Gaper's Blog

Backing Up Your Backup's Backups

Back in my high school radio days, I remember hanging out at the station with a few of my classmates and one of them (a guy who visits here once in a while) expressed how he was upset with one of our fellow station employees for something.  He said he was going to get back at him by erasing all his LPs.  We all laughed at him as it's impossible to 'erase' LPs.  Now audio tape is a different matter, we had a bulk tape eraser at the station, all stations have them.  Anything on a cassette, reel-to-reel tape, cart or videotape is erasable, LPs and CDs aren't.  Which brings me to the present day.

We're becoming a culture of data storage, a lot of us aren't even retaining the original medium fromwhich we obtained the data.  I hear all the time of people ripping their music collections onto their hard drives and then selling their CDs.  Of course, technically, that in of itself is illegal as you can only legally have that data on your drive if you own the source material.  Then again, entire networks are built upon the idea of 'trading' music illegally, so I doubt many are losing sleep over a technicality.  What scares me isn't the legality of it so much as the very real possibility of that data on your hard drive itself getting erased, lost, destroyed or stolen. 

A lot of us have taken the prudent step of buying external hard drives and backing up our precious data/music on those drives. Problem is, a lot of those drives are sitting there backing up this data right next to the computer where the originals are kept.  Now if the computer crashes, we're likely fine, the external drive can be called upon to retrieve the lost data.  But what if, say, a thief, a fire, flood or some other catastrophe befalls our data and the data on the drive right next to it?  Most of us are screwed, no?  Especially the poor soul who unloaded his or her source material after ripping it.  That's the fatal flaw of digital data storage these days, it may be convenient to have the equivalent of thousands of CDs or LPs on one's hard drive but like all magnetically stored data, it's inherently vulnerable to loss.  Not just loss by theft or destruction but also accidental erasure.  Who among us hasn't accidentally deleted a file? Imagine your entire hard drive.

I wonder what your backup plan is? I know people with backup external hard drives kept in separate locations that they then update regularly or swap out their drives periodically. Call me paranoid but I'm not ready to unload anything until someone can assure me that what I have stored digitally is retrievable and I have adequate backups.  And make sure my backups have backups.

78/45/33/8-Track/Cassette/CD/MiniDisc/Mp3/M4a

If I may, I'd like to expatiate* on a topic I addressed briefly on last week's The Unheard Music and when I wrote about Radiohead's In Rainbows, which is the practice of music format changes. When I was a kid, vinyl was still the dominant format; 8-Track tapes were on the wane and cassettes had yet to reach their apex.  As much as some of us sometimes think there's a nefarious record company plot behind it all, it mostly comes down to fidelity and portability.  While it's still very much alive as a format, vinyl isn't very portable one, an LP still may sound superior to even the best CD but you can't easily listen to your vinyl copy of Exile on Main Street on the train or in your car.  That's what made the cassette king in the 80's, you could tape your vinyl albums or make mix tapes and bring them along in the car or play them on your Walkman.  There was something liberating about having 90 minutes' worth of music on a cassette the size of a deck of cards.

When CDs arrived, the fidelity was undeniable but portability was still an issue, I still remember the  first time I rode in a car with an in-dash CD player--they sucked--unless you were driving on a newly paved road, skipping was still a huge issue.  As a result, most people continued to tape their CDs onto cassettes for portable use.  Before my last move, I tossed a few hundred cassettes that were solely recordings I'd made of CDs for portable listening which became obsolete when I finally got a decent CD player in my car.

Music is at a crossroads once again, CDs are still the dominant format but just barely.  Mp3 and M4a files are knocking at the door.  We're at that precipice where another format is poised to take over, for better or worse.  I don't think anyone will argue the fidelity of a digital file pales in comparison to a CD or quality LP but the idea of carrying tens of thousands of songs in an item the size of a cassette is tough to beat.  With that however, comes the reality that for the first time ever, consumers will only be buying 1's and 0's stored on a hard drive, a notion that makes me very nervous, not owning any kind of backup in the event of a computer crash or some other unforseen event that renders digital music files unsuable.  At least now, if say my iPod and computer were stolen and/or destroyed, I would still have 99,9% of my music as it's all on some hard copy state (LP, CD, DAT, Cassette etcetera) assuming the same thief/catastrophe didn't befall my music collection.

That's the question, are you ready to make that quantum leap?  To forsake any actual hard copy of music you buy in the future in the name of progress and convenience? Or are you like me and holding firm to the CD model for now until some idiot-proof format arises?

