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I didn't know we had a Treo 100?
http://portables.about.com/cs/mp3hdrecorders/index.htm
but when you hit the link, it takes you to the MXP100 edigital site. No mention yet on the Odyssey1000, so you people with them, start putting in your own reviews.
Portables on eBay
eBay offers great deals on portables. Find new and used MP3 players, cassette players, CD players, Minidisc players and more here!
http://adfarm.mediaplex.com/ (Cost to Advertiser: $0.20)
EveryDay Low Prices On Walkman At Fotoconnection
Check out the every day low prices on walkman and world class customer service at Fotoconnection, the one source for all of your electronic needs!
http://www.fotoconnection.com/ (Cost to Advertiser: $0.20)
e.Digital Treo 10
The Treó 10 has a 10MB hard drive, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and a large, easy-to-read LCD display.
e.Digital Treo 100
The Treo 100 features VoiceNav software, which lets users navigate their music collection using voice commands. The player can be purchased with Compact Flash memory or with IBM's Microdrive in 340MB or 512MB versions.
MXP 100
The MXP 100 doesn't use a hard drive, but it can still deliver plenty of storage using IBM's MicroDrive or a high-capacity CompactFlash card. Its most unusual feature is voice recognition. To find a song in your collection, all you have to do is ask for it.[/B]
OT: On a different note:
Cockfighting to continue in New Mexico.
SANTA FE - A Senate committe on Tuesdays narrowly quashed a bill to outlaw cockfighting in New Mexico, one of two states that still allow the blood sport.
Louisianna is the only other state where cockfighting is legal.
Isn't that where ToF and Zack hail from?
Really cold in the Arctic Circle this morning.
Phreezing Philo from the Nord
The only thing that will be worse than that, is to have the "longs", contact Mossberg and tell him to disregard those other posters. Well, from the sounds of it, we can kiss any good review goodbye before he even has a chance to review it.
It is amazing what some people will do and for the benefit of what? If they don't own any shares, why in the world do they such asinine things?
Philo from the Nord
Cliff, regarding your question on "what will the pps do if we wage war", or something to that effect.
Reuters
Stocks to rise when bullets fly if history a guide
Tuesday February 4, 3:17 pm ET
By Haitham Haddadin
NEW YORK, Feb 4 (Reuters) - If history is a guide, rockets raining down on Baghdad could spark a rally on Wall Street.
Macabre as it sounds, stock market rallies have been a consequence of war in the past. And an attack on Iraq would remove some of the uncertainty that has clouded the market.
"As soon as the bullets start to fly we get resolution," says Ken Tower of CyberTrader Inc. "That's positive for consumers and the economy, so we expect the market takes off in a continuation of the rally we saw from October to December."
Tower's forecast comes with a caveat, though. Like others, he warns investors not to bet the whole farm on the outcome of a potential Desert Storm II.
"Wars are like snow flakes; no two have the same shape," says Tower, who in his job as chief strategist at the Charles Schwab unit has studied stocks' reaction to periods of war.
There seems to be historical evidence that suggests war has been typically bullish for stocks.
The Dow Jones industrial average (CBOT:^DJI - News) has posted a significant rise in the period that follows major events in U.S. history that precipitated war, according to Gibbons Burke at MarketHistory.com.
The blue-chip Dow on average was up 31.4 percent 18 months after key incidents leading to U.S. involvement in the Spanish-American War, World Wars One and Two, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the 1991 Desert Storm offensive that ended Iraq's occupation of Kuwait, Burke said.
"When we actually start pulling the trigger has been bullish in the past," Burke told Reuters.
Still, many say this time a rally could fizzle because investors likely will fret about corporate earnings and the sluggish U.S. economy.
Others argue a key difference between now and the period after the Gulf War is that Wall Street was experiencing a bull market then, which continued uninterrupted for a decade. Now, however, more than $8 trillion in investor wealth has been wiped out since stocks peaked in early 2000.
