From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V11 #172 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Wednesday, June 22 2005 Volume 11 : Number 172 Today's Subjects: ----------------- burning iTunes, batch printing ["don't mine me" ] Solstice [Adam K ] Re: burning iTunes, batch printing ["Xenu's Sister" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 08:43:00 -0400 (EDT) From: "don't mine me" Subject: burning iTunes, batch printing Michael Pearce on iTunes compression: >> My only criticism of iTunes is that the compression rate is too low. I always rip CDs (and converted vinyl) at the 2nd highest quality MP3 instead of AAC because the format is more compatible and very little original signal is lost. So I can stuff only 6 CDs onto an MP3 CD instead of 11. Big loss. More important, you should always export your iTunes Music Store purchases to AIFF and re-import them as high-quality MP3s. That strips off the DRM so you can do whatever you want with them, including play them on other kinds of players. << I guess we can divide the world into two sorts of people - those who are bothered by the artifacts of audio compression, and those who aren't. If, like, me, you're one of the former (a good test for this is that you said, under your breath, 'the compression rate is too LOW!?' as you read the foregoing) then you might not want to follow Michael's advice, or at least do some comparison. Exporting from AAC to AIFF won't degrade the signal much, but taking the resultant AIFF and compressing it to MP3 will. You might not hear the difference -- or it might not bother you -- but you might be surprised. For Vickie -- When I need to make a directory listing, I generally just do this: dir /s > somefile.txt The "/s" makes it look through all of the sub folders. It won't inlude hidden/system files, but you probably don't want to for your purposes. The "/o:g" in your original example sorts the listing with "folders first." That may or may not be what you want; I generally found sort by name "/o:n" more useful. Here's a nice reference: http://www.ka.net/jmenees/Dos/Dir.htm cheers, dmw Please don't write me back at this address; this is an outgoing-mail-only address, because addresses I use to post to archived mailing lists aren't safe from spammers. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 11:23:13 -0700 (PDT) From: "Xenu's Sister" Subject: Rhodeshows Hi ectos, much rambling ahead... It's not done yet, and I wish I could open up a final version so I can say "See?? Look!! I really have been working hard, and here it is!" but I can't. Instead, I have to say "See?? Look!! I really have been working hard, but it's not done yet and it won't be done for several weeks. Though really, as long as more content can be added, it'll never be done." We're having company for a week's visit and I must put away long-stacked books and CDs and sweep kitty fluff. I have to set Rhodeshows aside. My intention is to have it done, really done...ok, pretty much done because I *can* always add more content...by the album release. Since no one asked for this, there were no expectations involved, I could do what I wanted. I did it mainly for myself, but with hopes that others could use it too. I wanted a master list of all the concerts she played. I wanted a master list of all the songs she's sung live. I wanted a place where concert photos would have a home. Unfortunately I tied having the web site done into opening a "Happyshows" mailing list, that is devoted to sharing and downloading Happy's live performances. happyshows (the mailing list) should have started a month or so ago but I said to myself...no, I'll get this done and launch them both at the same time. That's how this all started. Paul Blair got a web site to do just that, share concerts, getting it strictly for the space and bandwidth. Like perhaps a certain Canadian Happy Rhodes, maybe, the front page was an afterthought since all we really needed was the ftp. I thought, oh, as long as there's a web site, I might as well put up some content. I'll spare you the long and convoluted thought processes that went into how the idea of transporting a few pages of Happy show playlists from smoe, turned into a major re-design and wannabe informational site. Short version: I thought, well, as long as I'm moving pages I might as well spiffy them up and make them look better. Then I thought, well, as long as I'm spiffying up what's there, I might as well try to update all the information. For as few concerts as Happy has done, it was a daunting task. Well, it was for my lazy and flaky ass anyway. The addition of content can go on for years. I still have a decade and a half of ecto posts I can cull through and get writeups (volunteers accepted!) and I'm in the middle of scanning in all my Rhodeways/Terra Incognitas to get writeups and pictures from them. Much needs to be/can still be done. Then I thought, well, as long as I'm spiffying and updating, I might as well learn style sheets, so I cobbled together one from tutorials and threads in other forums. And then, when the site was 90+% "done" I decided that I hated the look and color scheme of it ('twas black and rust colored) and re-designed it again, this time using different style sheets that will make changes in the future very