February Edition: 2008

                        

 

Get your fix of older links posted on Cdnav.com

March 31st    March is toast: bring on April I say!  Time-change be damned, spring never seems 'real' till' April swings on bye.  I guess its because - here in the Okanagan at least, our local ski hills close in late March / early April, and no-skiing means spring has sprung!  Speaking of which; our 'local hill', Apex Resort, closed this afternoon, bummer, but if it means biking / hiking/ kayaking / camping - well, to hell with it and onward ho!  I rode the living shit outta' Apex this winter, squeezed every bit of powder I could out of the old mountain - it was all good and I've no regrets!  Lets celebrate the one and only (ever) April, 2008 with Sera Cahoone - Only As The day Is Long.  MP3 courtesy of SubPop Records.  Hint: SubPop isn't known for leaving the free downloads up and in place for too long - if you dig this track (do give it a few listens), then download and save it locally now.

March 31st    When I was a but a wee lad, there was nothing I loved more than cranking up a little (ok, a lot), of classic rock and heavy metal!  One of the bands that I was weaned on came screaming out of Toronto, calling themselves Anvil (ya, kinda' like Advil - the thing your mom reached for every time you cranked the shit outta' Anvil on your system) :-)  Anvil, it appears, now has a documentary!  Now, I can't say I'm a big fan of a lot of their work, I've always been extremely selective about metal; but I offer that their Metal On Metal LP was one of the benchmarks of heavy metal back in the day - and still stands as such.  If you're a 'closet metal-head', give a listen to 1982's 'Mothra' on YouTube for an ear-full of what I'm talking' about here.  Sure, its classic shitty quality 'YouTube', but crank it nonetheless - then buy the CD or LP today - its a mind-blower - the whole freakin' album rocks that hard!

March 31st    Gary Krakow | You're full of shit...  Where the hell did The Street.com find this fucking guy; and who on-staff was stupid enough to actually pay him to type out the absolutely full-of-shit article titled "New Fuse Makes Stereos Sound Fantastic"?  Give me a 767-sized break!  This fellow missed his calling - he should have been a politician...  Hey Gary, I don't suppose you'd like to whip up a couple of lossless files: a before / after - standard-fuse / bullshit-fuse - for us to audition for ourselves would ya'?

March 31st    Lets face it; no matter how much belly-aching we as honest audiophiles do online, in forums / blogs etc., there isn't much we are gonna get done about the blatant fraud which blackens our hobby; aside from perhaps educating the occasional 'audiophile in bloom' before he gets sucked in by the pervasive bullshit.  We really need to strongly encourage non-governmental organizations, marketing watch-dog groups as well as federal and provincial governments to step-up and implementation intelligent, science-based standards on the industry's marketing practices.  Last week I suggested that we contact British Columbia's Competition Bureau - a good start - but we also need to contact similar bureaus across Canada, urging them to address the insane fiasco that we are currently enveloped in.  Today I'm supplying you with the address of CBC's Marketplace Story Suggestion www site.  Please contact them via the email address within that link and request that they look into audiophile voodoo products.  Since they've already covered HDMI cables earlier (Packing The Deal - Feb. 20th), we might suggest that they next look into power-cords or speaker wire (?).  An article from Marketplace or MythBusters is a stepping-stone in the right direction, generating media attention and momentum towards a binding federal marketing legislation.  I've previously spoken with Canada's Nation Research Council and they've informed me that after looking into 'special-cables', they've chosen to employ common twin-lead 'lamp-cord' for their loudspeaker evaluations.  I would dearly love to witness the eventual implementation of a federal "Integrity In Marketing" framework, based in part on input from the NRC in cooperation with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.  I suggest that such a design wouldn't appear overnight, but its certainly the rough outlines of a goal which is attainable in the long run.  PS: did you know that there's a MythBusters Forum?  Check it out and be sure to mention the crap that so many are attempting to shove down throats in the audiophile arena!

March 31st    What's new and exciting in the world of gadgets?  How about a little gizmo that acts as a portable DVD player one minute, and doubles as a digital picture-frame the next?  LG's new DP392 is just the ticket!

March 31st    Well, that's it for me today - time to get some shuteye and rest these snow-boarder's legs that I've so intently abused all weekend!  Tune into Old Man River - Sunshine as you ready yourself for what Monday has in store for you.  MP3 courtesy of SXSW and Ohad Rein.

March 28th    Allrighty-then, it looks like I've honed this practice of working short work-weeks to a science of sorts ~ Friday is here already!  Lets celebrate with crankage of Nakia & His Southern Cousins - Playing The Cards.  This taste of white-boy-soul is brought to you care of the band and SXSW.  Check out the man and his band on their website.

March 28th    In case some of you are wondering what to see on your fancy big-screen TVs / surround-sound systems this weekend - take a look at PopCrunch.com's 50 Movies That All Guys Should See Before They Die - A Modern Guide.  Can't say that I'm a fan of every one of those chosen; but I'll suggest that they've hit the nail on about 75% of em'.

March 28th    By now, many of you have read the interesting media clip wherein the Marketing Standards Authority in the UK have weighed in on Russ Andrew's bogus marketing claims about their 'high-end' products.  This so moved me that I've contacted several Canadian marketing watchdog groups, including the Competition Bureau Of Canada and inquired about shady marketing practices here in Canada.  Its been less than 24 hours since I contacted them - will let you know their response.  In the mean time, I thought I'd provide easy access to their contact website in order that you may also voice your anger over idiotic audiofool marketing practices here in Canada.  Its only a matter of time before the utterly out of control lying that is soiling out hobby gets quashed; I suggest we hasten its inevitable arrival...

March 28th    More on the "Buy your Blu-ray player from us" marketing-gig: Best Buy Canada is following suit with Future Shop’s move last week to give something back to consumers who recently purchased an HD DVD player. But rather than offer a trade-in program as Future Shop is doing, Best Buy is providing a $50 gift card to customers who purchased an HD DVD player from the retailer since January 1, 2007.

March 28th    There sure is a lot of yammering about HDTV to be found on the Net', but much of it is piecemeal or thoroughly laced with techno-jargon.  Kevin Baggs puts it down in plain English on his 'Innovation' website / blog.  Check out 'HDTV Explained' for the lowdown.

March 28th    Since I drag miles of the stuff through homes and offices every day, I was tickled to find this article on CAT5e in a recent online edition of Sound & Vision magazine (formerly the magazine we all grew up with: Stereo Review).  Their article 'The Little Cable that Can' provides a brief overview on the topic.  I employ CAT5e in the shop for the smaller speakers in my office hi-fi system as well ,and swear by it as a cost-effective solution.  The stuff is extremely flexible, easy to hide and stunningly cheap; under a hundred bucks for a thousand foot spool!  Check out your local electrical-industrial supply house for a box today!.

March 28th    Those of you employing a PS3 for your Blu-ray duties will be interested to learn that Sony has just released a 'Profile 2.0' update, offering Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0 support, mosquito noise reduction and “resume play” along with an improved internet browser.  Read (and view) all about it.

March 28th    Count on good old PBS "the last / best hope for broadcast documentaries", to lay it on the line and cut through the crap of the current American administration like few have done before.  Spend some time with their free, online documentary Bush's War.  Note that you can run the videos full-screen on most decently-powered PCs.

March 28th    Ok, that's it for another week of Cdnav.com.  Get out there and enjoy the spring weather, come home and pour a drink, then crank up a little bit O' Mark Mallman - Death Wish.  Tell me this doesn't just flash ya' back to mid-80's classic rock!  More info' on Mark can be gleaned on his website.  MP3 compliments of M.M.  I don't know what it is that I dig so much on this track, perhaps its the nostalgia, or maybe its the mix of rock and roll and piano...

March 28th    One last note: not even really A/V related, more along the lines of my job-description / hobby.  I just received an email from Tiger-Direct.  I've dealt with T.D. on several occasions in the past, their shipping is dead-dog-slow, but their pricing is jaw-droppingly low.  They are offering a 'bare-bones' PC kit for an astoundingly cheap $190.00 plus shipping and tax.  The details of which are laid out on this site.  If you add a free copy of the excellent / open-source Ubuntu operating system and a whack of free, open-source software such as Open Office, along with a cheap LCD monitor or the old CRT that you have tucked away in the basement / garage - Damn man, that's some cheap PC power!  PS: check out SourceForge for a massive collection of open-source software - its a great repository of O.S.S.

March 26th    Been a few days then hasn't it!?  Well, I've been playing hokey from everything work and 'online' related as the snow has been falling from the sky by the megaton in the mountains!  Apex Resort is set to close in a scant six days, so my priorities have been to spend as much time up there as possible before the inevitable end of the ski / boarding season.  What a shame that they are closing so early this year as conditions couldn't be better.  At any rate, nuff' about me being a slack-ass ski-bum, lets kick off the (now shortened) workweek with a slab of Ian Moore - House Up On The Hill.  I first came to love Ian's music when I heard his amazing track Muddy Jesus years back.

March 26st   Further mental compass reorientation for British Columbia's Island population of audiofools: Long & McQuade is offering a six-week 'Recording Fundamentals' course at the Victoria Music Education Center this March 29th. Those who wish to learn how depth and acoustic perception is accomplished can forget about shoving wooden cutting boards under their CD players and amplifiers, swapping cables and wall-plugs as well as any number of idiotic 'tweaks'. Also, check out their many other clinics being offered across Canada.

March 26st    The 'big delay' in posting you see on the site is due to modifications to the server I host on - they've screwed up their Microsoft Front Page 'Server Extensions' in such a way that I am no longer able to use FrontPage or Microsoft Expression to create the 3x-weekly posts... these few interm posts will be via my old DreamWeaver app', so some items might not work as they normally would. As with most things from NetFirms - this means "we have no idea what's wrong, it'll just start working miraculously out of the blue one day soon..." For those audiofools who read my missives and still don't' think that its possible for them to be deceived by the marking departments at their favorite A/V hardware suppliers; allow fellow Canadian Bill Nye ('The Science Guy'), to demonstrate how incredibly easy it is to deceive this human brain of ours, even with something as accurate as the vision system: Illusions

March 26st    Continuing right along with the "hammering away at audiofools" theme :-) I stumbled upon a fun little page online this week titled "Can You Hear The Difference". Some cat has set up an easy to use 128Kb/s vs. 320Kb/s MP3 audition page for our listening / educational pleasure. Its simple; play one clip, then the other - which is closer to "high-fidelity"? Now, don't get me wrong, there sure are differences and you'll hear them with a nice sound card and headphones / speakers, bit isn't it astounding how close the 'sound' is at first glance. I mean, shit man - in the 128Kb/s clip - over 90% of the original signals potential bandwidth is simply not available - and yet the clip is audibly intact to a remarkable degree! No matter how many times I contemplate the scenario, it still amazes me! And the 320Kb/s clip; it sounds great! Another great thing about this little audition is that folks are actually out there, putting up online auditions! I think its admirable and to be applauded! One of the simple lessons that went pretty completely unnoticed with my recent RCA and power-cable auditions of lossless .wav files was that each and every person reading the particulars has the capability to participate in their own 'File A vs. File B' auditions in this day and age - and yet, even after thousands upon thousands of readers answered my original posts on multiple discussion forums; none - not one goddamned person - bothered to proceed through the steps required to build their own (insanely simple), sub-hour process themselves! WTF!? Is the entire population of the online audiofool world that lazy or are they all brainwashed sheep, tongues hanging out, eyes glossed over, hanging on every word from A/V manufacturers; I think the answer is obvious...

March 26st    I've always been a fan of AudioHolics, Bob Carver's products and deep bass; put em' all together and what do ya get? A.H.'s review of the Sunfire HRS-12 Powered Subwoofers. $900.00 bucks a pop aint chump change, but then again, chances are you'll never again need to plop down for another set of subwoofers in your lifetime...

March 26st    Ok, thats it for me this fine Tuesday; I've had enough of DreamWeaver's idiosyncrasies for the time being. I'll sign off with a track from Monahans - I run to you.

March 21st    Hadn't intended on posting till' Monday, but this just can't wait; in hope of saving someone else from the biggest waste of two hours and two minutes of their lives;  No Country For Old Men is easily one of the single biggest disappointment of any movie rental I've yet to see.  That puts it 'down there' with some pretty miserable titles.  The acting is 'great'; aside from the fact that all of the characters that you'll recognize, act in exactly the same manner as every other show you've ever seen them in.  The script itself must have been created on a major cocaine binge; many conceptual threads begin, only to be dropped and never again resumed.  The number of 'suspensions of disbelief' / impossible scenarios, tops even the most ludicrous fairytale - simply put; its beyond pathetic.  The gore I can deal with, I've seen much worse outta' Hollywood from any number of flicks.  And the ending...  utterly disappointing in every way possible.  In fact, if you are sadistically inclined enough to even rent it, then for Pete's sake, eject the movie at the half-way point and take it back, because you're gonna' freaking hate the remainder of the flick.  I'll try not to hold back what I thought of it; its fucking shit!  No, sorry: "its complete fucking shit!"  Andrew's rating - 1.5 out of 10

March 19th    Been a busy couple of days!  "Our hockey team" - The Vees, had an even busier week; after leading the first-round of 'Junior A' playoffs three games to one, they found themselves even-up and fighting for their season in a Game 7 just a few short days later!  And what a G7 it was; their competitors, the Vernon Vipers, ice quite a battalion of excellent players and they threw everything but the proverbial kitchen-sink at the Vees in this deciding game - which we luckily won.  Lemme' tell ya' fellas, watching Junior A 'live' is much more satisfying than NHL on TV!  In honor of the absolute grinding effort I witnessed last night, I'm going to lay a couple of massive slabs of heaviness on ya' today: I'll start you off easy and migrate into complete metal-overkill as we move along :-)   Lets kick it off with a head-full of Vancouver's own Black Mountain - Druganaut  MP3 provided by the band and SXSW.  More info' about Black Mountain can be had here.

March 19th    LimeWire, that pirate-ship of the Internet - is going legit!  Yup, they have a BETA site up offering 500,000 DRM-free tracks in MP3 file format, at 256Kb/s.  The site is a little slow at the moment, very BETA, but I look forward to good things from them in the future.  They are offering a number of plans, and your end-price will basically depend on which you enroll in.

March 19th    Many of us spend an exorbitant amount of time in our automobiles, so I guess there's no reason that we shouldn't highlight an A/V discussion forum on the topic; check out Steve Meade Design's discussion group if its mobile audio you're all about!

March 19th    Great picture - so-so sound...  Broadcastroom.com has an excellent article that explores the conundrum of HDTV supplying kick-ass visual signals while only feeding us 'basic' audio signals.  Seeing as most of you reading this site are likely to be audio-geeks, you might find the subject worth a look, I did.

March 19th    Portable MP3 players are pretty cool, but they have a down-side: you generally cannot share the tunes with your friends unless you have an external device of some sort to plug into them.  Enter the Creative Labs 'Zen Stone'.  Dirt-cheap, available in multiple-colors, and able to play a variety of popular digital music file formats, this might be the answer to those times when you wanna' rock out with the boyz' but aren't keen to, or don't have the option of, plugging into an external amplifier / speakers.

March 19th    Just so you, my fellow Canucks, are up to speed with what the Canadian Private Copying Collective has up their sleeves for the 2008 / 2009 'recording season' :-), roll an eyeball over their draft titled Proposed Tariff 08/09. 

March 19th    Always one to put music ahead of insane audiofool idiocy, I bring you the unique Musicovery.com.  Like so may other 'floating-cloud' music discovery sites, Musicovery brings you a mind-numbing array of bands, but they've added the additional capability of breaking searches into 'mood', 'era' and 'Genres'.  The audio-quality isn't exactly top-notch, but the way in which it leads off one track and onto another is pretty cool!

March 19th    Those of you who are regular readers know I'm a fan of A/V receivers as the core of a system; they save a lot of space and tangles of wires, 'sound' the same as a set of separates (see our forum for unsighted auditions - damn the audiofools), and allow one to save a pile of cash on a system build.  I've generally leaned towards what Pioneer has released as they offer killer bang-for-the-buck, but recently I was shown a killer product / deal from Yamaha, and thought I should point it out to my readers.  The V663 offers all of the recent-market bells and whistles, and is available for under $500.00 online (a hair over $400.00, new-in-box on eBay).  Check it out.

March 19th    At the outset I promised you an ass-kickin', eye-ball shaking onslaught of metal; true to my word, crank the living bejesus outta' Mitra - Crucifixed  -  Free and legal MP3 supplied by the band and SXSW.  This is one that'll scare your mamma folks: SlugMag has an interesting review of the LP its taken from, I quote:

"Here’s a chronological recap of what happened when I first listened to All Gods Kill.  I was a decent person.  I opened this CD, I put in the CD player, and I instantly became evil.  This is the sort of album that has the capacity to turn any good Christian into an unadulterated axe murderer.  The album is blues-tinged, southern rooted, stripped down, no-nonsense hard rock at its best.  It makes Metallica look like a bunch of pussies and your average speed metal gods look like pretentious poseurs.  If you are familiar with (REO) Speedealer or Billyclub, the alma mater of the members of Mitra, you may begin to know what you are getting yourself into.  Frontman Kurt Grayson’s voice is used like an instrument (Iggy Pop would be proud), the versatility of which is evident throughout the 13-song album, and showcased on “Crucified”, transitioning from husky wallows to ear piercing screams.  The rhythm section, provided by Mark Her and Harden Harrison (both ex Speedealer), runs like a never faltering, well greased machine gun.  This album proceeds without so much as a moment for the listener to breath.  Each track progresses from the previous relentlessly.  I will be the first to admit that I am a pansy, but listening to this album is certainly an exercise in stamina, and a much-recommended one at that". – Brady Gunnell 

Have a great short-workweek folks, live it up to the max!  Oh, hey; while we're on the subject of heaviness - if you're of the metal persuasion, do your overtaxed brain a favour and get yourself a copy of Tool's Aenima LP - specifically the title track - which should definitely go down as one of the Top 10 best metal tunes ever written!

March 16th    Welcome back to the workweek my unknown friends!  Just think, in four short days, it'll all be over :-)   Yup, its a short work-week due to the apparent death and rebirth of the god-dude that everyone's so adamant about.  Lets celebrate this festive event with a track from fellow Canuck, Daniel Lanois - Here Is What Is.  Free 192Kb/s MP3 compliments of Daniel and SXSW.  This one takes a few listens, but its one of those tracks that really grows on ya', its definitely one of my current rotation faves'.  More information on the man can be found on his www site.

March 16th    Being a huge fan of live shows, music and the Whistler Valley, you can imagine how tickled bloody pink I was to learn about a new mass-concert being held in Pemberton this summer - July 25th - 27th!  I could blabber on and on, repeating what the promoters have in store for us, or I could just point you to information on the Canada.com web site.  Afterwards, visit the Pemberton Festival Homepage for further details.

March 16th    In my daily work as a PC technician, I see a wholesale move away from classic metal-box workstations, towards laptops.  For the audiophile; this has always meant a compromise in A/V quality; until now.  Acer has just released a new series of absolutely kick-ass laptops for the North American market, check out the 8920G (16" LCD) and 6920G (18" LCD) on their website.  High-definition, wide-screen visuals compliments of onboard Blu-Ray, Dual 320 gigabyte drives, Direct-X 10, the full compliment of Dolby surround-sound modes and 5.1 speaker system (onboard sub!), 4-Gigs of RAM and a whole lot more; ya', on a bloody laptop!  I see my next PC folks...

March 16th    Whew!  I know a whopper when I see one, and this my friends, must rate as a Burger King special!  I was reading a forum the other day, the discussion was regarding power-cables (see blurb below), and one chap asked an open question: "where can I read technical reasons why power cables might make a difference in an audio reproduction chain"?  Some deluded bugger answers him by pointing the fellow to a commercial site run by the Van Den Hul company.  As far as I knew, VDH was involved in record stylus design and implementation.  Apparently the management clued into the fact that cables had a far greater potential for revenue generation than the stylus market.  As such, they've rolled out a collection of cables that put the much-maligned Monster Cable Corporation to shame.  They've also come up with a document or two describing the cable-gospel according to one A.J. Van Den Hul himself.

Lemme' give you a sample of these words of wisdom:  A (hypothetical) fellow asks a (made-up) question "When I listen to my hi-fi set, I hear everything, but there is no depth and imaging in the sound picture. What to do?"  Mr. A.J.V.D.H tells the (make-believe) chap that he should get better cables and treat the ends with V.D.H's 'The Solution' chemical (a pittance at $58.00 for a 25cc bottle) !.  Did Mr. V.D.H. consider the lad's room, his speaker placement, source material?  Nope, fancy cables and magic solution in a bottle is always the best bet to pad one's bottom line, er, I mean, to 'magically fix imaging...'  What a crock of shit!  If you have the stomach for it, or just enjoy a good comedy now and again, check out the incredibly long list of misinformation that can be had on V.D.H's F.A.Q. 'paper'.  Or, print it out and use it to wipe your butt, either way, it's about the same value...

March 16th    American Heritage has an interesting article on a legend in the music business which many of you may find interesting (from 1949 to 1953, Hank had 34 consecutive hit singles - 32 hitting the top ten and 11 going to number 1).  Titled "The Miserable Life, Death and Immortality of Hank Williams", David Rapp succinctly sums up the man and his music in an entertaining read.  Pour a drink and kick back with the article.  For those of you uninitiated with the legend; Honky Tonk Blues.  Oh, and by the way, have a Happy Saint Paddy's Day! and perhaps learn about the origins of the traditions behind it.

March 16th    That's it for a Monday morning post boyz', head off to work with your hearts set on Thursday; reach down and crank up some Lucero - The Mountain  (that's some classic rock!).  MP3 courtesy of SXSW and the band.

March 15th    One of those oh-so-rare weekend posts:  I'm kicking back, relaxing, sipping on a nice cool Nelson 'After Dark' (organic!), beer, recovering from a long day of boarding the hell outta' Apex Mt.  We received quite a decent little dump of snow last night - today was a 'real beauty'.  Some thoughts: I've posted the Power Cable  Comparison 'Take II' on a number of audiophile forums in the past few days, and have had nothing but grins and solemn shaking of my head as I watch the responses (Head-Fi appears, thus far, to be an exception).  Most appear to be stunned that someone would have the audacity to post such an evaluation in the first place :-).  the rest are scrambling to determine which component of the system used "doesn't have enough resolution" so that they can pick it apart - without having actually ever heard, owned or even seen it before I might add.

In my replies to them, I've repeatedly requested that the folks who are in disbelief simply conduct the same type of evaluation themselves (peer-review is the best way to form conclusions on differences of opinion of this nature).  Of the hundreds of terse / mocking answers I've received net-wide thus far, not a single person has offered to conduct a similar evaluation with their own hardware / software.  Instead, they've wasted countless hours attempting to poke holes in the hardware I employed and the methods I used, eternally navigating around the simple solution: try it yourself!  Oddly, they'd rather piss away hour after hour, conjuring up pointless arguments about how and why this 'cannot possibly be true'.  I used to think that the hobby was populated by adult males with better than average educations and a desire for real knowledge; over time however, I am tending to believe that its simply a horde of folks with an excess of ego and no interest in actually learning anything that might conflict with their fantasies of reality.

Its really sad that so many people in our hobby are actively willing to be manipulated by marketing con-men and don't have the balls to figure out simple concepts for themselves.  I know, I know - I've was told time and time again by my peers that asking audiophiles to conduct logical evaluations themselves was a lost-cause, but I have persevered.  I can only hope that some day I'll get one or two of them riled up enough that they'll actually get off their asses and conduct investigations / comparisons unsighted, and then, lo-and-behold, they'll finally 'get it'...  Until then, I need another beer...  Here's some Classic Canadian 'soft-rock' - Blue Rodeo - This Town (MP3 compliments of SXSW and the band)

March 14th    Finally | Friday!  Not too much left of the ski season lads, be sure to get off the couch and head for the hills cause the rains are coming and the flowers are bloomin'.  Saw tulips in the neighbour's front yard a couple of days ago!  So, what to listen to this fine Friday?  Clean that ball of wax outta' your ear and crank up Hymns - I Can't Be What You Want.  More about the band and a decent stream of other Hymn tunes can be had on their www site.

March 14th    Just what the mad-scientist ordered: Yet another Audio Forum; LowYat.net!  Check out how the craziness has affected Malaysia (English-language) - Just so you won't be left thinking that its just us over-ego'd, overfed, spoilt little bastard North Americans who have flipped our collective lids.

March 14th    Found a pretty spiffy, albeit somewhat pricy, workaround for 'the power-strip blues'.  You know the one - outboard power-blocks that hog all of the room on your power-strip, disallowing you from plugging in further components because the plugs are blocked by adjacent devices.  The Tributaries T-12 has an ingenious workaround for this problem: pivoting plugs!

March 14th    Most of us 'audiophiles' never get a chance to see 'the other side of the mixing board'.  I've always maintained that the 'air' / 'feel' / 'depth' and other assorted audiofool lingo used to describe a system's sound is actually held in the room's acoustics, speaker placement and the actual source material's mix / mastering - not some new amplification-stage / design-of-the-week from yet another bullshit 'high-end' audio manufacturer.  Lend an eyeball to a behind the scenes look at the world of Grammy-Award winning mix master Bruce Miller (Miles Davis, Yes, Mariah Carey, White Stripes, Lost Boyz, Dave Matthews, Canibus, Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston, and many more).  You might even wish to sigh-up with the free online BAM Audio School while you're there.

March 14th    Cut to a rocking track: Band Of Thieves - Woman.  I would like to link directly to the full track as I usually do, but the band hasn't made it available and I've yet to hear back from them.  As such, I point you to their homepage which features an auto-play Flash-script which begins streaming the rocking tune Woman as soon as you land on their site.  For the record; the tune is now stored in your 'Internet Cache' folder...  This is great, old-school, straight-ahead Rock N Roll - I dig it!

March 14th    What would a workweek be without yet another article to set audiofools strait!?  This one comes care of the lads at Audioholics.  Several years ago they sat down with respected loudspeaker manufacturer Jim Thiel to talk cables and speakers.  The conversation leans heavily on cable in this particular case however, and surprisingly, underscores a severe lack of understanding on the part of Jim with regards to the electrical properties of wire.  Be this due to Jim truly believing his own words or spilling out this nonsense for the sake of his deluded clients, I cannot say - this interview however, appears to raise questions on the man's integrity...

March 14th    Russell Smith went off like a firecracker in yesterday's Globe & Mail and I thought he made some great points.  (Snip) The CBC no longer feels there is any point to devoting an entire radio station to the more musically and intellectually complex style of music colloquially, though entirely inappropriately, known as "classical".  Have a look at the entire text on the Globe's online site. 

March 14th    In case you missed the memo: South By South West (SXSW), is on in the States at the moment.  Get an ear-load of the hundreds of bands via their Online Music Player.  You can just let it go and have a taste of the mind-boggling array of tuneage, or you can 'Fast-Forward' through the many featured artists - your choice.  If you have the patience to go through the entire list (good luck on that one), and find some outstanding bands, let me know and I'll post em' here for all to enjoy!

March 14th    Ok cats, that's it for me this week - Here's hoping you have a blast over the weekend - and remember, life is freakishly short, get out there and have an ass-kicking good time cause you never know when its your time to be worm-food...  (Seriously, two business associates from completely different walks of life died on us here in town this past week.  Both were in great shape, one 50ish the other early 60s.  Both of them 'left the rock' through different means, one on Monday, the other Thursday).  The moral of the story - don't sit around and moan - get yer' asses outside and do some fun shit man!  Oh, and crank the living shit outta' this track just for good measure: Matt King - Shanty Town  (MP3 compliments of the band).  This one will appeal to fans of off-beat punk-esq stuff along the lines of the Butthole Surfers.

March 13th    Ok, so once in a while I just 'throw stuff up here, A/V related or not - cause' I get a kick out of it'.  Flickrvision is one such post.  Those of you with a photography fetish are gonna' dig it - mouse-over the images and leave you mouse in place, as all further images will take on the effect...

March 12th    Think it'll be a short post today boyz', been traveling a lot of late and am kinda' tuckered out!  Here's a track that'll be a hit with the little lady; described as "lush indie pop with shimmering melodies, sparkling soundscapes, and beats like a train on a track": Kate Tucker & The Sons Of Sweden - Faster Than Cars Drive reminds me very much of something else, but I can't quite put a finger on it...  MP3 compliments of the band and Starbucks Records (perhaps that's where I've overheard it playing in the background?)

March 12th    The boys over at Home Theater Shack have released the latest version of Room EQ Wizard and its worth checking out!  This powerful, free software application can assist in evening out acoustic issues in your listening room.  All you need is a quality sound-pressure meter, computer and a free membership to the Shack' and off you go to decent-listening-room nirvana!

March 12th    Many of us (me included) are on the lookout for the best bang for the buck in a large 1080p TV.  I stumbled upon this UK-based site the other day and felt that it gave a pretty decent overview of what's available on an ongoing / up-to-date basis.  Check out HDTV News.com's site - I dig it!

March 12th    That's it, I'm outta' here: told ya' it was gonna' be a short one today, I'm damned tired, its late, gotta' go: tune out with this track from the unlikeliest of places: The Republic Of Iran!  Hypernova - Fairytales that don't have happy endings.  This track isn't my usual "I love it" kinda' postings, but it does strike a certain note in me.  At any rate, I post it here to show everyone that Iran isn't just about nasty dudes with funky clothing and oil...  256Kb/s MP3 compliments of the band.

March 11th    An out-of-place, yet curiously interesting post this fine Tuesday; Power-Cable leads - Do they Make An Audible Difference?  Have a listen for yourself here.  If more folks would just take an hour or so to put down something like this - the whole "power-cable-bullshit & lies" thing would fall by the wayside...

March 10th    A little late, but better than never: the 'Monday Afternoon' posts :-) . Had a hell of a great weekend folks: took in Friday's first-round playoff between our Vees and Vernon's Vipers, which we won by a landslide, then off to Revelstoke to check out their new Mt. Mackenzie Ski Resort - which by the way, kicks some serious ass!  If you're into the sport, then by no means do you want to miss a trip out their way - its massive in the Whistler / Blackcomb way, and offers a load of seriously cool terrain - with hundreds of square kilometres of expansion potential.  Lets ease into the workweek with a smooth groove from Frank Smith - Throwin' Rocks.  MP3 compliments of Frank & Ye Old Records.  More info on the band can be had here.

March 10th    Yup, the Internet holds some of the oddest 'stuff'...  This falls into the "Whatever happened to..." category: Defunct Companies - a directory of A/V companies that fell by the wayside over the years, along with a brief tidbit about each.

March 10th    I saw mention of American retailers offering up 'deals' for folks who brought their in HD-DVD players to 'upgrade' to Blu-ray decks, but nothing for us Canucks - until today: FutureShop is stepping up and allowing for a $100.00 discount if you bring in the now-defunct HD-DVD format reader and walk away with one of their 'new' multi-format decks from LG or Samsung.

March 10th    Tubes are "warm"?  Transistors are 'Cold"?  Check out this [guitar] amplifier listening evaluation put on by Georgia Technical Institute of Electrical & Computer Engineering titled 'Tubes vs. Transistors in Electric Guitar Amplifiers'.  Adobe PDF, 247Kb.   

March 10th    Many is the audiofool who will tell you that "you cannot set up your own turntable, you'll need a professional to do that" (cough... that would be the same 'professionals' who'll try an' sell you a couple hundred bucks worth of 'upgrades' and cables while in-store).  Well, as usual with these messed-up cats, they're completely wrong!  Wired gives us the obviously titled "How To Set Up a Turntable"

March 10th    Seeing as most of you reading this site are both Audio & Video junkies, I think its only fitting that I post the Official Guide to the Summer of 2008 - a summary of new movies you can look forward to checking out in 08'.

March 10th    Time for another tune don't cha' agree?  Check out Richard Swift's Paisley Park (a little Beetles-ish, no?).  Free MP3 compliments of Proudly Canadian Records.

March 10th    There's this cool cat going by the name of 'StickBoy' who keeps track of 'Classic' Canadian bands on-tour across this kick-ass country of ours, and he actually keeps his lists up to date!  Check out Canadian Classic Rock 2008 - Tour Dates.

March 10th    Everyone's got a 'favourite' old-school / classic bit of audio hardware that, for whatever unfounded reason, they still think is 'the best' of an era.  I for one recall really liking early 80's Luxman hardware - perhaps because it was what I saw hooked up to my then (and still), favourite loudspeakers: Magneplanars, in my local (Winnipeg) hi-fi shop.  Looks like Hans Hilberink has a real bug for Luxman kit as well - so much so that he's build, designed and maintained The Luxman Vintage Audio Website.  Go ahead, marvel at products from yesteryear - and know that the Luxman brand has recently been reawakened in North America.

March 10th    That's it - I'm outta' here!  Here are a couple of pics for ya':  Revelstoke Mt. and Your Wandering Editor - damned happy to be in the mountains!

March 7th    Did that week fly bye or what!?  I believe that it was made all that much easier by skipping out on Wednesday to go boarding in the mountains; as such, I'll have to work on skipping out on work more often!  What are we listening to this fine Friday?  I've heard an awful lot of good chat about The Band Of Heathens, but never took time out to get an earful - definitely 'My Bad' cause' these cats rock out old-school, think The Band / Little Feat / Townes Van Zandt and you get the picture - or just have a listen to Jackson Station; I'm sure you'll dig it and reach for the volume!  MP3 courtesy of the band.  More info' here.

March 7th    There are a few great loudspeakers designs that get short-shift in today's audiophile community: The Transmission-Line Loudspeaker model is one of them.  Robert Allen Robinson set out to dispel unfounded notions and present a comprehensive dissertation on the topic as he worked his way towards a Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering degree in 2007, at the Georgia Institute Of Technology.  Enjoy his articulate manner and well written prose here.  (Adobe PDF formatted document, 2.12 megabytes)

March 7th    That didn't take long: Lite-On and Phillips have released the first external Blu-ray drive for public consumption.  You can also purchase an internal version at a pretty decent price of $150.00.  If you're not an 'early-adopter', wait a few months and you'll start to see price erosion left, right and center on this product genera as discussed in this link where Sony executives suggest that stereo players will continually drop in price.

March 7th    There are few cats publishing independently on the Web' who's missives I place any stock in; Seth Godin is one of them.  His recent presentation to the industry, titled 'On The Future Of The Music Business' is a good read that I think many of you will find worth your time.  I agree with pretty much all of it, and in fact see this site as a component of the 'Tribe'.  Check it out (Adobe PDF formatted document, 191Kb).

March 7th    You poor frozen bastards in Winnipeg: Rejoice, there are a shipload of excellent bands making their way through your fine city over the next few weeks!  Steve Earl at the Burton Cummings Theatre on the March 10th, Lenny Kravitz at the MTS Centre on the 17th, Black Mountain & Ladyhawk at the Pyramid on the 27th and Rascal Flatts at the MTS Center on the 28th.  Hell man, those are only a few of the dozens of great acts that you should be getting off your "sitting in front of the TV on our frozen asses" and going down to see!  Check out our Jam Concert Listings link to get all the details on who is where across this fine country of ours!

March 7th    That's it for me this week boyz'.  I have, as usual, a stack of paperwork awaiting my attention, and I can only procrastinate so long before I have to break down and acknowledge that dammed stuff!  Have a freaking fantastic weekend and crank up some Luke Doucet and the White Falcon - Blood's Too Rich to get your feet tappin'!  (Free & Legal MP3 compliments of Luke and SWSW.

March 5th    Lets just kick into this right off the bat shall we: Crank the living shit outta' a track from Company : The Sad Businessman.  A little discordant near the end, guess they're experimenting with the folk genera.  More info' on the band here - track compliments of the band and Jag Jaguwar Records.  Update: The more I listen to this track, the more I dig it!  Give it a virtual 'spin' and you'll see what I mean.

March 5th    Time for a little more 'ler-nun': Check out the excellent Audio Express article 'How Horns Work'.  Leave it to the backbone of the D.I.Y. A/V industry to bring us yet another excellent essay on loudspeakers.  It supplies one with 'everything you ever wanted to know about horns' and a whole lot more that you hadn't even considered!  (725Kb - Adobe PDF File)

March 5th    Mentally insulted by what I read on the vast majority of A/V forums, I've been turning back from whence I came: Computer Forums.  Many of them discuss A/V a great deal, but the majority of the discussions are limited to that great unknown in the audiophile field: reality.  'Computer geeks' like myself are firmly rooted in factual realities, a spin-off of our stock and trade where 'everything has a reason and there's a reason for everything'.  All facets of our industry can be measured and contrasted, which leaves absolutely no room for snake-oil salesmen and shysters.  For those of you who aren't familiar with my Baptized in Fire stance on truth, respect and integrity; this is where I came from.  Check out hardforum for a taste of what I mean.  Afterward, click on over to The Register (pretty-much my all-time favourite), for a taste of intelligent tech-humour in spades, with a dollop of UK flavour.  What the hell does this have to do with A/V?, everything: didn't ya' read what I recently postulated?  "A/V and computer technology are forever linked from this generation forward".  Secondly, the core-logic | utterly definable approach that software engineers must take with their trade, forces them to be rational about the whole - if only audiophiles were on the same wavelength...

March 5th    Those of you daring enough to have ventured into the forums section will have no-doubt already seen what I refer to as "Great Coat-hanger Caper" link.  Several years ago, an educated lad was so cheeky as to see if his audiophile friends would be able to discern the difference between 'audiophile' speaker wire and... straightened cloths-hangers!  For the rest of you; here is yet another chance for you to see what happens when folks actually set their minds to finding the truth, hidden among the weeds of today's A/V hobby.  A "don't miss it" kinda' read!  As always, I strongly encourage you to conduct unsighted auditions yourself, and if you are so inclined, let me know and I'll publish the results here so that others may attempt to replicate your work.

March 5th    Extended Warranties: Buy or Avoid?  Electronic House has food for thought on their site with regards to one of the biggest conundrums facing the prospective electronics consumer.

March 5th    Another short one today boyz',  I'll leave you with a mellow little ditty by Lightning Dust | Listened On  This very much reminds me of something a 'female Curt Cobain' would crank out, mellow, but I dig it!

March 3rd    Now wasn't that a bloody great weekend?!  I was able to both ride my Mt. Bike down here in the valley as well as snowboard the living shit outta' my legs in the mountains!  British Columbia kicks some serious ass folks - we rarely get the asinine cold weather of the prairies, or the insane moisture levels of the East Coast - and we very often experience the 'dual-climate' phenomenon where its spring in the valleys and winter in the mountains!  Attended a party at a local band's home Saturday night at Apex Resort, met a load of extremely cool people. listened to a shitload of live music and discovered that I'm not half-bad at poker!  Played 'dealers call' for a few hours, and while I didn't make a pot of cash, neither did I walk away with less than what I sat down with!  Nuff' about me, lets celebrate the one and only March 3rd, 2008 with a dose of Alabama3 and their track - Woke Up This Morning.  Kinda' like soul/funk, I understand that this track has been featured on The Sopranos, Gone In 60-Seconds, A Life Less Ordinary and The Simpsons.  I've actually never heard it before, but its hits a certain funky note for me so I thought I'd share it with ya'.  MP3 compliments of the band and SXSW.

March 3rd    Who among us hasn't wondered to themselves as they listened to a particularly complex tune: "what was it the artist was trying to say here?".  Check out SongFacts and get the lowdown.  This site has a lot of different 'stuff' on it, more than enough in fact to keep one occupied for hours...

March 3rd    Into Vinyl LPs in a big way?  Then you're not gonna' want to miss The Vinyl Tourist.  This cat has put together a pretty comprehensive site that touches on five different categories: Journeys, a region-by-region guide to retail and other sources.  Discographies & Biographies, a (reasonably) complete listing of the work and history of some of the Tourist's favorite artists.  Good Sound, an introduction to better quality home play-back equipment, including specific recommendations for turntables and phono cartridges, plus tips on record cleaning and storage.  Mini FAQ, quick tips for finding albums and valuing or selling your collection.  "Have You Seen This Record?," the VT's personal Want List.  Some of his sub-links lead into 'audiofool' sites, but for the most part, the cat seems to have it together.  One of the aforementioned sub-links I found interesting, is the Canadian Antique Phonograph Society site.

March 3rd    Did you folks know that we actually have a Canadian car company?  Its called the 'Zenn Car', and fellow Canadian Rick Mercer has a great little clip on YouTube that you should definitely watch!  Support your fellow-Canucks!  (Obviously not A/V -related, but I like to throw in eco-stuff that I deem 'cool'!)

March 3rd    Well, that's it for me today, short post, but I have company paperwork to deal with as usual and need to get that shit outta' the way.  I'll leave you in Wolfgang's Vault - make the best of your time there lads, the place is chalk-full of music from every walk of life!  Go ahead and sign-up, the username / password you need can be had with any old made-up email address you want... (they don't send "confirmation emails" as do so many sites).

March 3rd    One last post; quite a while back I introduced you to a 'bar-band' called Amplified Heat and their track Heart Attack.  Its raw, mean and lowdown rock and roll - kinda' what Lemme & Filthy Phil might be part of...  I just happened upon the companion video to the track and thought I would share it with ya'.  The small .wmv flick isn't any better than the MP3 fidelity-wise, but it does capture the band in full flight!  Imagine how jacked up these guys would get ya' live after a few drinks, while on a night-out with the boyz'.

Feb 29th    So that's it for February, 2008 - there won't ever be another one, so make the most of it lads!  Never one to shy away from the completely bizarre; I bring you Mr. Lewis & The Funeral 5 - My Girl, Suicide - Free MP3 compliments of the band (favorite line: "And all the prostitutes are gussied up for church" :-)  More info' about the band can be had on their MySpace page.

Feb 29th    ASUS is kicking ass and taking no prisoners in the PC-based A/V arena!  I run some of their kit (Xonar PCI internal), and can vouch for the equipment's clean throughput and flexible interfaces - now it looks as though they are taking the Xonar core and building a whole lot more onto it in order to satisfy the video (HDMI) crowd as well.

Feb 29th    I was gonna' let you off easy, what, with this being the last day of the month, plus a weekend and all - but said "fuck that weak shit" and dumped this "pocket-protectors for dummies" article on ya instead.  Conversion: Issues In Hearing, Sampling, Quantization and Implementation - by James D. Johnson, Microsoft Corp. Audio Architect.   Its based on an in-browser Microsoft PowerPoint document.  I don't think that you'll be able to read it with out either Microsoft PowerPoint installed or Microsoft's free PowerPoint Viewer, available here.  This AES document offers honest and factual insights into digital audio technology that you'll rarely get from online discussion forums.  The slide-show is long at 79 pages, but the font is very large and there is little text on each page.  Thanks to the boyz' at Hydrogen Audio Forum for a tip-off to this document.

Feb 29th    Shit man, did you finish all that reading?!  If so, reward yourself with a listen to Batteries' track Childproof  Free MP3 compliments of the band.

Feb 29th    A few days ago I pointed you to an excellent article in which the Canadian program Marketplace thoroughly debunked the expensive HDMI cable myth.   They've recently posted another excellent article titled How does a stadium concert sell out in seven minutes?.  I've oftentimes wondered the very same thing.  Ever try to get tickets to a Neil Young show in your favorite city?  Good luck...  The Marketplace article explains this phenomenon and makes suggestions about how to make the best of a bad situation.

Feb 29th    Gee. imagine that: 48% of teenagers bought no CDs at all in 2007, up from 38% in 2006. Music downloads continue to grow, though, with iTunes leading the way.  [Of course, iTunes comprises about 3% of the music actually downloaded over the Internet these days...]

Feb 29th    Lets face it; the future is all about computer > stereo system interfaces.  Move on or get lost in the dust with audiofools who are still convinced that vinyl sounds better than digital audio and Amiga geeks who remain convinced that their archaic 'computers' are superior to what's available today.  Its time to learn How To Build Standalone NAS Systems for house-wide distribution of multimedia content.

Feb 29th    That's it, I'm outta' here for a few days / may or may not make it back for Monday's posts...  Blow out the cobwebs with some seriously heavy Canadian content: The Cancer Bats - French Immersion :-)  If you're a fan of this kinda' heaviness, check out their website.

Feb 27th    Half-way mango'!  Hump-day is upon us and rain is coming to the Wet-Coast!  This can mean only one thing; great boarding & skiing this weekend!  Ya man, celebrate with something that will throw you back to shades of your favorite high-school Queen or Blue Oyster Cult LPs: Bryan Scary & The Shredding Tears Imitation of the Sky (Free MP3 compliments of the band & SXSW)

Feb 27th    I suspect that I have more than a few CSN&Y fans in the ranks of our readership - count me among you!  Happened upon 4-Way-Site the other day; it hosts what I suspect is the largest collection of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young soundboard and live recordings anywhere on the Internet.  Dig in, download, crank it up!  (Note: The actual download sequence is a little quirky, you have to be fairly patient on the last screen... a small, 'No Virus Detected' - Download File link will eventually display ~ after perhaps a minute or so of waiting, using a standard high-speed Internet connection).  I'm listening to Neil's Oct. 2007 Chrome Dreams gig in Spokane, WA as I create today's posts.

Feb 27th    Slap on your pocket-protectors, don your thickest (broken & taped) spectacles and show us your overbite... its geek-out time again!  Time and time again you'll hear audiophiles, audiofools and common-folk (not likely), discussing, ok; arguing... about dynamic range - be it between different masterings of a recording or the same recording on dissimilar mediums (CD vs. LP comes to mind...).  Up to now, there were only a handful of mediocre methods to 'score' the difference in a tangible way.  Richard Tollerton to the rescue with his software application: pfpf.  (I know, funny name, but not much worse than the crazy band names I post here every week!).  Be warned that its installation is not for the faint of heart; a decent level of computer skills are in order here...

Feb 27th    In for a little reading?  Grab a bottle of your favorite and kick back with a copy of Training For Audio-Visual Presentation In Europe's Audio and video carriers Recording principles, storage and handling, maintenance of equipment, format and equipment obsolescence.  This 329Kb Adobe PDF document pretty much covers everything you would ever want to know about the main audio/video storage formats in use today, but were afraid to ask (afraid to ask on an open A/V forum anyway, cause' you'd get the usual demented answers from audiofools...)

Feb 27th    If you're looking for Home Theater In A Box, done right~ check out Yamaha's latest lineup.  Their YHT-Series is available in four different configurations, each affordable ($400.00 to $850.00), and worth checking out.

Feb 27th    Just a short post this evening lads; I'm back to the paperwork piled up to my left; do yourself a favor and check out Canoe's 'Jam Canada' site.  It'll hook ya' up with some rockin' in your hometown or one near you this coming weekend!

Feb 27th    Aw shit, just one more tune maestro!  Lean a tympanic membrane into a little bit of Centro-Matic and their track Triggers & Trash Heaps  Free MP3 courtesy of the band

Feb 25th    Wow, look at the month fly bye!  Spring is just around the corner, lets hope we get a pile more new snow in the mountains to facilitate our ski / board habits before it turns into water and floods the lower mainland again...  What are we rocking to this fine morning - how about some Steve Dawson - At Arms Length.  (MP3 compliments of Black Hen Music),  If you dig Steve's style, check out a few more tracks on his record-company-hosted homepage.

Feb 25th    Now this is a cool marketing idea: Put together a kick-ass system in a properly designed room, spin a few absolutely classic LPs and invite folks in for a free audition!  Any Canadian dealers reading this' take note - free advertising that will get you more word-of-mouth than a half-page ad' in any audio rag!

Feb 25th    Those of us with (old), cassette or reel-to-reel tape-collections may want to take a few moments to read Wendy Carlos's If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked A Tape! (A Recipe for Tape Restoration).  It'll give you a heads-up on salvaging that old-school music before you inadvertently destroy it during the next playback.

Feb 25th    I continually offer up loads of reading on the site, but realize that my audience might enjoy just sitting back and using their ears to learn once in a while.  Audio-2-U offers a great many podcasts that might interesting for those of you who are into PC/Mac audio editing.  There are about 18-months worth of podcasts available on his site... Nice work!

Feb 25th    Fellow Canuck Jeff Mathurin runs a page called Biline.ca.  I've mentioned his site once before, around the time I started this site, but I feel that his tireless honesty deserves another honorable mention!   Here's a good one; Jeff's 'insider-information' on how hardware manufacturers deal with web-sites that offer favorable reviews of their products: (er; I'm pretty confident that I'll never get one of these friendly offers from cable manufacturers!)

Feb 25th    Excuse me, another what?  Another bloody audio/video forum!?  How can that possibly be?  I mean, shit man, there are so damn many already :-)   Lend an eyeball Lend an eyeball to AVReview.co.uk and let me know if you learn anything that might be of worth to post here.

Feb 26th    Nuff' outta' me this fine Monday, get yer' asses off to work and produce some 'stuff' for the world to consume and then throw into a landfill a short time later... "can't get enough of that consumer shit" (Sung to the tune of the old "Can't get enough of that Sugar Crisp").  In the meantime, reach for the volume and crank up Sweden's Amandine: Secrets (192Kb/s MP3 compliments of the band)  If you get funky with that track, pay a visit to their 'Media' page and click on the five other album covers you see listed under 'Discography'.  It'll allow you to sample tracks from each of these other releases. (Highly recommended)

Feb 22nd    Its Friday baby!  This can only mean...  its high time to commence with incessant goofing off and cranking it up!  I've a whack of tuneage for you today: lets start off with a glass of white for a change shall we.  I've just been 'tipped' with a fine bottle of Sauvignon Blanc - which I'm proceeding to sample the living hell outta'.  For the record; it kicks ass, you might wanna' get some in ya' soon; tonight would be good!  Kick it off with some Yeasayer - 2080  This dreamy little number was posted here early during mid-summer 2007, but since that link is dead, here is a newly revived one; I dig this bit of smooth weirdness just enough to bring it round'  again!  Free MP3 compliments of the band!  Next up, is something a little more mentally challenging; bend your brain around the rather rough chorus in the Kaiser Chief's Oh My God.  Finally, in case you think I've gotten altogether too fucking weird (sorry boys, too late), crank a bit of the recently deceased Willie P. Bennett (R.I.P. Dude), and his track Ballad In Low E (Low bitrate, but it kicks musically!)  All tracks, as always, are free & legal!  There is a good-bit more of Willy's work, unfortunately in similar low-bitrate, here.

Feb 22nd    I've been trading a series of email missives back and forth with the editor of Tone Publications; it seems that he didn't appreciate my recent, albeit brief, summary of his fine publication.  We've come to an agreement; he thinks I'm a grumpy old bugger and I think he's a lying fucker; perhaps we deserve each other :-).   What I cannot seem to get thought to him is this: I want folks in positions of influence in the industry to begin embracing truly open and honest unsighted auditions, and publishing in said manner.  They, on the other hand, feel that I've lost my goddamned marbles if I think they are gonna' actually tell the truth in hardware reviews.  As such; a stalemate...  Its been a long while, so I'll point it out again; if you want to read honest editorials on A/V, look no further than The Audio Critic's back-issues.  If you're new to this site - enjoy, you'll not see this kind of integrity in publishing for, I fear, a long, long time because in this day and age; lies equals revenue.  I guess its safe to assume that $50.00 Gold-plated USB Cable that Tone's editor promised to send me for evaluation / comparison to a $1.99 Value-Village cable a few weeks ago is never gonna' show :-)

Feb 22nd    Its been a while since I laid any 'hardcore science stuff' on ya' - well, 'tonight's the night' (as Neil Young was wont to day).  Boston University's When believing becomes seeing, or how the brain learns to fill in the blanks is visual-centric, but it applies equally, if not more so, to the auditory realm.

Feb 22nd    I'm not sure exactly how this is going to affect us as Canadian users of the tax-payer financed CBC Radio / TV, but it looks like there's been somewhat of a major change in the world of our A/V supplier today: Shakeup at CBC aims to integrate TV, web & radio

Feb 22nd    Time for some funny shit: now I've been a longtime country fan, specifically, the old-school; Johnny cash, Waylon, Willie and such.  My grandma pretty much embedded it in my DNA as a child, what with her spinning endless country records and popping in 8-tracks left, right and center (I think she had a serious crush on Johnny)  However, a recent article caught my eye and made me laugh aloud:  The Effect of Country Music on Suicide (!).  Adobe PDF, 683Kb.  (Ya, I know - there are more than a few audiofools who read this site daily and now wish that I'd take up a full -time diet of country & western - and maybe move to a ranch, preferably one without internet access...)

Feb 22nd    Many of you know that I dig what Monoprice sells in the way of cable.  Well, I discovered another source of A/V cables, at an equally impressive fee-schedule the other day: ShowMeCables.com.  Have a look if you're into purchasing cable with a sane price.

Feb 22nd    Looking for that hard-to-find classic A/V bit?  I happened upon an interesting Canadian site the other day called Ad-Post.  They sport a surprisingly large index of goods for sale, and all of it in Canada as far as I've seen thus far.  Check it out.

Feb 22nd    Oh Hell, why not; its Friday Afterall - another forum comes your way my friends, this time (gasp), they are of the same mindset as myself; that a vast swath of A/V today is complete marketing crap, hoping to vacuum vast sums of money from gullible pockets on-demand!  Witness The Audiophile Of Happy People (what a hilarious title!).  Its French, translated into English - care of AltaVista, but I think you'll get the gist...

Feb 22nd    This is kinda' interesting, if still something that most of us generally consider as 'a future thing': HDTV Magazine (online), has released a 'shootout' between the 'new' Apple TV and VUDU.  Its all about online content delivery and which is best.  This touches on an important fact of life around here; honest, 'show-the-public' overviews of technology.  Fuck this "Its better because I say so, and, um, well, you'll just have to believe me because I'm a reviewer" bullshit.  I'm not one of those "show me the money" cats; for me its "gimme' the facts - Jack"

Feb 22nd    Shit man, look at the clock... lemme' lay one more track on ya' and then its lights out!  This time you gotta' kinda' work for it.  Visit Joan Armstrading's www site and you'll immediately be treated to a shot of Into The Blues - by an outstanding female blues artist!  The file is a streaming MP3, so if you simply give it a minute to spool, then look into your 'Temporary internet Files' folder, you'll see the MP3 file sitting there - enabling a copy / paste if you are so inclined.  I generally like to link directly to artist's files for direct-download, but I've yet to hear back from Joan or her management team, so this is the best I can offer legally at the moment...  What a great track!  Have a fantastic weekend boyz' - do some crazy shit and live it up, cause one never knows when this freaky 'life' shit just up and dumps ya' 6 feet in the dirt (or a ceramic vase on someone's shelf...akk!)

Feb 20th    Geeze', I'm either getting old or mellow this fine Hump-Day cause' I'm really digging this pair of flat-out 'Pop' tunes!  Check out Astra Heights The March and The Republic Tigers Buildings & Mountains.  MP3s compliments of SXSW Promotions and Chop-Shop Records - respectively.  Update: I've been listening to these two tracks quite a bit lately, and damned if they don't rock the shit outta' the place.  Crank the livin' bejeeze outta' them boyz'!

Feb 20th    A post from the forum that I felt should go here (Tnx. to 'Zane9'):  Check out Marketplace tonight (7:30pm).  The storyline for the item is this: "What's the difference between a $260 video cable and one that costs $12?  If you have an HDTV or you're thinking of buying one, you'll probably want an HDMI cable to hook it up.  Some stores say more money means a better picture.  Does it really?".  Should be interesting!  Editor's note: What I would love to see is a legal investigation into the companies that market power (etc.), cables!  Those bastards should be driven off the market for their morally bankrupt, socially inept marketing practices.

Visual Epilogue: Click here to watch the video    Nice, very nice!  We get both the 'Joe Consumer' input as well as 'Techno-Geek' analysis.  They didn't mention where they purchased the $12.00 HDMI, but I suspect that it was likely eBay or Monoprice.  The link provided should open / play in the Windows Media Player (.wmv) 

Feb 20th    Dolby Labs is on the move again, and I mean literally 'on the move'.  They've just released Dolby Mobile, promising to "bring rich, vibrant surround sound to mobile phones".

Feb 20th    You wanted it, you demanded it, you..., ok, no you didn't - but I'm going to give it to you anyway...  KVR Forums (audio plug-ins and effects for audio software apps').  There is some really cool stuff however; Music theory / The Music Cafe / a Buy - Sell area and a lot more.  Hey, it beats the bloody hell outta' reading yet another idiotic post from some audiofool verbally wanking off about his cables / CD player / amplifier yadda-yadda-yadda!

Feb 20th    Good Grief!  I'm finally getting some hate mail!  Unfortunately, just one cat who seems determined to be a complete dickhead...  Said dickhead appears to think I give a flying fuck that he isn't intelligent enough to simply read other websites instead of continually returning back to this one, only to bitch at me...  Ok Fred Framus, you've had your say, now bugger off back to one of the many A/V forums which enjoy the lies and deception which you apparently so cherish...  If you wanna send Mr. Framus a line or two, feel free to contact him at framus@inbox.com  (may the spam-harvesting bots from hell mercilessly rape and pillage this email address...)

Feb 20th    Ya, that was fucked up, but it gets better!  Tone Audio has just released issue number 14 of their free A/V journal for your consumption.  I have such a struggle with this rag': its slick as a glad-handed politician, the layout is top-notch, it's musical coverage is excellent / well-balanced and they continually interview top-class artists. 

Why the negative insinuations?  Its the complete bullshit hardware reviews!  What the hells with these cats?  Are they trying to give Stereofool a run for it's money?  Perhaps hoping to pacify manufacturers in order to secure future 'offers for review' from others who also pine for equally bullshit blatant marketing?  Maybe its just that they realize that keeping rip-off hardware builders happy is an excellent way to suck in a shitload of advertising revenue?  At any rate, [the hardware reviews are] 99% complete fucking bullshit in every paragraph!  Check out page 108 for an amazingly idiotic introspective on a power-lead that they feel is a real deal at, um - $800.00 (going so far as to suggest that you may need three or four of them!).  Gee, lets see, you can be a complete dumb-ass and pay DH Labs eight hundred bucks... or, you can be a somewhat lesser ass and purchase the [exact] same components individually: $89.70 for the cable (Acoustic Tech.com) plus $172.00 for the IEC & Plug.  So there you have it; $261.70 and you pick up a screw-driver for less than five minutes, or $800.00 and you rip open the package.  Either way, you would have to be a complete and utter moron to think that a power cable will affect the sound of your audio system.  Nonetheless, why the hell wouldn't the rag' point out this simple, $538.30 difference if they were out to serve their readership?  Ya, I know: "Fuck that weak shit, its the advertisers they're worried about!".

The balance of their hardware reviews are of similar abysmally low moral quality.  If this rag' had any thoughts of an honest approach to assisting their readership in selecting decent gear they would embrace the methodology I've pushed on the site:

Record two lossless audio tracks, one with Cable A, the other with Cable B (or whatever component(s) were under review, posting both tracks and allowing the public to download / audition & decide for themselves.  Next, post two visual waveforms, one of audio through device A, the other, with the same cut through device B - allowing us to see if there is a visual difference in data pass-through.  Finally, create a lossless 'Audio Diffmaker' file for us to hear for ourselves if there is in fact any audible difference between the files (note that the Tone article specifically states "Without question, there was more music getting through to my speakers").  If you want to download a copy and read-around the hardware lies, go ahead and grab it now - beware that its a significant download at 47.4 megabytes - those fancy advertiser's graphics equal a lot of data :-)  In the meantime, I openly challenge Tone Audio to take up the cause of integrity in publishing and begin presenting their data in an honest light.

Feb 18th    That was a nice, self-imposed long-weekend.  Hope the lot of ya' took some extra time off to be with ones ya' dig as well as doing things that you love the most.  I'm enjoying a glass of my favorite red with some sharp cheddar, puttering around with some 2007 tax prep'.  Booze certainly takes the edge off sending the feds' a shitload of cash...  I figure that we aught to kick off Monday with a taste of the magnificent, and unfortunately disbanded - Drag The River - Death Of The Life Of The Party.  192Kb/s MP3 compliments of Suburban Home Records.

Feb 18th    D.T.R. come across as kinda' folksy, so I thought that you might be interested in a whole lot more: check out the free / streaming Folk Alley.  The cats over there have put together a really slick interface with which to fill your hearts and minds with an endless stream of folksy tracks.  Its a little unusual in that it offers more than just music; occasionally updating you with band info' and tour dates between tracks.

Feb 18th    This next one is pretty much American-centric, but I suppose if its accepted to the South, we'll soon see the same methods implemented here as well: FCC plan to let AM stations use FM at night.  Its an interesting article nonetheless, opening up possibilities that few of us have ever considered.

Feb 18th    So that's it then; Stick a fork in it, its done dead?... Update: it really is official this time round' - This morning Toshiba announced that the deed is done - HD-DVD is no more...

Feb 18th    Here's a mindfunk for ya', check out this curious audio illusion.  I had to listen to it a few times to be sure of what I was hearing.  So much for the "Trust Your Ears" crap boyz'...

Feb 18th    For the past few months I've been hearing about this amazing Canadian manufacturer called Space Tech labs.  I've been regaled time and time again, again how 'high-end' the company is.  So, that and the fact that its Canadian based - I got curious enough to check out the manufacturer's home page.  Imagine my disappointment when I see that they are a purveyor of very expensive tube equipment and CD players; all in OEM chassis the likes of which I can source from eBay for next to nothing.  Check out the top CD players in their range ($1680.00).  This is a basic box with a CD ROM the [exact] likes of which was on the market years ago; Creative Labs manufactured crap!  In my PC tech' shop, I've witnessed more of this manufacturer's CD players 'dead' than any other brand - hands down.  Hell, it only costs $30.00 OEM!  Oh, and the amplifiers / preamplifiers; more fucking OEM / thrown together in a backroom basic kit. 

These cats should be selling their products at a flea-markets for hundreds of dollars; not on the Web' for thousands!  Speaking of web pages; man, that's one sad example of HTML.  Perhaps it would have been slick in 1993, but its butt-ugly in this day and age!  WTF is with audiofools?  I've had a good number of them lavish praise on these; IMO, bloody ugly, ultra-basic bits of kit.  A while back I conducted an unsighted evaluation of RCA cable, employing a very nice Roksan Kandy III integrated amplifier.  Some audiofool didn't like the (null) results and writes that the Roksan "must not have had enough resolution to discern the differences in cable".  He suggested that I should have been using; gulp; Space Tech Labs kit like he uses...  Its bloody amazing; if one prices (anything) high enough, folks will look right past the crap and buy it because it is high-priced.  We live in a fucked society my friends...

Feb 18th    In contrast to the story above: an excellent 'case in point' of how audio / video kit should be built / priced.  Check out Audioholics review of the Emotiva XPA-2 power amplifier.  Very high-quality build / shitloads of power / sane pricing!  You can practically arc-weld with this fucker when bridged and it only costs $800.00.  Ya, I know, you're wining that its made offshore; so just look around your house, at the cloths you wear and maybe even the car you drive... any guesses where all that shit comes from?

Feb 18th    Ha, I like the guys at Home Theater Focus and their penchant for good old fashion honesty - check out their brief article Shopping For Audio Cables.  I might just have to cop that catchy phrase myself "The Cable Cult"... :-)

Feb 18th    I posted this one a year or so ago, but the page was loading erratically, and now that they've fixed it, I figured that it was a good time to repeat the story.  Those of you who are certain they have 'golden-ears', plug in a nice DAC and kick-ass set of headphones, then visit the Klippel Listening Test.  I can only get about three-quarters of the way before I'm more or less "just guessing".  Its a lot tougher than it seems at the outset!

Feb 18th    Ok, enough of this posting shit, its late and I still have a bunch of paperwork stacked beside me.  I'll close with another track from Drag the River - Embrace The Sound.  Tap at cha' all later in the week!  If you dig this kinda' alt/ country music, go ahead and check out their homepage.  (reminds me a lot of Steve Earl's early recordings).

Feb 14th    Happy Valentines Day you homely buggers!  Fuck that weak shit: Kick into the sappiest of non-holidays with a blast of Gringo Star - Y'All  (160Kb/s MP3 compliments of the band!)

Feb 14th    Its baaaaaak...  Devolo has launched its latest Powerline Ethernet product: an 85Mb/s adaptor designed to connect a hi-fi to a mains-hosted network so it can play streamed music.  This has been tried a dozen different ways in the PC TCP/IP industry, but has never caught on, will this be the ticket to get audio information around the home without running unsightly wires everywhere?  What will the audiofools say!?  Damn man, they'll be ripping out the copper, drywall flying all over the place, sweat pouring down their twisted foreheads - muttering under their breath "gotta replace it with Cardas... solid core affects the soundstage.. what would my friends think if they knew I was listening through solid-core... must have blacker blacks"  Those poor tormented little bastards.

Feb 14th    Those of you who sat mesmerized in front of the TV in the 70's while the General Lee flew over yet another bridgeless crossing - are gonna' get the not-so-subtle innuendo of this next political message: Patton Oswalt - The Dukes Of Hazzard

Feb 14th    Its about time for some Canadian content: check out "Your tax dollars at work", in a good way for a bloody change: CBC Radio PodCasts.  I guarantee that there's enough there to keep you busy for many an hour (after Valentines Day of course)

Feb 14th    Can you believe it: another fucking Audio / Video Forum!  Hell man, how many of these bloody things are there on the Net!?  I've listed well over a hundred in our 'List Of Other Forums' and yet, every month a few more pop onto the radar.  Check out The Art Of Sound

Feb 14th    Ok, nuff' said for today, take some time and wine / dine / jump yer' ol' lady!  I mean, fuck man, its Valentines Day!

Feb 11th    Another weekend trashed; stayed away from my stash of fine wine enough to avoid the inevitable hangover and made the most of the fresh snow falling in the mountains.  What would winter be like without gravity and my trusty board?  Fucked if I know, and I sure as hell don't wanna' find out!  Lets see, what do we have for you today; (rummaging around the Internet)... it looks like we're in for some of The Green Pajamas (ya, I know, what a freaking weird band name), and their Free track: Wild Pony.  It reminds me of what Tom Petty might do with a raunchy guitarist.  192Kb/s MP3 compliments of Parasol Records and the band.  More info' on the boys is available here.

Feb 11th    Was perusing a thread on a local forum of fools the other day when I happened upon a fellow asking "which Audioquest speaker cable should I use for this amplifier of mine".  Not that the question is unusual among audiofools, but damn man, its just so old and answered.  Lemme' give it to ya' strait kid: "any damned 12-guage or better copper wire will do the trick in a completely transparent fashion as long as the ends are stripped clean and free from corrosion.  You'll not hear a difference from any other copper / silver / gold heavy-gauge cable on earth as long as you keep the runs below a kilometer or so!".  Ok, so I gave you the harsh version, let me pass you onto the kinder tone at Audioholics for the mellow answer to your Audioquest speaker cable question.  Oh audiofools, will they ever learn?  Will they ever conduct unsighted evaluations of their own instead of reading marketing literature and accepting it as fact?

Feb 11th    I've got a real soft spot for the work of Canada's own (ok, so Levon Helm was a Yank), The Band.  I recently came upon an interesting page highlighting the work of this amazingly talented group.  The site has more or less up-to-date news on the who / what / where / when of The Band's members, where they are now and what direction their careers are heading in.  Very interesting reading for fellow Band fans.  Be sure to check out the shitload of Band covers in full MP3 file format.  Final note; each and every one of you should somehow get your hands on a copy of The Last Waltz on DVD (or check eBay, there are usually multiple copies of it kicking around there at any moment).  If you're a member of our discussion forum, I'd be glad to loan you my copy for an evening's enjoyment!

Feb 11th    Another week, another Audio / Video discussion forum!  This time its from way around the rock in South Africa!  AVForums South Africa.

Feb 11th    Now here's a cool & very affordable little gizmo: 'Active USB 2.0'  A cable which enables you to run a decent length of USB wire across a room without additional boosters.  In my case I will soon be running pretty much this distance from the desk where my laptop is situated, under the floor and up to an external USB DAC beside my main stereo system... very handy!

Feb 11th    Some curious shit!  'White Lightning Moonshine'.  You who venture near this (oftentimes scathing), site know all too well my utter dismissal of 'special cables' and other audiofool idiocy, so have a gander at what the chaps over at the notoriously idiotic '6-Moons' have cooked up; a complete set of D.I.Y. speaker and RCA cables - based on a $7.50 extension cord - which they ceremoniously laud as being up there with the best of em' as far as 'sound quality'.  I don't know what to do: offer up a standing ovation of joy that some of the biggest audiofools on earth have finally told the truth, or fall off my chair laughing that they appear to have shot all of their own deceitful promulgations over 'cable sound' in the proverbial foot with this article?  Had one taken these cables and carefully placed an exotic logo and title on it, then presented them to an audiofool 'guru', said fool' would have also lavished it with 'audible accolades'!  Fact of the matter is; as long a something in A/V has a fancy moniker and good looks, audiofools fall all over themselves paying tribute to "its sound" - and so it goes in the world of fools'...

Feb 11th    By now, most of you have heard the potentially lethal shot that HD-DVD has taken in the battle of the high-definition video formats.  From what I see overall, Blu-Ray is gonna' be king of the castle and Sony will have finally won a format grudge-match!  What many of you may not know is that Blu-ray comes in several 'flavors'.  Have a look at what the cats over on the always cool Ars Technica have to lay on ya, and the surprising player that they are pushing as numero uno.

Feb 11th    That's it, I'm outta' here for a few days, tap at cha' later in the week, in the meantime, get your sorry asses out of the house and down to a local live gig ASAP!  Let me tide you over in the meantime with Mark Pickeral's Cody's Dream (160Kb/s MP3 compliments of Bloodshot Records & the band).

Just a reminder: if you fellows dig the tracks you hear on this site, download them now as I cannot guarantee just how long the band / record company / promo-agency will keep any given MP3 available - or how long before a link / page its hosted on is modified and the link quits working.

Feb 8th    Fuckin' A, ya did it!  Welcome to the gateway to happiness: AKA; The Weekend!  Lets barrel right into it with a speedy little number from The Pendletons; Sad Songs. 

Feb 8th    Where would we be without instruments?  We spend an exorbitant amount of time discussing the devices that (re)-create sound, but dame little discussing the instruments themselves.  Was reading through the Boston Audio Societies' www page the other day (a rare bastion of honesty and integrity in an A/V hobby awash in complete and utter bullshit), and they pointed me to the excellent University Of New South Wales 'Music Acoustics' site.  A wide variety of instruments are presented in detail, including: Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Brass, Didjeridu, Guitar, Violin and voice.

Feb 8th    I've never really taken the time to investigate the phenomenon of 'Perfect Pitch', but just happened upon an excellent article from the Acoustical Society Of America the other day which delves into the topic, and in a very entertaining / educational manner.  Pour a glass, sit back and take some time to enjoy The Enigma Of Absolute Pitch.  (577Kb - Adobe PDF File)

Feb 8th    I don't spend much time on AudioGon, but was recently shown an interesting article about a subject dear to me: Wet-cleaning LPs.  I've been an avid fan of the method for several decades, and this cat takes my fondness of it a step further: Finding Pure Water For record Cleaning.

Feb 8th    Just a short one today boyz'; and I think I'll mess with your minds by showing you this link which combines a somewhat twisted animation with audio and visual effects... :-)  Have a great weekend!  The Blue Ball Machine (no, we're not talking about your significant other...)

Feb 8th    ...Hell ya, just one more post to round out the week, and what kinda' weekend would it be without a bunch of free music!?  Check out Sandbar Music Groups' free Boxer The Horse DEMO Session.  This collection employs the industry-standard 'Zip' file format, so just know going in; if you don't possess the computer acumen to unzip a file, don't both clicking any further...  Enjoy, crank the living shit outta' your favorite and let me know what you dig the most from this bit O' tunage!  B.T.H. kinda' reminds me of a folksy / grass-roots Dylan meets Jon Lajoie.

Feb 6th    Happy Hump-day dudes!  This week is just zinging along!  Damn strait, all the better to get this working crap out of the way and allow us to resume pissing around and having fun on the weekend!  Let me step way the fuck out of the ordinary for today's musical track and offer up something utterly bizarre that I used to really 'dig' when I was a lad: Skinny Puppy Dig It.  This 192Kb/s MP3 (10.8 megabytes), is compliments of Zunior Records, as offered on their latest freely downloadable Zunior Compilation version 3.03.  This track as well as a wide variety of others from numerous bands / genera's, is available on the Zunior www site.  If you sign-up with them, they'll send you the newsletter with a freely downloadable compilation every month or so - very cool!  By the way, if you are curious as to what the hell the vocalist is saying on this track, the lyrics are here...  Don't be freaked by the Skinny Puppy track above, the label (and free sampler), offers a wide range of talent - many of you may enjoy Canada's own Be Good Tanya's track 'Human Thing' which is also on the version 3.03 download.

Feb 6th    In the never-ending quest to lower your system's noise-floor to vanishingly small levels; I present Bill Whitlock's well-written 'Hum & Buzz in Unbalanced Interconnect Systems'  (215Kb, Adobe PDF) 

Feb 6th    Hell, its been weeks since I belligerently mocked audiofools!  I must be getting old!  Many is the audiofool who will carry on for hours about the 'sound' of amplifiers, trotting out one golden-tongued descriptive after another in an effort to boost his own morbidly malnourished ego.  Try and get said audiofool to sit in for an unsighted audition between two utterly dissimilar amplification stages however and you'll end up with something like this (Tnx. NPA for the link).

Feb 6th    That old-timer of the loudspeaker wars: Polk Audio , has branched out it's distribution channels to reach a Best Buy near you.  Audiofools will lament this as yet another case of the old-schoolers selling out, but who cares what mindless audiofools think anyway: I've always been a fan of Polk's kit and see this as nothing but a good thing for folks who are looking for decent speakers at a fair price.  Speaking of Best Buy, check out this decent price on a Sony SXRD 1080p LCD Projection HDTV.  Addendum: It looks like Polk has pulled off a double-whammy this week, adding Apple's brick and mortar as well as their online store to Polk's distro' method!  Nice work Matthew :-)

Feb 6th    Wow, who knew... the SH Forum is good for something cool once in a while; witness some cat's high-resolution images of the old standby; a cantilever and stylus.  (You'd have to be an audio-geek to really get a kick out of seeing weird shit like this...)

Feb 4th    Look at that, another month down the tubes, another chance to start clean!  I made the very best of this intro' to Feb; by avoiding work with all my might!  Myself and a group of a dozen other middle-aged, thirsty ski-bums from across Canada got together at Red Mountain this Thursday / Friday / Sat., and made the most of the absolutely excellent conditions the resort had to offer.  Heads-up cats; if any of you are fellow boarders or skiers, Red Mountain Resort is one kick-ass experience and, as they say "You should go!".  I've been a few times before, but never with a bunch of nuts  who know every square inch of the place; and love to show off the 'secret-spots' (visit 'Barrel Roll', 'The Rocks' and 'Power Fields' for a great day!).  On return to the Okanagan I scooted my butt up to Apex Mt. to take advantage of even more excellent powder... ah, goofing off and fleeing from work - the good life!  So how to start the new week?  How about a mellow little ditty from the very oddly named UnBunny: Nothing Comes To Rest.  Kinda' mellow, perhaps a little Neil Young inspired (never a bad thing in my book!).  192Kb/s MP3 compliments of Parasol Records.  More about the band here and have a go at their MySpace page here.

Feb 4th    Some of the first rebel-rock I ever came to love emanated from the screaming guitars of The Clash.  Julien Temple's 'The Future Is Unwritten' paints a picture you may be interesting in seeing if you are one of the fellow dwindling fans of the former punk powerhouse - it looks like a great little biopic.

Feb 4th    Fellows at Hydrogen Audio recently pointed me to an amazing collection of software applications that I'm sure those of you with curious minds are gonna' dig!  As the man says: "These real time simulations of some electro-acoustic phenomena allow you to listen, modify and judge by yourself if some parameters are audible or not. Stop reading everybody’s argument and listen yourself".  Many of the programs can be integrated into other applications as plug-ins, but all are available as stand-alone apps'.

Feb 4th    In an effort to convince you cats to use the link above I'm going to keep today's postings short.  One of the main things I continually try and drive home on this site is the mantra noted above in bold / italics.  I feel like puking when I read all of the bullshit put forward in 99% of the A/V forums / magazines these days.  So much crap / so little honesty...  Reclaim control of your minds and conduct honest, unsighted evaluations of your own.  Let the big picture sink in: the vast majority of critics / reviewers / online posters are completely full of shit, opinionated, pretentious fools sporting continentally oversized egos and very little in the way of actual morals.

Jan 30th    Look at that, its Humpday and you're still alive and kickin'!  Very good then, lets just ease on into the balancing point of the workweek with a smooth track from one of my favorite artists new releases: Cat Power - Metal Heart.   If that's your cup O' tea this final week in January, you might also enjoy her (seemingly Dylan-influenced) Song To Bobby.  192Kb/s MP3s compliment of Matador Records.

Jan 30th    Well, it aint' Jack Black's School Of Rock, but Sound Reasoning hopes to open your mind to logical investigation of music in a whole new way. 'Sound Reasoning' is a web-based, introductory music appreciation course.  It offers a new approach to music appreciation for adults, focusing on style-independent concepts.  While the course concentrates primarily on Western classical and modern music, the concepts that are introduced apply to music of any style or era. The goal of Sound Reasoning is to equip you with questions that you may ask of any piece of music, thereby creating a richer and more comprehensive understanding of music both familiar and unfamiliar.

Jan 30th    Have you ever picked up a copy of The Sensible Sound, but coughed when you saw that the price for the little magazine was $8.75 an issue?!  Well, what if I told you that I found a legitimate source of the last ten years of S.S. online?  There is a catch, as with so many 'free' things.  In this case, many of the pictures have been removed and you get only the text.  Also, there are a few advertisements along side the articles, which, while not whatsoever uncommon on the web, is slightly annoying...  Dig into the stash of back-issues here.

Jan 30th    Those of my readers who are aspiring musicians and have a thousand and one questions about recording technologies, tricks and techniques will absolutely love a little application I dug up the other day: Studio Buddy.  Download and install it, then run through the questions and answer screen.  Its freeware without any ads / popups / spyware etc.  I run it on my PC without so much as a hiccup.  Thanks to Recording Magazine for the link.

Jan 30th    Oddly enough, for some folks its not all about massive loudspeakers and numerous large subwoofers populating the listening room...  I know, I know, I can't explain it either :-).  However, for those of you who enjoy understated aesthetics with your music, Yamaha has unveiled a very sexy 5.1 Surround system for well under a grand: $700.00 to be exact.  Their NS-SP7800PN saves some bread - which you can (and should), blow on CDs / DVDs, and it looks really great!

Jan 28th    It’s Monday and I feel its only fair to kick the workweek off with some excellent hard rockin’ tunes care of what used to be, more or less, fellow Canadians Big Sugar. Band leader Gordie Johnson’s newest musical incarnation is known as ‘Grady’. It consists of two cats and a chick on drums and kicks some amazingly serious ass. I was introduced to their style this past weekend via their Cup Of Cold Poison CD and dug it from the first few seconds of play!  Be sure to check them out as they breeze through the East this spring on a mini tour in Ontario and Quebec:

April 29th - The Mod Club Toronto, Ontario
April 30th - The Mod Club Toronto, Ontario
May 1st - Dagobert Nightclub Quebec, Quebec
May 2nd - Les Saints Montreal, Quebec

Ok, to the point of this post: download and crank up Devil Got My Woman (.WMA file compliments of the band).  Burn it to CD if you have to, or hook up the big-rig to the PC cause' this deserves much better than a small PC speaker!  Crank It (((Louder)))

Gordie Johnson recently says “We’re trying to find the common ground between punk, metal and gospel. I like to think we sound like Motorhead just got the job of backing up John Lee Hooker”. Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys lead singer), enthused “You guys are the missing link between Junior Brown and Black Flag". The ‘Cup of Cold Poison’ CD was recorded live off the floor at Willie Nelson’s famed Pedernales recording studio and even features a spoken word introduction by the Red Headed Stranger himself.  Purchase and download the full LP from the band’s www site in either .FLAC or 320Kb/s MP3 – very cool!  They've even included a good bit of each track as a demo to audition at a decent streaming bitrate (224Kb/s) so you can 'try before you buy'.  These cats have online promotion / sales figured out - a good example for others to be sure!

Website / Myspace

Jan 28th    Always something new out thereon the wibbly, wobbly web: Qtrax: Free, advertising-based P2P.  Kinda' like Gnutella meets Zune-esque DRM.  Qtrax figures that it can offer a better P2P experience by offering 100% free, legally downloadable tracks from all major labels. The catch is that the service uses DRM to monitor usage and help push ads, all the while, running atop a Mozilla core / Gnutella P2P interface.

Jan 28th    Saving History From The Dumpster: (verbatim from the site):  These pages are dedicated to preserving a historical record of broadcast equipment.  This site consists of scanned manuals and catalogs of broadcast equipment.  An odd-sods kinda' post - for those with eclectic / off-the-wall tastes and interests (pretty much sums up audio-hobbyists doesn't it?)

Jan 28th    Ha, and if you thought that was off the wall: check out The First Annual - 2007 'Burning Amp' Festival' held in the Fort Mason Centre, San Fran Sisco, CA.  Lots of cool info' and pics, including a longish slideshow - enjoy!

Jan 28th    Take an old LP that you don't feel like playing anymore (to noisy / whatever), and paint a picture of that particular artist atop the vinyl surface (or have someone with some artistic talent do so for you), and there you have it: $175 bucks worth of 'Cultural Art'...  Well, neat in theory, but perhaps a tad overpriced... cool idea though!  Vinyl Art By Daniel Edlen (don't try clicking on the 'Open' sign, you'll get nowhere.  Use the text links at the bottom of the page.  The dude can paint, but he needs some help with user-friendly interface design...)

Jan 28th    Alas, what a breath of fresh air for the media to publish a common-sense article on A/V: The Orlando Sentinel and an article on using sanely priced cables for video reproduction.  I really dig it when the mass-media actually steers the public in the right direction.  I have seen a thousand too many folks walking out of big-box A/V shops with $300.00 of cable in hand - when $50.00 bucks worth would have done (exactly) the same thing from them.  Dam salesmen (perhaps Sales-Managers is more accurate): Dam them to whatever fucking hell salesmen go to when they die...

Jan 28th    I'm incredibly guilty of not paying much attention to Car-Audio on this site, so here is my ode to the genre: The 12-Volt.  This incredibly cool site hosts loads and loads of diagrams for wiring hundreds if not thousands of car-stereo and alarm systems from reams of manufacturers.  They also sport a comprehensive forum with over 200,000 members (!).  Car-stereo installation is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.  They also touch on tools, technique, electronics theory and a shitload more - I dig it!

Jan 28th    Got distance to cover with HDMI, but have seen the price of the stuff in your local shop?  You could consult MonoPrice, but massive lengths are still a problem.  Ok, what if I told you that you can run HDMI with 1080p resolution / full HDCP compliance, using up to 300-feet of a single line of RG-6 coax!?

Jan 28th    Always one to cut the crap, HDTV Magazine rolls out yet another great article, this time on Flat-Screen TVs and the marketing game that manufacturers play on your mind: LCD Specs Playing with Your Eyes

Jan 28th    And finally this Monday, a not-really-A/V-related post, but one pertinent to all of you considering purchasing a Dell Laptop in the near future (a shitload of you I would guess).  Dell has assured users of its laptops that there is no danger from electrical jolts sometimes received from the cases of some of its systems.  I'll tell ya' what - I have a client with one of these annoying fuckers and its really a pain in the ass, er, finger...  Just demand that Dell include a three-prong power adapter with the unit when you order it!  What a bunch of cheap / dumb-pricks Dell is being on this one...  Now, get back to cranking the living shit outta' Devil Got My Woman again, and again...

Jan 25th    Fuck boyz', she's Friday!  Enough with the workin' bullshit, pop the cork and crank up some Gov't - Mule Live at The Fillmore 11/15/2003.  If that's not your cup O' tea, check out some tunes from a band that I was talking about a few days ago: Trouble.  They've made several tracks available from their www site, I recommend their cover of Cream's Tales Of Brave Ulysses.  Finally, if heaviness isn't your dig for the weekend, here's a little (well, a lot actually), of classical to get you through your funk: The works by J.S.Bach, Paul Patterson and Eugène Ysaÿe (Tnx. Tesco!)

Jan 25th    Now here's an odd match to make you scratch your head: Scarlett Johansson sings Tom Waits cover tunes(!).  Yes, that Scarlett Johansson...  As it turns out, she'll be releasing an LP this year.  In the meantime we can only wait and wonder... and stare at those, er, I mean, wait for her...to, um...never mind...

Jan 25th    HDTV Magazine has offered up their latest blurb titled The Death of Rear Projection TVs & Bridging the Gap from your Computer to your TV which might interest those of you who see the inevitable mash between the two anyway...

Jan 25th    Well, as expected - so far its been 'a wash'.  Audiofools in every forum who have reviewed the process outlined below (power cables), have conveniently side-stepped the actual listening challenge.  Not only have they actually refused to listen and comment on which file is which, they actually just carried on with "business as usual" and blathered on with a bunch of horseshit about how they hear so much difference in cables and why...  I am stunned at the level of idiocy in an extremely well-educated society, I shake my head and sigh...  Though I'm surprised, I guess I shouldn't be: there really isn't anything to see or hear as far as a difference between these two utterly dissimilar cables, and audiofools have always been right up there with politicians and lawyers as far as integrity.  Wanna' push it further into the astronomically absurd?  If anyone wants to ship me (I'll pay insured / express-post both ways), a super-cable such as a Cardas Golden Reference or something more or less equivalent - I'll add a few more crude splices to my 'beater' cable, pound the living shit out of the plug assemblies with a mallet so they make only rudimentary contact with the wall-socket and take it outside and rub it in dirt till' the prongs are covered in dust - then I'll produce another round of quality recordings with the two cables for your audio-visual enjoyment / education...  Guess what, I'll lay a hundred bucks that no one reading this will be able to distinguish one from the other - any takers?  Come on boys... now is the time to prove me wrong on this whole 'audiophile power-cable myth'.  It doesn't get any better than this- the odds are completely stacked in your favor...

Jan 25th    Short one this Friday: its bloody late, I've a full day ahead of me (and then some), so I'll bid you a fond farewell... over and out with a Beatles-ish track from Kelley Stoltz - The Sun Comes Through

Jan 24th    Ok boyz’, so what we have here is a power-cable ‘shootout’ of sorts between: 

Contender 1: A finely crafted D.I.Y cable that I lovingly custom-built.  It features Watt-gate plugs on both ends, deep-Cryo-treated, with six feet of killer-thick, 600 volt, shielded, 99.9% pure copper cable.  No solder was used in affixing the Watt-gate plugs to the wire as they sport a unique clamping system unlike what I’ve seen in hospital-grade or other plug assemblies.  Very cool!

Contender 2: A ‘standard’ power lead, exactly like the one that is powering your home PC at this moment.  According to Audiofools world-wide, these are the deadly bane of high-fidelity; “complete and utter crap, throwing a ‘veil’ over one’s music and collapsing the sound-stage” (feel free to mentally toss in any other descriptive, negative connotations that you wish).  Not satisfied that this diminutive wire was handicapped enough, I decided to hobble the little bugger just to make things interesting.  Grabbing my wire-cutters, I snipped it in two, stripped back the (un-shielded) wires (which are pathetically thin by the way), and then very sloppily twisted them back together in what must surely be one of the crudest splices ever.  As I was carelessly stripping the wires, I managed to randomly break several strands within each wire, thus effectively reducing the overall AGW by perhaps 10% or so.  Finally, I wrapped the whole thing back together with bits of cellophane tape (Akk!; not even electrician’s tape!), leaving the splice exposed and unshielded.  I plugged into the fancy new DAC I picked up a few weeks ago and began to record the output (or should I say 'throughput'?)