"You can get a near-term bounce, a feel-good rally," said Gary Kaltbaum, who heads advisory firm Investors Edge Partners. He questions the validity of comparisons of the present to 1990 and says we are in a long-term bear market.
"You work off the excesses of the prior bull, and the bigger the froth of the bull, the bigger the bear," he said.
SELL THE RUMOR, BUY THE NEWS
The stock market often experiences a dip in the months immediately preceding a war when rumors and speculation about potential military action put investors on guard.
This time is no exception, with major market gauges off their highs of early January's rally. So stocks could be poised for a rebound if fighting begins, Wall Street experts say.
"The old adage that has held true on Wall Street for years is that you buy the market when the first shots are fired and sell the market when the boys come home," said Kevin Lane, chief market strategist at Technimentals Research Group.
The market tumbled when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Burke said.
Stocks continued to decline through October until the United States began to mobilize troops late in 1990.
"When the shooting began in January (1991), the market celebrated with an amazing rally, and it never looked back," Burke said in a report.
The key to a lasting recovery in the market, analysts say, is a swift resolution of hostilities.
But the market could quickly stumble if Wall Street doesn't sense very soon after the start of military action that a quick resolution is in the cards.
"I would give it three weeks," said Charles Payne, analyst at Wall Street Strategies.
Louis Navellier, who manages $5 billion for Navellier & Associates, said ousting Saddam would be positive for stocks, whether it's by force or by exile.
"Oil prices will fall (especially if the Venezuelan strike ends simultaneously) and businesses will step up to the plate and start increasing orders," Navellier said in a report.
But Richard Bernstein, chief U.S. strategist at Merrill Lynch & Co., said investors seem overly confident about the potential war and oil prices.
An Iraqi war may not be as short as everyone assumes, and forecasts of companies' sales and earnings may be optimistic given that U.S. economic growth is below 4 percent, he said.
Bernstein said he is increasingly concerned higher energy prices might tip the economy into recession again.
Alan Ackerman, market strategist at Fahnestock & Co., also warned against being overly bullish.
"The successful outcome of any war is not a certainty. And the attack on Iraq may bring more instability to the Middle East than any of us have predicted," he said. (additional reporting by Elizabeth Lazarowitz)
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT........[/B]
Yes, I'm still phreezing in the Nord
Jonthezman;
Thank you for your letter, however, we can't comment on that at the moment. We plan on issuing a PR relating to your question in the near future.
Sincerely;
RP
Reuters
EMI swoons on recorded music sales concern
Tuesday February 4, 12:02 pm ET
LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Shares in British-based music company EMI Group Plc fell more than six percent on Tuesday, hit by concern that a decline in recorded music sales was steeper than had been feared, dealers said.
Shares in EMI ended down 6.1 percent at 131-1/4 pence.
Analysts at EMI's broker, UBS Warburg, said they had lowered the share price target on the stock to 151 pence from 185p, to reflect a cut in its growth forecast for recorded music for 2002 to a drop of eight percent from a 7.2 percent fall. UBS said in a note more than 80 percent of EMI's revenues come from recorded music sales.
"We believe (that in the) medium term, lack of visibility with respect to revenue growth and an inevitable phasing out of cost savings, raises the risk that earnings may come under pressure once more," said UBS analysts Helen Snell and Mike Hilton.
Traders said concern over weak CD sales was compounded by the increasing popularity of Internet music-swapping and piracy.
"In reality, everyone is going to pirate everything from everyone," said one trader.
Others said it was hit by worries the company would follow last February's profit warning with another gloomy update on Christmas sales.
"EMI is expected to gather its Christmas sales data around now. This time last year it issued a profit warning. People may be putting two and two together," said one trader.
An EMI spokeswoman said the group's next scheduled results were in May and declined to comment further.
Shares in the music group have risen recently on hopes of a merger with one of its two most hotly-tipped suitors -- German-owned BMG or Warner Music (NYSE:AOL - News) of the United States.
sge: you were the sacrificial lamb........that unit was suppose to go to Zack.....so he could have something of substance to bash about......lets keep this quite.