easy. In the future, I'll be able to change the whole color scheme with just a few keystrokes. I can change the navigation bar on every page in just a few minutes. I'll be able to change the fonts, the font sizes, *everything*, quickly and easily by making a change to the style sheet. That's then though. This is now and the decision to switch has just added several weeks to the project, becasue switching to this style sheet will entail making hundreds of changes. Every single page has to be changed in multiple places. By hand. By me. Ugh. My choice though. I put an extra burden on myself by choosing to code by hand (mostly). At least I was ble to change the color scheme from the old style to the new one with just a few keystrokes, so the change from one look to the other isn't as jarring. The navigation of the old style is still everywhere (the old navigation is a styled table, that translates to a colored strip across the top and bottom. The new way is a styled list, that looks very different), but that's something I can work on, page by page, when I can. You'll see plenty of examples of the "old" (ha, from a week ago) style throughout the site. New style: Kenosha. Old style: Toledo So, I'm going to do 2 things. First of all, I'm going to give you a sneak peak into the site. IT'S NOT DONE, but you'll see the gist of it. This will let you know, if it matters to anyone, that I'm not *quite* as lame this time as I have been in the past, saying I'm going to do something and then then sort of letting it fade away. Another thing I added, almost at the last minute, was a Gallery to point people to the pages that have images, or links to images. That's still being worked on, and there might be broken links. The whole site, as simple as it is, has evolved quite a bit and will still evolve, I hope, but even if I went into one of my patented disappearing acts, there's enough information there to be decent. Everything else is just icing. I LOVE ICING though, and would greatly appreciate any and all contributions to the content. More photos! Now that there's a place to put them and keep them all in one place, I could use them. I was continually distressed when I'd see an ecto post in my latest cull that said "photos can be found here" (or similar) back when it was all fresh, but now, those links are broken and those photos are gone. *sob* There's no real front page yet. I haven't even thought about that and just cobbled one up. Here's the real inside: http://rhodeshows.com/live Btw, asking permission to use other people's content wasn't exactly a priority, since this is a fan web site with no commercial potential (I mean, there will never be any banners or other ads or popups or spyware or adware or any other kind of crap. It's purely a non- commercial fan site), but if anyone has anything there and you want it taken down, just ask. I did ask Sharon for permission to use things from Rhodeways/Terra Incognita and she said yes. (Btw, she still has back issues of the fanzine available! http://www.geocities.com/runly/backissues.html) About the mailing list, I'll have to get back on that. Somehow I've lost all the informaton, and I've been to busy and embarrassed to ask Jeff to send it all again. And anyway, I can't seem to get the anonymous ftp working at rhodeshows.com (oh yeah, btw, a second site was bought that offers *unlimited* space. I've been uploading like mad and haven't come across any restrictions yet. I've uploaded tons of concerts, but *teeth gritting* I .can't ..seem ..to ..get ..anonymous ..ftp ..working! Argh. ONE TWO THREE JUMP! - -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Music, all I hear is music, guaranteed to please... - -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ - -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 20:15:12 +0100 From: Adam K Subject: Solstice Happy Solstice, everyone. adam k. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 13:04:25 -0700 (PDT) From: "Xenu's Sister" Subject: Re: burning iTunes, batch printing Thanks to Michael Matthews, dmw, Chip and mjm, I have lots of different choices for the next time I want to print a directory. Speaking of thanks, I owe big big BIG ones to Sander, who displayed all kinds of patience with me, and encouraged me, gave me lots of style sheet tips, most of which I've used, the rest I just haven't gotten around to yet, and made me feel like I wasn't as much of a bozo as I felt. THANK YOU SANDER! (I promise I'll validate the pages as soon as I get rid of all the unwanted html/css still cluttering up the pages). - -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Music, all I hear is music, guaranteed to please... - -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ - -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 10:05:08 +1000 From: andrew fries Subject: Re: Solstice Adam K wrote: > Happy Solstice, everyone. Indeed. Winter Solstice (it is winter down here) is for me the happiest day of the year: the days will now start getting longer! Yet for all its significance, I tend to forget exactly when this event occurs - I thought it was on 24th... oh well, this is even better! So thanks for the sentiment, and thanks for setting me straight :) ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V11 #172 ***************************