With this cable, I proceeded to record one minute of ‘Spanish Harlem’ from the same, excellent Chesky Records ‘Ultimate Demonstration Disk’ that I employed in the RCA cable evaluation earlier this week.  This time however, I decided to pick a different track, and keep it to a one-minute / fair-use length: I don’t want to tempt Chesky Records lawyers too much here…

I then turned everything off, unplugged the old beater and plugged in my (get this): ‘Andrew’s Audio Ultimate Cryo-Uber-Cable’ (Ooo, I’ve always wanted a component with my name on it :-), and recorded the same track once again.  See the RCA recording session (below) to learn what I used in the recording process - needless to say, all top-notch kit.

Both files are in lossless .WAV file format, untouched aside from deleting the first minute and a half or so from the front of the file in order to keep it to one-minute.  I also added a neat little ‘fade-in’ to the intro’ of each so that it wouldn’t ‘boom’ into your ears as you auditioned it.

The plug-ends of the custom-cable were cleaned with 99.9% pure Isopropanol alcohol and buffed with a clean cotton cloth prior to use; the plug-ends of the POS ‘beater’ cable were left as they came from the factory - perhaps 10 years ago – very slight corrosion and all.  The custom cable was carefully inserted all the way on both ends, tightness checked and re-checked.  The beater was just plugged in and left.

So there you have it.  As with the RCA evaluation, I am 100% willing to conduct this process with any two cables on the market.  If you own a fancy cable-beast, I offer to pay express, insured shipping both ways from your home to mine and back, assuring you of a 72-hour turn-around of your cable.  I’ll plug your cable in and record a track just as I have done here, then do the same with any beater cable you care to put it up against.  Heck, I’ll even splice & tape my resident junker again a few more times if you wish.  I'll soon be conducting this evaluation with various other bits of equipment that I have around the shop: A PSAudio amplifier under full load, a Pioneer Elite CD player and a Roksan Kandy III amplifier, also under full load - just shy of clipping.  If you have any other equipment that you'd like me to employ in this evaluation, please let me know and I'll do my damn-level best to find a way to include it.

Alternately, you can very easily conduct an evaluation like this yourself.  All it really takes is a decent PC without any application loaded aside from Audacity, a decent sound card and a spot of your time.  It'll be a real eye-opener lads!

And the .WAV files?  Here they are, only this time I've left the files 'unlabeled'… and added the waveforms for both in order that you may scrutinize them tirelessly, ABX the living hell outta' them and burn each to CD in order to audition them on your main PC.  Much larger waveforms are available, as well as zoom-ins of any sections you request - just drop me an email).  I can however, assure you, that they are absolutely identical, even when zoomed in to the 'fraction of a decibel' level.  I've been carefully examining them, zooming in and out for some time now; all I'm getting is cross-eyed and hungry  :-)

So, have at it lads, and let me know which cable is the fancy Cryo’ one and which is the severed / taped piece of crap…  If nothing else, at least you’ll enjoy the music, its really a beautiful, albeit, abbreviated piece!

Andrew D.

Jan 23rd    Ok, so its "tomorrow" and I don't have the power-cable comparison ready for you yet, suck it up!  I simply haven't taken the time, will do so in the next 24 hours or so.  Instead, lets kick off Humpday with a blast of heaviness compliments of fellow Canucks Black Mountain and their bit O' Raunch N' Roll Tyrants  If you like this kinda' basic, really hard Rock N Roll, check out their www site for more tracks and some video clips.  (MP3 compliments of Jagjaguwar Records - 192Kb/s MP3).  It took me a few listens, but now I fuckin' dig it!  Reminds me of something that Trouble did years back.  Sitting here, typing this missive with the headphones on, listening to the track over and over again...  As I say, if this is your kick, than definitely look into scoring some old 'Trouble' - its very much in the same vein.  Update - Canada's own The Nerve magazine is running a 'front page' article on the band this month.

Jan 23rd    I love D.I.Y speaker sites, and 'Mark K's' is an excellent example of one done right.  Check out his comprehensive driver distortion measurements and, well, hell, the entire site is pretty damned interesting and informative!

Jan 23rd    Some companies 'get it'; they realize that the industry has topped out on what can be accomplished with regards to amplification and preamplification, and have moved some of their focus onto what is far more important: the speaker / human / listening room interface.  Anthem is introducing their ARC-1 Room Correction technology which they claim "helps compensate for acoustic issues related to the room with which a speaker is placed".  The technology is available as a $400.00 'add-on', or you can purchase it 'built-in' for (gulp) $7500.00 (double-gulp), in their 'D2" product.  (guess which they'll sell more of..)

Jan 23rd    Steve Jobs had a vision: in it, CDs were a thing of the past, relegated to the scrapheap of technology... thus 'His Steveness' released a fancy new, fairly expensive and uncannily slim new laptop computer without the space requirements of 'ancient technology' disk drives.  Methinks he is onto a good idea, but "wo unto thee" if thou shall be stuck with 'old' software on CD that you wish to load on said PC... that'll cost you fella; as in 'extra' for an external CD/DVD Drive.  What the hell does this have to do with A/V: everything lad, cause you are entering the era of "everything is software".  What do we need 'CD shops' for if we can download anything we want online, cheaper, quicker and without having to 'special-order' any disks?!  My prediction is that by 2012, all music will be available online, in a variety of high-resolution formats; watermarked and stamped with some variation of DRM in a more subtle form that what we see now.  CD / DVD / Blu-Ray (or whatever), players will nosedive in sales as TPC/IP-Network-aware receivers / amps, rule the marketplace.  Ok, that's the best I got, my crystal-ball is dimming... :-)

Jan 23rd    Its inevitable with most folks; they are convinced that "if something is more expensive, surely it must be better".  This little bit of false logic has created a market for insanely priced cables among other things in the A/V hobby.  Now scientists figure that they have discovered exactly what it is that feeds this bit of stupidity: er, it makes us 'cheery', in the short-term anyway.

Jan 23rd    Want a really high-quality, upsampling DVD player that just happens to play a high-definition format - which, by all indications is on it's way out?  Well fella', have I got a deal for you :-).  Toshiba, in a desperate last move, has squashed the price of their HD-A35 deck to a measly $130.00!  Like I say, don't be swayed by the whole HD vs. BluRay thing, rather, look at it simply as a cheap upsampling deck that happens to play HD-DVDs.

Jan 23rd    More on the D.I.Y front: this time from the Iowa D.I.Y Oct. 27th, 2007.  Loads of groovy pictures of grass-roots kit for you to drool on!  My favorite entry, based on looks alone, would be Dan's 'HOSS' design in the 'unlimited' class.

Jan 22nd    120 Volt Power leads! Yes, I have constructed the 'uber-cable' my friends! A master of electrons, roaming the earth in search of power stations to devour - destroying everything in it's path, leaving a wake of downed power-poles, chaos and... er sorry, wrong story...

Ok then, it’s a very thick (12 Gauge / 3-strand 600 volt), shielded, 99.9 percent pure copper behemoth sporting Wattgate Cryogenically treated plugs on both ends!

What will become of the audiofool world when I unleash this monster onto an unsuspecting market!? Utter dominance I say, (laughing delusionally, gnashing my teeth and stomping around the shop, smashing things..) - wow, this power-cables stuff really gets ya’ goin’! I can see how Ian got so messed up with them…

Ok, but seriously folks: this is ‘step 2’ of the process of finding the truth about cables. In one corner we have 'The Beast from the East' (ordered the in plugs from Ontario), in the other, the ‘Pathetic PC Cable’.

I have selected the most funkin’ flimsy little freebee PC cable that I could find to put up against my massive DIY world-destroyer. I’ll run basically the same hardware setup as yesterday’s RCA shootout, trying the cable on the new DAC as well as the transport. I'll post files for you to audition and ABX or burn to CD and play on the 'big stereo' in your own homes.

Will we hear any differences between them? Will the graphs be off the charts? Will audiofools decide to speak the truth about audio / video, causing a tide of honesty to sweep over the industry, and how exactly does Cardas get away with selling thousand dollar power-leads without being lynched, tarred and feathered?

Tune in tomorrow for these answers and much, much more…

Andrew D.

Jan 21st    Allright then, here we have it: Two .WAV audio files, recorded from the Chesky ‘Ultimate Sampler” CD - a standout in resolution & fidelity in it’s own right.  The point of this whole endeavor is to provide you with two very high-resolution sample files which you can use to determine for yourself whether ‘hi-end’ / ‘special’ RCA interface connector cables have an audible effect on the signal passing through them.  In the future I’ll also conduct this evaluation with several other RCA cables including Monster Cables, Audio-Research and any other I come across.  I’ll always make every attempt to find the most basic ‘junk’ RCA cable I can lay my hands on to contrast against the quality cables.

If any of my readers have a particular ‘high-end’ RCA cable that they would like to include in this audition method, I’ll offer to pay shipping both ways in order to access your cables for this evaluation process, post the results here, and guarantee that you’ll have your cables back in less than a week.  Note that the RCA plugs on both cables in this evaluation have been cleaned with 99.9% pure Isopropanol alcohol and buffed with a clean cotton cloth prior to use in this session.

Contender 1: A very basic, no-name patch cable the likes of what you will find thrown in for free in every electronic audio reproduction device for the home stereo system; i.e.; what audiophiles call “complete junk”.  The plugs are cheap plastic without the luxury of any fancy plating.

Contender 2: A slick looking ‘Wire-World’ brand patch cable constructed with a nice braided sheath, metal strain-relief and a core of silver plated wire.  It sports nicely machined, gold-plated RCA cable connectors with the following markings on the cable itself: mil-c-27072/89 IDDE 20 AWG 3C 600V (US Military specification 200C 600V Teflon insulated silver plated).  The cable is multi-conductor / single-shielded.  (Image of both cables side-by-side)

I’ve run the above audio track through both cables and recorded it on the PC via Audacity application software.  The file is an industry-standard, 44.1hz, lossless .’WAV’ format which you can playback on a PC and / or, employ the free Win-ABX software to provide instantaneous comparison.  Additionally, you may wish to burn these files to a CD and use your stereo system to play them back for purposes of observation on a large, high-resolution setup.

The audio recording system:

The evaluation employs a Pioneer Elite DV-45A as a transport and Yulong DAH1 outboard DAC combination, connected with a Toshiba pure-glass TOSLink Cable.  This is driven into a PC (using one or the other of the two cables under consideration), which has been custom-built for this evaluation.  The computer sports an Intel D915GA series mainboard with the latest BIOS update (0482), a dual-core 2.8 GHz Pentium processor, one-gigabyte of Kingston brand DDR-400 RAM memory and a Seagate 80 Gigabyte, SATA hard disk drive.  All other drives have been disconnected and cables removed.  The mainboard hosts only one PCI card; an ASUS Xonar audio interface (onboard audio has been disabled at the BIOS level).  Said card is running the very latest drivers – version 8.17.25.  The operating system is Windows Vista Business Edition, build 6.0.6000.  All patches, updates, service packs etc., have been added to the OS and it’s been freshly defragmented.  This edition of Windows Vista has been tweaked as an audio recording and playback platform according to suggestions in the Benchmark Audio Windows Vista Audio Playback - Setup Guide

The hard disk drive contains no extraneous application software aside from Audacity version 1.2.6 and LAME version 3.97 – basically, its’ pretty much empty.

The PC is running in a chassis without an internally mounted power supply unit.  Said PSU is situated approximately eight inches outside the case.  This is due to concerns with electromagnetic noise contaminating the audio signal – as expressed by many audiophiles when it comes to PC-based audio manipulation…  The power supply in question is a 380 watt, Antec ‘True-Power’ version 2.0 unit, custom-ordered for this project.  The power supply, transport and DAC are all plugged into three separate wall sockets – each sporting an independent feed back to the breaker panel (I built the shop several years ago and ran separate lines for - every – plug and light fixture!).  No other devices are plugged into any of the three sockets.  Correct polarity has been confirmed in all wall-plugs by myself and the city electrical inspector.  (Image of equipment CD & DAC / Audio Card)

The audio file itself is a sample of Chesky Record’s ‘Ultimate Demonstration CD’.  (AKA: “Go ahead and buy a copy and test the living heck out of your own system if you like - make me look good for showing you this so Chesky won’t sue the living hell outta’ me for posting the file” :-) 

I picked this particular track as it offers a whole lot of both top and bottom octave information, and it seems that audiophiles can’t decide on which is more important for demonstrating cables – so I bring you both!

In the end, just listen, and then ask yourself: “do these files actually sound any different from each other.  I have ABX’d and auditioned the living hell outta’ them (using the latest edition of FooBar 2000), and cannot, in all honesty, discern one from the other, perhaps one of you out there can?  If so, let me know.  If not, well, congratulations – you’ve learned something today :-)  The files are 6.65 megabytes, so you might need a high-speed Internet connection to grab them – or a lot of patience.

Junk Cable   |   Quality Cable

Originally, I had intended to post an additional set of ‘un-labeled’ cable links, however, I can see that if one were to take a file examination utility and really interrogate the files, they would soon see that there are very slight differences between the files, enough that some computer geek / smarty pants would know which was which without actually listening to them.  As such, I'll simply provide options for ABX and / or burning of these files to CD for auditioning – in order to offer an honest evaluation of what you can or cannot hear.  I’m not your mom, so I’ll leave it to your personal integrity on this one…

Andrew D.

Jan 21st    I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming: Rock N' Roll!  Tonight's little ditty is compliments of Zunior Records, featuring Canadian artist Dale Murray and his track Driving Song.  Dale has played with a number of East-Coast bands and this is his chance to shine on his own.

Jan 21st    And for even more music: check out the Pod-Cast Directory and access 57 different generas of music streaming to your PC in real-time.  I'm listening to the Reverend Norman Jackson and the Pawnshop Blues as I type this post!

Jan 21st    We all wonder what the hell's up with our compact disks and ponder the reliability of the medium.  Well, it looks like some folks have taken it upon their selves to investigate that issue and a whole lot more in-more depth.  Media Sciences, an independent testing laboratory in Marlborough, MA, offers us a page-full of interesting information links on all manner of media-related topics.

Jan 21st    Audiophiles are continually asking each other for recommendations on well-recorded / mixed / mastered albums, and the answers are as varied as the shape of clouds, but are generally based on personal preference rather than technically accurate information.  Digital Domain attempts to provide you with both, have a look at their Honor Roll of Dynamic Pop CDs and why each was selected for inclusion.

Jan 21st    That's it from me for this Monday morning.  Its in the wee hours here in BC, I'm dog tired and need some shut-eye.  Spend some time with the bits I've provided here today, and do get back to me on the cable sound-files.  I'm very interested in evaluating some of my reader's uber-high-end cables as well!  I'll sign off with a taste of the Blues care of Burton Gaar and One Hundred Pounds Of Trouble.  (PodCast)

Jan 18th    Its Friday Baby!  Time for a whole lot of goofing off, avoiding responsibility and Rockin' Out for all you're worth!  Check out TAB and their Stones-esq track CYT (Free & Legal track compliments of NorthStreet Records)

Jan 18th    I've thrown out an offer for all 'high-end' power-cable manufacturers.  Sit down with me, anywhere in Western Canada (Alberta / British Columbia), and audition your own cables 'blind' vs. a cheap-o power cable the likes of which ship with all computer systems.  If you are able to pick out which power cable is yours 90% of the time out of 20 attempts, I'll publicly renounce my position of calling all power cable manufacturers lying bastards, then browbeat and ridicule myself on 100+ A/V forums and host a massive banner advertisement for power cables on both Cdnav.com's main site as well as the forum.  I'll keep you all posted if any of these 'manufacturers of the special wire' get back to me with this offer...

Jan 18th    Not that the topic needs any more driving home... but it was nice to see this article published in the Chicago tribune the other day: Price Of Audio / Video Cables Bears Little On Performance.  A few more like it and perhaps we'll see a lot less of people bringing home hundred dollar HDMI cables... [ MonoPrice guys... MonoPrice ]

Jan 18th    Happened upon a pretty cool little A/V Blog site the other day called Don Lindich's Sound Advise.  Most of what he says appears to be pretty much on the mark, have a look and and see if you agree.  A great quote from the site: "I’ve long said using expensive wire and connecting cables is like filling your toilet tank with Evian… it’s expensive and wasteful as tap water flushes just as well".

Jan 18th    The other day a friend posted a query in the forum asking "if its true that tube-based amplifiers 'sound different' than transistor-based ones, why is that so"?  Well dude, scan an eyeball across The Tube Primer for an answer of why some tube-based amplifiers might reproduce signals differently then their solid-state brethren.  Now if that one just whets your whistle, this one will blow your mind: Electronics 27 University Of Denver, Colorado (Everything you ever wanted to know about tubes, but were afraid to ask some golden-ear cause' he would fill your mind with bullshit)

Jan 18th    When I was but a wee lad... I used to have a real thing for Technics audio equipment.  Hell, I owned Technics amps, preamps, integrated amps, Tuners,  Speakers ( I dug their honeycomb speakers!), Cassette decks (anyone remember DBX?), Turntables (linear tracking anyone?) - in numerous incarnations.  I was quite disheartened when Panasonic yanked the product from the market.  As it turns out, so were a great many others, and thus from the ashes rose The Technics Discussion Forum!

Jan 18th    My first introduction to Stereo / HiFi magazines was the much-maligned Stereo Review and the words of one Julien Hirsch (RIP old dude).  Some time in 1990 the boyz' at Stereo Review decided to audition three (then modern) CD players in order to attempt to discern audible differences between them.  Keep in mind the era and pedigree of the decks in question as you read through pages one to five of this old-school article.  Afterwards, ask yourself: Do modern CD players really sound different from one-another like all of the audiofools say they do?  This, eighteen years after this evaluation, do internal DACs etc., possess audible differences?  If you still don't arrive at an answer, do yourself a favor and set up a truly unsighted evaluation for yourself with the help of a friend.  Pages are .JPG photos that someone snapped of the magazine's pages - so don't flame me over the quality, just be thankful that some cat cared enough to do this for us!

Jan 18th    You may have noticed that I pretty much speak my mind around here :-), and with good reason.  As such, I dig it when I happen upon another A/V site that tells it like it is and swears just because it feels good.  Check out Rekords Rekords forum for a taste of reality of the rockin' life.  I love their motto: "Fuck ya' baby"

Jan 18th    Absolutely freaking nothing to do with A/V, but what the hell, its cool: Royal Enfield motorcycles are once again available!  Have a look at this 'Bullet 500 ES Electra X'.  Very cool in an old-school kinda' way, and look at that dirt-cheap price!  Hell, considerably less than a set of insanely prices speaker cables!

Jan 18th    Lets wrap with another track, this from Saul Williams - a cover of U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday (MP3 compliments of Glide Magazine).  I've never been a big U2 fan, but I do like this cover - better than the original in fact.  Have a kick-ass weekend boyz'!

Jan 16th    A long time ago... mid-summer 07' to be exact, I managed to mangle a whack of posts on the site beyond recognition - witness the mid-August / September gap in posts on the archive site.  Well, what do ya' know; I stumbled upon some backups the other day and lo and behold; it contained the missing posts!  I'm taking the lazy road out this evening and reposting (some of) those 'missing posts' here in place of what should be the Wednesday entry.  Why?  Well, I'm too lazy to do the required work to formulate a Wednesday post of course!  :-).   Ok, that, and there are some cool tracks / notes in there that I feel deserve to be on the site again.  I've weeded out most of the 'no-so-cool' stuff and provided an abbreviated 'greatest hits' package below:

Restored From Backup   Ahh, let the inner A/V geek shine through: A BBC white paper titled Acoustic modeling - approximations to the real world.  Sound propagation is a complex subject, especially inside enclosed spaces. In nearly all branches of acoustics, models are constructed, either physically or more often as conceptual simplifications, in order to make the problems of design and prediction tractable.  This article will help you get a handle on how the 'Pros' conduct sound modeling.  Adobe PDF / 230Kb.

Restored From Backup   The Anatomy of An Album Leak: For every five or six albums produced in the United States, it is said there is at least one major hit song or album leaked early. In the worst case scenario the entire album may be leaked hours, days, or even weeks before the scheduled release date. Traditionally, it's been a headache for some musicians and a nightmare for record executives. This is a look at the practice of leaks: who leaks, why they leak and the varying responses from Artists, Record Labels and the various media outlets.

Restored From Backup Always on top of the cool stuff: Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity has an interesting article available titled: High Definition 1080p TV: Why You Should Be Concerned which offers some great reading - check it out.

Restored From Backup My lady and I attended the local theater last night for a screening of the latest Bourne flick: The Bourne Ultimatum.  It was 'ok', though, in my opinion - not as good as previous episodes of the Bourne series.  The fight scenes are a blur of fast-moving camera shots that look like they were filmed by a drunkard with a handicam, and there wasn't a single foxy lady to be seen onscreen.  At least Bond always offers some eye-candy between scenes of senseless killing...  Sure there was a gal, Julia Stiles, but she displayed absolutely no 'sexiness' in this outing.  What was more of a letdown however, was the concessions stands.  A small iced tea and a small popcorn is eight bucks!  Imagine a family of four and each purchases  (or, should I say: "Dad buys"), a medium popcorn and medium drink for each: that's $4.75 each item times eight items (a pop and popcorn each): $38.00, plus tickets, another $7 bucks each - $66.00, plus parking, plus gas, etc. - $70.00 just to take the family to a movie!  Fuck, and major theaters wonder why folks are moving away from the big-screen and into home theaters!  If you are gonna' make us sit in uncomfortable seats, enduring musty smells and sticky floors, at least sell us your junk-food for a fair price!

Restored From Backup So ya' want a pair of mini speakers, but you don't wanna' drop a few thousand bucks on the table for the deal?  Sounds familiar, I hear it all the time from friends.  One company that I never hesitate to direct them towards is AV123.  Their products continually garner positive reviews online: which is exactly where you'll find their products.   AV123 is a direct-from-manufacturer speaker builder, and we all know that cutting out the middle-man will save you around 100% markup right off the top!  I thought you might like to take a look at the RS250 MKII in either Rosewood or Ebony veneers $700.00 US, with a free in-home trial offer.  (Edit: Currently (Jan 15th 08') -  Five Hundred Bucks A Set - Very Cool Deal!!!)

Restored From Backup New technologies ahoy: THX has just released a new bit O' marketing for us called 'THX Loudness Plus'.  As usual with new technologies, it'll only be available through the latest, greatest A/V kit, but give it a year or so and we'll likely be seeing it on almost every receiver produced.

Restored From Backup That's it for me this week: enjoy your weekend, squeeze in as much fun as you possibly can, Rock N Roll with all your might and do something you don't usually do - cause' life is really goddamned short!  Here is one more bit O' Rockin' for ya' before I head out for the weekend: Amplified Heat - Heart Attack (256Kb/s MP3 / No DRM - Crank It!)

Restored From Backup 'Hump day' friends: time for celebrating short work-weeks and countdowns to the impending weekend!  I found links to a couple of live-in-studio tracks to share with you this evening: John P. Strohm's Everyday Life.  If that's too passive for ya', check out a the 'Brit' Sounding Assembly Now as they cover the Boss's Dancing In The Dark (!)

Restored From Backup Looking for writers!  Course' I am, this little hobby site deserves another perspective.  If you like working for dirt (Volunteer) and have an ear for good music ~ with a slight emphasis on Canadian bands, then by all means contact me at your convenience and we'll talk.  If you wanna' know what kind of music I dig, just 'listen to this site'.  Though I cannot post old-school, major-label / copyrighted music such as Steppenwolf / Zeppelin / Floyd / Stones / Sonny Terry etc., at least much of what is posted here often reflects the old-timers in some way.

Restored From Backup Picked up a great new set of headphones from eBay the other day.  Audio Technica's ATH-M40fs.  These are quite likely the best phones' I've owned in years.  Perhaps better than the old Koss or Sennheisers cans from days gone by.  MSR was $150.00 US: eBay was $56.00 US shipped to my door - nice!  They are generally in the $60.00 US range on eBay at any time.  I can heartily recommend them if you dig accuracy and clean bass - and who doesn't?  However, there are some other cool things about these cans:

11' left side-entry cable
Field-replaceable cables, drivers and ear pads
Convenient one-side exit
Rotating earpieces for easy one-ear monitoring

Restored From Backup Wow, great 'BC Day'' long weekend we had there!  I'd say that it deserves to be celebrated with British Columbia's own Ox, and their cover of Surrender.  192Kb/s MP3, no DRM.  Free kick in the butt to whoever can recognize the original artist from 'back in the day'!  Ya man, they were cheap, full of tricks - and I went through the eighties rocking to their groove.  The track is odd, but wittedly nostalgic!  If that one makes you a little leery of Ox's 'sound', then sooth yourself with a taste of their own work as posted earlier on this site Miss Idaho.

Restored From Backup It looks like Starbucks is hosting it's very own version of the 'Idol' theme with a contest to see who will be the next Starbucks music label act.  Not much here that I dig except perhaps the Keith Everett track...  If you like any of what you hear, simply right-click and release on a track and select Download This Song...

Restored From Backup I continually make reference to how amazing it is that a pathetically dilapidated (data-wise), signal such as Mpeg can sound great - and I continually get flack from golden-eared audiofools about my stance on 320Kb/s transparency.  Well, it turns out that a group of qualified individuals from the BBC (D G Kirby (BBC) and K Watanabe (NHK), were interested in the phenomenon - enough to put together a little unsighted auditioning and present a paper to the IEE at a International Broadcasting Convention - in 1997.  Even when employing antiquated codecs that are eleven years old, (testing conducted in 96'), they came to the same conclusion as I do daily (see the 'conclusions' section in the paper).  If 320Kb/s is audibly transparent to the human ear in (nearly) every case - and that's leaving less than one quarter of the original signal intact, then it would be safe to say that doubling it to 640Kb/s would be a safe bet to capture the signal without any (audible) loss.  This still leaves us with more than half of the original signal simply thrown out - and yet, the sound would be fantastic - freekin' amazing how incapable the human ear is at discerning low-level loss in audio signals!

Restored From Backup Can't get enough of that Canadian Rock N Roll!  It never ceases to amazes me how many talented acts exist up here in the Great White North!  Drop some weight clockwise on the volume control for Bodega's Finer Than Fine Print  - Thanx' to Tarbox Road Studios for Free & Legal links!  More about the band, and another free track, here.

Restored From Backup Has anyone noticed that Starbucks has become a music label?  Damned right, the over-priced coffee shop has been signing acts left, right and centre.  Not just independent up and coming acts, hell no, big-time acts that each and every one of us has spent hundreds of hours listening to over the years: Paul McCartney, Dave Matthews, Joni Mitchell and a pile of others.  I find it interesting how easy its becoming to be your own record label.  With the death of record stores as we once knew them, and the stupefying depth of the Internet - to the point of being "too much of a good thing" / "too big to find stuff", location, location, location, is becoming the key to music distribution.  Heck, there are two or three Starbucks outlets here, and my town isn't too damn big.  What's next: Zeppelin's new release out on a Tim Horton's music label?  There are four of them here, and only two 'CD stores'.  Food for thought... and while you're chewing that one over, have a listen to some of the Starbuck music label - 'HearMusic' alumni.

Restored From Backup HDTV sent me an email the other day which I thought was pretty interesting: Hi-Def DVD - Audio Streaming Over HDMI.  The idea of using anything other than old-school cable will bring fear to the hearts of audiofools, but for the rest of us, its a step forward.  Have a look.

Restored From Backup Little tight for time tonight: minimal posts are forthcoming: lend an ear to SeaWolf - You're a Wolf

Restored From Backup Those of you in the know - realize that a well-built direct-drive turntable kicks ass - contrary to the bullshit which spews forth from the audiofool community.  The genera has simply gained a tasteless reputation due to the many hundreds of low-end, plastic DD designs which flooded the market back in the early 80's.  Fact of the matter is that a well-engineered direct drive TT is a thing of beauty!  Came upon a site called, fittingly: Direct Drive - which agrees with me, check it out.  Speaking of which: My 8/10 Systemdek IIx is up for sale - cheap, contact me if you are interested or offer me a quality direct-drive unit in trade; Denon, JVC or B&O for instance.

Restored From Backup On the topic of B&O: Have a look at this classic B&O fan-site.  Its quite well put together - I thought it was the corporate site at first - and very informative.

Restored From Backup New month, new twist in our musical presentations: Canadian Bluegrass / Rock / Country pioneers FiftyMen give us a taste of Rockin' PQ style: 22 Minutes.  Crank it up, pour a glass and check out their homepage! 

Restored From Backup Who among us isn't incorporating computers in our music listening in some way?  The problems is hard disk drive and fan noises...  As usual with market vacuums, folks come up with solutions: in this case, 'End PC Noise.com' is steppin' up to the plate with a load of toys.

Restored From Backup And in classic April Fools fashion, (no, I'm not picking on the audiofools again...), I bring you Jeff Milner's Back-masking Site.  remember how some nutbars used to say that listening to music backwards would subject you to satanic messages?  Well, here's your chance to find out :-)

Restored From Backup Here's one for all you crazy-ass tube freaks out there: kinda' like 'Tube-Porn' by the looks of it.  Apparently there is some kinda' issue in identifying tubes on the market???

Restored From Backup So, that's it then: another month of our lives on this rock flying through space... pissed away doing exactly what?  Well, hopefully cranking Rock N' Roll like this bit O' Canadiana: Ox - Miss Idaho

Restored From Backup Here's a slightly odd step-back in time: 'Hi-Fi Literature': some dude has put together a website that highlights a great many old-school, and I'm talkin' really old-school, A/V corporate product literature packages.  Whatever..., its interesting in a nostalgic sorta' way.

Restored From Backup Nearly a year ago I noted an excellent site called the Hi-Fi Museum, and I'm sure that many of you spent a great deal of time reading through the many informative articles it contains.  However, I wanted to point out the fact that, aside from the large collection of owner's manuals and hardware highlights, the site also offers some really interesting stuff in it's 'Library' section.  Do check it out.

Restored From Backup Those of you with USB devices that you wish to interface with far-away A/V hardware, look no further than the USB Superbooster.  This cool little gizmo breaks the limitations of the USB cable distance specification by boosting and pumping the digital USB feed over standard CAT5e cable.  Not the cheapest solution, but pretty much the only one for this particular task.  While you're there, have a look around Impact Acoustics site, they build a great many other cool gizmos to overcome odd installation issues.

Restored From Backup Received an 'alert' today from what was once one of my favorite haunts on the Net': Home Theater Shack.  Looks like one of their members has stepped up and conducted a series of subwoofer evaluations and published it online.  Have a peek here.  The company builds some pretty crazy shit: Case in point...

Restored From Backup Now wasn't that a kick-ass weekend!  Funkin' A' ~ lots of family, friends, feasting, and mud-splattered bodies hurdling at break-neck speed down single-track in the mountains!  Lets ease on into the last week of July 07' with an eponymous Canadian track from The Wooden Sky.  This is really nice stuff, if you want to learn more about the band, check out this link.

Restored From Backup All you Zeppelin fans out there might be interested to learn that the masters have re-released The Song Remains The Same, but with six new tracks.  After the previous announcement of the band reforming around John Paul Jones's kid on drums, it looks to me like this is the best effort they had up their sleeves as an album to rally around in preparation for a world tour... time will tell, but that's my prediction.

Restored From Backup Always on the lookout for cool stuff, I happened upon this nifty little external, USB 2.0 sound card from, of all companies: Phillips.  I perused a few reviews of the 'Aurilium' and it seems to be impressing folk all over the web.  Couple that with the incredibly affordable price and it looks like we have a winner!  Lets hope the audiofools don't get wind of this one or the price may go through the roof!  Amazon.com currently has a number of these devices, apparently 'in-stock', starting at under 60 bucks.  There is also this solution from Onkyo, but I'm having a heck of a time locating one...

Restored From Backup If you are one of those rare folk who still hold and cherish the old faithful DAT format and its sundry, you'll feel quite at home on the DAT-Heads page and mailing list.

Restored From Backup Those of you crazy enough to put your audio reproduction faith in the old tube will get a charge out of The Cathode Ray Tube Site.  Enjoy, tap at cha' all later...

Restored From Backup Late in the evening, half a bottle of really great Inniskillin 04' Merlot and a slab of [dark] chocolate later... Been playing my fingers to the bone attempting to learn (desecrate is more like it), both Kirk Hammett and Bruce Cockburn's excellent guitar workmanship, and I've had an epiphany!  If more of these stupid sons of a bitches who ramble on about cable-sound would just pick up an instrument and listen to what real sound feels like, they wouldn't waste so goddamned much time making up bullshit about wire!  Bloody-well right man!  Oh, and on the topic of Metallica: I recently introduced (see below) the gals on harp who were doing some magical work based on Metallica's art form - check out what can be done on cello: A real thing of beauty! - Apocalyptica - The Unforgiven.  Yes I'm a huge Metallica fan - at one time they were the best metal band in the world!  Heck, lemme' tell ya' a little story: back in 86' I saw em' in, of all places, Brandon, Manitoba.  They were playing in an agricultural arena, where cattle were often sold at auctions.  Less than 100 people showed up for the gig, in a building that would hold thousands - those Mennonites weren't much for heavy metal back in the day.  It was fuckin' great, one could stand anywhere they wanted, every spot was fantastic as we basically just lined the stage all night!  I can still remember Kirk laughing and looking out upon us saying, "shit man, it’s like our own little party here tonight, lets fucking rock this place"... as he led the band into a violent rendition of Hit The Lights: nice...  Hell, what else can I cram in here about the former Godz' of metal...  If you are interested in hearing the best bass solo on the face of the earth, seek out former Metallica bassist, Cliff Burton's (RIP): Anesthesia / Pulling Teeth

Restored From Backup Funkin' A man, its finally Friday!  This can mean only one thing: Rock out for all you're worth!  Lean a little crankage onto the The Archibalds tracks - Sinking Ships & Rain & Tunder (yes, the spelling is accurate)

Restored From Backup The July issue of Affordable Audio is on the Net', and this one is even more disappointing than the last one!  It seems that the rag's editors have leaned even further into the bullshit and lies underworld of the audiofool than ever before.  Witness this insane description of what happens when you place a couple of little wooden blocks under one of their bench amplifiers: "I placed them under my Micromega Minium amp and the effect was little short of dazzling. I was listening to the matching CD player, and the sound opened out considerably. It really was a delight. Digital took on almost analogue qualities, with extra air and space around each note, and a slight deepening of the sound stage. It really was more musical."

Umm, excuse me sir, but I do believe that you are in fact - full of shit...  Where do these folks come from?  Are they on the take or just incredibly gullible?  The world as we know it is in trouble - people like this actually walk among us...  Taste the latest load of bullshit here.  (Adobe PDF formatted document).  What a joke... the [only] thing that this edition has going for it is the article on guitar pioneer Les Paul.

Restored From Backup The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III),  As usual, Gizmodo has some cool stuff on tap: a shootout between Monster Cable's $250.00, 35 foot HDMI cable and one from online, low-priced source Monoprice, a $35.00 version of the same length.  Read on.

Restored From Backup Ok... just what we needed: another cable / port interface!  It seems that some folks out there feel that HDMI doesn't cut it, thus are making every attempt to initiate a campaign for a technology called DisplayPort.  Read all about it.

Restored From Backup All of you folks who love to hate cabling will dig this next one, but it has me a little uneasy: I mean, hell - aren't we bathed in enough electromagnetic radiation as it is?  The state of Wireless HDMI and WirelessHD

Restored From Backup Lets close this session with some Canadian Rock n Roll, care of Montreal's The Stills: In The Beginning (192Kb/s No DRM - Care of Vise Records)  Tap at cha' all Monday.

Restored From Backup Wait, one more last-minute addition: Harptallica:  Metallica's 'Unforgiven', done by a couple of harp players!  As a die-hard, old-school Metallica fan (The Black Album was the beginning of the end), I can dig this effort!  These gals have a full-length CD out, covering several LPs worth of Metallica's older work - Very Cool!

 

Restored From Backup This reminds me of something from the 80's, imported from the UK or Australia.  Think of the Men At Work / Payolas era...  Brighton Ma - Ballad Of Coolhand.  (192Kb/s MP3  No DRM)

Restored From Backup If that doesn't spin your button, check out Iron & Wine's new track : Boy With The Coin (192Kb/s MP3 - No DRM).

Restored From Backup It looks like a money-grab, it reads like a money-grab, but is it?  You decide: THX Introduces Performance Benchmark and Product Certification for HDTVs

Restored From Backup Now this is one of the odder sites I have come upon: RecordNerd.  It looks to be about showing off one's record collection as well as seeking trades and offering up material they no longer want.  Kinda' confusing layout, but I guess once a fella' got the hang of it...

Restored From Backup As always, I am happy to present you with a paper by one of my favorite A/V authors: Tom Nousaine's Urban Audio Legends.  Read, learn, enjoy - it’s a far cry more than you'll ever get from any of the commonly available A/V press at your local magazine rack, and a hell of a lot more than any almost any online forums!

Restored From Backup I've always been a fan of John Hiatt's spin on rockin', but I've never really known much about the man behind the strings.  This interview-cum-album sampler MP3 filled in a lot of the spaces and offered a great way to get a taste for some of John's latest work at the same time.  Check it out, I think you'll find it as enjoyable as did I.  (17 minutes, 11 seconds - a large file of nearly 17 megabytes)

Restored From Backup Being a long-time PC technician, and having spent innumerable hours auditioning tracks for this site on my computer, I'm naturally fond of the convenience of 'instant-selection / instant-music'.  No CDs to keep immaculate, no pandering over the ultimate cleanliness of vinyl - digital files are the proverbial cat's ass!  Historically, obtaining an excellent-quality sound-card meant paying big-bucks and fidgeting around with arcane software-driver tweaks.  ASUS means to put an end to this with a couple of solid contenders in the battle for music aficionado and computer-gamer's hearts: enter the Xonar series of high-quality, fair-cost, fully shielded sound cards.  I had noted this product in pre-release form earlier on the site, but now it looks as though the product is ready to roll out to the masses.  You'll note one of the many cool features offered is a workaround to strip DRM from audio files.  A September 07' launch at around $200.00 appears to be the line..

Restored From Backup I've always been floored by the cost of projection units.  I mean, look at that little plastic box, how the hell can something with so few parts cost so damned much?  The optics in it are no better than my high-end camera, the bulb no match for the fancy lights out front of my modern car and the electronics are a joke compared to what's in my laptop - yet the prices of these little projectors are out of this world!  I suspect that the manufacturers are simply  keeping financial pace with the competition: large-screen plasma and LCD monitors, nothing more.  Anyway, enough ranting!  One manufacturer appears to be, albeit, ever so slowly, moving towards building products that offer us 1080p on the 'really big-screen', at a price which approaches sanity.  Enter Optoma.

Restored From Backup This day in Music: Bob Dylan goes electric and blows the minds of many.  Check out this excellent article on the subject.  As for me, I'm one of those who feel that it was the best move he ever made!

Restored From Backup Anything but predictable ~ that's how I like this site to groove.  On that note, check out the rockin' country sounds of the Wrinkle Neck Mules - Black Skies For The High & Mighty and Cumberland Sound.

Restored From Backup Those of you 'in the know', or those with kids into music, will no doubt have heard of the popular Guitar Hero computer game.  As with so many other applications these days, a freeware clone has emerged on the scene, this one called Frets On Fire: undoubtedly, the most fun you can have with a wireless keyboard!

Restored From Backup That grandpa of Canadian A/V magazines is back: Audio Ideas Guide has finally freshened the face of their old site on the web and brought us a few new stories.  For the most part, Andrew Marshall's reviews are realistic and on-target, and I like his overall summary of most audiophiles: "misguided, obsessive compulsive and moderately paranoid".  I'd say that was pretty accurate!  In fact, if you go wayyy back, Audio Ideas Guide was among the leaders in pointing out the idiocy of so-called "High-End" speaker cables in the article "Beating the Bafflegab & Filtering the FooFooDust", [Hayward, James, Part 1- Marshall's Audio Ideas Guide (Canada) Summer/Fall 94].  Truth... its just sooo rare in our little hobby - savor it when you can!

Restored From Backup In case you missed it, and I hope so if reading T.A.S is your guiding light...  An interview with Bob Ludwig in the June / July 07' issue.  2.4 megabyte Adobe PDF formatted file

Restored From Backup I keep sayin' it, and slowly but surely its coming to fruition: affordable combination Blu-Ray / HD-DVD players.  Actually, in this case we're talking about something even better: combination burners!  Many of you are moving to integrate your computers and sound systems and these two components will fit right into that plan.  Check out LG's latest shot across the bow of the idiotic 'format wars'.  Couple them with a few of Western Digital's new 'Eco' One Terabit hard disk drives and you have a dandy A/V server!

Restored From Backup Smokin'!  So what if the past weekend was kinda' overcast and threateningly moist: nothing a few bottles of red wine, fine friends on Saturday, followed by a massive climb / high-speed downhill with da' bike boyz' in the mountains on Sunday won't cure!  Lets slide on into the new week with a track from the John Lennon influenced Shannon Wright - Everyone's Got Their Own Part To Play

Restored From Backup Klipsch has somewhat of a cult status in the audiogeek community, thanks in no small part to their much heralded Klipsch-Horn loudspeaker system.  As it turns out, the manufacturer also holds their clientele in somewhat the same high regard.  This summer, as with the past half-dozen, Klipsch held its annual pilgrimage where devotees could meet staff and audition the latest Klipsch gear.  Sounds like a really cool idea.  Hey, I have one: perhaps cable companies could hold live events where they demonstrate unsighted auditions between 'audiophile' fifty dollar per foot copper and fifty cent per foot hardware-store cables... oh, wait, that wouldn't work... what was I thinking!?

Restored From Backup Wanna' back up your iTunes files, but don't want to mess with potentially messy cracking software?  Try this easy, straightforward and legal method.

Restored From Backup I've always been an advocate of solid-state media and apparently, Sony is too.  Check out their HDR-CX7 camcorder.  It records it's HD Audio / Video onto memory sticks, eight gigabytes at a time.  This eliminates shake and impact issues, while allowing better battery life and throws in a pile of features to boot.

Jan 13    A Sunday post, masquerading as Monday...  One of the most time-consuming things about running Cdnav.com is the location and auditioning of music that I dig enough to post on the site.  Most music sites just post any old thing to fill space and 'flesh-out' the site.  Me, I need to dig the tunes enough to wanna crank it up on my own system, before I'll post it for your listening pleasure.  Sure my musical interests run all over the map, but, hell - so should yours - life's too short to listen to one or two genera's exclusively!  Much of the time I'll audition between 20 to 50 tracks (sometimes more!), before I hit one I dig; tonight was different, I nailed a Free & Legal, fully crankable tune on the second try!  Blast the Hell outta' The Whigs - Right Hand On My Heart.  160Kb/s No DRM!  Check out their homepage if you dig em'

Jan 13th    What would a new week be without yet another audio forum?  Hell, I just don't know, and neither will you until you visit FullRangeDrivers.com and their forum!  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of full range drivers - rather, I'm a multi-driver kinda' guy; give me a satellite / subwoofer setup any day - but there are those crazy cats among us who's distain for crossovers reaches to the extreme, thus... enjoy.  PS: Thanks to Charivari for trying to glean 'forum posts' from the main site on Cdnav.com and re-post them to the Other Forums' section where they should be.  Two Thumbs Up Dude!

Jan 13th    There seems to be a bit of a plague of notion creeping throughout the A/V/Music industry with regards to reengineering music distribution.  I've just read another post where individuals are asking that Internet Service Providers be allowed to jack up their rates, thus allowing us access to limitless free music A'La carte.  I stated my position on this idea earlier in the week, and its good to see others debate the concept.  Check out Michael Arrington's Tech Crunch article.  Hell, if it were only me I was thinking of, no problem, what's five bucks, a 'special coffee' once a month?  However, one has to think of all the others who use the Internet for other purposes; porn for instance...er, just kidding...

Jan 13th    An addendum to yesterday's CBC Radio Concerts On Demand post: I'd like to add an interesting addition hit the main page this afternoon: Oscar Peterson Tribute - Simply The Best - Recorded 1/12/2008 at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Ontario.  Gotta' admit, I'm not a big fan of his actual music, but I know amazing talent when I hear it and this old dude had it in spades!  Drop in for a listen.

Jan 13th    The restless bass-junkies over at Home Theater Forums have done it again: Check out the Oct. 2007 Subwoofer Tests

Jan 13th    In case you missed it: DRM is Dead...  Amazon to sell Sony BMG songs free of DRM.  They join the 'new Napster' in pushing sane music distribution concepts.  However - it looks like that old spy 'Watermarking' is making a comeback...

Jan 13th    Telus and Yahoo are actually good for something(!?!)...  Calendar Of Canadian Concerts.  Have a peek at the listings (January to May 08'), to get an idea of what's worth seeing in your neck of the woods.

Jan 13th    Eco-TVs?  Phillips has pushed low-power consumption to new lows with the release of their new 42PFL series flat-screens.  They've also constructed the case of recycled materials and employed lead-free / low-mercury construction techniques.  Very nice; may others build on this excellent example!

Jan 13th    Lets caps off this post with a link to one of the Internet's greatest repositories of live music: Wolfgang's Vault.  Today's featured band is the one and only Queen - Live at Maida Vale Studios on October 28, 1977.  (Sign-up with any username / password.  There is no authorization email BS to deal with)

Jan 12th    A (very rare) Saturday morning post!  Stumbled upon an all-Canadian kinda' music thang' that I felt needed to be shared amongst my friends here on Cdnav.com: CBC Radio's Concerts On Demand.  With a PC connected to your stereo system (if not, make it this weekend's project!), one can enjoy a wide selection of live concerts from hundreds of artists.  I'm off to sample the latest snowfall in the hills, take care and may the best of all good things come your way this weekend!

Jan 10th    Told ya' it was going to be a while between posts :-)> So, Thursday the tenth eh?  Its dumping' hard and heavy outdoors at the moment, more base for the local ski hills is always a good thing - allows me to dream of a weekend of tree-boarding and forget the fact that my week is over-committed beyond belief.  So what to lay on you music-crazed buggers today?  Shit man, I've previewed perhaps 75 or 80 tracks this evening and I just cannot believe how much goddamned shitty music is out there!  In a world where millions of folks actually think that RadioHead's new LP is a gift from the music godz', the Net' is awash in crappy pop / new-rock bands!  I'll throw down the gauntlet tonight with a blast from the past which is exactly opposite of everything that the masses seem to find so appealing.  The lady who raised me a good part of my early years was a big fan of country and Western; classic C&W mind you, not this new-wave of poser / duster-wanna-be's.  Here a tip of the hat to Johnny Cash, Willy & Waylon and Merle Haggard Wishing All These Old Things Were New.  (MP3 courtesy of ANTI Records)  (Ya, thought that'd fuck with your heads...)

Jan 10th    So another Consumer Electronics Show has come and gone, what new gizmos did it have in store for us to ogle?  OLED TVs are still in the running, despite some manufacturer's hinting that organic light-emitting diode technology will be tough to profitably manufacture.  ATI (now AMD), showed off a promo of a PC graphics card that's rumored to be as powerful as a Cray-1 Supercomputer (!), Samsung showed off a new, ultra-slim 52" LCD screen, General Motors rolled out some new electric and hydrogen-powered automobiles (Beta Releases :-)), and just for kicks, check out this video titled "Best Of CES 2008" (I dig the Alienware Curved Monitor).  Oh, and lets not forget Booth-Babes!  I was however, more than a little disappointed to see a lack of mention of dual-format (Blu-Ray & HD-DVD) players at the show, aside from the hullabaloo over Blu-Ray's media conquest this past week)

Jan 10th    Let me take ya' back, waaaaaayyyyyy back to the early eighties when a rag called Audio Basics was being published by Van Alstine.  He touches upon are some great topics; legitimate tweaks that appear to be valid, as well as a load of discussion on room acoustics and manipulation thereof.  Dig in, there is enough reading here to keep you going for days!

Jan 10th    Full HD-TV (1080p), along with 7.1 channel surround over satellite?  Sounds like its on the cusp of becoming reality.  Have a look at what XStream HD is offering on their site.

Jan 10th    Speaker burn-in: Fact or Fiction?  The crazy cats over at Matrix HiFi sent letters out to a wide selection of speaker manufacturers and this is what they received in return - very interesting!

Jan 10th    I've always wanted to incorporate an 'Album Review' section on this forum, but hell, I just don't have the time!  I guess that George Graham's Weekly Album Reviews will have to stand-in by proxy as the source of of entertainment in this regard.  Let me know via email or the forums if this does it for ya' - and if so I'll make it a 'sticky' part of the forum site.  (That background just has to go... what a mindfunk...)  Check out the (massive) selection of MP3s while you are visiting his site and peruse the huge array of LPs / CDs he has reviewed.  Most, if not all of his reviews are complete with images, text, detailed voice-overs and of course, the tunes - Fuckin' A!

Jan 10th    Ok, thats it, I'm outta' here for another few days.  Might tap at cha' again this week, then again, might not...  the hills are calling and the liquor stores are open late...

Jan 7th    So that's that eh'?  I guess I milked the living shit outta' the holiday season / days off about the best I could!  That was some seriously classic avoiding work.  I'm damned proud of the way I dodged responsibility, ducked expectations and generally slacked off, spending most of my free time drinking / eating and boarding at an assortment of local ski hills!  How shall I celebrate Cdnav.com's reawakening in 2008?  How about a dash of Canadian music, compliments of Toronto's Yonder - Let You Down.  192Kb/s MP3 - Track compliments of Zunior Records

Jan 7th    What would a new year be like without me hammering away on liars, crooks and generally full of crap audiofools?  I guess we'll never know :-)  Several cats in Spain have amassed the largest collection of [unsighted] audio equipment evaluations I have yet seen.  Do yourself a favor and take a look at this well-done array of honest assessments ranging from cables to CD players - amplifiers to system modifications.  Two thumbs up and a hearty round of applause goes out to these honest lads!  Note that the link I provide here is a URL run through AltaVista's BabelFish translation service.  The end-result is a little shaky in places, but the gist of the thing comes out loud and clear.  Those of you who read these words and do the usual "oh, there has to be something wrong" flippant rejection of logic - I ask you to simply conduct your own unsighted evaluations with level-matched (!!!) components in a way that there is no possibility (whatsoever), of cheating / peeking.  You'll see what we mean around here when we constantly harp on folks to try judging equipment without the unavoidable bias of viewing it.

Jan 7th    Here is a rather broad montage of links via a site called ePanorama.net.  From what I gather, its more or less aimed at professional sound systems, but they delve into a number of subjects that apply to audio / video nuts like us as well.  Heck, if you really feel like burning off valuable minutes of your life, they even have a forum!

Jan 7th    There are a certain few folks in the industry whom I sincerely admire: Tom Nousaine is one of them.  This cat has taken on all comers with his stripped-down brand of honesty, integrity and common sense.  Take some time to kick back with your favorite beverage absorb Toms' Audio's Top Urban Legend - 'Equipment Burn-in'.  (Adobe PDF formatted document 437Kb)

Jan 7th    Ever wonder who to call when the shit hits the fan with your A/V equipment?  Fret no longer, I think I've hit the communication jackpot with this Consumer Electronics Customer Support Contact List

Jan 7th    I keep referring to this as an A/V site, so I guess I had better post some video here once in a while!  How about splicing Audio & Video in the same flick?  Check out Meta-cafe's How Its Made: Building A Speaker.  Much of this you've no-doubt 'assumed' over the years (those few of you who haven't disassembled a bunch of speakers in the past).  For the rest of you it'll be a learning experience.

Jan 7th    You'll find bits an pieces of information that'll help you determine the value of kit you are buying or selling all over the web, but most of them want a fee for the information.  Alternately, you can pop over to The Stereonow Audiophile Price Guide for used items.  Its UK-based, but features regional information and will give you a decent idea of product values across a variety of so-called 'high-end' brands.  If you need help with conversion, check out XE's Currency Converter.

Jan 7th    Eight posts; what an outburst after my long hiatus!  Well, you'd better suck this one up real good cause' I'm not sure when the next one will be.  You see, I'm getting used to my new ways of sloth!  Anyway, back to matters at hand: Henry Rollins in 'rolllin' into a city near you soon.  You should go... no really, you should fucking go!  Hope the profanity doesn't offend you cause, if so, you're going to be pretty goddamned offended after an hour or two of listening to Henry!  I first came to admire H.R's work as the mouthpiece of the now defunct Black Flag (a sample of their work is to be found here and everywhere else on the Net').  Here is where you can enjoy Henry's solo diatribe:

March 2nd    Montreal - National Music Hall

March 3rd    Winnipeg - Burton Cummings Theatre

March 18th    Regina - Conexus Arts Centre

March 20th    Victoria - McPherson Playhouse

March 21st    Nanaimo - Port Theatre

And this is a taste of what you'll get (Google Videos)

Jan 5th 2008    Well, I'm not really "back", working on the site yet, that'll not happen until after the 7th of Jan when I resume working, however, I've prepared a rebuttal to a local magazine article and I simply felt like posting it here for all to see and comment on:

Read Bill Henderson’s recent article ‘Chicken Shit Man and other file-sharing mysteries’ (BC Musician - issue 59, page 8:

http://www.bcmusicianmag.com/images/DecemberIssueWeb.pdf

As much as I respect the man and his work with Chilliwack, I disagree with his stance on how best to go about monetizing file-sharing. 

In his article, Bill suggests that the future lies with a blanket-fee for all high-speed internet access users - whether they use P2P or not.  In my opinion, this solution would never be accepted by either subscribers as a whole or internet Service Providers – period.  Bill’s television-access analogy simply isn’t applicable to P2P music sharing and there is no way folks are going to go back to the dark ages of dial-up access in order to circumnavigate additional fees, as suggested by Mr. Henderson. 

Bits and pieces of ‘file-sharing done right’ are already in place – it’s just that prices are far too high to ever catch on with the majority of music lovers.  The current norm of “a buck a track” gets pretty expensive in the long run; tens of thousands of dollars for music-junkies to fill an iPod for instance.  Folks can rant all they want about morals, but there is just no way anyone is going to pay $200.00 for an iPod or other music player, then spend thousands of dollars filling it with low-bitrate music files!  I run a computer sales / service business and see tens of hundreds of PCs every year.  Very few (less than 5 percent), of folks from all walks of life that I meet employ iTunes to acquire music in the first place; rather, they run LimeWire or a Bittorrent client to collect music and iTunes as a means to move the data to their iPod and sort MP3s / build play-lists. 

iTunes / Amazon.com / AOL etc., need to be selling tracks at 15 cents a pop, and users should have the ability to pick and choose amongst file formats and bitrates, to whit: all tracks should be available in a selection ranging from lossless 16 and 24-bit WAV, to lossy .MP3 and perhaps .OOG file formats.  Record companies would even catch the elitist audiophile crowd with such flexible supply strategies.  ‘Lossy’ formats such as .MP3 and .OOG should be made available in a wide array of quality resolutions: 128 / 192 / 320 Kb/s, enabling end-users to decide for themselves what balance of audio-quality vs. file-size they feel comfortable with. 

Payment systems should be user-friendly & ultra-flexible, including VISA / Mastercard / PayPal and a credit / debit system through resellers.  When I say ‘user-friendly’, I don’t mean from a computer-geek point of view; rather, from an end-user experience.  Nearly all of the software applications I see daily do not come across as ‘user-friendly’ for my clients because they are written by computer geeks who view the interface from an experienced PC user perspective.  The software [must] be evaluated and focused towards completely non-computer-savvy end-users before being released.  The Mavis-Beacon typing-tutor application is a good example of a user-friendly interface – Microsoft’s latest Office Suite 2007 is not… 

It’s useless to attempt the shutdown of Limewire / eMule / Bit Torrent etc., instead, bring them into the fold as the source of legal music.  Pretty much every individual currently ‘stealing music’ is running these applications and feels comfortable with their interfaces.  Leverage this knowledge and familiarity while building a newer, even easier to use application front-end that can be supplied to all distributors / agents when it’s ready.  Folks behind the development of currently-in-use application will welcome the monetization of music if they see that it’s being supplied at a fair cost and they are allowed a small cut of said fees.  Even a penny a track for application coders / associations / companies would reap them thousands of dollars a day! 

Is this going to bring back the good old days of $15.00 bucks a CD in profit for the record companies?  Nope, that’s history folks - but look at where the industry is now: tens of millions of tracks a month that slip through their fingers via P2P!  Will everyone embrace this new strategy?  No, there will still be music thieves out there, but consider the millions of dollars that the industry would reap by moving to this new distribution paradigm – money which is currently unrealized potential. 

What will drive the public to use a paid / legal solution over a free, yet illegal one? 

- Speed

- Safety

- Quality

- Selection

- Reliability

- Ease of use 

…to name just a few things off the top of my head. 

With the present system of illegal file swapping, folks don’t know if a track will begin to download or not when they select it (due to the nature of P2P networks).  If the file does begin downloading, many times it’s infuriatingly slow and end-users have no control over the quality of the track.  Many of the currently available P2P tracks have been ‘ripped’ using inferior hardware / software configurations, producing files which exhibit odd sounds interspersed through the track and / or tracks which end prematurely with an abrupt cut-off where there should be a fade.

Additionally, oftentimes a track will simply fail to complete downloading at all.  If the download process completes successfully, users have no guarantee whether they can trust that the file is free of executable virus’s / trojans / worms / spyware.  A good part of my daily work is cleaning PCs of the aforementioned afflictions – the vast majority of which originate from P2P application-networks! 

If record companies were to put together or lease space on a server-farm (a fast & powerful collection of industrial-strength computers acting as one), thus guaranteeing incredibly quick, secure, high-quality music file downloads, the industry would have a virtual goldmine bigger than anything the Internet has yet seen. 

Andrew D.

PS: Bill – Saw your gig at Penticton’s School Auditorium a couple of months back – you needed to get rid of the very loud 60Hz hum – everyone in attendance was mumbling about it – My wife and I got up and left half-way through the show – that’s how annoying it was.  I was disappointed to hear you actually thank the sound-crew for their work in setting up the system…(!)

Dec 21st    Very cool, its Friday, its the beginning of my holidays from responsibility of every kind and I have some crazy tunes to share with you.  If its Christmas music you are expecting, then this isn't the place to look and listen.  Lets kick it off with some Reggae: Midnite (sp) Banking In The Pig. 

Dec 21st    I've provided expansive coverage of turntables over the past couple of years, but not much in the way of cartridges.  Lets balance this out a bit with a link to The Cartridge Database (with a side-project The Tonearm Database)

Dec 21st    I detest reviewers | I like interviews...  If you've no idea about the Radiohead fiasco then you've been living under a rock, a heavy, moss-covered audiofool rock no doubt...  Lets hear it from the proverbial horse's mouth then shall we: The Radiohead interview on Wired

Dec 21st    We've all pretty much grown up with Dolby as a de-facto technology all around us: it was in our cassette decks and reel-to-reels, its in our movies and television soundtracks etc.  Now Dolby is working towards an industry-wide standard that will eliminate one of the most annoying issues in home entertainment: blaring-loud television commercials (among other things) with a new Dolby Labs technology called Dolby Volume. 

Dec 21st    Heres' something a little left-field: A couple of lads who frequent the Cdnav.com Forums have, for some time, been attempting to explain why so many audiofools keep coming up with bizarre ways to inject utter bullshit / deception / outright lies into the world of the audio hobby.   I've read psychoacoustic arguments, explanations of psychology and numerous other angles on the topic, but now I think I've stumbled upon a comprehensive list of why audiofools lie.  Its not cut and dried into one paragraph, rather, its multi-faceted and incongruous.  Take a look...

Dec 21st    Utterly useless, but bizarrely interesting - for the music-junkie at least: Led Zeppelin Landmarks (some folks have way too much time on their hands).  John Bonham's gravesite?  Cover of Physical Graffiti?  All this and more awaits your work time-wasting hours...  If that's not enough of a thoughtlessly, inefficiently or inappropriate use of your office attendance - be sure to check out Bekijk Music's Matching Album Covers site :-)

Dec 21st    Just when you thought it was safe to store your files on the PC: Western Digital Hard Disk Drives now block file-sharing(!).  Read all the natty details here.

Dec 21st    Just what you needed to get you through the Christmas holidays: Another A/V/Music forum!  Have a browse through Bob Olhsson's Corner and twitter away those hours best spent doing something else!

Dec 21st    Wanna' open your eyes to some new music, hell ya!  If so, check out Chart Attack's Top 15 Records Of 2007.  I've posted tracks from a few of these LPs on Cdnav.com in the past and I think its worth your while to check out some of the others on your own.  If its free tracks you're looking for, just do as I do: check out the artist's websites and / or, those of their record labels.

Dec 21st    What's about as difficult to find as hen's teeth, and a million times more expensive?  Dual-format (Blu-ray / HD-DVD) players of course!  Well, ever so slowly its becoming the standard - and LG has just announced the retail availability of it's own second-generation decks as seen here.

Dec 21st    As mentioned the other day, I won't be posting much, if at all, on the site over the holidays.  I'm taking a good, long and very well-deserved time off from everything that has anything to do with responsibility!  As such, I give you Telarc International's Free MP3 music page to tide you over till' I resume posting in the new year.  The site hosts about 60 or so tracks of MP3 file format music from a whack of different genres.  Enjoy your time off lads!  Now would be a good time to look over the thousands of posts on Cdnav.com and take the time to download / listen to some of the music you might have missed as well as read up on all of the links that you just didn't have time to look into previously

Dec 19th    We're 'midway to a holiday' my friends!  Can't say I'm much of a Christmas season keener - lost that when I was six or seven and realized that Santa was make-believe, but I surely love the whole 'time off from work during the Christian foolishness' thing!  I'll be pretty scarce around the site for the next few weeks as I spend every possible moment on the ski hill, reacquainting myself & my board with every undulation on the mountain.  This Friday will be my last post here for a few weeks in fact ~ but you can be sure that I'll be back in the New Year to blow your minds with the usual collections of music and A/V news from around the wild, wild web!  Nuff' said for now, lets just dig into some blues care of Mapleshade Records and Al Lee - Rainy Changes

Dec 19th    Rejoice all ye' Hobbit Fans!  It looks like the powers that be have finally come to a legal agreement over who will turn the next two JRR Tolkien books into movies, and judging by what he did with The Lord Of The Rings, a better choice could not have been made: Peter Jackson.  Check out this blurb from OneRing.net:

The Hobbit is Finally Going to Happen!  Today New Line and MGM announced that the way is clear to turn J.R.R. Tolkien's "Hobbit" into two films.  The joint announcement came after settlement of a lawsuit with Peter Jackson on 'The Lord of the Rings'.  The plan is to start production in 2009, shooting both films simultaneously and releasing them in December 2010 and December 2011.  New Line and MGM will co-finance the films and it is no secret that 'Spider-Man' director Sam Raimi has long been interested in 'The Hobbit' as long as Peter Jackson was involved in the project.  The plan is for New Line to run production and domestic distribution and MGM will distribute internationally.  New Zealand once again will be the setting for Middle-earth, this time the film will tell the tale of how Bilbo Baggins, ventured from the Shire and wound up taking the Ring from Gollum.

Dec 19th    Time for some audio-geek eye-candy :-)   I don't know what's with all of the Asian audio-collections that I've been stumbling upon lately, but I guess it makes sense: there are a hell of a lot more of them then there are of us and they were on the vanguard of the electronics movement at one time.  I give you The Vintage Vanguard.  Now, I haven't the foggiest about what most of the text says, but I guess not much needs to be read as there are plenty of great shots of old-school kit to admire... enjoy!

Dec 19th    In audiophile circles there exists a lot of discussion and speculation about the effects or lack thereof with regards to absolute polarity.  Personally speaking, I've always simply assumed that it surely must make a difference.  This being a hobby of adverse discussion however, I've often read folks standing their ground on the opposite end of this topic.  Well, I happened upon an interesting article in Recording Magazine the other day that you may find interesting.  All you need is a software application capable of playing .WAV formatted files (if you are running Microsoft Windows, you already have one).  Check out Audio Polarity Test.  By the way, I strongly support the settling of arguments over fidelity via sound files, especially lossless ones such as .WAV.  No matter how good you equipment, your ears, room and source material is, you are always going to get flack over something in your argument of whether one thing sounds more accurate than another: however, if you have A vs. B sound files, recorded with care on great equipment to back up your position, it goes a long way...

Dec 19th    Ok, lets just say that you have your PC hooked up to your stereo system and big-screen and you're itching to experience some ass-kickin' action in the virtual realm.  Suppose further that you are too much of a cheap bastard to shell out for a new game to melt your mind: what to do?  Check out this selection of the Top 20 Free Games Of 2007.

Dec 17th    Another weekend in the history books!  I made the bloody most of it, well, as much as I could without getting swashbuckling drunk anyway :-)>  No, I spent my weekend 'up the mountain' as it were, getting my boarding legs back under me.  Its amazing how quickly the groove comes back to one, even though its been the better part of eight months since I last surfed the slopes.  What to give the virtual spin to today...  Hmm, how about some Camphor - Confidences Shattered.  Its another of those groovy, easy-going pop-folks tracks ya' hear round these parts so often, enjoy!  (160Kb/s MP3, No DRM - Track provided by the band.)

Dec 17th    Now this is more like it: an external HD-DVD / Blu-ray / Standard DVD and Redbook CD external player - at a decent price: $430.00 in USB 2.0 version!  Check out the latest coolness from Addonics Technology.  As USB is pretty much everywhere these days, I can see all kinds of applications for this little gizmo.

Dec 17th    Decided to spend some time on the new SpiralFrog www site this evening and see if it was all that the hype cracks it up to be (free music if you can deal with a few advertisements).  Well, lemme' tell you here and now; this thing is a pile of crap!  First off, its explicitly tied to Microsoft's Windows Media Player - which is not the way I have ever chosen to listen to music or arrange play-lists.  Secondly, all music on the site is DRM 'infected' (death to DRM!), and finally - the setup will be a complete fucking nightmare for those of you who aren't computer savvy.  In a nutshell - what a dud!  Do you want music?  Do you want it free?  Do you hate DRM?  Check out Songbird!  PS: Record Companies, I'm gonna' keep pushing this crazy shit till' you get your heads out of your collective asses and offer us fairly priced music (10-15 cents a track), in a wide selection of bitrates, including lossless WAV and FLAC, without any goddamned DRM schemes - and in an easy to use format!

Dec 17th    You've likely been around these parts long enough to know that I really dig it when folks mash science and sound creation.  One cat on the forefront of this topic is Daniel Levitin.  Here is some of what David has to say in his article A Rock N Roll State Of Mind (with header information)

Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin spends his days exploring how our brains process music as an associate professor at McGill University and head of the Laboratory for Music Perception, Cognition, and Expertise. His music research is a natural extension from his days as a highly acclaimed music producer for the likes of Stevie Wonder and The Grateful Dead. In 1990, Levitin left the recording studio for the research lab, changing his focus from creating music to understanding its neural substrates (the set of brain structures that underlies a specific behavior). His 2006 best-selling book This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession explains the complex relationship between neuroscience and music. InnovationCanada.ca asked Levitin to share his unique perspective as a music maker and researcher.

Innovation Canada.ca (IC): What made you decide to stop producing records to study the brain?

Daniel Levitin (DL): I noticed the record industry was deteriorating — it was becoming more difficult for talented artists to make headway. The industry became more interested in short-term profits than long-term nurturing of talent.

At the same time, I started teaching a course in record production at Stanford because I wanted to give something back to the next generation. We had interesting guest lecturers such as Sandy Pearlman who produced an album by The Clash and managed Black Sabbath, Bernie Taupin, who is the lyricist for Elton John, and Robert Lamm, a founding member of the pop group Chicago. In teaching the course, I realized I liked being around smart people at universities, and I thought that would be a nice way to spend my time.

IC: How does music affect the brain?

DL: There’s a particular part of the brain that responds to pleasurable things like winning a lot of money, taking cocaine, or having an orgasm. That’s been known for years, but with my colleague from Stanford Medical School, Vinod Menon, I found that the same region of the brain responds to pleasurable music. People tell you that they like music, but to actually see music activating this pleasure centre in a brain image was surprising. We like to think of it as the sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll centre of the brain.

IC: In your book, you write that the only pleasing sounds that could come from an accordion would be one burning in a bonfire. How do we determine what is “pleasurable music?”

DL: [laughs] I actually do like accordions. Some people really don’t like bagpipes, whereas some people really like mandolin. These things are cultural or can be an early association, like a favourite song that featured that instrument. Or, you were at summer camp while an accordion was playing and the kid next to you was punching you, so you developed a negative association.

Some of it is influenced by the physiology of the ear. The pinna, the fleshy part of the ear on the outside of the head, filters sound similar to the way that sunglasses filter light, letting in more of some wavelengths than others. That can set up a case where the accordion physically sounds different to you than me because of the filtering. So, it may be pleasant to one of us and unpleasant to another.

IC: Does personal taste play a role?

DL: Why is it that some people like spicy food and some don’t? There are these individual differences for preference all around the world. We haven’t figured out the neuroscience of aesthetic judgment yet, but it’s something people are working on.

IC: Is there a scientific reason why we get songs stuck in our heads?

DL: It’s been described as a cognitive itch and the way you scratch it is by having your brain play it over and over again. And, it’s partly mediated by neurochemical changes in your brain, meaning if you are feeling especially anxious or tense or if you’ve taken certain medications, it’s going to get worse. On the contrary, some medications can improve the condition. We know this because some people have songs stuck in their head so bad that it interferes with their ability to sleep or work. There’s a class of drugs that will relax the neural circuit and reduce the likelihood that the song will keep playing in your head.

IC: You emphasize using actual music — not abstract electronic sounds — in your studies. Is rap music by Busta Rhymes better than classical Bach for your research purposes?

DL: Part of the challenge in designing a rigorous experiment is ensuring that each subject has something equivalent. In the old way of thinking, you played everybody the same piece of music, but if you hate classical music and I make you sit for an hour and answer difficult questions about music while listening to Beethoven, I may not be getting meaningful answers out of the experiment. The newer way of thinking is that we need to be flexible about equivalence across subjects. That doesn’t mean a loss of rigour, it means that you might have an experiment where everyone brings in their own music and each subject serves as their own control. So, the experiment may steer more to [rapper] Ludacris than [virtuoso pianist/composer] Liszt depending on who your subject is.

IC: What do you think the next five years hold for music brain research?

DL: I’m not sure about the next five years, but I think in our lifetimes we are going to see a better understanding of the relationship between genes, brain development, and cognition. We are going to see a better understanding of what the components of music are and how they are represented in the brain.

If I were a betting man, I’d say a disproportionately large amount of these results are going to come from Canada because Canadians have been at the forefront of this work for the last quarter century, longer than anyone else. Canada has a very rich history of real innovation in the neuroscience of music, and it’s nice to be part of that.

Watch a video of Daniel Levitin and David Byrne from SEED magazine.
 

Dec 17th    I've spent more time than logic would allow for, searching for the perfect DAC over the past six months and there is one thing I have come to a conclusion on: DACs are a rip off!  Take a look under the hood of this very common DAC (Musical Fidelity A3) and I think you'll see what I mean.  I'm not picking on Musical Fidelity here, pop the hood off just about any company's DAC and you'll be shocked at how few components it contains.  Its not like these guys are putting a lot of money into R&D, hell, every one of em' is buying off the shelf DAC core logic chips and assembling them by the book.  Getting back to the M.F. DAC: what do we have there?  Perhaps a hundred bucks worth of components and a common OEM case...  Nice, and what does it sell for?  This one went for $1495.00 USD in 2003.  Face it fellow cats, we're being taken for a fast bumpy ride in a car held together with ego and bullshit.  And don't cha' just know that every manufacturer will have a "Next Years Model' available every second season, for more or less the same amount of money, but with bold faced lies telling you the "Its Much Improved Over Last year's Model" .  The way I see it, we should be able to acquire a high-quality-built DAC for [well] under $500.00 which offers a wide array of input / outputs, including USB and /or Fireware.  The case should be available in the standards: brushed aluminum and black, as well as an array of paints or anodized finishes (at a small upcharge).  Furthermore, the company should be willing to offer at least three solid years of warranty on the unit.  As the 'Outboard DAC' genera currently sits, we are being made fools of by an industry which knows that 'audiophiles' are willing to pay whatever it takes to keep up with the Jones.

Dec 17th    After all of those overly-long posts, I think you're due for a shorty: Check out popsike to learn what the value of your cherished records really are.  (thanx to the cats in the Cdnav forum for this one).

Dec 17th    Lets cap off Monday's session with a bit more of my favorite subject: Vinyl Records.  I've said it before, and I'll say it here again: I don't think "LPs sound better than CDs or digital audio files from a computer source", rather, I simply dig the nostalgia and element of human interaction I get when spinning records.  Picked up two more this very afternoon in fact: ZZ Top 'Greatest Hits' and Steely Dan - Gaucho.  Record Technology Incorporated's website has some very cool, eminently interesting information that I'm sure all of you LP aficionados will dig.

Dec 14th    Yaman, the weekend is upon us, snow is falling fast and furious outside and the local ski hill hints that they'll open up more terrain this weekend - very nice!  I say we rock on into Friday / Saturday / Sunday with a little Joe Henry and his track Time Is A Lion.

Dec 14th    Lets revisit one of my favorite Canadian magazines to ridicule: Issue 82 of UHF Mag'.  Is it the 'Blind Tests' where everyone simply gives their opinions on something and a master-reference is whatever rings their bell at the moment or the comments about 'High-End' power cables making the PC's display monitor noticeably better...  I dunno, but amongst the truckloads of - in my rarely humble opinion - complete verbal sewage within it's covers, there lays a few nuggets to glean.  Check out page 18 on soundproofing your home or page 32 for a 'Flashback - Age Of The Catalogue, perhaps page 41 which highlights the Blue Circle 'Thingee'; a device that I find brilliant!  The PDF file is 11.6 megabytes in size, so dial-uppers beware.  Note also that the magazine isn't like Tone Audio or other freebee Zine's that I liberally rake over the coals each month :-).  UHF only provides medium-sized 'sections' of the rag for free, the rest is either Greekish gibberish or blocked with advertising placeholders.  Still, one day they'll learn (perhaps about the same time they start holding actual double-blind evaluations... 

Dec 14th    Pink Floyd fans ahoy (is there, truly anyone out there reading this who isn't a fan - if so, shake a leg man - and get some under your needle, over your tape-deck heads or onto the beam-machine today!  Oh ya, back on track - check out the cool Pink Floyd Discography site I stumbled upon this evening: Pink Floyd & Co.  Very, very nice!  There is sooo much on the site that you'll be there for days, but one of my favorite spots is PFCO Lossless Music Sharing Hub.  In a nutshell: The PFCO Hub allows you to download and share hundreds of live shows from the early years, all the way to the present day solo tours. Most audio shows are available in "lossless" quality, and we encourage the sharing of lossless shows when possible. Many shows are available in DVD quality video also. We do not allow "officially released" albums or songs.

Dec 14th    Mental correction: I've always been one to feel that an MP3, encoded at 320Kb/s with excellent kit was audibly transparent, but I've been corrected, with proof, by a reliable source.  I posted a carefully crafted 320Kb/s clips here a few days ago and the same on Hydrogen Audio Forum.  (H.A. Kicks Ass!)  99% of the feedback I received was in the negative, in other words - no one could hear any difference between MP3s at 320 and un-compressed .WAV files ~ except for one cat.  The dude; Benski,  just so happens to be a developer on the WinAmp software project.  I've been a decade-long user of his product and dig it - I respect his work!  Said Benski Dude pointed out where and what one should listen for - (see post #12 )- he has also provided a WinABX software 'printout' proof of audible mastery - (see post #8).  [[This, my friends is the way it should always work with what might be considered radical statements - back it up]].  As it turns out, the software developer - of all people - certainly knows where to seek out compression artifacts like no-one I have ever communicated with.  His intricate understanding of the process no doubt doesn't hurt.  Nor does the absolutely kick-ass quality of the hardware he is employing in the task: [Orban Optimod-PC 1100 soundcard (all processing turned off), balanced XLR output to an analog mackie mixer, Beyerdynamic DT 880 headphones].

So there you have it men - I've been shown a new chapter here on Cdnav.com!  More power to the   lossless FLAC file format!  Until I am shown otherwise by someone such as the software developers (who all currently maintain that its completely and utterly transparent), I'll push FLAC as hard as possible - not that I haven't always :-)

Dec 14th    Any of you cats thinking about picking up an instrument?  I suspect so, well, if so, have a look at Showmehowtoplay.com.  What a kick-ass site with excellent software - which you can download and use on a few sample tracks and one full song  for free.  Zoom in, slow down and generally mess with the software's tutorial to your hearts content.  Cool software (that really Rocks!)

Dec 14th    That's it for me this week lads!  I'm off to snowboarding, dreams of hot chicks and getting some fresh air - the hell away from computers for damned sure!  Have some Australian Tetley's English Ale at hand, Zeppelin IV blessin' on the stereo and nothin' but starry skies above - its gonna' be a great weekend!

Speaking of Zeppelin;  as a long-time Zep' junkie, I'm not so sure about the new renaissance which the old boys (or is that the media?) are pushing.  I mean, fuck, I love that band's work - all of it, yes, even Coda,  In Through The Out Door and Presence...  But I've heard the new live show (Youtube had a shitload on until recently when the thought police were called in), and, well...  Plant's once-golden voice is, not 'shot', but the inflections are now just so way off base and it "just aint like it used to be".  Sorry man, it doesn't work for me.  Now, should they release a new LP of original material, something that I wouldn't be holding up to the harsh light of 30-years of ingrained listening and coding every musical inflection (and why wouldn't they), and go out on a World Tour, I'll give em' another go, but time will tell...

Don't miss Alex Reisner's Zeppelin Fansite very nice!  And that's it from me: Drum Roll and out...

Dec 12th    As Monday's track was pretty darn mellow, I thought I'd make up for it by providing you with a rockin' bit O' tuneage today: Michael Franti & Spearhead: Yell Fire!  (MP3 compliments of the ANTI Record Company)

Dec 12th    Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD: who would have thought that this would take so goddamned long to sort out!?  SRP (Stupid Rich People), as it turns out, can never be underestimated...  I truly felt that the industry as a whole would have stepped up to the plate and multi-disk players would have swamped the isles by now.  Unfortunately, you only have two choices in that genera at the moment: LG and Samsung.  However, at least we can safely assume that neither format shows much of a real-world improvement over the other - this from a set of reliable sources: Audioholics and Consumer Reports.

Dec 12th    Even though the sound and video quality are less than stellar (an extreme understatement), I'm sure that all of my fellow "we're in it for the music goddamit!" cats will be able to look past it and really dig the tunes being cranked here: OMG's List of the The Top 8 Concert Films of All Time

Dec 12th    I repeat (see every other mention of this online rag'): Not that I'm a huge fan of Tone Publications work: in fact, I think that the author's "I hear it" statements, with regards to cables and various transparent hardware bits is downright asinine.  However, there are occasional articles in his (very slick), magazine that are interesting and informative, especially the large - and very welcome - music sections.  Just skip over the hardware reviews as they are all pretty much poppycock.  Tone Issue 13 2007 Edition.  Careful on that download man, this sucker clocks in at 56 megabytes!

Dec 12th    As a huge fan of Leonard Cohen's body of work, I thought that perhaps many of you out there would enjoy this Austin Chronicle article First We Take Berlin Bob Johnston's two world tours with Leonard Cohen.  Those of you who don't yet own it, do pick up a copy of his 1985 release Various Positions.  By the way, folks with PCs (not Mac) scroll-wheel mice - Hold down the Ctrl key and scroll forward on the mouse-wheel to zoom the page, very cool to ease online reading!

Dec 12th    Missed last years (06'), bit on the mastering process?.  No worries, I give you Studio-Review's WTF Is Mastering?  (Ya' gotta' love an article that gets right to the point)

Dec 11th    A rare Tuesday post!  As promised the other day, here is an interesting little trip down memory lane - your musical memory that is.  Today is your chance to honestly evaluate your ability to discern between two wildly different audio bitrates!  on one hand we have a 30-second file that was 'ripped' from a Chesky records Ultimate Demonstration Disk - using the latest editions of both Exact Audio Copy and LAME, into a 320Kb/s MP3 formatted file.  Then (for the purposes of ABX), this MP3 was re-encoded into lossless .WAV file format.  On the other hand we have a classic, strait-ahead  .WAV file, 'ripped' from the same CD, using the same software, on the same PC (a custom-built, high-end audio-specific workstation - details available on request).  Both 30-second clips are 5.1 megabytes in size.  We also have a copy of WinABX (half a megabyte file) on hand for your use in attempting to determine which is which.  So go ahead, right-click / Save the files to your PC's 'Desktop'.

Spend some time acquainting yourself with the two music clips - The Fred Hersch Trio - 'Played Twice'.  I strongly suggest that you click here and listen to a vocal recording which succinctly introduces the two clips you'll be auditioning.  The files are plainly marked as to which is which.  Now run the WinABX file - it'll immediately offer to open the first of the two previously saved files, double-left-mouse-click the first of the two music files (they should be obvious on the desktop if you saved all of the files to it as suggested above / order is irrelevant), now double-click the second file and click OPEN again.

The WinABX program will now open and be ready to go.  Take some time to acquaint yourself with the application, its pretty strait-forward, feel free to mess around with it as much as you want, there's nothing that you can bugger up.  If you would like to read a 'how-to' manual on the WinABX application, there is one here.  Once you feel comfortable with the application, carry on and prepare to be blown away.  The difference between WAV and a carefully ripped MP3 at 320Kb/s is, well... listen for yourself!

I've been told many times, by many different audiophiles, that the best way to attempt any comparisons between MP3 and .WAV was via quality recordings featuring a lot of cymbals.  Thus, I bring you one of the cleanest recordings I've heard in some time, sporting pretty-much non-stop cymbals.  I've used some of the very best computer hardware / software available to the public in the creation of these files.  I suggest that you situate yourself in an absolutely quiet room, get comfortable and pour a glass of your favorite beverage, employ the very best headphones you have on hand and perhaps an outboard DAC if you happen to have one.

Dec 10th    Gonna' drift you dreamily into the new workweek on the vocal wings of one Rose Polenzani.  Cannot pin down exactly who I think this gal sounds like, but its been heard before, just in a slightly different guise.  Blue Angel (160Kb/s MP3)  Rose is giving away a bunch of other tracks on her homepage if her style interests you.

Dec 10th    Its all the rage amongst music lovers these days: rag on the audio quality of the MP3 file format.  So its not perfect; oftentimes due to shitty rips on shitty equipment using ancient codecs.  Anyway, some cats have come up with a cool little site, all setup for unsighted auditioning of three different bitrates of the same track(s).  Have a go and see for yourself how your ears do in discerning audible differences between 64 / 128 / 256Kb/s is when you cannot first see which is which.  Sure the 64 Kb/s track stands out - it bloody well should, but aren't you impressed with how close the 128 and 256Kb/s tracks are to each other!  By the way, many (see Hydrogen Audio Forums), strongly defend the stance that 256Kb/s or so is the point of transparency between Redbook CD and MP3 encoding technology - as long as one is ripping the tracks with care and the latest codecs.  I'll soon post a Redbook CD vs. 320 Kb/s audio track on Cdnav.com so that you can compare the two in WAV file format.  I'm sure that those of you in the 'Golden ears' club will be floored at the lack of audible difference!

Dec 10th    Here's an odd-spot: me quoting an artist who's music I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in...  Curtis James Jackson III, aka 50 Cent on downloading pirate music off the net.  I pretty-much agree with this cat.  While I don't think that all music should be 100% free, I do take the position that a small portion of it should be, in order to spread the word about a band - and the remainder of the artist's work should be sold - but at prices a hell of a lot less than what its being sold for now.  In my ideal world, big labels have one, perhaps two tracks per album of freely downloadable samples available on their sites and the balance made available in a variety of high-bitrate formats for perhaps 15 - 20 cents per track.

Dec 10th    The Swiss National Sound Archives, in conjunction with one Mr. Cavaglieri is proposing a process which will enable the storage of phonographic records onto photographic films.  the process involves some interesting micro-scanning and computer analysis / capture techniques.  Have a look at the video and listen to the early results on the VisualAudio website.  Parallel projects are also ongoing at both Princeton University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.  Both are cool as heck and worth a look.

Dec 10th    Well, I've been on kind of a vinyl kick on the site as of late, so why not press on - Those of you who express an interest in really old-school slabs; 78-RPM, 16-RPM, transcription records and the like will get a kick outta' Vintage 78's - Getting in the Groove.  The site is a treasure-trove of knowledge on these topics and offers numerous links that'll keep you learning for hours!

Dec 10th    Flashing back to the future.  I was recently reading about an issue that I'm sure that each and every one of us has encountered & wondered about at some point: those little 'holes' that are apparent when one holds a CD-ROM up to a strong light-source.  As it turns out, there is more to TLC of your shiny disks than "don't scratch em' and keep them in their cases".  Have a read though the National Institute Of Standards And Technology document Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs — A Guide for Librarians and Archivists.

Dec 6th    And that's a wrap to another workweek.  Feel any older?, me neither...  Lets ease on into the weekend with a little bit O' Steve Dawson's work - This Train  (160Kb/s MP3 compliments of Bloodshot Records)

Dec 6th    I've been dragging my heels over acquiring an outboard DAC in order to facilitate some upcoming unsighted auditioning - but this procrastination has allowed me to do a great deal of investigation into what's on the market in the interim.  One of the shining lights in the distance is the Musiland MD10 USB-equipped DAC, and one of the most cost-effective sources that I've found (even compared to eBay!), of said DAC, is iFi Audio in Omaha Nebraska (of all places).  If that sucker was available in black, I'd have one on my desk right now!

Dec 6th    Stumbled upon a real treasure-trove of musical nostalgia / learning in the Library Of Congress - American Memory homepage.  I went looking for African American heritage classics / blues, but came up with a whole lot more.  The site is jaw-droopingly massive; I know that I've barely put a dent in it as far as reading goes.  It takes some poking around, as the pages don't have a cohesive look and feel to them, but its all there - albeit, the 'Fi' isn't so 'High' on most of the clips as currently presented - I found out why - they also sell full-fidelity versions of the recordings :-)

Dec 6th    Marc Heijliger's 'Milestone' DIY loudspeaker project looks to be a real charmer.  Those of you with a nice woodshop and a little (ok, a lot), of time on your hands and a hankering for a beautiful set of speakers, might be inclined to have a look at the very well laid out instructions for these floor-standing beauties.  Marc's hobby site also has a load of cool reading to be had, check it out.

Dec 6th    Here's an oldie, but a goodie!  Producing Great Sounding Phonograph Records (or Why Records Don’t Always Sound Like the Master Tape).  Its an entertaining read, casting the vinyl LP recording / reproduction process in an easy to digest light.  Check out the FAQ on the main site as well, there is some interesting stuff to be had there too.

Dec 6th    What would a day of posting on Cdnav.com be without busting yet another audiofool myth?  Why, just another geeky A/V site - and that's certainly not our style :-).  I give you Audioholics 'Speaker Cable Length Differences - Do They Matter?

Dec 6th    Now here's an example of 'Thinking Outside The Box': Owen Meyer's  - Mood-Based Music Classification and Exploration System (Adobe PDF formatted document - 1.3 megabytes).

Dec 6th    What have I been saying these past weeks: Forums, forums, forums - every damned where you look theses days, someone is talking turkey about A/V!  The latest barrage is from Audio-Video Revolution - have a go man.

