From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@ecto.org To: fegmaniax-digest@ecto.org Reply-To: fegmaniax@ecto.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@ecto.org Subject: Feg Digest V5 #202 Fegmaniax Digest Volume 5 Number 202 Tuesday August 19 1997 To post, send mail to fegmaniax@ecto.org To unsubscribe, send mail to majordomo@ecto.org with the words "unsubscribe fegmaniax-digest" in the message body. Send comments, etc. to the listowner at owner-fegmaniax@ecto.org FegMANIAX! Web Page: http://remus.rutgers.edu/~woj/fegmaniax/index.html Archives are available at ftp://www.ecto.org/pub/lists/fegmaniax/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's Topics: ------- ------- Slipped disks (...off-off topic - sorry!) I'm on a sunny West Wight coast Re: A zed, two noughts, and a cuppa More Robyn at Sea please! Uncorrected Personality traits pix Siskel, Ebert, & Hedblade Bumberbooze Re: A zed, two noughts, and a cuppa ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 17:20:28 -0700 From: Nick Winkworth CC: "Bonde M'Teko" Subject: Slipped disks (...off-off topic - sorry!) 'Cuz things are slow ...and 'cuz Eddie and Ross started it ...here's my (hopefully spirited) defense of the brave new world of minidisc! You better press 'delete' now if you really tuned in to read about Robyn at Sea or eavesdrop on Glen and Tom talking trash... > who's the chap that keeps pushing minidisc? That would be me! (only one post--be fair) Eddie sed: > i'd love to be able to record on a disc, no doubt about it. but 20 > bucks a pop for a disc that can hold 60 minutes of music and can only > be written onto once...well, it doesn't exactly make me tremble with > an...tici...pation. Minidisks blanks can be had for about $5 each today (less if you mail order to Japan or Hong Kong, where they are about $3.50, but you have to add shipping) and prices are falling. They hold 74 minutes (and 59 seconds!) - the same as a CD. You can rewrite to them an infinite number of times. It is positioned as the successor to cassette tape. > i know minidisc comes in its own case. but inside, is it just like a, > um, miniature cd? It looks like a smaller version of the familiar 3.5" floppy disk. > what i guess i'm asking is, could a standard cd > player read a minidisc if you could get the damn thing in the tray? No. Different technology - but you can't put a cassette tape in your CD player, can you? > you know what? i could even go for a boombox that had am/fm, > cassette, cd, and minidisc. yeah. that would be fun. In Japan where MD is a major format you can get CD + MD + Radio boomboxes. In the US I have seen a CD+MD+radio shelf system (Aiwa, I think) Then Ross chipped in... > Since you're on the list, it's likely you've got a computer, or at > least access to a computer. A $450 or so investment gets you a CD > recorder. A Sony JE-510 MD deck - a standard stereo component - has an MSRP of $299. You can probably find it for less (I did). And that will give you full editing and titling capability with digital and analog input and output. > Many of them can read and write Red Book audio (the CD > standard). You can make wav files of your favourite material, set up > your own mix and burn it on a CD. I just press the "record" button. > The price of the hardware (if you > have a computer) is in the ballpark with the minidisk, Not even close. As I said. > but there's no compression, Correct, but see below. > and with blanks going for $5 Canadian here ($4 US) who > cares if they're not re-recordable. MD blanks are now about the same (and coming down). They *are* re-recordable. > You can take this sort of CD and play it in any standard CD player. No. You can't play an MD on a CD player - but beware: some home burned CD's have had trouble playing on some consumer CD decks. > The one I bought for work was $1800 US last fall, and the blanks were > $20 Canadian each. The change in price since then has made this > format a serious consideration. I still can't affort to convert my > whole LP collection, but I'm thinking hard about a few rare ones. I am already making a start recording my LPs to MD. > Doing this means you need good analogue-digital conversion, which > means more hardware. In blind A/B testing I cannot tell the original CD from the MD recording of it. (Should be even better when I do digital copies). So I think the AD is pretty good. If you need better, you can buy a high-end MD deck for $500-$600. > IMHO, the minidisk just doesn't