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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Largest Asteroid to Ever Pass Earth Captured on VideoThe largest asteroid ever known to pass close to our planet was captured on video today by astronomers in Chile. The asteroid, named Toutatis, is about 3 miles long and half as wide, and flew within a million miles of Earth. Though no threat to our planet--as the giant rock in Arthur C. Clarke's The Hammer of God portended--Toutatis is nevertheless the largest asteroid we expect to encounter this close to home in the next century. eMusic Relaunches, Still Better Than the CompetitionHere's exciting news for music lovers and downloaders, especially those into independent music. After being purchased by a company called Dimensional Associates, eMusic has relaunched its music download store, continuing its focus on non-major-label music. If you thought the recent RealNetworks offer of $.49 downloads was a good deal, you'll love eMusic's offerings, which average out to $.10/download or less. And this music is good--if you're a downtempo lover you'll recognize artists such as Thievery Corporation, King Kooba, Bent, Mark Farina, and others. Even if you're not a downtempo junkie, you'll likely recognize many of the artists. (Ever heard of Creedence Clearwater Revival? How about Moby? Beck?)
One of the best things about eMusic is that their music downloads can be played on just about any computer or device--iPods, iRivers, PCs, Macs, Linux boxes, whatever--easily and without the tedious conversion process facing iTunes, MSN, Sony, RealNetworks, and Napster downloads. This is because eMusic downloads are simple, unprotected, high-quality MP3s. Once you buy them, there are no restrictions on how you choose to listen to them. This is how digital music should be, and eMusic got it right. They're also introducing a new feature: live club recordings. This feature sounds especially promising to me, given that I love listening to live mixes and mixes compiled by my favorite artists. The feature is also not just some empty promise: eMusic now has the Digital Club Network under it's wing, a group which already records live shows at nearly two dozen clubs in the U.S. I wish eMusic the absolute best in their current incarnation. They seem to have the right idea, and thus far have executed well. Hopefully the other music download stores and the major recording labels will take notes from eMusic and begin delivering consumers what they really want, rather than the lowest form of goods they'll put up with--or take, since most won't put up with it. Reminiscing on SimulcastingDuring my Internet radio station's youth (like it's so old now), I often simulcasted a progressive rock station called Radio Gnome. To Simulcast is essentially to simultaneously broadcast (or webcast, in this case) on more than one channel or frequency. (At least, that's what I've come to know it as. I never went to broadcasting school, so I'm not entirely sure.) In Radio Gnome's case, he was webcasting a weekly live show, Flying Teapot Theater, at a high bitrate for broadband (cable and DSL) listeners. I had heard the Teapot a few times and found the show's host remarkably entertaining--he claimed to webcast his progressive rock show from the original "Hotel California", which was in reality his front porch in Hermosa Beach--and after consulting with the Gnome, I began to simulcast his live show on my own station, but at a lower bitrate so that dialup listeners could tune in to the show. To make this possible I used a tool called MacAmp along with a plugin called Audio Hijack, on a Mac OS 9 system. (MacAmp is no longer being actively developed, but Audio Hijack has taken on a life of its own on Mac OS X.)
The setup worked well, for the most part--though sometimes my old Mac crashed--and we had some really good times. After a few months it became too exhausting for me to maintain a commitment to simulcasting Flying Teapot Theater, and I wanted to focus on developing my own programming for VoyagerRadio, so I eventually stopped simulcasting the show. Flying Teapot Theater continued, however, and since then has gone through a variety of permutations. Though relatively little known, Radio Gnome is one of the (if not the) most rocking and entertaining progressive rock Internet radio stations you can find out there, and certainly one of the most independent--which makes for interesting programming. Though his website ain't the prettiest--bless his heart, he's trying, though, dammit--take a listen to his show sometime you're in the mood for progressive rock or something different from the usual fare. If his website is unavailable for some reason, tune in to his show on his page at Live365.com, which should always be available: http://www.live365.com/stations/zotzz56 And let him know I sent you, so he knows I'm still listening! Why You Should Use a Lossless Format to Encode Your MusicThis article presents some decent arguments for using a lossless format such as Apple Lossless, FLAC, or Ogg-Vorbis to encode and preserve your music. It also informs the casual consumer on how to convert your AAC files to MP3 so you can listen to them on your iPod. I use the same technique described--converting from AAC to CD to mp3PRO--to get the music I purchase from iTunes and other music stores into VoyagerRadio's playlist. I Need to Satisfy My Planetarium FixMy friend Joy just told me about the Albert Einstein Planetarium at the Smithsonian. This planetarium sports the Zeiss Model VIa planetarium projector and the Sky Vision™ dual digital projection system and six-channel digital surround sound. I'm sportin' a woody just thinking about this setup. Maybe I'll eventually be able to make some dough so I can get out of this town for awhile...