Dec 6th    Ok, nuff said.  I'm off to sleep, here is one last bit O' tuneage to ease you into the weekend - Gary Louris (formerly of the Jayhawks), on his own: True Blue (192Kb/s MP3 - No DRM - Song compliments of Gary's homepage).  They jury is still out on this one as far as I'm concerned.  I'll have to give it a few more listens as it appears to be 'growing on me'...  Let me know what you think.  Have a rockin' weekend lads!

Dec 5th    You know I dig quirky names and all, but this is beginning to push things a little far: The band is called I Am Bones and their track is titled The Main Thing Is To Keep The Main Thing, The Main Thing (! Nothing like a little truncation).  Its a fast-paced / poppy little number that'll get ya' hoppin about the house today.

Dec 5th    What the heck is with all of this aliasing and Nyquist stuff anyway?  Today's 'Geek-Out' deal withs what I'll call "Aliasing For Dummies"... ya, I like pictures too..

Dec 5th    Holy crap, yet another forum to suck away the precious minutes left in your existence :-).  Doom 9 is heavily focused on DVD Conversion, but I found loads of threads going every which way into the A/V world as well.

Dec 5th    I dimly recall reading about nOrh Audio's unique loudspeakers, but I had no idea that they built power amplifiers as well.  Not only that, but overkill / massive / quality power amplifiers at a [[[very]]] fair price!  This looks like the deal of the century in power amplification.

Dec 5th    Ready for a little World Music Brampton & area?  Alpha Yaya Diallo is playing in your neck of the woods tomorrow at the Rose Theater.  This is your chance to hear one of the greats in the genera.  Check out a few free MP3 (clips) that his band has made available on their website.

Dec 5th    Lots of short posts today, so I guess its only fair to end the midweek posting session with a whopper:

Dear readers, those of you who have been with me for some time, or who have ventured into the void known as the Cdnav.com Forum, will have no doubt by now realized that I’m a real hard-ass about bullshit, deception, marketing (as its generally conducted in North America), and outright lies.

My harsh tone on these pages and in the forums might make you wonder who the hell I think I am and why I’m so cocky. Trust me, I just seems shocking because it’s been a long time coming; our hobby / industry is so far down the moral toilet that it couldn’t reach the rim if it stood on tiptoes!

Spend any amount of time online and you’ll soon see that the A/V industry is awash in misinformation, deception and outright lies. I’ve seen folks rally against it here and there around the Internet, but few like the cohesive, grounded endeavor that I had in mind. Cdnav.com is a true effort from the heart – a love for my hobby and of an honest approach to dealing with your fellow man. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m the farthest thing from religious; I’ve simply sought to create not only (one of) the Worlds’ largest repositories of easily accessed / free & legal music, but also a clearing house of information relating to folks who took the time to conduct carefully documented, peer-reviewable and reproducible unsighted audio / video evaluations. It doesn’t matter to me if you are a scientific body or a couple of friends who get together, have a glass or your favorite beverage and audition a couple bits of A/V without any way of visually scrutinizing it as it’s being evaluated: I want to hear from you.

This unbelievably simple act of just listening without seeing goes hand-in-hand with the core audiophile mantra: “Trust Your Ears”, yet most refuse to do so without knowing what they are listening to. If enough people actually listened without the prejudice inherent in seeing what you are auditioning, the audiophile community would realize that the marketers are full of hot air, among other things.

The industry is on its knees before our wallets, lets not allow them to manipulate us each product cycle the way we’ve been (asking for), through so many years. If we take a new, educated stance, they’ll very soon realize that we as a consumer group have seen beyond the mask of marketing / brainwashing and the multi-million dollar mind-funking nonsense that goes along with it.

What’ll this get us? How about lower prices on ‘high-end’ audio kit, more focus on quality control instead of new face-plates & cases every few years, stronger efforts to increase hardware / software / firmware reliability prior to market launches, longer warranties (note how the automotive industry uses longer warranties as a competitive tactic), better technical support, and a sense of pride that we’ve re-established the lost art of honesty in the industry.

I’d like to think that, way back when, before a marketing department got hold of it, A/V equipment was built with thoughts of the joy it would bring to those who would use it. Helping folks to travel to another time and place via audio and video technology, not simply figuring out ways to part folks with their money in any way, shape or form possible, under any circumstance imaginable.

That’s called marketing – It’s the source of that subliminal, gnawing itch that audio/videophiles refer to as ‘upgradeitis’. It’s the voice that tells you that you need an amplifier / CD player / set of cables or whatever - of a certain status - especially one that some other equally deceived individual or marketing-publication has raved about, before you can truly enjoy what’s to be heard in the source material you have so diligently collected.

I’m hear to tell you – in plain English – that there is no need for the absurdity that exists within the current Audio / Video industry’. Reclaim your hobby by sitting down and just listening (remember the “Trust Your Ears” mantra), to what you already have, compare it with whatever you like in it’s class – level-matched (easy to do with freely available Pink Noise WAV files and a cheap ‘Radio Shack’ meter) – and operating within it’s specifications - without looking at it while doing so. I guarantee you that you’ll be bowled over by the lack of difference that you’ll note. Spend as much time with the piece in question as you like, but when you switch bits, arrange it to be done in such a way that you’ll have no idea which is which.

If you do this – and don’t peek in any way, you’ll understand what my ranting and raving on this site is all about. Let me put it to you quite frankly: go ahead and mess with loudspeakers, room acoustics, source material and perhaps cartridges, but leave the rest alone – it’s marketing mythology and its bringing down our reputation and respect in the electronics community!

Andrew D.


Dec 3rd    WooHoo, its December ~ only 22 more shopping days till' that grand Christian freakshow called Christmas!  For me, its simply an excuse to avoid work for a week or so while my clients are distracted by visiting family and friends; a week of snowboarding in the mountains among the trees and beautiful views...  ahh...    Lets open Monday with something quirky and curious: Pale Young Gentlemen - Clap Your Hands (192Kb/s MP3 care of the band).  You can also read up on the group here.

Dec 3rd    Another month, another issue of 'Affordable Audio' online A/V rag.  This one is always a head-scratcher for me, the cat at the helm of said publication seems to be nice enough - we've 'spoken' several times via email, the zine' features some great articles each month - yet it also drags in complete fucking bullshit as "Budget Power Cord Comparison", which offers mind-bendingly idiotic statements to whit:

“Signal^® (cable) had impressed me again, only this time I needed surgery to get my jaw reattached. I heard recording mistakes I had never known existed (not that this is a good thing, but it shows the kind of detail this cable has). It was full, it had body, it was so much more open relative to the stock cable.  The subtle voices I mentioned earlier were so clear I thought I could make out what they were saying.  It was deep, moving, and above all, emotional.  The layering was quite good and resolved.  The only hindrance to the cable was that I felt the bass could get a bit unruly on heavy hits, but this was only experienced while listening to techno tracks where the bass is supposed to hit hard.”

I can only shake my head in amazement as I marvel at how this lad was able to come up with 8 different sets of complete bullshit to cover the clutch of cables he had in his possession.  Did he consider conducting the auditions unsighted... naw, that would be too logical and intelligent.  Instead he dug deep into his thesaurus and..., well I'm sure that you're all big enough boys to sort the wheat from the chaff by downloading issue number 24 here.  (Adobe PDF formatted document).

Dec 3rd    Whew!  After that load of manure you'll be needing something intelligent to get you through the day.  Check out Chris Whealy's Porous Absorber Calculator and prepare to be amazed by how much work this fellow has put into designing a series of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets that can be employed in calculating room absorption coefficients for a number of different materials.  Notice how you can manipulate the spreadsheet to account for Properties Of Absorber, Properties Of Cavity, Properties Of Incident Sound and Display Options.  You'll need to know a wee bit about Excel's Security functions (manipulation of), in order to get Excel to work with this amazing spreadsheet - just use the Help option that pops up when you try to change anything and you're good to go (email me if you want instructions).  I've programmed many an Excel Spreadsheet in my years as a computer technician, but nothing near to the complexity of this one - nice work Chris!

Dec 3rd    Buy 5 Pepsi products get one MP3 for 'free'...  Now lets translate that into truth and reality: Purchase five portions of a multinational corporation's sugar-laden / diabetes-promoting products and get one lousy MP3 that 99.9 percent of the population are already downloading for free from P2P applications... Ya, that promotion will go over well.

Dec 3rd    Mix Magazine has a very interesting interview with Metallica's sound-man “Big Mick” Hughes, complete with several informative podcasts (streaming MP3s).  Once upon a time, this band was 'The' metal act on the planet.  I saw them in Brandon Manitoba (of all places) back in the mid-80s and once thought that they could do no wrong.  Turns out that any act that sticks around long enough tends to put out some pretty bad shit...

Dec 3rd    What'd I say just the other day about forums?  "Another new one every time you turn around" (or something like that), and sure nuff': 'Agoraquest - The place for Sony Enthusiasts'  Got Sony / Got Questions?  Check it out.  (PS: if any of you cats wanna' help out by scanning through this page and adding the many forums I've mentioned over the past few months to our forum's "Other Forums" list, I'd greatly appreciate it - I'm just tits-up up for time these days...)

Nov 30th    Ya did er' boyz', another month in the record books / another opportunity to have a blast at your doorstep, AKA; The Weekend!  Have a couple of tunes for ya' to check out this fine Friday.  Twist an ear to the folksy, and as usual around here, oddly named The Dying Californian and their (incomplete) track The Martyrdom of Perpetua.  I've provided this track, even though its incomplete - because I dug it and thought you might too.  Read up on the story behind the song here.  Drop into the Indy record label's site and pop a tenner for it here.  If these folks turn yer' crank, there are three more (full length), tracks here.  If that's too mellow for ya', then check out The Like Young - For Money Or Love (if you're a fan of Sonic Youth, you'll likely dig this track). 

Nov 30th    In the vein of "its the weekend / anything goes", I bring you Showcase's free offering of The Trailer Park Boys, season 6 & 7 as well as the Christmas Special :-) online.  Weird shit man...  The website also features a whole lot more that I'm sure you'll get a kick outta'.  Learn how to use the 'enlarge video' option...

Nov 30th    For those of you considering treating yourself to a new flat-screen TV this holiday season: I've been doing a bit of sleuthing myself: in the 1080p category, I've found that the local Costco is about the best bang for the buck.  Take a boo at this link to see what they currently have in LCD / 1080p.  I've omitted Plasma in this rundown as I feel that they are energy-hogs.  Speaking of which, have a scan over this chart which indexes the latest round of monitors based on energy-efficiency.  And finally, for even more insights; pop over to C-Net for a look at their 'TV Buying Guide'.  With these three in mind, you'll no doubt make the best choice on the new monster TV.

Nov 30th    Its been pretty much a free ride for music pirates in Canada over the years, but it appears that certain 'powers that be' are moving to implement some pretty tough anti-piracy / anti-circumvention laws.  Get up to speed on what's going down via Michael Geist's informative website.

Nov 30th    Audio-Antique-heads rejoice; someone out there still cares!  In this case, its some un-named cat with a website dedicated to phonographs; specifically those made by The Victor Talking Machine Company from 1901 through 1929.  The site is chalk-full of information and links relating to the old-school machines; very informative and entertaining in a musty old, shellacked-smelling kinda' way.

Nov 30th    Ok, its been a while since I laid a heavy on ya': today's bit of knowledge; Memory For Musical Attributes, is offered up compliments of Daniel J. Levitin.  This is one of the best articles I have read with regards to 'hearing memory'.

Nov 30th    Gonna' stretch my musical scope a bit here and offer up something that I rarely bother with, due in no small part to my lack of enthusiasm towards it, Jazz!  Check out Winfield Davis and Ed Johnson's free MP3s on Jazz Times website.  You are asked to sign up for the download, but [any] email address works to get in!  From what I can gather, the site's selection of free Jazz MP3s changes over time, so if you are viewing this a few months from now, I can't say what might be there...

Nov 30th    That's it for me this weekend; back to figuring out accounts payable I go!  Most of you know my soft-spot for old-time blues, so you shouldn't be surprised that my final link of the week is to a very cool site, narrated by the one and only Buddy Guy.  Click over to Chicago Blues and get an earful form the master.  The site is 'Flash' based, so might take a while to load on a slow connection, but its worth the wait!  (Use the blue panel on the right-hand side of the screen to navigate the place).

Nov 28th    Welcome to yet another Hump day in the life and times of 'You'!  Nothing to do but tip back a brew and celebrate the fact that we're still standing on the rock, spinnin' round' the hydrogen ball of fury :-)    I tend to accumulate a shipload of Free & Legal tunes in the course of any given month, and this one has been sitting on the desktop for a while now - I have no idea from whence it originated, but hell, I dig it!  Have a go at it lads!  Oakley Hall - No Dreams.  (256Kb/s VBR MP3, No DRM!)  If you dig their style, there are four more downloads available on the Oakley Hall website - though note they are pretty low-fi...

Nov 28th    This may come as a shock to some, but there are still cats on the rock who will cut you a one-of-a-kind vinyl LPs - for a price.  Apparently, its more common and popular than one might think.  If you're into an interesting read, check out TapeOp's article: Peter King & His One-Off Vinyl.  (Adobe PDF file format 90kb).

Nov 28th    I know that I haven't been fillin' yer' heads with much in the way of 'what's new' out there in regards to audio kit, so here is a mouthful all at once for ya'.  There are some pretty cool gadgets coming down the line, witness CES Innovations 2008 Awards Honorees.  Flat, powered subs with remote controls, Wireless subwoofers, Bel-Canto & B&W going with the iPod crowd, (that's gotta' make the audiofools cringe :-), and a bunch of other new toys to mess with your common sense (and wallet).  Oddity of the set, for me anyway, is the Infinity PS212W wireless subwoofer.

Nov 28th    RCRDLBL: This is another shot at distributing music - legally.  RCRDLBL (re-read the moniker, you'll get it...).  I could take a few paragraphs to attempt an accurate description of the site, but here is a direct-copy of their own blurb: We'd like to welcome you to RCRD LBL, a new music site where all of the downloads are both free AND legal.  In some ways we're a music blog, written by people who want to bring you cool new music day in, day out. In other ways, we're a record label, championing, signing and partnering with bands we believe in. Either way, we have exclusive tracks from everyone from Mos Def to Junip to Jacques Renault (with TONS more to come), but we're also working with an amazing roster of partner labels (they're listed just below our logo) who will also be blogging and giving away music on the site on a regular basis. And since we do have a blog we figured we should also use it to point you to best of what else is out there on the web.  In a nutshell, a place to grab some more Free & Legal tunes!

Nov 28th    If you caught 'The Great Debate' posting the other day, you'll no doubt be interested in viewing the 'PCABX Training Room' mentioned in the audio discussion.  This page allows one to take the time to train their own ears.  Some pretty tough challenges await as downloadable WAV files; have at er' and learn a shipload.

Nov 28th    Oh hell, I was gonna' lay some heavy reading on ya' with regards to musical memory, but it'll have to wait till' Friday as I'm feeling like more music is the better avenue.  Something freakish is appropriate here: Gary Lucas and Rolo McGinty cover Syd Barrett's Astronomy Domine (nice :-)  Double-Hell, if that's not enough for ya, have a listen to Tim Easton - They Will Bury You (raw blues - Lots more Tim Easton Here.)

Nov 26th    Groovy: We finally got some snow in the local mountains!  Our ski-season opened this weekend, but with a whopping 40cm's in the hills, not too many people took the opportunity to trash their equipment :-)   Lets ease on into the new workweek with a subtle shot of Loquat - Swingset Chain.  Tnx' to Playing In Fog Records for the free MP3.

Nov 26th    John Atkinson's vs. Arny Krueger: A few years back these two cats got together and voiced their opinions on the Subjective vs. Objective positions.  Its an interesting listen, but one which requires a 30 megabyte download.  Those with dial-up connections need not apply...

Nov 26th    Forums, forums, rah, rah, rah.  Love em' or hate em'. there seems to be one springing up monthly on the Net' in this day and age.  Stumbled upon 3DB the other day, though it appears to have been around for a bit already.  Dive right in, this one seems to be more of a Pro-audio site, and should therefore be lighter on bullshit than so many others.

Nov 26th    Very cool: Who amongst us doesn't appreciate the Bob Dylan's body of work!?  Turns out, Bob has dipped his toe in the movie bizz' again, this time round', its a little bit weirder: Bob's life is played out by six different actors, one of them a gal Cate Blanchett)!  Check out Bob's I'm Not There site and trailers.

Nov 26th    Own a Radio Shack SPL meter and wish the hell you knew more about the lesser known functions?  Hell, wish you knew more about it in general?  Check out Home Theater Shack's SPL Meters | Mic's | Calibration page and fill yer' brain!

Nov 26th    Here's an odd-spot; some cat in the UK has put up a site dedicated to those old-school devices: Laser Disk Players!  If you've a hankering for ancient equipment, dig in.

Nov 26th    CBC, oh beloved CBC de Radio-Canada!  To hell with buying audio tapes / talking books, etc: check out this absolute treasure-trove of CBC programming, all in one spot.  Dig in, download!

Nov 23rd    Friday Baby!  In celebration of unleashing the beast for the next two days, I give you Cass McCombs - That's That.  Its a floating little tune, reminiscent of any number of bands, but still manages to remain unique.  320Kb/s VBR MP3 - No DRM.  (MP3 Compliments of Cass)

Nov 23rd    Too mellow for ya?  Ok, how about some old-school blues pickin'?  Ronnie Earl - Lunch At R & M's 320Kb/s CBR MP3 - No DRM.  (MP3 Compliments of Telarc Records)

Nov 23rd    Many a time I have stated that any two amplifiers, of quality design, with roughly ballpark specifications, will 'sound' alike, so long as neither amplifier is driven to the point of clipping, oscillation etc.  Never did I suspect that two completely and utterly different amplifier designs could come so close to this common ground as well!  As it turns out, a group of Golden Ears gathered together at the 2006' Rocky Mountain Music Festival in Denver Colorado, grabbed an old-school, home-brew tube amp (1966 D.I.Y. vintage), and a modern Denon transistor amp, then put their egos to the test in just this sort of amplifier audition.  The results... "There were no "night and day" results. Indeed, for most attendees the differences were difficult to hear. Moreover, those who perceived a difference were just as often wrong in selecting which amplifier they thought was the tube amplifier. This shocked all of us".  Its a shame that they had to employ such uniquely different amplifiers as well as such an open method of auditioning, but I guess it made the point.  Personally, I would love to see the same kind of audition at AudioFest 08', but employing something more linear.  Perhaps a modern, basic 100 watt per channel 'big-box' receiver's amplifier stage, along the lines of a Pioneer, JVC, Kenwood or what have you, vs. a Mark Levinson or Krell designed showboat / power-house.  Now that my friends, would be very interesting.  While you are on the Cordell Audio site, have a look around - its a fairly cool place, chalk full of knowledge.  I haven't had the time to look at it all myself yet, but what I've seen so far is impressive!

Nov 23rd    Titled "An Unusual Route To The Home-Theater Experience", the Walberswick site is jam-packed full of classic audio kit for your eyes to feast upon.  It looks like the chap has a real love of our hobby!

Nov 23rd    Audioholics: I really like this place, they are among the more honest A/V spots out there, though I've been known to keep half an eye-brow cocked when negotiating the space of anyone involved in marketing & advertising...  Today's tidbit covers a product & subject that I've never really given much thought about, but one which I can relate to: Masking Systems.  Check out the Carada Masquerade Masking System Review on Audioholics.

Nov 23rd    That's a wrap for me this week dudes.  I'm going to take the advise of Southeast Engine and - Quite While You're Ahead.  160Kb/s CBR MP3, No DRM.

Nov 23rd    Aw, fuckit, its the weekend after all.  Check out the many free tracks offered by Steel Train on the Daytrotter site.  You'll have to do the clickin' on these ones yourself and put up with the slightly annoying 'Sure Microphone' pop-up advertisements...  I recommend the tracks 'FireCracker' as well as 'Dakota'.  Have a great weekend; Crank It Up!!!

Nov 21st    Well look at that; Wednesday already!  Good things certainly come to those that wait...  I can hardly wait till' Friday, will that make it come sooner?  :-)  What to kick off Hump Day with?  How about some Lou Reed (esq.) tunes from the very oddly named Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Cold White Christmas.  If its a dark under-story they were searching for - they've nailed it!  Lou would be favorably impressed.

Nov 21st    Ok, ya, ya... that one was a little noir wasn't it?  How about I set ya' up with something a little more upbeat: Brighton MA's Ballad For Coolhand.

Nov 21st    Wanna' know what the hell the whole controversy over MP3 codec sound quality is all about?  Well, you could download, install and try one of the many ABX applications on the Net', or you could cut to the chase and visit FF123's Artifact Training Page and give your ears a go.

Nov 21st    Everything you ever wanted to know about HDMI.  I know, I've posted this link in the past, but the site has been updates to include the latest 1.3 series specifications and more FAQ's have been added.  Don't believe the crap you'll read in forums - get it from the source.

Nov 21st    Whatever Happened To The SACD?  (Quoted from the site): "Like the cavalry charging over the hill to save the day, the Super Audio CD was poised to rescue the ailing music industry five years ago. It promised far better sound quality than standard CDs, surround sound capability, and best of all, the Hybrid SACD could also play in standard CD players. In 2002, the Rolling Stones' classic '60s albums were all reissued in the Hybrid SACD format, to glowing reviews. The next year, Bob Dylan's catalog was upgraded. The sound quality blew away listeners. It seemed only a matter of time before the people who had replaced their LPs with CDs for the last twenty years started replacing them again with SACDs.  And then ... nothing".

Nov 21st    It seems that one of the uber-philes out there decided to take things into his own hands this week, and attempted to give the ol' Amazing Randi vs. Michael Fremer cable controversy a go.  Now, this particular cat just happens to own one of the world's highest-quality stereo systems, as well as a high-end / custom-designed audio listening room.  Said individual also felt that he wouldn't have a problem determining which speaker cable was which, thus, was a pretty damned good candidate for the session.  As it turns out - all of the fancy equipment, special rooms, familiarity with his own source material and megga-thousand dollar speaker cables couldn't save him from his own ego...  he failed miserably in picking out which cable was in play.  The moral of this story is obvious: Ego sucks and a basic, properly designed and terminated cable is as good as one costing tens of thousands of dollars.  As you can imagine, the many complete nutbars out there who claim to hear everything and anything, will make desperate attempts to sway you from the black & white truth, but you'll not see a damned one of em' offer to challenge their own ears to an unsighted evaluation of a fancy cable vs. a bog-standard copper cable!  Why?  Gee, I dunno :-)

Nov 21st    Always one to bring you the crazy stuff that no-one else on the scene cares to grasp ~ Check out a RecordingMag.com technique that will let you hear for yourself, realtime / linear, the effects of aliasing on digital audio.  Its a bit more work than most of my posts, but has a trippy payoff, and you'll no doubt get a buzz out of how much the signal can take before we get annoyed with the sound.  First off, you'll need to download this 30-day Demo of Max MPS, in zipped form from their website.  Unzip it (inform me if you don't know how to 'unzip' a file, and I'll post an uncompressed version on my site), and then download this little file (AliaserPC.mxf), from Recording.Com's site.  The aforementioned are XP-Home & Pro OS specific versions - if you want Mac versions, go here.  Re-boot the PC after installing the program and then use MaxMPS to open the AliaserPC.mxf file that you downloaded in part II of the above instructions.  Got all that?  Good, once you've opened the AliaserPC.mxf file you'll see a rectangular / grey click-box titled Load SoundFile.  Click it and point it to any .WAV file of your choosing.  Click the Play from top button and enjoy the music for a moment...  Now use the vertical slider to change the sample rate.  Crazy shit man...

Nov 21st    A looooooong time ago I promised you an opinion on the Windows Vista operating system.  Well, I've had a spring / summer and fall to get to know this Microsoft OS and here is what I found:  Its slow... and I mean fucking slow - compared to Windows XP - or any other OS that Microsoft has ever released in fact.  It doesn't offer me anything exciting, nor does it positively change my interface with the omnipresent personal computer.  Its sluggish to do anything, even on absolutely killer / cutting-edge hardware.  I have been warning my clients away from it in every possible case, every scenario.  What else... how about that cool printer / camera / scanner / internal card etc., you purchased two or more years ago... feelin' lucky?  There is a damned good chance that the manufacturer hasn't bothered to write Windows Vista-compatible drivers for that sucker.  I've run into this issue innumerable times onsite in the past 10 months - its maddening!  Some fools in the A/V geek-pool expound theories of a 'Vista audible superiority' vs. Windows XP... Do they care to take a shot of identifying a file recorded on Vista vs. a file recorded on XP?  No?, I thought not... (but I'll post two here in a flash if you ask!).  I've blind auditioned many such files and must say here and now: the Vista vs. XP audible superiority thing is a myth!  It was all based on a misunderstanding of an issue related to triggering sound files in the background when another was playing in the foreground on XP.  Vista deals with it smoothly, sometimes Windows XP does not, as sounds associated with events in your XP operating system and applications can evoke sample-rate conversion - end of story.  An engineer from Benchmark covers tweaking XP quite well in this Wiki.  The verdict, as I see it: skip Vista, wait from Microsoft's '7' Operating System, due out in...um, whenever Microsoft sees fit to release it...

Nov 19th    Beautiful!  Spent my weekend with loved ones and great people!  Saturday night consisted of a huge party with a hundred or so friends at a buddy's 50th birthday.  The gig was held at a local Greek restaurant famous for its ambience and amazing food, and we all had a hell of a great time.  With loads of traditional Greek food & gallons of fine red wine to wash it down on hand, it was a good thing I got to sleep-in the next day!  Late Sunday morning a bunch of us headed into the local mountains on bikes to get high naturally ~ if there is one thing to get your ass on before you die; its gotta be a kick-ass mountain bike lads!  The views, the exhilaration of speed on the descent, camaraderie between the fellas and the beer... oh, the cold beer around a campfire at a seclude mountain cabin at days end... to hell with the city life; this is livin!  Lets ease into the new week with a mellow little ditty from Nick Drake: Blues Run The Game.

Nov 19th    Forums, forums, forums... there seems to be no lack of cats with a jaw to wag (key to punch), when it comes to discussing A/V and our fascination with it.  In that vein, I give you yet another: The North East Wisconsin Audio Society.

Nov 19th    They’re remastered and re-released - but does messing with Led Zep’s classics really make them sound any better? Times Online bends an ear toward the Lead Balloon.

Nov 19th    What would my week be without ridiculing audiofools?  Boring, I agree!  With that to heart, I give you the rather long-winded, but pretty damned comprehensive Science and Subjectivism in Audio.  When just one of those nut-jobs comes out of the A/V closet and conducts a documented, witnessed, unsighted evaluation of a tweak demonstrating in good faith that some pseudo-scientific cable / fuse / pebble etc., bullshit actually has an audible effect on the program material (don't hold your breath), then I'll let up on em', I promise!

Nov 19th    What good would this site be if I didn't provide you with some serious acoustic geek-time?  Well, today I have a dandy for ya': Bruel & Kjaer's: Measurements In Building Acoustics.  850Kb Adobe PDF File)

Nov 19th    Old-school Punkers ahoy!  Who knew that these cats still existed: Canada's own DayGlo Abortions are playing Toronto's 'Kathedral' Nov. 23rd if you are so inclined.  These crazy buggers brought us such memorable (hilarious) albums such as Feed Us A Fetus,  Here Today, Guano Tomorrow and Two Dogs Fucking.  They are even giving away one of their tracks, an oldie titled Is This How A Punk Song Goes?  Go ahead, tickle you nose hairs, as to what the hell they are saying... here you go!  I used to listen to em' a lot and saw em' a few times as a kid, they were wild onstage and as long as one stayed fairly inebriated; loads O' fun with kinda' catchy tunes (in a vaguely disturbing sorta' way  :-)

Nov 16th    Well, wasn't that a nice short workweek!  IMO, we should always work four days on / three off, it'd make for a whole lot less stress!  I say we celebrate the coming weekend with a taste of The Treats: Cuchillo.  This is what one gets when Mexican traditional meets Rock n Roll (bear with it past the Southern intro).  There's some riffin' in there that even Jack W. would be proud of - very cool!

Nov 16th    Everything old is new again: have a look at Yamaha's latest offerings and it'll throw your head back at least 30 years.  Metal faceplates, wooden end-caps, the exact knobs and dials that we grew up on 'back in the day'.  I wonder what this'll do to the absurd market prices being asked for ancient components online?.

Nov 16th    Now this is funny: you may have already seen this clip on other forums, but I just had to post it here, for, if nothing else, my own amusement: A couple of long-term studio cats and two musicians take a stab at identifying an all-analog tape recording vs. an all-digital master...  Have a peek, pretty entertaining!

Nov 16th    Why do I mock tweaker-audiofools so?  Perhaps its because I simply must laugh at their gullibility, maybe its caused by years of reading their asinine missives, or perhaps its simply that their giant egos annoy me so.  Apparently, I now must pity them: Scientists Find that Low Self-Esteem and Materialism Goes Hand in Hand.

Nov 16th    Those of you into glowing tubes and all things ultra-analog have reason to celebrate this weekend ~ This day in electronics: Nov. 16, 1904: Vacuum Tube Heralds Birth of Modern Electronics

Nov 16th    The perfect gift (aw', are we starting in on that shit already?!), for that Beatle-junkie in your life, or maybe even yourself: "...the most definitive and thoroughly researched book ever published about how the Beatles' recordings were actually made"

Nov 16th    Frontline has made a one-hour / 4-part video series available online titled "The Way The Music Died" - Here's the synopsis: Frontline follows the trajectory of the recording industry from its post-Woodstock heyday in the 1970s and 1980s to what one observer describes as a "hysteria" of mass layoffs and bankruptcy in 2004. The documentary tells its story through the aspirations and experiences of four artists: veteran musician David Crosby, who has seen it all in a career spanning 35 years; songwriter/producer Mark Hudson, a former member of the Hudson Brothers band; Hudson's daughter, Sarah, who is about to release her first single and album; and a new rock band, Velvet Revolver, composed of former members of the rock groups Guns N' Roses and Stone Temple Pilots, whose first album will be released in June.  Part 1, 2, 3, 4. (Windows Media Player file format).

Nov 16th    A New Twist to the Cochlea: Why It’s Shaped the Way It Is: Time for a little techno-babble.

Nov 16th    I've been reading / listening to a new book lately ( Critical Listening Skills For Audio Professionals ) that, among many other things, allows one to discern distortion in pure tones and music.  I'm amazed at how well music masks even relatively high amounts of distortion.  I'm using very high quality headphones for most of my listening (to the books' companion tutorial CD), and have to say: marketing brochures where companies contrast their products 0.0035% distortion vs. a competitor's 0.0075% distortion - are the biggest crock of shit ever put to print!  The human ear has a hell of a time discerning 1.0% THD (!) when music is used as a source.  For a good read on distortion, have a good look over Bruel & Kjaer's Audio Distortion Measurements publication.  (2 megabyte / Adobe PDF document).

Nov 16th    Well if this hasn't been the biggest post I've made in quite some time!  Perhaps I feel an angstrom of guilt over not posting much these days..., um, no, that's not it...  or perhaps I just have too damned much time on my hands this evening, waiting for these damned PCs to finish loading service packs / updates / security fixes...  At any rate, this is it for a few days; I'll wind up with some more tunes to groove on into the weekend: Check out full album streams from: Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Bobby Bare Jr., The Stranglers, Lindsey Buckingham, Widespread Panic, The Sex Pistols, Jerry Lee Lewis and Paul McCartney!  Remember to check that Temporary Internet Files folder... :-)  Have a kick-ass weekend fellas!

Nov 13th    What a wild and wooly long weekend that was!  Here in the Okanagan we experienced near-gale-force winds that ripped the hell outta' our park trees, shingles from dozens of roofs, storefront signs and various other valuables.  I guess one can only respond by... puttin' on some Canadian tunes and cranking the hell outta' your stereo!  The New Pornographers - My Rights vs. Yours.  192Kb/s MP3 - No DRM.  Kudos to Zunior Records for releasing this free work.  You can download loads of other Zunior Samplers by signing up on their website.  You'll receive bi-monthly (more or less), notes from Zunior - whenever they have another 'Sampler' available for free download.

Nov 13th    Just in case that's not enough of a jolt to drag you through the shortened workweek, dip your earlobes into some of Ministry's free & legal downloads: warning - extremely heavy!

Nov 13th    Ever wonder what an acceptable grading system for used vinyl might be?  If you wanna' flog some of your unwanted LPs, how do you describe them?  The Record Collector's Guild has created this succinct guide to describing your wares to potential clients.  While you're there, check out their discussion forum, (might find some of that inner-groove inscription info' that you wanted in there KC), as well as the interesting articles on estimating the value of your records, care, finding vinyl, Microscopy of Vinyl Recordings and many other cool listings.  A highly recommended site for vinyl buffs!

Nov 13th    Continuing right along on a vinyl kick: check out the very interesting Secret Society Of Lathe Trolls discussion forum.  From what I can gather, this is a place for cats involved in the actual cutting of vinyl LPs!  Another of those things that make you say to yourself "I hadn't even considered that such a thing existed"...

Nov 13th    Ever lust over a set of Wilson Audio's Watt Puppies, but just don't know how you'll break it to your significant other that you've blown over $18,000 on a set of loudspeakers?!  Well, fear sleeping in the garage no more; with a lot less money, a bit of carpentry skill and a whole lot of time, you can own a D.I.Y version of the venerable monoliths!  Check out Thorsten Loesch's little 'how-to' and be amazed!

Nov 13th    One of my favorite things to do on a rainy Saturday afternoon is listening to CBC's Quirks & Quarks.  Bob McDonald pry's interesting answers out of scientists from around the world, on just about every topic imaginable.  Just in case you are looking for some interesting to burn to disk for that next flight, long drive or trip on rails, this massive collection of knowledge is sure to impress.

Nov 13th    Its that time of the month again: Affordable Audio has released it's November edition of the AA online rag.  As usual, crank the bullshit detectors on high and dive in!  If you can hold your breath past the voodoo cable / 'air around instruments' nonsense, you'll be rewarded with articles such as Recording – Techniques & Technology, by Simon Ashton (page 23).  Truth be told, that was all that interested me, but you may find a few other nuggets kicking around the place...

Nov 9th    Ya Man - Fuuukn' Friday, and a long-weekend to boot!  Cruise on into the weekend ~ that glorious distraction from the curse of work and all its attendant stresses ~ with a taste of of John Vanderslice's quirky Me and My 424 (I believe that he's singing about a Tascam 424 as the CD this was taken from is called life and death of an American four-tracker) - Track compliments of Barsuk Records

Nov 9th    Yet another cool cat who took the time to debunk the complete freekin' idiocy of the 'audiofools' (translation: gullible / corrupt individuals with massive egos).  Green Markers on your CDs: Teetering On The Edge

Nov 9th    "Deezer is like... Freebasing Napster"...  That's how this one was described to me in an electronic missive.  Now, I've truly no idea what the hell freebasing is all about, but I sure as shootin' know all about the Napster phenomenon!  It turns out that Deezer is only 'kinda' like the once-mighty Napster; one cannot download the music (shy of streaming capture utilities), but you can audition loads and loads of amazing music in their full-track / streaming glory.  Deezer.com.  Cannot tell ya' what the bitrate is, perhaps 128k or so.

Nov 9th    And finally, a little Canadiana (always a good thing!).  The Impact of Music Downloads and P2P File-Sharing on the Purchase of Music: A Study for Industry Canada (391Kb Adobe PDF).

Have a great weekend my friends, go ahead and purchase a "shit, that's expensive", bottle of Vino', a bit of those favorite treats you've been denying yourself, a longed-for CD or LP, perhaps a ticket to a live show and don't forget, in honor of Remembrance Day, Pay It Forward to someone, especially a complete stranger!  Those cats fought and died so that we might carry on - lets try to make their effort's worthwhile by making each other's lives a little better!

Nov 8th    Only a couple more days till' the weekend, Nice!  What'll it be today?  how about some Rickie Lee Jones - Elvis Cadillac.  (Compliments of New West records)

Nov 8th    Bid daddy is coming round'...  Universal Music - Classics & Jazz have stepped out of the DRM shackles and are now offering their entire C & J catalogue.  Better yet, the files are MP3 encoded at 320Kb/s!  Nice work, now if they get smart enough to lower their prices...

Nov 8th    10 Things to Know When Buying an HD Camcorder - The cool cats at Gizmodo have another very informative, no-BS article that'll help you avoid the sales pitch you'll get at your local big-box chain store if you go there looking to purchase a new camcorder.

Nov 8th    In what must surely be a contender for the Internet's ugliest www page design... we have the Sonic Studios site.  Its actually chalk-full of cool gizmos which enable one to capture binaural and surround-sound performances 'in the field' as it were.  Someone please email this cat and tell him his website layout blows...

Nov 8th    The iPod geek crowd out there will love this one: Stream Music from your iPhone to iTunes with Firefly Media Server.  See, sometimes crackers are helpful little buggers!

Nov 8th    Some of you are still into Digital Audio Tape (DAT), and as such, I'm sure that you'll get a charge out of what amounts to somewhat of a 'DAT Oasis': DAT-Heads.

Nov 8th    For those of you who are chomping at the bit for some technical A/V reading, and don't wanna' be forced to pick up one of the fetid audio/video rags at the smoke-shop: Engineering The Performance - Recording Engineers, Tacit Knowledge & the Art of Controlling Sound.  (All credit to the authors!)

Nov 8th    Its back!!!  Enjoy what is arguably the Internet's highest quality streaming audio via Radio Paradise's 192Kb/s streaming MP3 channel.  I'm listening to it at this very moment in fact: Louis Armstrong - Wonderful World - Very, very nice!  Speaking of Radio Paradise: They are currently flogging some really cool, well-built and sanely priced 'Audioengine' powered mini-monitors.  The speaks' go for $200.00 whether you purchase them through the station's www site or Audioengine's site.  I suspect that Paradise Radio stands to gain a tad from the sales, and I feel that should support them...

Nov 8th    "Just because"... Every once in a while I like to throw in a link to something environmental-based.  Today's link is to a newer, pretty-much frictionless wind turbine: the home & office sized Maglev Wind Power Generators.  Finally, something good coming out of China!

Nov 8th    Ok, just in case I don't get a chance to post again before the salvation of our society: AKA, The Weekend!!!  Jon Lajoie: High As Fuck - Funny shit!

Nov 5th    Damn man, wasn't that a kick ass weekend!  Sure the weather wasn't 100% here in Western Canada, but the cool, overcast was cats-ass for hiking / biking in the mountains, and the even cooler evenings were a great excuse for a dinner-party or two with good friends, great music and a few bottles of Vino'!  I'm gonna' kick off the workweek with a blast of The Archibalds - Rain & Thunder.

Nov 5th    An interesting clip to mess with your minds this morning.  Most audiophiles swear on a stack of whatever that they can discern audible differences between various components - and they absolutely refuse to be put in a position where they cannot visually identify the components or devices under audition.  They are pretty sure of themselves and their capabilities.  Please allow me to demonstrate the utter unreliability of our eyes / ears with a demonstration of a phenomenon known as the McGurk Effect.  Check it out, have headphones at the ready to assist in this one.  Its pretty much a mindfunk: if you stare long enough, and try like hell, you'll get it, but its not easy.  Try to watch / audition the video clip and then listen to it with your eyes closed, before you read the text below the video...

Nov 5th    Gonna be a short one today boys, am working on researching another project to do with agriculture in Nova Scotia - will let you in on the bits and pieces if I successfully acquire the land I intend to purchase in 08'.  In the meantime, here is something to amuse and amaze you!  The 'golden ear' nutjobs think that I'm against everything that isn't explainable by modern science.  They are, of course, completely wrong in this assumption.  The truth is that I'm not opposed to the unknown elements so long as they are tested and the methods are documented and openly available in case third parties wish to employ these methods in further evaluations.  Case in point, this Knowledge Network documentary on autism.  No, its nothing to do with Audio / Video, aside from the fact that its a motion picture.  However, its fascinating as all get out!  Check it out: The Boy With The Incredible Brain.  You'll definitely require a high-speed Internet connection to view this clip.  Notice that the individuals under consideration have no problems with performing their mental feats under duress, in multiple locations, on demand - and get it right every time.  This is in stark contrast to the audiofools who stammer that they cannot be tested as the 'stress' will cause them to fail... cough...

Nov 5th    Not that I'm a huge fan of Tone Publications work: in fact, I think that the author's "I hear it" statements, with regards to cables and various transparent hardware bits is downright asinine.  However, there are occasional articles in his (very slick), magazine that are interesting and informative - just skip over the hardware reviews as they are all pretty much poppycock.  Tone Issue 12 2007 Edition.

Nov 5th    We all like a great deal, and Onkyo has the manufacturing, marketing and distribution muscle to lay some out some cool kit at fairly decent prices. Check out their new 'all in one - 7.1' surround sound HP-ST908.  Its loaded to the tits with cutting edge technology including:

- 1080p HDMI version 1.3a, video up-conversion, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD
- Slim wall mountable 7.1 speaker system with 230W powered subwoofer
- Audyssey 2EQ Auto Speaker Calibration, using multiple calibration points
- 192/24 bit DACs

Ready to roll for $745.00 bucks on Amazon.com

Nov 5th    You think you have WAF issues!?  Check out Arto Kolinummi's D.I.Y Full-Range Electrostatic project.  Ah, ya... that must be one understanding little lady...  On the other hand, if you were really gunnin' for a divorce - I do believe that this is the project to undertake

Nov 3rd    We interrupt this weekend of relaxation for a special announcement: You need to download, pop back a stiff shot and (((crank the living hell outta'))) American Steel : Sons Of Avarice as soon as humanly possible!  I know, I know, this is a repeat of Oct 29th's post - but I just cannot emphasize strongly enough, the utter crankability of this track: you'll see what I mean shortly...

Nov 2nd    Welcome to November: the pearly gates of 2007/2008's ski season!  In a mere 21 days I'll be on the slopes, pitting balance and common sense against the forces of gravity - and lovin' every minute of it!  How about some Canadian band crankage featuring The Stills - In The Beginning (A nice, clean, DRM-free, 192Kb/s MP3 compliments of Vice Records)

Nov 2nd    I run two, would like two more if the wife wouldn't have me committed...  This begs the question" "How Many Subwoofers Is Enough"?  Floyd Toole answers  

Nov 2nd    Here's another of my favorites: a cool cat who sat down and auditioned two CD players 'blind'.  I know where this cat is at, I too have been convinced that items A and item B sound unique from one-another, but when it came to telling them apart when I was disallowed visual access... well, read the experience [and try it yourself!].  The dude also has a load of really cool links from his site to others on the Net, including this one: The Bass Pig - love it!

Nov 2nd    In a world where well-designed / built CD players, amplifiers, preamps, cables and solid-state electronics in general are acoustically transparent (go ahead, grit your teeth Mr. Audiofool), there is one bastion of excitement left for audio hardware lovers: The Loudspeaker.  I recently came upon a page detailing Keith Kidder's DIY speaker exploits and was very impressed with it - to the point that I wanted to share it with ya'.

Nov 2nd    For some reason or another, I've failed to keep up with my usual postings on band tour schedules.  I'll attempt to rectify this by noting that The Weakerthans are playing Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre on Nov. 8th.  See the full tour schedule here.  I've posted their work on this site several times in the past: scroll down to April 30th, May 1st and July 11th to get an earful of their talent!  .

Nov 2nd    Slowly, oh-so-slowly... bits and pieces of the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray war are eroded by dual-format decks such as Samsungs' new BDUP5000.  Gizmodo has a snippet of an update on the rather expensive gadget.  Expect 08' to go down as the year that the format wars died...  when Chinese manufacturers get hold of the technology to pull this off with some kind of cheap licensing or reverse engineering!  Don't buy a single-format deck folks, hold on a little longer...

Nov 2nd    I really and truly love it when folks have enough of a brain to actually conduct logic-based audio evaluations on their own or with friends.  It warms my heard and restores my faith in my fellow audio-nut.  Chris Long is one such fellow: he recently endeavored to discern differences in ripped CDs under various 'electrically noisy' environments - and came up, you guessed it... well, read the short description...

Nov 2nd    Those Clapton fans among us might be interested to read a few pages of excerpts from Eric' new book: Clapton: The Autobiography - available here on, of all things, Vanity Fair!

Nov 2nd    Purchased a pretty interesting-looking book off Amazon.ca this morning: Critical Listening Skills For Audio Professionals.  I'll keep you updated on what I learn as I go along.  The hardcover book was a mere $37.00 and since I grabbed a copy of Leonard Cohen's Death Of A Ladies Man CD while I was there, the order qualified for free shipping - cool deal!

Nov 2nd    Well, that's it for me, the weekend, AKA: my salvation from work - has arrived, on time as always - though it tends to feel overdue about Wednesday...  I'll sign off with a track that Fingertips just listed: The Silver Seas - Imaginary Girl.  A nice, easy-listening way to trip on into the weekend - Later skaterz!

Oct 31st    Happy Halloween my fine friends!  I'm so damned happy that Oct. is over and we're one step closer to ski season, that I'm gonna' take today off work!  Damn strait, I figure that the only sane way to make it through the workweek is to shorten the darn thing, and what better way than to break it up into little chunks!?  Heck, now look at that, only two more days to go and its the weekend again :-)  Lets celebrate with a track off Mark Knopfler's new LP: Madame Geneva  Unfortunately, there is a catch to this one: Mark & Co. aren't making it freely available for download, only as a stream...  Thus, unless you are 'stream-savvy', you'll have to simply enjoy this one from the site as-is.  It is however, a pretty decent tune!

Oct 31st    In the vein of Halloween, allow me to flash you back a few decades to The Hilarious House Of Frightenstein.  Like many of you, I grew up on this Canadian program and remember more than a few after-school afternoons, stretched out in front of the boob tube, getting my fill of this psychedelic children's show, enjoy!

Oct 31st    Those of you craving some mind-food, check out the work of yet another proud Canadian: Floyd E. Toole's Loudspeakers And Rooms For Multi-channel Audio Reproduction.  This is a three-part series, I'll shoot em' to ya' one at a time over the next few weeks as each is fairly significant in depth.

Oct 31st    Yup, that's it for me, a short work-week, a short post and an even shorter attention span :-)  I'll sign off with the work of a few more talented Canucks: Blue Rodeo, and a couple of tracks off their new LP.  (Have a look in your 'Temporary Internet Files' folder...)

Oct 29th    Back at the grind my friends!  Not much to say this AM, but I have a mind-blowing site to show you: Seeqpod.  I'm not too sure of how they have managed to stay online for as long as they have, must be a loophole in the RIAA's book over the fact that the site doesn't actually download anything for you, it just points out the music, as with Google?  Oddly, as with so many other large sites with the RIAA's blessing (download.com for instance), Seeqpod really does download the streamed files onto your PCs - into the Temporary Internet Files folder...

Oct 29th    This next one goes hand-in-hand with the above link.  When Pigs Fly: The Death of Oink, the Birth of Dissent, and a Brief History of Record Industry Suicide.  I suggest that you set the display font in your browser to 'largest' for this one.

Oct 29th    those of you with 'above average' music file collections (see above), will dig the news that a faster bus is coming to town: USB 3.0 ~ 4.8 Gigabytes per second (not a typo!).

Oct 29th    A few weeks ago I showed you some bits concerning the coming OLED display technology, there is a lot more online since then, have a look.

Oct 29th    Ok, ok... I'm known as the guy who gives folks links to free & legal music, so I'll play the role...  How about several hundred more classical tracks by all the major composers from wayyy back in the day?  Check it out, its fairly comprehensive.

Oct 29th    Need a Rock n' Roll fix instead?  Ok, if you're a fan of the work of the Clash, in their heyday, you're gonna' love American Steel : Sons Of Avarice ((Crank It))) and perhaps a few 'retakes' of classic tunes compliments of Me First & The GimmeGimmes: The Longest Time, Leaving On A Jetplane and the timeless Wild World.  I get a hell of a kick outta' these versions!  What?, too heavy for ya?  Geeze', ok then, at least crank up the dial for a little Leeroy Staggger Slowly Sinking.

Oct 27th    Short one for the weekend boyz'.  Tonight's music post is taken from Fingertips site - Melou - Sweet Love.  Very nice, a complete change from the regular themes around here!  This track is MP3 encoded without DRM at 320Kb/s VBR.

Oct 27th    More music: Not just any old tunes mind you, but really old and quite rare ragtime care of Collections Canada.  All of the tracks you hear on the site are legit / legal, so take some time and enjoy the archival skills of a great many folks: "your tax dollars at work". :-)

Oct 27th    For those of you who are into portable players and have wondered about battery life vs. file bitrate (ya. my mind wanders...), check out this well-executed site on RockBox.  They also sport a discussion forum if that kinda' thing interests you.

Oct 27th    I gotta' admit, nothing brings a smile to my face like witnessing a 'Golden ear' face reality by way of someone holding their proverbial 'feet to the fire'. Though I've read this one in the past, it never ceases to give me that warm all over feeling: Boston Audio Society ~ The Digital Challenge.  While you're in the neighborhood, check out their other excellent articles; ABX Testing and Wishful Thinking.  By the way, in case you've ever wondered why its so damned difficult to get your neighborhood 'Golden Ear' to attend an unsighted audition, this should explain it...

Oct 27th    Ok, that's it for me this week (told ya' it was gonna' be brief): lets close with a link to some new piano-rock care of John Mayer's new band 'The Frey'.  All files are nearly tucked away in your 'Temporary Internet Files' folder as you listen to em' - unfortunately low-bitrate 128Kb/s....  Not enough for ya'?  Ok, tuck into a few tracks from that old balladeer Bob Dylan care of Download.com.

Oct 25th    Another day, another win for the Vees!  Just arrived home from taking in a great game in our local arena, watching what I hope will soon gel into a BCHL league winning team.  Now that I'm back, safely ensconced behind the keyboard of my favorite laptop - what to crank up this evening?  How about some free & legal Widespread Panic: Up All Night.

Oct 25th    Enjoy a controversial film now and again?  Hell, who doesn't?!  As such, I know you'll dig this lot of free films from FreeDocumentaries.org.  The resolution leaves a bit to be desired, and some of the links don't initially work right off the bat (look around the pages for secondary links), but heck, the price is right!  The site contains something like 90 movies, most full-length feature films, the vast majority of them are poignant / pretty much 'must-sees'!  This should take you a while to wade through!

Oct 25th    Don't think I've brought this one up in the past, a quick search of the site appears to confirm this - so here is a link to a quality site dedicated to lossless audio: The Lossless Audio Blog.  If you dig high-quality audio signals, but wish that they could be a little smaller, lossless audio is for you.  Not just .FLAC mind you, there are a sheepload of different lossless audio file formats, check out the site and learn what I'm talking about.

Oct 25th    Another day ~ another A/V blog to show ya':  Check out ProRec.com to avoid all of the audiofool banter and get back to the heart and soul of music making!  The site's main page also has some pretty decent articles.  Check out Over The Limit, Greed & Power and Radio-Radio.

Oct 25th    So Steve has finally landed the 'Apple Of His Eye': Led Zeppelin's entire discography!  I must admit, I'm mighty surprised at one thing; they are offering a bundle of the entire catalogue for $99.00.  From what I gather, that means roughly a hundred bucks for the lot of em', at 256Kb/s and free of the much-hated DRM.  The only suggestion I have is that they boost the bitrate to 320Kb/s and call it a deal.  Here is a direct quote from the Apple site: Pre-order “The Complete Led Zeppelin” today on iTunes Available for pre-order exclusively on the iTunes Store, “The Complete Led Zeppelin,” a special digital box set, delivers the band’s entire discography for just $99. The 165-track collection includes the new career-spanning “Mothership,” a 24-track retrospective of the group’s best-known songs that’s also available separately. Pre-ordering either “The Complete Led Zeppelin” or “Mothership” automatically enters fans to win the chance to see the band’s reunion performance at London’s O2 Arena on November 26. Winners will receive 2 tickets to the show, round-trip airfare, and hotel accommodations. (Terms apply.) [Oct 23, 2007]

Oct 25th    I don't post much gospel/blues on the site, mostly because I'm not much for gospel, however, sometimes, such as with the work of Elvis ~ and in this case: The Blind Boys Of Alabama, I have to digress.  NPR has a great page that will fill your soul, if you are so inclined, with great old-school blues.  If you have the Real Audio player installed (or better yet, the open-source - Real Alternative player), you can sit back and enjoy an excellent interview with the boys, accompanied by loads of TBBOA tunes.

Oct 25th    And in closing...  Long-timers round' here are well aware of my vehement dismissal of 'The AudioFool gang' within the music-lover's environment.  Sites like Cdnav.com are few and far between, which is odd on one hand, as most of us are well-educated, affluent, and  I would like to think, wise enough to see a scam at 50 paces.  However, greed, ego and stupidity have obviously saturated a good portion of the audiophile community; how else can one explain sites like Canuck Audio Mart's discussion forum, as well as those of Steve Hoffman.tv and the various 'Asylums' out there?  Happily, there exists a large site called Audioholics.com, which was one of the first to point out the idiocy of cable manufacturers.  A recent article by Audioholic Tom Andry had me laughing enough that I thought I'd share it with you: Audio Reviews & Marketing.  My favorite is:

"I had what I can only describe as multiple out-of-body experiences during my listening sessions with the [speakers].  It was as if I had been taken to the Amazonian jungle, smoked some hallucinogenic plants with the local shamans, and had been transported to another reality."

Oct 23rd    Tuesday and we're just cruising along, thinking about sneaking a day off before the weekend...  Lets glide into today with another taste of Iron & Wine - Innocent Bones.  It took me a few listens to really dig this track, but now I'm playing the hell outta' it.

Oct 23rd    I always knew that there were a heck of a lot of bands in this, the greatest country on earth :-) -but I had no idea of the sheer number of groups in Canada!  The other day, while browsing a CBC site, I came upon this amazingly massive list and thought I would share it with you.  There are a little over 22,400 entries (!) so far, and as you'll no doubt see, a wide range of bands don't currently appear on the list.  Lets work on increasing the numbers: email or post in the forums, and I'll edit the list as we go along.  In no time, we'll have the most comprehensive listing of Canadian bands on earth!

Oct 23rd    If you're in the market for a portable media device, but don't wanna' go the iPod route, for whatever reason, then Anything But iPod is definitely the place for you to start your search.

Oct 23rd    Wireless speakers: Sound at last?  Upstart company, Avnera, feels that they've cracked the secret of providing quality audio over wireless technology.  Have a look at their ideas, but keep in mind the option of the many sound-bars on the market - as discussed on Cdnav over the past few months.

Oct 23rd    As if legal downloading sites didn't have enough to contend with in attempting to establish a toehold in a world of pirated music (90+ percent by most estimates), Canada's Copyright Board slaps tax on music downloads.

Oct 19th    Well I'll be damned, look at you, all happy to have made it through another week of working for da' man!  I guess its time to celebrate then huh?  How about we kick off the gateway to the weekend with a shitload of REM-tribute tracks.  Those of you who never took the time to dig into the milestone 'Automatic For The People' (one of REM's best ever LPs), get your chance to discover the genius of the band - albeit, through the work of admirers and their interpretations, via StereoGum's compendium of REM cover-tunes on this site.  All downloads are free & legal, encoded at 192Kb/s MP3, No DRM!

Oct 19th    Home Theater Shack is at it again: check out the Fall 2007 Subwoofer Test.  Gotta hand it to these cats, they don't just talk the talk, they rock the walk!

Oct 19th    There is not much I admire more in a man then truth and honesty.  Its what makes me so fond of my step-father, he's the proverbial rock of integrity when it comes to any matter which he is faced with.  In the field of A/V, I am most impressed with folks who stand up to the marketing juggernaut and simply speak the truth.  One such man in the field is Marc Perlman.  Pour a deep glass of your favorite inebriant and kick back for an enjoyable read of Marc's Golden Ears and Meter Readers: The Contest for Epistemic Authority in Audiophilia.  IMO, this is one of, if not 'the', best expression of the current 'state of the industry' at this point in time ~ as sad as that may seem...

Oct 19th    Cool new product watch: Check out what's happening in car-audio ~ Estone, an unknown in the industry has just released an in-dash deck with removable 20-gig' hard disk drive, auto-CD-Ripping technology (!), and USB 2.0 connectivity.  Some models sport Flash RAM compatibility and future models are soon to be released with wireless connectivity capabilities for transferring files between your PC and car-stereo sans any physical media ~ dig that shit: pull up in front of your home (or a friends) and download a bunch of tracks, then off you go - very cool!

Oct 19th    I keep dragging you back to this site, but for good reason: the Rock N Roll held within it is kicks ass!  Without further ado, I present the one, the only, Jeff Beck - Live Masonic Temple, Detroit, MI, 05/09/1975 - care of Wolfgang's Concert Vault.  If you haven't signed up before, know that you can use any username / password / email to sign up - there is none of the usual 'confirmation email' bullshit - just Rock n Roll!

Oct 19th    That's it for me this week, between the 22-odd tracks on the REM page, the comprehensive subwoofer discussion and Marc's absolutely excellent dissertation, you should be up to your tits in information for more than a few days!  Me, I'm gonna drink in the weekend like a fine Bordeaux: do some hiking and biking, take in some junior hockey (The Vees are working on 10 straight!), spend time with my gal and our friends and generally lap up the luxury that some fail to see surrounding us each and every day!  We may not be rich, but we Canucks certainly live in the lap of luxury!  Tap at cha' some time next week...

Oct 18th    Its been a few days since my last post; as much as I dig the site, its pretty time consuming to research and post the way I once did (daily).  My gal and I both celebrated birthdays over the past few days, I took plenty of time off work, did loads of hiking in the colorful local mountains, and generally just sucked up the beauty of being alive with a vengeance!  Today's Free & Legal musical post comes to us care of Andrew Vincent & The Pirates.  I posted their stuff a few months back, but it was wiped in a bit of server f#c$ups...  Check out One, Two Three and Gary Haché.  If you were ever a fan of early Lou Red, you'll love this stuff!

Oct 18th    Those of you who know me, realized years ago that I despise the bile which spews from the mouths of audiofools (did I word that strongly enough?), and I relish showing them the folly of their bullshit: my newest catchphrase to describe their behavior?; "They're nuttier than squirrel shit".  Liars annoy me: audiofools annoy me even more...  What am I driving at with this little diatribe?  Well, the crock O crap which said delusional fools proffer in suggesting that surround-sound is not for the enjoyment of 'real' music, but rather, for video accompaniment only.  Man, these cats are spending far too much time alone with their little 2-channel systems in dark rooms, they need to be provided with a decent demonstration of what a properly setup 7.1 or better hardware / software front-end can provide.  I agree with much of what James D. Johnson said in his 1994 publication: 'The Science Of Audio'.  Have a read, but to do so you'll need either Microsoft Powerpoint or the free Powerpoint viewer installed on your system.

Oct 18th    Hell, I'm on a roll here, so might as well provide you all with a little more reading from someone who actually took the time to blind audition amplification devices and report on their findings (hint - more of you fellows need to do this too).  Sensible Sound published this little ditty a few years back on the topic of 'Amplifier Sound'.

Oct 18th    I don't talk about A/V books much, perhaps I should do so more in the future.  Let me rectify that somewhat by opening your eyes to what might just go down as 'the' bible of the blues: Black & White Blues, by Marc Norberg. 

Oct 18th    Wowzers - here's enough reading to keep ya' busy for the balance of the evening, perhaps into the weekend!  Automated Home's article 'Wiring Guide'.  Its the most comprehensive overview on the topic I've seen to date.

Oct 15th    Welcome back to office hell!  Just kidding, er... no I'm not...  What to do in order to get your sorry asses through to Friday: AKA "the only workday that really matters"?  How about tuning into Concord Music Group's www site where they have a nifty little thang' called Concord Radio.  This application not only streams great music at 160Kb/s MP3, no DRM (I'm listening to CCR's Susie Q as I tap at cha'), but the files spool into your web browser's temporary internet Files folder... for later retrieval and playback if you so desire.  By the way, the new John Fogarty disk is pretty much what you'd expect from the man and his band, kinda' like CCR never left the stage.

Oct 15th    I've been on a bit of a "can I hear codec artifacts?" kick as of late.  Despite my urging, most folks simply refuse to download an ABX utility, rip a track or two and compare for themselves.  Odd, but... I'll be posting more on this in the future.  I have always maintained that 320Kb/s, properly ripped, with modern encoders, is transparent for 99.99 percent of the planet's population.  Oddly, its been damned tough to find a single documented blind or double-blind audition using 320Kb/s vs. classic Redbook CD posted on the Internet, in fact, none are available via Google or AltaVista lookups.  I did however, find this old (year 2000), evaluation in which a group of respected auditioners from the German magazine C't - using 7 year old MP3 technology at 256Kb/s, were unable to produce anything even near statistically valid data to demonstrate an audible difference.  Once again, I encourage all viewers to download Foobar 2000 and Audacity, then rip your favorite / cleanest CD with the widest dynamic range possible - into both WAV and MP3 at 320Kb/s.  Listen to your heart's content, then report back here with results.  I'll post em', anonymously if you like...

Oct 15th    If, on the other hand, you prefer your music in FLAC file format, groove to live soundboard recordings, and like me, dig Free & Legal tunes, there is always The Decemberists 24-bit FLAC files, available on The Internet Archive.  (Tnx. Lou!)

Oct 15th    While you're waiting for those bloody huge downloads, perhaps a little light reading to occupy yourselves?  Though its damned obvious to all of us who are music junkies, science, or rather one Daniel J. Levitin, of McGill University has recently produced this little ditty titled 'Life Soundtracks ~ The Uses of Music In Everyday Life'.  A good solid read, and fodder for those friends or spouses who cannot figure out why we simply must play music nearly every waking hour; (its actually good for us!).

Oct 13th    Yes, a rare weekend post!  Just thought that I might throw ya' a curve ball and allow you to do some auditions for kicks.  I've uploaded two files to my server, both identical clips from the Brandenburg Concertos (see below).  One of the clips is in uncompressed WAV file format (1440 Kb/s), the other is compressed in MP3 file format at 320Kb/s, using Audacity to export the files, and the very latest version of the LAME encoder.  Download the WAV file here (6.6 MB) and the MP3 file here (1.5 MB).  Now import these two files into any ABX comparator application and have a go at discerning one from the other...  Good luck!  I have had no success whatsoever figuring out which was which!  A great ABX utility to work with is built-into Foobar 2000.  No matter what the files are named, the application doesn't allow you to see them or their file-names when the audition is in motion.  This, my friends, is a fantastic example of what our golden-ears can or cannot 'hear'!  I'm using a kick-ass set of ATHM40fs headphones and a new Asus Xonar sound-card (supposedly the highest-quality card in the world at the moment), on a custom-built A/V workstation, in a very quiet room late in the evening.  If any of you have any questions on how to use the ABX comparator utility, feel free to drop me a line and I'll write you a tutorial pronto!

Oct 12th    Ya' just gotta' love short work-weeks!  Four days on / three days off... sounds like an extremely sane way to run a life!  Imagine the decrease in stress, rampant consumerism and pollution from commuting...  For this weekend's music, I'm going to borrow a link from a good online buddy (Hi Lou!), and provide you with something (a lot different) for a change.  The Brandenburg Concertos are freely available from this site in both 192Kb/s MP3 - as well as lossless .FLAC file format.  Scroll midway down the screen to see the beginning of the tracks.  The site has a decent server in place: I achieved download speeds in access of150Kb/s.

Oct 12th    One of the coolest of the forums listed in our massive 'Other Forums' section (see our own small forum for the list), is the Home Theater Shack.  Those of you who own a sound pressure meter will dig the free Room EQ Wizard software which the shacksters have made available online.  If you become a member of 'The Shack', you'll also have access to a comprehensive selection of test tones for free download.

Oct 12th    Like me, Tech Crunch blog feels that it just a matter of time until "The Inevitable March of Recorded Music Towards Free" comes to pass.  One day soon, every band will make a great deal of their music freely available online, using it as a way to get us to shows, and they'll earn their money like the rest of us: working for it!

Oct 12th    I can't really say that I've heard of Mr. Morrison's loudspeakers prior to this week, but I like what I see on his site: honesty...  Can you imagine - how scandalous: truth in marketing!  The old devil has built something along the lines of Ohm Walsh's kit from days of yore, and though I have yet to hear them, I have spent many an hour with the Walsh designs over the years, and dug what I heard.  Bend an eyeball to the Morrison line of speakers as well as Mr. W's strait talk about audio - if only more people in the audio business had these kinda' morals ! 

Oct 12th    Not really an 'A/V' post, but what the hell, its A/V related...  Every once in a while I post on the topic of gaming, mostly because I am flabbergasted by how life-like games are getting.  Case in point: the latest game to hit the shelves: Crysis, check out the screenshot (click to enlarge).  Is that crazy or what!  Ok, while not as high-rez' as Crysis, the free / open-source game Glest aught to have your kids (or you), tied to the screen for a few hours on rainy nights.  I really dig free & open software, in any guise, check out Glest!

Oct 12th    Looks like there'll be a new kid on the high-resolution television block by 09': Toshiba's announcement that they will be joining Sony in releasing OLED TVs is good news, with more of the big-boys sure to follow, perhaps we can get these suckers at a sane price before the 2010 Vancouver Olympics - cause you sure as hell won't wanna' pay the prices for the tickets to see the show live!  What is OLED TV?, check out this video explanation.

Oct 12th    Seems as though every-other loudspeaker company is producing a 'sound-bar' style offering these days, with good reason - they are unobtrusive and 'good enough' for most folks.  Nakamichi is the latest to throw it's hat into the fray with their Niro 1000 Surround System

Oct 12th    Ok, enough already...  Its the weekend, go out and have an ass-kicking good time, suck up every last second of this fleeting 'life-thing' and perhaps, well ya': crank up some great music like this from Canada's own The Sojourners and their gospel / bluesy track Eyes On The Prize (160Kb/s).  If this is your groove, there are a few more 'Free & Legal' tracks to be had here.

Oct 9th    Wow - what a long weekend!  Loads of riding with my best friends, far too much food at three separate feasts and lots of Rock N Roll!  Several days ago I promised to dig up some more Sadies, and true to my word, I found one other track for ya'.  Crank up a bit of What's Left Behind (192Kb/s MP3 No DRM)

Oct 9th    Gateway looked to be all but finished a short time ago, but alas, just look at the kit they've just rolled out:  "extreme HD resolution - a whopping 2560 by 1600 pixels (aka "1600p"). That's just about twice the number of pixels available in 1080p high definition signals".  I've always cheered for Gateway, that 'underdog to Dell' kinda' thing, and I'm glad to see them pop out some stunning technology!

Oct 9th    Don't know if any of you have stumbled upon this comprehensive site dealing with Neil Young - but its one of my favorites: check out HyperRust for (everything) you could ever want to know about the old man we all admire.

Oct 9th    My favorite geek site: Gizmodo, is running an article on one of the all-time great myths: Audio Cables!  Click on over to their entry "Calling Bullshit" and have a laugh today!

Oct 9th    Looking for an online radio station, be it in your area or worldwide?  Check out Bill Sparks Radio Station Lookup Site.

Oct 9th    Speaking of Radio...  Canada is making (slow) inroads on Digital Radio.  Read all about the government's stance on the subject here.

Oct 5th    Once again, its that lovely time of the week when the shackles are broken and we can go out and have real lives: Friday!!!  Lets kick off the only two days of the week which really matter with some cool rock'n from the oddly named HahaTonka and their even more oddly titled track: St. Nick on the Fourth in a Fervor - (F'k, I love Rock N Roll!).

Oct 5th    Pretty much every one of us has a shipload of MP3 files on our hard disk drives, CD-ROMS, thumb-drives and portable players (hell, there's hundreds of free tracks on this site alone!), but how many of you actually know much about the MP3 file format beyond "its a compressed file with stuff missing that we cannot hear" (in high-bitrate versions anyway).  Ya... didn't think so...  ArsTechnica (an excellent site by the way), has recently published a totally geeky, but eminently understandable explanation of the the technical stuff that makes an MP3 what it is.

Oct 5th    In case you haven't heard, Van Halen has crushed the critics and kicked off a tour that is getting nothing but rave reviews!  Fuck n A'!  Don't know about you, but I'll sure as hell be looking for tickets to this tour!  Check this site to see when the boyz' are coming to a venue near you.  As for my fellow British Columbians, dig it: Dec 5th / General Motors Place!  As an interesting side note: Van Halen has gotten even more "Van Halen-ish" with the departure of long-time VH bassist Michael Anthony.  Woflgang Van Halen, Eddie's son, is now the band's 'man of four strings'!

Oct 5th    In case you haven't heard: there's a monumental shift in Audio / Video / Computing technology coming down the pike and it has Billy Boy's name all over it.  Check out Microsoft's uber-cool new 'Surfaces' technology.

Oct 5th    Remember way 'back in the day' when The Cult was The band in North America?  Well, like so many other 'were it' bands, The Cult are making attempts to come back onto the scene, and they're taking a page outta' the new kids playbook by giving away a free track to the masses.  I have formulated an opinion on this material, but I won't share it with you, instead, download their 320Kb/s MP3 track and bend an ear for yourself.  (The site accepts any email / phone number / etc., just make some shit up and you'll be presented with a download link...)

Oct 5th    Never one to shy away from, well, pretty much anything... I bring you a taste of 'War Made Easy', narrated by Sean Penn.  I know that nearly half of my readership is made up of American citizens: I ask you folks to grab a copy of this movie an educate yourselves - (you impeached Clinton for getting a blowjob, surely Bush rates impeachment for being directly responsible for the brutal death of so many thousands of people?)

Oct 5th    Its that time again folks: Affordable Audio has published their Oct. issue and it appears the editor has taken my words - somewhat - to heart.  Down that with a gain of salt (perhaps a sea of salt), as: though he has included a promised 'blind audition', its with speakers - which I have always maintained sound different from one another, not with cables or other nonsense 'tweaks'.  That, and he has gone off on an absurd tangent about that favorite of the audionutbar, 'Fuses'.  Lets see now, he ...could... have performed an unsighted audition on fuses, and actually covered some new ground, pushing aside some of the hobby's lies and corruption for once, but noooooooooooo...  Nice work Mark...

Oct 5th    What the hell: More Music!  The weekend is upon us, more rockin' is in order!  Check out Parlor Mob's free track: Carnival Of Clowns.  It reminds me somewhat of the White Stripes, without the heavy rippin' blues barrage, and a whole lot more instruments thrown in: Crank It!

Oct 5th    Well, that's it for me for another week.  I'm making plans to hang with good friends, drink as much fine wine as I can drag outta' the liquor store and see if we can't get a few more rides in this year before the trails are covered in snow!  Hell, its been dumping in the mountains on and off for most of the past two weeks and I'm split between being stoked about the rapidly approaching boarding season and cool-weather climbing into the mountains on my bike...  I'll tap at cha' after the long weekend on Tuesday, or Wednesday... :-) - Rock on Brothers!  Here's a final touch to get you jazzed for the weekend The Deadstring Brothers - Heavy Load

Oct 3rd    Humpday it is!  I've started celebrating early with a very large glass (fishbowl is more accurate), of my favorite Cabernet Sauvignon, and a sizeable chunk of the darkest chocolate I could get my hands on ~ I suggest this recipe for all of you out there as well!  Lets kick off the midweek with a very fine track from fellow Canucks: The Sadies - Anna Leigh.  I've never really given this band much of a listen in the past, but after this excellent example of their work, I'll certainly dig deeper.  (192Kb/s - No DRM)

Oct 3rd    The next-generation Zune has just been announced: Check out the GizModo overview of the new line here.  This looks like a great new challenge to the omnipresent iPod - the likes of which I despise ~ ok, wearing my bias on my sleeve there...  Its just that idiotic iTunes software and the fact that it converts all of your perfectly good MP3s into M4U files and wastes even more space on your hard disk drive.  And how about the fact that Microsoft is releasing flash ROM software that will enable / implement, features available on the new Zunes - for the the (old) Zunes too!  That is cool as heck - Steve-O, you and the Apple boyz' could learn a thing or two from old Billy Gates!...

Oct 3rd    So I re-discovered Joost again last night!  What the hell is Joost?  Well, its the best way that I have seen to date for running 'on-demand-TV / on the PC'.  The picture quality is by far the best I have seen for full-screen resolution, and the selection of product is currently running at around 15000 programs.  Not bad for - Free!  Watched a few old NHL Stanley Cup finals and some Sports Illustrated programming (of course, only for the articles... and she had some really nice articles...).  

Oct 3rd    Since I'm currently building 'the ultimate audio PC workstation' at the moment, I've been scouring the wibbly, wobbly web for articles on tweaking PCs as audio systems.  Found this article by some complete nutbar who obviously has no actual OS coding background - as many of his suggestions are completely asinine...  There is also this - rather sane - article by a site called Music XP, which made a whole lot more sense.  Just thought I'd share that with all of you interested in PC music servers.

Oct 3rd    Been listening to a whole lot of Tom Waits lately.  Thought I'd turn a few of you onto his style with a link to some cat's website I found with Google... not my hosting folks!  Hell, if this turns a few more people onto his excellence and helps to sell some more concert tickets, it'll be worth it!  Warm beer and cold woman.  (I've been fu'n addicted to this track as of late - what a great, gravelly voice!).  Tom's style takes a certain kinda' acquired taste - I suggest you start with Rain Dogs and go from there...

Oct 1st    A new month, a clean slate - I dig it! In celebration of October, the month of my birth onto this rock, spinnin' round' the Sun, lets kick it (really) old-school: in my wanderings around the wibbly, wobbly web I've stumbled upon a site at McGill University called 'Coltrane Music'.  This page isn't, as the title might imply, all about Mr. Coltrane's music, rather, its a collection of 78-RPM tracks from many artists, in a wide variety of file formats, including; .Oog, .MP3, .WAV and .Aiff.  Take your time and read through the site, each track is succinctly described and in the tables below said descriptions, laid out for your listening / downloading pleasure - This collection includes well over 100 full-length audio tracks - enjoy! 

Oct 1st    Those of you who don't hear a difference between MP3 at 128Kb/s and MP3 at 256Kb/s (or better), might wanna' take a click over to 'FF123's' Artifact Training Page.  Grab a copy of FooBar2000 and learn to use it' s ABX utility: (download - install - run... the program and add files by selecting FILE / ADD FILES, locate the files you want to add - CTRL-click to select both files you just added / now, right-click on 'selected' files and choose 'Utilities-ABX Two Tracks - you must load two or more files in order to use the ABX utility)

Sept 29th    A rare weekend addendum: The site has reached over 35000 unique readers (!), and I just thought that I would reintroduce an old favorite of mine for those of you who haven't the time to search the past links: the only honest A/V magazine on the internet!  Check out the 14 absolutely free back-issues of The Audio Critic.  All those BS 'Audiophile' (cough), publications on the racks: forget em'.  Until something comes along to replace this zine', we're all a sorry lot of Audio / Video buffs in need of a reading fix...

Sept 28th    Fuh-freekin' Friday!  Whew!  That first week back at work was killer!  All I could think about was, well... doing something else that didn't involve work!  Luckily, I was in contact with yet another talented Canadian blues artist whose raw music kept me rockin'  through the mind-numbing events that made up the five-day workweek.  Allow me to introduce East Coaster Deak Mason and his track Where's The Booze.  If you want to hear more of Deke's talent, check out his MySpace page - where every track is downloadable!  Note that Deke is also involved in a punk rock project called Treble Kings.  You can check out that bit of madness by visiting their CBC Radio3 page.

Sept 28th    If you're a fan of 'Da Boss', then you'll be interested in checking out Bruce Springteen's feature page on Sympatico/MSN.  It allows you to listen to the entire album online!

Sept 28th    Just when you thought you've seen it all in online music sales: enter Mindawn.  These cats have carved out a unique niche in a crowded market by offering us not only DRM-Free files in the lossless FLAC file format, but also in the seldom-seen, but 'acoustically superior to MP3' - OGG file format.  Not something you'll see every day!  The place is chalk full of independent music, and the pricing schedule is more affordable then the offerings of iTunes et-al.

Sept 28th    I am continually making (derogatory) reference to DRM and I tend to forget that not everyone who reads this site is an audio-geek.  If you've been wondering what the hell I am talking about, check out The Electronic Frontier Foundations article: The Customer Is Always Wrong: A User's Guide to DRM in Online Music

Sept 28th    Lets face it: 95% of the stuff on satellite and cable television is complete and utter crap...  With very few exceptions: The Knowledge Network, PBS and perhaps APTN, regular cable television is a mind-rot!  Glad I got that outta' my system :-)  At any rate, I have recently been catching the odd episode of a Knowledge Network program called Wild At Heart.  This outdoor showcase employs 'regular / unscripted folks' instead of actors, and is based right here in British Columbia.  Each episode makes you wanna' get out there and kick some ass!  Check out the very well-designed web site, enjoy planning your next adventure or just get some meal ideas from their interesting outdoor menus!

Sept 28th    Well, that's it for me this week, I'm gonna stock up on wine and beer, go down and buy my Apex Mt. Pass, sharpen up the edges of my board and get ready for the coming winter festivities!  The season is fast upon us, our local mountains have been receiving dumps of snow on a regular basis, higher peaks surrounding the valley are snow-capped, temps are starting to drop and we even fired up the gas furnace this week!  Hell man, we'll be flying down the slopes, smiling at the powder from heavens before you know it!  With that excellent thought, I'll close with a taste of the amazing Sam Phillips!  Check out the smoky, bluesy tones of All Night

Sept 26th    Hopefully, many of you have already heard of our next featured artist: Ottmar Liebert - La Luna.  Ottmar has made select recordings available under an open licensing music system known as Creative Commons.  For more Ottmar, visit his free music site.

Sept 26th    The always-interesting Audioholics has banged off an article titled Speaker Spikes and Cones – What’s the point? which might just have a few of you scratching your heads over the practice of 'spiking' your kit, and the bizarre proclamations that audiofool zines' make on the topic.

Sept 26th    Here's something that'll mess with your heads: A cat who mimics the sound-effects of a Hendrix concert... with his mouth!  Most of you will remember this cat as the one who made all of the oddball sounds in the old Police Academy movies.  Turns out, he's still at it, but has gotten much better... check it out.

Sept 26th    In case you've been under a rock for the past 24 hours, you may not have heard that Amazon has bullied up to the trough and opened a music store of it's own: this one with high bitrate / DRM-free tracks from tens of thousands of artists and undercut Apple's iTunes store a few cents to boot!  Should be interesting to see how this pans out!

Sept 24th    Watched a series of videos this evening that made a lot of things finance-related, much clearer to me.  Its a five-part series on YouTube called Money As Debt (2006) - and I strongly suggest that all of you reading this take the time to view it.  What an eye-opener ~ hell of an education!  When you view the videos, it'll be a lot easier on the eyes if you use the little 'full-screen' icon that sits in the bottom, right-hand corner of the video player...

Sept 23rd    Short one tonight boyz', I'm dog tired from burning the candle from both ends.  As that was the final weekend of my vacation, I felt that I had better kick out the jams: or so goes the excuse for enjoying too much food and wine with friends!  Here's freedom's final hurrah then: Jamie T and his track Salvador.  Sounds a lot like classic Clash to my ears, and I dig it!

Sept 23rd    For those of you who aren't into punk (What!?), sooth your ears with four tracks that Ani DiFranco has made available via Download.com.

Sept 23rd    New Toys!  After several years of actively searching, I finally gave up on finding a sanely priced external USB or Firewire ‘sound card’, and popped for a new device that I’ve mentioned here on a number of occasions: The Asus Xonar D2 PCI interface-based internal card.  Just ordered it tonight; will have it in my hands in a few days and shall then give you all a full ‘review’ of the unit. Have a new motherboard, CPU and edition of the supposedly 'better' OS (from a sound perspective): Vista, on hand as well, which I’ll load this week. In order to deal with the main issue that audiofools whine about with regards to PC-based audio systems, I’ll mount the power supply externally. Coupled with the fact that the Xonar is electronically shielded and sports a 118BD noise floor, it should satisfy the audiofools out there that are too chicken-shit to conduct unsighted auditions of their own (but whom don't hesitate to spread lies about audio-tweaks left, right and center).  This will be the box that I’ll use for the long-promised ‘unsighted fuse audition’ as well as the power-cable, second RCA cable audition and who knows what else… amps, CD players perhaps?

Anyway, I dig using a PC for the auditions as I spend so much time with the damned things and understand them inside out (literally). I also look forward to employing it for true double-blind high-bitrate MP3 vs. FLAC vs. WAV auditions etc. as well.

Sept 23rd    Came upon yet another online music forum the other day, check out Canada Jams.  There is a pretty decent main website that goes along with it here.

Sept 23rd    Free - Legal - Television on the Internet from a major label!  NBC became the latest television network to plant a stake in its own piece of Internet video turf, saying it would make free downloads of first-run television shows available directly to viewers through its Web site.

Sept 23rd    The iPod has obviously spawned a thousand and one 'i' products to compliment it, but none have caught my eye like the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin iPod speaker system.  It looks like a grand-slam in the 'funky looks' department: how it sounds, I don't know.  If you live near a B&W dealer and get a chance to hear one I'm sure we'd all appreciate a line from ya'.

Sept 23rd    ...and finally, one of my favorites: more or less not much to do with A/V, but good fun: Is George Bush An Idiot? (don't answer that yet...)

Sept 22nd    After a two week vacation, what better than a weekend!? :-)   I'm really diggin' this 'not-working' stuff, I must begin a ritual of purchasing lottery tickets; perhaps I can hone my leisure skills further some day...  What better way to kick off a weekend than a little Neil Young - Ordinary People Neil is giving this track away to drum up interest in the upcoming LP: Chrome Dreams Vol. II.  This one is signature Neil through and through, if you're a fan, you will feel right at home with it.

Sept 22nd    So its finally happening: Car-audio systems without a CD player!  Blaupunkt has just released their 'Melbourne SD27' in-dash deck which eschews 'old-school' CDs in favor of memory sticks and direct-connection inputs, at a price that pretty much everyone can afford.  I don't see a USB port however, and feel that is an oversight...

Sept 22nd    Itching for a long read?  Rip into the latest edition of Affordable Audio magazine by clicking here to initiate download of the Sept. 07' edition.  Long-time readers know how I've torn a strip out of the rag' on more than one occasion - the editor and I have, um... quite different versions of the truth when it comes to cables and tweaks.  At any rate, go ahead, knock yourself out, its amusing if nothing else, and he does throw in a few tidbits now and again that are interesting.

Sept 20th    Wow!  There's a first in many years!  Our measly little Canadian dollar has reached parity with the American dollar!  Dudes and dudettes, now is the time to buy those cool electronic toys from across the border!  Nice!  For me, the places to shop are www.sweetwater.com (electronics), and www.pricepoint.com (Mt. Bike Stuff).

Sept 20th    Ya, I know - its been a while between posts...  Been on vacation, enjoying life as much as humanly possible!  This little province of ours is freekin' beautiful!  Spent some time in the Kootenays, a little more in the Shuswap and did the 'local tourist' thing to top it off.  Been laying low for the past few days, all of my clients think I'm still out of town - and I like it that way :-).  A short while back I was teased about not having enough blues / folk-ish music on the site (Hi Lou'): well buddy, here is a quadruple dose of it for ya' - Jim Byrnes  Didn't it Rain, Of whom shall I be afraid?, Today, Fortify Me.  While he isn't a Canuck, the music was produced in Vancouver...  These tracks are amazing, download em' while the Jim is feeling generous - as with all 'Free & Legal' tracks I post on this site, I have no idea how long they will be available, so grab em' while you can.  All are of quite good fidelity (160 to 192Kbs MP3 - No DRM)

Sept 20th    While its not specifically A/V related, it will definitely have an impact on our hobby: USB 3.0 is soon to be released!  USB 1.0 and 1.1 were slow as molasses in January at moving data (music, in our case), USB 2.0 was pretty damned fast, but USB 3.0 is set to kick some really serious ass!  Imagine this: a full 10-fold decrease in the time it takes to move your music from PC to portable device.  Ya, that's a full resolution (320KB/s), MP3 track in about the time it takes you to blink!

Sept 20th    The AudioFile: basics of uncompressed digital audio: Ars-Technica take a complex topic and puts it into simple terms we can all relate to.  A great article, and one of a number forthcoming - check it out, I'll try an keep you posted with updates to the series.

Sept 20th    Stumbled upon a new-to-me audiofool forum today: Audiophilia - Now, I've sworn off wasting my time in these completely messed up places, but if you have a bit of time to throw to the wind, and a mind that you are willing to subject to some of the most asinine statements ever put to the internet, then by all means check it out - just don't think you'll learn much from 95% of what you'll read there...

Sept 20th    Had an epiphany the other day: So there I was, in the middle of goddamned nowhere, at a bush-lake, cell phone in hand, hundreds of kilometers away from from a friend of mine whom I was speaking with - when it occurred to me: there exist some pretty crazy son of a bitches in the A/V world who proclaim that one has to keep their loudspeaker cables of uniform length or the systems sound will be 'off'.  What the hell does this have to do with my cell phone conversation?  Well, imagine this: there are a great number of cellular radio transceiver stations, each with god knows how much electronics and wiring with them, between myself and my friend (who was atop Apex Mountain at the time of said call), and for the life of me, I could detect no lag in the conversation.  I marveled aloud at this feat of modern technology, and that's when it hit me.  If we can be having this delay-free conversation, from these two utterly remote / distant locations, with absolutely shitloads of electronic kit between us: how in the name of all that is sane can some audioidiot tell me that he can hear the difference between a hunk of locally connected copper five feet long on one side of his stereo system and another eight feet long on the other!? The answer: Give me a fucking CN-Tower sized break!

Sept 13th    Ya, I've been late to the table with posts of late, and I have good reason to be MIA: Vacation!  Funk' N A' - I too deserve a 'time out' every now and again...  Been traveling a bit, kicking around with buds and avoiding work with every fiber of my being!  I've also been avoiding the site more or less.  However, I'm back for a short 'in and out', might not be posting for a few more days as I'm jealously guarding my time off, and hey, its the start of junior hockey season - and our boyz' haven't lost yet they season (6 games strait to date!).  Chew on this for a bit boyz': Grubstake - Midnight Creep  Its low down, dirty Rock N Roll, right outta' the swamps - but just listen to that crazy blues-influenced guitar playing!  192Kb/s MP3 - No DRM.

Sept 13th    ASUS's long-awaited 'Xonar' PCI sound card has finally hit the streets - and with garnered rave reviews everywhere as pretty much the best thing since short-shorts and natural blonds!  Here in Canada, NCIX is but one place to score yourself one at under two hundred bucks.  This looks to be an excellent solution for a PC-based sound source.

Sept 13th    Speaking of PC-based audio - check out this extensive list of external USB audio devices.  I was surprised to see so many products I've never heard of before - and I've always considered myself pretty much 'in the loop'...

Sept 13th    If you're interested in what's new in the Canadian music scene, be sure to keep an eye on the Western Canadian Music Awards site.  There you are sure to find a great many Canadian bands that you've never heard of, who are making wave in the music scene around the world.

Sept 13th    I fully realize that the usual 'geek links' that I provide are bloody long and perhaps a little painful to wade through, some of it is perhaps pseudo-sadism, others are the fault of the authors long-winded approach.  Here is one that's short and sweet, the author is discussing car-audio, but the notes are equally applicable to home audio projects.  The Oz Audio Subwoofer Cabinet Construction Guide

Sept 13th    Mostly because I F'n despise Apple's iTunes software, may I present: How To Break iTunes DRM

Sept 13th    Yes indeed, just what we needed: a further obfuscation of the format war...  Toshiba has just released a new spec' HD-DVD disk that carries slightly more than it's Blu-Ray counterpart.  Be the first to invest your money in this doomed format war... ya...