You probably can download what you need from e.digital.
Everyone, keep us posted and updated as you experiment more and more with it. I hope this blows the Ipod out of the water.
Philo from the Nord
I hope they don't get any paper cuts, gosh those really hurt......
Philo
Sentinel;
Do you think with the price of aluminum being up,maybe they sold the aluminum to help the burn rate, maybe that's why they took the aluminum covers off and replaced them with the mirrored plastic? Could that be the reason for the delay?
Philo from the Nord
PS. that was a line of BS.......please take it as such
The short history of tagging
The past
Once upon a time, there were some giant companies that, with the failure of the 4-channel battle fresh in mind, formed an expert group with the mission to invent tomorrow's technology in sound compression. Fortunately, they did. The format, named MPEG Layer 3 or for short MP3, took advantage of the fact that our ears are not nearly as good as we generally believe them to be, and thus omitting frequencies that we wouldn't hear anyway. They also made the format suitable for streaming by letting the sound be represented in small, individually compressed blocks of audio data. Each block had a header containing some information relevant to the decoding process. As they ended up with a few bits to much, they used them for some additional information such as a 'copyright' bit and a 'private' bit.
Since the format had such an outstanding compression and still very good sound quality, it was soon adapted as the de facto standard for digital music. The lack of possibilities to include textual information in the files was however disturbingly present. Suddenly, someone (Eric Kemp alias NamkraD, I've been told) had a vision of a fix-sized 128-byte tag that would reside at the end of the audio file. It would include title, artist, album, year, genre and a comment field. Someone, possibly the very same someone, implemented this and everyone was happy. Soon afterwards, Michael Mutschler, the author of MP3ext, extended this tag, called ID3, to also include which track on the CD the music originated from. He used the last two bytes of the comment field for this and named his variant ID3 v1.1. (more information about ID3 and ID3v1.1 can be found here)
The present
The ID3 v1.1 tag still had some obvious limitations and drawbacks, though. It supported only a few fields of information, and those were limited to 30 characters, making it impossible to correctly describe "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy from BBC Radio" as well as "P.I. Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite Op. 71 a, Ouverture miniature danses caractéristiques by The New Philharmonic Orchestra, London, conducted by Laurence Siegel". Since the position of the ID3 v1.1 tag is at the end of the audio file it will also be the last thing to arrive when the file is being streamed. The fix size of 128 bytes also makes it impossible to extend further. That's why I (Martin Nilsson) and several along with me thought that a new ID3 tag would be appropriate.
The new ID3 tag is named ID3v2 and is currently in a state of 'informal standard'. That is, we decided, since there were less and less improvements and additions made, to proclaim the draft as a standard (an informal one since no standardization body has approved this decision). You can find the informal standard here. ID3v2 is often followed by its revision number, i.e. the current informal standard is ID3v2.4.0.
thanks to Stoops for the link
Some main features
The ID3v2 tag is a container format, just like IFF or PNG files, allowing new frames (chunks) as evolution proceeds.
Residing in the beginning of the audio file makes it suitable for streaming.
Has an 'unsynchronization scheme' to prevent ID3v2-incompatible players to attempt to play the tag.
Maximum tag size is 256 megabytes and maximum frame size is 16 megabytes.
Byte conservative and with the capability to compress data it keeps the files small.
The tag supports Unicode.
Isn't entirely focused on musical audio, but also other types of audio.
Has several new text fields such as composer, conductor, media type, BPM, copyright message, etc. and the possibility to design your own as you see fit.
Can contain lyrics as well as music-synced lyrics (karaoke) in almost any language.
Is able to contain volume, balance, equalizer and reverb settings.
Could be linked to CD-databases such as CDDB.
Is able to contain images and just about any file you want to include.
Supports enciphered information, linked information and weblinks.
and more... (a complete list of all frames and their functions can be found here)
Thanks Stoops.........helped me out with it.
Philo from the Nord
What is ID3v2?