In the meantime, maybe I'll satisfy my planetarium jones by heading over to Santa Monica College tonight and checking out their special planetarium show "Einstein's Universe". Which reminds me, when is that dang Griffith (the one I used to work at) going to be opening its doors again? 2006, I believe. Oh, well. For the time being guess I'll just have to settle into my trusty and seat at UCLA's planetarium, a small but comfy theater. I just wish those UCLA lecturers would make their shows last a bit longer. What can you expect from students, though? They probably want to get to their parties. Charssun and the Great Glass ElevatorI have installed the Apache web server on my Xandros Linux system, and here is the location of the website I am currently serving up from home: charssun.blogdns.com. I'm currently referring to the site as The Great Glass Elevator. (Does that bring back memories, Roald Dahl fans?)
Bookmark it now because by the time you attempt to access that web address, the site may no longer exist, though I'm sure it will resurface again as soon as I get all the DNS issues worked out. I've always wanted a server running from home and I plan to keep this baby running 24 hours a day, adding to it whatever creativity and relatively low bandwidth permit. So enjoy the site, and make sure you visit it often! Tempo of the Down #2 Added to VoyagerRadio PlaylistThe second session of Tempo of the Down is being uploaded to the playlist as I type this. Tempo of the Down is a continuously-mixed showcase of the downtempo music played on VoyagerRadio, my Internet radio station. This, the second edition of the show, is the first produced using a real hardware mixer (as opposed to the software used for the first session). Though still somewhat amateur-sounding, this second show sounds much better than the first one.
Though I announce the playlist in the session, you may also view an outline of the playlist on VoyagerRadio's Artists page. Session 2's outline isn't there yet but I'll be adding it within the next few days. I'm too tired to do so tonight, and I have a wedding to go to in the morning. Firefox Browser Nearing ReleaseAccording to Flexbeta, Version 1.0 of the world's best web browser, Firefox, is nearing release. Though incremental pre-1.0 releases have been available and widely used for some time now, it's always exciting to see a well-developed piece of software like Firefox come of age by reaching it's first official release.
In case you've been living in the Dark Ages of Internet Explorer, Firefox is the ultra-cool browser based on the open-source Mozilla browser, which itself sprang forth from Netscape. One feature Firefox has that Internet Explorer doesn't: a pop-up blocker that actually works, so that you don't have your browser hijacked every time you're surfing the web. Firefox also has tabbed browsing, a feature that I've come to rely on, and a host of other neat doodads. Firefox is available in Mac, Linux, and Windows flavors, so download your choice right now and be liberated from those advertising demons! Microsoft Introducing Music Download StoreMicrosoft is now introducing their own online music store, entering the fray between Apple, RealNetworks, Musicmatch, eMusic, BuyMusic.com, Walmart, Napster, Sony, and a variety of independent recording labels' own stores, including Warp Records' Bleep. Walter Mossberg offers his take on Microsoft's new offering in today's Personal Technology column. The well-respected technology journalist notes as one of the service's strengths the ability to download directly from the website without having to use Windows Media Player, while at the same time pointing out that the download process itself "cumbersome and obtuse". Mr. Mossberg sums up his review by describing the service as not yet ready for prime time, but one that has potential for the future.
The downloads are currently priced at $.99 and up, so before you rush out to give more of your hard-earned dollar to Microsoft, make sure to check Real's store first, where songs are on sale for $.49. Real's offer is for a limited time, so get 'em while they're cheap(er)! 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!