Sept 13th    Might be a while before I post again: thus, check out Canadian record artist The Twisters: Its Raining Baby.  This is some really great funky / blues from your fellow Canucks!  192Kb/s MP3 - No DRM.  (Check out their website for a bit more of their tunes, note that only some of the links are to full tracks)

Sept 7th    The weekend is upon us - Hail to the freedom from greed and kick open the gates of fun!  Man, in my constant hunt for music to present on this site, I sure come upon a shitload of really crappy tunes!  What's with all the whiny Emo music out there?  that, coupled with the electro-synth, Rap, freeform jazz and goddamned country moaning has gotta' be the biggest waste of hard drive storage on the fucking Internet!  Geeze' man, why can't more folks put out great music like Josh Ritter's To The Dogs Or Whoever

Sept 7th    I've spoken several times on the trend towards 'surround-sound-bars' in A/V systems.  This Week in Consumer Electronics sums up the current batch of Soundbars on the market.  I dig it! 

Sept 7th    Yet another chapter of the book of 'Fossil Rockers Return for more money': Genesis are back on tour!  Yes, those cats who brought us Abacab are at it again.  Learn all there is to know here.

Sept 7th    Dudes, the forum is back, sorta' on a limited basis.  Mostly its a resource for those who want to learn about audio from a truthful source, a [very] rare thing in this industry.  However, I continually receive  email from folks asking me to reopen the discussion site on a limited basis - not a full-scale attack in audiofool idiocy like it was previously, just a place to drop the needle, pour a glass, roll one up if that's your kick, and shoot the breeze.  Have at er'!  Speaking of emails, many of you have sent me missives, and I have not gotten back to you: sorry dudes, its just that I am one ultra-busy son of a bitch, and don't have much time for chit-chat.

Sept 7th    What will the audiofools think of this?  Atom clusters could store thousands of movies, says IBM.  But will we need special atoms to playback music on audiophile systems :-)

Sept 7th    And now for something completely different: (and sweet FA to do with A/V), Volvo Rethinks The Hybrid Car Concept.  Hey, this is a huge step in the right direction, make it run on something even cleaner than gasoline and we're halfway there!

Sept 06    Many of you will notice that I've slowed down on the posting thing: instead of daily, its become every other day 'or so'.  Its mostly because I volunteer with the local junior hockey team, doing a lot of web work and helping out wherever I can.  This takes a lot of my online time, disallowing me from frittering away on Cdnav.com.  This is neither good nor bad, its simply a choice I make - and another  bonus of not accepting advertisers on the site - who would dictate my input as thought they had a say in my life...  Ok, enough chatter: Rip into Thursday with an old Iggy Pop track - compliments of Sonic Entertainment Ltd. - Search & Destroy

Sept 06      Not something that my fellow Canucks have to worry about (just yet), but as i see that around half of my readership consists of Americans: Know Your Rights: What to do when the RIAA comes calling

Sept 06    Ya' all know I dig speaker systems above all A/V components: but what I love even more specifically are speaker systems that kick ass at a low cost.  Case in point - Logitech's latest speaker system, the Logitech G51.  Creative's www site shows it at $230.00, but I see it going for $170.00 Cdn. here.

Sept 04    Fuckin-A: Wasn't that a great long weekend - for those of you who live in Canada anyway...  I squeezed that sucker for everything it was worth!  Man I love life!  Lets celebrate the short up and coming workweek with a little bit O' southern flavored rockin' music from a band going by the name of Dollar Store and their track Scrap Truck. 

Sept 04    Those of you who peruse the Internet for music - the legal kind of course... will get a kick outta' this software application: WebRipper by Jan Eric Samsonsen.  This little beauty allows you to automatically copy every Audio / Video / Image etc. file from a given web site in a fraction of the time it would take you to do so manually.  I have it installed on several PCs and am blown away by it's efficiency.  Go ahead, point it at your favorite page and in a few clicks you'll be well on your way to musical nirvana!  Need some ideas?  How about this one: 10 Sites For Free & Legal Music

Sept 04    Wal-mart (cough) will begin selling DRM-Free MP3s via it's online music store.  Tracks will be available in bitrates as high as 256Kb/s.  Very cool!

Sept 04    In the market for a new pre-amp (with phono!), and want top-notch quality, but don't want to pop over a thousand bucks?  Have a look at what Audioholics had to say about the Emotiva Audio RSP-1 - they seem to feel that its the proverbial cat's ass: I quote "Opening up the RSP-1, we find a really well laid out interior with a separated power supply (utilizing torroid power transformer) from critical audio circuits, glass epoxy PCB boards, and low noise op-amps. But the quality doesn't stop there. We also find a toroud power supply, instrumentation grade inert gas filled relay switching with silver contacts, and 1% tolerance resistors. Film caps show up in all critical signal paths and the list goes on. This is truly a no expense spared unit. How Emotiva can put this quality of components in a $699 unit begs the question of what the other manufactures are doing with all that money they are making"
 

Sept 01 - Nice: we're enjoying the beginning of a Labor Day long-weekend here in the Okanagan and I just got back from watching our home-town BCHL Vees win their third strait exhibition game at the local area, [Hockey Rocks].  My little lady is taking care of her mom - so I get to sit back, hook up the laptop to the stereo, plop my ass down in the sweet spot with a drink, slice O spiced gouda and Alice Cooper - taken' me back to the 70's: Easy Action / Love it To Death and Killers...  Those of you who think Alice was just about twisted / overtly heavy rock, need to check out these classic gems: Alice with orchestration was a blast!  I've got my rig plugged into a 7.1 channel receiver with full 7.2 in place - and I'm messing about with various 'surround modes'.  Don't let anyone ever tell you that audio is only to be experienced over a 2-channel system: they're simply anal and full of shit.  Fuck em', blow your minds with some freaky surround matrix effects: it just fits reality more than a band which emanates from two point sources!  Speaking of heavy sound and Easy Action: if you like it raw as hell and completely old-school / excessively hard rock, do check out MySpace's music section for a band called Easy Action.  Pretty messy, but wow - these cats really get back to the core of dirty hard rock!  Take in all that the weekend offers my friends - and avoid work at any cost!

Aug 31st    Fu Ha Rig Nng A': Its Friday!  Man, I can't tell ya' how much I love Friday!  It might seem odd that a mind-mannered PC technician who rarely gets his hands dirty should get so wrapped up in having time off - however - I'm addicted to fun!  Shit man, given a choice between being on the water in my kayak, high up in the mountains with my best buds or sitting back with a glass of vino, some fine dark chocolate and herb-filled cheese: what would you choose...?  exactly!  It seems that the 'big bands' are starting to get the concept laid out by the independents out there - and have taken to giving away their tracks in order to get the public's attention.  Tonight's selection is from a country music band by the name of Little Big Town.  Check out their track I'm With The Band.  Not bad... not too bad at all...  Kinda' like the Eagles meets Fleetwood Mac of old.  PS: check it out: its the end of summer!  Funkin' A: snowboarding is only a matter of 13 weeks away!

Aug 31st    You long-timers know by now that I'm the kinda' guy who demands that folks cut the crap and lay it out in black and white / don't fill my ears with heresy that you picked up and repeated from some god forsaken A/V forum or corrupt audio magazine.  No, I only respect facts as presented in the form of: "here's a test we did, here's how we did it, go ahead and repeat the experiment and follow through with a peer review of your own".  In short, I detest bullshitters, which makes me quite unpopular in the A/V forum circles where crap is king.  What the hell am I getting at?  Check out the Journal Of The Audio Engineering Society's -  'The use of subwoofers in the context of surround sound program reproduction'.  White papers rule / Audiofools drool...!

Aug 31st    Oh shit: a whole new world of A/V cable-related products for the moronic audiofools to fuck with: MIT Harnesses Power Without Plugs...  I suspect that, in light of the fact that cables may eventually be superseded by wireless power transfer - we'll be soon faced with special zirconium-plated humidifiers and silver-power-coated air filtration units...

Aug 31st    A HD-DVD deck for sub-$200.00 Cdn.!?  Shit man, even with the foolishness of buying into the dual format wars, this is damned cheap!  A Canadian-based company called 'Venture' appears to be set for a holiday-season rollout of just such a beast.  Give it early to mid 08' and I foresee a shwack of dual-format decks in and around this price range!

Aug 31st    Ok, now off ya' go and have a shit-kickin' long-weekend, celebrate like its your last day on the spinning rock: cause ya' just never know...  Oh, and how about an old post / repeat for an extro... (cause its loud and I dig it!) - Grinderman: The No Pussy Blues CRANK IT!

Aug 31st    Couldn't resist one last blurb...  For those of you who haven't yet experienced the mind of Bob Lefsetz, tonight's the night...  Bob has just sent out an email discussing The Dixie Chicks 'Shut Up & Sing' DVD.  I wrote about this release in our now retired discussion forum some time ago, and agree with everything Bob says about the Chicks, their music and their refusal to play nice with rednecks and the American government.  Rent the DVD this weekend, experience the words of Bob when he updates his Blog site later this weekend with the story.  I dig the Chicks and I dig Bob.  They are both my kinda' people: unafraid to simply tell it like it it - fuck the pandering to folks who might make you money, to hell with conformity for the sake of not treading on toes: and most of all - thank [fill in your favorite God here], that there are still some folks out there who actually tell the truth!  I know our hobby needs a 'Bob' or some 'Chicks' more than anything - to put it back on track: when did lies and bullshit come to rule Audio / Video anyway, I was away from the scene for a number of years, and when I got back, what a mess...

Aug 29th    Well, so much for August 07 - I funked it up while coding this evening - if any of you have a copy of it in your Temporary Internet Files folder, do me a favor and send it along to me...  If not, oh well, rock on!  Found out that Download.com is hosting some of the new White Stripes on their site: all Free and Legal and such.  You can grab a copy of the new White Stripes tune Icky Thump by visiting this site, having a listen and then copy / pasting it out of the Temporary Internet Files folder on your PC...  The track kicks ass, as does so much of the Stripes work, go / copy / paste / crank!

Aug 29th    If the Stripes aren't your cup O' tea, check out the latest work from The Boss: Radio Nowhere.  The old cat's getting with the groove and actually giving away his music, even if only one track...  Hell, its pretty decent, if slightly forgettable.  Check it out.

Aug 29th    C-Net has recently begun an ongoing Audio-Blog 'The Audiophiliac', its yet not massive by any stretch of the imagination, but is interesting in a rampant consumerism kinda' way: Review their work thus far here...

Aug 29th    Ok, nothing to do with A/V, but last weekend in Whistler I had the time of my life on a massive bike trail called Comfortably Numb.  Took some pics: I'm the guy in the long-sleeve white shirt.

Aug 29th    Still hungry for more?  How about delving into another issue of the cable-freak riddled online rag' known as Affordable Audio?  Plant your tongue firmly in cheek and dive right in.

July 20th    Damn, the weekend: finally!  It looks like rain, rain and more rain here in the valley ~ heck, all across British Columbia for that matter: but that doesn't mean the record store is closed, nor the liquor mart!  Guess I'll have hang, soak up some good friendships and drink in all the things that this great life has to offer indoors.  While there, I'll crank up Tom Waits and his magnificent track Hold On (320Kb/s MP3 - no DRM - compliments of Anti-Records Ltd.)

July 20th    Hey PG and surrounding area: The Prince George Folk Festival is hitting your city the 27th and 28th of July.  Check out the event website for full details.

July 20th    Add Phillips to the list of companies that have released 'one-bar and a sub / virtual-surround-sound sound' options to the market.  I had expected that it might be a little lower priced than the competition, given the size and history of the company's offerings as well as the maturity of the genera, but no such luck.  A thousand bucks buys you the ability to, more or less, do away with surround-sound speakers in your room, instead relying on some psychoacoustic trickery and a the wonder of modern electronics.  I dig the concept, but feel that it should be offered at about half the price that it currently commands.

July 20th    This is good humor: The Top 20 Greatest Shootout Scenes.  Some folks have a hell of a lot of time on their hands, lucky for the rest of us!  I agree with their rating for number 1 by the way...

July 20th    I'm gonna' go easy on ya, since it's Friday and all: no uber-geek, heavy-reading posts today ~ how about some Zappa-Plays-Zappa!  The videos are quite decent resolution and give you an idea of what Dweezil is capable of - not too shabby covers of his dad's work!  The inflections in his voice are so similar to his fathers', its spooky.

July 20th    Tivo to release a newer, cheaper device in the near future.  Their 'Series 3' unit will offer many of the same features as its predecessors, but cut down on the price, fancy remote options, THX certification and hard disk drive space (which, I suspect, can be hacked and bolstered with a cheap 500 Gig unit).

July 20th    Forums shutting down: I’ve always maintained that I would continue to run the forum as long as I had time to do so, and was having fun doing it.  Well, I no longer have any spare time and the fun has gone out of it for me folks…  As such, I am announcing the closure of the Cdnav.com forum section as of this weekend, likely Sunday night.  Why you might ask?

1) I simply haven’t the time to add to it, or any other forums these days.  A few months ago I purchased a competitor’s business, and though I was pretty damned busy to begin with, I am now miles over my head with work.  The acquisition was one of those 'once in a lifetime / you'd be mad to pass this up, kinda' incredible deals, and I couldn't resist.  Now, with nearly 1000 additional clients to attend to, I am inevitably drawn into learning a great many ‘new to me’ / 'proprietary to their business' ~ software applications, internal & external network configurations and general client requirements.  Talk about time-consuming!  All this, while reading furiously to keep up with the constantly changing software applications and hardware interfaces that I am working with every day as well as climbing through the mountains of paperwork that once faces as an entrepreneur in this bureaucratic world.

2) I’m no longer inclined to spend time on A/V forums in general as, three-years into browsing them, I find it to be a massive waste of my time.  There is so very little actual learning to be done, as most forums are completely awash with repetitive heresy.  My little three-year jaunt down the rabbit hold known as ‘audiophile forums’ has been quite a trippy experience.  It’s a world that exists somewhere between a stoned flight of fantasy and the Twilight Zone…  I’ve had folk regale me with fantastic stories about how slabs of hardwood, cables, metal pointy devices and a myriad tidbits modified the electrical output characteristics of perfectly functional electrical components.  Heck, I’ve been an online witness to scenarios that even Dr. Spock wouldn’t have thought up!  Interesting minds we have out there – I am beginning to see why the human race is so messed up…

3) Hand-in-hand with point number 2: I’m completely disillusioned with the state of the hobby.  It’s utterly corrupt, deceitful and laden with misinformation.  Try to show someone that the only way to make an honest evaluation on it is to listen without physically seeing the component – and you are branded and exiled as a heretic.

4) The time I once spend pursuing A/V forums will be channeled back into my guitar!  I’ve been sorely neglecting one of my favorite musical instruments, and its’ about time to get back to the frets.  This evening I pulled the golden oldie’s that she was laced up with and ran sweet new strings… ahhh, very nice…

5) I want more time for pleasure reading!  I simply never sit back with a good book anymore, and really miss that kinda’ leisure.  Several are stacked up on the shelf, just waiting to be enjoyed, but I’ve had my eyes in so many A/V forums, they have simply languished on the shelf.

All of the interesting stuff from that we accumulated on the forums will be hosted on HTML pages and linked to the main site in the near future, especially the unsighted auditions: which for me, was more or less the whole point of the forums in the first place.

Those of you who have stuck with me through the various incarnations of the forums: I thank you very much: it’s good to see that there is a little light and truth in the darkness that has cancerously overcome the hobby of ‘The Audiophile’.  A few of you might lament the passing of Cdnav.com's forum section, but don't fret: among the 100+ forums listed in the 'Other Forums' section, there are a few decent sites: mostly technical in nature and / or pro-audio, which I recommend you become members of.

The main site will stay open, ‘business as usual’ for years to come, as its all about the only thing that really matters: Music!  Take these next few days as an opportunity to trade contact information with one another so that you can keep in contact after the forum is  shuttered.  Once again, thank you – we had a good laugh, and I guess that’s what most important.

Andrew D.

July 20th    Many months ago, while driving around in my car, listening to CBC Radio, I heard a band called The Sierra Leone Refugees and was really impressed with their tunes.  Today's treat is my rediscovery of their talent!  Enjoy Big Lesson and Living Like A Refugee.  Sounds to me like Bob Marley reincarnated!  Enjoy your weekend folks, tap at cha' again Monday...

July 19th    Coming out of the gate like a combination of T-Rex and Mard Bolan, David Vandervelde kicks back to the days of raw Rock N Roll!  Crank up Nothin' No for a taste of the old-school, mixed with a measure of modern rock.

July 19th    We all dig loudspeakers, cause' aside from room acoustics, source material and your mental state... not much affects what you hear like a set of loudspeakers.  Check out The Classic Speaker Pages for a taste of vintage transducers.  Note that they have a forum as well.

July 19th    Once in a great while, one comes upon an article posted in an online A/V forum that's not completely full of shit...  Such is the case with today's link to the Home Theater Shack, one of my favorite forums.  Have a look at what the poster is presenting, I think you'll be impressed with his thorough analysis of LLT subwoofers (large and low tuned ported).

July 19th    Its recently been brought to my attention that Victoria, BC will be playing host to the fourth annual DIY Fest this coming Saturday, July 28th.  Now, I have no idea who is invited, and thus I suggest that you contact the host directly via the site link.  This sounds like it'll be a cool event to attend!

July 19th    Hey Winnipeg, check it out - its a regular acid flashback for you over the next few months!  First off its W.A.S.P on July 24th at the Pyramid, followed by Jeff Healy at Coyote's on the 25th, John Fogerty at the MTS center on the 26th, Trooper Aug. 9th at the Canad' Inn and Edgar Winter at Cowboy's on the 22nd of Aug.  Air Supply is also playing in your town - but I'm not going to tell you when or where.. cause' there are some things that you just shouldn't do...  See the entire list of acts breezin' through the windy city over the next few months here.  In case you wonder why I often pick Winterpeg to highlight: its because its more or less central-Canada, and any bands passing through are likely to be on an East-West or visa-versa tour - thus, perhaps coming your way soon.  That, and the fact that I'm a proud ex-Manitoban... (Bring back the Jets!).  Anyone who lived through that many years of mosquitoes and blackfly swarms should be proud! 

July 18th    Ya man, its late in the AM and I just finished the last of the invoicing for the company.  Shit, but don't the paperwork just put a dent in the fun of running your own company!  I need some cheering up, so I think I'll crank up some Sonny Landreth - Road A Plenty.  If you like Sonny's funky style of blues, do yourself a favor and check out his page of free music where he has posted an additional eight tracks - all 'Free & Legal' to download.  There, you'll get a kick out of the little blurb that accompanies each tune.  Highly recommended clickin'!

July 18th    Here's a pretty cool new product: a device called the MusicPal, that looks much like any other 'clock radio', but it gets it's feed via wireless internet from your home / office wireless router (pretty much ubiquitous these days).

July 18th    Poor old multibillion dollar behemoth Microsoft... Someone has gone and cracked the DRM built into the Zune software... enabling, well: let your mind wander over here to find out more.

July 18th    If any of you lads have been brave enough to venture into the dark world of online forums, you'll have noticed in very short order that there exists a massive rift between those of us who think folks who swear to hear differences in copper or silver are deranged ego-maniacs and the ego maniacs think we must be deaf not to hear 'the differences'.  We simply suggest that they listen to equipment of whatever sort without the luxury of viewing the kit, and form their opinions based on sound alone.  They respond that we should shut up and burn in hell cause' we make their skin crawl...  Their biggest contention with 'blind auditions' is that they somehow mess with men's minds and negate all rational thought processes.  We contend that its an accepted standard used across a wide variety of disciplines, including potential band member auditions, the medical field and various scientific disciplines - and it seems that major philharmonic orchestras agree.  This article is a great start on learning about their particular twist on the process.

July 17th    Cooker!  Man, the temps' we've been getting hit with out here in British Columbia!  This calls for some damned cool music my friends.  Crank up the pure soul / Rock N Roll of Nikki Sudden - Seeing Double (192Kb/s - MP3, No DRM)

July 17th    Feel like kicking back and enjoying a blast to the past!?  I think I've found the mental time- warp here.  Just check out the discussions on LPs and the 'coming' CD technology standards.  You have to scroll down a bit to get into the meat and potatoes of the thing, but its all there in its early 80's glory.  (Adobe PDF file format - 540Kb)

July 17th    If you've been reading this site for some time, you'll note that I am a big fan and supporter of Radio Paradise.  They have recently implemented a new trick which allows streaming MP3s at 192Kb/s - which is a shipload higher fidelity than satellite radio (which hovers around, but generally much below the 128Kb/s mark).  There is a small catch: you have to download / install a small utility called the Octoshape Plugin  that rigs support for higher fidelity stream - thus eliminating dropouts which one often hears with 192Kb/s and above HTML-based audio streams..  Have no fear however, if you have even the slightest PC acumen you'll have no troubles with the process.  I installed it in a mere 4 clicks, and off I go to the 192Kb/s feed.  I've heard The Cure, Savoy Brown & JJ Cale while typing these few paragraphs - Great Stuff!  Note that you can also view a wide variety of other media from the Octoshape www site.

July 17th    By the way, in case you are wondering why this (above) Internet Radio station is still alive and kicking, what with all of the fretting about massive increases in online broadcast rates, check this WiredNews explanatory link.

July 17th    Well folks, that's it for me this evening.  I am too damned busy to hang out much longer.  Crank up the music and kick back...  Wanna' see something cool and kinda' A/V related...

July 16th    Ya... I've been out of the loop for a while.  The days off have found me with great friends, great fun and great wine!  Time to get back to the grindstone, finish up some paperwork and feed this place some more great music.  Lets kick off the new workweek with some Magnolia Electric Co. - Lonesome Valley &  Doing Something Wrong (DSW link is flakey).  If that's not your cup O' tea, check out Tom Hamilton's American Babies - Swimming At Night

July 16th    Who doesn't love a live concert!?  The problem is keeping up with all of the bands coming to your town.  You've always had use of our link to Jam Concert Listings, and now you can add Podbop to the list of tools that search out band concert schedules.

July 16th    Just to show you that there is a bit of everything on the wibbly, wobbly web: a site that deals exclusively with movie soundtracks.  If you can't find it on SoundTrackCollector.com, its likely so damned odd that no one else wants to hear it either :-)

July 16th    Early Music Vancouver presents: Calendar of Events.  If you are in the lower mainland and dig a good classical tune, this is the place you wanna' click over to in order to arrange your next fix.

July 16th    Prince gives away CDs with newspapers - pissing off everyone in the industry in the process.  I am starting to like this guy - he gets it: 'music as a product unto itself', is nearing its expiration date.  The cat formerly know as various things, has figured out that music is a tool that gets folks to come to concerts - and then he can make money performing, you know, actually working like the rest of us...  I know, what a crazy concept!  The recording industry as a whole is completely paranoid about this entire concept, but, as nomeansno once said: fuck em all.

July 16th    For those of you who were curious enough to sit down and flip through dictionaries as though they were novels...  The Audio Dictionary's Glossary of Terms

July 16th    Still reading this far down?  Perhaps you've been waiting for the usual geek-speak section: tarry no longer, Physics Of Sound aught to mess with your minds...

July 11th    Cleaned up the shop this evening - what an accomplishment that was!  Life here tends to be very busy and the aesthetics of the place oftentimes falls to the wayside...  Looking around now however, I recall the great feeling I get working in a tidy place.  My companion to pull me through this task has been my trusty copy of Songbird.  I suggest that you all get a copy of it installed ASAP, and point it at Cdnav.com and / or the archive page (see bottom of this main page).  Sounds egotistical, I know, but fuck man, this place sure has a killer collection of bitchin' tunes!  Oh ya', tonight's track...  How about, since I'm in such a damned fine mood, one of my favorite bands, fellow Canucks' ~ The Weakerthans - Last, Last One

July 11th    Did any of you folks catch the drift of that recent track from John Vancerslice - White Dove?  Have another listen, and this time, pay close attention to the lyrics.  Took me a few takes to get it, but wow - the story is pretty much absolutely unique to any track I have ever heard.  Pitchfork puts it in perspective.  If you liked what you heard from John in the link (above and a few days ago), check out the rest of the (60 plus!), free tracks he has made available on this MP3 site.

July 11th    Long-term readers will surely know by now what I think of most tweaks in the hobby.  I've always maintained that the we should dwell on room acoustics, not idiotic, completely useless 'tweaks'.  On that note, have a peek at what the folks at RPG Diffuser Systems have up their sleeves for your listening environment.  Pricy, yes, but if you are one of those fellows who thinks $400.00 RCA patch cords are a good investment... the cost of the product shouldn't make you bat an eye.  For the rest of us, there is always the option of either splurging on a once-a-year treat or harvesting ideas from RPG's products for a DIY project.

July 11th    By now I hope that most of you have checked out the stunningly immersive environment that one can experience with a [properly setup] surround-sound configuration and a [well-engineered] recording that shows off what the format is capable of.  Don't be put off if your experiences to data have been negative, its almost positively caused by one or both of the bracketed factors.  The following document from The Grammy Recording Academy is written with production engineers in mind, but also touches on a number of points that will help you, in your own home with setting up a satisfying surround-sound experience.  Adobe PDF formatted PDF file ~ 993Kb.  Recommendations for Surround-Sound Productions.

July 10th    Ok, its a little mellow, but I have a wee tilt towards folky-country-rock, especially when there are banjos involved!  Rocky Votolato - Postcard From Kentucky - 192Kb/s MP3 No DRM

July 10th    Thought you were gonna' get through the week without another of my favorite techno-dweeb spiels?  Fugettaboutit!  Dig into Thiele - Small Analysis of Loudspeaker Enclosures.  Those of you who still think that all speaker cables are unique in their 'sound', just skip to the last paragraph...

July 10th    One of my favorite subjects: Bass!  If you don't own a sub or two, maybe three... you are missing out on A/V's gift to mankind.  Don't wanna' pop for a new one, wife giving you grief about the "size of those things"?  Not to worry, with the information gleaned on The DIY Sub Page, you'll be building cost-efficient, incognito subs left, right and center (three subs, Ummm...Bass...).

July 10th    Those of you who have taken the time to look at our 'Other Online Forums' site will soon realize that there are A/V forums for just about all tastes out there.  Those of you into the classic Lenco turntables have not been left out: witness the Lenco Lovers TT forum!

July 10th    While I'm on the topic of turntables.  Anyone who has ever had one will have, at some point, been faces with the daunting task of attempting to remove the scratches from an easily scratched turntable cover.  While I have read numerous posts online from fellows offering their two cents worth, I find this particular detailed explanation to be excellent.

July 10th    That's it for me till' Thursday folks, I've a load of paperwork to tackle and procrastinating on this site is getting a little old...  Reach for the volume knob and enjoy a little of the twisted prose of Tom Waits -  Bottom Of The World, Hows It Gonna' End & Another Man's Vine (Thanks to his label, 'Anti-Records', for these free & legal tracks)

July 9th    Wow - wasn't that an amazing weekend!?  I, for one, had a blast!  A friend of mine took me and my little gal on a flight to the coast in his private plane, we buzzed circles around downtown Vancouver - something none of us had ever been allowed by air traffic control to do before, and practiced touch-down and takeoffs in a number of cities.  One can sure boogie from point A to point B in 'two shakes' when doing so in bee-lines of 200+ miles per hour!  We were all over southern British Columbia today - flying... I dig it!  Whatever shall we listen to today?  Life rocks!  Lets celebrate our funky existence with some 'nu-rock' care of John Vancerslice - White Dove (Thanx to Fingertips for the link!)  192Kb/s MP3, no DRM!

July 9th    Enjoy Internet Radio?  Like Punk Rock?  If so, check out PunkRadioCast.com's site and crank up some ass-kicking punkOrama!  128Kb/s MP3 streams in three different file formats, including what I recommend as the best of the bunch: WinAmp!

July 9th    Sixty inch plasma for under three grand!?  That, my friend, is deserving of a full-on "fuckkkk dude..."  Check out SoundFood's review of the Visio VM60P HDTV.  I saw one on eBay this evening for under $2600.00 Cdn. in the 'Buy Now' section.

July 9th    Live Earth Breaks Online Concert Record With 9 Million Internet Streams!  For a little taste of what its all about, click here

July 9th    Deep into the "you gotta' be kidding me dude" department: a sweet-spot that follows you around the room!  Check out Sony's patent for the new technology.

July 6th    In case you haven't noticed, I've recently acquired (or perhaps, re-acquired), a taste for jazzy female vocals.  In the groove I have found: Georgie James - Grizzly Jive  - 160Kb/s MP3, no DRM.

July 6th    I'm not a big fan of TAS (The Absolute Sound), magazine, but have to tip my hat to this particular author's effort, this time round' (gasp).  What Can and Cannot Be Expected from Stereo, Logically

July 6th    A crazy cat by the name of Peter Aczel once wrote about his own loudspeaker product and was verbally jumped upon by a wide range of nutty audiofools.  Many times I've read about this supposed 'fiasco', but was never able to get to the bottom of exactly what was or wasn't said.  After doing a bit of research for a friend (see the forums), I happened upon this interesting snippet which seems to put the who shenanigans into a little more focus.

July 6th    Interested in a DIY loudspeaker system, but don't know where to start (or realize that doing so will ruin your free time for the next two months and have therefore been avoiding the question...), have I got a cool site for you to check out!

July 6th    White Stripes surprise kids at Toronto daycamp

July 5th    Too busy to lay much on ya' tonight, so will simply provide an interesting link for you to investigate on your own (tnx. Charivari).  Have a look at Chicago Public Radio's www site and their many music samples / PodCasts (playable MP3 'musical stories').  The audio quality on many of the tracks is 'hurtin', but at least it may open your eyes to more of what we're all here for: Da' Music Man!

July 4th    Party on Americans!  Had an interesting weekend, met several Americans, and - somewhat to my surprise, they despised George Bush as much as me, perhaps more if that's possible.  They are generally a little more than concerned with how the hell they are going to get hold of the reigns on the federal deficit after 'George bonehead' splits town with his rich, war-monger buddies.  Our conversations rejuvenated my faith in the future of the United States!  Today's musical selection is quite different than much of what I usually post on the site.  Its kinda' spoken word, and reminds me a little bit of Train Spotting (excellent movie - see it soon).  Colin Hay - Are You Looking At Me - 160Kb/s MP3 No DRM.

July 4th    Just a 'Heads-Up' to all of you back East: The Ottawa Blues Fest begins today and runs through till' the 15th.  The lineup is amazing, check it out.

July 4th    One of my favorite bands, The White Stripes, is still touring across Canada, playing some of the most odd-spot gigs as they make their way across our fair land: bowling alleys, onboard busses, bridges, old-folks homes and a variety of locals that no other artist of their stature has ever ventured into.  This, IMO, kicks serious ass and the band deserves to be supported by audience attendance wherever they go.   Check out some videos and grind an ear to their rendition of the blues, done with loads of power and distortion.  The videos are kinda' silly, but the music is great! 

July 4th    Lots of folks are wondering what the life of our optical media might be.  After all, who among us hasn't come across 'burnt' CD or DVDs that simply, and for no apparent reason, cease to be readable.  ECMA Standardizes Method For the Estimation of Lifetime of DVDs

July 3rd    So that's it then; summer has officially kicked in and we are in July.  The weatherman sez' the temps' are set to go through the roof and I'm all set to Rock N' Roll!  Lets ease into the short workweek (here in Canada we just celebrated Canada Day - Yay, we're 140!) with a couple of tracks from Friday's band: Over the Rhine - Looking Forward and their rendition of an oldie Moondance.

July 3rd    Feel like a good laugh?, me too: dig into the latest (partial) copy of Canada's Ultra High Fidelity rag' online here.  The 7 megabyte Adobe PDF download offer the usual load of bull, but also hosts an article on page 18 that may be of interest to many ('Absorbing Low Frequencies').

July 3rd    Free stuff is always cool, I dig it!  Check out ReadyAcoustics offer for a complete room tune kit with all the bits and pieces here.

July 3rd    Running out of HDMI ports, need a 'splitter'?  Impact Acoustics has an affordable switching option that may interest you.

July 3rd    Curious about 'DAC Sound', have a fast internet connection, some time on your hands and a kick-ass stereo system hooked up to your PC?  If you fall into this category, you'll be interested in checking out this site.  As it's hosted by a company with obvious interests in promoting their own product, I'll pepper this one with a dash of "hmmmmm, but - decide for yourself...

July 3rd    Ok, ok, this is the last one I'll post (in case you haven't figured it out yet, I dig this gals voice and the piano track), Over the Rhine's All I Ever Get For Christmas

June 29th    Fade to the long weekend my friends: those of you with a flair for Jazz and smoky blues will dig this next track (tnx Fingertips): Over The Rhine - Trouble

June 29th    So the rumor sez' that Zeppelin are going to reunite for a world-tour... Hell, I'll go!  Imagine all the tracks that we grew up loving, played live before our eyes with three of the four original members and Bonham's kid behind the drums.  Point me to the ticket wicket!

June 29th    Canadian rock legends The Tragically Hip are on tour and coming to a coliseum near you!  I am set to grab tix' tomorrow, have a look at the Canadian tour schedule here.  If you are one of the three people in Canada who haven't yet heard the Hip, check out their sound here.  (Click 'Launch Music Player' on the right-hand section of the screen if the previous link doesn't auto-run it).

June 29th    Just when you thought it was safe to plunk big money down on a new TV set: Laser TVs to take on LCD and plasma rivals - Mitsubishi set promises better pictures, lower power usage.

June 29th    Computers Becoming Main Audio Devices: I know that I use my PCs for a huge portion of my music listening these days.  In fact, both PCs: the laptop and the main workstation, are hooked up to large sound systems.  Heck, though they are located in unattached buildings and separated by nearly a hundred feet, each can access and play the other's databases!  Behold the power of CAT5e and wireless networks!

June 29th    In the "you've gotta' be fucking kidding me man" department: Hitachi develops new 'brain-machine interface'.  Ok, this shit is starting to freak me out man...

June 29th    In case you missed it, Crutchfield's has extended their arm into Canada.  We can now score some pretty great deals on audio / video kit up here in the Great White North.  Combined with a strong Canadian dollar (they have to bring the stuff from the States at some point), this can only mean good things for consumers and sadness for established Canadian retailers.

June 29th    I'm gonna' close this weeks posts with a blast of Ryan Adams offering us a free sample of his work via the track Everybody Knows.  Its kinda' country-rock.  Perhaps not my favorite artist, but hey, the cat is super popular, so it goes to show how many different tastes there are out there!  Got some good friends coming in to ride / paddle / hike with as well as a group of bikers that I have not previously met (unless one considers email 'conversations' a meeting in this day and age?), who have asked me to show them some of the local trails - should be a blast!  Tap at cha' Tuesday, rock on brothers and sisters!

June 28th    Some crazy shit in my neighborhood tonight folks!  A large, multi-function business building burned down two blocks from my doorstep!  The place is a complete write-off, a smoldering hunk of toxic waste...  Luckily, as far as I know at this moment, no casualties.  Took a few pics which can be seen here.  Fire from a distance (blurry) and Putting it out.  The blurry shots were due to several factors, sorry bout' that.  Saddest part (for me): see that crooked sign hanging out front over the entrance, more or less in the center of the 'putting it out' shot... that, my friends was one of the finest rare LP shops in Western North America.  Aside from regular / astute readers of this site, most of you likely never heard of nor got the chance to visit 'MC Productions'.  To write somewhat of a premature epitaph: It was host to the most amazing collection of ancient shellac, mono-groove and 78 rpm vinyl records I have ever seen.  They also had a load of massive sized 'LP' disks, which required players I have never previously laid eyes on.  The owners: two fellows who were just making an effort to fit into the community with their freaky little coffee shop and wildly 'different' record collections, will be devastated.  Bummer dudes.. I share your pain.

June 28th    Not much to say tonight boyz'.  This fire shit has got me down.  I bid you bend an ear in a direction you might never have, to absorb some Spottiswoode and His Enemies - Building A Road.  Enjoy this very unique piece of music: I dedicate it to all those who lost what they love in tonight's fire.

June 27th    Rock into Hump Day with the help of yet another band that I've never heard of before: Pearlene and their track Watch The Way.  The fidelity on this one is really lacking, (64Kb/s), I simply wanted to open your ears to the band as a whole.  Check out their web site and groove to a few more streaming tracks.  Note that all of the streaming tracks end up as MP3s of various bitrates tucked away in your Internet Explorer's Temporary Internet Files folder.  The track 'Clay Ball' for instance, comes down and spools at 160Kb/s...

June 27th    I've built my fair share of 'home-brew' speaker systems, but not too many of them came out looking as cool as the stuff this cat brews up.  Let me warn ya' ahead of time, the link I've provided here will lead you on a wild chase through dozens of sub-links - each one opening up a whole new world of amazing ways to spend hours in the shop, away from the wife and kids, building loudspeakers...  (I particularly like this one from an informative standpoint)

June 27th Speaking of speakers: wanna' see something cool and freaky?  Check out these full range plasma systems currently being flogged on eBay.  Bet cha' never seen a set of these before (nor have I)

June 27th    After much ribbing "cause I didn't know this already", (must work on those Jedi mind tricks), I managed to coerce the caramel secret, er, rather, the 'MP3 bible' out of the cats on Hydrogen Audio.  Consider this a technical "everything you ever wanted to know about MP3 encoding, but were afraid to ask for fear of being taunted online..."

June 27th    Nothing whatsoever to do with A/V, but mind-blowing nonetheless - the lads over at TartyBikes.co.uk have amassed a large variety of video clips for your amusement.  If you are anywhere near interested in bicycles, or have a kid who is - and you have a speedy high-speed Internet connection - go ahead and right-click / save, this file, for later viewing.  Its a 96 megabyte free video clip that's sure to blow your Hump-Day mind man!  I'm into mountain biking, not the rides these fellows have, but I am still floored by the jaw-dropping grasp of balance they display.

June 27th    For those of you audio-nuts living in Toronto, this Hump-Day holds a special place in history: Sam the Record Man to auction off slice of music history today

June 26th    Smooth, folksy and a touch of something like gospel-bluegrass for your Tuesday tune Willy Mason - When The River Moves On.  If that's a little too mellow and you're falling back asleep, bend an ear to the brighter sounds of Bright Eyes and their track Four Winds.  This reminds me a lot of the kinda' tunes that were popular in the era of Men At Work and the like.

June 26th    I see loads of A/V systems and the rooms they are in posted on the Net' - and one thing that often strikes me is "wow, that room must pretty much suck acoustically!"  Those of you in the same boat, and floating in it, might find this Sound Food article interesting.

June 26th    As my frequent fliers know by now, I'm a big fan of Pioneer equipment: it offers great value, reliability (the company has been around since before most of today's 'Hi-End' electronic 'engineers' were still in diapers), and cutting-edge technology.  Their latest (yet to hit North American shores), receiver continues the tradition with the VSA-AX1AH.  This sucker is chalk full of features and looks to hit Canadian shores at about $1200.00.  If that's a little too steep for a receiver, give it a year and you'll see the features that it sports trickle down into the $500.00 range in its product line.  This particular unit is one of the industry's first to break out of the gates with HDMI 1.3, True-HD, a USB interface, and HD-Master-Audio: thus the 'early-adopter' price tag.

June 26th    Ya', I bet you're just dying for some geek-speak!  Satisfy your lust for all things uber-technical with Stanford University's Advanced Sound Recording Technology course: all online and free!

June 25th    Nice... another weekend of friends, fun, a bit O' fine wine and excellent dining!  Oh, and thrashing about in the mountains: everyone out there; buy a kick-ass mountain bike, you'll thank me!  To hell with investing three grand into some A/V toy: do your cardio-vascular system a solid favor and pick up a modern full-suspension bike!  Here is the best advise I can give you on a hot deal: Buy a Santa Cruz Blur LT.  They go for about the same price as a set of decent speakers, but it will take you to places deep in the woods, high in the mountains and far away from the frantic shit that we live with every day - superceding any soul-expanding experience that you could get from listening to music, and benefiting your body and mind like few other investments!  The LT is arguably one of the very best of breed in the world, and it costs less than what some idiotic audiofools spend on cables!

June 25th    Shit, got a little carried away there, music maestro!  Spoon: The Underdog will get you hoppin' into the new week on a good note!  (192Kb/s No DRM)

June 25th    I've been a fan of Polk Audio products since I was a wee lad, and that admiration hasn't diminished as I've grown.  The light in the eye of Matthew Polk's baby hasn't dimmed either, and he's still giving the world some pretty decent products.  Case in point: The new Polk Audio RTi10 floor-standing loudspeaker.  Check out the goods here, and note the very fair price of $1250 Cdn. at Crutchfieldcanada.com.  Paradigm Acoustics will have to sharpen their whit & marketing skills if they are to compete with this fine product!

June 25th    Looking for a killer deal on a new laptop?  This past Friday I bit on a 17" Toshiba Qosmio G35 and I thought I'd share my find with you all... now that my order has gone through :-)   This looks to be a real steal of a product, albeit with an abbreviated warranty.  Don't fret however, I've now owned three of their notebook products and all have given me decent service, an in environment where I dragged the things all over hell's half acre in my job as a PC service technician.  Check it out: 17" diagonal Widescreen XGA, NVIDIA GeForce 7300 graphics card, integrated TV tuner, 1-bit Digital Amplifier & Harman/Kardon enhanced Bass Reflex speakers.  For $1100.00 Cdn, this is a killer deal of deals!

June 22nd    Ya, I went OWL yesterday, but I had a great excuse ~ I was partying with some good friends in an amazing lakefront mansion!  Met some cats form Austria, made some new buds, rode some beautiful motorcycles: a new Triumph Tiger and an older model BWM as well as had my first burn on a jet-ski.  Partying mid-week is so much better than working!  I have something a little off the wall for you today with regards to music.  I suspect that a great many of you folks are in the 50-something age group, and if I am correct, you are gonna' love this large batch of old-school tracks from bands that no longer exist.  I truly have no idea on the legality of these tracks, all of the bands are long gone, half of the players are likely dead by now, so I dunno'. legal, not legal... you decide on the morality of this link... (scroll half-way down to the page to find the links)

June 22nd    We all love PCs and music, and a good deal.  Today's "shit, look how cheap that is", goes to Tiger-Direct's 320 Gigabyte, 7200 RPM external hard disk drive, on sale at a measly $80.00!  That, my friends, is some seriously cheap music file storage.

June 22nd    Time to feed your brain some geek-talk!  Check out this excellent article courtesy of Audioholics.com : Video Processing in DVD Players, Receivers and Displays  As usual, the boyz' give it to ya in terms that make sense, and don't try selling you on fancy cables or hocus-pocus gadgets along the way!  Its Friday, pour a drink, put on your favorite tunes and dig in!

June 22nd    Fun-EE-Shit: Fellow decides to press the RIAA into action... to sue the Bush twins for violation of copyright laws :-)  I love it!  Read the reason why here.

June 22nd    For those of you younger cats who didn't dig the old-school Rock N Roll I kicked this post off with, do check out the live footage of The White Stripes here.  The audio pretty much sucks, in fact its definitely the worst I have ever posted on this site, but the video clips really show the stinkin' raw power of Jack & Meg's music.  I am going to trip on down to the big smoke (Vancouver) to see the duo strut their stuff at Deer Lake Park this weekend!  And that, my friends, is it for another week of Cdnav, hope the weekend brings you to a concert or at the very least, a great party, along with good friends and loved ones.  Get out there and live life to the fullest!

June 22nd    Oh shit, I just couldn't resist, here is one more tune, this one in the Punk vein: The Penetrators: Shopping Bag

June 20th    Dig that Hump-Day Baby ~ Maximal audio crankage is definitely in order!  Give yer' volume control a workout with a slab O' rock n roll courtesy of Comets On Fire and their track Dogwood Rust.  These cats remind me of Dio mixed with old Status Quo / Foghat or something.  Its some crazy shit man.

June 20th    There is one speaker company in the audio-geek world that stands out amongst all the rest in terms of historic value as well as whisperings of "legacy..."  That, my friends is the venerable Quad and their electrostatic speaker designs.  Check out this cat's tribute to all things Quad.  Apparently, if you want to get parts and service for the product, he may be able to assist you as well.

June 20th    Remember when we were young and tried to spin our records backwards to hear what might be recorded in the grooves - if only we listened...  Well, some crazy dudes have come up with a very easy way to pull off this bit O' stupidity.  Check out this site / video clip to get a good laugh.  Actually, its so damned easy, I don't know why we didn't think of this ! musta' been all that cheap Mexican weed messing with our focus...

June 20th    Yikes!  Now even I, a child of death / dirge / raw metal, have a difficult time believing this next article: How death metal is the soundtrack of child prodigies.  What the hell!?

June 20th    Lets close hump-day with a book recommendation: Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time .  Come on, every one of you buggers has created a 'mix-tape' for some chick at one point in your life, I know I sure as hell have, lots of em'.  This universal 'giving of pirated music' is now the topic of a book by rock critic Phil Sheffield, and can be ordered at your local shop or online.  Its a hardcover, which I dig supremely over soft-covers, and goes for a measly $15.00 (Amazon).

June 19th    Monday started off mellow... lets kick things up a notch for Tuesday shall we!  I've featured the Black Angels in the past, and I'm gonna' keep up a good thing here.  Check out their track: The First Vietnamese War.  That's right, don't be afraid to crank it up, this'll get yer' ass in gear for a freaky Tuesday!

June 19th    Here are a couple of cool little applications: software to 'un-stick' pixels on your flat-screen monitor (PC or otherwise).  Download these apps, fire em' up and let them run overnight on your monitor to reawaken pixels that are stuck on a particular color.  Those of you with laptops have no doubt seen this issue in the past, I know I have many times while working on client PCs.  Note, they will not fix truly dead pixels, only 're-energize' stuck units.

June 19th    Once again, Affordable Audio rolls out another issue of their free, albeit, advertisement laden, online A/V zine'.  There are a couple of interesting tidbits, curious and fun for the price - just put on your hip waders cause' there is quite a bit of bullshit to wade through in search of the honest parts of the rag'...  Ya, he's a cable-worshipper... when will they ever learn?  This issue is a hair over 9 megabytes / Adobe PDF formatted.

June 18th    Ya man!  Weekend-brain-recharge session #1944 in the bag and I'm no worse for wear!  Good friends are the spice of life, and I am spoiled to the max with the great bunch that have chosen to include me in their lives!  I'm gonna' slide us into the workweek with a little dash of 'Acid Jazz' courtesy of Poppa Steve Mutimer and his track 'Like JJ Cale Would Do It'.  (192Kb/s MP3, No DRM)

June 18th    Ever wondered how noise-canceling headphones really work?  The New York Times, of all places, has a pretty decent article on the topic here.

June 18th    Microsoft Unveils Windows Home Server Release Candidate 1.  If you're into building a small A/V server for your pad and have an extra PC kicking around, go ahead and give this free trial software a whirl.

June 18th    John Lee Hooker Jr., who...?  Yes indeed, it turns out that the man, the man: has a child prodigy.  Hell, I never knew!  Ok, JLHJ isn't exactly a 'child', as he appears to be in his 50's at least. and his sound is, well, its blues to be sure, but with a drop or two of a few other styles.  The 'young Hooker' is playing gigs in Winnipeg, Thunder Bay and Whistler, check out the facts here, and have a listen to his work on this site.  (Tracks you audition are spooled into your Temporary Internet Files folder as MP3s...)

June 15th    In a word: Sweet!  Welcome to your Friday, salvation from the dirge of another workweek ~ shovelin' your taxes towards uncle Harper...  Should you turn to audiofool fantasies for your thrills this weekend, tweak your cables, swap amplifiers and CD players?  Hell no, you aught to forget that weak shit and check out Yeasayer's 2080.  This dreamy prog-rock is 'different enough' from all of the shit I sift through daily that I give it the Cdnav.com "I dig it".  192Kb/s MP3 / No DRM.

June 15th    Now this is some curious shit!  Old cats (and kittens), singing 'covers' of modern rock music.  In this case they slaughter Sonic Youth's Schizophrenia.  (Re-direct to YouTube's site)

June 15th    Just when you though you'd seen it all on the Internet: a site for folks who design backyard, outdoor home theatres!  Hell, I guess it makes sense, I mean, how many of us grew up going to drive-in movies?  Considering that drives-ins are now about as rare as audiophiles who understand that similarly shaped copper cables really don't 'sound' different from one another, why the hell not build your own!?  They even feature a discussion forum on their site.  (What got me going on the above site was this one, which also deals with the topic of 'build-your-own-drive-in-theater')

June 15th    Ever found yourself in need of a manual for a component, but either couldn't find the damned thing at hand or online... except for an escalated price?  The HiFi Engine site currently features 1154 freely available manuals for your downloading pleasure, and I am sure he accepts more if you choose to make them available.  Help the project!  (All manuals appear to be in the universally accepted Adobe PDF file format).  The site also features a hell of a lot of other cool stuff to peruse as well...

June 15th    That's it for me this week, enjoy your weekend, kick back and hang with your good friends, pop a bottle of your favorite and suck up the fleeting experience we call life!  I'll fade to black till' Monday with a tune from a trio of young gals by the name of The Like, and their track: Bridge To Nowhere.  They are really talented, cute and hell, I don't feature female vocalists on Cdnav.com nearly often enough.

June 14th    Thowin' my usual bias against much of the new prog'-rock to the wind, tonight's musical selection is from the oddly named Okkervil River and their track 'Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe'.  Ya, I like fucked up song titles too... :-)  It might take a few listens, but this one will grow on ya'.  (256Kb/s MP3, no DRM)

June 14th    I've recently been enjoying another round of cable-banter with a few completely outrageous nuts on the carver audio (RIP) forum, and in their honor, may I present a classic review from 'back in the day', enjoy boyz'  (Adobe PDF formatted document  / 9.1 megabytes)

June 14th    A few days back I presented music from the Canadian band: Lions In The Street.  They have recently e-mailed me to let me know that they'll be playing in Vancouver this weekend, June 16th, at The Media Club at 695 Cambie.  Should be a great' show: if you like down-to-earth classic rock, get your ass down there!

June 14th    Been looking for a new TT belt, but was turned off at the specter of paying twenty five bucks or more (!) for what amounts to a glorified elastic band?  Ya, me too!  Check out this site however: Turntablebasics.com  This dude appears to be the most no-bull place on the web for belts of all kinds, at prices that rock ~ Dig it!  While you're there, check out his wide selection of TT kit in general, pretty much all of it appears to be a flat-out deal - especially with the advent of our ultra-buff Canuck greenback!

June 13th    I'll be the first to admit: I dig punk rock - in a big way.  Hell, I grew up on DK / DOA / Nomeansno etc.  The always-gregarious Dwarves are right up my alley.  Check out their track Everybody's Girl.  Crank it!  If this is the kinda' thing that interests you, there are a total of 17 MP3 tracks available 'free & legal' on the band's www site.  Their style is all over the map: punk, rap, metal, pop and some shit I just can't pigeon-hole at the moment...

June 13th    In perfectly back-asswards order, I present part 1 of the 'Bi-Wiring' article you had the pleasure of reading a few days ago.  Bi-Wiring From Amplifier To Loudspeaker (The usual kudos to Audioholics.com)

June 13th    The cretins at Tone Publications have released their latest pile of, ya...  As usual however, amongst all of the complete bullshit, lies and audiofool mythology, lay a few truthful articles and music reviews that might interest you.  36 Megabyte Adobe PDF file download.  I'm usually pissed at the editor for all of the cable lies he tells, but I see that he is slowly starting to take the publication away from flat-out disinformation, and into a more mentally digestible direction...

June 12th    I've posted it before, in the forum section, but I heard it again tonight at a friend's place and figured that it would be a good kick to bring it out here 'in the open'.  Lets kick this one off with the funniest song I have - ever - heard!  Be sure to spread this one around to all your friends, it'll make their day: Tequila!  (I'll have a 'real' song for ya' tomorrow, its just that this one was far too good to pass up!)

June 12th    Nothing like planning for success, and Electronic House has an excellent pre-visualization guide to walk you through conceptualizing your coming home theater!

June 11th    No posts tonight: business / paperwork rears its ugly head!  Its off to the vaults with ya!:

June 8th    Fuh-har-iiii-ahh-day ~ Fuckin A', we made er' through another workweek more or less mentally unscathed >>> Its time for Rock N' Roll!  Yesterday's blast of classic rock was so tasty that I decided to load up your plates with a shitload more!  Lions In The Street: Lady Blue, You're Gonna Loose, Feels Like A Long Time and Already Gone.  I'd love to talk about upcoming shows and when / where you can go out and support these guys live, but I don't see any shows listed on the bands site - as of today anyway.  (320Kb/s MP3 No DRM - I just dig it when bands are wise enough to use high bit rates on their evaluation material.  It only makes sense to present your product in a quality format)

June 8th    And just for the weekend... in case you missed it, a few days back, May 24th to be exact, I made a post about the Black Keys free EP.  Do yourselves a favor and visit the link - download the 192Kb/s MP3s and crank the livin' shit outta' your stereo systems!  (Go to their gigs and let er' rip if you have a chance as well!)

June 8th    Wow... how the mighty have fallen.  Ozzy, one of my all time favorite rockers, has released a new LP and, well, er - it isn't much to write home about...  Have a listen here.  That's suppose to be the 'hit single' track.  Doh!  Metal newbs' might get into it, but old-school Sabbath cats like myself can only wince, turn down the volume and reach for our old 'Volume IV' LPs...

June 8th    Those of you into Satellite Radio may be glad to hear that old-timer Steve Earl is now on the air with his own show (seems to be a trend in the industry to hire fossil-rockers as DJs).  Click over to channel 63 to hear for yourself.  More info here.

June 8th    Friday geekout time fellows: Once again, many thanks to the audio-fiends over at Audioholics.com for all of the mental footwork on this one!   Bi-wiring Part 2: The Cable Conundrum

June 8th    Since this is both an Audio and Video site, its only fitting that we discuss video codecs.  This next article is something like a "Everything you ever wanted to know about Video Codecs, but were too sensible to ask"...

June 8th    And that's it for me till Monday my fellow music freaks!  Live life to its completely freaking fullest - cause ya' never know when your time is up! 

June 7th    Thursday... one shy of the reason we work: hang on another day man, and crank up some really great, Canadian classic Rock N Roll, courtesy of Vancouver's Lions In The Street ~ Mine Aint Yours To Take It.  This'll throw yer' brain back to early Foghat, Mahogany Rush and strait ahead rock of that ilk.  I completely Dig it!  (320Kb/s DRM-Free MP3)

June 7th    Summer time has arrived, and aside from chicks wearing mini-skirts and belly-shirts... it means outdoor festivals are in-season!  Check out this excellent (if not 100% comprehensive), Summer Music Festival Guide from the good folks at Exclaim.ca. 

June 7th    Speaking of festivals, there is one I just had to single out: Ottawa's BluesFest, which runs July 4th through the 15th.  The lineup will drop yer' jaw!  Have a look at this list of talent!

June 7th    As you all are aware by now, I am all for unsighted auditions of material or hardware.  Some call it "ABX", "Blind" and a variety of other names.  To me, as long as the listener hasn't a clue of the source, then I'm 'all in'.  Arny Krueger has (some time ago), devised a great little test methodology to check for audibility of MP3 encoding algorithms, and made it available for scrutiny here.  I suggest that, with the commonality of high-speed cable and free server / data hosting, one could do away with the CD aspect of the example and speed up the process a great deal.  At any rate, do check it out, there are some great suggestions.  If any of you wish to try the techniques, I will make available as much free hosting space as you require.  Contact me via the 'Contact Us' link to the left of this text...

June 6th    Just when you thought you had this site figure out, I go and throw ya' a curve ball!  Today's Hump-day tracks is good old fashioned gospel blues care of Ruthie Foster - Woke Up This Morning.  Fuckn' A, let er roll!  (Apologies for those of you who tried yesterday's download and found out that the link was a bit of a dud...  its been repaired!)

June 6th    In what will surely be the wave of the future, a major label has released an LP on USB memory stick!  And what a seminal LP it is: Bob Marley's Exodus, one of the best reggae LPs ever released!  Check out all of the details here.

June 6th    TV on The Computer: Who among us hasn't thought about it at one time or another?  Many of you have popped for a Hauppauge TV Tuner or sat squinting at awfully small 'Internet Videos', but few have yet experienced Apple TV or Joost.  Read on to hear the thoughts of those who have...  (wait out the advertisement on the linked page... 6 seconds in a link will appear on the top, right-hand side 'Enter Salon', click it...)

June 6th    Back on his feet after an operation this winter, all Canadian songster Jeff Healy is back with his band ~ The Jazz Wizards, and on tour across Eastern Canada!  Check out the tour schedule here and visit Jeff's haunt, Jazz FM91.

June 5th    Been hearing a great deal from the Artic Monkeys over the past couple of years.  They are playing all over the World and making quite a name for themselves.  They are also very cool about making their music available to net denizens.  Check out their Amy Winehouse of You Know I'm No Good. (192Kb/s MP3 No DRM)

June 5th    Its good to see that I'm not alone in my fondness of Technics audio kit.  This dude is Asian, but don't let the language barrier stop ya' ~ a picture if worth a thousand words, and our eastern friend has collected a whack of em, along with full specs'

June 5th    I don't talk about movies nearly enough, and today I am going to make up for it in my own twisted way: I bring you (via Movies.com), 'The 25 Best Movies You've Never Seen'.  Now, I personally have indeed seen several of the flicks listed, but I bet a lot of you haven't... or, well, never mind.  The next time you are at the movie rental shop, forget the main 'Top 10' isle and slide on over to the 'old' racks for a stroll down movie memory lane...

June 4th    It appears that amongst the millions of lame / going-nowhere nu-rock bands, there is still a trend with some youth to churn out pure, raw hard rock N' roll.  The very oddly named 'Earl Greyhound' is among those who still let it roll.  Check out S.O.S, All Better Now and Its Over.

June 4th    More of the seemingly endlessly excellent articles form Audioholics.com:  Early Reflections in Home Theaters: A Different Perspective.  Cause guys, no mutter how much you spend equipment ~ it'll still sound a mess in a room that sucks acoustically!

June 4th    Whether we want it or not, its coming our way in the very near future: HD Radio: A Closer Listen.  Learn more about the successor to our multipath-ridden airwaves.

June 1st    Ha, here's one that I bet you never thought you'd see on Cdnav.com!  Take in a full 21 track taste of the crooner of all crooners: Frank Sinatra!  Ya, I have a spot for all kinds of music in my repertoire - in this case, because my grandma was Its Overa big fan, and I spent many an hour listening to the cat as a child.  A treat for Internet Explorer users: the tracks are spooled into your Temporary Internet Folder as DRM-free MP3s...

June 1st    Today I'm going to copy and paste an excellent article directly from an older post on Digital Music News that was emailed to me a few weeks back.  Why no link to the actual page, and thus, a considerable saving of space here?  Cause' I cannot find the damned original page on their archive site!  Anyway, full credits go to Paul Resnikoff, the editor of Digital Music News - digitalmusicnews.com.

Resnikoff's Parting Shot: CD Survival

The death of one technology is rarely followed by the birth of another.  In almost every case, once-dominant technologies coexist with emerging replacements, and the balance tilts over time.  It was true with typewriters and PCs, digital and conventional cameras, and even horses and automobiles.  The reason is that consumers are too varied and complicated to support a clean, overnight transition, and many incorporate multiple technologies into their lifestyles.

The same is true for the CD.  Sure, sales of discs are dropping precipitously in the United States, and globally, sales have been sliding for years.  But until recently, the transition has been mostly gradual.  And there may be more life in this format than many think.  Dissecting the downfall produces some interesting discoveries.  First, the shift away from the CD is only party due to the technology itself.  The decrease is better viewed in a much larger context, one that includes pricing, retail environments, product packaging, and an alienated younger buyer.  Meanwhile, non-traditional markets, and those tied to older demographics, are generally holding their own, evidence that the format is more resilient than the larger sales story indicates.

Of course, there are format-specific reasons for the current sales decline.  CDs don't hold as much as an iPod, and they don't support constant updating, playlisting, and rigorous exercise routines.  And if Apple has taught the industry anything, it's that the iPod is tightly tied to iTunes, an ecosystem of thousands of songs, instant recommendations, and shared playlists.  It's not a world the CD was born into.  Yet the CD still has a place in a larger ecosystem.  Few cars lack in-dash CD players, computers universally support their playback, and many fans still buys discs despite harboring immense digital collections.  Somehow, a coexistence makes sense for many music fans.

But what doesn't make sense anymore are the strings attached to the CD.  These are aspects that are not necessarily inherent to the CD format, though they are intricately part of the consumer buying decision.  Take pricing.  Why does a CD carry a price tag of $16.98, $15.98, $11.98, or anything else in that range?  The price tag is based on a complicated interplay of rights holders, distributors, retailers, executive salaries, and profit maximization calculations.  These aspects represent decades of industry evolution, a process that gets baked into the suggested list retail price.  But tapes and vinyl carried the same baggage, and industry economics until recently supported discrete, bundled releases at price points that now seem impractical.  Ultimately, pricing and bundling structures are bigger than the CD.

Another example lies in product packaging.  Why don't CDs carry lyrics files, images, and videos?  And why do they carry a relatively limited number of tracks?  The typical CD seems a bit bare bones, but the technology itself can support all of these extras and more.  But toss that baggage aside and place a CD in the hands of the consumer, and everything works perfectly.  Interoperability is guaranteed, and buyers can easily shift between different environments.  One executive astutely pointed out that the CD, for all of its outmoded and old-fashioned criticisms, actually offers far better universality than most paid download services.

The point is, there's nothing horribly wrong with this format, and large sections of the consumer population are incredibly comfortable with the experience.  Does a 45-year old necessarily need an iPod?  Maybe yes, perhaps not.  It really depends on the individual.  If CDs started melting their players tomorrow, the story would be different.  But consumers understand CD technology, and rarely have a problem with it.  Is iTunes+iPod superior?  For most younger people, the answer is undeniably yes.  But this isn't an exodus from the CD, it's an embrace of a newer, more convenient method for obtaining, storing, organizing, and listening to music.  But some older people just don't care.

That could explain some interesting trends.  Take non-traditional sales outlets like Starbucks.  Or boutique sellers in airports.  It isn't f.y.e., it's an entirely different proposition.  And these plays exist in environments where the consumer relationship is otherwise healthy.  So how are non-traditional outlets doing?  According to Nielsen Soundscan, non-traditional retailers now claim 17 percent of the retail pie, up from just 2 percent in 2002.

Meanwhile, internet-based sales are soaring.  Online sales of discs increased 19 percent last year to 12.9 million units, also according to Soundscan.  And that includes a number of super-targeted plays.  "Contrary to what appears to be the imminent demise of the physical disc in the world of popular music, we have found ... that the physical CD in the classical music world is still the overwhelmingly preferred medium for purchase," said Eric Feidner, president of ArkivMusic, a genre-targeted company.  Feidner is now licensing out-of-print classical catalogs from major labels, and only pressing copies as specific orders come in.  Long Tail defined, and powered by the CD. 

Eventually, the shift from physical to digital will marginalize the CD.  Teenagers will become twenty-somethings, thirty-somethings, and forty-somethings, and their consumer power will be directed towards tenth-generation iPhones, not traditional CDs.  Carmakers will prioritize iPod integrations above in-dash CD players, and the format will eventually garner nostalgia like its now-quaint grandfather, the vinyl platter.

But in the current market, the format still has considerable steam, despite the recent implosion in traditional sales.  Labels will suffer, as will traditional retailers, though the trusty CD will enjoy an extended sunset.  The playback infrastructure is too strong, and demographics shift too slowly for an overnight exit.  And less traditional plays will continue to capitalize on the remaining strength of the format.   Like most transitions, that means accelerated evolution, not revolution, and a lot more blood from the stone.

June 1st    I realize that a full 50+ percent of my readers are Americans, as shown on the back-end stats page, thus, some Yankee news: Do yourself a favor this summer and get an early jump on acquiring tickets to attend the 2007 Bonaroo Festival.  June 14th to 17th will see Manchester, Tennessee host four days of amazing music.  Check out the artist lineup here.

June 1st    Speaker placement is a constant topic it seems, lets take a look at a 'professional's' take on the subject via Revolution Home Theater's Bob Hodas and his article on the subject..

June 1st    That's it for me this week, over and out till' Monday, party on my friends!

May 31st    So that's it for another month of Rockin' on the planet earth!  Lets give May 07' a fitting sendoff with an outstanding track from The Redwalls - Colorful Revolution.  (VBR MP3 No DRM!)

May 31st    As mentioned time and time again on this site, I find that there are very few people with financial interests / friends / associates etc., on the Internet who are willing to actually tell the truth ~ especially in the A/V field!.  I like to think that this site will be part of the solution, and love it when I come upon others with the same moral compass.  One of these cats is Bob Lefsetz.  You just gotta visit his Lefsetz Letters web site and get a load of his opinions and commentary to understand.  Today's blurb about how Apple and the suits are branding their new 'DRM-Free' tracks with your personal information is a dandy!

May 31st    I try to bring this site up every few months cause I love 1) Old-school rock 2) Free live music.  Wolfgang's Vault has just sent me an email informing me that they have just added the following list of acts to their download section.  In case you are unfamiliar with WGV, its a massive repository of live / soundboard tracks that you can download as much as you like of!  Two words: Fuckin Ay!

U2 - Orpheum Theatre - 11/14/1981
AC/DC - Towson State College - 10/16/1979
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Cardiff Castle - 11/06/1975
Elvin Bishop - Record Plant - 03/26/1975
Foreigner - Dallas Reunion Hall - 10/03/1981
Randy Newman - Record Plant - 11/10/1974
Fleetwood Mac - Record Plant - 09/19/1974
Peter Frampton - Record Plant - 03/24/1975
The Kinks - Santa Monica Civic Auditorium - 02/18/1977

May 31st    Don't know if this rates as news or corporate propaganda?  Pioneer has introduced a handful of new Plasma Televisions.  These are said to feature... aw fuck, don't wait for me to be the corporate mouthpiece, check out their rap sheet... (audiogeeks - note the very last line).

May 30th    Slim pickins' tonight my friends, gotta' date with A/R, A/P and a few laptops to have repaired by the morning!  Perhaps a taste of female jazzy blues will drift ya' into HumpDay just fine.  What a sweet voice!  Divics - Come Out

May 30th    Very Cool!  The Record Collector's Guild!  Ooooh... a vinyl junkie's paradise!  Dig in, pig out my fellow LP junkies ~ there's enough here to keep ya' busy for a month!

May 30th    Not directly A/V related in the classic sense, but Microsoft has just released some very interesting new technology called 'Surface'.  Check out this link to watch a few clips that are much more descriptive than I could ever be.  This is some mind-blowing, freaky, futuristic shit!

May 29th    Just an observation: Fuck, there is a shitload of really crappy music out there!  Its an interesting challenge to pick out tracks each day to post here cause' the music has to grab me somehow, and from what I experience, 80% of the music released these days sucks ass!  The 'new wave / 'progressive-rock' or whatever the hell folks call it is really shiite!  Wanna hear what I mean?  Dig into any of the thousands of music blog sites online and give their offerings a listen...  Most blog sites appear to simply post any old thing to fill space...I don't fucking get it?  Whew, got that off my chest, must still be subliminally pissed off that those goddamned Ducks beat the Sens' this afternoon!  Lend an ear to Magnolia Electric Co's At Least The Dark Don't Hide It.  This bit O' country-rock isn't too shabby, IMO: the vocalist could use a wee bit of vocal lessons, but aside from that its decent rockin'. (Bio)  I kinda' like their pseudo-duet track Leave The City as well.  (160Kb/s DRM-free MP3)

May 29th    If you're in the market for a portable audio player, this cat has spent an exorbitant amount of time amassing a comprehensive listing of pretty much everything on the market this year, to date.  Have a look...

May 29th    Audioholics once again comes through with another great article:  Building Great Bass Response In Your Home Theater.  If you are in mid-destruction / construction or planning a build any time soon, you might find this to be an eye-opener.

May 29th    Just the other day a friend (hi Goose), was inquiring about some high-quality, inexpensive speakers that he could bi-amp and fool around with.  I had recommended he look at Usher Audio's S-520 as I had read some great stuff about them.  Since then, its seems that everywhere I look on the Internet I keep seeing more and more articles / reviews on this economical, well-built product.  Thus, here it is: The Usher S-520 Review and link!  Looks like the deal of the year and I even spotted a used set cheaper than the already cheap retail price.

May 28th    Monday bloody Monday... what better way to face the madness of a new workweek than with a slob O' classic rock... of sorts.  I suspect that none of you have ever heard of this band before, but all of you born after 66' or so will non doubt recognize the beat.  Check out the retro sound of Blitzen Trapper and their track Wild Mountain Nation.  As plagiaristic as it may come across, the groove is real cool - I dig it!  (256Kb/s MP3 - No DRM)

May 28th    As Alice would say: "Hello - Hurray!"  Thing is, we just set an impressive mark here on our little A/V site: 10,000 unique IP address visits since January 1st 07'!  Thanks to all of you who discovered the site and stuck around to see what wild shit I could come up with next :-).  I know, I know, ten thousand IP visits is about one minute on a really large site, but for me, its a milestone cause' we don't work like other sites.  No 'classic' advertising, no Google referrals / ad-words, no holds barred and no beating around the bush to keep various special interest groups happy.  Sites like this should have died long ago: I make no revenue off the site and tend to piss off just about everyone with fucked up 'audiofool' ideas in their heads.  Fuck em, we'll carry on as long as I feel like tappin' away to the world, and as long as you keep coming back for more.  Thank you folks, now sit back, pour a glass and crank today's tune!

May 28th    Not sure how computer literate all of you are, but I suspect that at one time or another you've downloaded some kinda' file off the Internet and, in attempting to play it, found that you simply didn't have the proper software installed to do so.  I have used quite a variety of software over the years - comes with the turf of being a PC tech, and one that has never failed me is K-Lite's Codec Pack.  This ZIP file has just about everything you could ever ask for in order to play any audio or video file around, including DVD.  The price?  Free!

May 28th    Many of you know that I dig the reality of music reproduction much more than the fantasy world of audiofools.  This includes learning about what goes on behind the scenes in the creation of the LP / CD / whatever, that we enjoy in our homes.  A great source of this kind of information Mix Magazine and their endless online articles.  Today's outtake is a few years old, but pertinent nonetheless.  Mix talked to eight professional surround engineer/producers about signal processing music for the 'new' surround-sound environment, here's what they had to say.  (You may have to scroll down a bit once there to see the main article).  You'll no doubt be struck by the fact that 'our music' is fed through a great deal of equipment, DAWs, circuits, wiring and switches - none of it 'silver-wired and audiofool certified', before it even reaches the final disk...  Knowing this, what possesses audiofools to think that changing a hunk of wire here or a capacitor there is gonna' make one goddamned bit of difference...?  These people scare me...

May 28th    Just an odd spot, but in case any of you ever wondered about audio frequencies and their attendant length, perhaps for some kind of arcane room-design project, here are the facts jack.  While you are at it, check out this excellent speaker fuse selection chart.

May 28th   The legendary Dick Dale on making money in the recording industry... (fuck I love it when people aren't afraid to tell the truth!  Why can't more AV forums and the whole A/V industry be more like this old cat?).  Words of advice from me? >>> Download / listen to the May 25th posting of Midlake's track: Rosco - I truly dig that song!  That's it from me on this livin' lovin' Monday, tap at cha' later - 

May 25th    Very nice, a little shoe-gaze, but I feel the groove these cats are laying down in this track.  Check out Midlake and their tune Roscoe.  It might take a listen or two, but I think you'll dig it as much as I do.  (160Kb/s DRM-free MP3 file format).

May 25th    There arn't a whole lot of folks in the music industry who lay it out there, no bullshit overhead, like Trent Reznor.  Ya' gotta' love it when folks have the balls to tell it like it is, future income be damned!  I don't much fancy Nine Inch Nail's music, to me it sounds like watered-down Skinny Puppy, but I love the attitude this fellow personifies.  Check out this interview with Australia's' Herald Sun newspaper, its a keeper!  If you're dying to hear NIN's music, drop into their MySpace page for a lo-fi listen.

May 25th    Geek-time!  I haven't laid any heavy shit on ya' for a few weeks, so open your eyes to a bit O' National Research Council goodness: This paper, the first of two, examines assumptions relating to power flow as a function of position and number of fasteners between the gypsum board and resilient channels.  For those of you who are considering sound-rooms, this Adobe PDF document should be an eye-opener with regards to construction methodologies.  (275KB)

May 25th    While doing some research to assist a buddy who is seeking a complete wireless surround-sound speaker system, I came upon a rather comprehensive site called Practical Home Theater Guide - which I thought might interest you.  The cat seems to be fairly well-informed, yet appears at first blush to be driven by the almighty dollar as opposed to the mighty back-beat (!), witness how much of the site is covered with Google Ad-Sence and Ad-Words crap.  There are however a few gems to be fished out of these pages...

May 25th    With June just around the corner, its time to start thinking about music festivals!  In the states they have the massive NXNW, well, here in Canada, we have NXNE!  Rather than explaining it in my own words, I think I'll copy a paragraph directly from the NXNE site:

Now in it's 13th year, the North By Northeast (NXNE) Music & Film Festival and Conference, taking place June 7-10, 2007 in Toronto, is Canada’s leading festival renowned for offering the best new music and film predominantly from independent creators and producers.  NXNE has become recognized world-wide as both a working festival for musicians and an essential gathering in the music industry’s calendar.  NXNE Music Festival spans 4 days and nights of activities, showcasing over 450 bands at over 30 live music venues in downtown Toronto. It’s an awesome, club hopping frenzy that unearths new musical gems every year.

Pretty much all of the 450 bands listed on the site feature free, sample tracks in streaming MP3 file format, which ends up in your Temporary Internet Files folder... so there's a few hundred free tracks for ya' right there, should keep ya' busy this weekend :-)

May 25th    And that's it for me till' Monday, hope you all take the full weekend off work and soak up as much of this 'life' thing as possible.  I'm gonna go to some dinner parties and hike around in the mountains behind our small city, building a connector between two large Mt. bike rides we commonly travel ~ creating a 'North West Passage' of sorts :-).  Rock yer' ass of with The Black Angels Black Grease (Crank It! 192Kb/s No-DRM, MP3)

May 24th    For those of you who enjoyed The Black Keys postings I have made on this site over the past two years, you're gonna' dig the four free, high-bitrate tracks that B.K have made available on their MySpace www site this week.  Drop in here and check it out, just click the download link under each song title to initiate the downloads.  I don't generally favor Myspace as most of their stuff is 1) not downloadable, 2) low bit-rate.  This time round' however, someone has made some wise decisions and brought us four live tracks at 192Kb/s in DRM-free MP3 file format.  B.K are a heavy rock / stripped-down blues band that will get ya' shakin' ~ crank it up!  (MySpace doesn't support direct-linking, so you're on your own this time)

May 24th    I suspect that pretty much everyone readingg this site knows who the Coen Brothers are ~ if not, get with it man!  The bros' are at it again, this time round' with a duster called No Country For Old Men, and it looks to be a classic Coen-conceived flick.  Check out the trailers on this site to get a taste for their latest slab of quirkiness!  Click on the 'Zoom' link to get a face-full onscreen, then on the ESC key to get back to normal screen size.  The plot in a nutshell: Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon some dead bodies, a stash of heroin and more than $2 million in cash near the Rio Grande.

May 24th    And, in a rare case of our provincial (British Columbia), government using it's head... the boyz in suits have bequeathed 500G's on Canada's own Sarah McLachlan and her Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach facility: towards the musical education of inner city children! 

May 24th    A concept who's time has come: if you buy an LP, you get a code to download 320Kb/s DRM-free MP3s that duplicate the LP!  Fuckin' A, I dig it!  Wired has the scoop, check it out, demand this to be the standard in all new vinyl releases!

May 24th    There'll be no AC/DC for you this summer young man, cause' the old fartz' aren't touring in 07' (so far).  In the meantime, we on the West Coast have the option of seeing British Columbia's very own BC/DC  :-).   If you haven't yet seen this tribute band, and you live out this way, you just gotta' go.  They offer up an, um, 'experience' that just has to be seen!  BC/DC are on a mini tour of BC this summer, check out their website for more information, and if you dare, download their version of 'If You Want Blood' (a goddamned classic if ever there was one! - 256Kb/s DRM-free MP3).

May 23rd    Try this one on for a tongue-twister: Ndidi Onukwulu (pronounced  In-DEE-dee On-OOK-whoo-loo).  I won't get into it, but there is a great biography of Ndidi here that's worth a read.  This little Canadian gal has an interesting style, as heard here on Wicked Lady as well as the - unfortunately low-bitrate, Horn Blower.

May 23rd    As much as I love music, I often enjoy listening to an artist speak.  Today's date with greatness features Ry Cooder, in a 2007 NPR interview.  Do yourself a favor: pour a glass of your favorite, kick back & enjoy ~ listening to this interview is time well spent...

May 23rd    Headphones or a halo?  There have been many variations on the theme of 'surround-sound headphones' over the years, but I think that this one looks the wackiest yet! 

May 23rd    Amongst the endless cable-drivel and tweakers bullshit on Steve Hoffman's forums, there is occasionally a nugget to be seen.  The first one I have witnessed in many months came about the other day in a discussion of LP cleaning.  Check out the groovy electron microscope scans this cat has laid down online.

May 22nd    What a cool setup: four lovin' days off work, and now, a shortened four-day workweek!  What could be better?, how about launching into a short workweek with a bit of loud Canadian Rock n Roll?!  Check out Nova Scotia's own Wintersleep and their rockin' track Jaws of Life

May 22nd    Haven't spoken much as of late about one of my favorite topics: Loudspeakers!  Allow me to correct this glaring omission by introducing you to an affordable option known as Ascend Acoustics - a direct-from-builder loudspeaker product that appears to be garnering a good deal of praise from the online magazine community.  Their products are a little unorthodox looking, but the distribution model and strong Canadian dollar makes their offerings very worthy of investigation.  For instance, check out the CMT-340 mini-tower mains, with stands for a measly $725.00 Cdn., plus shipping etc.

May 22nd    According to Wired Magazine... The Party's Over as LCD Television Prices Hit Bottom!  Now, they say, is the time to finally give it up and splurge for the flat-panel monitor of your dreams.  Me..., I'm not so sure.  I kinda have 1080p in mind after viewing a few demonstration models over the past six months.  I figure that with OLED and SED (see my May 3rd post), technologies pushing forward and the fact that the 1080p sets I desire are a bit expensive at the moment - LCD and Plasma might have a bit more wiggle room left.  (See also "The inside story on LCD TV pricing")

May 22nd    Not much on this earth better than sex, especially great sex with someone you love...  put it together with your A/V addiction and what do ya' get?: Hear, Hear for Audio Erotica

May 22nd    Winnipeg: You lucky buggers, aside from the frequently-flooding Red River, torturously large mosquito population, lack of mountain vistas, idiotic politics and missing NHL hockey team...  you get to witness one of the world's best rumba flamenca style guitarists this summer.  Jesse Cook is coming to town on the 16th of June at the Burton Cummings Theater!  Witness his classy style with a visit to Jesse's homepage.  Kick back and audition the streaming 160Kb/s MP3s on the main site as you learn all about the talented lad.

May 22nd    Those of you who use a portable audio player daily will non doubt have found that there is something about the user interface or device file support that you find annoying.  If this sounds like you, today your prayers have been answered: with RockBox.  What the hell is RockBox and why would you want it?  Try to play an easily available, DRM-free and full fidelity .FLAC or .Ogg formatted audio file on your iPod... ahh, see what I mean now?  The stinkin' thing hasn't got a bloody clue what to do with it, but if you replace the operating system (firmware) with RockBox you can play .FLAC, Ogg and a whole lot more.  The best part is that its free, open-source code, do with it what you like!  There is also a RockBox discussion forum if you need some help along the way to a better portable player.

May 18th    Just sneaking another 'off the record' post in here: I attended a Jimmy Bowskill concert at a local venue the other night and took a bunch of video - unfortunately with a crappy camera-with-motion-capture capability...  Nonetheless, I edited one of the shoddy clips into a small enough package that I can post it here without fear of bringing my server to it's knees.  Be forewarned: the audio and video quality leaves a lot to be desired, but it gives an idea of what this kid is capable of, and then some ~ enjoy the clip.  (8.7 megabytes in Microsoft's .WMV file format - you might wanna' Right-Click / Save As instead of waiting for the clip to buffer...?)

May 18th    Not a post, but a thought, and a question to one and all: I kinda' figure that this particular site is, um ~ unique in the on line 'world'.  I know of hundreds of other of its general genera, but not with the same balance of topic.  Have any of you, ever seen a website that deals with the topics you see here daily?  If so, please let me know cause' I wanna' touch base with other cats who have similar ideas.

May 18th    Another "not a post, but a thought..."  Has anyone seen this!?  I first heard about it a few months ago and always meant to get it on the front page - so here it is.  Worthy reading for everyone.  Be sure to read the 'March 15th Update' link as well.

May 17th    Its 'My Friday' folks: I'm going to start my long-weekend by playing hokey from the site a day early and get right down to watching hockey, drinking, hanging out with my buddies, rumbling down mountainsides on my trusty bike and paddling with my gal!  Blast into the long weekend with a cranking of The Mother Hips - Tandy

May 17th    The gal and I enjoyed the Jimmy Bowskill school of Rockn' Blues this evening at the Dream Cafe (The Okanagan's coolest Rock spot IMHO).  Here is a sample of his work from his website - in very low-fi 80Kb/s MP3 file format: not something you wanna' download, but a taste of his style nonetheless.   I made some videos of tonight's performance in the hope of posting them here, however, the quality suffered badly due to low-light conditions and the file size was so large as to be cumbersome to download, so I decided to simply point you to YouTube's collection of J.B clips instead...  Jimmy is on tour right now, details of which can be found on this www site's Tour info' page - Go Go Go Goddamit Go!  You'll be blown away what a 17 year old kid can do!  This lad is the reincarnation of Stevie Ray Vaughn!  Words don't do his style justice, it has to be experienced.

May 17th    The Coastal Jazz and Blues Society keeps reminding me to post the fact that Nora Jones will be onstage in Vancouver June 28th - Orpheum Theatre Vancouver.  Hell, I'd go just to admire the little gals beauty, oh, ya... and her music.  You can hear the sultry lady on her website, which provides full streams of 8 tracks from four different LPs.  (Click on 'Media' once you get there, and wait while each track cues up / plays...).

May 17th    As many of you know, I'm not your average audiophile, in fact, I'm more of a music junkie and find amusement in different avenues than tweakers.  One of those diversions is learning about studios and those who make them tick.  If your interests lay somewhere in the same neighborhood, you'll find the next article as interesting as I did: Words From the Wise - Four veteran engineers offer tales & tips about studio survival. 

May 17th    I'll close with a really weird track, one of the best of the week in fact: twist an ear to Lesbians on Ecstasy - Pleasure Principal.  Tap at cha' all Monday, have a fucking great weekend and live like its your last!

May 16th    How EMO of me!  I've been sucked in by the eloquence of The Great Lake Swimmers, with their folksy, breezy tones and mellow voices: Various Stages.  This track reminds me of a hundred different songs, its just that you can't pick out the who / what / where of it.  Enjoy.

May 16th    Yet another audio forum to add to the 100+ we already have listed here.  This one focuses on iPods & portable audio, thus appropriately titled iPod & Studio Portable Audio.  Check it out.

May 16th    Benchmark has recently waded into the fray over the Windows Operating System and its ability to pass 'Bit-Transparent' audio via USB ports.  The verdict, as alluded to earlier this year in these very pages, fly's in the face of common audiofool banter in online forums - but then again, 'forum-stool-prophets' are the same folks who'll tell you that every single RCA interconnect on the market has it's own 'sound'...  A simple guide to configure your computer and media player for optimal audio quality.

May 16th    From the University of New South Wales comes... yet another hearing test!  Get ye' a decent set of headphones and a quiet room.  Now read the instructions!  I know its hard to get men to actually do this, but in this case its pretty much necessary in order to get anything outta' the evaluation at hand.  I love these things, mostly cause they separate the the wheat from the chaff as my grandpa used to say, or as I like to rephrase it: "tells it like it is": Equal loudness contours and audiometry - Test your own hearing  (who woulda' thought that a 16Khz tone was so damned faint at the 'reference' level...)

May 15th    Haven't posted much Reggae on the site over the past year, so I guess there's no time like the present.  Check out Morgan Heritage - Brooklyn.  Ya, it sounds a lot like Bob and the boys, but with a modern tilt to it.

May 15th    Most of us who have spent far too much time in record stores, flipping through musty smelling vinyl and hoping to stumble upon that Mobile Fidelity limited edition pressing of [fill in the band] will no doubt be familiar with names such as the aforementioned MoFi, Telarc and terms like 'half-speed mastering' etc.  What I suspect you haven't heard of (I know I have not), is a small label called AIX Records which specializes in high-def', 96Khz / 24-bit / 5.1 surround etc. digital recordings.  I'm not really fond of their web site layout as it takes a lot of drilling down to hear (short), low-fidelity sample tracks, but I guess they have a thing or two to learn about marketing.  At any rate, have a look, there is some great stuff buried within their site.

May 15th    The Blues master himself: Buddy Guy (this old cat is one of the few musicians on the circuit these days who actually gets better with age) is on a small tour of Canada this summer with engagements:

June 29th - Casino Regina
June 39th - Saskatchewan Jazz Festival / Saskatoon
July 7th - Metropolis / Montreal Quebec
July 8th - Metropolis / Montreal Quebec
July 9th - Cisco Systems BluesFest / Ottawa

 

If you haven't heard Buddy entertain, you are missing some of the world's best blues!  Have a listen to one of his recent LPs Bring Em' In.  (This link will bring you to Amazon.com where you can (scroll way down), and audition tidbits of the entire LP)  Additionally, just by visiting Buddy's homepage, you'll be treated to a half-dozen or so full, streaming 'page-background' MP3 files in 192Kb/s MP3 file format (no DRM), spooled into your Internet Explorer Temporary Internet Files folder... :-)
 

May 15th    File under: "Just happened upon this weird site".  BeatZenith.com.  I gotta' 'Jones' for vinyl LPs, even though I am not among those crazy buggers who insist that they 'sound better' than a well-mastered / produced / mixed digital recording...  I guess its the age / era that I was brought up in, or perhaps I'm a closet nut over the human-interface / tactile feel of the whole deal that goes with readying / playing an LP.  Boiled right down: the cat in the link above has a whack of great LPs in decent shape, for a amazing prices - check it out.

 

May 14th    Wow, another kick ass weekend ~ lots of friends, gettin' outdoors and a healthy smattering of beverages :-).  Lets cruise into the coming week of toil with a taste of the Los Crusados - via their track Elk City. (160Kb/s MP3 no DRM)

May 14th    Seems like another online audio mashup appears daily.  SpoolFM is the latest I have stumbled upon.  It allows you to randomly play music by various artists, including big names... I'm listening to Johnny Cash as I type this missive.  "When I was just a baby, my mother told me son, always be a good boy, don't ever play with guns".    Curiously, the files stream onto your PC's hard drive in a file format I have not seen before '.rbs'.  This is a step in a different direction from the usual .mp3 or Adobe Flash formats usually employed for streaming audio.

May 14th    There are a lot of sites 'out there' which review CDs, but not too damned many that specialize in HD formats.  Enter High Fidelity Review.com.  Their focus is on SACD and DVD-A recordings and they have what must amount to thousands of reviews online.  I would hazard a guess that its the largest of it's ilk that  have yet seen.

