My New Replay Set.

Patrick

Custom painting a Zefal HpX is just gratuitous.

Gorgeous, but gratuitous. There doesn't seem to be an appropriate smiley, so :drool: will have to do!

Cheers

John

thanks fixie.... yeah. the guys over at Landshark go crazy with the paint designs. But all custom and one-off.

I threw the frame pump on there just for kicks. I was wondering if anyone would notice...

-patrick

Dear Patrick, I wondered what that double tube was!

Kept my mouth shut so as to leave unconfirmed my stupidity!

The old Carlton is on 700c wheels [size 23 tyre width in this case], but it would hardly have looked so phenomal as yours, even when it was new! But it is fast. What I am wearing in the picture is typical of my attire when going to work, so that I hardly look like a keen cyclist! What is then really funny is overtaking and leaving for dust those dressed to kill in lycra on much fancier looking machines! I thrashed some kids the other day, who thought it would be fun to taunt an old timer! I was racing them to the local Cost Cutter shop,, but they gave up and never bothered to finish the race once they realised they stood no chance! Simple pleasures - hey!

I lost the lights recently. Taken off for safe keeping in the summer, they have found somewhere to hide ready to present themselves again now I have got new ones!

Dear Fixedw-, You can embarrassme me anytime!

Dear Max, The question of tone on the Forum is a bit personal. I try to avoid too much heat, and even sometimes just delete a post rather than pour petrol onto the flames by actually posting! Be yourself, and you will soon pick up those whose posts you most enjoy!

Dear Stu, There is absolutely no reason to worry about what I have done. Certainly not what many - possibly even most - would do, but the set is good, paid for, and, in extremis, could live in a bed-sit without problem.

Maybe that sounds a little like seeking safety at great expense, but there is no sacrifice for me in it.

ATB to you all, from George

Oh yeah George.... I bet you would kill me on the road.... and on the bass.

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
What is then really funny is overtaking and leaving for dust those dressed to kill in lycra on much fancier looking machines! I thrashed some kids the other day, who thought it would be fun to taunt an old timer! I was racing them to the local Cost Cutter shop,, but they gave up and never bothered to finish the race once they realised they stood no chance! Simple pleasures - hey!

This made me chortle into my morning coffee - simple pleasures indeed. I suppose this must be the green equivalent of a 'race between the lights'

Cheers
John

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:


Myself on my Carlton which is a fair antique! Antique, but nice.

ATB from George

I hope you won't mind me saying, but I think your saddle is too low

Dear Doc,

I don't mind at all!

But the frame is fundamentally too big for me, and the saddle is as high as I can get it! I always like a reach to the bottom of the pedal - ie. not flat footed straight leg reach, but slightly pointed toe reach. I would not reach the bottom of the pedal other than with the balls of my feet.

I don't know if this is the right thing from the technical angle, but the saddle is as high as I could have it and still keep in contact with the pedal at the lowest point, but it looks rather low on the frame, because the frame itself is rather tall!

I have never had a bike that was the right size for me, and once I did try one. I much prefered using my oversized frames! Is that strange, or is there some variability in the rules on frame size? I simply found the small [correctly sized] bike uncomfortable ...

ATB from George

One thing that iTunes has done is make a beautiful copy of one my most precious discs - part of a three disc set - that had a severe tracking fault. The disc itself is deleted and very rare. The other transfers of it since on Koch have been terrible, but EMI managed a top draw one for the licenced issue on Finlandia.

This disc contained Sibelius' Symphonies 3 and 5 recorded in London in 1932 by EMI who were subventioned by the Finnish Government to record the music.

Sibelius was asked to recommend the best conductor of the day for the task of making these premiere recordings, and Sibelius chose his fellow countryman Robert Kajanus, who had either give the premiere or first Finnish performances of almost all Sibelius' music.

These priceless recorded documents were bought by me on the Filandia label in 1991, but almost immediately the was a severe tracking fault that foxed every CD player I tried this one dic on, and also completely threw EAC.

I put it to the same drive that failed to make anything of it with EAC, and it has produced a clean transfer this time with iTunes. I did not expect a success, but to have one is gratifying!

