From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V6 #133 Reply-To: loud-fans@smoe.org Sender: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk loud-fans-digest Tuesday, July 11 2006 Volume 06 : Number 133 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [loud-fans] Tivo Questions [Chris Prew ] Re: [loud-fans] Tivo Questions ["b.j. skaught" ] Re: [loud-fans] Re: loud-fans-digest V6 #130 [Jim Davies Subject: [loud-fans] Tivo Questions Sorry to off topic you like this, but since LoudFans are known gadget geeks... I'm considering getting a DVR, and I'm not a big fan of the monthly fee. Mostly I just want them to record shows I choose, and for the pause live TV feature. My question is, how useful are the things without the service? I've done research on line, and since most of the profits are off the monthly fee, that's all they talk about, and its hard to tell what the features of the standalone device is. 1) Do you have the ability to drop commercials out of live TV if you don't pay for the monthly fee? Out of recorded shows? 2) If you don't do the fee, can you still program it to record shows in the future manually, like you do a VCR? The other day, my 5 year old and I were pulling into Subway, and she said "Subway! That's where we can eat fresh!" So the commercials have to go. Thanks for the info! Chris P.S. My 5 year old and 2 year old are both way into the They Might Be Giants children's albums. Any other recommendations for Loud-fan friendly kids music? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 08:44:19 -0700 From: "b.j. skaught" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Tivo Questions > P.S. My 5 year old and 2 year old are both way >into the They Might > Be Giants children's albums. Any other >recommendations for Loud-fan > friendly kids music? I'm always trying to come up with good stuff for my nephews (6, 4 and 1 1/2). Most recently I put together a Harry Nilsson compilation CD, and they love that. I'd recommend picking up a couple of his hits collections and a couple albums and pulling all the kid-friendly songs together. Nilsson's stuff is often a big hit with kids, but it grows with you, too. Genius! I've also made mixes of old R&B and early reggae--stuff that's infectuous and fun, even fairly simple, but still features the soul and quality that us grown ups require! B ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:46:21 +0100 (BST) From: Jim Davies Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Re: loud-fans-digest V6 #130 > From: "Stewart Mason" > > No, I think that pretty much nails what's always been my take on > Anton's stuff: consistently, he's one-third brilliant, one-third > boring, one-third crap. > > S It's going to be hard for him to convince anyone who's always had the same take on his stuff. To some extent, this is the problem with putting out a bunch of albums and then getting better. There's a default expectation that you do your best stuff first - witness Lloyd Cole - and then deflate. I have all the early Anton, but I never listen to it. It comes above the waterline with Splendid Tray, and then never looks back. Catchy as hell. Yeah, there are tracks on Guladong I skip (good point) but then I do that with most albums. And I often end up liking the tracks I skip - even Stewart Mason. There's nothing on Ant and Su that I would skip. Village of the Apple Sun is something that I'd only listen to if I was in that kind of mood. Nice to hear parts of it live though. But Bradley would disagree: > Apple Sun is the most realized thing he's done in awhile, the Ant/Su album > is classic mixture of half-baked ideas and gloriously inspired moments. I have a feeling that Bradley and I would have complementary tastes, if we ever examined them. The aside about Eno/Ferry would seem to confirm that. I'd see their joint stuff as their weakest, most superficial, and most dated. Although I'm coming from the perspective of Robyn Hitchcock/ Jazz Butcher cover versions (Pat's version of Another Day on Earth is stunning, ditto Robyn's version of More Than This). > And if you ever see him live it's even worse. I've seen him win over > fairly hostile crowds with an amazing set, and i've seen him ruin > his best songs and empty a room--and he did not recognize any > difference between the two shows. When I first saw Anton perform, I thought that he lacked sufficient judgement or understanding of his audience. I don't think that now, not at all, so either he's got a whole lot better at it, or I've admitted I was wrong, or both. > Someone else would have to do it--I really don't think he has any > clue that there's a quality difference between songs. I think that it's very hard to assess your own work, assuming that there's enough imagination and innovation there. I think that he knows how good the Ant and Su album is, but I can see that he might be rather doggedly protective of other stuff that really isn't as strong. But if the alternative is to lose confidence, or to rely too heavily on the opinions of others (who might not appreciate some of the best aspects of his work, just 'cos they look at things differently) then