May 14th    If you are one to fret over the sound of portable audio players, this C-Net article 'The Best Sounding MP3 Players' might interest you.

May 11th    Fuckin' A ~ its Freaky Friday!  Time seems to just whiz by these days doesn't it?!  Makes ya' think: I could be one of those old fogies that I see peering over the wheel in the car in front of me before I know it.  Way back in March I laid a bit of the Detroit Cobras on ya' and I think its high time to give em' another go, this time with a newer track: As Long As I Have You.  This little gal can belt em' out!  She sounds like a female jazz / blues vocalist singing with a Rock N' Roll band - nice combo!

May 11th    Here's an odd-spot: I never really gave much thought to the fact that LPs follow a specification.  But it exists: Standards For Stereophonic Disk Records - October 16, 1963

May 11th    If any of you are beginners in the field of compressed file technology, you could do no wrong by reading the free MP3 and Internet Audio Handbook by Bruce Fries.  I absolutely guarantee you: there is stuff in there that you didn't know!

May 11th    The RIAA's worst nightmare: computers that understand music.  I love it!

May 11th    Being a snowboarder and all, I kinda' dig the whole Silver Surfer thing... and I'm sure that I'll get a real kick outta' the upcoming Rise Of The Silver Surfer movie(s).  Note the plural cause' it looks to at least be a trilogy.  (take the time to download / view the HD1080p versions on that page - its worth the download time)

May 11th    Well, that's it for me for another work-week, hope you enjoyed the show, tap at cha' again Monday.  I'm gonna' slide on outta' here with a track from Victoria, BC's Leeroy Stagger Slowly Sinking

May 10th    Anyone out there remember Mott The Hopple?  If so, you might also recall it's vocalist Ian Hunter.  Still with me?, good ~ and Ian is still with us, and still cranking out music.  Check out a track from some of his latest work (free from his site) Words.

May 10th    Make no mistake: the very best thing about this hobby is discovering new music not, as so many deluded geeks seem to think, does it have anything to do with tweaking around with bullshit products and swapping audio cables!  On that note, I proudly present National Public Radio's Shadow Classics.  The fidelity isn't first and foremost on the site, rather, the presentation of music that you may or may not have heard from days gone bye is the focus.  One of today's artists happen to be a favorite of mine: Thin Lizzy.  There are also features on Gregg Allman, Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, Sly Stone, Betty Davis and many others.  Very much worth checking out!

May 10th    AudioHolics has created a somewhat humorous, albeit fairly accurate way to tell if you're 'over the top' with regards to the Audiophile hobby.  Click here to download and review their Adobe PDF formatted document titled "Are You An Audioholic?" (96kb)

May 10th    Fancy a trip down memory lane?  Those of you born previous to the 80's will get a kick out of the Vintage Cassette website (shrine?)

May 9th    Taking yet another swerve on the road to free music: Guns & Roses, er... Axel Rose's solo version anyway - have "leaked" this track from the upcoming (its a little overdue you see..), 'opus LP'.  Check out G&R Chinese Democracy.  As with all links here, I have no idea how long this will be around, so if you dig it, download it now.  (160Kb/s MP3 / No DRM)

May 9th    Hump-Day eye-candy: Check out this old cats wild collection of audio kit!  I would say that he wins, hands-down in the "what a lot of cool old hi-fi etc. stuff" category!

May 9th    Not too much time on my hands to post tonight cause' I have a shitload of paperwork to finish.  Have a read through AudioEnz' magazine outta' New Zealand, though the editor is a cable-geek, this issue is 'bullshit-free' as far as I can tell - with one exception: his discussion about Mark & Emmy-Lou's 'All The Road Running' CD is completely off base.  1.5 Megabytes / Adobe PDF formatted file.

May 8th    And now, for something completely different: I cannot put together exactly what these cats sound like, a bit of Leonard Cohen, a smattering of Morrissey, perhaps a drop of...hell, I dunno' - Listen for yourself.  Lambchop - Decline.  It took me a few listens to get into the groove of this one, but now I dig it.  (192Kb/s MP3 - No DRM)

May 8th    Researcher Dissects CD Sales Decline, Highlights Retail Issues (Copped directly from Digitalmusicnews.com).  Aisles have been poorly populated at physical music retailers for years, part of a pronounced shift away from CD purchases.  The consumer migration, tame in previous periods, has suddenly accelerated this year, causing a fair amount of anxiety among retailers, labels and distributors. But what exactly is causing consumers to move so aggressively away from physical product?  One explanation is that consumers are simply rebelling against a heavily-bundled package, one that forces playlist order and less-desirable album cuts.   A highly related explanation is that digital files, and the iPods that house them, represent a far more convenient and satisfying listening experience, one that is more in-tune with music fans today.  Both are strong factors, though researcher NPD recently challenged their importance.  "Consumer rejection of the CD is not the cause of the current accelerated sales decline," the group asserted during a recent presentation at the retail-focused NARM in Chicago last week.  According to the researcher, deficiencies at retailers are a major source of the problem.  The group noted that music consumers are usually discovering artists and songs outside of retail locations, a major missed opportunity.  That means far less impulse purchasing, a significant driver of record label revenues across various platforms.  According to the findings, just 13 percent of new music buyers make artist discoveries in retailers themselves, noticeably less than figures of 37 percent for traditional radio and 25 percent for personal recommendations.   The solution, according to NPD, is for retailers to return to being "champions of discovery," a role that can be achieved by stronger selection, merchandising and promotion.  Meanwhile, the deletion of Tower Records from the retail landscape is also playing a role in the downturn, especially for consumers that have not replaced their once-trusty outlets.  Editor: Ah, ya... and now - how about an honest interpretation: Folks are simply downloading their music off the P2P sites... dumbass!

May 8th    Ten Things You Should Know Before You Buy an Up-scaling DVD Player.  Another succinct article by the cats over at Gizmodo.com (you should go)

 

May 8th    What have the shirts got up their sleeves in an attempt to entice you back to the physical media table?  Why MVI of course!  Movie Video Interactive is a DVD with features such as enhanced sound quality plus a side range of video and interactive content.  It plays in standard DVD players, computers and game consoles with DVD drives.  Digital music files are compatible with all MP3 devices. A modified digi-pack that is slightly taller than a standard jewel case has been designed to house all standard MVI releases. The new packaging is meant to provide a consistent look for the configuration and to distinguish it from both standard CDs and DVDs. Rush's new Snakes & Arrows album with be the the world's first release in the new format.

* Full album in downloadable, unrestricted MP3's
* Entire album in 5.1 surround sound
* 43 minute making of the album video documentary
* Digital extras including: Wallpapers, Buddy Icons and Screensaver
* Digital booklet
* Lyrics and Bio
* Online access to additional Rush information
* A limited pressing of 25,000 copies will be available.

May 7th    Another kick-ass weekend comes to a close.  I reawakened my love for discovery today via a day out  scouting the mountains on my bike with one of my best friends!  Rather than stick to the established single-track / fire roads, we headed out into the wilderness to follow wildlife trail - one thing every man should own is a decent mountain bike: if you live in the county, its your ticket to freedom in the surrounding plains, hills or mountains - far from the sounds of the city.  And if you reside in the big smoke (any of our country's large cities), its a damned fine excuse to get the hell out of it for a day or more!  Welcome to a new week my friends, celebrate with some aggressive rock and Roll care of The Heatseakers - New Old Sound.   Lets finish off today's musical post with a funny / Frank Zappish track from The George Bush Singers - Deep Thoughts - Part II.  Anyone who mocks that tyrant / fool / killer is a friend of mine!

May 7th    Maximum PC, one of my favorite computer magazines 'back in the day', has created an interesting article on the audibility of high bitrate MP3 files.  It mirrors my own experience with the file format and provides an eye-opener for the uninitiated (unsighted auditioning).  Do Higher MP3 Bit Rates Pay Off?

May 7th    Free webzine Affordable Audio has published their May issue..  Don't take everything this fellow says as gospel, case in point, his remarks about placing 'Vibra-Pods' under an amplifier: "micro/macro-dynamics and image was better"  ya, right...  There are however a few interesting tidbits thrown in here and there, and the price is right (free).  So long as your internet connection and patience can deal with the 16 megabyte download, have a go at er'.

May 4th    Fuckin' A - We made er' through another week of excess and overwork!  Today's tunes are going to be a little less rockin', but no less tasteful than usual.  Canada's own Wailin' Jennys offer up their track Beautiful dawn for your listening pleasure.  A nice relaxing country-inspired tune to take you into the weekend.

May 4th    Here's something that I've never posted on the site before, but I was recently exposed to while my sister (hi Kelly - Love Ya!), was visiting.  We wandered into a local poetry reading and ended up standing before all and speaking a few words too!  Anyway, a few days and a short web search later I came across this very cool bit of Slam Poetry.  Eric Darby's Scratch & Dent Dreams. (Live)

May 4th    Interested in listening to some really moody, 'out there' soundtrack stuff?  If that's what spins your buttons, then you're gonna love the Fallout 1 Soundtrack.

May 4th    CD sales plummet yet again, folks argue over what to do about it, both sides are sure the other is wrong...  How about just selling the damned tracks at high bit-rates, low cost and fast download speeds.  Seems to be such a simple solution, I just cant figure out why record companies don't get it...

May 4th    Ok, I've been kind as of late, its time for seriously geeky dialogue!  Check out Larry Osterman's Volume in Windows Vista - Part I - What is Volume?  Larry is an advanced software engineer with Microsoft's A/V coding team.  He knows more about the audio topology of your Windows Operating System than everyone you have ever met online - times a hundred and one...

May 4th    The White Stripes are on a massive Canadian Tour!  Yes, indeed, and they intend to do it up right, stopping in each and every province, and the territory's too!  This may be a first for a major act in history!  I really dig what Jack and the lady can pull off between them, in fact, I wouldn't hesitate to say that they are one of my favorite bands.  Take a dash of blues, a truckload of raw guitars and near perfect drumming, roll em' up and pop it in your ears!    In cooperation with Download.com, Jack & Co. have made the entire 'Get Behind Me Satan' LP available for previewing (the MP3's are actually streamed & stored into your Temporary Internet Files folder), via this link.

May 4th    This is a kick.  Some crazy cats have used Binaural Recording to demonstrate an old, and curiously interesting audio recording technique.  The only caveat is that you [must] use headphones to get the effect.  Check out this site as well as this one for loads of other examples of Binaural audio.

May 4th    Well fellow freakerz', that's it for me this week: I'm off to find a spot high in the mountains where I can soak up the view, then seek out a sweet single-track and race my mountain-bikin' ass to the valley below, a lake to paddle - far from mankind and a (few) good bottles of vino' to share with friends!  I suggest that you do as much cool shit as possible, cause this life thing seems to be rather fleeting and well, work sucks!  Tune out to the weekend with the help of Alpha YaYa Diallo's Freedom.

May 3rd    Been listening to this one a few times this evening... not too sure if it's exactly up my alley or not - might need a few more plays!  In the mean time, give it a go yourself and let me know what you think!  The Winterpills Broken Arm

May 3rd    Just when you thought you had all this HD-TV stuff figured out, along come a few more contenders...  Batter up: organic light-emitting diode (Oled) and surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED).  I kinda' thought that 1080p was mind-blowing, I can hardly wait to see what these two new technologies have to offer!

May 3rd    I'm beginning to think that this one is a Red Herring of sorts: Advertising-Paid / Free Music.  Its been heralded before on these pages, but nothing ever seems to come of it.  Perhaps its because there are far too many great bands giving away free music on the Net', or, more likely, its nearly impossible to create a model that will please major record company executives...  At any rate, have a boo at what WE7 had in mind for our musical future.

May 3rd    Its not too damned often you are gonna' catch me talking about speaker cables on this site - mostly because the stuff is so mired in marketing lies that I can hardly control myself from screaming at all of the audiofools who endlessly promote this brand or that.  Occasionally however, I will see a product that makes me nod in agreement with it's existence: case in point - The Invisible Flat Speaker Wire.  If you have a project that absolutely requires the speaker cables to be hidden, then this product will be a gift from the cable-gods!  On the other hand, if you are one of those cats who loves having cool looking, wacky, eye-catching shit, you might dig this too!  It sure is unique - but here is what i like about it just as much as the shape: the company resisted the urge to come up with absurd, impossible to substantiate claims about sonic virtues of their product!  Have a look a their www site - the product is marketed as a flat-wire alternative, no bullshit - period!  I really respect these cats for that!

May 3rd    If you're one who enjoys A/V but not all the speakers and wires, then SoundMatters might just have something of interest to you.   Check out their one and two-box surround-sound solutions.  Its very much what Yamaha had in mind with their all-in-one YSP speakers a year or so back, but with the added functionality of a subwoofer and a lower price-tag - as you can purchase directly from the manufacturer online.

May 3rd    Fossils Ahoy!  Rush has pumped out yet another LP, this, their 31st effort (depending on how many compilations you count as 'real albums').  You can get an ear-full of the latest LP by simply visiting Rush.com - the music starts to stream in Flash file format almost immediately.  I've noticed that Internet Explorer appears to be mandatory, Firefox just sits there... frozen...  This effort is exactly what any Rush fan would expect | no surprises here, good and bad I guess...  They are touring to support the new release, starting June the 13th and running till' late Oct.  Exact information is available on their site via the Tour link.

May 1st    Did some large-scale pruning of the front page this evening in order to neaten things up are enhance the speed at which this main page loads.  Rest assured that nothing has been lost, just moved to the Post Archive section...

Yesterday's post of The Weakerthans simply must be followed by another track from a different album by them as well.  This one 'sans-vocals': I've heard it with and without, I like both, but the 'without' version is nice as one can dig the music and not get distracted by the story - which is rather odd) - Check out Psalm For The Elk Lodge Last Call (192Kb/s MP3 - No DRM).  If you are interested, you can hear an 'nearly A'Cappella' version of the song here (click on 'John K. Samson In Session' when you get to the page)

May 1st    Have been using a free, Open Source application called 'Super' (Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer) to play video clips of all forms over the past year and a half, and though its a bit on the geeky-interface side, the damned thing will decode pretty much everything I throw at it.  If you're interested, its freely available here and you can read all about it on the crazily designed homepage.  Additionally, you can also download an Open Source DVD Decryption application (link is to the apps' homepage - very much worth a read), appropriately titled: DVD Decrypter using this link.  DVD Decrypter sports a well-designed interface.  The VOB files that you create with the ripper are playable with the Super or can be converted to any other file format you like!  (It take about a half-hour to rip a full DVD).

May 1st    Crutchfield's has once again gone above my expectations!  Check out this page, where Americans (my Web-Stat utility shows that half of this site's readers are American), can punch in their zip code and be shown the closest location for electronic waste recycling.  Very cool, dig it!

May 1st    Compliments of the Los Angles Times News - more to mull over when it comes time to purchase a new HD-TV.  I spent an hour or so in the local Sony Store the other day watching a HD-DVD demo on a 50" 1080p television and I gotta' say - "Holy Shit Man, that is some mind-blowing resolution".  No matter how close you get, one cannot detect any Pixilation, even at face-to-the-glass proximity.  I was freakin' floored!

 

April 30th    Wow - ten days of hanging out with my lil' sis and bro, ten days of goofing off, traveling, enjoying family and Rockin' out with all my might: that, my friends is what life is all about.  Fuck this weak shit called working!  And on that note ~ I give you The Weakerthans and their track Plea From A Cat Named Virtue.  This is one of my favorite tunes, and I was blown away to discover it freely available on the band's www site.  Dig in, crank up and kick back!  Listen carefully to the lyrics on this one, its a twist that Gary Larson would love.  (Usual caveats ~ I have no idea how long the band will host the track, so if you like it, download it today: 192KB/s MP3 - No DRM!)

April 30th    If one peers into the online forums hosted on this site, you'll find the largest list of discussion forums anywhere on the Net' ~ at present there are over a hundred and growing!  One I have yet to add is SuperSoundproofing.com.  I thought it was cool enough to herald here first, before it gets buried among the many others.  Have a look.

April 30th    Take me back - take me wayyy back: To 1935 to be exact!  Dig this article on Loudness & Pitch by Harvey Fletcher (of Fletcher-Munson fame).  The link is to a 1.4 megabyte Adobe PDF formatted file.

April 30th    Old Farts rejoice!, Max Webster - fellow Canuck Kim Mitchell's original band, is back together for one show on the 24th of May at The Docks in Toronto.  Don't know if they intend to get back together and tour further or crank out an LP, which seems to be the way things go with Dino-bands these days, but do go and enjoy the show if you live in the area!  Max' cranked out some amazing tunes back in the day, including: Here Among The Cats, Oh War, Gravity, In Context Of The Moon and Night Flights to name but a few!  Note that all of the links above are only 96Kb/s MP3's from the Max Webster homepage.  I don't know of any full-bitrate / free tracks that have ever been made available.  However, there exists full-LP samples for the following albums here:  Live Magnetic Air, Universal Juveniles, A Million Vacations, High Class In Borrowed Shoes, Mutiny Up My Sleeve, and the self-titled Max Webster.

April 20th    Funkin' A my friends ~ we made er' to another weekend!  Speaking O' funkin, check out Danielia Cotton’s Move.  If that don't get your weekend movin' and groovin' I can't help ya' man!

April 20th    Don't know how many of you 'out there' are into Digital Audio Workstations for music production - for those of you who are: check out the best in class free software in the form of Ardour.

April 20th    Do you have any idea who Canadian music producer Bob Ezrin's is?  Either way, you should take a moment, pour a glass of hooch and read what's on the man's mind!  If more record execs did the same, the industry would be run a lot differently!

April 20th    I am gonna' hazard a guess that a whole lot of the folks who visits sites like this one also engage in a little bit of downloading every now and then... (just a hunch).  For those of you who do, here is an eye-opener of sorts: "This Is How We Catch You Downloading" by Enigmax on the TorrentFreak www site.

April 20th    Ever seen the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame's www site?  Can't say that I have either, and I've seen a shipload of www sites!  Check it out: This year's inductee: Bob Rock.

April 20th    The RPG Hemiffusor W1 Scattering Diffuser looks like a pretty cool little device, but I just wish that it was designed by someone who had a little more economy in mind!  If anyone in the 'audience' can figure out the dimensions of this rig and post it online, I'd be the first to build one in the shop and try it out for myself!

April 20th    Everyone's favorite bombshell vocalist - Norah Jones, is on somewhat of a mini-tour of Canada this spring.  If you love her velvety voice as much as her looks, grab a seat at a show.  You can also visit her website using the link above and listen to (but unfortunately not download), eight tracks from various LPs in her discography.  Surprisingly, the 'Flash' based streaming audio files (which take a few moments to load - so be patient), are of decent enough quality that they provide a passable idea of what she sounds like.

May 11th - Massy Hall Toronto
May 12th - St. Dennis Theatre Montreal
June 28th - Orpheum Theatre Vancouver

April 20th    While patiently waiting for (yet another) PC to complete a virus scan this evening, I stumbled upon a pretty damned cool Canadian write-up on building a subwoofer of a unique nature.  I'll not go into too much detail here, but do recommend that you have a look at the Adobe PDF document linked here (821Kb), and see what you think.  I love DIY, speakers and Canada - put em' all together and what do ya' get: kick ass bass!

April 20th    Well my friends - its time for me to take a well-deserved break from both the site and work!  As of today, I'm "outta' here" for a week!  My sister is flying in from Nova Scotia tomorrow for a week - and I'm going to be a good host / big brother and show her the area, paddle, ride, hike, enjoy some fine dining, good wine, live shows and generally take in life to the max, far away from god damned computers - for a full week!  Tap at cha' soon, till' then, I'll sign this week off with a track from Gods & Monsters Coming Clean

April 19th    Not sure what to make of this one: is it a rehash of old-school 70s/80s rock or just a trip back on a different level?  The musicianship appears to be top-notch, but I can't get over the... hell never mind my opinion: have a go at The Mooney Suzuki's track 99% of their newest release (direct from their www site)  160Kb/s MP3 - no DRM.

April 19th    A few days back I mentioned USB turntables.  Today a friend of mine walks up and foists a photocopy of Georgia Strait contributor Dave Watson's 'Dot Comment' newsletter into my hands saying "man, check it out, USB turntables...".  Ya dude, I know.  Ah, but wait... as it turns out, unbeknownst to me, there are several companies manufacturing USB TT's.  The article mentions the Ion unit I have referred to a few posts ago, but it also discusses an Audio Technica model and a NuMark manufactured unit as well.  A quick and dirty review of sorts goes on to state that the NuMark is the tops in audio quality and is available for a mere $235.00 Cdn. at Axe Music online.

April 19th    Audioholics consistently comes up with some of the best information on the web.  Today's link Understanding 1080p Resolution in Displays, is no different.  The subject is not nearly as strait forward-forward 'bigger is better' as you might imagine!  Afterwards, check out their forum discussions on the topic.

April 19th    Canadian artists LadyHawk are on a mini-tour of Canada this spring!  I've posted their music in the past, and I really dig it, check out Dugout and War for a refresher.  These cats completely rock ~ support them by taking in their live shows!

May 6th at the Vancouver Plaza Club
May 15th in Montreal at the National Music Hall
May 16th at Lee's Palace in Toronto

April 18th    Pop/Punk your way into Wednesday with a kick in the ass from Devin Davis' Transcontinental Sports Anthem  Crank the living shit outta' this one ~ if that don't get cha' air-guitarin' round' the room ~ check yur' fukin' pulse man!

April 18th    Can't say I'm a big fan, but someone out there must be, cause' the band got huge at one time:  The Smashing Pumpkins have set up a page where interested parties can download hundreds of their songs, live and otherwise.  If they rock your world, check it out.

April 18th    Sure as shit: its finally coming round' ~ This week, Samsung joined LG in the release of a combination Blu-Ray / HD-DVD drive!  Look for a wave of multi-format decks coming down the pipe from the likes of Pioneer, Toshiba, JVC etc. in the coming 12-18 months.  Hopefully you weren't one of the early adopters who purchased a stand-alone Blu-Ray or HD-DVD unit, on the other hand... it'll make a really tech' doorstop soon.

April 18th    For anyone interested in the ultimate, hands-down last word on 'Digital Jitter', you really should take a half-hour or so and review the excellent article which AES 'Fellow' Robert Adams (Analog Devices Inc.) offered up in Issue 21 of TAC, available here.  Absorb it and you'll never have another "what the..." moment on the topic again.

April 17th    Tuesday's here and hump-day's on the horizon ~ a good reason to rock and roll with a little help from Andrew Vincent & The Pirates One, two three and Gary Haché  (Sounds a lot like Lou Reed as a young man)

April 17th    You all know by now how enamored I am with loudspeakers of all sorts, seeing as, aside from room and recording: they are offer the the best 'bang for the sonic buck' if you are struck with the 'upgrade bug'.  You might also be aware of my fondness for Pioneer's products.  They simply offer the best product to price ratio in the entire industry on most components.  Put em' both together, add a little Malt Whiskey and you get their S-A4SPT-PM 'Pure Malt Speakers'.  These are very cool. 100% hardwood monitors constructed from old malt whisky barrels.  I think they look cool as hell and offer a really great visual experience as well.  The site in the link above offers not only information from Pioneer, but a couple of third-party reviews to boot.  All this, at $685.00 Cdn. ~ "cool, two rockin' thumbs up"!

April 17th    Internet radio dealt severe blow as Copyright Board rejects appeal.  A panel of judges at the Copyright Royalty Board has denied a request from the NPR and a number of other webcasters to reconsider a March ruling that would force Internet radio services to pay crippling royalties.

April 17th    The very thought of USB Turntables might make 'Golden Ears' (audiofools), quake in their cryogenically treated boots, but for Joe Blow on the street, its an easy way for them to transfer their beloved LPs to CD or MP3 (etc.), file format so that they can enjoy them in the digital age.  Check out Ion's offering and lend an ear to this NPR report (click the 'Listen' button on the site) on the topic.

April 16th    Welcome to a whole new week of thinking about the coming weekend and Rockin' out for all you're worth!  Sounding somewhat like a punk-rocking version of Boy Dylan: check out Vietnam Welcome to my room

April 16th    Those of you who use Craig'sList to search for audio / video / LPs / CDs might find this little online script handy: some cat has rigged a way to search through Craig'sList much easier than the standard interface allows.  I dig it!

April 16th    How loud is 'Real'?  A timeless look at the ear’s peculiar internal processing mechanisms and your perception of sound.  Adobe PDF document / 375Kb.

April 16th    Those of you from the old-school of punk will no doubt have heard of Dinosaur Jr.  If not, get the hell out from under that rock and catch them as they tour across Canada!  Hell, they've even got a forum, which, in association with Freesofree.net, will allow you to download loads of live shows, most files using the high-fidelity .FLAC file format!  In the meantime, lend an ear to Freak Scene (streaming M3U ~ Crank It!)

May 22nd - Victoria, Sugar Nightclub
May 23rd - Vancouver, Commodore Ballroom
May 25th - Calgary, Macewan Hall
May 26th - Edmonton, Starlight Room
May 27th - Saskatoon, Odeon Events Center
May 28th - Winnipeg, Garrick Center
June 8th - Toronto, Phoenix Concert Center
June 9th - Montreal, Club Soda

April 13th    Friday the 13th.. Traveling to Vernon to watch the Vipers vs. Clippers game this evening ~ should be a grand bit O' hockey between these two powerhouse BCHL teams.  Download & crank up a little more of yesterday's featured rockers The Antiques Crook.  I dig this band ~ its classic Rock n' Roll in a new guise!  (160Kb/s MP3 No DRM)

April 13th    Check out Finetune to discover loads of music!  There are a great many www site featuring similar concepts, but this one is implemented quite well.  I doubt the fidelity of the streams is worth capturing, but the whole idea of being able to listen to loads of free background music of a certain genera is kinda' cool and convenient!

April 13th    Challenge your listening / cognitive skills with this trio of tests from Tonometric.  Its twisted fun, in an A/V geek kinda' way...

April 13th    Here's a Canadian music magazine that I've never heard of before: The Nerve.  From what I gather, they've been around for nearly a decade, I guess distribution is tough when you're competing for shelf space with multinationals...  Safe to say however, that you'll get more out of this one than the latest issue of any audiofool rag out there these days!

April 13th    (Direct clip from Gizmodo.com) Apple and EMI stole the spotlight earlier this month with their DRM-free music announcement, but now Niveus and MusicGiants are teaming up to bring you the first joint HD music store. The store will let audiophiles listen to and download music in the Lossless WMA format at rates up to 1,100 kbps. You'll also be able to download "Super HD" songs—tunes remastered in DVD Audio or SACD in 5.1 surround or 2.0 stereo with sample rates at 11,000 kbps.  Cool!

April 13th    That's it for me till' Monday folks!  Have an ass-kickin' weekend, do all of the fun stuff you love like its the last day of your life, cause ya' never know ~ whatever the hell you do: DON'T WORK!!!  I'll close with yet another tracks from the newly discovered (for me anyway), The Antiques Silver Lining

April 12th    Might be another short one: I stayed up late watching the Canucks play into Quadruple Overtime (!) this evening, as well as took in a rippin' guitar player at The Blue Gator pub (the dude played in between periods :-).  Safe to say, its really late in the AM as I type...  Discovered another rocking band that I wanna' share with you this evening however: The Antiques Pigless 160Kb/s MP3 No DRM (I know, what a weird name for a tune)

April 12th    If you are in the market for a new flat-screen, don't pass the opportunity to visually audition (is that a real term?), Vizio's Inc.'s products.  It appears that they are pretty much the world leader in 'bang for the buck' and their products are available at Costco, thus the price killer thing...

April 12th    I spend too much time reading online audio / video magazines, and today I simply had enough and had to vent.  You see, I have a low bullshit tolerance and the fellows over at Tone Publications managed to find my 'fine line' with their latest issue... 

April 11th    Zunior Records make a great deal of their catalogue available for free download (Zunior Rocks!), I've poked through the latest 'Sampler' collection and picked out two that I thought you might enjoy (if you want the whole package, visit their www site)  Sit back and enjoy Jim Bryson's Clear the crowds and Frank Black and the Catholics Cold heart of stone  Both tracks are DRM-free 192KB/s MP3 files.

April 11th    I've often mentioned affordable loudspeakers for stereo listening, but haven't said much about full-on surround-sound kit.  Odd, as I am a surround-sound soapbox prophet of sorts - let me remedy the situation by pointing you to two excellent options, with reviews to boot!  The Perfect Vision magazine has produced these reports on what Paradigm Acoustics and Klipsch Audio have to offer for under two grand USD.  Speaking of the magazine: if you have the time and inclination, the April / May 2007 issues is available for free download ~ be forewarned that its quite a large D/L at 14.5 megabytes!  The first two links in this paragraph are to sub-megabyte Adobe PDF formatted documents, the last link to the magazine itself will lead you to a site asking for an email address: type in anything you want as they don't ask for an email confirmation before supplying you the link to download said publication.  Its worth a look as a virtual 'what's new' extravaganza if nothing else.

April 11th    Don't feel like boring you with 'yet more' audiophile banter, so I think I'll just help you crank it up with Interpol's Evil (128Kb/s MP3 / No DRM).  This is quite a bit 'different' than most of the stuff I post here, but it's pseudo-punk / pop / angst tone is somehow inviting!

April 11th    Short post this time around, too much to do and not enough hours N' all that.  More good news on the 'Death To DRM' front: it looks like Microsoft is also in negotiations with EMI to strike a deal similar to what Apple managed last week - no DRM on Zune downloadable tracks!  

April 10th    What a beauty of a break from the rat race!  Hope you all got out and kicked some ass in everything you did this weekend!  Lets cruise into the (short!) workweek with a taste of the blues, care of Hubert Sumlin Look what you've done (right-click / Save As...)

April 10th    Yet another one steps up to bat... the opponent?  Same old' same old'... Apple's iPod of course!  Yahoo, Sandisk Corporation and new kid Zing Systems, have teamed up to release Sansa Connect as the warrior of choice.  Its main weapon: wireless music file transfers, the potential ace up their sleeve: a former Apple executive onboard, one with direct experience from a stint on the iPod development team...!

April 10th    Just in case you're wondering: first quarter results show retail CD sales are down a little over 20% and downloadable music is up 56%... imagine that.  Consider how the figures would look if the folks who keep track of such statistics could peer into the belly of the real download beasts: P2P / Newsgroups / BitTorrent...

April 10th    It looks like the motion picture distribution industry has seen the writing on the wall and are rushing to follow the path of downloadable music.  Check out all the big names clambering to get on the bandwagon.

April 10th    Picked up tickets to see Jimmy Bowskill the other day!  Don't know if you've heard this young blues guitar slinger: think Stevie Ray Vaughn in the body of a 17 year old kid and you'll get the picture!  The lad and his crew are touring across Canada at the moment, tickets are cheap $24.00 at a local venue (Dream Cafe).  Check out Jimmy's Homepage for a taste of his workmanship (click on the Audio / Video links and then on either of the LPs listed.  If you use Internet Explorer you'll be able to stream the better part of both albums!

April 10th    Up to a challenge?  Think you have a 'Golden Ear'?  Check out the self-proclaimed "best free ear training resource on the internet": specifically, their open source 'Functional Ear Trainer' software product.  I downloaded and installed a copy and have been amazed with the massive array of teaching tools they've packed into a compact, completely free product!  Check it out here.

April 5th    Have wondered for quite some time what Daniel Lanois sounded like, after hearing his name associated with so many top music projects over the years.  I happened to stumble upon a link to his latest work on Download.com the other day and though some of you might be as curious as myself.  It's not exactly my shot of java, but I cannot deny the talent this cat exudes: check out Shine - (192KB/s MP3 / No DRM)

April 5th    Don't know if many folks are aware of this free, open source software application, so here's a heads-up: Check out Songbird.  Its a very slick, easy to use program that will 'harvest' linked songs from any www site and play them back as if they were on your local PC's hard disk drive or playlist!  Download / install / run it, then type www.cdnav.com (or whatever www site you know of which hosts music links), into the address bar along the top of the screen, within the program - and there ya' go: every link to music on the web site becomes an automatically streaming playlist!  Cool - saves a ton of clicking / downloading!  Here is an online video tutorial that will demonstrate many of the product's features - you'll need to have the free 'Flash' player installed to view the clip (most PCs / Macs' have this software installed already).  Hint: not only does the main Cdnav.com page host direct music links, but so does the 'archive site' and the old 'Free & Legal Music' site.  Together, these pages alone represent tens of hundreds of audio tracks! 

For a freakish number of other MP3s, check out (then copy and past the www address of, into Songbird) the following music blog sites: (100% credit for the creation of this excellent list to Fingertips!)

Alternate Tuning
The Aquarist's Notebook
Armrest
Arne Naess was right...
Arte Gusano Digital
Aural Review
BackBeat
Backseat Driver to the Universe
[the best ever]
Between Thought and Expression
The Big Ticket
bLCkdgRd
Blindheit: clarity is overrated
Blog Soup
Bloghorrea
La Blogothèque
Blood Runs Crazy
Brain Free Zone
Brown Cardigan
Buschen Fin
Catching Signals
Chickytavaland
Circadian Shift
Citizen Keith
Close Your Eyes
the Dabbler
Dave's Imaginary Sound Space
deepredbelle
didyktile
DJ Martian
Doctor Harence's Digcho
Dogbite Music
don't sit next to me just because i'm asian
dozer mp3 blog
dreams never end
Ear This
expressing the inexpressible
Eyeless in Gaza
Feature Extraction
Fifty North, Forty West
For the 'records'
4F
fromsomewhere i used to know
Gadzooky!
gifted
Gimme Tinnitus
here and there
Hviskeleken
Information Nation
It's always better at holiday...
Jackass Social Club
Jamie's Runout Groove
Jazz Thinks
Junk & Conversation
just for a day
Local Vertical
The Long Cut
Long Pauses
Lost Bands of the New Wave Era
malefactor
the melancholy rhino
Mini-Obs
Mobtown Shank
Muruch
Music@PL.PT
noise city
nonsense; vanity; suspicion
Not Your Usual Bollocks
The Oak Room
Obstinate Eye
ol book 1
Overlooked Gems of My Lifetime
Panda's Hideout
Pilgrim's Progress
A Plague of Angels
Plisher.org
El Pocho Abogado
PowerPop
Powerpopulist
Productshop NYC
Radio Babylon
Rebecca's Pocket
Reloda
The Rock and Roll Report
RockCritics.com
Sadly, No!
Said the Gramophone
The Sedated Sheep
selector de frecuencias
75orLess Records and Music
The Shifted Librarian
Short Attention Span Radio
Shrug Festival
Sixeyes
So...Where Is Helsinki?
Something Old, Something New
SoundGymnastics
Sparkleblue*
Starlite Rest
Steph Wills Interrupted
Still Kisses With Saliva
The Stypod
Sujhaile's Pretend Journal
Swashbuckle Jam
Swen's Weblog
Tenura porno
This, That and the Brother
Thoughts, Raves & Outright Beatings
The Tofu Hut
too many hobbies
Totally Fuzzy
Tuning
Ugly Floral Blouse
untravel
Unwell
UponFirstListen
Utopia
Vanou's Bla Blah Bla
Way Down Here
WireCan
The Witness Exchange
The XPN All About the Music Blog
YuppiePunk
Zen Zen
Zimelala

April 5th    JVC has just introduced an odd hot tub toy that I though many of you would get a kick out of.  Its a waterproof, solid-state music player that floats in the tub while you get plastered, er, I mean, enjoy a soak in the hot tub!

April 5th    And that's it for me till' Tuesday!  I'm gonna' do some riding, a bit O' paddling, hanging out with friends and drinking fine brewskees ~ I suggest you do the same!  Till then, enjoy this excellent "Feel Great" video, one of the best I've seen on YouTube to date (opens full screen). 

April 4th    Here's an odd one: I've been listening to this track over and over again for the past few months, wondering if it was 'good enough' for the site: then it dawned on me tonight: if I haven't deleted it by now, I must dig it enough to share it with the readers!  This is kinda' unlike anything else posted here to date: emo-ish, weird, but eminently playable.  Papercuts Dear Employee

April 4th    Lotsa' cats moan cause they don't have a room of proper shape or size for A/V presentation.  This fellow was in the same pickle, so he made a deluxe sandwich out of it!  Open an eye to the possibilities right in front of you with a little imagination!  Small rooms / big ideas

April 4th    This is kind of interesting: the fellow who writes this newsletter does so as the sound-reinforcement tech' working for an organization focusing mainly on church audio / video (as it turns out, churches have lots of money...imagine that), and he knows his stuff.  The article in question not only makes figuring speaker loads incredibly easy, it also points out some great Lps for those interested in excellent quality recordings.

April 3rd    You're gettin' there: Tuesday is just one shy of hump-day!  Rock into it with a killer track from The Ponys Double Vision (Usual caveats - download stuff you like when you hear it cause' I have no idea how long these bands / independent record companies will leave this stuff posted for download.  This is another high-quality, VBR-MP3, no DRM!)

April 3rd    'All amplifiers are analogue - But some amplifiers are more analogue than others'  A well written, if at times slightly technical, article written by Hypex Technologies and submitted as Paper #6690, at the AES 120th convention, Paris 2006.  (Adobe PDF formatted document - 259kb)

April 3rd    Balanced vs. unbalanced cables explained by a professional sound reinforcement site: note the lack of audiofool drivel...

April 3rd    'How I Became A Music Pirate' - A humorous, interesting and poignant article written by a typical music consumer in the 21st century.  Worth a read!

April 3rd    Those of you in the Vancouver area: Nomeansno, the long-time BC punk icon band is playing at the RedRoom in Vancouver.  Many years ago, this band was 'the gateway drug' I used to get into 80's/90's punk rock, West-Coast style!  For those of you uninitiated by Nomeansno, check out these two YouTube video clips to see what's in store for attendees! Clip 1 ~ Clip 2.  Fact of the matter - if you can get your hands on clean (CD or high-bitrate), copies of these tracks to thrash to - chances are, you'll become a complete fucking Nomeansno addict!  The music is great, and the trippy songwriting skills of these cats... check it out:

The River

When I speak the words I repeat
Are lost within this roaring
And when I call your eyes turn to me
But what are they exploring ?
Hidden shapes that pass fast away
Upon the waters streaming
And what I see I just cannot say
There is no one to heed me
I could say that I am sorry
But what forgiveness lies before me ?
In the river
Those who know me know all too well
All my sins and failings
But brother dear, how could I tell ?
The course that I was sailing
In the flood, before my eyes
I see the face that I despise
In the river
It's mine, it's mine
Drifting far away
I can see you're not very strong
As the current sweeps you past me
And I can see your head going down
As helpless your cries find me
"Help me ! Save me ! Lend me a hand !
Pull me out ! Pull me out !
Save me ! Save me ! Give me your hand !
Pull me out ! Pull me out !"
I would save you, give my life
But it's already sacrificed
To the river
It's gone, it's gone
Drifting far away
Mothers tell your children the truth
Don't hide the fate that's waiting
When you're born you start to drown
There's no help, no safety
First a gift of love is given
Then the winds rise, the sails are riven
On the river

April 1st    Yes, I've been procrastinating a great deal on adding to the site.  Its BCHL hockey playoff season and I've been organizing fan-busses to out of town games, working on their www site and generally not spending too much time online with regards to music & A/V.  Got a hot one for you folks: Buddy Guy's homepage is streaming MP3s from his site!  Same as always, just go here, click on the 'Play Music' button at the top, right-hand side of the screen and allow the files to collect in your Temporary Internet Files folder.  Copy / Paste to your heart's content!  This works in Internet Explorer, all versions, don't know about other web browsers... (Six tracks, 128KB/s MP3, No DRM).

April 1st    Its Monday, and we gotta' go back to the grind: that in itself is cause for the blues!  Speaking of which, if you're a fan of the old-school core-blues, you're gonna dig Robert Lockwood Jr.'s Train My Baby (compliments of Telarc International - 320KB/s DRM-free MP3)

April 1st    Here's an interesting one - a fellow who has created a site that deals with, and only with: Acoustic Research turntables.  I'm a huge fan of classic wooden turntables, and if you are too, you're gonna' love the information, and especially the gallery, presented on this AR-specific site.

April 1st    EMI will announce on Monday that it will be freeing much of its catalog from the shackles of DRM. The Wall Street Journal, citing "people familiar with the matter," reports that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will be present at the announcement in London and that the music will be sold through the iTunes Store and possibly other online outlets.  Check it out.

April 1st    Once in a while I like to kick in with a link to audio books.  Perhaps its because I like to take long trips in my car, or maybe I love reading, but haven't got the time to sit down with a good book.  Either way, I got it covered with free & legal audio tape recordings like these.

April 1st    Honestly can't vouch for the legality of these tracks, though they are from a quality source: The Aquarium Drunkard, a music blog site that's been around for a long time.  It appears that these are (purposely) lost / forgotten DEMO tapes from way back in the day - the formation of CSN&Y!!  Some of them lack what we would call quality, but most groove pretty well: what the idiot audiofools would no doubt call PRAT 8).  Dude has his site setup so that you cannot link to the files directly, you have to go there yourself.  Check it out!

April 1st    Sony HDR-SR1 Portable Camcorder: came damned close to buying one of these at Staples the other day, managed to suppress the 'buyer urge' and walked away with a promise to myself to do more research, thus justify the process...  Hard Disk Drive based, HD1080 resolution, huge optical zoom and much more.

March 30th    A mellow little ditty with a smoky, slightly jazzy groove to it.  Sara Lov - Devics (no, those aren't typos')

March 30th    Samsung is pushing the envelope a little further this week with the release of a 64 gigabyte solid state hard disk drive.  Pop two of these suckers under the hood and you've got all the makings of a decent PC with a fair amount of storage.  How long before all of our multimedia PCs sport solid state hard drive storage mechanisms.

March 29th    Ya!  Vees win game one of the third round of the BCHL Interior Conference!  They've a long way to go yet, but tonight's bout makes it 9 strait playoff games that the Vees have notched on their belt ~ Nice!  Celebrations should ensue, with music!: The Detroit Cobras are giving it up with their track I wanna Holler (but the town's too small)

March 29th    Move Over YouTube: Here Come Fox, NBC.  Video content is increasingly finding its way over the Internet, and the TV studios are finally starting to dip themselves into the ever-growing pot:  international media and entertainment companies NBC Universal and News Corp., which  owns the Fox broadcasting company, have boldly decided to collaborate on what they deem will be the largest Internet video distribution network.  

March 28th    Ah, Round III of the BCHL playoffs commence tonight ~ nice!  Our home-town junior team has swept the first two teams and looks to be on a roll!  Ya' gotta' love it when your favorite team kicks ass!  Found some pretty decent 'Copper-Head Road-esq' Rock N Roll for you this evening: Check out Leeroy Stagger's: Where I live. 

March 28th    I've never been partial to the look of McIntosh's audio equipment, it always reminded me of something that my grandfather would own...  However, I really dig the 'absolutely no bullshit' approach that the company takes towards their products and get a kick out of their engineer's approach to cables.  Recently, Home Theater & High Fidelity went on somewhat of a road trip and took a tour of the McIntosh factory - I thought you might find this interesting.

March 28th    Here's something 'completely different': a review of a new portable gadget which would allow one to get excellent quality live bootleg recordings!  I love live recordings, the problem is, most of them are complete shit as far as quality is concerned!  A world populated with more of these affordable little buggers is welcome music to my ears. 

March 28th    Recycle those old projectors!  Another step along the road of being responsible for what you consume, and inevitably cast aside: NEC and partners are working towards programs that allow direct recycling of their products as well as 'trade-up' programs which will see consumers bringing in any brand of projector and leaving it with NEC to recycle, as long as the customers purchase an NEC brand projector to replace it.

March 27th    Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday... only three more days till we rock out again!  Take a cruise on the brainline with a little help from Brett Dennen and his track Darlin', do not fear.  Brett's style is kinda' laid back and breezy - I have featured his music on the site several times before, cause' I dig it!

March 27th    We all want musical selection, but not enough of us see the most obvious source of this music.  Just the other day a friend of mine was lamenting the fact that his favorite Jazz radio station shut down operations, I quickly directed him to a Web Radio site that had dozens upon dozens of jazz Radio stations, most commercial-free: online!  I suspect that he's in Jazz heaven right now!  Put your ears into whatever kinda heaven or hell gives you a kick by visiting Loud City Radio Online now!

March 27th    Always one to love a great deal, I was blown away by the price of this internally amplified, 5.1 surround-sound system by Asian manufacturer AUVI Technologies.  I'm not saying this is gonna' be your main sound system, but it would make a great setup for the kids in the rec' room, at the cabin or a surround-sound system for a PC!

March 27th    Wow - some cat has gone to town with lossless audio file encoders and published his blood, sweat and tears for all to see: Graphically intriguing - check it out (this link is not dial-up connection friendly!) I see that the poor bugger is being inundated with naysayers - who of course, wouldn't take the time to get off their asses and do this kind of work themselves...

March 26th    Ya, I've returned alive after a long weekend on the mountain of snowboardin', drinking, poker playing and watching movies by a bunch of crazy sonofabitches called the The trailer Park Boys - (that, my friends, is some fucked up shit!).   I guess we should shake the beer-ridden cobwebs out of our ears and kick the week off right with some good old Rock n' Roll: The Blakes - Don't Bother Me

March 26th    Sales of Music, long in decline, plunge sharply due to rise in downloading - both legal and illegal.  Once again the shirts are quaking and scratching their collective heads, wondering how the hell they are going to afford that next Lamborghini...

March 26th    Study: Playing Music Can Make You Smarter (If this is true, there are a whack of audiophiles out there in need of a whole lot more time spent listening to music and a damn lot less time fucking around with their speaker wires and interconnects!)

March 26th    Beatles tribute band to perform 'album that never was'.  If you're a hardcore fan of the band that is now half dead - this might interest you.

March 26th    Now that the marriage is nearly complete, many folks are wondering what the hell is to become of the Sirius Satellite and XM Radio merge.  Here is some clarification on the issues.

March 22nd & 23rd    Yup', I'm taking Friday off - and so should you!  Rock your soul with some groovy shit from the folks over at SoulSide: The Blues Kings - DripDrop

March 22nd & 23rd    Honeywell Licenses Brand Name for TVs: Best known for its thermostats and aircraft engines, flat-panel televisions soon will bear the company's name as well.

March 22nd & 23rd    DivX Partners with CBC, Samsung - DivX, creator of a video compression-decompression codec of the same name, has announced that CBC will offer international content in the DivX video format, and via a channel on the DivX Stage6 online video sharing community.

March 22nd & 23rd    Panasonic takes wraps off 2007 plasma TV range, devices include memory card slots, 3 HDMI interfaces and quality speaker systems built-in.

March 22nd & 23rd    Pretty much every day one hears another marketing department touting how their 'product X' is the best thing since blowjobs (is that even possible?), and so its with a grain of salt that I listen to Aurousal Ltd.'s claim that their single-driver, crossover-less designs offer "unprecedented audio realism... unrivalled HD crystal clarity and holographic imaging".  Their www site is a little shy on high-resolution graphics as well as reviews, but their HD tailored flex single metal alloy diaphragm technology sounds intriguing.  It'll be interesting to hear them when they land on these shores.

March 22nd & 23rd    Amazon seeks to fill Classical Music niche: Classical music fans, the refugees of the retail world, can be forgiven for feeling unwanted.  Specialty chains like Tower Records and other independent music stores have been chased into oblivion by big-box retailers, which offer classical fans little other than Andrea Bocelli’s latest pop release or “Baby Einstein’s Lullaby Classics.”

And its on that note that I leave you for the weekend - enjoy this selection of classical music.  All the writers are ancient / dead guys, so I think it's safe to say that we don't have to worry about copyright on this stuff :-)  The fidelity is pretty decent, ranging from 128KB/s to 320KB/s in Variable Bitrate, MP3 file format (don't tell the Golden ears - they'll pee their pants if they catch you listening to MP3s!) - and no bloody DRM!

 R. Strauss - Sprach Zarathustra - Fanfare

 Mahler - Symphony No. 5 - Adagietto

 Sibelius - Finlandia

 Rimsky-Korsakov - Dance of the Bumble Bee

 Massenet - Meditation

 Elgar - Pomp and Circumstance - March No. 1

 Dvorak - Humoresque

 Sibelius - Valse Triste

 J. Strauss II - Vienna Blood - Waltz

 Ravel - Bolero

March 21st    Made er' to Hump day boyz', that can only mean one thing: more music is in order to take you through to the weekend - get up there and go skiing dudes, spring is here and one of the world's finest gravity assisted addictions is soon to be toast by the sun!  Speaking of Suns, bend an ear towards Wolf Parade's My Father's Son.  This is pretty raw, distorted, quirky stuff, but I really dig the absolute rawness of it!  For those of you a little more inclined to coast into the midweek frenzy, there is always Astrid Swan's Good Girl - a lot more mellow, this little lady has a great voice!

March 21st    I've mentioned this topic a few times in the past, but here is another, previously unannounced site for free audio-books.  Check out Podiobooks www site for an 'all you can eat' selection of free & legal audio-books for that next long drive to wherever the hell life takes ya'

March 21st    Very cool, and the first I have seen of it's kind: Add HDMI to your PC!  Black Magic Design has released several PCI interface cards allowing you to edit using big-screen HDMI televisions and video projectors, or capture uncompressed quality from HDV cameras directly into your PC!  Its also good to see a company supporting the new Windows Vista (Ultimate only) operating system.  All too often these days, high-end A/V hardware companies fail to support the new OS.

March 21st    Real wood, we all love it.  Sure vinyl is ok, but when it comes to real loudspeaker admiration, nothing does the trick like a real wood veneer!  Long-time Internet-only loudspeaker manufacturer, Axiom Audio, has just released their first veneer series of loudspeakers and they look to be things of beauty wrapped in eight different garbs of wood veneer.  I've always had a thing for cost-effective, well reviewed loudspeakers - and to top it off, they are located right here in Canada!

March 20th    This one's gonna' be quick and dirty as I have loads of work to do on a BCHL site (AA hockey rocks - support your local team), and not a hell of a lot of time in my day.  Rock and Roll duJour's main course is offered up the Black Keys and their track All Hands Against His Own.  This is the second time I've featured them, search the page a little lower for another excellent track by this relatively unknown band.  Oh, and our team: we swept all four games of the first round and are poised to do the same tomorrow night in round II)!

March 20th    More information / an update - to yesterday's posts about Internet Radio.  Not only are the record companies going to charge per user / per hour, but the rates are on a sliding scale - that's going up over time!  Digital inflation?  Goodbye Internet Radio, its been great knowing ya - I guess users will simply fall back harder on Limewire now...?

March 20th    Hey Vancouver, if you're into some really great, old-school blues, be sure to take in Pinetop Perkin's performance at The Yale Pub (ya, I know), downtown Vancouver this April 26th.  I can't see that he is making appearances in any other Canadian cities, so this is a lucky break for all of you West Coast blues junkies (and a good excuse to get out of the relentless rain!)...

March 20th    Here's an oldie, but a goodie: Producing Great Sounding Phonograph Records (or Why Records Don’t Always Sound Like the Master Tape).  Penned in 1997, those of you steeped in the black art of the vinyl addiction may find this interesting.  It'll give you some pretty cool insight into the manufacture of vinyl LPs and the thought process and limitations that govern their creation.  In need of something to listen to while you read?  Take this opportunity to enjoy as much Radio Paradise as you can before it goes off the air!

March 19th    Welcome back to reality, such as it is on a Monday morning!  You're gonna' need more than just a kick ass cup of Java to make it through till noon!  Download & crank the living shit outta' Funky Nashville's track Gone Away!  (Variable bitrate MP3 / No DRM!)

March 19th    There's big TV, really big TV and then there's "holy fuck dude", er, I mean - TecnoVision's new Luxio 205" LED monstrosity!  Picture watching the Lord Of The Rings on that sucker!

March 19th    Not specifically A/V centered, but given that most, if not all of us use the PC for A/V in some way these days, its good news: In the past few months four companies have released solid-state and / or, hybrid hard disk drives into the general marketplace.  Previously only available to large corporations (stock exchanges have been using them for a few years), RAM-based, diskless drives are finally a reality for you and I.  Sure these first few units are pricy and relatively small compared to the 250 gigabyte drives we are running, but give it a year or two!

March 19th    Forget about US-based web-radio, The US Copyright Office has released their new set of rates for the payment of royalties by Internet Radio: 1.28 cents per listener hour, retroactive to 2006!  It doesn't sound like a whole lot, but consider how many listeners a large web-radio station has...

March 16th    Wow, Friday couldn't come soon enough this week ~ I've had a real ball-buster / runaround kinda workweek and am looking forward to a couple of days of goofing off, watching junior hockey (round two of the playoffs begins tomorrow night) and relaxing!  I suggest that a great way to kick off the good times is with Ryan Adams To Be Young (is to be sad, is to be high)

March 16th    Malcom McLaren predicts death of record labels Quote: "No one cares about selling units any more.  All record labels will end up closing eventually because no one wants actual CDs anymore.  You can get whatever you want on the internet for nothing now, the experience of seeing a band or artist perform in front of you is what is valued today and that's why live entertainment is having such a boom at the moment."  I agree 100%.  Shit, I honestly cannot remember the last time I purchased a music CD in a retail outlet.  eBay now and again, sure ~ CDs for a buck plus shipping.  But its the thousands of free tracks off the Internet that keep me rockin'!  Fuck the RIAA, fuck the record execs' ~ bands can make a living the good old fashioned way: create music that we like to hear and then we'll go to their live shows and hand over our hard earned cash!

March 16th    This missive deals with a new way to look at determining audible differences, or lack thereof, in audio equipment.  I've seen this mentioned before in online forums, but the proposition never gains traction, because most folks would rather keep on believing in the tooth fairy and Santa Clause.  Anyway, check out this suggestion for a new A/B technique.  Anyone out there have the balls to step up and try it, then let us know your findings? (yes, that's a challenge).  PS: Freely downloadable back-issues of  The Audio Critic can be accessed here.

March 16th    How to Shop for Televisions & Displays: A kick ass article from an excellent www site: AudioHolics!  This makes for an interesting read, as much as you know now, I guarantee that you'll know a hell of a lot more when you've done reviewing the linked article!

March 15th    What did I find to share with you folks today?  How about some Wilco / What Light.  Can't say I've ever really given this band much of a chance in the past, though I have known of their existence for many years.  Kinda country, sorta' rock n roll - I dig it.

March 15th    Interesting, very interesting...  There is a hot-topic thread going on at Head-Fi at the moment, all about the new Benchmark DAC1 preamplifier / USB DAC unit.  I dig this product, but wish it were a little more sanely priced, much like it's closest competition: the Apogee USB-enabled MiniDAC (the new Benchmark DAC1 goes for around $1600.00 in the land of the Canucks, the MiniDAC, about half that).  The reason I bring up the topic of the Head-Fi article is two-fold:

1) One of the engineers that was involved in the design of the DAC1 has joined in the conversation - which is unusual in an online forum (first I have seen in fact)

2) He asserts that the much maligned KMixer that is at the core of Windows 2000 and Windows XP's handling of audio signals, is in fact 'bit-transparent' - as long as only one data stream is running at a time and a few other quibbles.  This statement has caused a good deal of consternation on the site, have a look.  (I also come upon an old post on Hydrogen Audio on the same topic ~ where the original poster came to the same conclusions).  Hydrogen Audio, buy the way, is one of the few forums that I wholeheartedly recommend you check out: they are heavily into testing and real-word evaluations, not audiofool hocus-pocus.

March 15th    Lookie, lookie who's back on the road: Ronnie James Dio, Geezer Butler, Toni Iommi and the traveling show strait outta' hell - formerly known as Black Sabbath!   As far as I can tell, Megadeath, and Down will be opening acts for the shows which are currently grinding across Canada.  Check out the tour schedule here.

March 15th    Thursday starts and ends with Music, lotsa' music!  As much as I love good old fashioned Rock n Roll, I have a real place in my heart for piano and violin, thus - I bring you the top 10 classical pieces 1685 to 1730:

Bach - Tocatta in D Minor
Pachelbel - Canon in D
Bach - Brandenburg Concerto Number 3, First Movement
Handel - Water Music, Suite Number 2 in D
Purcell - Trumpet Tune & Air
Bach - Air, from Orchestral Suite Number 3 in D
Vivaldi - The Four Seasons – Spring
Albinoni - Adagio
Vivaldi - Mandoline Concerto in C, Rev. 425
Bach - Minuet and Badinerie – From Orchestral Suite Number 2 in B Minor

March 14th    Don't have much time to talk tonight folks, so will post a 'way-over-the-top' track I came upon the other day.  I grew up in the early days of thrash metal - bands such as Creator, Destruction, HellHammer and Razor caressed (?) my loudspeakers as I made every attempt to learn just how much alcohol the human body could consume before comatosity set in...  The Dwarves are a light version of those groups, but still fast as all get out and relentlessly uninspiring from a lyrical standpoint.  Have a chuckle at I am the Dominator.  One of my buddies is an ex-bouncer, a burly fellow who just happens to be named Dominick: I forwarded this link directly to him for a laugh!

March 14th    One more quick funny: Foxtrot vs. the RIAA (AKA; Satan)

March 14th    The Canadian literary embarrassment known as UHF Magazine has published yet another issue of secretion for your viewing pleasure.  Don't get me wrong, there are some actual facts published via this magazine: the date on the cover for instance...  No, but really, and the price, that's probable accurate...  Sorry, cannot help myself - these cats print some of the best toilet paper in the business.  Over and above those minor quibbles, there is an article (part of an article anyway), on acoustics that might be worth perusing as well as perhaps some curious drivel in the musical review section.  Have at it if you dare.  (Adobe PDF formatted document - 7.4 megabytes)

March 13th    Serious treats today folks!  Fat Possum Records is freely sharing The Black Keys cover of Junior Kimbrough's Meet Me In The City.  If you like what Jack White does with old Son House tunes, you're gonna love this track!  Rock n roll guitars plus old-school blues: I love it! (Lenny Kravitz does 40's blues?)

March 13th    Watched a DVD the other day called Festival Express: it presents a (nearly) Cross Canada, railroad-based concert that ventured from Toronto to Calgary in the early 70's.  Performers included The Band, Buddy Guy, Flying Burrito Brothers, Janice Joplin, Grateful Dead, Tom Rush and a half-dozen other musical groups - all crammed onto a train full of amplifiers, booze and Rock n Roll for a week trip across the best country on earth.  Though there are some slow moments, and the fidelity in a number of parts of the show leaves something to be desired, I still highly recommend it.  I dig every chance I get to see The Band & The Grateful Dead - and Janice's performance will impress you!  Check out the Festival Express web site.  Hint: I found my copy on loan at the local library(!).  Yours may have it on hand as well, and if not, its always available via the Nation-wide Inter-Library Loan Program.

March 13th    Ever wonder what it takes to get your song on the radio?  In the industry its called 'Payola', in the real world its known as corruption...  Finally, a group of concerned individuals - the Future Of Music Coalition, are working hard to end the days of "who ya' know and how deep your pockets are" depends where and how often, your songs get airtime.

March 12th    Just had a look at the statistics for the site as a whole.  The place is getting a hell of a lot of verified unique IP address hits (individual people / computers).  All things considered, such as how brutally blunt I am with regards to bullshit artists, rip off companies and the like - I'd consider the number of readers as a vote of confidence in my beliefs / policies!  Tnx' for your support - I wasn't sure that anyone could get away with being so brutally honest in the realm of audiophiles - considering the complete fucking tidal wave of bullshit that floods the hobby on a daily basis!  As long as you're reading, I'll keep writing - if any of you have suggestions or wish to kick in and add to the site, feel free to contact me via the link on the left-hand side of this page.

March 12th    So Monday it is: not much we can do about that, but at least we can discover some new soul / blues, to whit: Solomon Burke and his (fitting as we return to the 9-5) track: None Of Us Are Free

March 12th    The Final Component in your system is … Your Room!  In case I haven't driven it into your heads strongly enough by now: aside from the source material and loudspeakers - the single most important component of any sound system is the room.  Not the cables, nor the amplifier or CD player (unless they are complete and utter junk (Lloyds / Candle / Transonic).  Spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on the aforementioned and you'll not hear the slightest fraction of a difference compared to the effect you'll get by manipulating the room's decor & furnishings (reflection / absorption).  Crutchfield's has always been a decent source of tech' info and they stay true to form in this article.

March 12th    Among all of the complete bullshit missives one finds on the many (over 100 and counting) online Audio / Video Forums out there, a great site is referenced every once in a while.  Case in point: TweakHeadz Lab dispenses a goodly amount of information such as this page: Everything You Were Afraid To Ask About Cables.  Cable-Geeks: note the complete lack of bull when it comes to discussing cables - you too can follow this shining example - and folks will actually respect you instead of looking at their shoes and wishing to hell you'd shut up...

March 12th    Once again, one of my favorite A/V site comes through with an excellent review of some affordably priced, well-built loudspeakers: Secrets Of Home Theater & High Fidelity's review of the DCM Time Frame TFE200 Floor-Standing, TFE60C Center Channel, and TFE60 Surround Speakers.

March 9th    News tonight: Brad Delp, lead singer for the band that we all grew up with: Boston, has passed on to wherever the hell it is we all split to after this funky ride on the rock.  In honor of the man who wrote many of the songs that we used to seduce our first girlfriends, enjoy: More than a feeling (I am not hosting this low-bitrate version, so if any record execs' are reading this, don't both suing me - anyone with access to Google can download this file).

March 9th    Friday!!!  Celebrate your release from hell, er, I mean work - with a slab O' the blues courtesy of the Mighty Sam McClain and Telarc Records.  I know you've heard a load of bull from audio-geeks, saying that the MP3 file format is not worth a damn - guess what, as usual with audiophools, they're wrong!  Check out what intelligent mastering and production - at a decent bitrate (320KB/s), can sound like: All We Need Is Love  If that doesn't do it for ya', there's always this...  (have a great weekend, tap at cha' Monday)

March 9th    Legal, DRM-Free Music at 192KB/s!  Hell ya: is this the crack in the dam?  Lets hope so cause I am pretty disappointed with DRM-laden, 128KB/s crapola from the majors!  Amie Street has signed NettWork Records and hopes for more good things in the future - perhaps they'll give Steve Jobs and Co. a run for their money some day!

March 9th    So you're in the market for a new 'redbook' CD player and all of your audiofool friends are telling you that you need to spend thousands of dollars on this or that deck because each has some kind of un-measurable audible character to it... damned audiofools don't know a thing aside from what they read in the press or in online forums!  If they had an iota of common sense they would direct you towards this very well-built deck from Tascam.  I've seen it listed as low as $300.00 retail (Cdn.) and significantly less on eBay.  This deck will outlast you and offer amusement to your grand-children when they grow up (looking at it and wondering what a CD was).

March 9th    Though the site is mostly A/V, I like to throw in a bit of video graphics every now and then, if only because I never cease to be amazed at how far rendering technology has come in the past decade.  If you have the time and bandwidth, download this 65 megabyte demonstration video to see what game designers are working with in 2007.  Note the incredibly tight integration between ultra-high resolution graphics, character AI and physics.  I'm sure that someone at the Whitehouse is dreaming of training disposable heroes, er, I mean to say - soldiers, with this technology.

March 8th    You made it man: the weekend's just around the corner, hump-days' behind ya' and there's nothing to stop you from looking forward to Friday in less than 48 hours!  With that fantastic thought in mind, give a listen to Arlo's Runaround to pick up the buzz you'll need to make Friday / 5pm!

March 8th    I've been shopping around for a PCI internal sound card for quite some time now (I hate buyer's remorse), and recently stumbled upon the mother of all comparison lists of said products: Check out TweakHeadz Lab's massive listing on their site.  This pretty much covers all the cool PCI goodies one might wish to look into!  Also see their Firewire and USB 2.0 Charts.  Speaking of the TweakHeadz: I really like their site(s) - no damned audiofool hocus-pocus, no talk about subjects that they invented on the fly or read on some forum discussion thread.  You want the facts Jack: head on over to the Lab!

March 8th    Longtime readers are all pretty much aware of my loudspeaker addiction (my wife is particularly  cognizant of this fact), and I have yet another for ya' to check out.  You'll also no doubt have noticed that I like to highlight studio monitoring equipment over audiofool, 'flavor of the month' loudspeakers.  There are several reasons behind this: I like monitors that are self-powered: attractive, but not glossy wonder-candy: well-built, but not bank-breaking.  Our next contestant features all of these components, and more.  Enter Klein & Hummel's 0-300-D, three-way, tri-amplified monitor.  Aside from it's excellent design, measurements and apparently, accurate reproduction - the 0-300 also sports one of my all-time favorites: a dome midrange!  I see this design less and less these days, but have owned several over the years and always loved the breadth of sound they project.  K & H products are distributed in Canada by Sennheiser: contact details available here.

March 8th    Well, that's it from me this evening.  Its been a long day of playoff carousing, hockey-game attendance and writing about it afterwards: I'm pretty much tuckered out!  I'll close with one more track, this from the Arcade Fire: Rebellion (Right-click / Save-as...)

March 7th    Can't hang with you a whole lot this evening my good friends: our local junior hockey team is in the playoffs and I'm going to games / writing up web reports, as well as taking care of paperwork for my own company.  What I do have for you tonight however, is a real treat: Cat Power's Lived In Bars.  What a silky smooth slab of rockin Jazz.  I'm not usually a big fan of the female jazz vocalist style, but I just love this little lady's voice.  160KB/s MP3 - No goddamned DRM! (I urge you to download this file now as I have no idea how long her promo team will post it for).

March 7th    To go along with the above link, lets take a long look back to a post on this site circa Sept. 23rd 2006 when I linked to another very enjoyable Cat Power track 'The Greatest', (no, not Gretzky or Mohammad Ali).  While you are enjoying those two excellent music tracks: kick back, pour a nice deep glass of vino and indulge yourself in the latest edition of the online rag Affordable Audio, March Edition.  (Adobe PDF formatted document - 9.8 megabytes).  A word of warning about this magazine: as each issue progresses, its getting more and more akin to TAS, UHF or Stereophile - all bad things...  You'll notice in this issue for instance, comments such as "I can't get over how good this thing is - I'm discovering there is music on my reference CDs that I've never heard before!"  This, from a fellow who is running high-zoot kit as it is...  When you read crap like that, its time to set your bullshit detector on high!  Tap at cha' tomorrow!

March 6th    Had a hard Monday today, ran all over hell's half acre and was plumb tuckered out at day's end.  Knew what I had to do: grab some concert tickets!  Roger Waters is on tour across Canada and I thought that an evening of 'The Floyd Sound' would be great!  Made the call to Ticket Master (or, as its widely known Wicked Bastard), to inquire about ticket availability and pricing.  Whoredogs!  $150.00 for tickets in any decent location aside from the nosebleeds!  That's $150.00 plus taxes, handling surcharge and hell knows whatever else hidden sub-charges they 'have' to add on (kinda' like buying airline tickets).  That, plus travel to Vancouver, hotels, food, misc. odd shit that one buys in the city that they don't really need and you're looking at over $600.00 to take your lady to an evening concert.  "Fuck that weak shit" I thought to myself!  So I hung up and dialed The Habitat in Kelowna, booked two April 11th tickets to see the The Constantines, Jon-Rae & The River and LadyHawk.  Nice: a fraction of the price, three bands and an easy, local drive.  I dig supporting Canadian bands and not pissing my cash out the window and into the hands of a multi-millionaire anyway!

Pretty exciting story, no?  Ok, how about some rock and roll to put you in the mood for planning your mid-week play-hooky and go skiing day?  Quite some time ago I pointed you folks to a (very) cool site called Wolfgang's Concert Vault.  I get the impression that most of the tens of hundreds of posts here just sorta' come and go as the 'flavor of the week', and that's a bloody shame.  Thus - I'm going to dare to repeat a post and redirect your attention back to the vault!  There is no need for a 'real' username and password, plug anything in there you want, you'll get in.  The only reason for the login is to enable convenient playlists that can be recalled next time you log in.  The site holds thousands of 'decent'-quality soundboard recordings - visit Wolfgang's Vault & pig out on free rock and roll!  At the moment I'm enjoying The Rolling Stones at Detroit's Masonic Hall, 1978.  Those of you with a little computer acumen will undoubtedly figure out ways to capture these live streaming concerts... cough | Audacity... WaveOut Mix Settings...cough....

March 6th    Shit, with a two paragraph intro like that - what to follow with?  How about a way to enhance the output of your pathetic little' laptop or old bomber PC's internal sound card - for around a hundred bucks?  Check out the Trends UD-10 USB Audio Converter.  The site I've pointed to is located in Canada, so that very fair price is in Canadian dollars as far as I know.  I figure I'll pop for one of there to see if it helps the onboard chipset on my Toshiba laptop.

March 6th    Sony sees TV, Blu-ray prices drop: Sony Corp said US retail prices this year will fall 20 per cent for flat-screen televisions and 50 per cent for Blu-ray DVD players but that both product lines would remain profitable.  This is good news for those of you holding out for a flat-screen TV and sorta' good news on the BluRay front - though I still recommend that you hold off till' second-generation universal players (like the LG Super/Blu decks), hit the market.  Don't handcuff yourselves with one format or the other when you can have both, plus 'classic' DVD.

March 6th    More news about the recent massive fine against Microsoft for employing support for the MP3 file format within it's operating systems.  Microsoft was dealt a massive, $1.52 billion patent fine late last week, a thud that quickly reverberated through the industry.  The award, granted to Alcatel-Lucent, was calculated based on the amount of PCs sold over the past four years.  That dollar amount is unheard of, but the biggest ripples may be ahead.  Executives are now pointing to a possible licensing tour by Alcatel-Lucent, one that could deeply impact the pocketbooks of heavy-hitters like Apple, RealNetworks, Sony, and anyone else whose business is tied into the MP3 format.  But before that happens, Microsoft will battle back.  Shortly after the verdict, the software giant asked the judge to override the jury decision, and barring that, an appeal will be the next step.  "We contend that there was no infringement of any kind and that we have paid the appropriate license fees for any technology that is used in our products," Microsoft said during a post-ruling statement.  "We think this verdict is completely unsupported by the law or the facts. We will seek relief from the trial court, and if necessary appeal."

As the results of the Microsoft response emerge, industry executives will assume a nervous wait-and-see.  Contingency plans may already be taking shape, but underneath the chess-like thinking, a certain amount of cynicism prevails.  "It was entirely anti-business," one executive told Digital Music News.  "This is a jury that really doesn't understand the technology or context."  Others pointed to "patent trolling," and an overly litigious landscape.  If the judge upholds the ruling, companies like Apple could be next, though some legal experts are questioning whether Alcatel-Lucent will aggressively cash in beyond its Microsoft windfall.  Given the heavy awards in question, companies are likely to fight back - and potentially annul an earlier ruling.  Meanwhile, a Microsoft defeat could significantly cool deployment of the MP3 format, a twist that follows increased calls for its widespread adoption by leaders like Steve Jobs.

Once again folks, I implore you to look at free, Open Source alternative to MP3 such as the Ogg Vorbis file format.  It creates smaller files, offers higher fidelity, is cross-platform and, as mentioned - is free & legally available to everyone!  Check out the 'Ogg vs. everyone else' (my wording), site for an audible comparison of the most popular file formats on the Internet today.

March 5th    Welcome to your Monday my friends.  You'll no doubt notice that I've messed with the 'look' of the site a bit this past week: not sure if I like it yet myself...  At any rate, its the music that's important - so lets kick things off with a track from Lonely, Dear I am John.  If that's not your cup O' tea, check out Dogwood Rust's Comets on Fire.  This so reminds me of old-school hard rock from the eighties ~ maybe something that Rainbow or Rush might have produced, and in my opinion, that's a good thing cause' if there's one thing that world needs, it's more hard Rock n' Roll!

March 5th    If you've ever seen the movie The Corporation, and enjoyed it, you'll be glad to know its now been released under Creative Commons 'open license' for one and all to download freely.  If you haven't yet seen this flick, do yourself a favor and grab (any) BitTorrent client and commence downloading from this site. (you need to have a client installed first)

March 5th     Purchased a CD and wanna make a backup copy of said disk - only to find that it carries one of the industry's infamous DRM schemes?  Here's how to circumnavigate the horrid plague/virus known as Digital Rights Management and create legal backups of your own CDs.

March 5th    HDMI Switches: Don't Get Ripped Off: Nice, to-the-point headline no?  The thing I like most about the Gizmodo www site it its utter and blatant honesty.  In the field of A/V with it's wealth of folks who are keen to misinform at every turn, Gizmodo is a breath of fresh air amidst the stench of 'marketing above all' which has overtaken the industry.  Check out the link provided for a tip on HDMI switches, and the rest of the site for a good dollop of integrity in publishing, albeit, with some terse commentary / language... (nothing you haven't seen around here :-).  Finally, as if I needed another reason to dig Gizmodo: they are the backbone behind the Fuck The RIAA (my wording) campaign running all through March 2007.  Get onboard and help in the effort to have DRM relegated to the pile of bad record company ideas!

March 5th    Canadian audio icon PSB Speakers has created an easy to read / understand guide to loudspeaker placement / positioning.  It includes information on stereo / surround-sound and subwoofer placement among other things.  Just when you thought you knew it all on what you assumed was a straightforward subject - you learn something new everyday!

March 2nd    Today's 'Let it stream into your Temporary Internet Files Folder' load of music is from one of my favorite bands: The White Stripes.  Their music is a little different that what you might expect - I'm a fan, but it took me a few listens to get into the groove of this new LP...  That said, do check out the LP - tracks like The Denial Twist aught to have you rocking across the room in no time, lend an ear to the raw guitar work in Instinct Blues - I highly suggest you crank the whole album to dig the groove Jack is laying down here!

March 2nd    Astral confirms talks with radio rival broadcaster plans to acquire Standard in deal that would shift media landscape.  Cannot say I have ever heard of Astral Communications, but as with all things big business these days: amalgamation and homogenization seems to be the way of the world.  Unfortunately for all of us, IMHO - it means that radio will simply become more and more...boring.  More reason for all of you to spend time downloading free tracks from band sites, Indie' labels and blogs as well as attending live concerts for your music fix.

March 2nd    Looking a lot like a traditional center channel speaker, M-Audio's EX66 monitor speaker sports dual internal 100 watt amplifiers, high-impedance analog inputs (XLR and ¼” TRS balanced), S/PDIF and AES/EBU digital input up to 24-bit/192kHz for total digital studio connectivity as well a sleeve full of other tricks.  They run a pricy $1400.00 USD per pair, but considering what's built into the cabinet, I guess that's not too bad.

March 2nd    If its an amplifier / surround sound processor you seek, look no further than Emotiva's LMC-1 7.1-Channel AV Preamplifier/Processor & LPA-1 7-Channel Power Amplifier.  Built like a proverbial tank, this looks to be one of, if not the best deal in A/V out there today.  Check out AudioHolics review on the duo.  With the quality offered and the price proffered, I'd be damned surprised to see any 'high-end' print magazines review these products - too much of a threat to established advertisers...  (come on UHF, prove me wrong!)

March 2nd    Wanna' learn about SACD - I mean really learn pretty much everything there is to know about SACD technology?  Daisy Systems has created a series of pages that pretty much cover every aspect of the high resolution digital disk technology.

March 1st    Finally, a new month to rock out to!  I'm gonna' celebrate by taking the day off and boarding my ass off in the mountains!  IMHO: you should too!  Aside from that option - I guess you're gonna' have to settle for cranking the living shit outta' 25 tracks off the latest John Fogarty release: The Long Road Home.  As usual, click on the "Play All Songs" link and relax and enjoy as all of the files spool into your Temporary Internet Files folder!

March 1st    A quick recap just to keep you 'up to speed' - for those who missed it several months ago: DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD High-Resolution Audio. Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus via Electronic House magazine.

March 1st    Lots of audiofools out there want to tell you that every single amplifier on earth has a distinct sound, which is horseshit, and all have a different set of superlatives that they use to qualify these 'sounds'.  These theories have never passed a single double-blind evaluation, but continue nonetheless.  Fact of the matter is, any amplifier having high input impedance, low output impedance, flat frequency response, low distortion (98% of all amps on earth), and low noise floor are transparent from one another when operated at matched levels and not clipped.  What I find more interesting is what happens when an amplifier is pushed beyond specifications and into clipping.  Luckily, Art Ludwig has modeled these effects and produced .wav formatted files (Vivaldi) that you can download here:

Distortion-free Reference File | Single-ended Triode | Push-Pull Pentode | Solid State

Grab a set of headphones and hear for yourself what clipping / overload sounds like.  Cool!  Full details on the entire process used to produce these files can be read here.

March 1st    Got a mean ol' lady who doesn't give a shit about your A/V fetish?  Satisfy the boss with a strategically hidden set of lamp speakers.  Ya' lamp speakers, is in - loudspeakers that are hidden in a pole-lamp!  Check out the freaky solutions some folks embrace in the quest of WAF...

March 1st    Just in case I'm too bagged to post tomorrow - lets settle today's' entries with another favorite of mine - Wolf Parade | Shine A Light.  This one's is a little quirky, cannot put my finger on the artist that it reminds me of... have a listen and decide for yourselves...  Its weird, slightly angry stuff: I dig it!

February 28th    Hump day already - funkin' A ~ and the last day of February to boot!  What to listen to this morning?  Cannot say that I have yet developed a great taste for these cats yet - but obviously many of you have: Death Cab For Cutie seems to be a much bigger thing than I give them credit for.  DCFC reminds me somewhat of what the Grapes Of Wrath used to do 'back in the day'.  At any rate, if this is your twist, have a go at Title & Registration Download Free MP3 (192KB/s DRM-Free MP3)

February 28th    For those of you who didn't really dig the groove of DCFC, I recommend something completely different: Cuff The Duke's Ballad Of A Lonely Construction Worker.  Not too many tracks this long are worth playing - but I dig this group's workmanship!  There are a couple of more tracks available, free of charge (and bloody DRM) - on their www site.

February 28th    Some folks sure go out of their way to share create cool stuff for others to use.  Case in point: One Chris Whealy, who has spent innumerable hours building up an elaborate series of spreadsheets, one of which I have linked to here: Porous Absorber Calculator.  You'll need a program that reads Microsoft Excel spreadsheets in order to view this document - or the free Excel File Viewer from Microsoft's website.  If you want to know everything about material absorption coefficients and a lot of other stuff that went over my head, check out Chris's fine work ~ you'll be blown away!

February 28th    Here's an example of bands working around 'The Man' and creating new ways to earn income on their own: Direct To Disk.  For many years 'tapers': dudes who attend live shows kitted out with gear to covertly record shows, were the only way one might get a live recording of a band - if said act wasn't recording the show for a live LP, which happens very infrequently.  Several bands have come up with a solution that not only makes them some extra cash and cuts down on pirated shows: (which generally come across as an ultra-low fidelity mockery of the band's sound), record the show themselves by hiring a third-party who will have CDs available to fans as they file out the doors immediately after the gig.  Smart move!

February 27th    In case you missed the previous hints: I've had a serious case of The Constantines these past few months!  This allows me to make two points in one post: first off - these cats are on tour across Canada this spring - and you should go!  Check out their tour schedule here.  What can I say, they're Canadian (Fuckin' A - so is every other band on the tour!), and they rock out!  The cool prize at the bottom of the bag is that they are touring with The Tragically Hip, Jon-Rae and the River, Shotgun and Jaybird as well as Ladyhawk - (various combinations in various cities).  Since all of you know what the Hip sound like, I'll skip onto the Indie bands and give ya' a few links to:

Shotgun and Jaybird: 2 and 2 is 4, Come Back Slowly, Lovers Of The World Be On Time Tonight.

LadyHawk: Dugout, War.

Jon-Rae and the River:  Just One More, Come Back, Just What I Needed

The Constantines: Nighttime / Anytime - Its alright, On To You, Arizona.

As usual, these are all direct links to 'Free & Legal' tracks from the artists homepages or that of their Indie labels.  Also, as usual, I encourage you to download what you like now - cause' freebee tracks / links come and go as the artists change their homepages: don't say I didn't warn ya'...

February 27th    Very short post tonight my friends, I've two PCs in the shop here that require major RX' and not a whole lot of time do do the work, hence: you'll have to dig the tunes above, and read the magazine below for kicks tonight :-).  The rag in question is none other than the latest edition of Tone Magazine.  As I've mentioned previously, I am not always in agreement with everything this cat says - as he's quite the believer in the TweekFreek field... Nonetheless, I gotta' give the guy credit for the aesthetically appealing layout and music reviews...  With those caveats - dig into Edition Number 8.  Note, this is a 34 (!) megabyte Adobe PDF File download.

February 27th    Aw hell, one more quick post: I pointed you to some Clapton yesterday, how about another full LP today?  Lend an ear to Eric Clapton & J.J. Cale's The Road to Escondido streamed nicely into your Temporary Internet Files folder...  I'm enjoying it as I write this - what great harmonic vocals / guitar playing!

February 26th    Welcome to your Monday my friends: what say we kick some Rock n Roll ass with a taste of what Eric Clapton & the band have been up to lately.  Click this link then crank it up and enjoy Clapton's Back Home LP while its streamed into your Temporary Internet Files folder...

February 26th    Fuck: did I have a band wake up call of the weekend:  I'm sure you've all heard of the Dixie Chicks?  Well, so had I, but - much like yourselves I suspect - I thought that they were some 'makeup and hair' girl-band that pandered to country and western pop radio.  As it turns out, that's only somewhat correct.  I had no idea that they have more balls than most American males in that they stood up to the - surprisingly motivated - Pro-Bush regime and hundreds of radio stations who were worried more about money than free speech.  To date, the Chicks have pushed their anti-Bush message - despite being branded 'anti-American / unpatriotic' and had their lives threatened by whackos for their efforts.  Well, karma is on their side obviously: they just finished winning multiple Grammy Awards: Five for five at the recent 49th Annual Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year, as well as Best Country Album and Best Country Performance By a Duo or Group.  Anyone who points out The Bush / Cheney Reign Of Blood for what it is - is a friend of mine!  I strongly recommend that you rent their DVD titled Shut Up & Sing.

February 26th    Trekkies rejoice ~ it appears that Star Trek XII is going to be produced after all!  Always a fan myself, this is good news: more wild special effects: both audio and video, another chance to relive my youth of the early 70's - afternoons of which were spent in front of the TV, daydreaming as Kirk, Spock and the gang of space travelers explored the galaxy - only this time it'll be in 7.2 surround on a big-screen!

February 26th    As mentioned earlier in my posting detailing Microsoft being sued mucho dinero over MP3 royalties / infringements: it appears that the days of everyone using the MP3 file format as a 'free' standard are coming to a close.  This is good actually, as we need an open-source / high-quality audio file format anyway.  One that stands a chance is Ogg Vorbis.  If you don't know about it - I encourage you to visit this link and learn more - with any luck it'll be our new - open source - standard for music files.  Additionally, an overview of the current controversy and some alternative formats can be had here, and an absolutely must-read FAQ can be read here.

February 26th    BitTorrent: the bastion of all things pirated - is set to offer legal / pay-to-own and pay-to-rent video content.  It had to happen sooner or later: in the end, all things on the Net' end up being about making money...  Read all about the erosion here.

February 26th    And to round out Monday's posts: more music of course!  I'm a big fan of the odd one himself: Tom Waits, thus- its more Tom for you - Bottom Of The World!

February 23rd    I freaking love Fridays!  Not too much beats looking forward to a weekend of goofing off and enjoying good friends, fine wine and a few days on the mountain.  How shall we celebrate the goodliness of two days off: How about starting out with a full album stream from old-schooler Donavon Frankenreiter (streamed directly into your Temporary Internet Files folder).  Its pretty easy listening that reminds me very much of what Jack Johnson might have done.

February 23rd    You've obviously heard, as I mentioned it earlier, but in case you're interested in the dirty, rotten details: check out the 'official' merger presentation for XM Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio here.

February 23rd    Acoustic Treatment and Design for Recording Studios and Listening Rooms: The one and only Ethan Winer plumbs the very depths of the topic with finesse.  Be forewarned: this is one very long read!  Ethan's discussion is somewhat tilted toward recording studios, but is easily applicable to your favorite listening room.  What a well of knowledge this man is - and he thinks cable / tweakers are way off track - I like this guy!

February 23rd    Follow that up with Three River Crossing and two free / directly downloadable tracks from the Download.com www site.  This music also rings a bell with me: kinda' like JJ Cale's work - very smooth.

February 23rd    For those of you who have been enjoying the wonders of Microsoft's latest baby: Vista - and noted that their old copy of EZ CD Creator will no longer function... check out the free BETA of Roxio Easy CD Creator (renamed Roxio Central), on their www site.

February 23rd    Curious about what Norah Jones's latest release sounds like?  Bend an ear here.

February 23rd    Lucent Technologies, Microsoft, Apple, Dell and a whole lot of other companies you may have heard of + a shit-load of litigation over ubiquitous MP3 technology = rich lawyers retiring early...  Who knew: the cats who own the MP3 licensing are on the warpath and demand boat loads of cash!

February 23rd    As usual with Friday posts: they start and end with the sole reason for our hobby: music!  Stream the new Jimmy Buffett LP Take The Weather With You by visiting download.com's J.B. Website.

February 22nd    Feelin' good my friends: just got back from the Junior A hockey game ~ The Vees won again!  Not only a win against a team that - until today, had won 17 strait (!), but a win that earned them the 2006/2007 Interior Conference Championship!  That makes it two years in a row: Good coaching & hard work boyz!  The celebrations shall commence with a couple of tracks form The Weakerthans and Psalms For The Elks Lodge Last Call and Plea From A Cat Named Virtue.  High-quality, variable bitrate MP3 - No Bloody DRM! - I love this band! - Bloody well crank it man!

February 22nd    Who would have thought: Linn, that uber-snobbish 'Record Players & Stuff' firm, has begun offering music downloads from their www site.  Guess the lust for the bucks overcame the snobbish resistance of "give me Sondek perfection or give me death"... :-)  Most of this stuff is classical / Jazz in nature, but check it out: SACD, HDCD, High bitrate WMA and MP3 - all in one place.  I think that this might be an industry first!

February 22nd    For those of you who despise Apple's iTunes software as much as myself: The freaky dudes over at LifeHacker.com have prepared this very detailed, step-by-step routine to free yourself from the shackles of Steve Jobs and Co.

February 22nd    It always blows my mind: what one can pick up for their hard earned dollar these days.  Case in point - Canon's new PowerShot TX1.  Look at all the high-end specifications on this bloody thing for a measly $500.00 USD!

• 7.1 effective Megapixel CCD
• 10X optical zoom lens
• Optical image stabilization
• 115,000 pixel LCD display
• Can shoot continuously at 2.2 frames/second until memory card is full
• Component video output supports resolutions up to 1080i
• SD/SDHC/MMC memory cards
• USB 2.0 High Speed
• Lithium-ion battery
• Priced at $499 (USD)

February 22nd    Most of you have no doubt heard of the MP3 alternative known as .FLAC (for those that haven't): the cats at SourceForge.net have assembled an impressive list of hardware, software and downloadable sites - both paid and free - which assist in the implementation of this excellent file format.  Wanna' find out what to download on your PC to play FLAC files?  Need some portable or home-based hardware to play those files one you have em'?  This is the place to look!

February 21st    No real posting today, paperwork supercedes the urge to scrawl here.  Just wanted to encourage you to check out the 8th link down from this: The Raconteurs Full LP stream.  In this day and age of one-hit wonders, its refreshing to hear an LP that is more or less completely cool from first to last track.  Ok, so there are one or two turkeys in the mix, but name me an LP that has so few gobblers!  To get this much great music for free is absolutely amazing!  Do them a solid right back and go to their live shows if ya' get a chance ~ this is some really great, strait-ahead Rock n Roll!  (Crank it!)