cut it. It's pricey, and maybe that > inaudible degradation adds up over generations of copies. The ATRAC compression technology is now in it's fifth generation and is really VERY good. Certainly better than even the most expensive cassette deck (except you get instant track access, editing etc. etc.). Some claim it sounds *better* than CD! (take pinch of salt as required). Sony claim that you need to get to about the 20th generation copy before any degradation becomes noticeable. (Note that even DAT suffers *some* degradation due to jitter etc.) > And isn't > there an anti-copy code in commercial MDs that lets you make only > first generation copies? This is exactly the same as implemented on DAT decks (domestic units only). Yes it is a pain if you want to dub copies of copies of a commercial source - but it doesn't stop you making as many copies as you want of the original. Anyway, it can be circumvented - the DAT folks figured that out some time ago ;) > Forget about reading them on a standard CD/ > CDROM player; the current generation of full sized erasable CDs are > not readable on CDROM or audio CD players. I'd guess Minidisk uses > the same technology. It's a magneto optical technology. Not the same as CDR. Being cased, MD is more robust than CD. Smaller (you can fit several in your shirt pocket!). You can re-record as many times as you like. you can edit, shuffle, mix, match name...etc. etc. > They were selling minidisk portables here last fall for $850 Canadian. Prices have come down A LOTin the last year! My Denon portable recorder cost me $240 (and I mentioned the $299 deck above.) > DAT's great, but oxide wears out. MD is a replacement for cassette - not DAT or CD. There is a big push this year in the US with more manufacturers (who have been selling elsewhere for years) *finally* coming to the US. Sony, Denon, Kenwood, Sharp and Aiwa will have MD products in the US by Christmas - and dropping prices. To find out more, check out http://www.connact.com/~eaw/minidisc.html or contact me OFF-LIST!! Let's get back to some Robyn-speak. Cheers! ~N ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 10:06:35 +0100 (BST) From: Gary Sedgwick Subject: I'm on a sunny West Wight coast It's VERY quiet round here... Anyway, I see someone's already covered most of the boat trip; I thought I'd throw in some of the most memorable bits: Watching the expressions of confusion and bewilderment on the Yarmouth residents' faces was very entertaining. It was the weekend at the end of Cowes week, so lots of people were about in the town. On the way back from the disused railway station to the boat, we took the path of the parade just before the parade itself set off... you could hear the locals, sitting out in their pretty front gardens, saying, "Who are all these people then? I don't remember this last year!" Robyn noticing the burglar alarm on the disused railway station building, and saying, "My God! That wasn't there two years ago. That's inviting crime!" The disbelief that we were all going to fit on the boat when it came. Robyn's version of All Shook Up on the voyage back to Lymington, complete with Elvis style vocals and hip swinging! Performance wise, I really thought it would have sounded a lot better if Robyn had been backed up by Tim (the double bass was great, but another guitar and backing vocals would have been really great!). Especially on some of the new ones like Jewels For Sophia and Viva Sea-Tac (my two faves from the new crop). But the old favourites were sounding good, especially the obligatory Clean Steve - "...I think he comes from Leatherhead, which is nowhere near the Isle of Wight..." And some info from all the chatting on the boat: MGM (I think it was MGM) really like the new film; and it looks like Viva Sea-Tac will be the next single (fine choice in my opinion). Gary ------------------------------ Subject: Re: A zed, two noughts, and a cuppa From: dede_davis@juno.com (Diana L Davis) Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 09:21:26 EDT On Mon, 18 Aug 1997 18:56:05 -0400 (EDT) james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) writes: >Money, and the Who's first single, "Zoot Suit" (released as by the >High >Numbers and named after a mid-60s clothing fashion). Actually, a zoot suit was a '30s clothing fashion. It may have come around again in the '60s, much like '60s/'70s fashions are today to my great horror. Dede "Out of boredom/I decided/I'd get with it....."