I have had one sad failure with a disc where the lacquer has shed and exposed the ally layer. This then simply made a horribly noisy transfer. That was Bach's Magnificat on Erato conducted JL Corboz. A lovely performance, but should be possible to find again.

I am really pleased with the way this is tiddling along.

ATB from George

One horrible thing about CDs is that you have the jewel case, and very occasionally the case is mysteriously empty!

This happened to a rather rare CD - the ninth of nine - of Elgar's complete electrical recordings, which I bought as pre-publication discs with a gold layer [never issued formally like this again] rather than ally. Officially issued in 1992/3. [I got the same pressing run as was sent out to reviewers and friends of the project, which was to re-issue these amazing historic recordings. This was because I had been lobbying hard with EMI and the Elgar Foundation to arrange the financing and get things moving, so my reward was a set of gold backed CDs in the pre-publication batch at normal price!].

Well I reckoned we would never see this re-issued, and so I imagined that I was going to have to part with say 60 GBP [second hand on Amazon] for a replacement set, if I really wanted the missing recordings again.

The amazing thing is that these last few recordings Elgar supervised in his last year are rather wonderful.

Good news: The whole Elgar Edition is out on Amazon in MP3, for about 10 GBP per each set, as was, of three CDs! I downloaded the missing CD and left off one additional recording of the very long Corination March. It actually cost me as much to download the tracks I wanted [about a third of the Volume Three], but I was hardly going to replace CD rips with MP3 downloads. On the other hand the sound works well enough for me to be back ther in 1971 or '72 discovering The Prelude to the Kingdom, The String Serenade, the Cockaine Overture and so on on the original 78s!

Happy days indeed!

ATB from George

PS: The original CD turned up in a blank case! Fascinating as it allows for a comparison to the MP3 and so I can leave both in the PC to get people to gues which is which!

Dear Frank,

This is an odd one because, even though I am happy to part with an unused CD with the greatest of ease, it is amazing, the decision making over whether to keep or to part with, to rip the whole disc or simply to do the best of it and leave the remainder.

I bet that Oxfam will love me at the end of this.

There may be fifty CDs that fail to get anything at all transfered to iTunes, and those can go ...

The other thing is that in digging out things that have seen only rarely the light of day in the last couple of years [which coincided with considerable domestic inconvenience to say the least] I am compelleed to listen to the result of the transfer immediately!

This has led to one or two immediate deleteions as well! It has also led to some very enjoyabl;e rediscoveries!!

This is a very healthy activity - winnowing out the chaff from the seed.

ATB from George

Not to beat a dead horse but......

My cherished copy of Bob Marley's Uprising from TuffGong/Atlantic with Mastering by Barry Diament and Rob Fraboni, is scratched beyond belief. I have had this CD for probably 18 years in which it lived under car seats, the floors of dorm rooms at college, lent to friends, lost and found, jammed in glove compartments without a case etc... It is in horrible shape. Many car CDPs wont even spin it up. It skips on others, and remarkably only plays flawlessly on one of my CD-ROM drives. Somewhere along the way it lost its jewel case and now resides inside another Bob CD.

It ripped accurately without errors in EAC and of course produced a Cue file which allowed me to burn a perfect copy to replace the original. I now use that CD in my car changer when I want to listen to it away from home.

RE the mastering. While not a huge reggae fan, I really do like Bob's music and songwriting. Of all of the Marley/Diament Masters, this one shines above them all. And trust me that Exodus, Catch a Fire, Rastaman Vibration and Natty Dread are epic. I dont know where to find another copy of this these days, and would be very upset to lose this version.

Funny how my rip has become a back-up for the original disc. This is one good reason to use EAC when you can, although I understand most prefer the mindlessness of iTunes. In case any else has any particularly troubled CD or want to make a perfect backup copy of a damaged, out of print and/or rare CD, this is ideal.

-p

Only 109 CDs to go and the current library of music is copied to iTunes!