* And for the record, expatiate was a word my wife used a few weeks ago which I claimed wasn't a word but I looked it up and it is, so I'm admitting my ignorance and using it in a sentence.

A Brave New Musical World

Radiohead's In Rainbows came out last week. The thing is is you can't buy it in stores and even critics didn't get an advance copy, only radio was serviced with a track or two only a week or two prior to the official release. In essence, everybody got to hear it at pretty much the same time--last Wednesday--a true communal musical experience just like the old days.  That rarely happens now with the immediacy of the internet and profileration of 'leaks' both official and non, seemingly anyone can snag a copy of nearly any album weeks and months before its' offical release date.  Virtually everyone heard it at the same time and reviews are starting to trickle in.

Not only did Radiohead manage to bring back the excitement of so carefully guarding a record until  its' release but even more revolutionary (even if it's not the first time it's been done) was their self-imposed policy of allowing the record-buying public to 'name their price' for the album.  They no longer work within the confines of a record label so there's no promotional budget to recoup and since there's no hard copy of the record (yet) the only overhead they have to cover is the price of recording and encoding the files, which is next to nothing. Oh sure, there's a planned deluxe hard copy in the works (for £80) which includes a CD of the album, artwork and a audiophile quality vinyl pressing but for now you can download the album for whatever price you thnk is fair. My reasearch turned up the figure of 1.2 million copies of the album have been sold so far.  I felt that $10 was a fair price (£4.91) and downloaded the record at that price.  I'm still a purist at heart and still like getting some tangible product when I pay my money for an album, so to pay $10 and only have a bunch of ones and zeros on my computer is still a bit odd but as much as I like Radiohead, I'm not about to pay $80 for any new record, no matter how good.  Despite owning an iPod for over two years, this was the first time I bought an album as a download.

I remember the era in which CDs were only made in West Germany and Japan and record labels said that once a plant was built in the United States, the price of CDs would come down drastically.  That never happened.  The consumers were used to paying a certain price and the labels renegged on their promise and kept jacking up the price of CDs, even though the cost of a CD with artwork and a jewel case was less than the price of pressing a vinyl album with artwork.  For some, this new experiment Radiohead is conducting may be the consumer's first chance to 'get back at labels' for their decades of avarice, which would be wrong.  Others may stop downloading music for free and pay what they feel is a fair price for a record they may have otherwise tried to get for free elsewhere. Who knows?  That's what's so interesting about this release. While others have tried this honor system, Radiohead are the biggest band to do so which is why so many people are watching this unfold with such interest.  If it works, it may be the first domino to fall in the archaic record label system, if it doesn't, labels may cling to their outdated business models a bit longer.

Where do you stand on these issues?  Have you bought the Radiohead 'album' yet?  Do you plan on it?  How much would you pay? Are you like me in that if you're paying X amount for a record, shouldn't you get some physical version of it? 

FYI, we're off to Italy this week and into early next week but I will post-date another installment of The Unheard Music for Friday but this post (and Unheard) will be it for this week and until we return, so make the most of it. Ciao!!

Shuffle It All

It's not that I'm lacking interesting topics to write about but seeing as how in the United States we're heading into a holiday week, I figure I'll save the goods for after the 4th. I'm guessing more people will likely be checking in then because half of everyone I know is on vacation right now. I have chosen today to give my newly purchased 80G iPod Video (Black) a shuffle and log the results of say the first 20 songs that appear. I know, I've done shuffles before but I haven't done one in over a year and with nearly 10,000 songs on this unit, I'm sure something embarrassing will pop up. This is actually my second 80G in a month, the first one was jinxed and I got a replacement two weeks ago.

1. Off The Hook - The Rolling Stones - Singles Collection: The London Years
2. Isaac's Law - The Loud Family - Plants & Birds & Rocks & Things
3. Changes - David Bowie - Hunky Dory
4. I Am The Cosmos - Chris Bell - I Am The Cosmos
5. Brothers On A Hotel Bed - Death Cab For Cutie - Plans
6. Freeze Frame - J. Geils Band - Freeze Frame
7. Wild Blue Yonder - Screaming Blue Messiahs - Gun Shy
8. Letter Bomb - Polara - Polara
9. Back Where I Belong - Dumptruck - Positively Dumptruck
10. Beat Mama - Cast - Magic Hour
11. I Burn For You - The Police - Brimstone & Treacle Soundtrack
12. Aprils Fools - Rufus Wainwright - S/T
13. Blue Chair - Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Blood & Chocolate
14. Gin Soaked Boy - Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
15. Stolen Car - Beth Orton - Central Reservation
16. I Wanted To Tell You - Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
17. Forever Now - Psychedelic Furs - Forever Now
18. Die Right Now - Lemonheads - Creator
19. Thick As Thieves - The Jam - Setting Sons
20. The Underdog - Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