ID3v2 is a new tagging system that lets you put enriching and relevant information about your audio files within them. In more down to earth terms, ID3v2 is a chunk of data prepended to the binary audio data. Each ID3v2 tag holds one or more smaller chunks of information, called frames. These frames can contain any kind of information and data you could think of such as title, album, performer, website, lyrics, equalizer presets, pictures etc. The block scheme to the right is an example of how the layout of a typical ID3v2 tagged audio file may look like.
One of the design goals were that the ID3v2 should be very flexible and expandable. It is very easy to add new functions to the ID3v2 tag, because, just like in HTML, all parsers will ignore any information they don't recognize. Since each frame can be 16MB and the entire tag can be 256MB you'll probably never again be in the same situation as when you tried to write a useful comment in the old ID3 being limited to 30 characters.
Speaking of characters, the ID3v2 supports Unicode so even if you use the Bopomofo character set you'll be able to write in your native language. You can also include in which language you're writing so that one file might contain e.g. the same lyrics but in different languages.
Even though the tag supports a lot of byte consuming capabilities like inline pictures and even the possibility to include any other file, ID3v2 still tries to use the bytes as efficient as possibly. If you convert an ID3v1 tag to an ID3v2 tag it is even likely that the new tag will be smaller. If you convert an ID3v1 tag where all fields are full (that is, all 30 characters are used in every field) to an ID3v2 tag it will be 56 bytes bigger. This is the worst case scenario for ID3v1 to ID3v2 conversion.
Since it's so easy to implement new functionality into ID3v2, one can hope that we'll see a lot of creative uses for ID3v2 in the future. E.g. there is a built-in system for rating the music and counting how often you listen to a file, just to mention some brainstorm results that are included. This feature can be used to build playlists that play your favourite songs more often than others.
Example of the internal layout
of an ID3v2 tagged file.
You're one mean junkyard dog...............
Plus we don't have any roads, just muddy ruts in the spring, summer and fall, and snowy ruts in the winter
Lettle olf Philo of the Nord
Reel tyme quote please, or are we stuck at $0.20 with 161k?.......TIA
Philo
we never take out the garbage. Has anyone received their Odyssey yet?
PHilo
I probably forgot to tell you the 3rd Principal Meridian. Sorry
Philo of the Nord
Boy, I'm glad I never have to ride with you.......how did you ever find your way around places. I'm just west of Lake Michigan approximately 100 miles and just east of the Mississippi by about the same milage.
Philo of the Nord
I don't know what latitude, but I live in Section 6 of Township 12 North, Range 10 East. I hope that helps!
Philo of the Nord
Both of those guys just live a short distance SOUTH of me.......Hamlet is new to the weather forecasting, this is his first year, hopefully he can start out with a bang. Hovering around the phreezing mark with phreezing rain.....no school for the little eskimos today
Philo of the Nord
Gilga.........I take offense to that statement! I am not a Putz, a clutz or a slutz, but not a putz.
Lettle olf Philo of the Nord
Don..........Jimmy the Groundhog sees no shadow and the pig Hamlet agrees that six more weeks of winter is not to be.
(Headlines from the Wisconsin State Journal Monday Feb 3, 2003 www.madison.com )
I feel sorry for those in the east as you will be getting more and more winter weather, whether you like it or not.
However, here in the Arctic Circle of Wisconsin.......we'll be basking in the heat of Spring in no time.
Lettle olf Philo of the Nord
E DIGITAL CORP (OTC BB:EDIG.OB) - Trade: Choose Brokerage
Last Trade
3:58pm · 0.20 Change +0.02 (+11.11%) Prev Cls 0.18
Open 0.18 Volume 349,600
Day's Range
0.18 - 0.21 Bid 0.20 Ask 0.205
P/E N/A Mkt Cap 28.1M Avg Vol 626,363
52-wk Range 0.17 - 1.26 Bid Size 5,000 Ask Size 5,000
P/S 12.16 Div/Shr 0.00 Div Date N/A
1y Target Est N/A EPS (ttm)0.00 EPS Est N/A PEG N/A
Yield N/A Ex-Div N/A
Have a nice weekend everyone and remember to stay warm.......those that can will, those that can't will have to try harder.