At present there are 5325 tracks of music comprising 19.3 days of music and 115.06 GB of digital ALAC files. It may be helpful that I positively hate album artwork, and am not weighing down an audio system with visual files ...

I rather think that the half TB of storage I have arranged is well and truly over-engineered!

Tomorrow should see the copying operation finished with luck, and then come the interresting job of fixing the titling!

Without good titling the whole enterprise is futile as no person could possible go through a non-alphabetic list and find the music. [It is alphabetic in the sense of artists!].

The titling makes the search engine a sharp chizel in making the system work.

I have corrected the titling on about the first third, and mostly what is there on Gracenote is either perfect or adequate, though some of it is frustratingly useless with spelling and other even bigger errors!

But there is no chance that I will ever revert to using the CDs directly for each replay now.

The physical media are well past their sell by date for me!

ATHB from George

Yup, I can't believe I used to have to go rummaging around shelves (and on the floor!) looking for the music I wanted to listen to! I've been computer based for a couple of years now and I will not be going back.

I know it doesn't really matter with lossless but why are you using ALAC? Other than that, I just organise my directories by composer, then album - works for me anyway.

Don't forget to back up, you'll be really really pissed if you have to rip them all again!!!

Dear EW,

ALAC, because I like a simple life.

I find iTunes easy to drive, and the ripping quality is superb.

This is not to gainsay those who consider there is an advantage in EAC [which I spectacularly failed to master] and other User Interfaces, but iTunes is easy and works very well.

Bit like a Volvo 240. There may be other more interesting arrangements but it works!

Exactly as I was finishing that paragraph the last CD was finished. 23.8 days of music occupying 138.49 GB of space [on twinned half TB drives].

This is not quite the end as I have another 23 private recordings to go through and put on, but I cannot face the idea of titling them this evening!

I sent this to someone in an email about backing up. Rather than rehash it here is what I wrote [as part of a longer email]:

Yes I have twinned, mirrored, half-TB drives inside the PC [operating via a RAID card set for optimal security rather than speed] so if one drive dies the other lives to fight again with the data, but more than that I also have a half TB USB [external] hard drive which is subservient to the two mirrored HDs, so that if I add new music, connect the external drive, and synchronise them, it backs up and updates the external.

Nothing else on the internal [mirrored] hard drives, or the USB drive, so it is quite well protected.

I am keeping the original disks as well, and will get another USB drive as well in time, so it will be backed up quadruple if you count the original disks as back-up.

I was very certain that this is a crucial area.

ATB from George

The remains of the job are to retag the discs leaning against the computer, and then load and tag the discs leaning against the chair. These are private and therefore not tagged via any database.



With half TB drive capacity, I have room for a little more music yet, before the system feels the weight!

ATB from George

George,

I have an extra desk for you How is your back treating you?

Seriously though, I am really happy you are enjoying your new method.

I assume since you mention tagging that you are ripping to ALAC? Is that right?

Also, if you need a really sweet re-tagging program, check out "Tag and Rename", its worth every penny. I would assume there is a trial version available.

Lastly, before it is too late, I would recommend saving your album art to the folders the files are in. Simply save them as "folder.jpg" This way you can move to a more powerful player later and keep your art. iTunes sticks the art in an exclusive folder.

ATB from Patrick !!!!

Dear Patrick,

ALAC. I did not do extensive comparisons but considered something I knew worked well, and consider almost all the differences in digital as being far smaller than the difference between two differently appointed LP12s fpr example.

People accept and even revel in these differences in LP12s, but seem to think it is serious that there can be tiny difference in digital systems! To me all that matters is that the overal quality is acceptable.

I suppose people feel the need to worry and tweak, but I don't! I just want to turn it on, choose the music and listen. Nothing more, and nothing less.

I have retained no visual art-work. This was a deliberate move as I don't see much value in most of it.

I have used those marvelous brown [and blue lined] HMV 78 albums where there are no pictures or anything else much except a sensible note on the music tucked into the record pockets or sometimes pasted inside the front cover.

But this even better. I need no shelf to keep the recordings of music on any more.

