the page. |
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Do we really want to lose FM radio in UK just to allow MORE mobile Phones? Much "Digital Radio" is poor bitrate and bad signal to boot! |
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Personal music systems (so called) - Tizz Tizz! Do Ipods really give any quality? "Convenient" yes, but quality? NO! |
The Sony "Walkman" began a trend which regrettably seems as relentless as the mobile phone! Downloading to an Ipod or a rival seems to me to devalue the music. It becomes disposable. It also is far from "personal" when the "tizz" noise afflicts anyone within a few metres radius - or even more in some cases. Do we REALLY need "music" everywhere? What's wrong with the sounds of nature? Can we not enjoy the Malverns without the strains of Elgar (or Eminem!) Come to that, do we NEED to be available 24/7 by phone? Even in the concert hall in some moronic cases! |
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Greetings |
2009. |
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Let's hope there are fewer "cover" versions and "Remixes" To my mind if a track was intended to be danced to it would be obvious. Added "Thuds" are rarely positive and are ADD mix not Remix! |
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SUPERMARKETS AND MUSIC! - SUPPORT REAL MUSIC STORES! |
Disturbing news in "Which" magazine that 1 in 4 CDs are sold in Supermarkets. That is not good, considering the limited choice they offer and explains the state of UK album charts. Using music as a "loss leader" as they do with the biggest sellers undermines the real music stores who stock the range of music. |
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Links here for Chris at the newsagents! If you find any useful links let me know.(E.mail) Will add here and at alternative site. |
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New page at NTL (Virgin) shortly. |
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Page Here now. |
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Supersize your IPod Claimed an advert in NME. by Z Group. Put wool in your ears to see roughly what it's like! |
This firm charged £19.99 for software which reduces the size of audio files. Well, good idea you might think, but is it? ITunes works at 128 kbs, itself below the 192kbs rate that Digital Radio 3 uses, though above that of some commercial stations. This is also a lower rate than CD and way below SACD. This "supersize" software works at 29kbs at a sample rate of 24,000kHz! It simulates high frequency deafness! The alogarithm used by iTunes is better than standard MP3, but I'd still like to know what the frequency response is. This "supersizing" idea deserves junking! Looks like it has been! |
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New Technology - Why so much wasteful planned obsolescence! It certainly is NOT "green"! |
Why is it that we cannot buy VHS Video recorders with built in Freeview tuners? A 4 hour videotape is actually better than a 4 hour DVD (assuming you can actually get one that does 4 hours! - you usually get more but in even poorer "quality") There are millions of playable and treasured videotapes out there! Incidentally, while on that topic, why was Dolby B dropped from linear audio on VHS? Some of us are left with Dolby tapes which have to be played undecoded! Even FM radio is now under threat! |
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I also have an extra set of pages on another server which is easier to access. Link Here. |
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This complete website is also available here. - Updates are rather easier! This is going to be my preffered site for updates! Note - As it is a "personal" page, some webfilters will block it! |
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Dumbing down continues! |
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LONDON (Reuters) - An Anglo-Italian five-piece band is set to make an entirely different kind of record when it launches the nation's first single that can only be bought by cell phone, mobile network operator 3 said on Monday. I have yet to hear it! "Stop Me" by Planet Funk, was released on May 8 2007, came after "Crazy" by Gnarls Barclay reached the number one spot in the country's singles chart by download sales alone, before it was even available in record stores. It is the latest attempt by bands and record companies to breathe life back into the flagging singles market as they look to capture the imagination of a new generation of music lovers who are shunning established formats such as compact discs. Now late 2007 there is a vinyl revival under way! It does sound better! It looks better (sleeves etc.) You can sell it on! |
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SACD Super Audio CD. Fully compatible with CD players in the Hybrid Disc form. One Disc carries standard and Super Audio data, plus other data as well. Provides sound which is more like the analogue original - in other words a better representation of the actual original sound. The audible difference, even at two channels is marked! Universal is apparently dropping the format in favour of downloading! Hopefully at 320kbs? A recent Gramophone Mag had a free sample SACD and related articles. |