So give us a shuffle of your own. No flipping, no playlists. Or if you don't drink the Apple kool-aid, tell us your weekend plans.  Me? I'm going to see Psychedelic Furs (pure coincidence that they showed up in this shuffle)at the House of Blues tonight with Carla, Jeff and V. and then some yard work Saturday followed by something athletic on Sunday, maybe a bike ride or some tennis.

Pirate Radio, iPod-style

I'm still trying to figure out which device will give me the best possible sound when using the iPod in the car. So far, I've tried the Transpod (left) which is nice because it keeps the iPod charged (which may or may not be good for the battery life) but it's prone to interference and so-so FM sound quality. I've also used the cassette adapter I used to use before my car had a CD player. The cassette adapter sounds far superior to the Transpod but is extremely annoying because my car cassette deck has auto-reverse, so it keeps wanting to auto-reverse, which it does at least once a song. I was at the Volvo dealer today to get a new battery and asked if there was any way to wire a direct line-in to my car's stereo. No dice, at least for older cars but the 2001 and newer model year cars allow for this.

We had to take two cars to Thankgiving dinner yesterday so I had Carla use the Transpod. In a nutshell, the way it works is that it's a tiny FM transmitter that sends the signal from the iPod to the car's radio.  I still had my radio tuned to the frequency that I use with it (87.9) when I put it in her car. As we drove off, I heard a song from Hedwig and the Angry Inch playing on 87.9. My first thought was, cool, there's a decent college radio station I didn't know about.  Then it dawned on me that that movie and soundtrack are near and dear to Carla's heart, so I called her and said, "Skip ahead to your next song and I'll be able to tell you what song it is, telepathically." She did and I heard "Change of Heart" by Tom Petty and told her so, which freaked her out for about five seconds, then it dawned or her what was happening. The coolest byproduct of this phenomenon was that the transmitter worked at a distance of up to a half mile since we separated by that much at one point and I could still hear it plain as day. I did have to call her at one point because she was playing a Maroon 5 song and I have to draw the line somewhere, so she skipped it for me.  So, next time your planning a caravan road trip, use a Transpod (it might work with the Griffin iTrip too) and everyone can enjoy the same tunes.

Major Labels Suck (Part II)

Earlier this week, I wrote about how Sony/BMG was including spyware on certain music CDs and how I had a simple plan to curb, if not eliminate altogether, piracy of new recorded music. I am sometimes privy to advance copies of CDs, which up until recently was something that labels sent on the 'honor system'. They sent them hoping that we wouldn't: sell them, copy them, play them on the air until they said so and, in the last decade or so, post them on the internet. Well, enough people who were entrusted not to, leaked songs and albums onto the 'net,  so the labels started digitally 'watermarking' them (click image at upper left).  While I realize doing this on a (much) larger scale would increase the cost of manufacturing CDs, it's a pretty foolproof  policy aside from the cost.

Then when you purchase a CD, you are free to play it on any CD player you wish without any problem. Should you load it into a computer, a pop-up menu would ask you to enter your name and another unique identifying piece of data which the label would then record along with your IP address. As long as you abide by their policy, you live your life without worry. However should a song with your unique 'watermark' appear on a P2P network or show up somewhere else that is 'unauthorized', then the record label police would show up at your house and seize your house and spank your children. Seems pretty simple to me. I've patented this idea, so don't get any ideas without contacting my people, Sony.

- Before I go, a few items worth mentioning

Congrats to Jeff W. and Vanessa on the birth of their second child, Max last week. Also my old roommate Nancy and her husband Greg welcomed their second child last week.

It was mentioned in the comments over the last few days, but congrats are due to Jay and Kent (aka TRS-80) for having a song of theirs-- 'Translocated'--used on the TV show CSI-New York. Next round's on Jay. Next stop, The OC.