Philo from the Nord
True, whether you like it or not.
My thoughts exactly....
As the Odyssey 1000 was mad available for purchase on their webpage, within 15 minutes they had 62 orders. They expect to be sold out with these first 1000 and then all orders will be put on back-order for 2-3 days while their next shipment arrives.
Cool. Maybe the Feb 5th date was when they'll have a more respectable amount ready to sell. We wait. of course all 62 were probably to shareholders. LOL
David should use spellcheck.......as I would hate to buy a "mad" Odyssey 1000.......you just never know what they are capable of doing.
Philo of the Nord
CKSLA: GREAT POST!!! You've hit it on the head. They've started delivering the Odyssey a week earlier than their last projected date...........but well late from their original shipping date.
It was nice to see them get it out, infact, I tried to go outside and kick up my heels, but with snowshoes on that is a very difficult thing to do.
Philo of the Nord
You guys talking about your nice weather all of the time makes me sick........I've tried to leave the Arctic Circle, but I guess I'm banished here like Packers1 is banished to the Jailhouse.
I've got my pre-order in for the Odyssey, have you been notified (those that have their pre-orders in) that your's is on the way? Is that where the numbers are coming from?
Thanks in advance.............
and yes it is still phreezing up here.!!!
Lettle olf Philo of the Nord
CKSLA: I was planning on buying one for her/she/it/he, but then I forgot that by the time it got to me up here in the Arctic Circle, and I loaded it with subliminal suicidal music, then shipped it back to her/she/it/he.....the new version would be out and I would have to do it all over again. (boy that was a really long sentence)
Maybe someone with a better delivery system other than the snowshoes and dog sled method that we have up here can get it to her/she/it/he sooner with the subliminal suicidal songs pre-loaded.
Yes it is still phreezing up here.
Lettle olf Philo of the Nord
Kind of quite tonight, only time I get to go out and talk to the "cult" and no one is here.........guess I'll watch the northern lights right after I get some whale blubber for the Old Lady in the Igloo....gosh, I wish I could be in a warmer climate! Like maybe where that Danl lives or Annie-I hate Packers1 lives. I hear its nice and warm this time of year. But no, here I am, trying to light the whale blubber lamp, has anyone recently tried to do that? Well let me tell you, it's not as easy as it looks.
Yes, still phrezing in the Arctic Circle............but the Eskimo babes are looking "hot"
Philo.......of the Nord
Dougal, have you heard of Thunder Bay Ontario?
Philo
I don't live there, just curious if you've heard of it
50+, that was 106,400 shares traded or $19,152 if at $0.18. Of course I could be wrong, since it is still cold up here in the Arctic Circle.
Lettle olf Philo of the Nord
Pack,
I had to post, as the tears were running down my cheek from laughing so hard. Man, whoever sold you this plan of attack should be presented with the Medal of Honor.
I think it is working, you just have to state your point a little more clearly. Maybe if you used graphs and pictures Matt might understand what you're really trying to say.
Well never-the-less, keep it up, as your friends are coming over here for our daily dose of laughter.
BTW..........still cold in the Arctic Circle
Philo
From the Arctic Circle:
Yes, still cold..........brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrppppppppp
It appears that the scissors work quickly around here.......ToF has vanished into his "netherland". Maybe he was sent to the "jailhouse", the land where Packers1 no resides.
Yes, still cold and snowing.............more on the hour
Philo
Them be some big batteries, do they have to carry them in a backpack? That player must really be big and bulky with having to hook it up to jumper cables. Makes jogging with it a very strenuous workout.
Yes, it is still cold in the Arctic Circle and now we are getting snow, which could turn to freezing rain........
Lettle olf Philo of the Nord
No need to be sorry, is that because they have cut the overhead so much that they can't afford stationary?