-MCC ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 15:41:38 -0700 From: Kendo Nagasaki Subject: More Robyn at Sea please! I don't know about everyone else, butI'd be interested to hear more "Robyn at Sea" reports as I missed it due to snubbing Glastonbury and deciding to go to the V97 festival. I would've dumped my ticket and gone to Lymington if it wasn't for the fact that 4 others were relying on me for a lift there.... I'm very jealous. I know it's not Robyn, but in case anyone is interested, Mansun were absolutely superb at the weekend, as were The Divine Comedy. >(OK, who now has "Tommy's Holiday Camp" going through your head? I hate >when Oliver Reed gets in my head and will not leave. British television has the same problem whenever they invite him on to anything these days. Ruth Madoc should be shot. Tony. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 10:10:25 -0700 (PDT) From: Carole Reichstein Subject: Uncorrected Personality traits pix I went to the local record shop recently to check out the Rhino "Uncorrected Personality Traits" CD. Not to actually buy the thing (I already have all the songs, for heaven's sake), but to check out the handsome picture of Robyn on the cover. Nice! Then I looked inside. They did a nice job with the quotes. But here were these ancient, goofy pictures of Robyn from ten years ago. Now, I enjoy seeing Robyn barefoot as much as anyone else, and the sight of him in a t-shirt is a small thrill. But really, they weren't terribly flattering--sort of an homage to Syd Barrett, I thought. What photographer made him do all those funky poses? It wasn't Rosalind Kunath, was it? Anyway, I left the record store grinning. As for Bumbershoot, my sister & I are taking the train up on Friday and plan to leave sometime on Sunday. Cynthia, the Seattle Feg, thanks for your reply. Let's all agree on a nearby watering hole to meet, shall we? ------------------------------ From: SydneyC33@aol.com Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 16:37:00 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Siskel, Ebert, & Hedblade woj writes: <> and Tony writes: << I know it's not Robyn, but in case anyone is interested, Mansun were absolutely superb at the weekend >> Wasn't Jay Hedblade just talking about his cue to rejoin the world of Feg? I know for a fact that Jay spent time last week with Jill Sobule, Mansun, the Seahorses, World Party, Suzanne Vega, Beth Orton... Jay? Blinking on, dear? :) Sydney (a Tracy look-alike) ------------------------------ From: dsaunder@islandNet.com (Daniel Saunders) Subject: Bumberbooze Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 14:44:49 -0800 I'd just like to say right now, could we steer the meeting place for Bumbershoot fegs away from a bar? I'm 17 and I wouldn't be allowed in. Yes, it looks like I'm going to make it after all! My first ever Robyn Hitchcock concert. I'm so excited. The only thing that stands between now and then is 11 days and an operation to remove my wisdom teeth. I feel like Little Timmy, just accepted into the Help Make a Wish Come True program! -- Daniel Saunders Have a day. :-| ------------------------------ From: TchdnJesus@aol.com Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 18:04:36 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: A zed, two noughts, and a cuppa james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) writes: > >I saw _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ yesterday in its entirety for the > >first time and noted with interest that one of the women of Castle Anthrax > >is named Zoot. Brought to mind the _Can of Bees_ liner notes. "Every baby > >needs a name, even if it's only Zoot." add this to the fish sketch ref in > >"certainly clickot". > Zoot was also the saxophone playing muppet in Dr Teeth's Electric Mayhem. > There are other rock music links with zoot: Zappa's "Zoot Allures", Zoot > Money, and the Who's first single, "Zoot Suit" (released as by the High > Numbers and named after a mid-60s clothing fashion). early 40's fashion, primarily in the then emerging "chicano" culture around la, etc. also the name of a play on the era, made into a film starring Edward James Olmos (the cap'n on Miami Vice, the teacher in Stand & Deliver; around 80% of "dignified Latino roles out of hollywood for some reason) in the early 80's. can't remember the playwright's name, but he's actually a fairly latino playwright.... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest. *sob* .