Welcome to 'Transmitting to Earth'. I'm Charssun and I'll be your host. This blog and podcast is a byproduct of VoyagerRadio.com and is intended to provide the most timely information about this Internet radio station. It is also intended to be a fun and accessible electronic journal with commentary focusing on Internet radio, podcasting and webcasting issues and technologies, music, and some of my other interests. I also offer personal perspective about being an Internet radio broadcaster (and podcaster).
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Transmitting to Earth Audio Commentary 10-27-2005I'm calling this a blogcast now - not just a blog - which means there will be other content here besides your typical text commentary. Here's one now: my latest audio post. Remember to subscribe to my new feed to get these automatically downloaded to your podcast or blog aggregator! To Be, or Not To Be (Dishonest When It Comes to Acquiring Music)It's amazing how easily you can get fooled (or fool yourself) into nearly engaging in what can be construed as illegal activity on the Internet. I opened up Google's new Blog Search engine and ran a quick query for my current favorite subject, Python. A fellow who sometimes blogs about Python had recently posted some commentary about a project he is working on, in which he plans to develop a Pythonized AllOfMP3.com downloader. AllOfMP3.com sounded familiar, and I searched my memory seeking to recall where I had heard of this site or service. Drawing a blank (more than usual), I decide to visit the site, figuring it would probably jog my memory. At first I didn't recognize the music downloading service - it is now much more polished and professional-looking than it had been the last time I visited the site (perhaps a year or two ago). A prominent advertisement for Depeche Mode, a band you'd find in my playlist, caught my attention at once; the ad announced that the band's latest release, Playing the Angel  , could be ordered "for $1.47 only".Had I read that right? $1.47 for the entire album? Had I just stumbled upon a music service that had finally got it right? $1.47 seemed a fair price for a digital download of a brand-new release - in fact, it seemed more than fair - yet the price seemed possible, if not probable. My mind quickly accepted the notion that the price was possible since the about-to-be-released album would sell so many copies at that price that the band (or their recording label) would recoup their costs. So I proceed to click the 'Order This Album' link to see what would happen. I was taken to a login dialog, and I clicked the 'Register' button to continue with the process. I next encountered a 'Terms & Conditions' agreement, which is not uncommon during a registration procedure. Yet something was immediately off about this particular agreement, forebodingly titled 'Liability Limitations and Rules of AllOfMP3.com Services Use': You agree with the fact that you are not able to use and even to download audio and video materials from Allofmp3.com catalogue if it is in the conflict with legislation of your country.Yikes. Liability? Conflict with legislation? I knew what those terms meant. This service was probably too good to be true - and that it was, for a cursory glance at the top of the page told me all was not right in Denmark (or Russia, in this case). At the top of the site was an alphabetized listing of recording artists, and to the far right of that listing was a solitary link: 'Russian'. The link led to a Russian translation of the site, which told me this site was probably not within the legal boundaries of the United States; it was a service based in Russia. That's when I remembered having visited the site before - back when it had been composed almost entirely in the Russian language. The legitimacy of the site had been drawn into question from its introduction, yet now it was polished enough to (nearly) fool the savviest of customers. I was amazed at how close I came to registering for a service that was now, in retrospect, clearly illegal (at least, in the U.S.) And yet, even after realizing the fact, I very nearly went through with the registration. At ten cents a song (or thereabouts), the price was difficult to beat. I use a variety of services to collect my music: iTunes, eMusic, BitTorrent...but each service has its drawbacks in either price, selection, time wasted, DRM or any number of other issues. AllOfMP3.com, though illegal, was tempting due to its response to all of the above. I wanted a music downloading service like this, desperately. Still, I resisted. I already receive a ton of great music from independent recording artists looking for exposure through my podcast, and I've yet to listen to them all. So I've really no need to spend any more money on music at this time. Yet I can see how easily a service such as AllOfMP3.com can appeal to even the most honest of consumers, and I'm hoping the "legit" download services will take note. We can only be honest for so long when we're being continuously cheated... Now Blogcasting to Earth, TooI'm personally disgusted with how long I take to produce Tempo of the Down podcasts, so over the past few days I've been posting previews of the podcast session I'm currently producing (currently Session 05). For example, here's a download of the first 15 minutes of the soon-to-be-released Tempo of the Down: Session 05. Since this is a work in progress, the final version may change significantly. To remedy this situation, I've been considering the idea of releasing shorter, more hastily-produced versions of the podcast, and posting them right here in this blog. (They'll also be available as podcasts, using this blog's new feed.) That way listeners who don't want to wait so long will have something to listen to while waiting for the next big Session release. The more I'm considering this idea, the more I'm digging it. So add the new feed to either your newsreader app, your podcatcher, or both, and expect to be hearing from me sooner rather than later. This Blog Has a New Feed & Will Now Include PodcastsYesterday I permanently changed my feed for this blog in order to simplify things; the new feed will combine my previous two feeds into one. So whether you're using an RSS aggregator, an Atom client, or a podcatcher program, you