Still freezing........in the Arctic Circle
It appears that nothing is really going on until February 5, 2003 when the Odyssey 1000 will be released (I hope that they can meet their stated timeline). Lets hope that all of the bells and whistles are in order and we get one h ell of a send off. It amazes me that the price still drops with such little interest, as all eyes seem focused on the impending war. Well, good luck to all.
And yes, it is still cold in the Arctic Circle......snowing right now, but we may move up to freezing rain.......Yippeee
Lettle olf Philo of the Nord
Music Chains Raise The Volume On Downloads
Penelope Patsuris, 01.27.03, 1:10 PM ET
NEW YORK - The music industry has identified another means by which it can fend off free digital downloads, and this time six major record retailers are leading the charge.
Best Buy (nyse: BBY - news - people ), Tower Records, Virgin Entertainment, Wherehouse Music, Hastings Entertainment (nasdaq: HAST - news - people ) and Trans World Entertainment (nasdaq: TWMC - news - people ) have teamed up in a joint venture called Echo that will sell downloadable music tracks, both online and in stores.
The effort faces considerable challenges but, though it is only just getting started, it looks to be the most promising pay-to-play business on the horizon thus far. There will be critical differences between the download service Echo plans and those currently being offered--without much success--by the record labels.
The primary problem with both MusicNet--owned by AOL Time Warner (nyse: AOL - news - people ), Bertelsmann and EMI Group (nyse: EMI - news - people )--and Pressplay--owned by Sony's (nyse: SNE - news - people ) Sony Music Group and Universal Music, a unit of Vivendi Universal (nyse: V - news - people )--is that they are subscription services. On those Web sites, a consumer pays a monthly fee for access to a certain number of downloads. But people don't like being forced to buy a certain number of tracks per month, says Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff. Echo will sell individual tracks.
Perhaps Echo's biggest advantage will be its ability to cross-promote downloads to consumers in retailers' stores. "I might buy a Sheryl Crow album and then get two or three more downloadable bonus tracks for free," says Yankee Group analyst Michael Goodman. He expects to see prepaid cards issued in stores so that teens who don't have credit cards can make purchases online. Echo will further differentiate itself from the free services, as well as the labels' online efforts, by offering plenty of sneak peeks and bonus tracks that can't be found elsewhere. "Retailers are looking at models that will supplement sales, not undercut them," he says.
The labels' online efforts have been dogged by regulatory scrutiny. Goodman says Echo won't face that kind of examination from the Federal Trade Commission, which watches carefully for industry collusion. "A third party will have much more flexibility with its business model," he says.
The gaping hole in Echo's strategy is that it has yet to cut any deals with the record labels that control the content it plans to sell. It will take another six months, but they'll eventually climb aboard, if only out of desperation.
All things being equal, the labels would certainly prefer to control digital distribution via Pressplay and MusicNet--but all things are not even close to being equal. Those services are foundering and CD sales are plummeting, down 9% in 2002.
"The retailers are the labels' best customers," says Goodman. "The labels need [retail] distribution--this is where their revenues come from."
Bernoff cautions that while working with Echo would be in the labels' best interests, "giving a consortium of retailers power over both physical and digital distribution will definitely give them pause." He adds, "The more flexible labels, like EMI, will sign on, but there won't be a flood. It will take time to negotiate the terms."
Another wrench in the works hinges upon the Jan. 24 news that Andersen Merchandisers, which is Wal-Mart Stores' (nyse: WMT - news - people ) music distributor, will purchase the download technology of Liquid Audio, which also holds licenses to sell 350,000 songs. Although it has no deal in place, Andersen plans to sell downloads through the Web sites of its retailers, including Wal-Mart, which happens to be the country's biggest music retailer.
And why do you say that?
Still cold in the Arctic Circle
Sentinel; He's on a secret mission to disrupt the "powers that be".............He's got a plan and there's no stopping him, that is of course if the Punctuation Police don't get to him first.
Yes, it is still cold up here in the Arctic Circle
Lettle olf Philo from the Nord