February 20th    Damn, only Tuesday huh?  At this rate, Friday's gonna' require come serious celebration, perhaps even a day of playing hooky!  What to listen to... how about a couple of tracks from the latest Who LP: Endless Wire?  As usual, let em' play, pick em' out of IE's Temp' Net' folder. (128KB/s MP3, no DRM)

February 20th    Sony hints at downloadable HDTV and movies on PS3.  With the battle currently being waged between Sony & Microsoft, it'll be interesting to see where this one goes and Microsoft's counter-punch...

February 20th    By now most of you have heard, that - pending the blessed hand of the CRTC, XM Radio and Sirius Radio are soon to be one!  Lets hope that the bandwidth, thus the sound quality increases along with their hopes for actual earnings...

February 20th    Those of you who dig the whole Industrial Grunge sound of Nine Inch Nails are gonna' love these pre-release promotional links to three tracks from the upcoming Year Zero LP: Survivalism, Me|I'm Not and My Violent Heart.  All three tracks are encoded at 320KB/s for excellent fidelity!

February 20th    Canadian music industry representatives are reopening an old debate about MP3 players that could see the average price of the devices climb by as much as $75.

February 20th    TV watching to PC watching: The amount of time spent by North Americans in front of the PC vs. the TV is simply amazing.  The result - TV advertisers are scratching their heads and wondering how they can be more effective in a world of 6 Billion pages vs. the sub-100 odd channels that most of us receive.  The networks are responding by posting sites that will allow us to view televised content, both old an new, so long as we don't mind the odd advertisement thrown in...  This page highlights the current state of free TV on the Net' (the irony in all this is simply hilarious!)

February 20th    I have recently written this missive and buried it within the depths of the site's forums, but I figured that I might as well throw it out here for all to see.  Please be aware that it contains some rough language and strong comments that will pretty much piss off tweaker / golden-ear audiofools, and likely offend those with virgin eyes.  Point is ~ it pretty much sums up my distaste for the current, completely corrupt & deceitful state of the hobby known as The Audiophile.

February 20th    And with that, its a wrap!  I may skip Wednesday's posting and do some paperwork that's been piling up round' here, so here's a second helping of tunes care of The Raconteurs: Full LP stream

February 19th    Welcome back from a fantastic weekend :-)  I had  a blast, hope you did too!  Its late so I am going to throw this one out there and hope you enjoy it: The Arcade Fire's Black Mirror.  If you've been wondering what all the fuss about this young Canadian band was about, here is your chance to find out. (128KB/s DRM-Free MP3 file - compliments of the band's www site)

February 19th    In case you hadn't heard: Iggy Pop & The Stooges are back - after 33 years (that's not a typo!).  Iggy's been cranking out LPs left right and center in the interim, just the original band has been, 'off'.  If this is your thing, one of the tracks on their MySpace page is from the new LP (My idea of Fun).  I don't have any downloads to offer, just the streaming, low-fi stuff from the link above.

February 19th    If you're in the market for cables of pretty much any kind related to A/V, you couldn't do much better than the prices being offered by Monoprice.com.  Check out their deals on HDMI cables for instance.

February 19th    PVR to the People!  Francis Vale describes how to D.I.Y a Personal Video Recorder using a simple Windows PC and some cheap software (I'll bet there is some free, Open Source equivalent software 'out there' somewhere as well).

February 19th    In case you've been living under a rock: The Police are back in action (along with every other geezer rock band in history!).  Their 2007 tour starts in Vancouver, which has just released word of a second concert - since the first day sold out almost immediately.

February 19th    Pull up a chair, grab your finest headphones, headphone amp / DAC etc., lads, its time to test your ability to discern the differences between various bit-rates in uncompressed audio files.  The PCABX/PCAVTech Test Data For Download allows you to hear for yourself what differences exist in actual music at various encodings. The files are offered as click to compare samples, yet I feel that downloading them and loading a few into an ABX comparator such as Foobar2000 might be just as easy.  I'll try both!

February 19th    Lets close out with some music shall we.  Van Morrison, that pillar of soulful music is still crankin' em out: Van Morrison at the Movies is his latest effort.  This has garnered mightily mixed reviews, but I'm not going to chime in here, decide for yourself.  Click the Play All Songs button and sit back for a listen.  Those of you who wish to have a 'look' at the tracks that you have just listened to: they are stored in your Temporary Internet Files folder which you can access (from within Internet Explorer), by doing this: Click on TOOLS / INTERNET OPTIONS / SETTINGS / VIEW FILES.  Click on VIEW / DETAILS, then a click or two on the SIZE header/button to the right until all of the large (mostly MP3s), sort to the top.  There they are, in all of their DRM-Free glory!

February 16th    FriFreekinDay!  How I love the sound of that - its been another busy week and I long to ride the gravity train down the mountains!  We've had snow all week, on and off, so I figure that it must surely be amazing at 7000 feet :-).  So what to select from the billion or so free tracks out there in the land of Free & Legal music: The Constantines of course!  This is the third time in as many months that I have featured this bloody amazing band - the reason is, well - listen for yourselves:  My recommendation is: Crank the living shit outta it: On To You (160KB/s MP3 - No DRM!) ((Damn, but I like this band's music))

February 16th    Hell, its the weekend, so there's no good reason that we shouldn't double up on the music & celebrate getting the hell away from work!  I've been tossing this one about for nearly a week - trying to decide if it was 'right' for the site... The tune borders on, well, don't let me put my ideas or biases on you, av' a listen for yourself.  Personally speaking, I like it - its just not the usual fare around here: The Album Leaf ~ Always for you.

By the way, just a heads up for all of you: If you hear a track that you like, download the music [now] as I cannot promise that it'll be here tomorrow or even later today!  The bands / labels that make this music Free & Legally downloadable tend to change their www sites quite often - thus the music links 'go dead' quite quickly, and I haven't the time to go back over thousands of posts and update links.

February 16th    Been reading a lot about Jitter on audiofool forums as of late, one of the hot topics appears to be jitter and its audibility or lack thereof.  As usual, the folks who claim to hear cables shout that all and any jitter is audible, but in blind auditions... well, you decide: Acoustics Science & Technology: Detection Thresholds For Distortions Due To Jitter On Digital Audio

February 15th    Let there be Lemme!  For those of us who grew up on a steady diet of of what Motorhead does best, you've come to the right place.  For their 26th (!) LP, the boys, along with Download.com offer up 13 tracks of uncompromising metal rock and roll done Motorhead style.  As usual, simply preview the lot with the 'Play All Songs' button and then go look into your Temporary Internet Files folder to reap the windfall...

February 15th    Oddly, I didn't hear anything about this DVD on any of the forums I frequent ~ it was in fact, YouTube that tweaked me onto this old classic blues LP collector extraordinaire.  I speak of none other than Joe Bussard: who it appears, possesses the world's largest collection of early 1900's original blues music.  He even has a DVD discussing his lifelong exploits titled Desperate Man Blues, which can be ordered here.  If you've simply interested in reviewing some trailers, have a look here or simply search YouTube for Joe Bussard and get an earful of this crazy cat's passion for the blues!

February 15th    I always knew that AM radio was severely bandwidth limited, I just didn't realize how damned limited it really is!  In its Dec. 2006 report, that National Radio System Committee spells it out in plain and simple terms.  After reading this, you won't belly ache about how MP3 audio is condemning all future audiophiles to purgatory ~ we've been living there for many years before Mpeg cam along! (PDF file format, 173kb)

February 15th    "Companies like Terrestrial Digital of St. Louis, Winegard of Burlington, Iowa are watching sales soar. Terrestrial Digital's sales have doubled annually since its launch in 2003, to $1.4 million last year, says founder Richard Schneider"  Sound like another high-tech startup in the Silicon Valley?  Perhaps a New York wonder-kid story?  Nope... what if I told ya' it was a manufacturer of old-school rooftop antennas?!  Yes indeed, in a twist that no one would have ever conceived - those ugly old antennas are making a oddball comeback because... they can pull HD TV out of thin air!  Its a case of you gotta see it to believe it, learn all about this bizarre technological throwback.

February 15th    “HD Car Connect Radio”  Worried about your car-stereo being outdated because it cannot interpret HD/Digital-Radio?  Fear not, as always, someone has come up with the solution.  In this case, its The HD Digital Radio Alliance and car audio retailer Crutchfield.

February 14th    Do the Valentines thing and treat your lady real nice today man!  I don't do the mushy love song stuff here, so you're own your own for that one.  No, we're all about Rock n' Roll round' here folks: Now, if you took Tom Waits and The Butthole Surfers and threw them into a booze-fill blender on 10 you might get something like Bob Logg and his track Log Bomb.  Ya, its totally fucked up, but kinda catchy in an infectious way...

February 14th    An end to DRM?  Maybe, maybe not.  Its appears however that a few more bigwigs are getting publicly onside with Steve Jobs this week - Yahoo.com and Monster Cable Co., have gone on the record as supporting the removal of Digital Rights Mangling from downloadable MP3.  Perhaps with the vocal support of a few dozen more industry heavyweights... (Billy Boy, are you getting this?)

February 14th    An hour with Tom Waits: KCRW 89.9 FM's online www site presents the one and only drunken lion voiced devil discussing his life and times, in tune with a load of Tom's wild and weird music. (Real Audio Streaming Format)

February 14th    Well, that didn't take long: HD-DVD and Blu-Ray have been cracked!  Those crazy cats over at Doom9 have been buggering about once again, and this time they've come up!  Feast yur' eyes.

February 14th    WKRP in Cincinnatti: who among us diddn't grow up watching this weird late-afternoon sitcom?  Johnny Fever was our on-the-skids hero, Loni Anderson, our sexual fantasy goddess...  Well, for those of you who wanna' relive staring at Loni's, er, legs... the complete first season has been released on DVD!

February 14th    Room and loudspeaker acoustic calculators ahoy!  Some folks have way too much time on their hands.  Case in point: Room Acoustics | Room Eigenmodes and Loudspeakers all in one place.  Dig in!

February 14th    John Lee Hooker - Gone but never forgotten!  Download.com has left us a few juicy free downloads.  These are stashed in your Temporary Internet Downloads folder (Internet Explorer), as you listen to them.  Nice fresh 192KB/s MP3s without DRM... Mmmmmmm good!.

February 13th    Fans of classic blues - and I mean wayyyy back classic blues, are gonna love this: I've come upon a vault of sorts, containing several dozen original recordings of stuff from an ere that encompassed your father's early childhood, hell, some of it is set in your grandfather's childhood!  Check out the entire - downloadable - archive here.

February 13th    Any of you 'out there' ever get into Minor Threat as teenagers, perhaps Fugazi?  Whether you knew it or not, these masterpieces of off-center punk were the brainchild of one Ian MacKaye.  He has returned to the scene as The Evens and still sounds very much like he always has: that is to say, not so approachable fringe punk.  If you never had a love for the aforementioned bands, you may find this a bit... weird: No Money

February 13th    If you're into the blues - and who isn't - you'll have no doubt heard of Bobby Blue Bland.  If not, here's your chance to get mighty acquainted with the man: an interview with the one and only... (17 megabyte MP3 ~ 37 minutes)

February 13th    A member in one of my favorite A/V forums Home Theater Shack has posted a very comprehensive review of SVS's newest mini-subwoofer: the SVS SB12.  If you are looking for a very unobtrusive subwoofer and don't want to buck up for Carvers mini-sub series, check out the article.

February 13th    Found a pretty decent LP buy / sell site online / in BC today that I wanted to share with you.  Innovative Audio has, among other things, a pretty well laid out list of graded LPs at fair prices.  Check it out if you are in the market or perhaps just curious.  I have no dealings with this cat, but at the price he is asking, a little gambling with a few bucks couldn't hurt.  If you buy from him, please let me know - and I'll post the results of your exchange.

February 12th    Monday... harrumph!  Kick out the weekend cobwebs with a bit O' crankage care of The Apostles of Hustle: My Sword Hand's Anger.  Cannot pin down what this reminds me of ~ but no matter, crank the hell out of it, if this don't get cha' going today, go back to bed! (192KB/s MP3)

February 12th    More great news on the "truth and honesty in audio" front: The Audio Critic had released 14 more back issues of the world's number one audio magazine to the public - absolutely free!  Due to this amazing landslide of reading, I am only going to post this and a few musical selections today, and maybe tomorrow too...  Dig in folks!

February 12th    As noted above, I'll not post much today as you have more than enough reading on your hands ~ but I think you'll require a bit of music to accompany the time spent, thus: an entire LP of work by 'nu-country' artists Hem.  They've allowed Download.com to stream the new LP in it's entirety.  Keep in mind that every single track that auto-plays is actually just stored in your Internet Explorer's Temporary Internet Files folder, thus...  When you arrive at the page via the link above, simply click on the yellow 'Play all songs' button and sit back while it streams into your PC.  I don't often feature female / country music on the site, and perhaps that's a damned shame, cause' this gal and her band sound great!

February 9th    Friday!!!  Massive post today cause' I'm taking off for a few, maybe Monday too!  Ya man, I strongly suggest that you take the day off and do something fun ~ cause' life is short, and then yur' worm food!  On that morbid thought ~ how about some fittingly dark music!?  A bootleg titled Black Sabbath, The early Years DEMOS has been circulating around the Net for a while now, and even though the sound quality isn't up to Telarc standards, it still represents the output of one of the first heavy metal bands that I ever loved listening to as a little shit in the 80s.  At one point I had a rental apartment with about a dozen Black Sabbath LPs tacked to the wall in the shape of a massive cross - mom grandma figured that "the devil has my soul" for sure :-)  ya, those were the wasted  years...  I've edited out a few of the tracks that came in the original .zip file as the quality of those recordings was so bad: we're talkin' completely damaged 8-Track tape from 1971 kinda' bad ~ and left the following tracks for your classic metalhead listening pleasure: Behind the wall of sleep, Fairies wear boots, War pigs and The Wizard ~ arguably a collection of some of Sabbath's best tracks ever! (Variable bitrate MP3)

February 9th    Take car trips, need to get your mind off the boredom of the span tween' places?  How about some free & legal audio-books to dull the pain?  Start with Orson Well's War of the Worlds on MP3.  If that just whets your whistle, tie into a whole load more on LibriVox's site.  I recommend White Fang if you want a great story, but there are many more on the site.

February 9th    Hey, this is cool as hell: Calls of the wild: More than 80,000 sound and video recordings of animals.  Ok, so its not 'directly A/V related', but what the hell, its Friday and time to have some odd-ball fun!

February 9th    Here's a trippy concept: Listen to a movie.  Yes, 'listen' to the movie as opposed to watching it, who wouldda thunk a' that?  The site's server is currently massively over-taxed as its been listed on several popular social networking sites as of late, thus, you may have to try your login at ungodly hours or hope like hell you get a connection...

February 9th    There is a great deal of misinformation and myth about exactly what THX is anyway.  SMR Home Theater has presented an excellent article on the subject on this site.  Most audiofools don't feel that TXH has any place in a home audio reproduction system ~ then again, these are the same cats who raise their speaker cables from the floor with widgets in an effort to negate non-existent effects and stand firmly behind running ancient technologies like tubes: so go figure, exactly what is their opinion worth?

February 9th    Quite a while back I posted an interesting video clip highlighting the processes involved in the creation of an LP.  Today, its counterpart: How its made: The CD.

February 9th    So an industry heavyweight finally went on the record and requested that the major labels get their collective heads out of each other's asses and cut the crap with DRM - and it was, of course, none other than The Stevinator: Steve Jobs.  John Dvorak, an icon in the IT business, pretty much sums it up well with this missive, go | read | Support the movement!

February 9th    Friday starts with music - it ends with music too: Check out this Ben Weaver track | 40-watt bulb.  I dig it - sounds like several other male vocalists, but different and interesting.  It'll have you trying to pin down "just whose voice is that so much like...?"

February 8th    I'll admit, I have a real Jones for the vocal style of Neko Case.  I've posted a track of hers earlier on the site (a few months ago), but just can't get enough, thus - more!  Its kinda' like something that the Cowboy Junkies might have done 'under the influence': sexy, strong, innocent and authoritative all at the same time (ya, I love the Cowboy Junkie's music as well).  Thankfully Neko loves us just as much - and has made four tracks available for free download.  I suggest that you get your keyboard-flickin'-fingers over to Neko's Download.com site and grab all four tracks ASAP!  These tunes are taken from the Fox Confessor Brings The Flood LP and come to us as 192KB/s MP3 files.

February 8th    After all of that absolutely beautiful music, surely your mind is clear enough to absorb some  knowledge about data compression: Fundamentals of Perceptual Audio Encoding - Its actually a lab paper, but a damn good one - that anyone can understand.  Give it a go if you want to finally get a handle on what all this MP3, MPEG etc., stuff is really about! (half-megabyte Adobe PDF file)

February 8th    Wow - here's a Cdnav.com first: The Audio Critic - Issue Number 24 - free and legal for all of you reality fans!  Peter Aczel has recently thrown open the doors to the webzine - free for all!  This is the first back-issue that I have ever come across, but in a recent email, he informed me that he is considering releasing the other back-issues for free - given time.  The link here is to his www site, thus, I suspect it must be the first of many to come (hope!).  Enjoy my friends, the one and only honest A/V magazine ever published! (1.7 megabyte Adobe PDF file)

February 8th    Richard Gere is back again, and this time his vehicle is the (more or less...) true story of how author Clifford Irving engineered one of the most elaborate hoaxes in history, fooling McGraw-Hill into forking over nearly a million bucks for an authorized autobiography of Howard Hughes.  Check it out in this trailer.

February 7th    Wow, what an angry sounding little lady this is!  Since exploding into life about nine years ago, Clinic has released a brilliant debut, Internal Wrangler in 2000, toured with Radiohead, and appeared at Scott Walker's Meltdown.  In 2002, their second album, Walking With Thee, earned them a Grammy nomination. This release: Visitations, sees the band work again with Gareth Jones (Interpol, Nick Cave, Depeche Mode).  Clinic are distinctive in the way that The Fall, The Residents, or Missy Elliot are distinctive - it's hard to mistake their sonic fingerprint for anyone else's, yet because they keep exploring the outer limits of 'their thing' - and what a thing it is ~ crank the shit outta' it & brace yourself, it grows on ya!  Family (MP3 ~ 192KB/s)

February 7th    Looking for some small, surface-mount or corner-mound loudspeakers and don't know where to start?  Perhaps this can help.  The (linked) Adobe PDF document lists more speaker brand-names than I knew existed, with a great many details on each model.  If you can't make a decision after reviewing this guideline, then may the Force be with you, or at least a shot of scotch! (Kudos to Pro Audio Magazine)

February 7th    Was shown an excellent article the other day by a friend (its also posted in the Cdnav Discussion Forums), that I strongly feel that everyone who is even slightly considering dabbling into the backwards world of 'The Audiophile' should take a few moments to read.  Its titled: Consumer and Designer Prejudices in High-End Audio: A New Way to Examine Them.  This fine text presents one of the most honest and up-front evaluations of the sorry state of our hobby that I have ever seen.  Highly recommended!

February 7th    You like the Beatles right?  Sure you do, or else you wouldn't like Rock and Roll... you do like Rock N' Roll don't cha?!  If so, you're gonna love to read this John Lennon's lost interview: In it, Lennon recounts about how he and George Harrison bucked their handlers and went on record against the Vietnam War, discusses class politics in an engaging manner, defends country and western music and the blues, suggests Dylan's best songs stem from revolutionary Irish and Scottish ballads and dissects his three versions of Revolution.  (Tnx' to Bog O Magazine)

February 6th    I know, this place is usually Rock n Roll this and Punk Rock that, but I scored a great link to a whack of classical music this afternoon and wanna' share it with you!  The track: The Blue Danube Waltz (main theme) by J. Strauss Jr. (1825-1899) is an MP3 encoded at 320Kb/s ~ which allows for as good of sound as you are going to get outta' compressed audio these days.  (Some would say its pretty much acoustically 'transparent', but not the Golden-Ears...)  I really love piano and thus, this track is one of many that just 'does it for me'.  Many thanks to Kaila Rochelle for her rendition of this work!

February 6th    I make no bones about it: I'm a big fan the Windows Operating System environment.  Sure Linux is catching up, and is cool, stable, virus-free etc., but Windows is simply more ergonomically friendly and, as long as one doesn't stuff it up with every free / cool / glossy application / toolbar etc., out there, its very stable as well.  I spend all day, every day taking 'free-cool-stuff' (spyware laden crap) off people's PCs, after I am done, these PCs rock!  Getting to my point: I came upon an article written by Jim Allchin Co-President, Microsoft Platform and Services Division the other day and thought you might wish to glean a few Audio nuggets from it, as I did.

February 6th    It bears repeating again and again: Quality loudspeakers don't need to cost an arm and a leg to be well-constructed and sound great!  Case in point: Swan's new lineup of real wood veneer enclosure speakers.  I really feel that these are some great looking loudspeakers at fantastic prices!  The fact that the manufacturer sells them factory-direct gives them a leg-up on most of their competitors right off the bat - no gouging middleman / no retailer!

February 6th    I love good, solid foundational science!  I love facts and figures, stuff that one can grasp and say "here, take a look at this".  Such is the case with Kevin D. Donohue's (Databeam Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering), auditory testing facility on the web.  Wanna' really test your hearing and see where its valleys and peaks lay?  Dig in...

February 5th    Monday... hmm, how to get through another week of the government expecting us to work to feed their bottomless coffers of corruption... er, cough, I mean ~ lets kick off the workweek with something really cool and unusual: a bit O' live / unreleased bootleg recordings by Canadian Superstar Joni Mitchell (Mississippi River Festival 1969 - Live at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL, July 7, 1969)

February 5th    Sure Microsoft just released their Vista Operating System, but since the vast majority of us will be running XP for the foreseeable future, or at least until we buck up for the next PC, I felt that a quick and dirty guide to tweaking XP for audio use was in order, thus, this article.

February 5th    Well, I'm still on searching the virtual world for the perfect outboard preamp / DAC: the current contenders are the Lavry DA10, Apogee Mini-DAC and the Benchmark DAC1.  Of these, only the Apogee appears to be anywhere near sanely priced.  Getting to the point, I ask you, dear readers ~ if you are aware of any professional studio products that feature a preamp & DAC in one housing - one that features balanced inputs / outputs (or at least outputs) please let me know.  Its been my experience that products marketed to professionals are always much less expensive, for the same quality - compared to products marketed to gullible audiophiles...

February 5th    Take eighteen pairs of studio-monitor grade loudspeakers, a bunch of recording engineers and some wine: throw them in a room for the day and... the results?

February 5th    GrooveShark: Hmm, another young startup telling us that they have the secret recipe to allow free music to the masses while simultaneously rewarding both artists and fatcat record executives... is this even possible?  Read on...

February 2nd    So much great rock and roll, only so much time to rock it out!  If you're a fan of Tom Petty-ish tunes, perhaps Aerosmith-meets-Tom Petty... you're gonna' love the Backyard Tire Fire (what a name, I know...) Check out their track: Downtime - from the Vagabonds and Hooligans LP.

February 2nd    Ready for a bit of brain-twisting geek-out?  If so, put a pot on, (pot in?), and get comfortable, cause' one Dan Lavry, he of the expensive DAC that audiofools are currently falling all over themselves about, offers up this bit O' learning for your enjoyment: Sampling Theory For Digital Audio.  Surprisingly, its a fairly readable lot, only occasionally hitting a few spots that go over my head...

February 2nd    WebZine 'Affordable Audio' has published its February issue and its available here.  This is one of the industry's most interesting Zines'.  While I don't agree with everything they say, IMHO: its sure a hell of a lot more honest than anything I have seen in UHF or Stereophile lately!  In this issue: Audio Nirvana, Music Hall CD 25.2 & A 25.2, Lite Audio Sapphire XL vs. Onix Strata Mini, Super 8 DIY Speakers, DAC 62, Rothschilde A2, Real Traps Acoustics, Hemp Acoustics, HSU HB-1, Infinite Baffle Subs, Era Design 5 and much, much more… (and not a bogus cable audition in sight!)

February 2nd    A group of 'The Regulars' to our Discussion Forums spent a good bit of time coming up with a consensus of what this website stands for: a manifesto of sorts.  I added my two cents worth but most of the work was theirs.  In the end, I feel that it sums up the place well ~ though I might have used harsher terms, discussed our complete support for unsighted auditions and teased the 'cable-whisperers' a little more

1. The appreciation of music is an important part of life. A true audiophile achieves this through a holistic approach including a rigorous pursuit of high fidelity reproduction based on scientific principles, and quantifiable results.

2. We have an appreciation of the principles fundamental to audio reproduction, and - through an assessment of key concepts, parameters, and technologies - makes informed choices appropriate to achieve true high-fidelity reproduction.

3. Our hobby is open to everyone who appreciates true high-fidelity reproduction, regardless of experience, equipment, musical preferences, or budget.

4. We support our hobby by mentoring those new to it, that they may develop their skills in making the right choices for them, while allowing us the opportunity to re-evaluate our choices with a new set of criteria.

5. Being that pseudo scientific, super naturalistic, and fanciful notions about audio are widespread and fostered by vested interests, our responsibility as audiophiles is to challenge these wayward notions through reasoned argument based on sound engineering principles.

6. Our hobby provides educational possibilities in the areas of music appreciation and history, electronics, acoustics, diy and other aspects of music reproduction. We encourage all of those efforts.
 

February 2nd    I stumbled upon this interesting little review / article that dispels a great many myths about my favorite loudspeaker: Magneplanars.  I run 1.6QRs and plan to move up to the 3.6s (discussed in the link) at some point in the future.  Well, that's it for another week of Rock n Roll!  Have a great weekend ~ tap at cha' Monday!

 

February 1st    Beauty, I love a new month~ its like a clean slate every time, a fresh feeling of unlimited potential!  Speaking of fresh things: check out The Makes Nice and their track November Girls from the Candy Wrapper and Twelve Other Songs LP.  Learn more about the band here.  I really dig that track, it might just make the Top 10 next month!

February 1st    And now, for something completely different... if you are one of those cats who digs single-driver loudspeakers than you are into something weird anyway... and this might just be it: Dog-Speakers (ya' just gotta' look to understand).  Some dude in the Netherlands with a flair for the unusual made em', I have no idea who much they cost, but if you wish to inquire, click here.  He makes a lot of other cool as heck stuff as well!

February 1st    Now this is an interesting site: 24bit.turtleside.com.  They deal mostly with in-the-field live concert tapers (or, nowadays, hard disk or solid-state recorders).  The linked page touches on the topic of recording the 24-bit data to disk, and highlights some freeware applications which can be employed in burning one's own 24-bit recordings to DVD-A ~ Cool!

February 1st    And from the science frontier: Why Music Gives Us The Chills (who sponsors this research?)

February 1st    I'm gonna' repeat myself here, as I have already posted this in the Forums section, but I truly feel it is a valid argument that bears repeating, and I know that not many of you actually read the Forums, so:

There I was, all ready to pop for a new Lavry DA10 DAC… I had myself convinced: “what the hell, its only money”… that was before today’s Staples flyer…

Wandered into Staples to pick up a 5-Port USB hub for a client this afternoon ~ while I was waiting in line to pay, I noticed the new Staples flyer lying on the counter. Hidden among all of the brash Windows Vista promotional graphics was an advert’ for a brand new HP Pavilion laptop. This little beauty featured a 17” LCD monitor, one gigabyte of RAM memory, 120 gigabyte hard disk drive, a CD-DVD read / write drive, wireless connectivity, a fancy G-Force video card and Windows Vista of course.

The price: $1099.99, or, as the rest of Canada would describe it: $1242.00 including taxes.

I just ‘spoke’ with Lavry the other day via email and was informed that his fancy DA10 would run me $1463.35 ‘tax in’.

Now you tell me ~ that little black box with perhaps a few hundred bucks worth of componentry vs. a full-on laptop with all the bells and whistles, a sound-system, the ability to manipulate audio / video, communication with the world, build a bloody career on with some Open Source software, etc., etc., etc: for a few hundred bucks less.

Its nothing new, but I virtually had to be slapped in the face to open my eyes and mind to see that, as audiophiles, we’re not just being hosed ~ damn man, we’re being taken to the car-wash and stood within it, mouth agape!

Back to the pro-audio field I go in my search for a fairly priced DAC with preamplifier built-in. If only Behringer would build one: that would be a fair-priced unit for sure!

Comments?

January 31st    Groovy...another month down the tubes, the January doldrums are over and as February is often our heavy snow month, I look forward to big power for the next four weeks!  Almost as good, March is the start of our Okanagan spring ~ that means mountain biking, kayaking and warm temps!  Its all good man!  Speaking of good things, check out The Broken West and their track Down in the Valley.   

January 31st    Just when you thought it was safe to go out an purchase a new receiver that had all the bells and whistles onboard... along comes THX and Neural Audio with yet another technology: Neural Surround.

January 31st    Starbucks, that bastion of expensive coffee and hot counter-girls, has opened up a little more on their future strategy with regards to music sales.  Check out this article.  One fine quote from the linked page: "Within 12 months, probably, you're going to be able to walk into a Starbucks and fill up your MP3 player with music," Schultz said.

January 31st    Given the fact that most of us are switching to laptops for our multimedia, this is good news: Boston-Power plans to show off a battery Tuesday that it claims is a lot like conventional lithium ion batteries but with a difference: it is less likely to blow up.

January 31st    I generally like to post information about band touring in this section, but this time I have an even more important tour to put forth: one of my personal social heroes, David Suzuki, is on tour across Canada in 2007.  You can find out more information regarding times / places on this site.

January 31st    Once again, in the folks who just don't get it department: Time-Warner Music is releasing a new series of disks that are HD-DVD on one side and Blu-Ray on the other...  Didn't they read the writing on the proverbial wall?  The future is combo' players that read / write HD-DVD & Blu-Ray!  Bloody hell, don't they attend CES Trade Shows?!

January 30th    There is only one thing that I like more than bringing you new music, and that's bringing you loads of new music!  Today's offering is a little on the unique side of the tracks.  A band under the moniker of Harvey Danger have released an entire LP for free on the Net' ~ ya, the whole freaking LP!  Their music very strongly remind me of something that U2 might have produced.  I don't know much about the band and wasn't able to glean anything about their history from their web site.  At any rate, one thing I know for sure is that they are currently giving away every track of the Little By Little LP here.  The files, artwork etc., are in the form of a compressed ZIP file, thus you will need a wee bit of computer acumen in order to ''unzip' the file.  With Windows XP this is easy, as the unzipping utility is built right into the Windows Operating System.  With other (older) versions of Windows you'll need the Open Source FreeZip application.  The ZIP file is 47 megabytes, so don't try this without a broadband connection to the Net'.

January 30th    Here's something to make you feel all warm and mushy ~ your patriotic fever welling up inside: The Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame.  Was recently made aware of this group through Joni Mitchell honors earlier this week, she joins familiar faces Leonard Cohen, Anne Murray, Hank Snow, Gordon Lightfoot and many more.  Its a trip through musical nostalgia, check it out. 

January 30th    Hate your keen sense of hearing?  Feel that no-one is paying attention to you?  Need new windows?  All of the previous issues can be dealt with in one fell swoop by acquiring MTX's new 22" JackHammer SuperWoofer!!  Your bling-bling / ego-ego will be jarred senseless, along with your teeth, but imagine how others will all stare in awe as you drive by!  Love those specifications: 6000 watts RMS, 6.5" Voice coil with 17-guage wire, 900 ounce magnet, total weight: 369 pounds!  (Holyfuckingshit)

January 30th    The other day I was road-tripping through Southern British Columbia, when, in need of a stretch, I stopped in Grand Forks, parked in front of a small record store & went in to browse it's wares.  Like most of us, I was stunned at the price of CDs... no wonder everyone uses P2P!  $23.95 for nearly every CD in the place, aside from a handful of $9.95 oldies that we have all owned on 8-Track, Cassette, LP and CD: (Steppenwolf / Dr.Hook / Burton Cummins etc.)  This of course, gets one wondering: how much do the artists actually make on the sale of a CD?  Well, here is the long answer.  After reading this, you'll wonder why the hell any band would actually even want to approach a record company!

January 29th    Whew, what a great break from computers and work!  Spent a few days with 'da boyz' in the mountains skiing / boarding our asses off!  Check out Red Mountain for some absolutely amazing skiing if you are into a little R&R yourself!  They honor other resort's season passes to the tune of 25% off and offer some of the most challenging terrain you'll find short of 'Big Mountain' alpine.  We also got our butts into a snow-cat for a day of back-country cat-skiing ~ now there is the real deal folks!  Run after run of 'pick your own track-free line' ~ closest thing to true religion I've seen thus far...  But I bet you would appreciate a track or two of music?  Ok, how about 23 tracks of music?  Moby & Download.com has all of em' cued up for download here.  Same old routine folks, click the '26 Free Tracks / Play Now' button in the top right hand corner of the (linked) page, and let em' stream into your Temporary Internet Files folder.  Quite soon you'll see 23 juicy MP3s ripped at 192KB/s sitting there: do what you will with em'.

January 29th    Audioholics has posted an interesting video clip discussing a cable product / design, known as rapid-run Digital - which, allows, among things - 85 foot HDMI.  This stuff is cool, affordable and massively flexible!  I'll cut this one short and just give you a link to the video as it'll be a whole lot more descriptive and educational that anything I could type here...

January 29th    I continue to receive email missives from Outlaw Audio ~ most of which are welcome as I dig companies that produce A/V hardware at decent prices.  Their latest missive brings news of their first loudspeaker, they've produced subwoofers in the past, but not multi-driver units.  These look to be nice kit, just a little pricy if you compare this product to their other kit's value.  Ok, so some of you will think that a grand USD is a fair price for a set of bookshelf speakers - I disagree, as many high-quality, internally bi-amplified studio-grade bookshelf speakers are available on the market for less.  However, each to their own: take a look at these images and form your own opinions...

January 29th    Had to happen sooner or later, in this case it was sooner...  HD-DVD movies have been cracked and made available on peer-to-peer and BitTorrent networks...  Ok, so I'm not condoning the practice of downloading pirate video, just getting some humor out of the fact the Joe-Hacker always seems to be able to circumnavigate the technologies that multinational corporations spent countless hours and dollars developing...

January 29th    Twas' merely a rumor, but now it appears to be gaining a bit more traction: Van Halen, with David Lee Roth appear to be ready to drop a new LP on us along with a world tour.  Its been discussed before, and I've heard all the banter about "They're too old" and other toothless chatter, but lemme' tell ya', if Dave and the boys come any where near my town, I'll be there, rockin' to Running With The Devil, Aint Talkin' Bout Love and the rest of the stuff I grew up with, and I bet my ass you'll be there too!

January 24th    This is it for a few days my friends, a self-imposed (very) short work-week means that I'm outta' here till' Monday!  In the meantime, check out the full album of free ELO tracks available on Download.com.  Who among us didn't grow up with 'Don't Bring Me Down' cranked as you pumped quarters into the local pinball machine?  Need I remind you that all tracks you audition are stored in your Internet Explorer's Temporary Internet Files folder at 192KB/s?  Just click on the '20 Free Tracks / Play Now' button on the top right-hand corner of the window and let it all stream / store on your PC.  Know how to Cut & Paste?, I sure hope so...

January 24th    I don't usually touch on auto-sound much on this site, but perhaps I should more often?  The link I provide here is a little dated (15 months), but the materials discussed are still on the market and have yet to be replaced with 'improved' versions...  As such, I feel that anyone interested in increasing the sound-deadening rating of their car's cabin will find this very informative.  Sound-deadener showdown Ver. 2.0!

January 24th    Don't cha' just hate it when commercial breaks between television programming blare at volumes much louder than the show you were watching!?  Dolby Labs feels that they have come up with the solution: 'Dolby Volume'

January 24th    All things old are new again - remember those ugly cabinet stereo systems our parents had?  Well, believe it or not, one can actually buy the same kinda rig once again: witness StudioTech's array of unsightly offerings.

January 24th    'Back in the day', when I was but a lad with a set of Honeycomb speakers, I used to absorb hundreds of hours of literature known as Stereo Review.  This now-defunct magazine was far from perfect, too much advertising and stuff that I didn't find completely interesting - however: in retrospect, one thing ended up being a rarity in the audiophile hobby - truth and honesty care of one Julian Hirsch.  Unfortunately , Mr. Hirsch has shuffled off his mortal coil, and our hobby suffers currently under a deluge of lies and marketing deception.  For those of you who are interested in learning about a true icon in our hobby, take some time to read through the articles provided here.

January 24th    I know many of you enjoy something a little different than the usual hard rock / puck rock fare around, here.  For you, a link to several Ani DiFranco tracks - all 192KB/s and you don't even have to fish them out of the Temporary Internet Files folder - all have click-to-download links!

January 24th    Interested in downloading and using a handful of test tones for a room improvement project?  RealTraps has made many available for free on their website.  Have at er boyz'

January 24th    He who is The Meat: Jim Steinman ~ is on tour across our great land this spring!  February & March finds the man who embraced our childhood minds - filled with lust and incoherent thoughts such as they were, dropping into Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Kelowna, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, London and Hamilton.  Get all of the gory details on this site.

January 23rd    Lately this site's MP3 downloads have been tilted somewhat towards punk rock - today I'll fall back on my other favorite genre: 'Classic Rock'.  Yet another of those "never heard of em" bands, The Drones and their rocking track I Don't Ever Want To Change. (Crank it!)

January 23rd    I do a lot of perusing through the variety of A/V forums listed in our own discussion forums, and one that flat-out rates as the friendliest is Hometheatershack.com.  Today I received an email from their admin' informing me that the Shack has just released their latest version of a cool bit O' software known as the Room EQ Wizard.  The application is at version 4, thus leading me to believe that it must surely be fairly stable, and the price - how about free!  I suggest that you join up and take a look at this really cool offering here.  (no, I have no affiliation with these dudes aside from being a member, I just know a good thing when I se it).

January 23rd    Just for kicks, we've all wondered at one time or another what the 'World's Most Expensive Audio System' would look like.  Some of you may have even taken a look around Google and come up with a few doozies.  Well, Forbes has gone the extra mile and compiled a slide-show of the wonderful world of audio excess: enjoy...

January 23rd    Secretly, we're all Harry Potter fans.  Sure you may not have read the books, but I'll bet you've seen one or more (likely more), of the excellently produced movies.  I've enjoyed all of them so far, and am keen to see the direction of the latest adventure.  Thus, my interest in the current trailer / teaser on Apple's website.

January 23rd    Everything you ever wanted to know about digital audio, but were afraid to ask your mom... or the geek you call your friend...  The University of Washington has published a simple text file that runs the gamut from grade-school level explanations to "I have absolutely no freaking idea what that algebraic equation means"...  Have a look for yourself, there are surely nuggets to be gleaned here.

January 22nd    What a kick-ass weekend!  Loads of new snow, three days off - everyone should embrace this routine, and loads of hockey - what else could a red-blooded Canadian ask for!?  Well, how about row upon row of scantily dressed dancing girls, endless vats of wine, cases of the finest chocolate...  Ok, and back to reality: celebrate a short workweek with me (I'm buggering off to go cat-skiing this week), by cranking the living shit out of these two soundtracks to my misspent youth - Canada's original punk rockers: SNFU - Questions, Questions, Questions and SlaveDriver (care of Alternative Tentacles Records)

January 22nd    Ok... this one's sorta' out there with the Rosswell incident and magic tricks, but - perhaps it'll pan out if we give it a chance?  A few crazy cats figure that they've come up with the perfect balance of harmonics to stimulate the human brain along the same lines as caffeine.  The main site is here, where you'll be able to learn a bit more about how the project works.  Dig in and let me know how it works for you, either in the forums or via direct email using the 'contact us' link to the left of this page.

January 22nd    There has been a great deal of discussion in various online geek forums as of late dealing with loudspeaker burn-in and its audibility.  Now, I was in the "show me" camp (always am), and had to be convinced by cold, hard facts.  Speaking of which, here they are, care of a speaker builder at GR Research.  In a nutshell, it appears that the spyder and foam surrounds in all loudspeaker transducers gain added flexibility in the first few days of use, thereafter attaining a basic, unchanged stability for the balance of their lives - or at least until the foam surrounds start to disintegrate...  See also this article from one of my favorite sites: Audioholics.com

January 22nd    The Precedence Demonstration is the classic procedure for demonstrating the Precedence Effect which states that it is the first acoustic information that arrives at a listener that determines the location of a sound.  This is one of those 'try it and see' / 'hands-on' articles...

January 22nd    Reshaping Digital Audio: DSD Encoding as a Viable Alternative to PCM, check out Brandon M. Schexnayder's thesis on SACD vs. standard 'Redbook' CD.  There are a few interesting lessons to take from this, but I won't spoil it for ya', have a look for yourself. (Adobe PDF file 420Kb)

January 19th    Fresh snow in the mountains, its Friday... I'm taking today off and going boarding!  Rock yer' asses off here: The Doors (Free & Legal streaming tracks from Download.com).  Give the whole shebang time to stream (click the '21 Free Tracks / Stream Now' button on the top right of the page), then have a peek in Internet Explorer's Temporary Internet Files folder for 21 tracks of 192KB/s MP3 files... do with em what ya' will cause' there aint no damned DRM here folks!

January 18th    Today's posting is going to be a short one as I have a fully loaded lead for ya.  While browsing through a music forum the other day I came across what must surely be the motherload of live music - by bands you've actually heard of: Wolfgang's Concert Vault.  The files are 128KB/s streaming, thus not downloadable, but could easily be captured via something like Audacity (free / open-source).  The fidelity isn't super-high resolution, but more than enough for portable players, car-audio or 'background music'.  I have yet to figure out how this cat can give away so much live music legally, it appears he owned a studio or concert venue?  At any rate, he looks to be using the site's free music to draw individuals to goods he markets: shirts & posters mostly.  That's cool, it costs a lot money to host a well-designed site like his / the daily bandwidth must be impossibly large!  The site asks for a login, its up to you in reality as the software accepts anything that is correctly formatted and does not ask to send you a registration email or such - its simply type something in and then in ya' go!  I'm enjoying CSN&Y at the Fillmore East as I type this - very nice, high-quality soundboard recordings!

January 18th    I'm still on the quest for the ultimate headphones: balancing quality / price / durability is a tough one, as with anything these days.  It looks like my search is narrowing however, and Sennheiser's HD555's are near the top of the list.  Looking at eBay, it appears that a sub-$100.00 price is average and acceptable for these excellent cans.  Check out the Dan's Data site for a review.

January 18th    TV on the Internet: Take VIII (?)...  So now the uber-successful software designers behind blockbusters Kazaa and Skype have thrown open the doors on their latest megga-project, you - Telle' over the Net'.  Sure its been tried many times before, but bandwidth limitations, leading to crummy images have always been the bullet in the foot.  It remains to be seen what tricks these cats have up their sleeves to overcome the limitations of a TCP/IP-based Internet.  Read all about it here.

January 17th    Hmm, I've been listening to The Constantines a lot lately, and though I slipped a track in the midst of a series of posts earlier this year (Jan 04), I really feel that the link bears repeating, this time out in the open and clickable.  Without further delay, I bring you The Constantines ~ Arizona.  This reminds me of something the Clash would have done way back when, maybe a bit dirtier... which is a great combo' in my opinion.  Highly recommended, I'll put it in the Top 10 list soon - Download & Crank it!

January 17th    The industry is abuzz over so-called 'Class D' amplification.  I own a PSAudio amplifier that employs the technology as well, and while I cannot discern the difference between it and any Class A or Class A/B amplifiers I own or have previously owned, I do dig the 'cool running / electrically efficient' aspect of its design.  For those of you not so sure of what the heck Class D is all about, here is a primer: How Class D Amplifiers Work, by Jun Honda & Jonathan Adams, International Rectifier Inc.

January 17th    This one isn't directly A/V related, but is certainly will have repercussions on the entire computer-based audio industry (which is most of us these days, and all of us here...).  SanDisk has released the first solid-state hard disk drive for public consumption!  Durability, performance and power efficiency will spike in laptops, I'm sure that home-based PCs are next - I know I'll be one of the first in line when these come down to mainstream prices.

January 17th    Look who's on tour across Canada ~ none other than the icon, the master himself: BB King!  Check out tix' ASAP as they'll be going bloody fast folks!  The complete schedule is as follows:

Date		City	Venue
26-APR-2007		Victoria	Save on Foods Memorial Centre
27-APR-2007		Vancouver	Orpheum Theater
28-APR-2007		Kelowna	Prospera Place
01-MAY-2007		Prince George	CN Centre
03-MAY-2007		Edmonton	Jubilee Auditorium
04-MAY-2007		Calgary	Jubilee Auditorium
06-MAY-2007		Thunder Bay	The Community Auditorium,
11-MAY-2007		Toronto	Roy Thomson Hall
13-MAY-2007		Ottawa	National Arts Centre
14-MAY-2007		Kitchener	Centre in the Square
16-MAY-2007		Quebec City	Grand Theatre
16-MAY-2007		Quebec City	Grand Theatre
19-MAY-2007		Saint John	Harbor Station

January 17th    Canada Rules to Allow HD Radio: and not a moment too soon!  I don't know about you, but I'm completely disillusioned with both AM and FM reception.  Lets just hope that HD radio doesn't spiral down to the massively compressed state that Sirius and XM Radio have (sometimes as low as 96KB/s!)

January 16th    Not exactly really rockin' it out, but wow - what a voice!  Patty Griffin offers up a free track Heavenly Day for your enjoyment (160KB/s MP3)

January 16th    Looking for a place to source speaker units, crossovers, books or misc. items such as capacitors in Canada?  Solen has a pretty decent inventory that should allow you to find whatever it is that you seek.  Check out their comprehensive, albeit, rather poorly build homepage...

January 16th    You may have noticed that I've been on somewhat of a Powered Speaker kick as of late... truth is, I had never really given it much thought in the past, but the concept of incorporating the amplifier inside the speaker cabinet makes damned good sense!  On that note, allow me to introduce you to yet another set of small studio monitors. the Event Studio Precision 8.  Visit the manufacturer's www page to learn more about the little wonders.  I found them at Tom Lee Music in Canada for $775.00 - which is a decent / fair price considering what you are getting.

January 16th    This collection of information and links pretty much defies specific description... its kinda' like the catch-all-audiophile league of knowledge, in the form of a document and without all of the usual complete rubbish that generally follows all things audiophile...  Pour a tall glass and tie into Music and The Human Ear

January 16th    As stimulating as music is, our hearing system is even more amazing.  Check out 'A brief journey through the ear' to learn all the stuff you ignored in school cause you were too busy being driven mad by hormones...  It offers a brief, yet comprehensive look at what allows up to enjoy our hobby, and ends off with a hearing test.

January 15th    The endless wave of new 'Indie-bands' that are clogging up Blog sites these days is really annoying.  Do you have any idea how much music I listen to each day, seeking something good enough to post on our beloved Cdnav?  I think ~ after a dozen and a half MP3 auditions, I've got one for ya': slide into the new week in low gear with James Yorkson and Summer Song.

January 15th    There aren't too many movies I anticipate as much as this one: The Transformers.  Check out the HD-Trailer here.  What's better than gigantic machines kicking the ass all over the planet?  Well, dancing girls!, but, er, that's another story...  Steven Spielberg produced this one, so you just damned well know that the special effects and overall feel is gonna' be right over the top!

January 15th    'Senators introduce bill to restrict Internet, cable, and satellite radio recording', if the Yanks do it, will Harper comply as well?  Have a look at the RIAA's second go round' at locking up all broadcasted media with another form of DRM.  Want an answer to the Harper question, look no further...

January 15th    Sound & Vision Magazine (yes, they still exist), brings us a well laid out article titled Picture Perfect: TV Calibration Demystified.  The text is loaded with great tips and tricks to get your new (or old) TV up to snuff (any ya' thought it was perfect out of the box didn't cha'?).

January 15th    Tis' currently but a dream in North America, but the following paragraph is hopefully our future: It’s a prediction that has a high probability of realization because such a system is already found in South Korea, where three million subscribers enjoy direct, wireless access to a virtually limitless music catalog for only $5 a month. He noted, however, that music companies in South Korea did not agree to such a radically different business model until sales of physical CDs had collapsed.  This was cut and pasted from an excellent article recently posted in the New York Times titled 'Want an iPhone, beware the iHandcuffs'

January 12th    Friday my friends ~ we did er' again!  This deserves a big musical download, but you'll have to work for this one a wee bit cause' its special...  Download.com has made a good number of Neil Young's live tracks from the Live at the Fillmore East LP available for auditioning and - inadvertently(?), automatic download.  Now, I'm a huge Neil fan and I love every single one of the tracks that they have posted on this site.  You'll notice that the site lacks a Download Now button... the way its rigged is, as soon as you audition the track, its automatically spooled into Internet Explorer's 'Temporary Internet Files' folder.  Copy / Past it out of there and off ya' go!  Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere | Winterlong | Down By The River | Wonderin' | Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown | Cowgirl In The Sand.

January 12th    As its Friday and all, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my favorite topic, aside from woman and music: Loudspeakers!  Behringer, a manufacturer of a great deal of studio equipment has released a nice set of studio monitor speakers called simply Behringer Truth, that you might want to look at before you pop for your next set.  I dig all things studio-quality, and these little suckers fit the bill just fine!  The diffractionless faceplate is really quite a thing of beauty as well.  These internally bi-amplified, shielded speakers offer active crossover technology and a lot more, and at a mere $550.00 Cdn., it sounds like a fair shake to me.

January 12th    Time to look in on our friends in Edmonton, Alberta and give you a heads up on the fact that the one and only Josh Ritter will be stopping in on your city the 19th of February at the PowerPlant.  If you missed the incessant postings in the past, here is a link to his homepage ~ where he has very kindly offered up 8 tracks for your enjoyment!  Make a point of downloading and rockin' out to tunes - and then get you ass out to his shows and support these fellows!  In my opinion - they are an excellent group!  I severely dig it!  More J.R. tour date information here.

January 12th    Folks often ask me "you're so down on 'high-end' RCA interface cables, (yes!), so, what do you recommend then?".  Easy answer, check out Monster Cables Co's THX-approved, shielded cables.  They are decently priced at $27.00 a pop (I've seen them for less 'on the street'), shielded and durable.  Let no one tell you that super-duper colorful / expensive cables 'sound better'!  If they squawk, kindly ask them to prove it in an unsighted listening environment...

January 12th    Everyone seems to be getting into streaming A/V devices these days.  Netgear, assembler of PC networking gear is the latest entry with their just announced EVA8000 streaming device.  This unit sports has a load of cool features: streaming 1080p content from your network using 802.11n Wifi, (the latest protocol) as well as through the HDMI port, access to online YouTube content, direct Ipod connection and the ability to play BitTorrent downloads.  Supported audio formats include MP3, WAV, WMA, M4A, AAC, AC3, FLAC as well as audio files downloaded from the iTunes store and supported video formats include MPEG1/2/4, WMV, XviD and H.264.  Shit man, that's a truckload of technology.  No word yet on pricing...

January 11th    Its all downhill from here lads, if I squint hard enough I think I see Friday on the horizon!  A musical treat is in order: enter Bobby Bare Jr.'s track I'll Be Around.   

January 11th    'Ailing music biz set to relax digital restrictions', or so thinks a Reuters journo' anyway...   They have recently posted an interesting opinion about the whole DRM fiasco.  While it may not be 100 percent accurate, its at least a ray of hope in the darkness known as Digital Rights Management.

January 11th    Amid all of the hype over Apple's latest toys, SanDisk has quietly been releasing some pretty cool portable kit as well - and at better prices.  Take note of their latest entry, the 'Sansa Connect', featuring wireless radio and wireless sharing of files!  Read all about it on the PocketLink site.

January 11th    Wireless speakers, wireless Internet access, wireless keyboards & mice... and now ladies and gents: a completely wireless 5.1 surround sound system!  Yup, all five speakers and video too!  While I'm not sure that I want to be in a room which is bathed in that volume of wireless signal strength, someone at NeoSonic seems to think its a damn fine idea...  There is more detailed info with a little less marketing hype available on the SonicFlare www site as well.

January 11th    Well, we finally have the 'universal' high-definition player (see previous links), and now we have a disk that allows one to record HD-DVD on one side and Blu-Ray on the other!  It amazes me, but large corporations appear to actually be 'getting it' these days.  I dig it!

January 10th    Wednesday, ya baby - we did er'!  Something light and easy, like a cold beer on the front porch in the prairies...  The oddly named Loney, Dear gives us just a such a breezy number in I am John ~ enjoy the cruise into Hump Day.

January 10th    As I'm sure you've all heard by now, His Steveness popped the big one today: iPhones will rule the earth!  Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson, Samsung, LG and Nextel - Step aside or be crushed!  Not only an iPhone, but AppleTV too!  As usual, Apple has provided us some pretty damned slick www sites to explain their most recent births, check the links above for full disclosure.  Be sure to watch Apple's 'QuickTours' features to see some pretty cool stuff.  I have never been an Apple fan, but I gotta' hand it to em', they sure as hell kick everyone's asses at ergonomics and aesthetics!

January 10th    Turn it off or leave it on?  The age-old argument about hi-fi all too often stems from debate about 'sound' of a CD layer or amplifier.. Some audio-fools maintain that equipment must be left on forever or it will not 'sound' right... ya...  A much saner argument for and aft comes from the real minds at studios, check out their publication on the topic here.  Its more or less studio-equipment centric, but the logic is valid for pretty much all electronics.  (Adobe PDF formatted file - 110Kb)

January 10th    'How Its Made' presents: Vinyl  Those of you who cherish those skinny black slabs will just love this little 9 minute video clip.  I too am an aficionado, and I learned a lot in watching this one ~ Dig in.

January 10th    Sherwood Newcastle has joined the ranks of Marantz and Denon in announcing new receivers that support the HDMI 1.3 specification.  Add to that support for TrueHD and DTS-HD and we have some really kick-ass A/V machines coming at us in 07' folks!  Check out Audioholics full review of the Sherwood R-972.  For a quick refresher on HDMI 1.3 and what all the hype is about, have a look...

January 9th    One day closer to Hump Day my friends, hang in there, you'll make it with a little help from a friend, in this case, good old fashion blues with loads of harmonica!  James Cotton offers us some Lightning for our nearly-mid-week enjoyment. (320KB/s MP3)

By the way, did you check out yesterday's offering of Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros?  If not, do it now!  Speaking from the viewpoint of a huge fan of the Clash, (London Calling was one of the guiding lights of my misspent youth), I find Joe & The Mescaleros work to be a little more approachable for non-punkers than early Clash, while still retaining it's angst and improving on the early recordings sound-quality-wise.  Highly recommended!

January 9th    More news on the 'great event': AKA The HD-DVD vs. BluRay fiasco: LG Electronics has officially shown their new deck which plays both formats, have a look at it here in all its' plastic wonder.  The current verdict is that its: 1) Too slow to load disks 2) Too expensive by a good margin 3) is missing support for HDMI version 1.3  ~ Well, at least this is a step in the right direction!  Give it a few more months and a whack of competition and we'll have a really decent product without the three aforementioned issues within 2007.

January 9th    This just in: All of your physical disk media is obsolete... :-)  Sorry folks, but Samsung is currently demoing' one terabyte flash RAM memory chips!  Ya, one terabyte.  And this is 2007... what do you think we'll be seeing in three or four years?!  Imagine this: Every Led Zeppelin LP ever released, in ultra-high-definition 7.1 surround sound ~ on a chip a little larger than your thumbnail...!

January 9th    I spoke late last year about blues child prodigy Jimmy Bowskill, now comes a female version, cranking out what more or less amounts to the same era of music!  Meet Nikki Yanofsky and have a look at her performance at a recent Montreal Jazz Festival.  Nora Jones,  Ella Fitzgerald and ??? all rolled into one, at the ago of 14 or so?!  Heck, the best part?  They're both Canadian!

January 9th    Do you own an old-school 'glass' television that doesn't feature all the latest bells and whistles?  Do you really hate it when the DVDs that you rent don't properly fill the screen unless ya' stretch it out or zoom it in?  Once in a while however, you rent a flick on DVD and, lo' and behold, the damned thing fills the screen like it should!  Hallelujah!...but what just happened there?  Its called Anamorphic Widescreen and a great little website called The Digital Bits has come up with what they call The Ultimate Guide To Anamorphic Widescreen!  Dig in, learn...

January 8th    What a great weekend that was!  Fresh powder in the mountains, warm winds from the South-West getting rid of the ice and snow down in the Valley and the Canucks won again in the shootout - making it 7 strait!  A musical celebration of sorts is in order: check out Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros free MP3 tracks courtesy of Download.com.  (Registration isn't necessary, it simply helps to track your playlists etc).  All long-time Clash freaks simply must check out the five free tracks made available in the link above.  (192KB/s MP3).

January 8th    Geek out time again folks: What is Dither?  Dig in for a brain full of info' about the foundation of of digital audio recording / reproduction.  After you've digested that one (re-reads are mandatory to absorb it all), try out your ears on The Great Dither Shootout where you can audition 21 different dither technologies via lossless .wav files, decide which you like most and vote for it.  I found that several of my final contenders had to be downloaded to my desktop and loaded into WinAmp so that I could switch more quickly between them in order to discern differences.  Decent quality headphones and a fairly quiet room are recommended.

January 8th    Now here's an idea that simply never dawned on me: The one-minute vacation!  The Quiet American has amassed thousands of one-minute audio clips contributed by folks around the world.  One moment finds you sitting quietly at midnight in Yak Karka, Nepal at 16,000t, the next whisks you away to a walk in the rain along the Nha Trang beaches, click again and you're a fly on the wall at a festival in South America!.  The scenarios are seemingly endless ~ pop on a decent set of headphones and enjoy this wild traveling smorgasbord!  (very cool!)

January 8th    Came upon this link in an A/V forum the other day and loved it!  This LinkSys hard disk drive allows one to store / share (password protected) any data (A/V for instance) they choose on the Internet - without the need for a computer.  Nice!

January 8th    Pretty much everyone these days is storing / playing back music from a computer in one way or another (most of what you listen to was on a hard disk drive at the studio at one point as well).  For those of us who love the PC/Mac based thing, rejoice:  Hitachi has just announced the release of one terabyte hard disk drives for the public!  You can pretty much guarantee that will hold all of the music that one could choose to rip into MP3, .WAV or .FLAC file format for a few years anyway.

January 5th    Slip of yer' shoes and kick back with a bit O' classic-sounding Rock & Roll care of Oneida and their track Wild Horses.  Comes across with a lazy, slightly under-produces tranquility, all the while blending in some Motorhead-esq licks.  Kind of dreamy, I dig it.  My only bitch: the quality of the recording is sub-par in that its ripped at 112Kb/s (!).  Dudes, all you out there in the world: Rip at 192KB/s minimum!  Somewhere between 192KB/s and 256KB/s is more or less the limit of most people's ability to detect CD from MP3.  Higher is always better: I do all of my rips at 320KB/s.

January 5th    Well Hella-frickin-looya!  Its finally been announced!  Blu-Ray / HD-DVD, what a bloody mess!  And now - neither of them matter anymore cause' the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week will host the unveiling of the first generation dual-disk players!  I've been ranting and raving about this for the past few months, and now the world will finally see that I wasn't completely mad (well, not completely...).  All you who were sucked into buying single-format players - sell em' while you can!  This is what the A/V world needs more than anything!  Read all about it here.  Furthermore, my advise to one and all: wait a bit till these things come down in price, (6-months after introduction or so), then buy one for all of your A/V needs!  Ya, the "Golden-ears" will pontificate about how they figure that 'all-in-one-boxes' don't sound as good as old-school (fossil) Redbook players, but stick the silly buggers in one room and the equipment in another - and ask them to point out which is playing at any given moment: write down the excuses - it'll make a good book some day... "A Bullshitter's Bible"

January 5th    Generally speaking, I keep most of my posts to A/V, music and bands.  Once in a while however, I like to sneak in some PC stuff as, heck, its my career and hobby.  I strongly suggest you check out the free CD known as 'Software For Starving Students'.  These collections (Mac & PC) of application software are everything that a student, or for that matter, most anyone using a computer, can use.  Not only will it save you LOADS of hard earned greenbacks, but it'll allow you to contribute to the biggest movement in the software world: Open Source software!  Grab the CD here - and learn about Open Source software here.  

January 5th    Wow!  I do believe I've found the Movie Trailer mother load!  Some cat has taken the time to establish a www site that hosts nearly every imaginable movie trailer.  Check it out!  (My favorite is the Children of Men).

January 5th    How to fix a scratched CD.  Lemme' tell ya' right now: purchasing those idiotic little crank-wheel / spinner kits damned-well isn't the way!  Been there, done that.  The advise in this link makes a hell of a lot more sense and, from all that I have read in the 50+ forums in the 'Discussion Forums' link, actually works compared to rip-off third-party tools.

January 4th    Whew, yesterday's post was bloody massive, what was I on man? (Decaff' of all things)  Tonight's might be a little easier to digest - I'll try and keep it short and sweet.  Shake yer' wooferz' with a bit O' The Thermals and a load of ass-kicking care of their title track Here's Your Future (have I mentioned - I funkin' love punk rock?!).  This is some poignant / funny shit that reminds me of something that Nomeansno would have put out back in the day - Crank it! restart song, Crank it, restart song, Crank it louder!  Note, the MP3 link above exhibits a rather odd trait in the FireFox browser: if you right-click and release on it using FireFox, and select Save Link, the file is misnamed with a .php file extension.  In this case, rename it to whatever you wish and append .mp3 to the end of the file name.  This behavior is not seen with Internet Explorer.  I've noticed this same idiosyncrasy with other MP3 files in FireFox in the past as well...

January 4th    I've guilty of not looking at the live music scene for a while now: not due to laziness, just an oversight folks!  Lets remedy that by having a look at The Constantines who are doing a couple of shows in Southern Ontario: Peterborough on the 29th and Oshawa on the 31st of January.  If you are patient, you can even download a track from their latest LP here.  (Scroll down to the Arizona listing and, as mentioned, be patient as SubPop Record's servers appear to be slow these days...  This band reminds me of an old favorite of mine The Clash, which is likely why I dig their style so much. 

January 4th    You all know by now that I'm addicted to loudspeakers, and I love economy just as much as the next bloke - marry the two and you've got D.I.Y loudspeakers!  I came upon this absolutely (in my eye) beautiful loudspeaker DIY project.  The chap has very nicely detailed pretty much every step for ya, have a look, its the best I've seen in a long while!

January 4th    World's thinnest MP3 player: Previously unknown company Walletex has announced the manufacture of it's Music Card device.  Read a short blurb on it here.

January 4th    AllofMP3.com has been sued for - get this - 1.6 Trillion dollars, likely making it likely the largest lawsuit in history.  I suspect that you have guessed that Satan, er, I mean - the RIAA is behind this latest attempt to squash the sale of music at sane prices... meanwhile peer-to-peer applications distribute more songs in one week than AllofMP3.com did in it's entire existence...

January 3rd    Canadian artists Gary Comeau & the Voodoo Allstars offer up a large helping of their special blend of hot and spicy / New Orleans influenced rockin’ roots & blues in the form of free MP3s from their www site.  Dig into a large helping here: Thinking about you all the time, Letter from Eve and Home of the Mardi Gras from the Letters From Eve LP.  Want more, well, the generous lads are also offering Only have eyes for you and Bouncin' Baby Boogie off their self-titled LP as well!  These cats get it!  Cool, generous dude like this deserve our support, go and see them when they swing through your town!  Their www site doesn't yet have 2007's tour schedule, but keep checking...  What, still here?  How about dessert ~ Ok, check out The Hunger, Danger and West Bound train off The Hunger LP!  Could there possibly be more?  Hell ya', check out their www site for a 'hidden track' that I haven't linked to!

January 3th    Hey man, The Audio Critic is now a free e-Zine!  I guess the old feller saw so damned many other zines' go the free route that he decided to follow suite.  That, or he just wanted to spread truth farer and wider!  I dig it, rock on ‘Accountability in audio journalism' dude!

January 3rd    The latest edition of the free online e-Zine 'Affordable Audio' is now available online!  This is one crazy rag, the producers look at old, new and everything in between equipment from all walks of life, but mostly stuff that mere mortals can generally afford.  The music section however, has always been a standout for me.  Loads of advertisements, but hey, the price is right.  Note that this link is to an Adobe PDF formatted document.  You'll need something like the free Foxit PDF viewer to view this file.

January 3rd    Why burn gas and challenge the road when you can simply download & burn your own movies?  Not sure if its right for you, but the next wave in 'renting videos' consists of downloading and burning!  ExtremeTech.com takes a look at the current state of the art in click & burn movies: (CinemaNow, MovieFlix, Movielink, Amazon's Unbox, and Starz's Vongo).  I checked out Cinema Now's Free Streaming service and likes what I saw (Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits video).  The resolution would suck on a big TV, but is just fine for a laptop screen!  If you choose to try it as well, know that you don't have to give a real email address or anything else for that matter: after typing in your 'data' it simply allows you to start streaming without any login or password. (Select 700KB/s before the stream begins as the default rate is 300KB/s).

January 3rd    A/V Guide.com gives us a brief, year-end round-up on the options available in audio formats and mentions a few that I bet cha' never even heard of (nor did I).  Here's one to mull over: 8-Channel 192kHz/24-bit:  36.86Mbps!

January 3rd    I love bass, you love bass, we all love bass!  The Subwoofer DIY page is the place ya' wanna' visit if you're in the frame of mind to save a load of bucks and construct your very own, lovingly hand-made subwoofer!  This cat seems to have all of the bases (pun) covered!

January 2nd    Ya man, a clean slate in 07'!  Lets see just how much great music we can cram into this new year!  Kick it off with Eric Johnson's track Get To Go (free & legal track from his www site)

January 2nd    Toronto Music Expo has changed its name to the Music and Home Entertainment Show.  We get our very own Canadian A/V/Music/Band trade-show in T.O. from now on!  The 2007 MHES, scheduled for Oct. 13-14, at the International Centre, is Toronto’s only consumer show devoted to all things related to music and home entertainment.  Read all about it here.

January 2nd    Having trouble with sound propagation from your listening room or home theater?  Perhaps these cats can help out.  I've never considered the existence of sound-proofing doors for the home market, but guess what - it exists, along with a plethora of wild products to keep the family happy!

January 2nd    Curious about Classical music?  Don't know where to start?  I stumbled upon this poorly laid-out, yet infinitely informative www site the other day and thought I would like to share it with ya'.  Classical Music.net's page might be just the ticket you need to open the doors to a life-long enjoyment of the world's greatest composers!  Afterwards, check out the www's very best resource for classical music: The Internet Archive if you wish to search for, locate and download pretty much everything ever written in the classical music genera!

January 2nd    The Tenth Annual Maple Blues Awards are being held in Toronto on the 15th of January 07'.  Nominations include Entertainer of the Year,  Electric Act of the Year, Acoustic Act of the Year and many more.  Learn all about it on the Maple Blues Awards website.

31.12.06    So that's it then eh lads?  Another 365 days of existence on the spinning rock!  Gotta' admit, 2006 was good to me: I'm healthy, happy, might some day be wealthy :-) and the future looks fine.  Lets do the right thing at this point, before I get sappy and begin to reminisce ~ and rock our way out of 2006 and into 2007!    The Heartless Bastards offer up a couple of tunes for our rockin' pleasure (tnx for the lead Cloney).  Into The Open and All This Time.  If that isn't your cup O' whatever (better have booze in it tonight!), then maybe The Black Keys track Meet Me In The City will do it for ya.  Crank it baby, its New Years Eve!  For those of you not of the Rock & Roll persuasion, I have located a cache of 16 classical music tracks care of the one and only David Chesky, (of Chesky records fame).  Check out his homepage here to download to your heart's content!  Happy New Year everyone ~ May your 2007 kick serious ass!!!

31.12.06    I've been on a big headphone kick these past few weeks.  When I was a kid I used to be 'chained to my headphones', but then I got my first set of big-floor-standers and was hooked!  I guess I'm going full circle...  One of my latest discoveries was the HeadRoom www site.  Have a peek, they have all kinds of great info' online for your viewing pleasure.

31.12.06    Wanna' get all geeky and stone your brain with heavy duty info'?  If so, dig into this Adobe PDF document dealing with Clocking & Jitter.

30.12.06    Nice... The work week has come and gone, we didn't have to lift a finger towards labor, and its Friday ~ I love this lifestyle!  Celebrate our sloth by rockin' out to some great Kenny Neal and his track What You Got. (320KB/s - Right-click / Save as...)

30.12.06    Was recently lucky enough to enjoy one of the most morally moving movies of my time: Al Gore's 'An Unfortunate Truth'.  This, my friends, is a production that every human being in the developed world must see!  Like it or leave it, its the truth - dig in for a hearty helping: here is the trailer.  Al Gore is one of America's shining lights! Anyone who disputes the facts as presented in this documentary are simply sticking their heads in the sand and pretending that none of it really exists: the classic, "it can't happen here" phenomenon.  Did ya’ [ really ] think that burning *tens of millions of 50-gallon barrels of oil every 24 hours, 365 days a week - wasn’t going to make a difference in a diminutive, 30 kilometer thick skin of air covering the earth?  * current worldwide oil consumption is in the neighborhood of 90 million barrels per day, about half of which are burned, the other half going to plastic production and other uses.

30.12.06    Some new technology outta' Japan: a mirror-mounted automotive player that runs on flash-cards and will 'play' both MP3 (all bit-rates) as well as uncompressed WAV files.  Check out their www site for more information.

29.12.06    Pop the needle on those worn-out Christmas carols and soak up some beautiful Sam Phillips and her track Reflecting Light.  A little mellow, but nice stuff, I had never given Sam much of a chance in the past, but ya know, I dig it!

29.12.06    Another brief visit to my site, another brief post ~ in these days of "take off as much time as possible and go snowboarding"...  The Vinyl Engine ("The home of the turntable"), offers up this absolutely anal, but utterly excellent article: A Beginner's Guide To Cartridge Setup.  Read, learn, enjoy - then go and spend endless hours buggering around with your turntable!  (Adobe PDF formatted document)

29.12.06    MP3's: You've all used them, and I bet you figured that you knew all about how they worked too.  Check out 'Howstuffworks' www site for a comprehensive overview in their article: How MP3 Files Work - to fill in the gaps about the parts you didn't know!  Pretty much all of the tracks you'll hear on this site employ this file format.  I love it, and find that high-bitrate versions of songs are all but indistinguishable from their CD counterparts on anything but the best stereo systems.  I know, I know, Golden-ears are wailing and gnashing their teeth, too bad, try enjoying the music, not the stereo!

28.12.06    Christmas is over, its Blues season!  A group of legendary blues artists, including Junior Wells, Luther Johnson and Charlie Musselwhite among others collaborate on this Telarc recording to bring us a applicably seasonal tune: The Credit Card Blues (320KB/s - Right-click / save as...)

28.12.06    Working on a project that requires sound-effects and wish to have a free & legal source?  If so, you'll love The Freesound Project!  They currently host over 25 thousand files for your downloading pleasure!

28.12.06    Thought I might put a word or two in here and there during all of the time I have been playing hooky from work and the site!  Lets talk Headphones!  Every audiophile loves a great set of headphones, myself included.  Recently I conducted a great deal of research into what I might be able to acquire at under a hundred and fifty bucks (Cdn.), and this is what I came up with.  For less than one-fifty, tax included, shipped to your door - you can get your head into a world-class set of cans that will last  lifetime!

Christmas Day    Hope you all had a great time these past few days off!  I've been spending my holidays up in the mountains snowboarding.  I can hardly describe how amazing it feels to be thousands of feet above sea level, expansive vistas spread out before you, sitting among the trees in deep snow and lustfully eying up your next line through the forest's powder-fields!  Yes, there is something better than music (!), better then pretty much everything aside from your loved ones in fact: its sparkling fields of untracked powder on a steep pitch!  You must try snowboarding this year!  Once you get over the lunacy of the first few days learning to board, you'll eventually master tree-boarding and get to experience a side of the woods in a way that few ever shall!  Deep in the timber there are no skiers (too tight) and very few boarders (most want to show off tricks in terrain parks and half-pipes).  Its generally just you, the local wildlife, fresh air and bountiful untracked fields of lovely powder.  I Dig It down to my toes!  Tap at cha' all in a few more days ~ I hear the mountains calling my name...

22.12.06    That's it my friends!  I am off for a few well-deserved days of R and R, not only from work, but from the website as well.  We collectively made it through another week of paying the taxman.  In celebration of this sordid fact, I suggest that we crank the living you know what outta' some great tunes.  Dig into these links for the holidays: you'll notice~ I don't do Christmas Music!  Since I'll be gone a few days, I've lined up several excellent tracks to (yule)tide ya' over :-)  Tap-at-cha' after the holidays.

Otis Taylor - Rosa

Jimmy Thackery - Got it going on

Bob Margolin's All-Stars Blues Jam - Crazy bout' you babe

Charlie Musslewhite - Blues overtook me

22.12.06    An all-in-one 'surround-sound-in-a-box' solution for your portable media player - and it only costs a few hundred bucks ~ I dig it!  Check out the ZVox Mini - it may be the best way to host a tailgate party yet invented (er, that and dancing girls!)...

22.12.06    Lets hope that this will be the last time Sony attempts to implement strong anti-copying (DRM)  technology into it's media: Sony BMG to pay $1.5 million to settle suits over hidden program.

22.12.06    Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Corp. reported today that it has started the commercial production of blue laser diodes, taking aim at a market with strong growth potential.  The diodes are to be used in DVD players based on the Blu-ray format, championed by Sony Corp., as well as competing HD DVD technology, promoted by Toshiba Corp.  Like I have been saying all along don't purchase a new HD-DVD or Blu-ray player!!!  Sit on your hands for a while longer: the technology to play both formats in one machine is just around the corner.  It may be a few months to a few financial quarters - but it'll be here in 07' for sure!  If you're dying to blow some money upgrading your kit, acquire more media, better loudspeakers or do some room acoustical improvements.

22.12.06    The consumer Electronics Association has just released a really great interactive purchase & setup guide for home audio consumers.  Those of you who are long-time audio geeks can safely skip this one, but newbie's or 'relative newbie's' will glean some quality information here.

22.12.06    I don't usually point directly to forums, but this one is pertinent enough to a topic that is important to those building new multimedia systems.  Check out this thread on AVGuide's forum for interesting perspectives on hardware implementing the recently-released HDMI 1.3 specification.

21.12.06    The masters of masterful recording: Telarc offer up a free helping of Luther 'Guitar Junior' Johnson's latest recording: 'Talkin' About Soul'  As with all Telarc recordings, this one is a class act - even the MP3 is encoded at 320KB/s, rendering a high quality reproduction worthy of major crankage on any decent system!

21.12.06    Don't know how long this link will last, but have a look while its up: if you though the whole audiophile persona was over-board, wait till' you see how far these fellas' have taken it!  Crank the video to full-screen and sit back for questionably healthy dose O' the freakishly wild side of audiophilia... (I quote: "25% of my sound is in the rack, believe me!" ~ um, sure dude....)

21.12.06    Sure hope I have some rockers as readers as this next one is aimed strait at cha'!  If you are in the market for a down n' dirty, shit & abuse, strait ahead rock and roll loudspeaker system, and don't mind the bonus of built-in amplification (!), then Mackie has just the ticket for you my man: check out the SR1530z.  That link was to Mackie's own www site, this one is to online reseller Sweetwater.com - whom I have personally had excellent dealings with in the past.  Mackie's Pro-Audio products offer excellent bang-for-the-buck - I dig it!

21.12.06    Having just completed an exhaustive research project on soundcards for an upcoming unsighted product evaluation, I thought that I might share with you an absolutely excellent 'all things sound-card' www site called TweakHeadz Lab "The Electronic Musician's Cafe".  I spent many an hour there, and will continue to do so as this cat has amassed the most comprehensive collection of PC/Mac information that I have yet come across on the Internet.  So what conclusion did I come to?  Haha, you'll have to make that decision on your own after delving into the site! 

20.12.06    If there is one name in folk music that pretty much everyone in the first world knows, its that of Bob Dylan!  I'll admit to being a fan for many years, and that's why I'm happy to be able to offer up three free Dylan tracks, care of Download.com.  Check out this site for the links.  As usual, if you are running Microsoft internet Explorer, the tracks you'll audition there will automatically be spooled as MP3 files into your Temporary Internet Files folder.  Seeing as no one has ever asked me how to copy & paste them out of there, I'll assume that you have figured it out...

20.12.06    Wired News has conducted an up-to-date flat-panel TV evaluation for your viewing pleasure.  I love it when rich folks do all of the footwork for us!  This particular evaluation is really quick & dirty, but gets the point across!

20.12.06    LCD TV Calibration - How to Calibrate Your Television (Tnx to LCDTV Buying Guide's site)

20.12.06    HDTV Networks Inc. has applied for a license to launch the country's first over-the-air, high-definition television network.

20.12.06    In the "you've got to be friggin'' kidding" department: Sylvester Stallone has - believe it or not - made another 'Rocky' movie!  No, this is not a late April fools joke, check it out.

19.12.06    With a voice like Joan Jett after a week of heavy smoking and hard partying, the female front-woman for 50-Foot Wave comes across like Raunch N' Roll epitomized: check out Animal!  If you dig this crazy shit, there is lots more here - in MP3 and .FLAC file format.  If that's just a bit much for ya', how about some other new-wave rock, this time in the form of one of The Decemberists first ever free online tracks: The Soldiering Life.  This one takes a few plays, but really grows on ya!  Kinda' / Sorta reminds me of something that The Beatles might have released...

19.12.06    Mini-monitors galore!  As you all know, I'm speaker-crazy!  Better yet are loudspeakers that exhibit quality reproduction, at a sane price.  Case in point: KRK System's Rokit Powered mini-monitor series.  After you had a look at the product, you may wish to peruse Mix Magazine's product review.

19.12.06    Here's a twist: have a flat surface that your projector points at, where you generally roll the screen up or down anyway?  If so, paint this surface with Vogel's 'Mighty Bright' Projection Screen Paint!  One of those "why didn't I think of that" concepts!  Learn all about it on their www site.

19.12.06    Wanna' take your music collection with you when you cruise?  PhatBox allows you to do just hat - up to 120 gigabytes at a time.  The Phatbox also supports the excellent, lossless .FLAC compressed audio file format.  Read up on it here and be sure to check out the Flash animation to see and hear the device in action.

19.12.06    What's better than loads of clean, clear bass?  Even more clean, clear bass of course!  Electronic House webzine' has put together a look at 47 (!) different subwoofer systems.  The presentation is 'all marketing', but the quick and dirty overviews, along with images at least whet your appetite to get to a retailer near you and hear the one that tickled your fancy for real.

18.12.06    Hmm... Monday - the whole 'back to work' thing may be somewhat of a drag for certain individuals, so lets drive away the reality of it all with some excellent Rock N' Roll care of The Soft Drugs and their track Family of four. (256KB/s MP3 - Right-click & release to download)

18.12.06    I went off on Matt Mays and El Torpedo last week (see 4 posts below) and now I hear that they are on tour across Canada from Dec 28th 2006 to February 3rd 2007.  This, my friends, is one band that you shouldn't miss!  Check out the tour schedule on their www page.  I love 'small-band' concerts: they are often in diminutive, but great (acoustically speaking), venues where one is closer to the act and the ticket prices are sane: as opposed to 'arena acts' which are almost universally the opposite of these three features.

18.12.06    I love Shrek, you love Shrek, everybody loves that big, fat ogre!  DreamWorks Productions will released the latest installment of the Shrek series in the very near future.  For now however, you'll have to settle for the teaser / trailer on this site... (check it out - the animation looks even more mind-blowing than the last couple of go rounds')

18.12.06    Great sound out of crappy car speakers?  Jon Bon Jovi's cousin (who turns out to be a semi-famous audio engineer) appears to think he has found the magic bullet to correct the reproduction of poorly designed automotive loudspeaker systems.  Learn more here.

18.12.06    Furthernet: a very cool idea!  A group of developers have come up with a peer-to-peer software application that is specifically designed for live concert / music traders.  With regards to the legality of the concept, a quip from the Furthernet forums: "Furthur is for the sharing of legal live music only. Once an artist releases a performance or asks that a particular recording not be distributed, then that recording is off limits to the Furthur community. Other sources of such recordings (e.g., AUDs) may be traded, depending on the band's policy and request with respect to each recording.  The following posts list the recordings that may not be traded for each artist, and the reason why. This will help you determine whether a fileset is legitimate or a ripoff of an official release. If you share an alternate source for any of these shows, please indicate clearly, in the comments field of the share attributes, that you are not sharing a copy of an official release. People who intentionally share official releases risk being banned from the Furthur network".

Download a copy of the software here.  Learn more by visiting the forum.  I'm downloading a Crosby, Stills & Nash show from August 11th / 89' in California at the moment!  Its a 564 megabyte music file in .FLAC file format (a compressed / lossless file format that we should all embrace!).

14.12.06    Friday beautiful Friday... how I love thee oh' fifth day of the workweek!  What shall we listen to in order to kick off the weekend right?  How about some fantastic rock N roll?!  Matt Mays and El Torpedo kick ass in no uncertain terms!  Click this link to be shuttled to their www site where you can enjoy four excellent tracks of their workmanship.  No downloading is necessary as the tracks area all cued onto your hard disk drive in MP3 file format simply by you auditioning the tracks, if you want a copy, go get em' - they are in your Temporary Internet Files folder. (This is a highly recommended band)

14.12.06    The Register has a very interesting article on what really going on behind the scenes at the Apple iTunes online store.  Looks like massive drops in downloads, and all are in wonder of what is going on.  Let me clear the air a little for those not in the loop: kids are getting their mitts on iPods left, right and centre.  They are then logging onto the iTunes store and downloading music at .99 cents (USD) a track... until their parents realize how much this new music addiction is costing them!  Hell, junior or little missy could download thousands of tracks if they had their way, and after that, thousands more!  This cool little 'walkman' that mom and dad bought for the kids is now driving them to tears come VISA payment date.  The result?  Little Bobby and Susie are cut off from the Apple-trough and have headed back to the peer-to-peer pirate sights where they started out in the first place!  Its come full circle, and the point is: P2P sites are literally smorgasbords of music - free of charge!  nice try Steve...

14.12.06    Recently I have witnessed a number of folks discussing moving their music collections to hard disk drives in order to speed access to tracks.  While this may seem the logical thing to do, my own personal experience as a PC technician - replacing many hard disk drives - leads me to believe that this is a bad idea.  The alternative I suggest to folks is: acquire a juke-box style CD / DVD deck such as Sony's DVPCX995V ($500.00 Cdn. MSR -or- $315.00 'new-in-box' on eBay on any given day).  This will give you a 400 CD/DVD storage shed which not only allows quick and easy access to your A/V software collection, but cleans up all of the ugly plastic CD/DVD cases that clutter your listening room!  I speak from experience, I have the Pioneer 301 CD version of this product, and love it!

14.12.06    What kind of house would you build if you were an ex-Imax engineer with lots of money and a clean sheet of paper?  Check out this cat's dream home...

14.12.06    The Harry Potter legacy lives on - this time in the form of a flick called Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  Apple is hosting an assortment of trailers / teasers on their site.  Check out tall of the choices they offers as far as resolution: Small / Medium / Large / iPod and High Definition (Top HD option is 89 megabytes!)

13.13.06    Got a hankering for the blues?  Need to add to your repertoire, but don't wanna splurge for a bunch of CDs?  Here is the answer: MyBluesRoots.com is a 24 hour a day online blues radio station with a great selection of blues and informative announcers.  They spin CD and vinyl for your listening pleasure at 128KB/s - Tune in here.  (If you are using Winamp: Once the music starts and your Winamp Player pops up, you can close the window with track information and advertising if you like - Please ignore the annoying banner advertisement across the top of the screen!).

13.13.06    Hmm, surprise, surprise: This just in from music-industry suits: CD Sales Keep Dipping; Yearly Totals Remain Problematic.  "CD sales dipped slightly over the Thanksgiving week, and yearly totals remain problematic.  During the week, sales of discs dropped 2.5 percent over a somewhat depressed period last year.  Year-to-date figures are also a source for concern.  After the Thanksgiving period, yearly totals were 7.7 percent below comparable figures in 2005, raising more questions about the long-term health of the physical format.  Annual volumes are approximately 458 million, according to a recent report from Nielsen Soundscan numbers.  That compares to a total of nearly 496 million recorded at the same point last year..."  Gee, I wonder why... could it be abbreviated as P2P?

13.13.06    As per usual, I am more than willing to blabber on endlessly about loudspeakers!  Here is another set of mini-monitors that I came upon while pursuing the www this evening: Behringer 'Truth' B2131a monitors with 4th order Linkwitz-Riley crossovers and long-excursion drivers.  I've always liked the way Behringer prices their products at sane levels.  $550.00 Cdn.

13.13.06    A portable camcorder with the ability to burn DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM formats as well as capture up to 8 gigabytes of data to it's built-in hard disk drive!  Hitachi's new DZ-HS300 hybrid camcorder does all that and more - imagine the batteries this thing must sport!

13.13.06    In the latest of a list of partnership deals, VW has teamed up with Sirius Satellite Radio to bring you factory Sat' Radio in your next V-Dub.  At this point, pretty much every auto manufacturer on earth has partnered up with either XM Radio or Sirius.  While this has it's merits, it may lead one to wonder if this heralds the beginning of the end for 'free' radio in North America?  (There's my conspiracy theory for 2006)

13.13.06    Its a boom-box, no, a TV, er, a DVD player... all in one in fact!  Sanyo (who thought that they would still be around?), has given new live to an old genre: the Ghetto Blaster is now a multimedia station!  Too bad they skimped on the speaker system, a quality set of drivers incorporating some kind of Dolby faux surround matrix circuit would have rocked!  As it is, the thing is simply fun for little kids - DVD-L77

13.12.06    With a sound somewhat like a female jazz vocalist fronting a hypno'/trance band, Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton comes across with a dreamy, wafting track titled Doctor Blind.  Its presence is damned addictive, even though I don't usually go for this genre of music.  Have a listen to this cut from the Knives Don't Have Your Back LP and decide for yourself.

13.12.06    Once in a great while I stumble upon an 'in the wild' AES publication.  Here is one such rare bird: Loudspeaker Placement For Optimized Phantom Source Reproduction.  I just love this kinda' stuff!  Be aware that this is an Adobe PDF formatted document and might take a moment to download / present itself.

13.12.06    Western Canadian Fans of female Jazz vocalists rejoice!  Holly Cole is on tour through your area in the very near future - check out her tour schedule here.  Those of you not familiar with her music can get a wide variety of samples on her multimedia page.

13.12.06    Any idea who Neville Thiele is?  If not, this will be an eye-opener for ya!  Voice Coil Magazine recently interviewed him for AudioExpress and you can reap the benefits of that conversation here.  (Adobe PDF document)

13.12.06    I guess by now you are all quite familiar with my stance on RCA interconnects: that's is, as long as they are sturdily built, shielded and correctly assembled - they don't make one iota of difference as far as the 'sound' of the stereo system is concerned.  This has been born out time and time again, including an unsighted audition which I hosted myself.  That said, I am going to mention cables for what may be the very first time in this site's history!  The product is manufactured by a company called Accell and they stand out not only for meeting the previously mentioned physical parameters of a good quality cable, but also: 1) they are very affordable, reflecting the true cost of this product category, and 2) they are as close to environmentally conscious as cable & packaging can get.  I especially love the last point ~ learn more about their offerings on their www site.  This company is not perfect, throwing about banter about how their cables 'do this and that', but I still dig the eco and affordable aspect of their kit enough to support them.