should be able to subscribe to the new feed (which I am informally referring to as my blogcast feed since it will include both blog posts and podcasts). If you use Odeo to subscribe to feeds, the feed is already available on my Odeo Channel; simply click the pink Subscribe button once you're signed in to your free Odeo account. And please ignore the following gibberish: (odeo/34a6f8aceff802b8) Another 'Tempo of the Down' Preview...It's amazing how much time it takes to produce one episode of my podcast. As it is, it takes days when I'm putting nearly all of my time into it. If I was currently employed, perhaps it would take weeks. I've got to find a better way of managing my time on this project. I know my podcasts sounds decent, but are they really worth all that time? I get emails now and then from listeners wondering when the next session of Tempo of the Down is going to be released. I often ask myself if all the time spent really pays off, for both myself and for listeners. Perhaps it'd be best to slap together the music without spending so much time gathering the ambient sounds and editing them into the podcast... Nevertheless, the current podcast is still being developed, and here is another preview of the work (in progress). Apple Announces Video iPodApple has announced a video iPod... Send Me Spooky Sounds For My Next PodcastDoes anyone out there have any spooky audio they can send me? I'm currently looking to produce a Halloween edition of Tempo of the Down. Currently I'm producing a Pirates of the Caribbean-themed session of the podcast, so if you have any WAV, AIFF, or MP3 sounds from the ride, please send them to me at voyagerradio@gmail.com. Try out Chris Pirillo's http://gada.be/ metasearch service, which allows you to easily and swiftly perform search queries using your mobile device. Simply enter your search term as part of the URL in performing your search, and you'll find a tremendous list of results. For example, here's a search for the term 'voyagerradio': http://voyagerradio.gada.be/Just click the above link to see the results! If you're using a mobile phone, this is a much quicker way to run a search than opening up one of the standard search engines. Korea Develops A Mobile Flavor of WiMaxYou're familiar with WiFi and you've probably heard of WiMax, but how 'bout WiBro? Yeah, me neither. Read about the Korean-developed wireless technology that is a mobile version of WiMax and which was recently demonstrated by Samsung at their 4G Forum 2005. Blogging Through SpaceTransmitting a blog to space? And you thought I was strange with my whole space-themed thing... Apple Rumored To Be Producing Video iPodsA video iPod? So goes the rumor... New App Freely Screams AudioScreamer Radio is a new Internet radio app that's free and allows you to add the URLs of streams that aren't listed in the player by default. Here's a review. Control Your iPod Through Your Cassette DeckThere are a number of different ways to listen to your iPod through your car stereo, but this one is really bringing it Old School: Griffin's new SmartDeck intelligent cassette adapter. The SmartDeck allows you to continue using that old cassette player to control your fancy new iPod, so you can easily switch between those old mixtapes you made back in high school and those new mashup a generation of iPods has introduced. Designed for use with an iPod (all except the Shuffle or a 3rd Generation iPod), SmartDeck simply fits into your cassette deck, just like any other cassette, and the attached cable connects directly to your iPod. Once in, SmartDeck allows you to control your iPod just like you control any cassette: forward, rewind, pause, stop, and play to your heart's content. The unit includes Griffin's SmartPlay technology, so your iPod will pause when you switch to the radio or eject your SmartDeck. Find out more about the device on Griffin's product page for SmartDeck. Now I'm just hoping Griffin develops an 8-Track SmartDeck so I can listen to my iPod in that '78 Firebird. Oh, nevermind - I just remembered that I totaled that car... TV On Your Mobile PhoneThough I'm much more into radio and audio technologies than television, some millions (billions?) are more inclined toward the visual broadcast media. For example, some 500,000 people have already subscribed to the t.v.-for-mobilephone service MobiTV. Now, I'm not certain mobile television ever was a roaring success - though the technology has been available for decades, I rarely encounter anyone with their eyes glued to a portable t.v. while riding the train. Internet television for mobiles, however, may prove more successful, with - potentially - an unlimited variety of content available. Read about and watch a video demonstration of the phone. Mac Developers: Scope Your Transition ProjectMac OS X developers will want to scope out how to transition their application so that it will be able to run on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs next year. I don't have any projects yet, but I've just finished reading my first book on the C programming language and I'm now diving into Perl. Apparently I won't have to make any changes if I choose to develop using an architecture-independent language like Perl, Python, or Java. Software developed using C/C++ or Objective-C, on the other hand, would require a bit more work in order to make the transition.Besides this blog, a narrative blog called something that happened, and various other projects, I also moderate a discussion forum: Please consider subscribing to engage in a dialogue about all things having to do with Internet radio! |
Send Us Your Music
Artists! Want to be heard on this station? Email your MP3 audio, one file at a time, to our Program Director or mail your CD promo(s) to the following address:
Harold J. JohnsonVoyagerRadio
547 Gayley Avenue #1
Los Angeles, CA 90024 Make certain to let use know whether we may use the audio in our podcast, too!
Download the Podcast
We are officially podcasters now that we have revitalized and reintroduced our downtempo show Tempo of the Down, this time around as a podcast. Now showcasing independent downtempo we've been granted permission to offer for download, Tempo of the Down is our entry into the future of Internet radio.
Head over to our new Podcast area to download the latest session!