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When is a "format" not a format? I have just been mailed a pre-order message from a band site. - Pre order in 5 formats, including two DOWNLOADS! Er a download is NOT a format! Its a FILE! It should not be classed as a format! As to the inclusion of downloads in a chart - well they are NOT an equivalent! Physical "singles" include more tracks and artwork etc. Even the 7" vinyl has a "B" side. Interestingly the 7" is having a revival just now - priced at about 99p. Also the CD single, which regulations for chart inclusion had restricted is now to be allowed "EP" status, with 4 not 3 tracks. Many bands had released Cd single sets of two. This has now been replaced by a basic 2 track single and an "Enhanced" single with a video track. All of this should count more than a single track "download" single! |
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I read (October 9th 2007 ) that the new Radiohead album is ONLY to be available in "Digital Format". This I find is virtually (sorry - pun!) an insult!. If the bit rate is not 192kbs or better then the public will never hear this album as recorded (Unless the studio too is at a limiting recording rate! - Surely not!) We are being fobbed off, in this digital age with musical "quality" way below the standards of the Analog Vinyl age! The rot set in with the dreaded Ipod at 128kbs or less! Is nobody concerned for musical high fidelity? This might be convenient, but is NOT progress! Seems the album is a 48.4 meg zip file with 10 tracks at 160kbs. That is slightly less that Digital Radio 3 and the downloads I have had from Bloc Party (192kbs) which all sound good. I will report here later on the quality heard. The links were mailed Oct 10th. Quality? passable, but way below the CD in the discbox which is miles better! - as is the vinyl. There is also a double vinyl cd etc box at £40.00. It was released on December 3rd and is a limited edition. This seems (from the contents list) to be a fair price for high quality vinyl pressings. |
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Interesting comment by EMI who are about to allow DRM free downloads at 99p. These are "twice the audio quality" of other Ipod downloads! Ye Gods! What does that say about the "quality" foisted on the public at the moment! My hearing (at 61) is fading, but why has the public accepted what is now admitted to be lower sound quality. What is the POINT of coupling a standard Ipod to a HIFI system? Low download bitrates (My Bloc Party ones are at 192kbs) are clearly a restriction! Classical downloading is now at 320kbs and in the FLAC format too (lossless Audio) Curiously Micro$oft Media Player isn't compatible without modification. |
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Apologies for delay. This site is now one of several dedicated to the memory of my mother Mabel who passed away on April 24th. 2002. I miss her greatly. I have begun a family site on 20m.com. This also carries the reserve pages for this site. |
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The Finance section is now moved. The weights link here is now closed. It remains offline as a reserve. All the sections now have linked Yahoo! Groups.
Music and other Magazines For Sale or Exchange. Magazines include "Pop Music" papers from the 1960's onwards. (see here) I am open to offers on all this material. Payment via Paypal will be set up. Vintage records. For Sale. These are fragile and rather heavy! Clearly incompatible conditions! These include Halle Barbirolli recordings, including a Cello solo on a 10" 78. Some of these have been reissued on CD, but by no means all. This section will be enlarged soon. I may digitise some soon. Other Items Offers? Exchanges? I have a lot of off air video material. This is mainly in good condition, having been, for the most part unplayed. Most are MONO with Dolby B coding. There are programmes of geographical interest, music, both Pop and Classical / Opera and a lot of Science Fiction. The latter includes Blake, Dr Who, Lost in Space and other Irwin Allen series and Star Treks. Links to appear shortly re Sci. Fiction. Some may be also transferred to DVD with mono sound. Band Mini Websites here. The links below are to such sites. There are more links elsewhere too!
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Onsite Search NLA |
On site search facility no longer works here and will not be renewed.. If you wish to search off site there is a link to Yahoo! on the Feedback page. The form doesn't work, but the search does. I have found a replacement which starts here shortly. |
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Amended July 2010 |
Webpages created using Webexpress. p.k.m.2000/2009 |
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