12.12.06    Start your Tuesday morning with a good bit of Rock & Roll - care of one Gus Black and his track Certain Kind Of Light.  This tune has that 'familiar' / 'upbeat' sound to it that will have ya crankin' it in no time!

12.12.06    These amplifier reviews are slightly dated - however both models are often found on today's market in places like eBay and AudioGon: as such, I felt that their mention here was reasonable.  I'm a fan of well-build, fairly priced amplifiers, and both Parasound and Rotel have always exceeded my expectations with their products.  That said, have a look at Parasound's HCA-2205at, 5-Channel, THX Ultra power amplifier and the Rotel RMB-1075, THX Ultra 5-Channel amp if you are in the market for a used bit O' prime, very high-quality THX kit. (Tnx. to LA Audio File)

12.12.06    'How to Judge Speaker Quality with Listening Tests'  This is an oldie, but a goodie!  Those of you who have long wondered how one might address issues to do with evaluating loudspeakers in a showroom environment will be very interested in this brief, but very conscience Adobe PDF document originally produced by a well-known friend of the audio industry.

12.12.06    Consumer Reports has just published 'Shop smart: I want my plasma TV', a great overview of the current state of the art in Plasma technology - although it appears to paint a bleak picture for Plasma technology as opposed to LCD...

12.12.06    Ok... this is freakishly morbid - The Dead Musicians Directory.  Some bugger with a whole lot of time on his hands and a fascination with dead rockers has built a site that, well, the title pretty much sums it up doesn't it...

11.12.06    Though much of her enduring fame stems from her ripping up a picture of the pope, (thank you), Sinead O'Connor has long been a musical visionary in addition to a political one.  In recent years that music has been reggae, and O'Connor's new LP, recorded at Jamaica's Tuff Gong studios brings it across nicely.  Check out her free track here.  I have to direct you to the site, rather than a direct link to the MP3 as Download.com has rigged their downloads in such a way that they cannot be direct-linked: (HTML link name made purposefully to long to copy / paste in FrontPage)...  Not enough music to kick off the new week?  Ok, its female-vocalist day in Canada (I just coined it so), how about the entire new Sarah McLachlan Live LP?  Yup, she has made it (legally) available to play on the same site as above (Download.com).  Click in, pig out on music!  Remember to show your thanx' in the future by going to her next concert in your town!  Those of you who cannot figure out how to actually 'download' the music files: don't worry, as soon as you have auditioned the track, its spooled onto your PC's hard disk drive in the Temporary Internet Files folder...

11.12.06    Here's one for all of you Linn Sondek junkies out there: Linn Sondek lp12 turntable - setting up & tuning instructions.  I'm running a Systemdek IIx at the moment, but secretly long for a LP12... just working out how to convince the little lady that I'm still safely in possession of my faculties when I go to shell out $2G's for a turntable: a technology that pretty much everyone I know considers completely obsolete...

11.12.06    Way off topic, but topical nonetheless given the Christmas season I guess...  The New York times / Electronic Edition, gives us this excellent bit titled 'Digital Camera under $300.00' (*USD).  I had no idea that cameras with mechanical anti-blur technology existed at this price point!  heck, I guess this kinda' fits into this site, given the fact that these cameras all take motion picture movies with audio!  If its even more information you seek with regards to the cameras listed on the above link, check out The Digital Camera resource Page.

11.12.06    Audacity: I've mentioned this free, Open Source audio manipulation product on several occasions before, but now I've come across a tutorial of sorts for the product.  I use Audacity quite frequently and give it an emphatic two thumbs up!

11.12.06    Hemp Acoustics - I love it!  Haven't heard of these lads before, but there ya' go, learn something new everyday.  Turns out that someone had the bright idea to incorporate hemp fibers into loudspeaker cone material instead of paper, a long-overdue concept IMHO!  Check it out.

11.12.06    Just for laughs - John Pesci's Outdoor Horn System loudspeaker: have a few friends over and see if you can reproduce the famous Maxell poster...

08.12.06    Funkin'-A - we made it, the weekend is upon us and freedom reigns supreme!  I so enjoyed yesterday's tunage that I feel a redux is in order!  The Hold Steady kindly offers up a foursome of tracks from their world wide web site: The Swish, Killer Parties, Cattle & The Creeping Things (Acoustic / Live on The current) and Stuck between Stations.  I love it when bands share loads of free music on their site!  A toast to The Hold Steady!  I see from the statistics page that I have a great many American readers: as the band doesn't have any Canadian tours scheduled in the near future, you Southerners should have a peek at The Hold Steady's tour roster here.  May you be lucky enough to have the opportunity to go out and see these cool cats live!  Rap' at cha' all Monday, have a fantastic weekend!

08.12.06    Sound & Vision Online brings us an excellent Projector's Buyer's Guide.  This looks to be a really impressive guide, highlighting what is currently available and explaining the terminology in a sensible format.  Highly recommended if you are in the market or just want to see what all the fuss is about with projection technology.  (360 models to choose from (!) who knew?)

08.12.06    Hell, like I said earlier, its the weekend!  To heck with audio this post, have a peek at something much more harmonious with the moment: 2006's Top 100 Wines! (Adobe PDF File)  While this is a good list, there is one glaring omission: Cono Sur Organic Cabernet Sauvignon - $14.95 a bottle and, well-beyond compare with anything in it's class!

08.12.06    PC storage component manufacturer Buffalo, announces (the) first ATAPI HD-DVD Drive, making it the first ATAPI HD-DVD drive to retail independently.  This means those who for some reason don’t want to shell out money on a HD-DVD Player can buy this baby as an alternative.  The drive comes bundled with third party software PowerDVD / HD-DVD Edition software and supports DVD±R/RW and DVD±R/R DL, DVD-ROM and CD-R/RW/ROM formats.  It will be available in Japan by January for around $338 USD, no word on North American shipments...

08.12.06    Leave it to Bob to come up with a novel new loudspeaker system!  Check out his amazing, totally cool looking new Cinema Ribbon Loudspeaker System!  I have always loved the stuff that this cat comes up with!  The years have seen me own a number of his amplification and pre-amplification products, and now I will have to get my ass down to a location to hear this new gift to the music lover!

07.13.06    Readers enjoy at least one song each and every day I tap away here, and though I dig pretty much everything I post (each post is culled from at least two dozen tracks that I take the time to seek out and audition before posting!), every once in a while I stumble upon a track that makes me push away from the PC, reach for the amplifier's volume control and crank the shit outta' it!  Case in point: The Hold Steady's track Your Little Hoodrat Friend.  Yes indeed, lets see how far towards '10' the volume goes on this before your speakers cry out for mercy!!

07.13.06    While wandering around in the Home Theater Shack forums I came upon a very interesting batch of interview links.  The interviewee in this case: Tomlinson Holman is the cat who created the THX standard.  The hotlinks below are to a variety of different shorts, some longer than others, I think that you'll enjoy them as much as I did, Tom' is a great speaker!

How did THX come about?

THX baffle wall and mathematics

The future of Digital cinema and surround music?

The future of multi-channel music?

Wave field and multi channel 1933 stereo experiment!

5.1, and the future of more channels VS the frequency range and dynamic range?

A bit of background on Tomlinson: Winner of the 2001 Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement, Mr. Tomlinson Holman is Professor of Film Sound at the USC School of Cinema-Television and a Principal Investigator in the Integrated Media Systems Center at the university. Tom was chief electrical engineer at Advent Corporation, founded Apt Corporation, maker of the Apt/Holman preamplifier, and was at Lucasfilm for 15 years where he developed the THX Sound System and its companions the Theater Alignment Program, Home THX, and the THX Digital Mastering program. He is founding editor of Surround Professional magazine, and author of the books Sound for Film and Television and 5.1 Surround Sound Up and Running. He is an honorary member of the Cinema Audio Society and the Motion Picture Sound Editors. He is a fellow of the Audio Engineering Society, the British Kinematograph Sound and Television Society, and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. He is a member of the Acoustical Society of America and the IEEE. He has lifetime or career achievement awards from the CAS and the Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association. Tom holds 7 U.S. and corresponding foreign patents totaling 23, and they have been licensed to over 45 companies.

07.13.06    More speakers to discuss: this time in the form of mini-monitors, (more on this in the near future).  M-Audio, known in the 'audiophile' industry for PC soundcards, and in the professional audio world for a whole lot more, has released a new set of mini-monitors under the moniker BX8a.  These little buggers are not only handsome, but they feature built-in bi-amplification, a decent built-quality (63Lbs!), as well as XLR balanced and 1/4 balanced/unbalanced inputs.  If you are in the market, you should give these speakers a listen.  Learn more on the M-Audio homepage and get a killer price on Amazon.com's site. ($455.00 Cdn.!)

06.12.06    Slide into humpday with a nice mellow, soothing bit O' jazzy pop rock care of one Megan Palmer and her track Angelo.  Not the usual Rock N Roll fare that I tend to dish out round' here, but nice nonetheless...

06.12.06    Everything that you ever wanted to know about audio cables.  Those of you who frequent this place know all too well my feelings on the 'cable-myth'.  Those of you who don't, have a peek at this article by Elliott Sound Products.  It pretty much sums up most of what there is to know of phenomenon of cables in high fidelity audio.  (highly recommended)

06.12.06    In my business (PCs) I see a lot of issues with motherboard (mainboard) capacitors.  Now, I'm not sure if the A/V industry is suffering the same fate, this article really gets to the crux of the matter in the computer industry.  I would say that I see two or three motherboards per month in my small shop exhibiting the issue detailed. (Adobe PDF formatted document)

06.12.06    I've mentioned the coming wave of high-def' (HD) Digital Radio in these pages several times in the past, and today I chanced upon a really decent explanation of this technology, care of the excellent 'How Stuff Works' www site.  They generally tend to put concepts into an easy to understand format, and this time is no different.

06.12.06    In the "is this guy smoking crack" department: An MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) suit wants to regulate - of all bloody things - Home Theatres!  Have a read - you'll want to flip this cat the finger in the worst way...

06.12.06    Now here's an oddball, yet completely handy online utility that can help out in the conversion of one file format to another: Zamzar.  I posted this due to it's support for a plethora of A/V files, but I see that it offers a whole lot more as well.  I converted a Microsoft Word document into an Adobe PDF file and it worked out perfectly.  Check it out, but I suggest using a 'throw-away' email address as I'm not so sure about giving them my email address - or am I just being paranoid... did you hear that...?

05.12.06    Congratulations, you survived Monday - hope that White Stripes fix helped you on your way!  This morning's buzz is from a group called Folk Implosion and a track titled Insinuation - Crank It!

05.12.06    Those of you who are into soul / funk will dig seeing The Coup - those of you in the east anyway.  Frontman Boots Riley and friends, including Audioslave’s Tom Morello, Dwayne Wiggins, and veterans of Parliament-Funkadelic, the Gap Band, Toni! Tony! Toné!, Jesse Johnson, and Frankie Beverly and Maze.  Quite the collection of talent - check out their crazy sound here: We Are The Ones & My Favorite Mutiny.  The Coup in concert: The Mod Club in Toronto, Dec 12th and Foufounes Electriques in Montreal, Dec 13th.

05.12.06    In the "this is getting silly" department: A trade group wants concerts barred at the Air Canada Centre until the arena's owners start paying music industry dues.  The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is suing Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd. in federal court over the company's refusal to pay tariffs related to concerts staged by artists such as Placido Domingo, Kim Mitchell and rapper Lil Bow Wow.

05.12.06    Yet another docking station for you iPod: this time from JBL.  I don't know if I buy into their claims of "deep, distortion-free bass", but it looks funky enough, Hollywood should have had a device like this for the latest Star Wars set...

05.12.06    Samsung and other manufacturers are working to reduce one of the chronic irritations with LCD TVs: blurry images.  a new technology refreshes TV images at 120 to 100 hertz, or 120 to 100 times a second, versus the 60 hertz rate of typical LCDs (liquid crystal displays).
 

04.12.06    Welcome to your new week ~ how shall we deal with this thing called work?  I suggest maximum crankage of Rock n Roll as loud as the neighbors (or your spouse) will allow!  Kick off the fog of the weekend with raw-as-hell, dirty filthy loud, rock-into-blues grunge live music care of the White Stripes: (many thanks to the WhiteStripes.net fan zone).  Sample & hold Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground & Jolene (Dolly Parton cover!).  I picked two that I liked, there are however, many more tracks available here as well as an interview with Jack & Meg White (15 megabyte MP3).

04.12.06    I go on the (broken) record as being a loudspeaker junkie, and much more so if the loudspeakers in question offer quality at a fair price!  Case in point: Revel's big / new Concerta Series floor-standing loudspeakers: The F12.  If you are the kinda' guy that likes to read online reviews (who doesn't - whether we believe them or not), then this is the place to go to learn what others thought about this bargain loudspeaker.  ($1300.00 USD)

04.12.06    Looking for what might just be the best deal in a low-powered integrated amplifier on today's market?  The Pioneer Elite a-35R has gone all but unnoticed in the 'A/V Press', (such as it is), but did garner a few favorable reviews in the online forum community: see Audioholics.com for instance.  The device offers a hell of a lot for the measly $200.00 (USD) MSR.  Learn more here.  Saw one on eBay this evening for $58.00, bidding closes tomorrow - and no, I have no idea who is selling it, just a lead for those interested...

04.12.06    Looking for a pre-Christmas present for yourself, maybe a stocking stuffer 'to you'?  Check out the 'soon-to-be-released' Before the Music Dies (Featuring Dave Matthews, Erykah Badu, Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, and Branford Marsalis).  Brief synopsis: Before the Music Dies takes a critical look at the homogenization of popular music with commentary by some of the industry's biggest talents.  Historic footage looks at the evolution of American music and the artists who created it and pulling back the curtain to expose the sad truth behind today's 'artificial' music stars.  "The reality is that superficiality is in," says Marsalis, and depth and quality is kind of out."  Director Andrew Shapter & his crew traveled thousands of miles, visiting dozens of cities, speaking with hundreds of fans, journalists, record executives and musicians while searching for 'real' American music.  They found mega-talents without a major label, including one artist Eric Clapton believes is "the real thing."  Watch the trailer.

04.12.06    With so many free 'online video' sites popping up what seems like every other day, life is great for fans of rare music footage!  Case in point: The Beatles final concert - 45 minutes of Beatles footage that you have likely never seen before!  (recommended)

04.12.06    Was watching one of my favorite television programs tonight: The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos, on CBC Television.  Tonight's program featured, among other things, an interview with old-school / mainstream rock band-members of Oasis.  It was mentioned that there was a free Oasis track available on The Hour's www site.  Visiting said site I notice two things: 1) Dee Snider will be on Tuesday's show - I used to be a big fan of his brand of 80's metal ~ back in the 80s... and 2) The Hour is available for re-broadcast on the site!  Ya, you can watch either Windows Media or Apple QuickTime videos - Full screen - (by right-clicking on the playing window and selecting Full Screen).  Very cool - your tax dollars at work my fellow Canucks!  (never did find the free Oasis tune!)

01.12.06    Thought I might be able to lay some of Ron Sexsmith's music on ya' without the silly animated video stuff, but alas, Ron got some bad advise and didn't make [any] music available on his www site as downloadable files... sigh...  At any rate, I am hoping to spread the news about this fellow Canuck, so here is a video clip for his track All in Good Time form the Time Being LP release (2006).

01.12.06    Welcome to December cats and kittens ~ lets flow into the new month with a hearty helping of what might be described as Prince does folk songs or ??? - care of a fellow by the name of Eagle-Eye Cherry.  This generous fellow has been so kind as to provide us with loads of links to music on his homepage.  Check out Don't Give Up, To Love Somebody, Shooting Up In Vain, Rainbow Wings as well as the old blues standard  Down in Mississippi w/ Vernon Reid & James Blood Ulmer).  Tap at' cha' on Monday!

01.12.06    Monster-cable, that much-maligned purveyor of A/V equipment has, once again, broadened their horizons, this time into 'high-end' surround audio production and marketing.  Learn all about it on their www page and download a free .WMF formatted file of 3 Doors Down and their live track Duck & Run (5.1MB)

01.12.06    Add Monitor Audio to your list of affordable loudspeaker manufacturers if you are in the market to kit out a surround sound system.  Their prices are in the range that will allow almost anyone to afford a really nice 5.1, 7.1 or more (more subs!) to their home theater system.

01.12.06    MTV goes High Definition - Need to check out the capabilities of your new HD kit - MTV is Broadcasting High-Def Concerts via MHD, the music network's HD counterpart and will be showing weekly concerts through the end of 2006.

01.12.06    Say goodbye to one of the last, if not biggest, of the remaining ways to get free digital content… BitTorrent has announced that they are going to try to avoid recent copyright infringement allegation by going legit!

01.12.06    All the plasma monitor technology you could ever want - all in one place!  Check out Electronic Home's slideshow here.

01.12.06    Koss comes up with yet another set of classy headphones, albeit, a little pricy at $250.00.  Their Pro4 Titanium's feature kick-ass specifications and a lifetime warranty, which does make up for the price somewhat.  If you are in the market, have a look at this site.  At the same time, and for much less money, you should have a look at what JVC is offering: their noise-canceling headphones are practically a steel at $60.00.  Will they sound as good as the Koss units?, I dunno.  Will they cancel out audible external noises better, I suspect so!  More information here.

30.11.06    What kind of tasty musical treats do I have for you today?  How about some of the foundation of modern music: Classical.  Specifically, Schubert's Death & The Maiden.  Here are links to the file in various formats, including: Variable Bitrate MP3 (compressed & lossy), FLAC (compressed & lossless), as well as .WAV (uncompressed / lossless).  Note that the VBR files are the smallest, with FLAC and .WAV next up in order of file size (and therefore, download times).

30.11.06    I am all about this next article: 'United Nations wants Canadians and others to be more responsible when it comes to dealing with their electronic junk'.  Trust me, if you live in or near any decently sized town or city, there will be a place to take your unwanted Audio / Video / Electronics kit!  If you are not sure who it may be, check with your local Regional District office, open the Yellow Pages or hop into Google and do some research... the answer is out there!

30.11.06    Are you a fan of the Cowboy Junkies?  If so, you might be interested in the coming (re)release of the Cowboy Junkies debut album - Whites Off Earth Now!! - in a special 20th Anniversary, Mobile Fidelity 5.1 Surround Sound, SACD edition on December 5th.  Heck, while I'm on the topic - here is a live track of a tune from that LP (not off the actual LP) called State Trooper from a June 6, 1996 performance in Paolo Soleri, New Mexico (free, full-bitrate FLAC file from their 'free/live' website).  If you don't know what to do with FLAC formatted files, please contact me.

30.11.06    Canadian 'high-end' rag UHF, that - IMO - 'bastion of shady opinions' has released issue number 78 and parts thereof are also available as an Adobe PDF document on their www site.  There is, in my opinion, one single article, well, parts of anyway, of interest in the entire rag, and that would be pages 22, 23 and parts of 24 which deal with room reflections.  Read at your own peril, get a laugh out of their version of a 'blind cable evaluation'.  I've been in touch with their magazine on more than one occasion to express my distain for their pseudo-'blind' auditioning methodologies, but am yet to hear back from them...

30.11.06    VidaBox Max offers you the capabilities of DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray and a PC with up to three terabytes (!) of storage all in one box - if you got da' money honey!  Feeling rich, just won the lotto' or an inheritance form the grandparents?  Go for it!

30.11.06    Hopefully we have some loudspeaker designers in our midst.  If not, I can help you change that in at least two ways: the first is our D.I.Y links page located in the forums - which I try to add to regularly.  The other is via a (very) cool freeware application I was directed to the other day called WinISD.  This handy little Windows application is loaded with technical specification from tens of hundreds of loudspeaker driver manufacturers.  It'll work with you to produce a near-perfect as possible response from your D.I.Y loudspeaker system  Download it and have a go at creating some kit!  If you get stuck, they even have their own forums.

29.11.06    Mmmm, Blues!  Bend an ear towards Watermelon Slim and his track Draft Board Blues.  Check out his webpage where you can learn all about this fantastic artist and download loads of free music!

29.11.06    DRM is dead!...long live DRM?  An executive at IFPI - the international recording industry association, has declared DRM to be "dead", though he warns of "Son of DRM"

29.11.06    TV over the Internet... sounds like a promise that we've all heard a million times before.  Streamick.com is offering a 400KB/s feed of a great many channels, 3000 in fact!  The feeds are only for folks with high-speed connections, the video is more or less granular, displaying a good deal of 'stop & go' effect, which may be due to my ISP however. The price is certainly right! (0$)

29.11.06    Bruce Lee lives again!  Er, in the digital realm anyway.  Rob Cohen, director of1993's 'Dragon - The Bruce Le Story' is planning on creating a movie with a photo-realistic, animated character 'starring' as the legendary martial artist.  I went on about digital actors in the past and here is confirmation my friends: in the future, 'real human' actors will be a novelty.  Put yourselves in the greedy shoes of Hollywood - would they rather pay an animation studio a couple of million dollars - a one-time fee - to create a movie or tens of millions plus future considerations to 'top stars'?  That, and 'digital actors' don't ask question or demand negotiations!

29.11.06    Those of you who spend time on this site's forums may have come upon the "Other Forums" link (36 A/V forums & counting!).  If so, you may also have clicked on the Hydrogen Audio listing and know all too well what I am about to go off about.  Cutting to the chase then, the site deserves a visit from every viewer.  Nice, honest, no-bullshit talk about audio and specifically techniques for manipulating music files in every way possible.  I am a big fan of the place and am constantly amazed at how much the user-base knows about technology related to file management and manipulation.  There are no advertisements, no popups, or annoyances: in short - long on knowledge and short on BS!  While you are there, be sure to check out the left-column 'Related Sites' section.

28.11.06    Many of you may have noticed that I kinda' cheated on posting the Monday missives quite late.  It was one of those 'long-lost friends were in town and we drank far too much vino, staying up till' all hours', talking and spinning LPs' kind of things - I'm sure you know the gig!  Discovered a new band in the mean time that I am keen to share with you however: The Little Ones - Lovers Who Uncover.  It took me a few listens to 'get it', but now I'm hooked.  If you dig their style, there are a few more tracks for free download on their www site.

28.11.06    You like big-screen LCD monitors on your PC?  Me too, and for those of you in the market for the big picture, Samsung just happens to have released the solution this past week: the CX305T, a 30" wide-screen LCD monitor that will easily double as the home's main viewing screen for DVD etc.

28.11.06    I like to throw in a good technical read every now and then, here is today's white paper, care of Jensen Transformers Inc.  Answers to common questions about audio transformers. (Adobe PDF file)

28.11.06    And only a few days after Microsoft's Zune player was released, the obvious occurred: How To Bypass The Zune's WiFi Sharing DRM.  That took what, all of a week to hit the streets?  Bill, buddy, give up - the hackers are way smarter than your boyz'.

28.11.06    1080i vs. 1080p HDTV: should you care?  More good, albeit, slightly dated yet still applicable information from c|net Reviews site.

27.11.06    Ohh baby, its bitter cold in my neck of the woods (BC)  Chase away the icy grip of winter with some fantastic music care of The Guillemots and their track Who Left The Lights Off Baby?

27.11.06    Downloadable Radio?  Isn't that what we used to do with cassette decks 'back in the day'?  Perhaps the quality surpasses that which we were accustomed to, I dunno'.  The music download service sends each song as an encrypted audio file alongside the radio broadcast over an internet connection. Because of the limited mobile bandwidth and associated costs, UBC at launch will offer only five radio stations.

27.11.06    C-Net's Quick Guide to Aspect Radio: The bastion of electronics offers us this quick and dirty guide to straiten out your mind with regards to television aspect ratios - well done!  (AKA: "How do I get rid of those black bars"?)

27.11.06    'Four Questions Before You Buy': LCD TVs.  A few tidbits to ponder before plunking down the dough this holiday season.

27.11.06    An idea who's time has almost come: Online movie service ReelTime have announced full length motion picture movies that you can download and burn - and keep!  They are supplying the product in a total of three file formats, including actual DVD-quality, modified VOB files.  The catch... the downloadable movies cost as much as, if not more than, the cost of purchasing the damned things at your local retailer!  Another casualty in the "those who missed the point" department...

24.11.06    Its Freaky Friday Man!  Time for some fun, the local ski hills are open, there is loads of riding to be done in the valleys and the lakes have yet to freeze over - its an outdoorsman's dream season!  Git' out yer' boards / bikes / boats and have some fun, the steeeeenkin' work-week is over!!  Lets shake off the cobwebs with some rock n roll courtesy of The Rosewood Thieves and their track Los Angles.  If that doesn't do it for ya, check out Special Patrol's Changing Emily.  Have a Great weekend, tap at cha' Monday!

24.11.06    Electronic House magazine brings up 'Six Home Theater Lighting Tips": Home theater lighting requires more than a bulb and a lamp. Use these expert tips to enhance your own theater

24.11.06    Flat-Panel TV showdown seen on the horizon - Samsung says LCDs will take on plasma in market for 50-inch TVs.  To us, its company rivalries with the spin-off effect of larger, cheaper LCD screens on 07'.

24.11.06    So ya' wanna' install HiFi and /or Audio-Video kit for a living?  If so, the course that you should look into is CEA/CompTIA's Digital Home Technology Integrator+ certification.  More information on the gig can be had here.

24.11.06    Here's one for the girls that we (may hopefully) have in our readership - and if not, hey guys, it'll make a fantastic Christmas gift for your significant other!  Ohmibod have released a miniature vibrator that does it's thing in step with the music she is listening to on her iPod!

24.11.06    Wizby: a portable audio device that plays back MP3, Ogg, AAC, DivX and JPEG, sports an FM Radio as well as a video & photo display - oh, and you can plug it into a PC and restart it, allowing you to boot up its built-in Linux operating system, complete with any applications you might need.  This device would be great for technicians troubleshooting PCs in the field as well - the catch?: you cannot purchase one in North America...yet.

23.11.06    I've linked to a few of this band's songs before, I love their style and energy along with their quixotic lyrics.  None other than Toronto's Tokyo Police Club are on a mini West to East tour across Canada!  Nov 23rd, Broken City Club in Calgary | Nov 24th, The Power Plant in Calgary | Nov 25th, Louis' Pub in Saskatoon | Nov 26th, at The Collective in Winnipeg | Dec 1st, 'Vinyl' in Guelph | Dec 2nd, The Horseshoe in Toronto.  You want energy? Go to one of these shows!  The link above will bring you to their www site where you can audition the entire recent LP.  As with most streaming music setups these days, all of the MP3s you are listening to are cached in your Internet Explorer's Temporary Internet Files folder - use them to promote this excellent Canadian punk (ish) band!  My favorite tracks on this LP are Citizens of Tomorrow, Shoulders & Arms and Be Good.  Note that while you are auditioning tracks from the above linked site, you can also audition complete albums from Under Byen, The Deadly Snakes, Cities In Dust, Magneta Lane, Andre Ethier, controller/controller, Uncut, the Fembots and See You On The Moon while you are there: 10 full LPs, free!

23.11.06    Today's the day that Microsoft's Xbox 360 is be getting the ability to download high-definition content, including CBS, MTV and Warner Bros. shows and movies.  Suck up as much as you need to know about the new console's capabilities on CE Pro's www site.

23.11.06    In a bid to suck more folks into buying flat-panel TVs, Panasonic is offering a toll-free number to everyone and anyone who might wish to call them and chat about the technology.  The marketing rally is called "Plasma Concierge Service" and lasts throughout the holiday season.  Bend their ears if you like: 1-888-777-7134 Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET and Saturday and Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET.

23.11.06    In the "They are on the right track, but have to improve it" department: headphones with an MP3 player built-in... (why the heck would you want that dumb wire running down your chest anyway?).  A company called Xtatix is offering an all-in-one solution for music on the go, read more on their site.  Make it smaller and give it better battery life and I'm in!

23.11.06    Healing while you kill: Sounds like something George Bush's speech-writers would come up with doesn't it?  In this case however, its Sony who is offering this virtual promise.  As it turns out, their new PlayStation III console can be loaded with software that networks with other PlayStation IIIs and attempts to solve life's great mysteries via collectively networked computing algorithms.  Do you think it can figure how Bush got elected for a second round?

23.11.06    Future Shop launches what it calls "The Biggest Contest in it's History".  Choice of either a $50,000 custom home theatre makeover, or a Future Shop shopping spree worth the same.  The contest is on now and closes Dec. 24th / 06'

23.11.06    Some good old capitalistic hardware news for a change: Samsung Debuts "World’s First" LED DLP Rear-Projection HDTV, replacing the UHP bulb with a high-powered LED light source: $4300 crisp Canadian dollar bills.  JVC's new 37" LCD TV offers 120Hz refresh rate, resulting in reduced blurring or ghosting of images: $2400.00 Cdn.

22.11.06    Funny as hell, I always get a kick out of twisted songs like the Orange Mothers and their track Alien as well as Grinderman's No Pussy Blues.  N.P.B. isn't downloadable, but its too messed up to miss!

22.11.06    Link to a video interview with Hsu Research's Dr. Poh Hsu - many thanks to Home Theater & Hi Fidelity Secrets!  (Those who speak the truth about power cables rock!)  Warning - 41.5 megabyte download, if you are without high-speed Internet access, don't go there...  Check out the loudspeakers (planars?) and acoustic treatments on the wall behind DrHsu.

22.11.06    Norah Jones: that absolutely stunning woman with a voice of honey is going to be a movie star!  Yes siree, now we'll be able to admire her on the silver screen.  The movie, My Blueberry Nights will feature Norah along with Jude Law, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman.  Loads of news about the gal on her www site as well as Mid-Fi samples of her work in streamable format, not downloadable, but very nice nonetheless!

22.11.06    Those of you who read A/V Forums (most of ya' I suspect), and use PCs, (all of you obviously), might find this AV Science forum posting on the upcoming Windows Vista operating system and its new audio control architecture.  Gone for instance, is the much maligned 'Kmixer' code (finally), and a whole lot more!  Read on...

22.11.06    A few months back I mentioned a young lad by the name of Brett Dennen and a track that he played titled Aint No Reason.  At the time I noted that if you wanted to download a copy of it you would have to visit MySpace and settle for a LowFi version.  I revisited the site and noticed that if you are using a caching browser such as Internet Explorer you'll find a 192KB/s MP3 file in the browser's cache!  I encourage you to revisit his site and use the song to spread the word about this talented young cat!  If you wish to learn more about the little fella', check out this Blog interview, (nice page with another free track at the bottom).  He's making two Canadian appearances in the new year: Feb 4th, 2007 in Montreal's Main Hall / 5390 St. Laurent, $10.00 cover and Feb 13th, 2007 in Toronto at the Horseshoe Tavern / 370 Queens' St. West, Free admittance!

21.11.06    Lets kick the show off with Ingrid Michaelson's Breakable.  I lack the words to describe this gal's voice, but a fine man once wrote: "Deconstructing waltz time beyond recognition, Ingrid Michaelson here breathes fetching new life into a 3/4 piano ballad. The Brooklyn-based Michaelson sings with a choppy sort of breathiness, and gives me the impression that even she doesn't quite know which way a note is going to go until her elastic voice lets it fly".  Nice phrasing dude!

21.11.06    Notebook speakers, panned and laughed at for years, appear to be inching towards respectability with today's announcement from Lenovo (formerly IBM's PC division), that their Tianyi F50 notebook will support a suite of Dolby Home Theatre enhancements including: Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Live, Dolby Pro Logic II, Dolby Headphone and Dolby Virtual Surround.

21.11.06    Universal Records has decided that 'enough was enough' and sent the shirts in to file lawsuits on the worldwide social networking site: MySpace.  As anyone who has ever been there knows, the place is rife with music and videos.  I suspect that this will lead to an amalgamation of one sort or another, as these things generally do these days.

21.11.06    Speaking of pirate videos... this site has a list of 14 Jim Carrey video clips for your amusement, look now if you dare as this is not likely to last long.

21.11.06    Canada HiFi has an interesting article on outdoor speaker systems.  While not too detailed, certainly gives one an excellent overview of what's on the market these days.

21.11.06    As anyone who reads this site much already knows, "I got a basketball Jones" for loudspeakers, especially models that incorporate planar magnetic or electrostatic technology.  It appears that AV123 has the same affliction, so deep in fact that they have produced an astoundingly well-built 4-way system known as the Strata Mini.  Thought the name might lead you to believe that the product is diminutive, the title is deceiving.  These floor-standers consist a Planar magnetic 1" tweeter, planar magnetic 8" midrange, 5.25" mid-bass coupler and 8" mass-loaded woofer.  The unit is powered by internal 350 watt class A/B amplifiers and features crossover, gain, variable phase and high level/low level inputs and outputs.  $1600.00 American likely equals more or less $2-grand Canadian dollars by the time it actually crosses the line - not too shabby for what one gets at 2K in loudspeakers thee days!  Read all about it, including the 30-day in-home tryout offer here, then have a peek at the 'Secrets of Home Theatre & HiFi' blurb here.

20.11.06    Wake up my friends, unfortunately the weekend is over, lets suck it up and start the countdown to next weekend!  I had a great Sat. / Sun., lots of riding, loads of junior hockey (our home-town boys, the Penticton Vees won both games!).  Maybe this will help you slid into the workweek a little easier: Tanya Donelly and her free track Kundalini Slide from the 2006 Hungry Life LP (160KB/s MP3).

20.11.06    The National Research Council is a Canadian icon, the one group that we audio-buffs grew up respecting when it came to loudspeakers.  Recently I contacted the group and inquired about 'the great wire / cable debate'.  They answered that they did all of their testing with heavy gauge lamp cord (see forums), which is what I have always personally maintained was sonically equal to any over-priced / fancy cables.  Though my own experimentation had always led me to this conclusion, I'll be the first to admit - I enjoyed the the subtle vindication!  At any rate, this got me thinking about exactly what we know about our favorite fountain of truth - the answer was... not much!  So, in order to get everyone up to speed with the NRC - a primer is in order: Their Listening Room, Anechoic Chamber, Loudspeaker Testing Facility, Characterization of Porous Materials Facilities and finally, the Facilities and Computer Codes For Sound Field Studies.

20.11.06    More movies!  After watching this one, you may want to save the next for later, or, if you have lots of popcorn / beer / wine / whatever kicking around, take them both in? At any rate, may I present, in full, Al Gore's 'An inconvenient Truth'!  (Did anyone really think that burning fifty+ million barrels of oil every twenty-four hours, day after day, year after year wouldn't affect the atmosphere - duh!)

20.11.06    Put aside everything you though you knew about Islam (spoon-fed by the North American press), forget religious attitude, gather the kiddies round' and make some popcorn: its movie time!  This PBS-like special is an eye-opening look at the valuable additions to society that Islam has added to our world over the centuries.  Most media players offer settings that will enable you to expand the video to full-screen, which I recommend - especially if you have one of the crop of new large PC monitors.  Very educational, extremely well-done!

17.11.06    My favorite day of the week: Friday!  Ya man, lets dig into some Junior Kimbrough and a track titled I cried last night (192KB/s MP3)  Dis' is the Friday blues my man - tap at' cha' all Monday!

17.11.06    In a word: Wow, in two: Holy Shit!  The New York City Council Committee on Sanitation & Solid Waste Management held a public hearing on Intro 104, a proposed e-waste ordinance that is extremely proactive towards the environment!  'Intro 104' would make manufacturers of covered electronic equipment (televisions, CPUs, keyboards, and monitors) individually responsible for the collection, handling and recycling or reuse of all covered electronic equipment that is produced by that manufacturer and generated as electronic waste in the city.  In addition, each manufacturer would be responsible for a pro rata share of orphan waste generated as electronic waste in the city.  Manufacturers who fail to comply with this requirement will be prohibited from selling their products in the city.

This proposal is exactly what every town / city / county / province needs to implement!  Sure the prices of all the cheap electronics we purchase would go up a bit, but the insanely massive problem of "what are we to do with all this old shit" would be nearly eliminated!  I DIG IT!  The full text of the proposal is available online here.

17.11.06    The Coastal Jazz Blues Society keeps peppering me with informative emails, I guess its high bloody time I shared some of their missives with you!  Its a bit too much to type out here, but I strongly suggest that you check into the CJBS homepage for a taste of what's happening on the West Coast Jazz & Blues scene this month.

17.11.06    Another one of those "who knew" things: it turns out that there is an active group of cats active in the antique radio hobby on the Internet.  If this is of interest to you, check out Antique Radio Classifieds - note that asking too much of the site may cost a subscription, but I guess that if this is 'your thing', you may wish to join up.  In the same vein, take a peek at this "take me back, take me waaaaay back" site that some Heathkit fanatic has put up:

17.11.06    One of my all time favorite musicians has returned to the 'limelight' - none other than Cat Stevens, er, I mean 'Yusuf Islam' is back at the guitar and microphone.  The man has released his first LP, titled An Other Cup in thirty years, and you can hear a partial track on his website.  In my opinion, his sound / groove hasn't changed that much since the days of Tea For the Tillerman - which is very good indeed!  Additionally, if you want to dip an ear into loads live Cat Stevens, check out his free online archive here - I must warn you, the fidelity of many of the recordings on the latter site are of dubious quality...

17.11.06    Way back in the day... well, a few years ago anyway, when I used to spend all of my online time on PC and technology related sites, I haunted one place in particular: The Register.co.uk  This was due to their wit & writing style as well as their short & sweet information presentation.  Imagine how pleasantly surprised I was to stumble upon a Register review of Slim Device's Transporter audio device!

16.11.06    I'll be damned!  Each and every day I find so much new stuff on this big ol' wibbly wobbly web!  Today's tasty treat is The Record Collector's Guild.  Its a vinyl lover's porn palace, quit reading this banter and just go there! (complete with collector's discussion forum)

16.11.06    Crutchfield's is always a great place for information, even if much of it is a little marketing tinged...  If you're on the prowl for a new TV, they hosted a decent 'overview article' on their front page today.

16.11.06    Sheesh, Monster Cable makes loudspeakers - who knew?!  Their top-end Monster THX Tower 200s go for a pretty penny, approximately $2000.00 Cdn., but appear to possess some design characteristics that have appeared in successful designs in the past.  This includes standing-wave canceling cabinetry shape, multiple/small drivers, high sensitivity, kevlar bass-midrange units, externally-mounted silk dome tweeters etc.  I've been unable to locate any reviews on these units, if you have any luck please let me know and I will repost this.  Final note: I dig their 5-year warranty!

16.11.06    What a pairing: Eric Clapton & J.J.Cale!  These two old codgers have created some of my favorite music, but it never crossed my mind that they would do an album together.  From what I've heard so far, it appears to be a successful venture, have a listen for yourself via this Apple QuickTime trailer.  While we're on the subject of J.J.Cale: have a listen to his latest solo stuff by way of his own site - 'The Problem' - from the album To Tulsa And Back.  (Right-click to save or click and wait while it loads)

16.11.06    So much music, so many genera's, so little time!  Fans of Country / Bluegrass will dig this duo.  Read more about them or just download / listen to their track Feast of a thousand Beasts.

15.11.06    Car-audio is often all but forgotten on Cdnav.com these days - and that's because not a whole hell of a lot changes in the scene on a month-to-month basis.  This however, is a little different and warrants attention: a car deck that does all the normal stuff: radio/CD/MP3/WMA, iPod interface and burns music... ya, back up and re-read that - the damned thing has a CD-RW burner built into it!  Check out this site for a whack of information and ordering.

15.11.06    What are we listening to today?   How about some Lou Reed inspired (sounds a lot like it...?) Tall Hands and their track Fifteen on Ice.  After you have a listen there, click on over to Loquat's site: while I don't generally favor pages that disallow direct linking, many Flash technology based pages do just that.  Anyway, if you navigate to Loquat's homepage, click on the middle table labeled Music, you'll see two free MP3 links appear off to the right-hand side of the screen.  They are both downloadable via a left-click and Save As maneuver (but are not linkable - despite what the Copy Link option may lead you to believe).  At any rate, the tracks Take it Back and Swingset Chain are both worth a listen, I dig this chick's voice!

15.11.06    If you own an iPod and are wrestling with ways to get the sound out of it and into the air, at a portable level - I've stumbled upon the grail of portable iPod speaker options - complete with ratings, at Playlist.com

15.11.06    Ok, so I'm not a big fan of tubes, but I know many are - those of you who are among the 'tube-believers' may wish to have a peek over this Audio Xpress article Techniques to maximize power tube life.  Once again, this is an Adobe PDF formatted document, give it a minute to load...

15.11.06    Zune was released today, to somewhat muted fanfare by Microsoft.  I didn't see a single commercial on the telle', not advertisements in the provincial papers... odd.  At any rate, this Washington Post article suggests that Microsoft is looking at it as a lng-term push, the same way that the X-Box has slowly, but surely eroded PS2 etc. sales.  The obvious target is, of course, Apple's iPod.

15.11.06    What?  how loud will it go? What? how loud will it go?  What? how loud will it go?  Oh, I dunno', lets find out with this utility... 

14.11.06    Up for a little reading?  If so, check out this slightly long and somewhat techie dissertation titled 'Putting the science back into Loudspeakers' by John Watkinson, C/O Linkwitz Labs.  Be aware that this document is in the form of an Adobe PDF formatted file, thus it may take a moment to appear onscreen.

14.11.06    Eco-tip of the day.  Do you have a load of damaged or no longer wanted music/data & CDs/DVDs kicking around and you don't know what the hell to do with them?  I stumbled upon this company while looking for a recycler of said disks: Plastic Recycling Incorporated, 2015 South Pennsylvania, Indianapolis, IN 46225. 317-780-6100.  It appears that the company is funded through a Sony Music initiative and has been in operation for a few years.  Stack em', pack em', ship em' off for recycling!

14.11.06    Hi all, wasn't that a good, solid long weekend?!  I took off much of Friday, all of Sat & Sun as well as Monday!  Ya man, too bad it had to mark the passing of so many because of the ideals of so few...  Tom Waits gives us this track: Road to Peace - which deals with human stupidity & the War Machine in the modern world...

14.11.06    Fellow Canadian site Digital Home Canada gives us this Nov. 06' update on 'What HD Channels are available in Canada'?

14.11.06    Who would have thought: System of a Down has the intellect and the heart to bring us a mentally stirring, emotionally stimulating movie about genocides worldwide: Screamers!  Synopsis: Documentary feature examining why genocides keep occurring -- from the Armenian genocide in 1915, to the Holocaust, Bosnia, Rwanda and now Darfur -- through the eyes and music of the Grammy award-winning rock band System of a Down.  Read more here / watch trailers here.  I take back everything negative I ever said about this group - kudos to them all for their open hearts!

14.11.06    Punk Out Baby: Winnipeg's The Weakerthans have given us two tracks from their website for our punk audio enjoyment.  Check out Watermark from the Left & Leaving LP (2000) and Confessions of a Futon Revolutionist from the Fallow LP (1997).

14.11.06    Not sure how many will have a use for this Java-based utility, but for those of you who can, I present the JavaTuner.  This might be used for creating steady-state tones, useful for level-matching gear you are set to test, tuning instruments (?) or whatever.  I just thought it was kinda' cool...

10.11.06    Tap at' cha' all Tuesday, make the most out of your long weekend - remember those who gave their lives so that we could be alive today!

10.11.06    Freaky Friday, we made it!  As usual - music first & foremost!  Hmm, very nice, perhaps a little darker than a lot of music I present here, but a very fine bit O' work to be sure: Chris Smith's Leave the light on.  You'll note that you have to click on the little > symbol once you get to the page, but rest assured that the entire DRM-free MP3 file is nicely spooled into your Temporary Internet Files folder... if you are so inclined to keep a copy around and promote the artist (managers - are you getting it yet?).  You can also listen to Chris on NPR's live series.

10.11.06    Holy Friday motherload Batman!  Not that I'm a huge fan, but I know a lot of folks out there are: Public Enemy has released the entire BTN2000 LP for free on the Net'  If you dig it - dig in!  As it turns out, the collection has been online for quite a few years.  Apparently Public Enemy released it on their page online, which pissed off their record company, who subsequently refused to released an actual LP - thus, the files linger in limbo!

10.11.06    Those of you into the DIY cable stuff might wish to add this guy's site to your catalogue of suppliers: Percy Audio.  They appear to have quite the list of kit for your DIY pleasure!  (The link is to a PDF formatted document, so give it a minute to download / display.)

10.11.06    Until today, I thought that Head-Fi was the only headphone geek spot on the net, but it looks like I was wrong: HeadWize appears to be reaching for the headphone geek trophy with their site too!

10.11.06    Any Spider Man fans out there?  I spotted this trailer to Spider Man III today, looks hot!  Note that there may be one popup on the page just before the actual video clip, depending on the popup suppression capabilities of your web browser, you may or may not be subjected to it (bastards!).

10.11.06    Someone at the New York Times has waaay too much time on their hands, to whit: The Best 1000 Movies of all Time!

09.11.06    Made er' past Hump Day, only one more till' the long weekend boyz' - cause for celebration for sure!  Kick it out it out with some rockabilly care of the Mississippi Hippies and a couple of free tracks: 96 Miles & Don't Touch.  If you dig their groove, there are a half dozen DRM-free MP3 tracks on their website.  If you really fancy their music, and live in Southern Ontario, you're in luck cause' the Hillbillies are wrapping up the 06' tour season in your neck of the woods - have a peek at the tour schedule.

09.11.06    I'll be the first to admit, I love deep bass - unfortunately, though most cats will concur - most kittens won't!  The solution in this reality of W.A.F?: Artison figures that they have your number with the introduction of the RCC-600 in-wall subwoofer system.  Have a boo at the kit on their site.

09.11.06    RIP: Alastair Robertson-Aikman - Creator of the SME Tonearm.  A/V Guide has an excellent article on the man, his life and times.

09.11.06    Yup, ya' learn something new every day...  For instance, did you know that there was a movie about audio, no?, me neither.  As it turns out however, there is!  A company called Tracer Technologies has produced a 2 hour 'docu-movie' which tackles the most commonly asked questions about the black art - check it out on their www site or just navigate directly to the downloadable trailer for the flick' here.

08.11.06    In need of a music fix?  Check out Danielson and their track 'Did I step on your trumpet?'.  What an absolutely unique and cool track!  I love this stuff - Crank it!

08.11.06    You want video, you got it: Some cat has taken the time to provide us a list of the 'Top 10 Martial Arts Movies of all time' and details why!  Most of us, way deep down inside are martial arts movie fans, even if we wouldn't want to admit it in public - kind of like old spaghetti Westerns!  Trailers for all movies discussed are provided - I especially liked the Ong-Bak trailer - will have to rent of this one, pump up the volume on the ol' 7.2 surround and get a cheap adrenalin rush!

08.11.06    Yes, this is an A/V/Music site, but since I'm a PC technician by trade, every once in a while I just have to throw in something from the world of computers - especially when its this cool: Samsung has just realized my dream PC toy - a PDA that can do everything that my laptop does!  Check out their newly released (today), SPH-P9000 device here.  I've been an owner of a Sony PDA for some time now (a present), but never use it as I am spoiled with the power of my laptop.  With this device however, I can finally see a PDA-style product that is actually useful!

08.11.06    Was perusing a local forum this evening when I came across this fairly lucid article on power surge suppression.  In the midst of all the audiofool bullshit about surge suppression and the need to lay out massive cash for 'high-end' / 'audiophile' surge suppression devices, this is a nice bit of fresh air - and only because its a PC based article, not an A/V article!  In case you haven't noticed, most A/V magazines etc., are full of crap and will recommend killer-expensive kit nearly every time... anything to do with advertisers?

07.11.06    Lets start off the day with some really 'nice' music shall we?  Long-time favorite female vocalist Loreena McKennitt has freely released one track from her latest LP.  The song, entitled Caravanserai is a real beauty bit O' work!

07.11.06    High-end Headphones!  If ya' got an extra C Note kicking around and want the latest, greatest audio-accessory for that snazzy new iPod, then the V-Moda Vibe may be the ego-ticket you've been looking for!  Made of, can you believe it - metal!  Bloody Hell, what a nice change from plastic if nothing else!

07.11.06    Are you a fan of the band Tool?  If so, this might be a treat for ya': Mix Magazine has released an article which details (in some depth), the making of Tool's latest opus: 10000 Days.  Check it out!

07.11.06    A reaffirmation of sorts here on Cdnav.com: This is the second time I have posted links on the impending release of 'universal media' players in 07'.  So folks, as I have yammered on and on about so many times before: don't buy a HD-DVD or BluRay player!  Just don't do it - or you'll end up with a beauty of a doorstop in a years time!

07.11.06    Hmmm, do I even want to know where this cat got these files?  Uh, no...  Long-time Blog site Aquarium Drunkard (nice...), has posted an entire LP worth of 256KB/s MP3 Rolling Stones music files from an LP titled 'Exile Outtakes'.  I wasn't able to locate any mention of this album on the Stone's own www site, and I am sure that I've never heard of it previously, nor have I heard of a number of the listed tracks!  At any rate, have a peek here, and if you want to listen, do it soon as I suspect that he is breaking some kinda' copyright law and the powers that be will be on his ass damned soon.

06.11.06    What a fantastic weekend!  Managed to get out a lot with friends, riding / trail-building / vino' / junior hockey - listened to a load of classic rock and generally sucked up life as much as possible!  Lets celebrate our spoiled existence with some truly energetic music care of Dead Moon and their track Dead Moon Night.  This is an interestingly messed-up band who's career / Bio can be read here.

06.11.06    Ok, this is an A/V site: but I don't put up much in the way of video!  Today, I'm going to change that, and in a funny kinda' way!  Check out this link to learn about "breaking free of the man" :-)

06.11.06    The Kiwi's are into it too!  Check out their A/V publication 'AudioEnz', by clicking here to download and view their rag' in Adobe PDF file format.  The magazine appear to focus on pretty expensive kit - for those of you with deep pockets, but throw the rest of us a bone in the form of a great many music reviews!  Happily, they don't feature any idiotic 'cable reviews', which automatically puts the fellow in my good books!  Note that they also have a discussion forum for those of you so inclined, check it out here.

06.11.06    We've heard this one before: '5.1 surround from stereo'.  Yet again, another company, with yet another technology - this time under the moniker of SX Pro, feel that they have solved the enigma of audio alchemy.  I have yet to hear this technology in action, if any of you folks out there have, please pop me a line and let me know what you thought of the experience, I'll be sure to pass it along here as an update!

06.11.06    Feel it... slowly... slipping... away...  This must surely be the sordid reality of large record companies as bands begin to distribute their own work online.  Case in point: I was listening to Paradise Radio today and heard a band who's music I liked: Vast.  From what I can gather, they have been around for quite some time, but I have simply never heard of them.  On their www site one finds that they are selling their music direct to the public for $7.00 USD for an 'LP': the download format is 320KB/s MP3 without DRM.  They get it!  Dear record company executives: "Hello" & "Goodbye"!

03.11.06    The Weekend: that beautiful time is upon as again - we get to walk away from the chains of work and get down to some wine, woman and song!  Does anyone remember Cracker?  Ya, that oddly-named band from California, who, like Government Mule, seem to continually resurface with 'yet another' LP.  They have been so kind as to post a whack of DRM-free music on their www site (I love that - a band that 'gets  it'), for your listening pleasure.  There are 28 songs on their music download site, they ask for a very basic registration, for which you can use any working email address.  Type in an email addy', click Subscribe, check your email a few moments later and collect your password - that's it, login, rock on!

03.11.06    After spending a few bucks on a mechanical CD / DVD scratch-remover - and being completely disappointed with the results - I'm happy to pass along a bit of wisdom care of those computer geeks over at HardwareSecrets.com

03.11.06    Here's an eyeful of video clips from CEDIA 06' - pour a nice big glass of vino and set aside some viewing time folks!  If you are running Windows Media Player you can double-click on any of the videos once they begin, and view the decent resolution clips full-screen.

03.11.06    Several days ago I mentioned an excellent online web-based radio station known as Radio Paradise (two massive thumbs up!).  Today I discovered that not only are they providing some of the highest fidelity, interesting and entertaining web-radio on earth, but that they are also offering to give away a Roku Soundbridge radio as part of a membership drive.  I dig it!  So, putting my money where my mouth is - I signed up as a supporter and entered the contest - I suggest that its a great investment!

02.11.06    An interesting perspective / behind the scenes look at the Q/A process from the point of view of a client of Digital Disc Mastering Inc.

02.11.06    Just for kicks: and because my own personal experiences fall in line with what this cat has to say, I bring you my favorite article: The 10 Biggest Lies in Audio (Two very large thumbs up - Adobe PDF document)

02.11.06    I may have found the 'reading mother-load here: The link brings one to Affordable Audio's main Adobe PDF download site, a location featuring free downloads of all 11 issues of said online audiorag.  They put out a pretty interesting zine', complete with reviews of old and new kit alike.  In addition, it features a DIY section, several music reviews, feedback and a pretty decent layout.  As with all A/V magazines however, it does host advertising, thus, there is a bias no matter what.  Additionally, the writers are deluded cable-geeks - which doesn't hold much water with me...  The biggest kick I received was their reviews of old-school equipment, much of what many of us have owned or spent time with at friend's homes.  Worth a look.

02.11.06    Hmm, what music to cruise into the second day of November... The Decemberists are getting a lot of great press these days, perhaps that would fill the void between summer and ski season?  Click away here and then on the little birdie on the left hand side of the screen.  A pop up window will appear and very soon the sweet music of the band will flow.  As is so often the case, what you are hearing is a streaming MP3 file: the likes of which is now stored in your Internet Explorer 'Temporary Internet Files' folder - in case you want to listen more at a later date while off line...  Personally speaking, I really like the first track: Summersong.

01.11.06    November - ya man, we made it - and live to rock another day!  Kick out the jams with a little bit of classic rock from The Silos and their track Behind me now.  By the way, click the Zeppelin image above to hear the best cover of Zep's Achilles Last Stand I have head to date - this, from a bunch of kids between the ages of 13 -15!

01.11.06    What, besides a stiff breeze, is blowing through your town?  Lets have a look: I often choose Winnipeg as they are more or less the center of our fine land, and if bands are coming through there, chances are, they are on their way East or West...  I'll be damned -America is on tour around the World in 07'.  Bloody-el' man, who among us has not found themselves with 'A horse with no name' stuck in their heads for hours... just me huh...?  Anyway, this is some beautiful music, get yer' arses out there and listen: check out their tour schedule for more information.

01.11.06    Wow - here is a masterful telling of the whole 'audio thing' from square one on up: Intel Press (yes, that Intel) Presents Audio In The 21st Century.  A multi-part series of excerpts from the book of the same name by Scott Janus.

01.11.06    This is purported to be an alternate ending to Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey... not too sure if that's true or not, but I do know that its one of my favorite old-school Floyd tracks!  Have a listen, crank the shit outta' that little PC speaker system!

01.11.06    Black Sabbath under any other name would be... Heaven & Hell.  Looks like the old boys are getting back together with Dio for a tour this coming year!  No Ozzy mind you, but those familiar with Dio's Holy Diver or Sabbath's Mob Rules LPs will know this is a good thing!  I for one, will attend any concert with Dio as the headman that swings into my neck of the woods!

31.10.06    A short while back I gave you a link to an interview with one of the old masters - here is another to pique your interest in the genera!  A doubt that there's a man, woman or child reading this who hasn't heard of Bo Diddley - well, here's your chance to hear him out!

31.10.06    Mix Magazine has some great food for thought in this article about how our culture is so adapt to reproduced sound that one wonders what the future will hold for young, upcoming music producers...

31.10.06    A master discusses the masters!  Have a peek at what John Mayall had to say when asked what artists one might look into if they were just getting to know the Blues (nice collection of streaming Real Audio files).

31.10.06    Copying own CDs should be legal.  It is not the music industry's job to decide consumer rights, says IPPRa, a think-tank that has called for outdated copyright laws to be rewritten to take account of new ways people listen to music, watch films and read books. (BBC News).

30.10.06    Rocktober is slip sliding away my friends!  Lets celebrate the coming of November by introducing you to Radio Paradise and its 192Kb/s (!) feeds - right now I am listening to the oh-so-fine Harry Manx and his track Bring that thing.

30.10.06    Wow - the weather is just damned blustery across our great nation!  The weekend was great however, a group of us 40-something lads climbed for hours upon hours to the top of a local range on our mountain bikes - up to the local snow level (!) and then flung our bodies to the mercy of fate!  Nothing like speed to bring a smile to one's cheeks!  Even caused me to gush forth with a new mantra: God is gravity - Gravity is God!  What does all of this have to do with audio?  Not too damned much, but lemme' tell ya' a little secret: while we were out there a bunch of us were singing out the lyrics to Folsom Prison Blues and when I arrived home this evening I just had to hear some Cash!  On the Net' I went, off to JC's www site and low and behold - what did I find but a media player that streams MP3s from the last LP American V - A Hundred Highways.  I encourage you to go and visit his site, click on MENU at the top left and then on Music from the pop-down menu.  Now here's the great thing - all of the streaming MP3 are stored in your Internet Explorer's Temporary Internet Files folder... :-)

30.10.06    How and Why To Build a Hush Box For Your Projector - a cool article that will be of interest to any of you who own a projector!

30.10.06    Use your aeroplan miles to rock!  Check it out: Aeroplan air miles get cha' rockin'!  I was perusing the list of 'stuff' that one can acquire through the reward program and I see Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Cash, Paul McCartney, the Stones and a bunch of other stuff is available.  The options include CD and DVD selections.  Just a cool way to burn off some air-miles if you aren't using them for anything else anyway!

30.10.06    You know by now how much I love a fair shake on audio kit, you've heard how much I dig Canadian made products - put em' both together and you've got one happy cat!  Canuck loudspeaker manufacturer Reel Acoustics does just that!  Check out their www site and read a few of the Canadian reviews of their gear - nice work boyz'!

27.10.06    Not really an advert', more of a show of support - I've recently done business with a company called Garage A Records down in the States' - and they have proven to be an absolute deal of the century as far as product quality and price!  They had better rates on a replacement stylus than even eBay!  Also, they are currently flogging a really nice Audio Technica phono cartridge: the AT44OMLa, for less than half the cost I could find anywhere else on the Net'.  The aforementioned cartridge is quite highly touted in the budget / Moving Magnet audiophile forums these days, and a hair over a hundred bucks Cdn., including shipping - it looks to be a deal to beat!

27.10.06    I'm gonna' repeat myself - just this once - (?) and point out an amazing band that I am listening to right now: Seven From The Village - dig their track Song for the fields.  I first brought this to your collective attention Oct 5th/06', but damn man, its so bloody good - Crank the freaking' Shiite outta' it!  For those in the know, and running IE: the MP3 file that was played back by the viewer utility is now stored in your Temporary Internet Files folder...

27.10.06    Where is the great live Rock & Roll at?  Its all over the damned place!  Check out the Tragically Hip as they tour across Canada this winter: Their schedule (Oct 06 to Feb. 07), is listed here.

27.10.06    Call me nostalgic, call me late for supper, but don't call me over to listen to your new-fangled hi-fi system that you swear has much better 'this' or superior 'that' compared to a component build 20 years ago!  I damned well dig old-school - and to that end, I present you The Vintage Knob! (Vintage audio online museum).  Check out the Denon DP80 or POA-8000 for instance, ya' baby - that's what I'm talkin' about!

27.10.06    Bloody-Hell: I quite simply stand amazed at the stuff I find 'out there' on the Net'.  Check out a track from Bobby Bare Jr.'s latest LP: The Longest Meow - and the cut The Heart Bionic.  This >> Rocks!

26.10.06    Now here's a different topic: extended warranties - ModernHomeTheater.com has a very interesting look at the pros and cons of extended warranties with regards to A/V kit.

26.10.06    Blues baby blues - I love dem' blues!  The North Mississippi All-stars provide, for your listening pleasure: Moonshine from the Electric Blue Watermelon LP, Bad bad Pain from Polaris, Sugartown from 51 Phantom and Shake em' Down from the Shake hands with Shorty release.

26.10.06    Stumbled upon an amazing A/V discussion forum last night - AV Talk - in the UK.  Take for instance, their subwoofer comparison.  You'll be stunned at the sheer volume (pun?), of measurements they have taken the time to render - kudos all round'!

26.10.06    Yet another 'we review all of the monitors on the market' grand overview, this time from Business Week Online.  Folks doing footwork like this are sure helpful to those who don't feel inclined to surf through hundreds of pages of reviews on their own.

25.10.06    The Washington Post (of all places), offers us this quick & dirty, but accurate - overview of portable digital audio / technology purveyors and where it looks to be headed - a short but good read.

25.10.06    The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams (R.I.P.)  Literature's greatest mindfuck - on MP3 for your (free & guiltless) pleasure!

25.10.06    So many damned bands!  Its getting difficult to imagine how there can be so many artists that languish undiscovered.  Case in point: check out NYC's The Headsets.  They have made a few tracks freely available on the internet, check out enemies for a taste of their talent.

25.10.06    Not so much an A/V/ post as a PC A/V one: Looks like Creative Labs has created a Web Cam that also features 'Bose-like' noise canceling technology.  Now you can talk over the Internet without the noise pollution of those around you.

25.10.06    For all you '24' fans out there, (I'm sorta' one of ya'), Fox has produced a teaser of sorts to highlight the season opener in January 07'.  Check out the titillating thrills here.  

25.10.06    Sony, Sony, Sony - are these guys cursed or what?  News today that their long anticipated Blu-Ray player, the BDP-S1 is delayed...[again].  CE-Pro has all the gory details.

25.10.06    A/V Guide brings up an excellent look at the new kid on the block: The Media Server.  Think Squeezebox - but add a few thousand dollars!  It turns out that a number of companies that I had no idea were involved in the genera, are in fact deeply into the Media Server game:

• Escient Fireball E2-200
• ReQuest AudioReQuest F4.800
• Yamaha MCX-2000
• McIntosh MS-300
• Cambridge Audio Azur 640H

25.10.06    Pats on the back all round' for our local boys: The Cruzeros who came 'oh-so-close' to winning a bunch of metal at the Western Canadian Music Awards in Winnipeg yesterday.  Close but no cigar - still, a bunch of nominations equals getting their name out there and hopefully a few more CD sales!  The boys have graciously supplied us with a few tracks on their www site to freely enjoy - All tracks are from their El Nino LP: Tangled up in you | Dig myself out of this hole | Roses & a cross | Believe me, I know.

24.10.06    Listen to much Deep Purple when you were growing up?  Perhaps you still do?  I happened upon the Deep Purple Appreciation Society's www site last evening - there is some pretty cool stuff about DP there, unfortunately, no music to download.  Deep Purple does however have a page on the ubiquitous MySpace site.  There you can listen to the new stuff... but not any of the classics (bummer - as the new stuff totally sucks IMHO)  A visit to the band's actual www site reveals that they sell all kinds of crap, but not their music from the site?  Have the old coots lost it?

23.10.06    Good Monday morning to ya'!  Hope you all had an excellent weekend, lots of fun and none of the nasty work nonsense!  Did my fair share of riding and exploring the backwoods of Kelowna and area, nary an electronic device in sight!  Lets kick off the work week with a taste of music - The National is an odd band with odd music, but I actually dig it: check out the track Slipping Husband to hear what I mean.

23.10.06    Soundstage Magazine isn't my compass to all things audio by any means, but I do dig the occasional article they publish: such as this one titled "How we test loudspeakers".  It an easy read and you are sure to learn a thing or two about acoustics.

23.10.06    More music?  How about something completely different: a little bluegrass, a dash of folk and a lot of heart: The Beacon Hillbillies and their track Midnight Sun. (256KB/s MP3)

23.10.06    There's confidence, there's hopeless optimism and then there is the Xmod X-Fi Module from Creative Labs.  It claims to attain the lofty goal of "restoring MP3 music beyond studio quality"... cough...  I don't know what is 'beyond' studio quality, I mean - better than the master tapes?  Sounds like a barrel of bullshit to me: would however, love to hear from any of our readers who have actually used the damned thing.

23.10.06    'In the news': The massive multimedia & PC corporation; Logitech, has purchased unique audio device manufacturer Slim Devices, makes of the popular Squeezebox and audiophile device Transporter.  I can only imagine that their manufacturing capabilities will drive down the price of cool products such as the Transporter!  Slim Devices / Logitech even have an online discussion forum if you're interested.

21.10.06    Don't usually post on weekends, but hey there, look at this: The Western Canadian Music Awards are going' on in my old stompin' grounds - Winnipeg MB this Sunday!

20.10.06    I love the blues, I guess its no secret around here, and I dig hearing the old cats of the genera speaking about the scene, their history etc.  One of those aforementioned old-schoolers is Clarence Gatemouth Brown.  Click on his name to hear the man speak!  The file is fairly large at 7.3 megabytes, so it might take a while to kick in - thought, those of you with Apple's Quicktime player will find that it starts to stream in real time quite quickly, the rest of ya', just right-click and 'save-as'   Enjoy!

20.10.06    I wonder if this keeps record execs' up at night: it appears that good old Google - that oracle of all, just happens to be a great way to locate music on shared folders 'out there', on the Internet!  As of late, I've been seeing an awful lot of links suggesting that by typing (copying/pasting) the following search string: "band" last modified mp3 "index of" -html -htm -php -asp into Google, and modifying the word band to read whatever musician or group you like, one can locate loads of music by said artist / band.  Now, I wouldn't actually try this as it would be illegal... unless of course, the artists were part of the 'open music' movement or perhaps the copyright on the particular music you sought was expired...   As an aside, I suggest you substitute the search string entry MP3 with the term flac.  That way, the (copyright free) music you seek will be of a very high caliber fidelity-wise.  If you don't know what a .flac file is, read this.

20.10.06    It appears that the store that we all love to hate - is doing something that we are all gonna' love!  Word is that Wal-Mart is pressuring record sales executives to provide CDs at a lower cost to them in order that Wal-Mart can, in turn, provide us with cheap (ish) CDs.

20.10.06    While listening to CBC Radio this afternoon I was introduced to a very interesting band - one consisting of members of a Sierra Leone refuge camp.  I really dig reggae as well as various musical styles of South African countries, so these cats interested me and really caught my ear.  Their style has previously been presented to the picky North American ears through several excellent albums released by Paul Simon in the late 80s / early 90s, but has never really gained a foothold here - unless you consider the bastardized style that is Rap... (yikes!), as being South African.  Getting to the point: check out the sounds of the SLRC here.  There is also a movie to go along with the music, I just haven't ever seen it on the shelves of my local Blockbuster - and I won't hold my breath...

20.10.06    Classic audio geeks rejoice!  I've stumbled upon another 'vintage reunion' www site, this one sporting some of my favorite old-school kit from, among others: Denon.  I have a real keenness for their massive turntables from days gone bye...  Enter The Hi-Fi Museum.

19.10.06    This is gonna' be a short one my friends, cause' I'm up to my tits in pumping out invoices and working on contacts for an upcoming presentation I'm giving to push through a bike skills park in the city I live in.  Anyway, that's not your problem, its mine: and I deal with my problems by listening to music - in this case Blues - care of Willie King and The House of Blues www site.  Check out I am the Blues (192Kb/s) as well as a cool interview with Willie.

19.10.06    Seems like they are simply messing with that part of your brain which harbors morality, but any way you slice it, finances directed towards research for cures to our societies maladies are a good thing.  Apples has released (another) iPod, this time specifically to raise money to fight diseases such as AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria ($10.00 per unit sold).

19.10.06    Run for cover - The 'shirts' have snapped!  Bloody Hell, they've gone and sued nearly 8000 individuals for sharing music on the Internet.  If you do the downloading thing, (don't, just download from bands and their sites), make sure that your 'shared folder' is empty!  Some say that instant messaging is the future of file sharing... I dunno', but I can guarantee that it doesn't lay in pirate peer-to-peer applications.

19.10.06    Quickie link to Fat Wreck Records www site for a taste of The Mad Caddies and their track 'Drinking For 11'  Its different - coming from a record label that's mostly known for it's punk rock content.

18.10.06    Ye', the new generation is listening to what we grew up on - but with a twist!  Check out Me First & The Gimme-Gimmes version of Cat Steven's Wild World.  If that don't bring a smile to your face, I don't know what will! (192KB/s MP3 compliments of their label's homepage)

18.10.06    Wish I could offer you a full download of this lovely lady, but alas, she got some bad advise and only posted very short 'clips' from her three LPs.  At any rate, do check out her homepage and discover what Rebekka Bakken sounds like.  I am stunned by her beauty and blown away by her voice!

18.10.06    Remember how it all started?  Napster!  In the eyes of the shirts at was the equivalent of Satan or Idi Amin!  Then came the wave of music download applications, hundreds of which now exist!  Through it all, there was a clear sense of "what they are doing... technically speaking... is wrong".  As such, most of the sites go offline in reasonably short timeframes.  What the hell then, is this cat doing?  I mean, type in any big-name band, and the site appears to be offering at least one of their entire LPs (in Mp3 file format), for free download.  He doesn't have any banner advertisements, spyware or crap, so I don't see how he's paying the bills.  A site like [this], with text and links to remote servers for MP3s (band / label sites), can get away with the free/ hobby aspect, but what the site in question appears to be offering would chew through a bloody shit-load of bandwidth and $$$, yet... anyone care to explain?

18.10.06    A comprehensive overview of flat panel monitors has recently been released by Sound & Video Contractor magazine (online).  It pretty much covers all the ground you would imagine... and then some!

18.10.06    When you hear the word Torrent, do you think about heavy rainfall or an online music service?  If its the former, you have a bit of a learning curve ahead of you and the following paragraph may not mean much: if its the latter however, this Pink Floyd site may be your cup of tea!  They appear to trade only .FLAC formatted files recorded in live concert settings - that is, no pirated commercial music.

18.10.06    Confirmed a deal that will be bringing me a PS Audio HCA-2 Power Amplifier today, that got me thinking that it's technology might make for an interesting article on the site.  A quick 'Google' found me reading an absolutely excellent article that AV Guide put out a year or so back.  This is, in fact the most comprehensive article I have read on the subject of Class 'D' Amplification.  If that's not enough for ya', there is even a forum that deals with Digital amplifiers!

17.10.06    Ya man, that was another nice, extra-long weekend for yours truly - and hell, I even had a great excuse: it was my birthday.  Well, not only my birthday, but that of my 'other half' too!  Our B-days are back to back 15th/16th.  Now that the Cabernet-Sauvignon / Merlot / Shiraz fog has eased somewhat, I can once again write a few missives on this, my favorite www site!  Lets start with music shall we - always a favorite of mine, and yours I'm sure!  Suck up some of Cleveland, Ohio's 'New Lou Reeds' and their track Lookin' for a Boogaloo  Its raw, dirty, blues meets bayou on acid in a dingy pub - I dig it!

17.10.06    Hi-Def Digest has just published a discussion about the new 50 Gigabyte Blu-Ray standard and Adam Sandler's new comedy 'Click,'  Read up on it here.

17.10.06    Always a well of knowledge, Audioholics.com offers up this interesting paper on the audibility of harmonic distortion

17.10.06    Ever get the urge to design & build your own loudspeakers?  This site appears to be the place to go in order to fulfill your transducer production fantasies.

17.10.06    The United States and Russia are close to settling their intellectual property differences, and that could put AllofMP3.com in a tough position.  According to the Russian Minister of Economics and Trade, piracy worries are no longer a hurdle in World Trade Organization talks, and he expects a finalized deal by the end of the month. In principle, they have agreed with the US on all questions connected with intellectual property rights.  Last week, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab elevated intellectual property issues, and positioned them as a key stumbling block for Russian acceptance into the WTO. She specifically singled out popular digital download service AllofMP3.com as a prime example of rampant piracy, and demanded that it be shut down.  The service, which has been ranked as the second most popular in Britain will have to fight for its survival.  In response, AllofMP3's parent company Mediaservices announced a press conference this morning to give their perspective on the conflict. "Universal, Warner Music, Sony BMG and EMI have repeatedly mischaracterized the company as part of a campaign to secure a more favorable royalty structure," said the company in a release.  "Mediaservices is convinced that its business model is legitimate and that it maximizes demand for music and spurs consumers to buy more music."  My take on all of this: get it now, cause it isn't gonna' last!

13.10.06    Weekends... what a beautiful thing!  This past workweek with its prior long weekend and subsequent short work-week was absolutely perfect.  Four day work weeks are the cats ass, I must make every attempt to develop it into the norm in my life!  Ok, howz' about some good rockin' music to take you into the weekend?  Lets kick off with Victoria. BC's own Leeroy Stagger and his track Depression River, want more?, check out I Break Hearts.  I dig his style, and the fact that he's a Canuck rocks!  Need even more?, his www page has loads of samples (not full downloads) visit him.

13.10.06    I know that I should have 'gone off' about this LP before, but recently my admiration of it was rekindled by a friend (tnx. Islander), who laid a CD on me.  The music I speak of is none other than Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris's 'All The Road Running'.  This, my fine friends, is one stylin' recording - one that I would love to have on vinyl, even though the CD sounds absolutely stellar (its an album artwork thing, those over thirty-somethings will understand).  For a peek at what it sounds like, albeit, in low-fidelity streaming format, check out Emmylou's homepage.  Remember albums that kept you hitting the 'replay' button on every other track?  This is one of those rare birds!

13.10.06    Now this is cool.  I alluded to this site below, but thought that I would discuss it here as well.  A new label, Zunior Records is offering MP3 files encoded at 192KB/s as well as .FLAC (bit-perfect, lossless file format), music files via direct-download from their site.  This is DRM-Free (The evil / cursed Digital Rights Management software handcuffs), and yours to do with what you will after you buy it - I dig it!  Prices are not as low as 'allofmp3.com's offerings, but at $8.88 for a full LP of MP3s at 192KB/s | or | $10.88 for a full LP of .FLAC format files (FLACs are huge and download bandwidth costs money), its still a hell of a lot better than what you are paying downtown, in the mall or on Amazon.com!  To get a feel for the place, I signed up and took advantage of their 'Free Music Sampler' offering.  This brought me 10 free, 192KB/s tracks in the form of a 61 megabyte ZIP file, along with printable PDF inserts, song info and credits - cool!  All of these bands are new to me - but most of its really great!

13.10.06    Hell Ya - I love classic Rock n Roll!  Discovered a great Canadian band by the name of Blood Meridian the other day, thought I would share some of their work with ya'.  Unfortunately, I cannot provide you with links to high-bitrate / full tracks, as the band has seen fit to post only 'teasers' and rough live tracks rather than actual LP releases.  I don't want to be like Blog site editors who rip and host pirate music, so here are some options: you can check out (clips from) LPs on their www site which also hosts several semi-mixed live tracks, or visit their MySpace.com page - which, while they are quite low-fidelity (96KB/s), offers actual, full-length tracks.  Take your pick, all of them are good if your taste is strait ahead rock.  If you really dig it, buy the LP.  PS: Check out the 'Buy' link I have provided - its to a company who offers the music via instant download in either 192KB/s MP3 form, or, for two bucks more, lossless .FLAC file format!  The prices are still a bit high, but I think some of the independents are getting the idea!

13.10.06    Pod Casting is getting huge on the Internet.  If any of you haven't heard one yet, here is your chance!  Specifically, this one might be called a Punk-Cast, as it highlights a great number of classic punk rock bands that were big in the 80's / 90's,

13.10.06    Don't know how the hell I got on their mailing list, but I hope this will get me off it!  Tivoli Audio keeps peppering my inbox with 'newsletters' promoting their latest and greatest products.  The most recent was flaunting their 'Tivoli Audio Music System' product.  Lets look at this sucker: a little wooden box, two speakers, a tuner and CD player.  The CD doesn't play SACD, DVD-A nor decode HD-CD disks.  What do they want for this overpriced clock radio? - why a mere six hundred bucks American! ($681.00 Cdn.)  I call bullshit!  This is simply a device to mop up the silly buggers who missed popping full brass for a new Bose Wave Radio!  Tivoli - wanna' take me off your mailing list yet?  No?, ok, lets see, $681.00 plus PST and GST = $776.34, add in another twenty odd bucks for shipping and you have an $800.00+ dollar clock radio - congratulations, beautiful...!

13.10.06    So I should kick things off with some music shouldn't I?  After yesterday's Classical vs. Metal fiesta perhaps you're ready for something a little more down to earth?  Today's email from the effervescent Bob Lefsetz (ok, so the crazy bugger sends out up to three a day!), was a real hit with me as it contained a link or two to some great music: Government Mule's Million Miles from Yesterday.  Download it, dig it, crank it!  Speaking of Bob, I've mentioned his name in the forums section in the past.  His missives are completely no bullshit - a lot like we wish our politicians were - not that I would want Bob as Prime Minister as then we'd all be walking around listening to Zeppelin, stoned out of our heads... hmm, on the other hand...  At any rate, I suggest that you pop in on his site and have a look - he comes up with some pretty funny / groovy shit.

12.10.06    AllofMP3.com is back in the news again with their response to American pressure.  Personally speaking, I really dig what they are doing: placing quality (192Kb/s) MP3 formatted files - without any cursed DRM encoding - on the Internet in an easy to download, virus-free environment - at a sane cost!  I visited their site this evening and was impressed to see that I could pick up copies of The Clash - Black Market Clash, John Lennon's Imagine and Neil Young's After The Goldrush for a mere $4.71 USD.  That kind of pricing / quality strategy kicks ass and would give the wining and winging recording industry a hell of a lot more money in the bank than what they are getting now with the rampant piracy & million of dollars pissed away in lawyer's fees!  Perfection in the system might include upping the bit rate to 320KB/s and perhaps making albums $2.00 $Cdn., across the board.  I would buy into that scheme and I know for a fact that millions of others would as well!

12.10.06    For an old-school Tolkien fan such as myself, this couldn't come soon enough: MGM has initiated discussions with Peter Jackson's group regarding potential production of 'The Hobbit' movie!  (Ya-man!).  After witnessing the absolutely amazing job they did with the Lord of the Rings, I cannot think of a better person to do the Hobbit.  Heck, perhaps he can be talked into a Silmarillion flick too (would have to be a two or three part movie - there is just so damned much in that book!)  (Theonering.net)

12.10.06    More [great] news on the impending rollout of hybrid players that read / write BluRay, HD-DVD, DVD and CD.  NEC is up to bat and promises to have chips in manufacturer's hands by next spring!  I keep on with the "don't buy HD-DVD nor BluRay as hybrids are just around the corner" stuff - and hey, look, its true!  (via Ars)

12.10.06    Laser Televisions...  Sounds pretty far out, but then again, so did 'Plasma Television' a few short years ago.  A couple of cats in Australians figure that they have the 'new thing' with their announcement of a device that is to be "half the price, twice as good, and uses a quarter of the electricity of conventional plasma and LCD TVs".  Dig into the story courtesy of News.com.au here.

11.10.06    Here's something different for ya': rather unusual I know, but I don't want to be pigeon holed as a 'Blog site that highlights one musical genera'.  Rather, I embrace pretty much everything - with the exception of [most] rap and pretty much all opera...  And what musical style might I be alluding to? - why classical of course.  One of my early introductions to the beauty of classical music was, ironically, through a heavy metal band called Cirith Ungol, way back in my long hair and leather jackets 'daze'.  Cirith did a cover of Bach's Toccata in D Minor on their 1994 album King of the Dead (Metal Blade Records).  Bach's Toccata, among many others, is available for free and legal download here.  Notice that I cannot link directly to a specific file on that page as the site's administrator has disallowed it.  However, the page it links to is quite generous as it provides downloads of Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin and a whole lot more.  I wasn't able to locate a link to Cirith's 'classical cover' of Bach's Toccata (the band has been broken up for some 20 years as of this writing), I did however dig up another track from the same LP: Grinders rejoice, here's a track called Death of the Sun taken from the aforementioned King of the Dead LP (give the link a minute to load or right-click to save it locally).  How's that for a clash of musical styles - in the same paragraph no less!

11.10.06    As if you actually needed an excuse to enjoy both new and old bands live: MySpace is working with a number of others to put on concerts that will help to fund relief efforts in Darfur.  A "stop-the-madness" style campaign.  IMHO: a fantastic way to spend money on concert tickets!  To hell with those greedy old bastards currently conducting world tours to the tune of $150 bucks a ticket!  Visit this site and make every attempt to attend one or more of the concerts listed there.

11.10.06    In an effort to push Joe and Jane public into embracing HD-Radio, the industry suits behind it are set to roll out some pretty severe discounts on portable HD-Radio receivers.  The headline states that they are going to 'give away' these units, but the actual text suggests more along the lines of a steep discount.

11.10.06    Now there's a turnabout: Limewire is suing the RIAA!  Yup, that bastion of all that is illegal has decided to try its luck in court against the highest paid lawyers on earth... good luck with that one boyz'.

11.10.06    Death Cab for Cutie fans rejoice!  The live audio archive (archive.org), has posted a bunch of DCFC live tracks from a May 6th, 04' show in Seattle: downloadable here.  Much to the delight of high fidelity fans and MP3 junkies alike, the music is available in four file formats: Low bitrate 64KB/s MP3, Variable Bitrate MP3, Open Source Ogg Vorbis as well as full-bandwidth FLAC.  Dig in & download to your heart's content - its Free & Legal!

10.10.06    Tone magazine has been out for a full year now!  I took a look at Issue #6 this evening - and while I cannot say its a realist's delight: the balance of the rag throwing support behind voodoo / mumbo-jumbo power, RCA, speaker cables etc., it does toss normal folk a bone here and there.  For starters, it features one of the slickest Adobe PDF interfaces you'll see, which makes for a pleasant read.  Issue 6 highlights Outlaw Audio's new dual-mono power amplification setup ($624.00 USD and free shipping), which just might be one of the best deals in hi-fi today for a well-built piece of audio reproduction kit.  Warning: the link above begins a 41 megabyte download!

10.10.06    Here we have it: In yer' face, no bullshit A vs. B direct visual comparisons of 'classic' DVD vs. HD-DVDs!  The differences are pretty damned obvious, even for the complexly clueless.  From what I have seen from in-store demos, I suggest that you can expect more or less the same from DVD vs. Blu-ray.  (As always, a disclaimer / footnote - Cdnav.com suggests that you don't buy into either of the competing technologies, rather, wait out the bull and purchase dual-format players which will appear on the market in 2007).  (Credits to highdefdigest.com for the article)

10.10.06    Alt / Rock / Indie etc.  There is just so damned much of this genera of music out there these days, much of it unfortunately is trash!  The oddly named TakkaTakka has some pretty weird stuff to be sure, but the track 'We Feel Safer At Night' has, IMHO, that extra something which makes it listenable / enjoyable.  This link provided above is to their free MySpace page listings, as such, I cannot say how long it will be effective - MySpace appears to sever outside linking in rather short order these days.  In other words - if ya' dig it, grab it now!

10.10.06    Wasn't that just the best damn long weekend!?  Lots of food, wine, friends, family - and Rock N Roll!  Made more than a few musical discoveries Sat./Sun., from blues to classical, punk to metal - and VivaVoc: When Planets Collide.  I also stumbled upon this acoustic recording featuring a group of Barsuk Records artists including members of Death Cab for Cutie, Nada Surf and The Long Winters.  Its available here.  If the file does not allow you to save it directly, don't worry, it'll be cached in the internet Explorer Temporary Internet Files folder.  Cut / Past it out of there if you like the mix.

10.06.06    And now for something completely different: I, the (some would say ultimate) non-HipHop fan - will break out of my rut and foist upon you two tracks from the band Blackalicious and their latest LP (The Craft) - HipHop (around) to Powers and My Pen & Pad.

10.06.06    Progressive vs. Interlaced scanning - what's the difference?  Yet another 'new-to-me site' (Techdigs.net) brings us an interesting and informative article...

10.06.06    Here's a gizmo' site that I have not previously heard of: 2dayblog.com  Their geek-toy of the day is a portable docking Stn. for a whack of portable media players, not just the ubiquitous iPodz'

10.06.06    Might be a little shy on posts today and tomorrow as I have friends coming in from out of town and may just end up spending a lot of time biking, drinking wine and rockin' to great tunes from this site!  At any rate, check out this link if you are interested in learning about what's next in the world of file compression care of the Fraunhofer Institute via this streaming MP3 file (AKA: PodCasting).

10.05.06    This is some fun, and oftentimes just damned funny stuff: 1000's of Videos from the 1980's!

10.05.06    Crunchfield's has to be one of the best sources of information out there when it comes to car audio and home theatre!  Here is yet another link to one of their articles: this time its the 'all under one roof' (my title) guide to home theatre.  Also check out their 'all in one chart' guide to the plethora of surround sound formats.

10.05.06    Are you or someone you know in need of a solid CD/DVD burning program?  How about a free application of this nature?  I have been running an Open Source application that goes by the name of CDBurner XP Pro for several months now and dig it!  The application is slightly slower (need to tighten up the code?), than EZ-CD Creator, but not much better than NERO.  Its been Cdnav.com tested and approved, and its absolutely free and available here.

10.05.06    Yet another new band that I have never heard of, who absolutely blow me away with their sound: Seven From The Village - dig their track Song for the fields (Funkn' A - Crank it!)

10.04.06    Its been too long since I took a look at who is where in the concert scene - Check out James Blunt's tour schedule: Tuesday 31st Oct. MTS Center, Winnipeg, Thursday 2nd Nov. Rexall Center, Edmonton, Friday 3rd Nov. Saddledome Calgary and Sunday 5th Nov. GM Place, Vancouver.  In case you don't know what this cat sounds like, have a listen to his DEMO of Out of my mind from his www site.

10.04.06    Like most of us, you want a 2-channel hi-fi system, but would also like to mess around with a full-on surround-sound system as well.  So, what to do, build on an extra room?  Take over the spare bedroom and blow out some walls?  Not likely...  How about integration?  Inta-what What?  Check it out.

10.04.06    Moving to 5.1 and don't want the BS of string wires to the back channels?  A company called Amphony appears to have the solution: Feed your rear speakers with a wireless, digitally-corrected / samples feed.  Poke around on their web site to learn more.

10.04.06    Here's a real treat for all of you Cowboy Junkies fans out there: FLAC format (lossless compression / full fidelity), live concert audio from the Junkies Feb. 26th show in Telluride Colorado.  Without further ado, I offer up Free & Legal links to tracks hosted on their homepage: Blue Moon Revisited and A Common Disaster.

10.03.06    "Say hi to your Mom" is a one man operation out of Brooklyn who's core is Eric Elbogenband.  His vision is comprised of edgy stuff, pseudo techno / rock, that takes a few listens to grow on ya - but if you were ever a fan of the Cars (ya, you too had Candy-O stuck in your head for hours on end as a lad, admit it), then you'll dig what this cat is groovin' to.  Taste a sample of his gig via the track 'These fangs'.  If its your thing, then there is a bunch more on his www site.

10.03.06    Have a multimedia system in mind and want to do away with annoying wires?  Pioneer is set to offer a solution via it's MT-01 home electrical wiring-based surround sound system.

10.03.06    Those of you living in the Montreal area have a really great gig coming your way Thursday, Oct. 5th: The Future of Music Policy Summit.  For a totally different view on the industry, drop in for a look and listen.  Heck, tell em' Andrew sent ya' - then run like hell!

10.03.06    Many new portable media players are set to be released with some music tracks preinstalled

10.03.06    HD-DVD appears to be taking it to Blu-ray - This, according to tech/fan site HDBlu.com & CePro.com.  Note, we here on Cdnav.com (still) maintain that you are much better off to wait a few more months for the inevitable rollout of combination players that read (write?) both file formats...

10.03.06    UHF ('Ultimate High Fidelity'), that bastion of Canadian audiophile B.S. is free!, sorta...  They have made select articles within various issues freely available on their www site, albeit, with a few of the articles 'edited out' midway through...  If you have ever wanted a good laugh, er, I mean, if you have ever wanted to know what the publication was all about, check out this link (must have the free Adobe PDF file reader installed to view these files).