Sad but true; after a nearly three-season run, Arrested Development has been cancelled. I don't know why NBC doesn't just buy it and run it along with Scrubs in the Thursday 7PM hour. Anything would be better than Joey.  AD and Scrubs would be perfect companions in that timeslot. While I certainly wasn't the only one who felt this way, last year when I named AD my Favorite TV Show of 2004, I was surprised that it was still on the air, which is the hallmark of any good show.

Like we need another reason to hate Major Record Labels (Part I)

Pity the poor major record labels, for nearly a century they've acted as the conduit between artist and consumer by providing said consumer with recorded musical product on the prevailing musical format of the day, thoroughly gouging both parties in the process. Now it seems as though we're on the precipice of a brave new world in which record labels are no longer  necessary and guess what? They're not going gently into that good night, in fact they're getting downright pissy about it. For the lazy (or if the link expires) Sony/BMG were hit with a class-action lawsuit for adding spyware to their music CDs, ostensibly to catch potential piracy of their product. Problem is, the spyware was also slowing down computers and wreaking other digital havoc in the process of spying.

I have no issue with labels trying to protect their 'investment' via legal and reasonable means, but when it crosses over into clandestine methods of doing so, a line has clearly been crossed. This is the digital equivalent of  the "Patriot Act".  If I buy a record, I have the right to make copies of it to protect my investment. I also have the right to play the record for a friend(s) if I so choose, even if that friend lives in say, Singapore and I use an MP3.  As long as I don't produce a facsimilie of this record for sale or put it up on a P2P network I should be within my rights as a consumer. The labels even want to limit that usage now, it seems.

Because it's Sony, they have no problem with me ripping a Sony/BMG CD and putting it on an MP3 player, so long as it's a Sony Walkman MP3 Player, not something people actually buy and use, like an iPod or a Zen Creative. And despite being told otherwise, I can't even play my copy of My Morning Jacket's "Z" record on my PC. God forbid the recording I legally own be coverted into an AAC file and imported onto my iPod, the world might end. Apple's not immune from this sort of petulant behavior as they too limit the number of copies that can made of MP3's purchased at iTunes and those tunes will only play on iPods.

PART II- Next time, I'll illustrate just how mismanaged record labels are because I have a very simple, inexpensive system that would not only eliminate piracy, but enforce fair usage. The funny thing is, it's already in use everyday and is very effective in preventing piracy.

1001001$o$*&^$#@!

I know I know, it's another post about music stuff but hey, at least I haven't done a Cubs post in awhile.

Remember when the CD first came out and how all the experts said they would last forever as long as you took care of them? Even the notoriously cranky Steve Albini--a vinyl purist--had the following to say about CDs:

This compact disc, compiled to exploit those of you gullible enough to own the bastardly first generation digital music system, contains all-analog masters. Compact discs are quite durable, this being their only advantage over real music media. You should take every opportunity to scratch them, fingerprint them, and eat egg and bacon sandwiches off them. Don't worry about their longevity, as Philips will pronounce them obsolete when the next phase of the market-squeezing technology bonanza begins. When in five years, this remarkable achievment in the advancement of fidelity is obsolete and unplayable on any "modern" equipment, remember, in 1971, the 8-track tape was the state of the art.

--Liner notes from the appropriately titled Big Black CD 'The Rich Man's 8-Track Tape" (which is excellent, btw)

In the early 90's, technology experts began to tell us that CDs weren't as everlasting as orginally thought and that the aluminum used to hold the data was prone to corrosion and subsequent degradation of sound quality and eventually some would be unplayable. WXRT even exploited this mania a few years ago as an April Fools Prank in which they mentioned the phenomenon and proceeded to have a few of their discs conveniently 'breakdown' mid-song as a gag.

Well, I'm here to tell ya, the shit is actually happening. I've been ripping CDs like a madman lately and I've discovered a handful of CDs in various states of degradation. About a year ago, I was listening to Urge Overkill's Supersonic Storybook in my car, which has a notoriously fastidious CD player and it started 'dropping out'. Not the digital hiccups we've come to expect with fingerprints or scratches, but full-on dead-spots and a few songs wouldn't even play or cue up.  I just figured it was the player, but when it came to rip the CD, it wouldn't work. So far it's been only a half dozen or so, but they're obviously CDs with songs I'd like to hear again. It's been limited--so far--to Indie-label CDs that are at least a decade old, which I would imagine would result from the smaller labels using cheaper CD duplicators, but I sure hope it's a limited problem.

Has anyone else experienced this sort of problem?  Or will this be one of those Ken posts that languishes all weekend with maybe a comment or two until I put something new up Sunday?