I'd rather he carried on figuring things out for himself. As long as he keeps getting it this right. (yeah, okay, I've never seen him play in the states) x Jim ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 11:53:33 -0400 From: John Swartzentruber Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Tivo Questions On 7/10/2006 11:14 AM Chris Prew wrote: > My question is, how useful are the things without the service? I've > done research on line, and since most of the profits are off the > monthly fee, that's all they talk about, and its hard to tell what the > features of the standalone device is. > > 1) Do you have the ability to drop commercials out of live TV if you > don't pay for the monthly fee? Out of recorded shows? > 2) If you don't do the fee, can you still program it to record shows > in the future manually, like you do a VCR? If you are talking about TiVo (the brand), you need to buy a third party unit that comes with "Basic service" to not pay the fee. We have a Toshiba with a DVD player. With the basic service, you can do both of the items you listed. You get three days of program listing from which you can choose. If I remember correctly, the only way to record recurring shows is to do it manually as you mention in #2. Given your requirements, basic TiVo service would be everything you are looking for. That's what we used for months. Then we upgraded to paying the monthly fee and don't regret it. Here's what it gets us: 1. two weeks of program listings 2. Ability to get a "Season Pass", where it will record the programs even if they move to different times/dates or run longer (e.g., special two hour episodes). It also allows you to specify how the programs should be kept (e.g., no more than 5 episodes). We spend the money on the TiVo, and not on the full cable package. We have the basic cable package, which costs about $14 instead of $40 for the "standard" package. That gets us all of the broadcast channels, including three PBS channels. We have it set up to record about 6 or 7 different kids shows, and keep varying numbers of episodes of each, based on their popularity (10 Arthur, 10 Fetch, 5 Cyberchase, etc.). Our kids (6.5 and 4.5) now have no concept of broadcast times. When we let them watch a show, they pick out the one they want to watch and watch it. Since it is PBS, the commercials are minimal. Now, there is always something good on. > P.S. My 5 year old and 2 year old are both way into the They Might Be > Giants children's albums. Any other recommendations for Loud-fan > friendly kids music? > The "For the Kids" and "For the Kids, Too" discs are pretty good. They are collections from different singers/songwriters. We got one of them for pledging to WXPN, then purchased the other one later. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 08:57:08 -0700 From: "Russell Keegstra" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Tivo Questions > I'm considering getting a DVR, and I'm not a big fan of the monthly > fee. Mostly I just want them to record shows I choose, and for the > pause live TV feature. > If you are particularly geeky, MythTV is a good way to go. I just put together a broadcast HDTV box a few months ago. I pay no fees, I get listings for free two weeks in advance, it's very flexible about what and when to record (i.e. record Veronica Mars when ever it comes on, don't record it if you've recorded it before), and it will *automatically* go through the programs and flag the commercials (it's pretty good at it, but not perfect, like 98%). And when ABC convinces the DVR people to "disallow" fast forwarding, I will still be able to skip commercials. But it is for the geekily inclined. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 12:24:05 -0400 From: John Swartzentruber Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Tivo Questions On 7/10/2006 11:53 AM John Swartzentruber wrote: > That's what we used for months. Then we upgraded to paying the monthly > fee and don't regret it. Here's what it gets us: > > 1. two weeks of program listings > 2. Ability to get a "Season Pass", where it will record the programs > even if they move to different times/dates or run longer (e.g., > special two hour episodes). It also allows you to specify how the > programs should be kept (e.g., no more than 5 episodes). Forgive me for replying to myself, but Russell's message reminded me that I forgot reason #3 3. You can put the TiVo on your home network (wireless or wired) and use it for listening to music, looking at photos, etc. You can also upload and download files between the TiVo and a computer on the network. I use it to make backup copies of some shows, as well as to download movies or shows that I recorded on the TiVo, and making DVDs of them for long car rides. I can also convert movie files on my computer (e.g., from home movies or ???) into MPEG2 files and watch them on the TiVo. Russell's suggestion is good, but I don't want a computer in my living room, so although I've been tempted to do what he's done, I never have. If ABC gets its way, maybe I will. Except that I don't think I watch ABC. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 21:47:47 -0400 From: "Janet Ingraham Dwyer" Subject: kids' tunes (was: [loud-fans] Tivo Questions) oops...meant for the list (I'm out of practice). On 7/10/06, Chris Prew wrote: > > > P.S. My 5 year old and 2 year old are both way into the They Might > Be Giants children's albums. Any other recommendations for Loud-fan > friendly kids music? > Hi Chris! My 6- and 3-year-olds love TMBG. Their very favorite performer is Ralph Covert & band (Ralph's World), and I recommend you get your kids all the Ralph's World CDs (well, at least the first 4) and the DVD too, straightaway. Don't be ashamed if you find you don't pop them out of the CD player even when the kids aren't in the car. Go to http://www.ralphsworld.com/ for details. My kids are also big fans of Trout Fishing in America, Gunnar Madsen (try http://www.gunnarspot.com/ants/children.html ), Bill Harley (who releases some songs and mostly stories), Dan Zanes, and Logan Whitehurst (self-released goodies at http://www.loganwhitehurst.com/main.html - our favorites are "The Robot Cat" and "Happy Noodle vs. Sad Noodle") And on this list, one must mention the Sippy Cups! http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/sippycups While on CD Baby, you might also look for the Old Town School of Folk Music. And, check out Pancake Mountain (http://www.pancakemountain.com/). And finally, Andy (my kids' dad) has been looking over my shoulder and tells me there's a recent article on Salon.com called "Kindie Rock" ("Roll over, Raffi! A new wave of kids artists, most of them former grown-up rockers, are making music for 5-year-olds that the rest of us can listen to without wanting to die."): http://www.salon.com/ent/music/feature/2006/06/24/kindie/index.html All of the above is adult-friendly music, certainly inclusive of adult loud-fans. Janet ps- Benjamin asked me to put "Total Mass Destruction" on repeat yesterday. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 21:54:36 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: kids' tunes (was: [loud-fans] Tivo Questions) On 7/10/06, Janet Ingraham Dwyer wrote: > > o > > Hi Chris! My 6- and 3-year-olds love TMBG. Their very favorite performer > is Ralph Covert & band (Ralph's World), and I recommend you get your kids > all the Ralph's World CDs (well, at least the first 4) and the DVD too, > straightaway. Don't be ashamed if you find you don't pop them out of the > CD > player even when the kids aren't in the car. Go to > http://www.ralphsworld.com/ for details. I don't have kids - but I can attest that the Ralph's World stuff is pretty good. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:54:09 -0700 (PDT) From: Gil Ray Subject: Re: kids' tunes (was: [loud-fans] Tivo Questions) For you parents out there...can't forget about the Sippy Cups! http://www.myspace.com/sippycups Gil - --- Janet Ingraham Dwyer wrote: > oops...meant for the list (I'm out of practice). > > On 7/10/06, Chris Prew wrote: > > > > > > P.S. My 5 year old and 2 year old are both way > into the They Might > > Be Giants children's albums. Any other > recommendations for Loud-fan > > friendly kids music? > > > > Hi Chris! My 6- and 3-year-olds love TMBG. Their > very favorite performer > is Ralph Covert & band (Ralph's World), and I > recommend you get your kids > all the Ralph's World CDs (well, at least the first > 4) and the DVD too, > straightaway. Don't be ashamed if you find you > don't pop them out of the CD > player even when the kids aren't in the car. Go to > http://www.ralphsworld.com/ for details. > > My kids are also big fans of Trout Fishing in > America, Gunnar Madsen > (try http://www.gunnarspot.com/ants/children.html > ), Bill Harley (who releases some songs and mostly > stories), Dan Zanes, and > Logan Whitehurst (self-released goodies at > http://www.loganwhitehurst.com/main.html - our > favorites are "The Robot Cat" > and "Happy Noodle vs. Sad Noodle") > > And on this list, one must mention the Sippy Cups! > http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/sippycups > > While on CD Baby, you might also look for the Old > Town School of Folk Music. > > > And, check out Pancake Mountain > (http://www.pancakemountain.com/). > > And finally, Andy (my kids' dad) has been looking > over my shoulder and tells > me there's a recent article on Salon.com called > "Kindie Rock" ("Roll over, > Raffi! A new wave of kids artists, most of them > former grown-up rockers, are > making music for 5-year-olds that the rest of us can > listen to without > wanting to die."): > http://www.salon.com/ent/music/feature/2006/06/24/kindie/index.html > > All of the above is adult-friendly music, certainly > inclusive of adult > loud-fans. > > Janet > > ps- Benjamin asked me to put "Total Mass > Destruction" on repeat yesterday. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 23:57:06 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: [loud-fans] closing in on the top of the pops... What If It Works? is currently #8,080 on Amazon's CD charts. Rock! - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V6 #133 *******************************