I don't especially enjoy sitting on chairs and find myself able to sit or stretch out on the floor for hours without strain, but put me in a chair and after a couple of hours and I am really suffering.

When I used to do the disciplined chair thing I used to have a quite weak lower back. I have given up chairs, and am doing a few free weights to strengthen things up, and now I have a very strong back! I have not put myself out at work in the last four years. I call that a result.

I finished loading the recordings tonight by ripping my private ones [of a handful of concerts that I was in]. Very few of these actually exist really, as they are either from the begining or the very end, because in the middle, the paid playing never was recorded, or else we could have doubled our fees!

My tallies are now 6789 songs/tracks, 24.5 days duration, and 143.04 GB of storage.

Now it is a case of carrying on adding new music as and when, just as it was before, but no longer having to search high and low for some favourite, but ellusive disc!

ATB from George

Georgie,

Thats right!!! I forgot you don't care for the album art.

Regarding the chair and desk dealio, I hear you. Saves money on furniture to boot!

Dear Patrick,

I am preparing for the time that could come when all that I can afford is a room big enough for a bed and somewhere to put the computer next to it for my music!

It could happen, and I shall still have my music even then!

Same with getting the old bike [have a look on the Wodka thread for photos of it with the newly exchanged forks] fixed up nicely - where I reckon that even if everything went up the swanny, then I would still be mobile and mobile with quality, if I get the old thing absolutely on the top line.

I reckon that if things went wrong job-wise, times might be tough for a long while. Possibly years.

So this is a way of stripping back to the essentials!

ATB from George

PS: Probably got a proper party this weekend - hehehehe!

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
no longer having to search high and low for some favourite, but ellusive disc!

A major advantage indeed! I am disorganised to put it mildly. My CDs got kicked around a lot, I could never be bothered putting them away properly etc... in many cases, once I'd got a correct rip using EAC or Foobar in secure mode, a lot of them just had to be binned; recover the data then chuck the horrible obsolete pieces of junk in the bin!!

It is very handy being a couple of clicks away from whichever recording I fancy listening to.

ew

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
So this is a way of stripping back to the essentials!

ATB from George

I think we could all take a page out of that book my friend.

-Patrick

Dear Patrick,

I have been working on tagging for the last four hours.

Probably there is another eight hours of work to do fixing things, but this is vital so that the search engine is reliable.

There is nothing very easily gained though the effort expended on this will be worth it. It has made me realise quite what a thundering waste of my life has been the time spent driving to town to order records, returning a week later to fetch them, generally socialising and having to interact with people who at best I could rub along with without even vaguely liking ... The trouble is that just like at the pub, the shop keeper, and the barman are usually just about the last people I want to socialise with!

These people think they know everything and know a lot less than they think! But you have to be kind and humour them, don't you? Not now with online ordering though.

My goodness I wish Amazon had been invented thirty years ago!

I would rather interact with people I like and want to be with rather than random people who happen to be there because of forced circumstances, such as buying a pint or a recording!

It is time to journey to Bedfordshire, or in another old phrase, time to hit the hay!

ATb from George

G,
Just wondering.... Why didn't you tag them when ripping?

-patrick

George has been correcting errors in the tagging information. He is also developing his own search terms to drill through the database to what he wants at an incredible speed.

John

John, is right.

When I have finished I hope that most pieces of music [groups of tracks in the main] may be found directly with one, two, or exceptionally three words in the search engine.

This is work in progress, and is proving very handy for digging things out of what is a very long list of tracks.

When I have finished - and simply for reference for others who would not know exactly what is contained, and therefore would miss gems - I'll make a word doc with the entire list of works by composer alphabetical order, and by each work [and each different recording where there are duplications] I will put the appropriate search word or words, so that finding things will be easy for other people as well as me.

This will need updating as new recordings are added, but it is the powere to reference and find a specific performance of a specific composition which is the possibly greatest benefit of it, as well as the compactness of it all, and of course a decent quality of reaply that it retains in spite of the great convenience factor in use.

In the days of LPs and CDs I never managed to get alphabetic and various efforts to do it gradually broke down before even getting the ordering right in the first place!

ATb from George