10.02.06    More Rocktober!  Check out the Rosemont Family Reunion's 'The Kennedy Song'

10.02.06    Good news for traveling media types: A battery that recharges via the USB ports on any device!

10.02.06    Folksy-rock, one my favorite genres!  Check out The Heathens and their track 'Sticking Around'

10.02.06    Funny stuff that reality: If only we could get the hi-fi cable manufacturers to be this honest

10.02.06    Welcome to Rocktober!  For those of you torn between Microsoft's new Zune media player and the ubiquitous Apple iPod Photo, this site may make the decision a little clearer.

09.30.06    Its the weekend!  Ya man, rock on!  Here are a few tracks for your listening pleasure - instead of giving you one or two links, I'll provide Ted & Leo + Pharmacists entire LP in MP3 format care of the band's site.  Tap at cha' in October!  If that's not your cup of tea, then maybe the Zen Gorillas (power blues artists extraordinaire), will do it for ya with their tracks: Fingers & Trouble Shake.

09.30.06    Like science?  Too lazy to read anything this weekend?  If these apply to you - check out the Science Friday www site where you can enjoy streaming MP3, Real Audio, QuickTime or Windows Media versions of the program.

09.30.06    In the same vein as above: This Week In Media, streaming or downloadable MP3 format discussions about the geek media stuff of the week!

09.30.06    Any of you West-Coasters out there into Jazz/Blues?  If so, check out what the Coastal Jazz & Blues Society has to offer on their site.  Loads of great acts come through the region every week, get some!

09.30.06    Its a watch, an MP3 player that stores a gigabyte of data and it connects to your PC via USB... (ya, really).  Its also wirelessly... well, just go here and check it out - amazing stuff from the folks at Engadget! 

09.29.06    Here is some crazy new technology - WinAmp, a veritable oldie in the PC player market, has developed an update for its WinAmp version 5.3 media player that allows it to remotely access your other PCs and play MP3s that reside on those remote hard disk drives -- very cool!  The software is in 'BETA' state at the moment, check it out here.  This will save a lot of folks from overloading the hard disk drives of their wireless laptops with MP3s :-)

09.29.06    Sirius Satellite Radio has their own (sort of) portable MP3 player, Satellite Radio player / recorder.  It only has 2 gigabytes of actual file storage, but in reality, that's still a hell of a lot of compressed music!  The little gizmo is fairly feature-laden, learn all about it here.

09.29.06    Looking to sharpen your speaker placement skills as well as your knowledge of microphone / recording techniques?  If so, read on: 'Spaciousness and Localization in Listening Rooms - How to make Coincident Recordings Sound as Spacious as Spaced Microphone Arrays' - David Griesinger's April 86' JAES article is as relevant today as it was back then.

09.29.06    In an odd sidestep, I am going to provide you with a link to a musician's work that you cannot actually download - just audition...  Won't be doing this often, but felt that this particular track was worth the annoyance of not being able to have a copy of your own (you can always buy the LP :-)  To the point: The young lad goes by the name of Brett Dennen and his song 'Aint no reason' can be auditioned on MySpace using this link.  Personally speaking, I think the song is top notch!  You can also legally download his song 'Desert Sunrise' from Download.com's legal music promotion site.  Its (IMHO), not as good as the aforementioned track, but is worth a listen nonetheless.

09.28.06    Take me back, wayyyy back to 1977 - Alice Cooper was one of the biggest acts in North America and I was an 11 year old punk with a paper route.  Sit back and enjoy his MySpace re-release of You & Me from the Lace & Whisky LP - Enjoy!

09.28.06    Wanna' cram a sub into the listening room, but there is no more space to speak of?  If this applies to you, then Velodyne has the ticket - an in-wall subwoofer!  Check out their 'contractor series' on the web.

09.28.06   Curious about the talk of Satellite Radio?  You too can bathe in the sound of Sat' for three days anyway... by signing up here for a 72 hour online sample of Sirius Satellite Radio.

09.28.06    After all the noise over Dell and Apple laptop batteries doing the Chernobyl, its good to hear that someone is building batteries that promise not to blow up!  Zinc Matrix Power gives us their new Silver / Zinc + water based battery technology.

09.28.06    Was wondering when this was gonna' happen: MP3 player meets GPS device!  Couldn't ya' have at least crammed a 5 Megapixel motion camcorder, satellite + GMS cell-phone and PDA in there? :-)

09.27.06    Give me lovin', give me soul: gimme' blues-soaked Rock and Roll!  Johnny Winter and his track: Illustrated Man (320KB/s - Nice!)

09.27.06    Some video for ya' to help introduce a new product from the manufacturer of the infamous squeezebox: introducing their latest creation, the Transporter, (ya, I know - I think of the movie every time I hear the name too...).  The presentation is thanks to YouTube and, though a little pixilated, gets the point across.  Part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.  (In no real order actually, rather, arbitrarily assigned by me :-)

09.27.06    Set up your TT's cartridge lately?  Perhaps been asked to assist a friend or associate with theirs?  Not sure if what you are doing is 100% on the money?  This tutorial is for you my friend!  Audiophilia presents: A Beginners Guide To Cartridge Setup.

09.27.06    Haven't touched on it much, but I guess I cannot ignore of the phenomenon of PVR0s: Person Video Recorders.  These devices replace recording televised programming onto VHS video cassettes, rather, they allow you to record programmes onto a hard disk that's built into a set-top box connected to your telly.  A great deal of equipment is available from well known manufacturers such as Tivo, but today I'll point you to an elegant option from a little known manufacturer called VidaBox. 

09.27.06    Always an excellent source of information, Audioholics brings us their 'Dolby TrueHD Overview', a good read from excellent publishers!

09.26.06    A friend of mine just asked about HDMI cables and I happened to stumble upon this article that I think may be of help to him and many others. (Audioholics.com)  By the way, paying the ludicrous prices for HDMI cables that you will see in most local shops is insane!  Check out this site - its just one of many on the web that will sell you certified HDMI cables at a fraction of the price of boutique shops!

09.26.06    Always one to dig a fair deal and strait shootin' handshake, I thought I would pass along some information from a company that sends me occasional emails, updating their product line: Outlaw Audio.  Their 200 watt  mono-block amplifiers retail for $325.00(USD) - Which doesn't sound bad, if converted to Cdn. dollars should be in the ballpark of $362.00 or so per channel.  They sell direct, thus eliminating a whack of retailer markups!

09.26.06    Something I was always interested in being involved with as a youth > Pirate Radio is alive and well!  Wired News lets ya' in on the state of the 'industry'.

09.26.06    Neil Young Opens his Archives For 'Fillmore' CD/DVD: The man will be kicking open the doors to some of his greatest old-school tunes!

09.26.06    Willie Nelson cited for drug possession: "During a search of the bus, 1 1/2 pounds of marijuana and several ounces of mushrooms were located"  YeeHaw - 75 years old and still going strong, bless ya Willie!

09.26.06    Click away for a taste of Classic-style Rock N Roll care of British Columbia's own LadyHawk.  Their tracks Dugout and War are sure to please - (tell me if you don't hear some kind of twisted Beatles influence in the War track).

09.26.06    Crunchfield's brings us the latest in 'MP3 Player Shootouts'.  Its always interesting to see who is building the latest 'iPod beaters'...

09.25.06    One of my favorite bands - The Cowboy Junkies, are set to launch a mini-cross Canada tour beginning in November - but this is unlike any concert you have ever attended.  It picks you up in Toronto and drops you off in Vancouver!  Sounds crazy - you damned right, and includes such artists as Fred Eaglesmith and the Skydiggers.  Get all the facts here.

09.25.06    Music lads, music!  Ya, I know, get on with it... to that end, I give you Dr. John's I aint no Johnny Mercer

09.25.06    Sanyo Eneloop NiMH Batteries.  This is an idea that I really like: they came fully charged, hold that charge for a long time with minimal drain and are recyclable after their 1000 recharge cycles are exhausted - great technology!

09.25.06    Sony Combines TV & PC: Finally, this is what many folks have been waiting for, and it comes in a 19" screen version - dig it, but expect to pop around $2500.00 (Cdn.) for the lil' bugger!

09.25.06    Toshiba Announces Introduction of Second Generation HD DVD Players and Panasonic debuts a Blu-Ray player - and yet, I am recommending that you hold off on purchasing a stand-along Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player.  Mark my words: multifunction devices that read / write to both formats plus 'classic' DVD and CD will be on the market in early 2007!  Save your pennies kiddies!

09.25.06    The Art and Analyses of Film Sound Design  Filmsound.org brings us behind the scenes to reveal components of our everyday media entertainment lives which most of us never give a second thought to.

09.25.06    DVD chips to kill illegal copying - Yet another attempt by the boys at the top to reduce losses from copying of their artists work.  This should be a feasible solution for what, two, maybe three weeks before its cracked? (vnunet.com)

09.23.06    Its starts & ends with music: Cat Power - 'The Greatest'  Tap' at cha' all on Monday!

09.23.06    AudioEngine5 self-powered speakers for your iPod.  These $350.00 (USD) speakers offer a built-in charger for the 'Pod', as well as a AirPort Express interface, a three year warranty and 'real wood' cabinets.

09.23.06    More on 'HD Radio' -  Word is that there will be 21 different products to choose from by the end of 2006 alone.

09.23.06    Its Friday, kick off the weekend with some Elf Power 'Old Familiar Scene'

09.22.06    Have been reading through the latest edition of the Widescreen Review Newsletter over the past few days and feel that its a worthwhile recommendation.  This Adobe PDF formatted document is pretty slick, a bit ass-kissy (you'll see what I mean), but also contains a few great articles scattered throughout the publication.  Overall, not perfection, but worth a read.

09.22.06    Here on Cdnav I like to keep abreast not only on what's out there in the motion picture video world, but also, what game development companies are doing.  Not due to any addiction to playing games, I don't own any - nor ever play online, rather its a fascination with what that industry is doing in the way of realistic motion graphics, animation and artificial intelligent.  That said, allow me to introduce you to the absolute cutting edge.

09.22.06    Lemme' take ya' back, way back to 1988 when one of the alt/punk world's most successful bands consisted of the likes of DOA, Dead Kennedys, Nomeansno and these cats: The Butthole Surfers!  Their website has a whole lot of oddball stuff, I've picked out one of my all-time favorite tracks: 'I saw an x-ray of a girl passing gas'

09.22.06    A while back I had mentioned that Pioneer had suggested that it was set to deliver to market a device which would play both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.  Well, it looks like they are not the only ones to think along those lines, other big guns are set to fire off new hardware as well.

09.21.06    Ya man - they're back!  One of my favorite old-school aggressively assertive, politically correct punk rock bands: Bad Religion - are on tour across Canada at the moment and you can get your collective asses down to the following venues to rock out.  Additionally, you can download / listen to their work here (a whole bunch of it!)

09.21.06    How to silence a computer: Hardware Watch offers up this bit of knowledge on the art of making your PC into a 'seen but not heard' device to serve music to your audio kit.  This article covers a bit of new ground on the subject while introducing several new hardware devices that look enticing.

09.21.06    Given a multiple choice listing, I might be inclined to pick The American National Park Service from a list of the least likely place to find information about music or musical history - and I would be dead wrong!  Yes indeed, not only music, but the oldest musical recordings on the planet!  Check out nps.gov's site to audition history like you've never heard it before!

09.21.06    Guess you've all heard of iTunes and its ability to download / view movies?  Ok, now you know...  At any rate, a fellow has made a few rough and ready comments on the quality of said movies along with some screenshots to give you an idea of what the product looks like 'live'  Realistically, I'm not a huge fan of all things Apple, but I don't know what he was expecting: bloody hell dude, its a 2.5" diagonal screen!  Anyway, he does make a valid point about the price - like most things Apple - a bit of gouging going down there.

09.21.06    I'm back (in blue), all rested up and feeling great!  Vacations rock, you should all take one ASAP!  Hmm, so how to start out again - lets kick this site back into gear with a track from Canada's own Rita Chiarelli and her track 'Hound Dog' (love dem' Blues!) and while we're at it, here is another: Slow Dance (a little softer, but not too bad all in all).

09.08.06    So that's it for me for a while, I'm off for some well-deserved vacation time as of this weekend!  I trust that you will all have a great time in my absence: dig around the Net' and soak up as much free music and attend as many live concerts as humanly possible.  Click on the 'Jam Concert Listings' on the left side of this page to see who is playing in your area.  I'll sign off for the time being with a track from Josh Ritter, (a hangover from the discovery of this cat last post...)  Ok, I'll come clean, I really freekin' dig this dude's music - made a road-tape for the trip!  Nuff' from me, here is the man and his tune 'Harrisburg'  Hell, you might as well have another taste of his work: here is the excellent Cathleen.

09.08.06    The Beach Boys are on a Canadian micro tour - Alberta to be exact.  Does this suggest that the oil soaked province's denizens are the only ones able to afford the tickets?  I dunno', not even too sure that I would go to a BB concert if I were given tickets for free...  But there you have it, the five of you out there, (just kidding) who still dig these cats can drive to Edmonton on the 20th of Sept. or Calgary on the 21st to see the coots in the Shaw Conference Centre or the Jubilee Auditorium respectively.  For an earful of their work, be sure to tune in here for a Songs & Experience flashback - its actually quite entertaining, even for a non-BB fan!

09.08.06    Industry newsletter Dealerscope.com informs us that big-screen Plasma television displays have fallen an amazing 62% over the course of only a year!  Imagine what this will bring us by late 2007!

09.08.06    Shopping around for solid state (no hard drive) MP3 players - who isn't?.  Be it for your kids, wife or yourself, these little buggers are handy as heck and sip battery power.  PCWorld.ca has created a nifty little list of what they consider to be the 'Top 5' options out there - check it out.

09.08.06    The Teddy Bears - (Who?)  Take one Swedish band with a British/Jamaican style, add Iggy Pop and you get 'I'm a punk rocker' or, alternately on their own you get 'Cobrastyle'.  Both are great, different, but great.

09.08.06    The old guard are at still at it: Boston Acoustics and KEF are pumping out yet more overpriced loudspeakers along with new monikers for recycled technology.  Don' get me wrong, I'm a loudspeaker junkie, but I expect a little more for a little less!

09.08.06    Friday means music!  How about some really hard rockin' blues care of The Black Keys?  Check out their www site here: now look at the top, right-hand corner of the screen.  See that little reel to reel deck, click on the play button.  If you are using a browser that caches it's downloads in raw format such as Internet Explorer, you are now both listening to and downloading a 192KB/s MP3 track into your Temporary Internet Files folder.  The song is called 'Your Touch' and its a beauty slab of intense blues.

09.08.06    Hmm, a new (to me at least) A/V Classified site on the web HiFi Classifieds.com  Can't say I know much about them, but the web site design is cool and look at that - someone on the site is currently selling a set of my favorite old-school, Polk Audio SDA-1B loudspeakers!  Long live the SDA's - a monster in their class!

09.07.06    Music, ya baby - have we got a treat for you tonight!  Ever heard of The Doubtful Guest?  No?  Me either!  When you hear their music you'll never forget em' though!  Love this stuff!  [Get to he point Andrew], ok, here is the band in all their glory Moment of the Year  What, not enough for ya?  Ok, how about some more freaking greatness?  Case in point: Josh Ritter: Girl in the War  Looks like the Guests are doing the UK thing this year, but you can catch Josh in concert on October 19th in Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom

09.07.06    Always dug history: coupled with audio is a hit.  Filmsound.org offers '100 Years of Cinema Loudspeakers', a good read for the audio/video buff

09.07.06    Got digital?  This is the story of the Dharma of Audio A/D Converters.  More than you ever thought you wanted to know about digital audio!

09.07.06    Got a buzz on and just cannot track it down?  Ground loops can be a real bugger to discern the source of.  Multimediamanufacturer.com takes a look at taming the beast! (Adobe PDF formatted file).

09.07.06    Lookie here, someone has figured out how to circumnavigate the built-in protection (DRM) scheme that comes latched onto every paid Apple i-Tunes music file - nice!

09.06.06    Started today's articles off with music, I'll end with the same.  Towards that goal, I give you The Dials and their track Holy Ground

09.06.06    Any audiophile worth his weight in LPs knows that room acoustics play a very large part in how any stereo system sounds.  Oddly however, many 'Golden Ears' will go to great financial lengths to constantly swap new components in and out of their systems - and only pay lip service to their listening room.  This article should get them on the strait and narrow.

09.06.06    Are you the turntable type?  If so, you'll likely need to use a cartridge alignment protractor at some point.  When that time comes, look here. (Adobe PDF formatted file)  While you are in the vicinity, click here to download a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet (formatted in the proprietary Microsoft .xls file format).  The math is mind-bending, but if you take your time and look over the entire sheet it begins to make sense (scary)...

09.06.06    A few days ago LA Audio introduced us to the Sirius S50 Satellite based portable MP3 player - a mix of satellite radio receiver / recorder / MP3 player.  Today, its counterpart: the Samsung Helix XM2go compliments of Crutchfield's www site.

09.06.06    Evidence suggests that human beings are hard-wired to appreciate music - science wants to know why!  Boston.com offers a damn interesting read on the topic.

09.06.06    Got the need to rock out, 80's style?  WolfMother has a fix for you man!  Those of you into old-school hard rock a la 'Sabbath meets early Seattle grunge rockers' are gonna' dig this group's music.  Visit their www site and freely audition their eponymous titled LP in it's entirety.  Track listings are below.

01 Dimension
02 White Unicorn
03 Woman
04 Where Eagles Have Been
05 Apple Tree
06 Joker & The Thief
07 Colossal
08 Mind's Eye
09 Pyramid
10 Witchcraft
11 Tales
12 Love Train
13 Vagabond

If you're the type to collect cached titles, any tunes you listen to while on the site are in your Internet Explorer's Temporary Internet Files folder, stored as 128KB/s Shockwave .SWF formatted files - playable in your Apple QuickTime player...

09.05.06    Here's one genre that I have, for far too long - been passing over: Classical Music.  In this case: Concerto For Violin and Orchestra - Allegro Maestoso (192 kbps MP3, 10MB - Right-click / Save As...)

09.05.06    LA Audio brings us a great review of the Sirius S50 Portable Satellite Radio Player with MP3 Recorder.  Cool concept: Pull radio broadcasts down from satellite, store, playback at your convenience / erase / repeat!  Now if they can add XM Radio, wireless synchronization with PCs via Bluetooth,  higher bit rate extrapolation - er, ya, maybe next version...

09.05.06    While on the topic of LA Audio...  Interested in expanding your awareness of audio / video via online publications?  Aside from this site :-), LA Audio has just the ticket for you.  Check out their fairly comprehensive list of Audiophile and Home Theatre Publications in the USA.  A few of the links appear to be dated and others lack hotlinks, but its more or less a pretty decent list of the geek news!

09.05.06    Build your own Bass Traps (or cat scratch posts, depending on the way you look at it).  Jon Risch's web site gives a good pictorial overview of the process, with fairly detailed descriptions along the way.  You might want to pretty it up a little, but the basic concept is there.

09.05.06    Understanding Electronics Components - A free online introduction manual.  Hey, nice work guys!  This is an overview kinda' manual that introduces newbie's to the world of electronics and associated components - and the price is right!

09.05.06    Tokyo Police Club impressed me a great deal with their 'Citizens of Tomorrow' single release, I played it for everyone who would listen, and now I'm gonna' spread the word in a much bigger way: the whole album!  Check out this link to audition T.P.C.'s Lesson in Crime album thanks to Paper Bag Records www site.  While you are at it, order up a few tickets for their Canadian tour: Sept. 28th London, Ont. – Call The Office | Sept. 29th Toronto, Ont. – Sneaky Dee’s | Oct. 4th Kingston, Ont. – AJ’s Hangar | Oct. 6th Montreal, QC – Pop Montreal Music Fest | Oct. 7th Ottawa, Ont. – Zaphods.  (All MP3s are, as usual with these kind of sites, spooled to your HDD's 'Temporary Internet Files' folder, albeit, in lo-fi 128KB/s format...)

09.04.06    This Monday's postings are gonna' be short and sweet because, hey, Monday's a holiday in these parts of the world (all hail long weekends!)  Lets start with a blockbuster from Pioneer Electronics in the form of a news release stating that they will be retailing a media player which reads both Blu-ray and HD-DVD.  We've heard this before from LG and Samsung, but Pioneer appears to mean it :-)  See this link for more details.

09.04.06    Now here's a weird way of sharing music: You ask for the tracks and are shunted off to a page full of ads, you wait out the minute and a half before the download proceeds - ostensibly so that you will soak up the advertisement and be compelled to purchase(?),.  In the case of this download, its a zip file containing a great bunch of really classic blues in open source .OOG Vorbis file format.  Check out the line up (Pre-RIAA I must assume):

1. All Night Long Blues - Louise Johnson
2. Long Ways from Home - Louise Johnson
3. My Black Mama, Pt. I - Son House
4. My Black Mama, Pt. II - Son House
5. Preachin' the Blues, Pt. I - Son House
6. Preachin' the Blues, Pt. II - Son House
7. M & O Blues
8. Future Blues - Willie Brown
9. On the Wall - Louise Johnson
10. By the Moon and Stars - Louise Johnson
11. Dry Spell Blues, Pt. I - Son House
12. Dry Spell Blues, Pt. II - Son House
13. Dry Well Blues - Charley Patton
14. Some Summer Day, Pt. I - Charley Patton
15. Moon Going Down - Charley Patton
16. Bird Nest Bound - Charley Patton

Here is the link: http://rapidshare.de/files/29085462/LegendaryDeltaBluesSessions.zip (select the Free option)

Note, you'll need to know how to deal with zipped files for any of this to be worthwhile for you to download.  The password to unzip is bluesdevilmusic.blogspot.com.  These recordings are old, (1930's, 1940's?) and the sound quality reflects this!

09.01.06   That's it for me this week fellow rockers and rollers!  We opened with music, we'll close with more.  Here is Mission of Burma's Donna Sumeria  (192KB/s MP3) - Tap at cha' Monday!

09.01.06   Ya, that's what we needed - another player in the High Definition A/V format war!  Sigh... apparently New Medium Enterprises feels that the confusion of HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray wasn't enough!  Have a look at this.

09.01.06   Who are on tour?  Yes, they are!  The Who are popping into Canada during the upcoming tour in support of their first studio LP in 25 years!  Here's the scoop - (tix' are bound to be sold out fast and furious!)  Sept. 30th: London, Ont: John Labatt Centre | Oct 3rd: Winnipeg – MTS Centre | Oct 5th Calgary, Pengrowth Saddledome | Oct 6th: Edmonton, Rexall Place and Oct. 8th: Vancouver, GM Place.

09.01.06   A concise review of the Toshiba HD XA1 HD-DVD player (the 'big brother' of the two HD-DVD units Toshiba is currently marketing).  This well written article covers all the ins and outs you'll need to know about the device.  I'll stick my neck out and go on record in saying that I fully expect that HD-DVD will win the 'format war' simply due to it's lower cost and the fact that all reviews point to it's picture quality being identical to Blu-Ray.

09.01.06   In a classic Spy vs. Spy maneuver, Allot Communications has previewed a hardware technology it claims will disable the new wave of encrypted P2P technologies over broadband networks.  Ars Technica has the scoop!  The read is interesting in that it addresses the plight of independent ISPs and their battle to balance bandwidth.

09.01.06   "If consumers even know there's a DRM, what it is, and how it works, we've already failed" - Disney Executive.  Defective By Design is pursuing its goals of killing DRM technology (I applaud them) in its tracks with a day against DRM this Oct 3rd.

09.01.06   Could a shortage of blue laser diodes turn the tide for HD-DVD in the battle for consumer dollars?  This report from Game Daily.biz appears to lean in that direction.

09.01.06   Welcome to Sept 06 folks!  Lets celebrate making it this far in life with some music: Brian & the Boys: PetSounds - An Overview

08.31.06   Walk into the local A/V shop and ask about the differences between the various HDMI specs and you'll get a beauty of a blank stare and some obfuscated answer...  Here's the scoop

08.31.06   Creative is busting out (most of) the stops on this one: check out their just released Zen W portable audio / video device and the loads of features its capable of!  I'm fairly jaded / not easily impressed by new gadgets, but I dig this!  Plop a GPS, Day-Timer / Contact Manager, Hands-free Phone and W-LAN Internet Access in the next one and it'll be geek heaven!

08.31.06   The Wailing Jennys are on a massive tour, much of which takes them across most of Canada:  Sept 08 Victoria, BC Alix Gooldon Theatre | Sept 09 North Vancouver, BC Capilano College Theatre | Sept 15 Calgary, AB Dalhousie Community Centre | Sept 16 Edmonton, AB Myer Horowitz Theatre | Sept 17, Red Deer, AB The Elks Lodge,
Sept 22 Winnipeg, MB Pantages Playhouse | Sept 23 Ottawa, ON Ottawa Folk Festival Concert Series | Sept 24 Montreal, QC La Sala Rosa | Sept 25 Gananoque, ON Thousand Island Playhouse | Sept 28 Toronto, ON The Mod Club
Sept 29 Peterborough, ON Showplace Performance Centre.  Have a listen to them here

08.31.06   If you're interested in Switch Mode (aka: Class D) amplifiers, there is a good, (albeit long) read for you here - note that this is an Adobe PDF formatted document.

08.31.06   This is it folks: last day of August!  Hell, that went fast didn't it!?  Lets celebrate the start of Sept. with some excellent music care of Scott Tournet's, from his Everyone You Meet is Fighting a Hard Battle' LP.  Visit Scott's Indie' www page here.   You'll note that this is yet another of those 'spools to the drive as it plays' kinda' web sites.  I don't know if this is on purpose or just really bad web design?  At any rate, as you are enjoying the music, be aware that then entire album is being tucked away into your hard drive's 'temporary internet files' folder in 192KB/s MP3 file format...

08.30.06   Some of you who have been around for a while will notice that I've cut down on the number of categories that I previously offered on the front page.  This included the '6 New Bands, 'Top-10' etc.  The reason is simply that I haven't the time to give due attention to these sections.  Perhaps in the future I'll bring them back, (along with about a dozen other ideas I have for the site), but for the time being, I choose to focus what time I have available on the main page, forums and the Free & Legal section.  If any of you are aspiring authors and wish to pitch-in, get paid absolutely nothing and simply bath in the warmth of having your name published online - let me know :-)

08.30.06   Today's music?  How about something kinda Jazzy', sorta' popish, a little haunting and a nice clean recording?  I know, sounds like a hell of a bill to settle, but hey, try this: Frida Hyvonen - You never got me right (192KB/s MP3)

08.30.06   Change burning a hole in your pocket?  Want the latest / greatest in LCD PC monitor technology?  Benq has just the ticket to extract that extra bit O' loot from your trousers: WUXGA, HDMI, Tilt, 1920x1200 and 1080p HD support(!)

08.30.06   Wow - here is something I never thought I'd hear: Vivendi Universal, the world's biggest music group, has signed a deal to make its music catalogue available on a free legal downloads service.

08.30.06   Have an iPod and like to go in areas where moisture is a concern?  The OtterBox is your solution.

08.30.06   A ghetto blaster that even a redneck could love: The Bosch Powerbox (how's that for two politically incorrect references in just one line?!)

08.29.06   The first taste of San Francisco's Scissors For Lefty (see the Free & Legal section), impressed me so much that I wanted to dig a little deeper.  This second installment is also decent quality 192KB/s MP3 file format.  Without further ado: Scissors For Lefty - Ghetto Ways

08.29.06   Who killed Tower Records?  An overview of the sordid Tower Records story.

08.29.06   'Big Screen' for the kids / cabin etc.  The ZoomBox DVD Entertainment Projector won't blow you away with it's resolution or contrast, but its sure to be a hit at the cabin or for the kids room.

08.29.06   25 things you must know before buying digital camera - a great primer for those of you about to purchase a camera

08.29.06   Wanna' see something freaky?  Sure you do...  I've never heard of one previously, but it turns out that NASA has experimented with devices called Acoustic Levitation Chambers.  Check out their experiments

08.29.06   Bose: every audiophile's favorite company to disrespect - has entered the PC Audio business with it's usual overpriced offerings.  The 'Bose Companion 5' speaker system is a standard satellite / subwoofer offering that will set ya' back $400.00 (USD)  IMHO, for that kind of money one could do better in PC Audio, but if you are a Bose aficionado, here you go.

08.29.06   Looks like its hardware, not Vapor-ware this time round'.  Microsoft's much anticipated Zune player appears to be inching closer to reality every day.  News is that Toshiba will be manufacturing the wireless, 30-gigabyte players.  The device will feature a hard disk drive based storage system, FM Radio and a large LCD display screen.  The latest published image is here

08.28.06   Wow!  Wasn't that a weekend!  I for one, had a blast of a time with good friends at the Seven Summit Stud poker ride in Rossland, BC.  For any of you folks that are into Mt. Biking: do yourself a favor and check out next season's Stud Poker ride!  Its the most challenging ride you'll do in a decade and offers the best single-track downhill that you've ever experienced!

08.28.06   Music, Music Music!  Check out Mandrake: When you're a stranger

08.28.06   Hey Southern Ontario (and road-trippers).  Get ready for your annual Reggae On The lake taking place at The Docks Entertainment Complex: 11 Polson Street, Toronto, Sept 03rd - 06'

08.28.06   TV Makers to Collaborate on Internet TV Standards.  In a move sure to raise a few eyebrows within the population at large: Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, Toshiba and Hitachi have suggested that they will actually co-operate on a standard!  Why do I suspect that we will see a competitive consortium soon announce a completely incompatible 'standard' which they will claim to be far superior...

08.28.06   Eastern Porters - may be a source of projection hardware in Canada to look into when shopping around for new or replacement kit.  I'm not affiliated with them in any way, simply stumbled upon their site and thought that their prices didn't look too damned bad, have a look.

08.28.06   Police raid T.O. counterfeit DVD movie factory: Making copies is fun - but don't get too carried away there boys!

08.25.06   Holy crap, that was a lot of audio-geek toy posts!  Since its the weekend, and I'm outta' here for a few days, I had damned well better get to the point of this place and offer up some music!  How about these three tracks from one of the most crazily named bands that I have heard lately: 'I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House'.  Check out their work in the form of Rachel Corrie, Westboro Baptist Church and Fall Down.  They remind me of Steve Earl mixed with early Stones and a smattering of Nick Cave - with perhaps a smattering of a very drunken Relic from the Beach Combers :-)

08.25.06   i-Bloody-Pod, these things are everywhere!  So too are devices that allow one to plug in an iPod and blast the hell outta' the place.  Case in point, the AudioEngine 5

08.25.06   Samsung has introduced its latest gizmo to the Korean market.  Its a phone that plays mobile TV, Also supporting 'picture in picture' (PIP) function, the B570 lets users watch satellite digital multimedia broadcasts and PMP movies simultaneously.  It stores 8-Gigabytes of music and 5.1 channel virtual stereo... (what the!).  Oh, and its a, um...phone too...

08.25.06   SonicGear has produced a tube-amplifier based iPod accessory that, aside form the goofy name: i-Steroid (!), is visually appealing and has received a favorable review here.

08.25.06   First there was YouTube, then came Google-Video and now we have the old-timer of video compression technologies: Divx, putting it's foot in the video doorway with it's 'Stage 6' service.  Want free, decent resolution online video, go here.  (None of these folks have yet to find a working economic model for this service, what's up with that?)

08.25.06   Pirate music services Kazaa, Kimewire, Grokster etc., etc., getting sued out of existence, and guess what, for every one downed, two more will sprout up to take their place!  TechCrunch reviews four of the newest file-sharing application on the block.

08.25.06   If you get your multimedia fix the Macintosh way: Apple to recall 1.8 million notebook batteries.  Many thought that they ducked the bullet by not owning a Dell... think again.

08.25.06   There are websites for everything these days aren't there!  The fellows at Headphonereviews.org take the common headphone quite seriously, and even keep an up-to-date list of the 'Top 10' headphones on today's market.  Have a look at their picks.

08.25.06   Loudspeakers: I love em'!  What audiophile in their right mind doesn't dig a set of speakers?  I mean, change the amp, pre-amp, CD player, turntable or cables and you think you might hear a difference, but with speakers - you damned well hear a difference!  If you are in the market or just like to browse, I have stumbled upon a goldmine of information in the form of Secrets of Home Theatre and High Fidelity's Loudspeaker Reviews section.

08.24.06   'Movie of the Week!: In the blue corner: Dan Glickman, President of the Motion Picture Association of America, the body that wields the collective political and legal muscle of the Hollywood studios.  In the red corner: John Perry Barlow, lyricist in the US band The Grateful Dead. More pertinently, he went on to co-found the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the pressure group that's placed itself centre-stage in the fight to keep the digital copyright cops at bay.  Watch the video (Requires Windows Media Player - save the Microsoft file format '.asx' file to your desktop, then locate and double-click on it)

08.24.06   Music and the Brain - A 'Real Audio' broadcast with neuroscientist Daniel Levitin.  Very [very] interesting broadcast care of NPR (I love those folks!).

08.24.06   A little on the 'Pro-Audio' side of things, but very interesting nonetheless.  Randall Aiken guitar builds amplifiers: very high-quality amplifiers.  He is also more than willing to share his knowledge and ideas with anyone who will listen.  To learn a bit about what makes amplifiers tick, pour a glass and spend some time with Randall.

08.24.06   On the menu this evening: J.J. Cale's latest musical efforts in the form of a free MP3, direct-linked from his www site.  The sound is unmistakably classic JJ through and through, enjoy!  Also, howz' about a comical takeoff on what appears to be (?) an old Cars tune, but with a Bush twist to it: The Dumb Presidents - Great Big Lies

08.24.06   Its geeky, its opinionated, its good old fashioned audiophile fun: An interview with John Curl (ok, for those of you outta' the loop - J.C. is one of the industry's longest running circuit designers, famous for his clean, straightforward and high-current designs).

08.23.06   Teenagers don’t think copying CDs is a crime, or so thinks Broadcast Engineering's editors.  Speaking from personal experience, I think kids fully realize the legal issues involved - but they couldn't give a shit about the RIAA and its gang of lawyers - cause' here in Canada it's a downloading free for all.  Seriously, I work for well over a thousand clients and nearly every one of their kids downloads music off the Net' left, right & centre - and I don't mean from our Free & Legal section!

08.23.06   Phillips is still working on 3-D television that actually works - and it looks like they are getting a lot closer - especially for common high-definition games...

08.23.06   Weird Al is back - and this time he appears to think he has a message for users of Kazaa, Limewire and such.  His free MP3 is called Don't download this song.  Sure its semi-humorous - but it is also quite unlike the 'sound' that we knew him for all those years ago.

08.23.06   Feeling lonely?  Looking for the ultimate gathering of audiogeek links so that you can share your ideas and read those of like-minded souls?  I think I've stumbled upon our migratory meeting place here

08.23.06   Everything you wanted to know about how a turntable's cartridge and stylus works: but were afraid to ask your grandma...  This tutorial comes care of Shure Inc., my personal favorite cartridge manufacturer (heavy bias showing...)

08.23.06   EAC - What the heck is it?  Many times you'll read the term in online banter between audiophiles blabbering on about copying CDs  / ripping music etc.  What they are on about is a software utility that is reputed to make absolutely perfect - exact - copies of CDs.  Read up on the product here and you'll know more about it than 99 percent of the folks who continually discuss it!  If that's not enough for ya', there is even a support PHP board dedicated to it here.

08.23.06   When I think of NPR, what generally comes to mind is excellent, intelligent television.  I you're like me, then you'll be pleasantly surprised to know that they also kick some serious radio ass!  In fact, their excellent www site allows one (or many), to experience a whole lot of great music in streaming format.  Sure its lo-fidelity, but its free, and for background music while you are toiling away at work or some project - its more than enough to discover new music.  Tonight's act is the UK's Arctic Monkeys - enjoy!  (Real Audio player or - better - Real-Alternative required)

08.23.06   Got a real treat for ya tonight my dear readers: Young Canadian recording artist Jimmy Bowskills singin' the blues like no other lad before him!  If you don't know who J.B is, get your ass off to a show ASAP: he'll blow your mind!  Mix Stevie Ray Vaughn, Muddy Waters and Hendrix in a pot and throw him out onstage: you got J.B - currently at the tender age of 16!  Have a listen and you'll hear what I mean when I say this little cat is the next blues god!  Listen to Link into your chain and Little Baby (brief samples only - but great sounding at 320KB/s)  Here is a video clip to boot - Jimmy opening for Johnny Winter (!)

08.22.06   Ok, its music time - to hell with all this high-tech stuff!  Three tracks for you today, all from our Free & Legal area: Blue Eyed Son (you can read up on them here), are kindly offering three excellent tracks for our listening pleasure: Step Away From The Cliff, The Tide and Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.

08.22.06   Wanna get audio / video from the PC to the big-screen - with ultimate resolution?  MSI (a long-time computer component manufacturer), has just released a video card that supports HDMI.  Read about it here.

08.22.06   Apple is becoming a victim of it's own success with it's iPod series of portable devices.  It seems that every other day another company turns out a portable device to competes with the various iPods.  This week's contender comes from SanDisk: the massive manufacturer of FlashRAM chips.  Personally speaking, I hate Apple's idiotic scheme where files must be transferred via the iTunes software in the converted Apple file format.  The Sansa e280 holds a total of 9 gigabytes of music (8 Gig + 1 GB card) in any of the most common file formats and looks slick as grease

08.22.06   Some crafty little buggers have come up with software that will circumnavigate any (they say), Digital Rights Management (DRM) system currently in use, allowing you to unlock the files for use on a wide variety of players.  If you are interested, grab it before the RIAA shuts them down :-)

08.22.06   Not sure is this is a one-off fluke, or a real problem with a production run - but have a peek at the issues a fellow has described with his Avdeco A/V stand.

08.22.06   For you Mac lovers out there: The first Blu-Ray 'burner' for the Macintosh Operating System has arrived.

08.22.06   Wow - Score!  What a massive array of free Internet radio stations listed in one place.  I'm listening to MyBluesroots.com as I type this... Das' good shit man!  In order to listen you'll need a media player capable of playing .pls files (WinAmp works great).  You need to do some hunting to see which feeds are being pumped out in at a decent bit rate; say 128KB/s minimum.

08.22.06   Inside the mind of a music production legend: Bob Mould (Adobe PDF formatted document)

08.22.06   Are you a Metallica fan?  Me too, kinda: I dig everything up to the 'black album'  After that, well, lets not go there...  Anyway, the boys in black have seen fit to pop off a few free tracks for those in need of a live Metallica fix.  There is a catch: you must sign up for the 'Livemetallica.com Club'.  I hate sign-ups!  However, if you are cool with that kinda' thing, go hard: No Life Till' Leather!

08.21.06   What do you get when you cross a beautiful female vocalist that sounds like she should be fronting a C&W group with a band that sounds like they wanna' be Goth / Math Rock?: The Slow Signal fade!  Have a listen to their tracks Get a Glimpse and 100 Thieves.

08.21.06   More from 'How Stuff Works.com': How does DRM work (the digital lock that stops you from sharing certain musical files)?

08.21.06   Not really an audio / video topic (unless you are using one to listen to your music and watch your video), but & here for the record: Why the hell are all of those Dell batteries blowing up?

08.21.06   Hey all you old-school James Gang / Joe Walsh fans: The James Gang Rides Again!  Ya, in the spirit and era of Fossil Rock reunions, Joe and the original gang have reunited and are currently half-way through a US-wide tour!  Check out their www site for more details.  While you are there, check out their interesting Bio!

08.21.06   In the "lets get idiotic with our money" department" Bose and Infinity team up to bring you the 'Studio on Wheels', complete with electrostatic tower speakers: offered in the 2007 InfinityG35

08.21.06   Here's hoping that your weekend rocked!  Lets start this week out with some techno geek stuff shall we?: What is HDCD?  Many of you have seen the logo here and there, but what the heck does HDCD certification etc. entail?

08.18.06   Another weekend is upon us - which means I'm outta' here till' Monday.   Rock out as much as possible, spend some time with those that matter the most to ya' and perhaps sip on a fine vintage O' wine!  Oh, and music?  How about a clash in sounds like never before:  The Bare Naked Ladies Easy and The Sex Pistols Spunk (Full streaming LP - as usual, all MP3s that you stream from this site will end up on your hard disk in the Temporary Internet Files folder as 192KB/s MP's!).  Hell, if none of that is your style, check out the Golden Smog.  This band is a collection of musicians from Wilco, The JayHawks and Soul Asylum who have mashed together to bring us something a little different.

08.18.06   Lets see, what to listen to today, how about the oddly named Rademacher and their tracks You're never going to hear from me, Playing for fun and They are always into that.  Its odd, somewhat dissonant, its addictive, I dig it!

08.18.06     BrainFart: Shit, I'm flabbergasted at how bloody much music is 'out there' on the Net'  Upkeep of this site involves a great deal of picking through music and deciding what I want to post.  The stuff I actually link to represents (much) less than 10 percent of what I see.  Its not that the rest of it is shiite, its just not to my taste - and you may have noticed how the site reflects my biased musical preferences :-)  I gotta' wonder: why do folks bother to use controversial MP3 applications like Limewire / Kazaa etc.?  The Internet offers Shiiteloads of free music - much of it significantly more creative and cutting edge than anything to be found on commercial pirate networks!

08.18.06   While doing the usual hotlink-to-hotlink jumping around session this evening, I wandered into the www site of a semi-local (Vancouver, BC), recording studio: 'The Hive'.  A quick click on the band list on left-hand side of their site allows one to sample tracks from any of a few dozen artists that have recorded works at the studio - quick & dirty rock n roll!  Many of the listings also mention actual band www sites, allowing further music exploration / downloads.

08.18.06   Ever ponder building a recording studio or even fancy getting an idea of what goes into producing / mixing a CD?  Look no further!  TapeOp.com's contributor - Steve Pogact, has put together an affordable shopping list for ya!  While you are in that area of the Internet, be sure to check out the main TapeOp.com site, its full of cool information!

08.18.06   Was recently asked about wall-mounting some kinda' A/V contraption and referred the cat to tigerdirect.ca, an excellent site to get cheap kit in Canada, (but awfully slow shipping).  Came across this site today which appears to offer a lot of great information about the subject of wall/ceiling, whatever-mounting screens etc.

08.18.06   My daily email from Bon Lefsetz had a few gems in it, notably, this link to chick-band 'The Wreckers'.  If you're a fan of modern country music, then make a visit to check out the music of Michelle Branch & Jessica Harp (aka: The Wreckers).  The very well-designed www site is Flash-heavy, but quite professionally laid out, and the gals aren't too hard on the eyes either!  Due to the auto-streaming nature of the Flash site, if you leave it open/minimized while you do other things on the Web' or whatever, you can audition five songs from the LP as it streams in the background (exactly what I'm doing as I write this).

08.18.06   I've mentioned this in the forums today, but here, for those of you who don't peruse the forums, is an excellent article on modification of room acoustics.

08.17.06   Whazz' on the musical menu this evening?  Whooo, its weird dude...  I'm currently chowin' down on BirdMonster and their track Resurrection Song (Madonna shouldd'a copped that track title).  Later, I'm going to tread lightly into the realm of - you're gonna' love the name of this band: Goblin Cock - and their track: Stumped.  The Cock's play on the penis theme goes much deeper, :-) as the album cover features a Goblin with, ya, you guessed it: an enormous cock!  Kinda' hard to imagine that someone actually signed this group of weirdo's with names like Bane Ass-Pounder (guitar), King Sith (bass), Braindeath (drums), Loki Sinjuggler (keyboards) and my favorite: Lord Phallus (guitar and voice).  Go ahead, click on the link, I know the curiosity's killing ya'!

08.17.06   Alright then, who's on tour in your neck of the woods?  Consulting the Oracle, I find that old-schooler Peter Frampton is in Richmond, BC at the River Rock Casino on the 18th of August and in Victoria at the Royal Theater two days later.  If you get a chance to see this old cat, do so.  Remember to pull out your lighters and yell for 'Baby I love the way'!  On the other side O' Canada we have the Robert Cray Band playing the Air Canada Center in Toronto on Sept 24th and in Ottawa at Scotiabank Place on Sept 26 (don't miss Robert, he rocks the blues! - a small sample of his work is available here)

08.17.06   I remember being at a friend's place in Vancouver back in the early 90's and being stunned at what I saw Madonna doing on stage at the time.  It involved pretending to have sex with most of her fellow performers, grinding her face into their crotches and other amusing bits.  I was stunned that one could watch that on MTV.  It looks like she is out to top her former acts with this one.

08.17.06   Memorex Ships HD DVD-R Blanks, Gets Blank Stare from Consumers: I copped this one directly from Gizmodtho's site - they make a good point - check it out.  Not all of his math is spot-on, but he makes a damned good argument.

08.17.06   Both Samsung & LG Electronics have introduced 50" wireless plasma televisions this week.  Read that over again, note the word wireless... ya, a flat panel without wires!  Dude, I dig the no wires, no mess concept... but I don't know if I'm hip to having that much wireless information flooding the airwaves in my home.  You thought the 'cell phone next to your head' thing was a broiling controversy, imagine enough data to render a HDTV image onscreen, for hours on end - pumping through your very being... doh! 

08.17.06   (More) Memorex info', ya, that Memorex: they of dude holding onto armchair, speakers blasting his hair back, spilling his drink (!)... are set to release a device which will allow folks to plug an iPod into it and watch stored video clips on an 8" screen.  Small, but might come in handy.

08.17.06   Beware of MovieLand!  As it turns out, this new service has apparently been adding what is, in the PC industry, referred to as Spyware onto unsuspecting client's PCs!  Check out this link of new about the dastardly deed.

08.16.06   A moment of silence before you rock and roll... this date in 1977 marked the death of the King of Rock n Roll.  Ya, so some of you might not have been Elvis fans, but know that much of what we now groove to can be traced back in some way to the ground breaking work of the King!  Allow me to refer you to a fellow rocker's page for a fix of da' man's work.

08.16.06   Lets see, what's on the musical menu today?  How about something from the relatively obscure, yet really excellent band Court & Spark, the track Your mother was the lightning to be exact (from our Free & Legal collection).

08.16.06   Artison has released an audio/video loudspeaker which puts a twist on the typical L/R/C speaker array.  The technology is a very basic concept, but a bit much to describe here, see what I'm talking about by pursuing their www site

08.16.06   The day that music died - an audio/video slideshow looking at the New Orleans flooding tragedy from a musical viewpoint.

08.16.06   Tower Records is edging closer to disaster, possibly liquidation.  The once-proud Tower Records has been struggling with mounting debt and
major labels were recently forced to freeze shipments following various
non-payments.  If Tower Records folds, it would represent a critical loss for the dedicated, brick-n-mortar music retail segment.

08.16.06   digido.com brings us an easy to understand article entitled: 'Accurately Set Up a Subwoofer With (Almost) No Test Instruments'.  While there, have a look at the list of excellent articles they have amassed over the years - since in inception in 1990!

08.16.06   A good geek article - we haven't had one of those in a coon's age!  Dig into this professional-sound.com missive about all things dither...

08.15.06  I've always been a big fan of Bruce Cockburn's music.  He's recently opened a new www site that features every LP of his creation online for free evaluation!  Sure the fidelity sucks, but it allows one to get a feel for each LP and truth be known, I learned about the existence of a few releases that I had no idea existed (Night Vision for instance)  Navigate to this link to hear what I mean.  Good on ya' Bruce! 

08.15.06   So ya' wanna rock?  Don't tell the RIAA, MPAA or your mom, but this cat's got himself a funky blog site that you may wish to meander over to...

08.15.06   For those of you who are plotting to push your kid's X-Box into service in order to play HD-DVD on the big screen - here is a little scoop of what's coming next for the Gen X erz'  While we are on the topic of the X-Box, here is a little hack I came across today that will allow you to play XVid formatted DVD rips on the Windows Media Centre.

08.15.06   I love it when a zine' reviews loudspeakers that are good looking, well built, sound great and can be had for a song.  This, my friends appears to be the case with the new Onix x-ls mini monitors.  The longtime online magazine 'Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity' (a pretty decent publication) has published a really good, thorough review on the aforementioned loudspeaker system, dig in for a great read.

08.15.06   Ouch!  This is gonna' put a dent in Michael Dells' slush fund!  Dell has today announced the immediate recall of 4.1 million laptop batteries - cause' they appear to have a nasty tendency to go Chernobyl!

08.15.06   I came across the music of Andy Logan while link-hopping one evening last month and was impressed by the fellow's musical style.  I wasn't however impressed with the [very] lo-fidelity MP3 encoding: 32KB/s (!) that the files were presented in.  Great music doesn't deserve to be heard at 32KB/s!  I emailed and informed him that if he wanted to get a better presentation of his music, he would do well to up the ante with regards to the quality of his presentation. A few weeks later, he emailed me back and thanked me for my kind words and asked how he should go about the process of cranking up quality. Turns out, he has about as much PC acumen as 99% of adult Canadian citizens... not too damned much!  I let him know that if he would get someone to rip a few tracks off his CD and email them to me - I would host them and put in a good word.  So here they are, two Andy Logan tracks for your listening pleasure, in 192Kb/s MP3 encoding - sounding pretty damned good to me!  Ghosts & Move a little faster.

08.15.06   Halfway through the month already!  Where is the summertime going?  I propose an offering to the music gods in the form a little something off Bruce Cockburn's latest LP.  Navigate your browser to Download.com's site, scroll down and click on the round button with an arrow on it.  If, after listening to the track, you open your Temporary Internet Files folder, you'll find an easter egg there in the form of an MP3 at 192KB/s: the song you just listened to! :-)

08.14.06   Lets see, what are we diggn' today?  How about some John Prine?  this is a two-part trick - first off, click here - when the page pops up, click on the 'Oh Boy Radio' link near the top /right, to activate the site's radio player.  Now let er' play and open your ears to a whack of great old-school pickin' n moanin', including of course, a few John Prine tracks.  While you're diggin' it, have a look at John's coming Canadian tour schedule here.  PS, you can close the Oh Boy Records www page, just leave the little Javascript radio player alone and you can browse the web while enjoying music :-)

08.14.06   I previously posted this one on CAM to tease the golden ear audiophiles, but none seemed interested in building one :-), I however, got a complete kick out of the ingenuity involved and simply needed to reprint it here!  I love crazy shit like this!  Like I said before, pretty the damned thing up a little (ok, a lot...), and you could sell a truckload of em' to unsuspecting golden-ear audiophiles for a whack of cash!

08.14.06   More head-to-head, cage-match Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD reports...

08.14.06   Eighty-one years later and Bang & Olufsen are still cranking out unique and innovative (some would say 'snobby'), audio / video hardware.  Their latest offering, the 'Beosystem 3' product carries on the tradition of odd looking, but very functional products.  Its a surround-sound system, a video control centre and a whole lot more, check out their Adobe PDF document which describes this pricy wonder.

08.14.06   I'm not quite sure exactly what to call Audiovox's new thing: is it a compander?, a compressor?  Damned if I know exactly, but it claims the following: "Its advanced digital signal processing responds within just thousandths of a second to reduce volume spikes or boost abnormally quiet scenes".

08.14.06   Looking for your 3 minutes of fame?  Perhaps you think its time to release that Sinatra within ya'?  A new site called Evoca can help you make the transition from 9 to 5 Joe into 95 million dollar vocalist & musician Joseph!  Ok, ok, enough dreaming... but its a cool site, check it out.

08.14.06   Sitting here listening to Neil Young sing an old Ian Tyson song (Four Strong Winds), and remembered a www page I came across some time ago: The Canadian Encyclopedia of Music.  A neat spot of Canadiana, but lacking in a few parts - take a look at their selection of Rock Groups... 4 bands(!)  Perhaps we should help them out with a few selections!

08.14.06   Halo, the movie!  Looks like Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame just can't get enough of blowing our minds.  He has teamed up with relative unknown Neill Blomkamp (Stargate SG-1, Dark Angel and Smallville), to direct what may just be the next big space war movie trilogy (replacing the now defunct Star-Wars?).  Check out some of Blomkamp's previous work (short films) here | here and here (the first is a 16.3 MB download, the others are YouTube links.  All of them are freaky, disturbing and futuristic)

08.14.06   Aint that just a kick in the crackers!  If you purchase Sony's new PC-based Blu-Ray recorder for your PC, the damned thing won't play commercial Blu-Ray movies, just stuff that you burn yourself!  Hey, and only $1100.00!

08.12.06   Like it heavy... really heavy?  How about Slayer heavy?  You can audition (but not download), the new LP: Christ Illusion, in it's entirety by clicking right here.  Personally speaking, their music has never been my cup of tea, even though I have listened to them since 83' when, as a favor, I brought home their Show No Mercy LP for my crazy roommate (hi Gary!).  I however, have always liked their album art.  Ya, gotta hand it to em', those crazy buggers can really pick out some aggressive artwork - witness this, this and this to get an idea what I'm talking about.

08.12.06  Go on, admit it, there's a little punk hiding in every one of us.  For me, its punk/metal to be precise...  I dug what Black Flag did in the early years and still enjoy listening to the prose of their ex-vocalist; Henry Rollins, and his audacious banter.  As it turns out, Henry has his own program these days - check out the man here.

08.11.06  In the "hell, that looks like a good deal" department: Check out Focal.JM Lab's Sib/Cub² product (satellite / subwoofer).  I see it advertised in the latest edition of the Georgia Strait (required reading for anyone keeping up with the local music scene), for a mere $1095.00 Cdn.  That's a good deal on a good quality surround-sound speaker system folks!

08.11.06   If you have been around PCs for a few decades, you've surely seen or played with Microsoft's storied Flight Simulator series.  This year marks the 25th anniversary of the product and Microsoft has released what must be considered to be, by far the most stunning graphics rendering engine ever to back up the legacy product.  You can view some screenshots here to see what I am talking about, or just dig in and download the DEMO here.

08.11.06   Feisty little gal wins her fight with a group of record companies  including Virgin, Sony BMG, Arista, Universal and Warner Brothers.  Read up on the basis of their claim and her rebuttal.

08.11.06   Not directly related to A/V, but of interest to me personally as I look forward to new battery technologies.  Then again, if you are one of the DC-audiophile geeks, it might perk up your interest as well!

08.11.06   This belongs in the 'old-news' category, but I thought I would throw it in there for the new kids :-)  The one, the only, Eminent Technology TRW-17 Rotary Woofer.  It big, ugly, expensive and can help to settle the foundations on that new house!

08.11.06   On tour in a city near you: Fred Eaglesmith is criss-crossing much of Canada, including Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and BC.  The list of stops is a bit much to list here, but check his tour listings here.  While you are there, bend an ear to Fred's work on his 'listen' page.

08.11.06   This is cool!  Crunchfield's www site has a utility that will show, based on input from you, exactly which car-audio units speakers etc., will fit into your car's interior!

08.10.06   Nuff' talk, lets rock, care of The Rosewood Thieves; Los Angles.

08.10.06   The Sony/Ericsson W810GSM has nearly everything popular and portable these days, including a two Megapixel camera, full-featured cell phone, two gigabytes of MP3 music storage, the ability to watch streaming video, surf the Net', send/receive email etc., etc., and much more - but you'll pay a pretty penny for it: in this case, about $550.00(!).

08.10.06   $180.00 for a brand-name (JVC) 12-CD car-audio changer!?  Damn man, that's a good deal!  Best-Buy's Canadian site has this smokin' deal on now, check it out.

08.10.06   CNet TV Beta: Geek Television on the Net!

08.10.06   Introducing Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD, more funky formats that manufacturer's are counting to help them sell us more funky hardware!

08.10.06   It seems like another wireless device to send music here and there about the house appears every few months on today's market.  Add to this list the Canadian company Sondigo and their sirocco 'Wireless Audio Bridge'.

08.10.06   Heavy reading, but cool as hell: Digit-life.com brings us this article which introduces, then explains in detail, how the various audio surround-sound technologies work in gaming environments.

08.10.06   Wanna' install a subwoofer into the car, but just don't have the space?  The cats at Mpyre figure they have just the thing for ya'.  Check out their 65X unit; its a diminutive 6" drive, but offers loads of excursion.  Details and pictures are available on their site.

08.10.06   Whew food poisoning, what a blast!  Been there, done that, won't go back again!  Speaking of sick things: I just got wind of news that the infamous Meatload, yes, he of "would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses." fame, that poetic entrapment that we used to seduce so many mouthwatering vixen in our youth, is offer up round III this Fall.  The LP is tentatively 'Bat out of Hell III' (oooh, original)...  read all about it here.

08.09.06   No posts today folks...I'm one very sick puppy...

08.08.06   Wow... this is gonna' take ya' back!  Remember cylinder recordings?, of course not, you would have to be absolutely ancient to be able to.  The main page's recording of An Autumn Evening, by Samuel Siegel and M. Loyd Wolf dates back to original 'Edison Gold Moulded Records' circa 1905!.  Pretty much, well, none of us, have ever heard one before - but this is where it all started: your CD or MP3 player's direct descendant's are right here.  Hell, they even have streaming 'cylinder radio' on their www site!

08.08.08   Here is something incredibly stupid to do with half a grand!  Buy new knobs for your stereo system.  What kind of jerks think this stuff up - what kind of gullible fools buy this crap?

08.08.08   Have you taken a little time and actually sat down to view the two new high-definition options available to us, aside from HD Satellite / Cable?  I've been spending some time in front of Blu-ray and HD-DVD machines these past weeks and must say, I'm really impressed at what technology hath wrought this time around!  Trusted Reviews.com has posted a (longish), but rather interesting article titled High Definition: The Big Picture that provides an overview of the current status quo.

08.08.08   Will i-Pods and 'i-Pod-like' devices kill Satellite Radio?  Its a valid question, and one that bears investigating.  I mean, why hunt and peck through satellite stations, be forced to listen to what likely amounts to only 50% of what you enjoy and pay a monthly fee?  Nearly everyone I know has thousands of MP3 file format songs on their PC, owns at least one RAM or hard drive based portable device and can operate a PC.

08.08.06   I dig up stories in the strangest places!  How about this one from KCAL Los Angles - Randy Paige delves into what he calls The Megapixel Myth, and for what it's worth, I agree with his statements.  My experience with the past few digital cameras I have owned leads me to believe that one should place much more weight on quality of lens, how long the camera pauses between shots, lack of 'steady-cam' features and connectivity (wireless units are great!).

08.08.06   The first thing I wondered aloud when I saw this was "how long till' it hits portable digicams"?  My hunch: 18 months...

08.08.06   Wow!  I think I milked that long weekend to the max!  Here in British Columbia we celebrated Monday as a provincial holiday, that's why no updates appeared here this 08.07.06.  While I was out buggering about, I ventured into A&B Sound in Kelowna and checked out car-audio CD players.  What I was looking for was a deck that would accept USB 'thumb-drives' as a music source, here is what I found, (the link is to Stereo Connection, as A&B's website does not list the device (!)

08.04.06   Another long weekend is upon us (Yaaaaaaa!).  As usual, I'll not be posting much, if at all during the next few days - one has to get away from these bloody PCs for a few days here and there.  In the mean time, enjoy the loads of information on the site, and rock on with a little Mekons Hole in the ground, I'm so happy and Last night on earth (also listed in our Free & Legal collection).

08.04.06   Walk the line with the man in black this long weekend!  Download.com is offering the entire 'Cash' album for free streaming download on their site.  Those in the know (IE - they read this page regularly), realize that by streaming the music, it ends up on your hard drive in beautiful 192KB/s MP3 file format :-)

08.04.06   Dudes!  Look what I stumbled upon: The Life & Times of Bob Marley - streaming outta' the BBC - An hour and 15 minutes of Da' Man! - Dig in / Dig it!

08.04.06   Everything you needed to know about CD-R Media (but were afraid to ask your mom!).  Another great article by the lads at hardwaresecrets.com!  So ya' figured all CD-Rs were the same eh (me too)...

08.04.06   Acer joins Toshiba (previously mentioned 07.31.06), in the portable HD-DVD marketplace - and goes one better with a larger screen.  Acer has announced it's desktop destroyer Acer Aspire 9800 with a 20.1 inch LCD monitor and, as mentioned, HD-DVD drive!  Damn, now that's a laptop!  Kudos to gizmodo.com for the news.

08.04.06   Calgary gets a new radio station!  Chum FM has been granted a license to begin broadcasting on 104.5.  Their repertoire will consist of mainstream R&R, to quote their www site: "ENERGY 104.5 will offer up Calgary's Best Music Variety. ENERGY will be the new choice for at work listening playing today's hot adult contemporary hits like Nickelback, Rob Thomas and Sheryl Crow with classics in the mix from U2, Sarah Mclachlan, Goo Goo Dolls and REM as well as some of the best music being created by young Canadian artists like the Arcade Fire, Kathleen Edwards, Liam Titcomb, Jeremy Fisher, Low Millions or Andy Stochansky".  The best part is actually related to them dumping 13 million dollars over a period of 7 years into Canadian musical talent!  Just a drop in the bucket for the oil-rich province I suppose, but beats the hell out of most radio station efforts!

08.04.06   Anyone considering coming even remotely close to the North Okanagan on the second weekend of this month should give serious consideration to attending 14th annual Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Festival!  Heck, I'll be there, what better reason to go? :-)  Seriously good entertainment awaits, read all about it.

08.04.06   Beethoven's violin lives again!  Its being played on a new recording German violinist Daniel Sepec played the instrument on a CD of the composer's piano and violin sonatas.

08.03.06   If you've been a Cdnav reader for any length of time, I'm sure that you are aware that there is a new HD Camcorder encoding format being employed in the industry.  Most of the articles I have presented simply state the general idea, none go into detail about the format like this one.

08.03.06   Montreal's Wolf Parade just finished up a 7-city, cross-Canada tour.  Here's hoping that you were lucky enough to pick up tickets and enjoy the show, if not, at least you can sample their music here or download tracks on our Free & Legal page.  In particular, I have been addicted to their track 'You are a runner': its simply not to be missed IMHO.

08.03.06   So you've been looking around at new TVs and High Definition format drives, I bet you've been seeing 1080i and 1080p mentioned more than a few times.  Interested in learning what the heck it all means?  I was too!

08.03.06   Looks like the MPAA has put the hammer down in Asia.  Their latest anti-piracy operation has just collected 6.75 million illegal disks (!) in a large-scale swoop on the counterfeiting industry overseas.

08.03.06   Considerations in Grounding and Shielding Audio Devices: A slightly technical white paper on the aforementioned subject from a member the Audio Engineering Society, Vol. 43, No. 6

08.03.06   Vacuum tubes for your iPod... cough...  Ok, I guess this falls into the 'if you build it, they will buy' category.  I'm speechless, but what the hell, have a look.  

08.03.06   An outdoor subwoofer?  Can't say as I've ever considered the idea before, but obviously Terraspeakers Corporation has.  Their AC-SUB device will bring kick-ass bass to the backyard or wherever else you choose to place it!

08.02.06   HD-DVD ahead by a nose?  In the new storage format race there appears to be a lead forming in the HD-DVD camp.  Several online and print reviews I have read are suggesting that Blu-Ray has visual artifacting issues and HD-DVD has a leg up on it due to it's significantly lower price (around %50 less!).  Have a look at this Ars Technica article for instance.  VIA Arena also has a nice summary here which echoes most of the statements made thus far in the industry.  This of course, by no means tell us who will 'win' the format wars... remember the BETA vs. VHS fiasco!

08.02.06   What the hell is FLAC?  Simply put, its a computer file format employed to compress music files so that they take up less data storage space, yet don't loose an iota of quality (aka: lossless audio).  The idea has never caught on with the mainstream music fans who have embraced 'lossy' MP3 audio, but for the audio-elitists, its the best ticket in town for smallish files and high-fidelity!  Learn more about this excellent format on the FLAC homepage.

08.02.06   Hey Western Canada, listen up: Vancouver - You have the 21st Annual Vancouver Fringe Festival coming next week!  Calgary, you have the Calgary International Film Festival Sept. 22nd to Oct. 1st.   Saskatoon - you're in for the Saskatoon Fringe Theatre Festival starting tomorrow and running to the 13th.  Manitoba, you are rockin' to... well, truth be told, you have no August festivals in the audio / video realm.  You do however have the Winnipeg International Writers Festival :-)

08.02.06  Perhaps you have a notebook as your primary PC and are interested in connecting it to the main stereo system.  Onboard audio chipset in most laptops are pretty basic, perhaps you want something a little more high-tech?  How about audiophile glory for a little over a hundred bucks?  Creative Labs offers their Audigy 2Z in that price ballpark and it sports loads of bells and whistles (5.1 / 6.1 7.1, THX etc.).  Have a look at their hyped www site here and / or an independent review here.

08.02.06  Would you like a simple to understand roadmap that explains the quality of audio MP3 files?  Me too, check this one out.  Kudos to MP3-tech.org for the concise article.

08.02.06  Would be surprised if there were many of you out there that haven't seen this (Adobe PDF), document before - but for those of you who have not - its the single most intelligent document that you will ever read about the High-Fidelity industry!

08.02.06  Damn, missed reporting on the Hillside Festival 2006 by a couple of days!  As it turns out, this was the 23rd annual event to boot!  Where the hell have I been these past 23 years? - blame it on the wine, woman & song :-)  Anyway, mark you calendar for next year cause it looks like the lineup (an Adobe PDF document) was outta' this world!

08.02.06  Oshawa Ontario's own Cuff the Duke is offering up lo-fi auditions of it's entire new LP on their www site.  You can also download three MP3 tracks from their first LP in our Free & Legal area.

08/01/06: Not much ever gets written about these loudspeakers, perhaps because they are so sanely priced that no god fearing / Golden Ear audiophile magazine editor would be seen in the same room with them?  However, I have always liked the look and build of Mobile Fidelity's 0ML-2 floor standing loudspeakers.  Check them out on their webpage.

08/01/06: Hey Regina, hello Ottawa: 'The Devil's Right Hand', Mr. Steve Earl is coming to your fine cities for Folk Festivals in the next few weeks!  He'll be in the Oasis on the Prairies August 12th and Silicon Valley North August 18th.  (Regina Folk Festival and Ottawa Folk Festival www sites)

08/01/06: Finally, a DVD disk for anal audio/videophiles who absolutely must have the best!  Ultradisc™ 24 KT. Gold DVD-R's from Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs!

08/01/06: IP Addresses no longer a legal grounds for prosecution by the RIAA in the United States?

08/01/06: LCD prices dive!  A 37-inch flat-panel 12 months ago $4000.00, the same panel today? - $1100.00!  This can only mean good things for buyers this coming holiday season :-)

08/01/06: WFMU Radio blog site, loads of interesting music and weird shit!

08/01/06: Cool, I've always wondered what the heck all of that DVD-RAM, DVD+R, DVD-R etc. was all about, this site describes it in easily understandable terms.

08/01/06: Not A/V related, but cool as hell - did you know that electric cars have been around for over 100 years?  Me neither!  If you have Microsoft Windows and the Windows Media Player installed, you'll get a kick out of this video

08/01/06: Disney breaks out the flash in a very big way!  Check out their new site which promotes their latest efforts: Pirates of the Caribbean, Cars, Toy Story and loads more.  A great way to waste time before, after or during work!

08/01/06: Surround sound 101 - described as succinctly as I have ever seen it!

08/01/06: Very interesting - a Canadian site for radio producers: Canadian Society for Independent Radio Production.  This little site puts the sub-culture of independent radio production into focus.  Truth be told, the concept simply never crossed my mind before, but the site is full of interesting bits.

07/31/06: The Flaming Lips will be appearing in Montreal on Sept. 3rd at Parc Jean Drapeauon and in Toronto Sept 9th at Toronto Island Park.  These folks rock out with a vengeance - check out their new album in it's entirety by visiting this www page.

06/10/2006: MPAA: The Grateful Dead's Success Was "An Abomination Against Nature". (techdirt.com).

06/10/2006: 101 different versions of Zeppelin's classic Stairway to Heaven?  say it isn't so!

06/10/2006: Canadian company iFire has produced this 37-inch HDTV set is two-centimeters thick and weighs less than 2.2 pounds!

06/10/2006: Motion Picture Association President Dan Glickman locks horns with Electronic Frontier Foundation's John Perry Barlow over big media's war with the internet.  Read the fallout. (BBC.co.uk)

06/10/2006: Lala CD trade site lives!

06/10/2006: Mitsubishi to Release HD DVD-R, BD-R in July (Gizmodo.com)

06/09/2006: Yikes, can DVD technology get any cheaper?  Need to pick up a player for the cabin or the kids?  Check out Canadian Tire's deal on the 'Magnasonic' multi-function player (CT unit #99-3432-0).  It reads MP3, DVD+R/RW/DVD-R, SVCD, VCD, CD-R/RW, WMA and JPEG file formats, ships with a remote control and goes for... $20.00 after you post the $20.00 rebate coupon!  Have a boo here.

06/09/2006: Enjoy a freewheeling jam session?, who doesn't, drop in here.

06/09/2006: Excellent review of Apple's HiFi system as well as a comprehensive overview of the current lineup of 'iPod enhancements' on the market.

06/09/2006: Beginner's guide to digital music file formats, well done Gary!

06/09/2006: The State of Vacuum Tubes for the 21st Century!

06/09/2006: What's with all this Dolby stuff anyway?  An explanation of surround sound modes.  IE: Surround Sound 101.

06/08/2006: What the heck is with this new HDMI stuff anyway?  See for yourself!

06/08/2006: So ya' don't mind paying for it, but you demand a level of fidelity over and above the measly 128KB/s of most legal download sites?  Music Giants is for you - check out their 1092KB/s downloads!

06/08/2006: Think small, and very high resolution.  Samsung has squeezed 640x480 resolution onto a sub-2" display.

06/08/2006: Japanese firm Meizu creates it's own video iPod-like device

06/08/2006: Interview with, and background on - one of my favorite old-school reggae/punk bands: Bad Brains.

06/08/2006: 6th generation iPod spy-shots?

06/08/2006: Free guitar lessons online?  Aside from the always annoying Google-adwords BS, this site offers just what it advertises - strum on over.

06/08/2006: Just when you thought that computer generated graphics couldn't get any better, along comes the Crysis rendering engine - get an eyeful of this.

06/07/2006: Check out PC Magazine's Editor's Choice" in Digital Camcorders here.

06/07/2006: Curious about product recalls?  Check here for American CPSC recalls and here for Canadian recalls.

06/07/2006: Canada's own Unity Radio: no ads, no talk, just music: Enjoy

06/07/2006: HP Recalls Digital Cameras Over Fire Concerns, read up on the issues.

06/07/2006: Completely unrelated to audio/video, but too good to pass up - Check this out!

06/07/2006: Planar Magnetic Driver and Ribbon FAQ.  A great overview of (bias showing), one of my favorite loudspeaker designs.

06/07/2006: The process of 'mastering', explained in simple terms (with some great links & a mini-FAQ)

06/07/2006: Ever wonder how the record company / musician royalty system works?  Here is the answer.

06/06/2006: All of MP3.com breaks its silence.  The Russian 'grey market' MP3 file retail service - in it's own words, read on.  IMHO, this site has done (almost) everything right: Cheap music based on a per-megabyte model, high bit rate files (192KB/s) and fast servers!  RIAA: Open your eyes: its what the people want!

06/06/2006: In the "it was too good to last" department - The RIAA is now after YourTube.com & video.google.com

06/06/2006: So Bob shares his music on his website for free. Yeah, that's cool, but what else does he do?  Click here to find out!  (Oh ya, and here is his www site)

06/06/2006: A bunch more new MP3 files were added to the 'Free & Legal' section overnight.  Check it out here.

06/05/2006: Decent coverage of the Home Entertainment 2006 Show is to be had here.

06/05/2006: What weighs three ounces, offers full surround sound and big-screen resolution? iTheater!

06/05/2006: The US Department of Justice is investigating allegations of price fixing by top music labels.

06/05/2006: Ministers of of Parliament in the UK are looking into coercing music & video resellers to label their wares if Digital Rights Management is included in the product.

06/05/2006: Composers of all nationalities, aged 40 and under, have until June 30, 2006 to submit orchestral works to the first edition of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra's International Composition Prize, to be held during the 2006-2007 season.

06/05/2006: Loads of new MP3 files added to the 'Free & Legal' section of the site over the weekend.  Check it out here.

06/05/2006: The lady of so much talent herself: Joni Mitchell!  Check out her website for an excellent image archive, guitar tab & chords.

06/05/2006: Bruce Cockburn fans rejoice!  Bruce is on a Canadian Tour beginning this Oct 13th in PEI.  Check out the complete tour listing here.

06/05/2006: Surprise!  Canadians dig free stuff!  The RIAA is fuming about the situation, read more.

06/04/2006: Viral video sharing is new headache for music biz.  As the recording industry tries to block file trading of songs across peer-to-peer networks, blogs and other viral distribution channels, the major labels suddenly have a whole new piracy concern: music videos.

06/04/2006: Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman are back together & touring Canada!  They aren't calling themselves The Guess Who, rather, this 17-city cross-Canadian tour finds both musicians saying this show will be an improvement on the legendary Guess Who reunion at the Pan Am Games in 1999.

06/04/2006: You are cordially invited to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA/ANREC).  Friday June 9 Arts Court Theatre (2 Daly Avenue), Ottawa Doors open at 7:30pm featuring a keynote address by Adrian Harewood, new host of CBC Radio's All in a Day The Souljazz Orchestra  http://www.souljazzorchestra.com and Timekode.

06/04/2006: Heavy thinkin' on the weekend?  Check it out: Cymatics

06/04/2006: Streaming Suitcase: Free 'How-Tos' on Audio/Video Streaming.  if you want to get audio and video from one computer to other computers, this should be your first stop

06/03/2006: In the "This won't last long" department: 300 Full length television programs are available on YouTube.com - click here.

06/03/2006: Web-Radio without the PC?  Cool, check it out on our 'Audio-Only' page here.

06/03/2006: Monkey sees, Monkey does...  Microsoft, Toshiba, JVC and a half-dozen other companies are 'ganging up' to combat the death grip Apple has on the portable / downloadable music market.  Bloomberg has the juicy bits here.

06/03/2006: As much as I love the hobby of audio & associated equipment, there are certain aspects of it that make me shake my head: Case in point, this week is the HE 2006 in Los Angles.  A company by the name of Continuum is marketing a $99,950.00 (USD) turntable (!).  That's just shy of $110,000.00 Cdn. folks - what in the name of!?  How about something more affordable - A CD player that combines the transport from a Sony PlayStation, an output section using rare New Old Stock tubes, and no remote control?  That’s the DynaStation II CD player ($6000), said to have a cult following in Germany, and now imported by Avatar Acoustics.  Some people's kids...

06/02/2006: Wanna' learn Dreamweaver, Photoshop or even lowly Word... for free?  InPictures Inc. has made a number of their excellent 'learn by picture books' available under the 'Creative Commons' (Open Source) license arrangement here.

06/02/2006: State of the Digital Music scene circa 2006.

06/02/2006: So ya' like the 'sound' of vinyl, and hate digital 'artifacts'.  Well let me tell ya', do I have a piece of (Free Open Source), software for you pal...  iZotope introduces Vinyl 1.7

06/01/2006: And in the "you've gotta' freaking be kidding" department: The masterminds behind the DVD Regional Coding standard have changed their minds mid stride - potentially alienating HD-DVD machines and disks already rushed to market... Read more here.

06/01/2006: Just when you thought that you had seen it all... A cassette deck that pops into the PC drive bay like a CD-ROM drive.  Yes folks, you can convert all of those hissy, drop-out ridden old cassette tapes into MP3 file format... Read more in our New A/V section here.

06/01/2006: Records By Mail offers one of the most comprehensive selections of vinyl LPs and 45s available anywhere.  Housed in a 6,000 square foot warehouse that currently holds 1.3 million records, they serve music lovers in more than 70 countries.

05/31/2006: Feedback Please!  Today marks, more or less, the end of the first month of existence for the site and forum.  I am basically 'winging it' here folks and would very much like to hear your feedback on what you would like to see less of / more of, on the site.  The back-end counter shows that nearly 2700 (!) people have been here, but no one has left me a note bitching & complaining.  Does this mean I am on the right track, or just that you are too polite?  Please feel free to email me at your convenience.

05/31/2006: Into gaming but don't wanna' shell out 70 bucks for the latest?  How about a free, Open Source (GPL), game based on the latest Quake III graphics rendering engine?  Very Cool!  Check out some screen shots here.  Download the complete game here.

05/31/2006: Are you friggin' sick of links that promise 'free tab', but when you visit all you get is popups and BS?  Me too!  That's why we should all support this site; OLGA The Online Guitar Archive - Home to the largest online guitar tablature & chord archive on the Net since 1992.  Dig in, strum away!  No BS, loads of Tab!

05/31/2006: Tomorrow the PriMedia Home Entertainment Show 2006 kicks off in Los Angeles, CA at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel.  It runs four days, June 1-4.

05/31/2006: A couple of samples (not downloadable - but recordable with a copy of Audacity), of Neko Case's music - I'm liking what she does!

05/31/2006: Its Canadian | its about music | I'm all in!  Canadian Music Centre.

05/31/2006: Dig ringtones / hate the thought of shelling out for software to pull off this simple trick?  Fret no more, download this free software application to get the job done.

05/30/2006: The DVD War against consumers.  DVD component manufacturers rally to find a solution to rampant DVD copying.

05/30/2006: We (guys) carry on a lot about how gals just don't seem to get into music as much as us.  Lets hope this is a glimmer of hope!

05/29/2006: George Stroumboulopoulos of CBC facilitates a group of music powerbrokers including: Glenn O'Farrell (CEO / Canadian Association of Broadcasters), John Kennedy (CEO / IFPI), Don Simpson (SVP / House Of Blues),
Walter McDonough (Future Of Music Coalition) and John Parikhal (CEO / Joint Communications).  Peer into the mind of music's suites!

05/29/2006: What was the name of that band? | they sounded like... | have no fear; MusicMap is here.

05/29/2006: 'This is Spinal Tap' finally gets a successor; sort of...  Les Claypool, the bass and brains behind eclectic punk-funk band Primus, has taken his skills to the big screen and released a film titled Electric Apricot: Quest For Festeroo.

05/29/2006: An Art + Record store stocked with exclusively Canadian works?  I like the idea!  Check out what those Torontonians are up to.

05/29/2006: And now for something completely different: Sling Media's 'Slingbox' Personal Broadcaster ($249 USD list) is a small, silver box that digitizes the programming from your cable or satellite box and streams it - in real time - to a remote PC.  The receiving computer needs to be a Windows XP PC with access to a broadband Internet connection and be running Sling's SlingPlayer viewing software.  But as long as you can find a Wi-Fi hot spot, you can watch your home TV channels live from anywhere in the world, be it Beijing or your bedroom.

05/29/2006: Need to know a movie fact?  18 Million users can't be wrong; check out The Internet Movie Database.

05/29/2006: Enter HD-DVD: What do the slightly biased 'experts' think?  Have a look.

05/29/2006: You live in the big city, but want to be isolated from the noise outside and are concerned about bothering the neighbors when you crank it up a bit; what to do?  Have a read.

05/29/2006: Your television likely has it - but you never use it: The V-Chip.  Read all about this powerful technology here.

05/28/2006: XM Pulls FM-enabled radios from kiosks & online store

05/28/2006: Netflix to begin rolling out downloadable movies by year's end.

05/27/2006: Did you know that Amazon.com actually gives away free commercial MP3 files (bands that you have heard of).  I'm not talking about their ubiquitous 30-second samples, but actual MP3s!  Yes indeed - go here and make a new account, use any email address you want as they do not require a confirmation email or such!  As a bonus, their download server is FAST.

05/27/2006: Cool tip of the day.  Click on the 'Jam Concert List' link to the right.  Instead of typing a band name, type in your city and click on the 'Find Events' button - I bet there are loads of bands coming your way, get out there!

05/27/2006: Better sound in smaller packages: psychoacoustics.

05/27/2006: Senate Bill Targets Satellite-Radio Recording

05/27/2006: New set-top boxes will let viewers assemble their own shows from snippets of different programs, change camera angles for sports events, even stream some Internet programs from the Web onto their TVs.

05/26/2006: Turning the tables - Torrentspy sues the MPAA for conspiracy and invasion of privacy(!)

05/26/2006: Ars' has the goods on DVRs - TV networks say "No!" to Remote Storage DVRs, file suit in US District Court.

05/26/2006: Out of musical ideas?  Don't know what to look for next?  Last FM to the rescue!  Click here man! (Really, its too cool)

05/26/2006: SCI FI unveils broadband video channel

05/26/2006: TechDirt looks in on the friendly RIAA -Their latest PR strategy?: Gibberish...

05/25/2006: The Canadian Music Creators Coalition are: A growing coalition of Canadian music creators who share the common goal of having their voices heard about the laws and policies that affect their livelihoods.  They are the people who actually create Canadian music - without them, there would be no Canadian music for copyright laws to protect! Support their cause - look em' up here.

05/25/2006: MPEG Surround, new audio file format looms on the horizon.

05/25/2006: Hot multimedia deal of the month, NCIX in Vancouver.  I have dealt with these folks quite a few times in the past, they are fair enough & have never done me wrong.  Also check out their pricing on this multi-format DVD Burner.

05/25/2006: 'In Concert - unplugged' video series by Kostas Metaxas (appears to require Internet Explorer 6+ and Windows Media player)

05/25/2006: Audio Lingo for newbe's and old farts alike!

05/25/2006: Paul W. Klipsch - the classic cat himself speaking about loudspeaker corner placement (.mov)

05/25/2006: Fair-priced Klipsch B stock to be found here.

05/23/2006: An excellent Canadian video-only site is to be found here.

05/23/2006: Absolutely nothing to do with A/V, but if you are an avid camper like me you will love what this article has to say!

05/23/2006: Automatically sync iTunes to any folder with this trick.

05/23/2006: LG Launches 8 gigabyte MP3 player, have a look here.

05/23/2006: iPod as the ticket to get more gals into music!

05/23/2006: X-Men Easter Egg - check it!

05/23/2006: Making money selling music without DRM: the rise of eMusic

05/23/2006: 130 German citizens busted by Johnny Law for file sharing on eDonkey.  The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) - the record industry's global body - said each could face five years in prison(!).

05/23/2006: iTunes for Linux?  Read all about it.

05/23/2006: iPod Killers in summer of 2006?  Have a look at the combatants.

05/23/2006: Downloadable TV - The current options - Check it out.

05/22/2006: [Samples of] the new Paul Simon album.

05/22/2006: Weird, but I kinda' like it: Gary Braunbeck reading Bram Stoker's "And now we pause for station identification" Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3.

05/22/2006: A beginners guide to Audio / Video cables and interfaces, learn more here.

05/22/2006: Sample rates, bit depths, bit rates, dBu/dBFS, and audio file types (in plain english).  Have a read here.

05/22/2006: "Classic Records'.  Stumbled upon this label that I have never heard of before.  Looks like they have quite the selection of vinyl etc. from 'back in the day'.

05/21/2006: Music sales slide despite RIAA's crushing blows against piracy, or because of them?  The Register looks examines the situation here.

05/21/2006: For a full explanation of optimizing speaker impedance matching, apply here.  (Über-geeks only).

05/21/2006: A decent audio F.A.Q can be found here.  Cannot say I agree 100% with everything they say, but I can support the vast majority of it.

05/20/2006: You will find this link to the CBC Audio / Video Archives in our Free & Legal section, but I felt it cool / important enough to highlight here as well.

05/20/2006: Fittingly titled, 'Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else', this site will take you back to another day, another time...

05/20/2006: Progressive musicians as they are, Pearl Jam has releases it's latest video "Life Wasted," under a Creative Commons license.  This means that anyone will be able to "legally copy, distribute and share the clip" for noncommercial purposes.  This is the first music video from a major record label to be so licensed.  Cannot say I am a huge fan of Pearl Jam's work, but I like their forward thinking - Watch it here.

05/20/2006: Digital movie projectors roll out (finally), to a theater near you!  Fighting back against the trend of home-theater surround, the big screen's answer is to give us a better picture.  Check into it here.

05/20/2006: Guess it had to happen sooner or later... 5.1 Surround Sound MP3s!  Wish they would have spent their time developing a higher bit rate / smaller sized file... maybe next time.  Read more here.

05/19/2006: Looking for logos!  I'm the first to admit it, graphics design isn't my forte!  If anyone out there feels so kind as to whip up a Photoshop etc. logo for this site and let me use it for free (!) I would be very grateful.  Please contact me at your convenience.

05/19/2006: Interesting receiver 'smackdown' on C|NET, have a look.

05/19/2006: Hard Drive based iPods breaking down all too often?  This Ecommerce Times article might lead one to believe so.

05/19/2006: RadioShack USA will begin selling flat-panel LCDs in its stores next month.  The chain will carry three brands in sizes up to 32 inches & offer larger screen sizes on their www site.  It remains to be seen if Canada's 'The Source' will follow suite...

05/18/2006: Perhaps not exactly audio / video related, but if the published statistic of "50-million Americans (5 Million Canadians?), suffer from it" is anywhere near accurate, this is good to know.

05/18/2006: Sony has set the wheels in motion for world video domination!  Um, I mean... has ordered its American subsidiary to begin the mass-production of Blu-ray ROM disks.  It will produce 25,000 single-layer, 25 gigabyte Blu-ray discs per day at its plant in Terre Haute, Indiana.  Learn more here.

05/17/2006: XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. was sued yesterday by a coalition of record labels that charge the company's recently released Inno recording device runs afoul of broadcast rights and effectively establishes a "new digital download subscription service."  XM said the device is configured to abide by "fair use" guidelines, which allow the recording of broadcast content for personal use, adding that the company plans to "vigorously" defend itself.

05/16/2006: Got an annoying buzz, hum, crackle or (fill in the blank) in an audio system and are pulling your hair out attempting to remedy the situation?  Planet Analogue has come up with an excellent trouble-shooting guide here.

05/16/2006: Building / updating a new audio / video room?  This page seems to have a lot of what you need.  Check out these well-designed isolation clips.

05/16/2006: Hearing loss.. "what"?  Due to loud music, "pardon me"?  Do yourself a favor and read this.

05/15/2006:  An interesting bit on Yahoo.com that considers the repercussions of high-resolution video streaming over the Internet.  Worth a read here.

05/15/2006: Coming Soon; A unique new and supposedly legal, way of acquiring CD music; trade CDs you have for CDs you want - for a buck!  Check out this link.

05/15/2006: New Chili Peppers Vid' release 'Dani California' - Watch (Is it me, or does everything these cats do sound the same?)

05/14/2006: Online electronica / toy for the weekend - check it out.

05/13/2006: New DVD releases this week from Rogers here.

05/13/2006: Sneak peak at the new X-Men III movie here.

05/12/2006: Panasonic and Sony have today announced specifications for a new HD digital video camera recorder format; AVCHD.  Its MPEG-4/H.264 codec is purported to be twice as efficient as MPEG-4 codec technology.  Learn more here.

05/10/2006: Exclaim magazine has compiled a listing of Summer Music Festivals for 06'  Be sure to check it out here.

05/08/2006: Time for some serious filmmaking!  Check out the National Film Board's Cannes 2006 Online Competition here.

05/06/2006: CBC has joined the Internet-TV based generation with their Broadband Entertainment Channel known as Innertube, check it out here.

05/03/2006: Hot off the Virtual Press!  Neil Young has pre-released his new 'Living With War' album on Canada.com and we have a link to it here.

05/01/2006: Steven Page (Bare Naked Ladies) and the newly formed Canadian Music Creators Coalition are out to change the recording industry.  Read his excellent article by clicking here.

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