Posts by Not The Messiah
-
p.s. If I hear of a band or artist I search artistname+Bandcamp.
If you are lucky and the artist has a Bandcamp page you can listen to the full album ( and any others they may have ) as many times as you wish and then make your decision. Win win. -
Good to hear you promoting the Bandcamp option. I use Bandcamp whenever possible and as you say the lossless ( ALAC and FLAC ) files are by far superior to mp3 -( anything less than 320 kbps is undesirable ).
It helps of course to have a good system otherwise the lossless option is somewhat wasted.
I would suggest that If you are listening to high quality digital D/L then a separate DAC is imperative, especially when your data files are likely on a computer where most onboard components are price driven and thus not particularly good quality - the headphone out in most computers is cheap and nasty - iPod etc. the same ). It is ok but sometimes we may want better than just ok.
A DAC will also run using USB, getting the datafiles straight from the hard drive and bypassing the cheap/ inferior computer onboard DAC and this delivers far superior sound.
An entry level DAC will almost always outperform the DAC in your computer and they are not expensive - you get what you pay for, of course, but prices start from about $150-$250 range and go up to the tens of thousands if money ( sanity perhaps ) is no object. Mine cost $350 and the improvement was staggering. You could not invest this amount and get this level of improvement any other way in a home system.
Another plus with a decent DAC is that you can run your cd player into it as well and unless you have an exoensive player the DAC will have way superior converters in it. This will also give vast improvement.
A desktop allows a decent soundcard which can improve things but this is not generally an option for a laptop.
One other huge plus with Bandcamp is that most of the money ( I believe about 95 or 97.5% - somebody way be able to verify or not this ) goes to the artist( s ) and that is a win win allround. Musicians find it bloody hard to survive now with illegal DL's and record labels most times ripping them off. Touring is bloody hard yakka. Real but not easy. Mostly we listen to music at home. Artists need our support and Bandcamp facilitates this in the best possible way.
Bandcamp prices are very reasonable ( sometimes even free or pay what you wish ) and you can usually buy the cd ( or LP ) and get the D/L free immediately while you wait for the goods to arrive which is another great thing about this marvelous site. -
Hard News: The humanity, in reply to tussock,
Thank you Tussock. You have now almost put me off milk with all the reconstituted business ( something I have always wondered about, but like many delightful voters recently, have put my fingers firmly in my ears and hummed loudly ). I really like the stuff. It makes my life saving cups of tea so wonderful. And I like it with my lovely wife's sublime home made Muesli - I could easily change to Yoghurt which I love too, but now I wonder what the hell do they do to yoghurt. Bugger me.
A heap of detail there which some I was aware of and some not. I guess we are on the same page in that we know the system is completely f...ed and not in anyone's interest that matters - Ours. -
Hard News: The humanity, in reply to Farmer Green,
Farmer Green perhaps you can assist me on a few points. You certainly seem to know your stuff when it comes to all areas of farming. I don’t, but my thoughts kinda parallel some of your comments.
My wife and I lived for a number of years in the Middle East.
We could buy imported ( not NZ ) fresh milk for roughly NZ$3.50. OK not NZ milk but imported and fresh ( I am getting at the Free Market here ). We could however buy Anchor cheese and Butter cheaper there than than we do back here. I can’t give an exact $ conversion but they were cheaper.
NZ export quality beef and lamb was also cheaper compared to what we pay back here.
In fact this applies across the board as we could probably do our weekly supermarket shopping for somewhere between 1/3 to 1/2 the price we do here. Almost all food is imported – it is desert there and not much grows without considerable expense in indoor cooled buildings ( they are starting to do this ).
I know of many kiwis who live OS and when coming home to visit invariably say how expensive food is here.
Again an indication ( fact ?) that the free trade international market system doesn’t work for us, but, rather against us.
I believe we are being totally ripped off and lied to ( once again ), although the Govt. would tell us Oh no no no..( and not just the incumbent lot ).
I also think that the price we pay in NZ should be set ( regulated ) at a rate that is advantageous to NZ’ers. All surplus ( which we probably have already ) could then be sold at whatever the market ( international ) says these products are worth and dictates.
We could even perhaps increase production to offset above although there are serious environmental and other factors here.
This may well kill off farming and agriculture as we know it now. The transition would perhaps have to be Govt. assisted ( subsidised ) until the new way is established and functioning. They do this already – Solid Energy has just had a nice pre election birthday present/ bail out. It is just dressed up as something else.
I know am I am trying to simplify incredibly complex areas so I am on the back foot from the start. Probably almost sinking in that big river.
Your thoughts on ( or some of ) the above would be appreciated.
Thanks -
Hard News: The humanity, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Just home from a gig at Auckland best new music venue.
There were spirits in the air.
29 Diamonds for a chunk of coal,
29 Diamonds for a chunk of coal,
No matter what they say,
The company don't care,
Broke a townships soul,
Flash of red 29 dead for a chunk of coal.Thank you Bernie Griffen.
-
There were tears and hugs outside Independent Fisheries' Christchurch factory today.
About 200 workers found out they would lose their jobs as the fishing company announced it would close the Woolston plant on December 18.
Thanks John.
-
Hard News: The sole party of government, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Wonderfully eloquent and oh so truthful piece of writing there!! I am sure, like you, Diana would be happy for as many as is possible to read this.
Thanks for sharing. -
Hard News: The sole party of government, in reply to Russell Brown,
Thanks Russell I take your point. I had only meant to say that the Bill was introduced by Dunne.
I realise these synthetic products had been around for yonks and that over a period of time various products were removed as constituent chemicals were seen to be harmful. It just seems a reactive way of dealing with it. Peter Dunne's Bill ( I believe ) was to try to tie up this problem ( a soft option ) with Govt. legislation.I had heard on the radio a couple of months back where Peter Dunne said he was planning reintroducing the bill again. Either I misinterpreted what he said or he was less than clear, but that is what it sounded like to me.
I don't like the sound of this " proven low risk " business. Low risk would be something that would only show after many years of observation. Very hard to predict with any certainty prior to release. And will testing be done on bassetts or cute little fluffy bunnies or not?
Like you I would not be confident that a review of the misuse of drugs will come with sensible conclusions by this Govt. ( or perhaps many other Party's )The view of cannabis ( in particular ) out there in society is still sitting way back in reefer madness type thinking.
The simple fact is that cannabis is made up of identifiable chemicals, compounds whatever - just like synthetics. I don't see any arguable merit in saying one is ok and one is not. Cannabis has been around for thousands of years, is natural, and like any consumable can have adverse effects. Kids have peanut allergies and can't eat them. Alcohol is very dangerous when over imbibed and Coca Cola can kill you. Moderation is sensible and imperative, age must be a factor, and for some can cause serious issues. The vast majority of reasonable users have no problems at all and I think we know this clearly. -
Hard News: The sole party of government, in reply to Katharine Moody,
Yes I did know that..makes it even more stinky. Wonder what Geoffrey thinks of it all. and does he still vote Labour? Ms. Chen seems out on the Right.
I guess lawyers will represent anybody for the money and there would have been lots of that on offer. -
Hard News: The sole party of government, in reply to ,
Maybe John needed his shoe licking shitzu back again.