i n c o g n i t o · d o t · o r g

From: Koufax

Date: Aug 7, 2008 11:21 AM
Subject: Koufax Review
Body: Check out an early review of Strugglers from Fuck Yeah! Go Team!

http://fuckyeahgoteam. blogspot. com/2008/08/koufax-chime-in-on-struggle. html

gobi updated Wordpress, which is the framework behind this blog.

I updated my theme, Tarski.

I fixed the weather.com plugin.

My list of recently watched movies, brought to you by the “Now Watching” plugin no longer works and the URL related to the project is dead. I’m now trying out a similar Widget from ActiveBlue even though it seems a little shady, marketing-wise. Although the new plugin is easier to maintain, since it gets information on-the-fly from Netflix, it’s limited in that it only shows the past 6 movies I watched (due to Netflix’ RSS feed).

Now that the blog is fresh in my mind, expect more posts soon with various updates of what’s been going on in my life. That’s the plan, at least.

I may add more details later, especially if requested. For now, this is a personal reminder of how my AudioTron network-attached music player should be configured to play .mp3 files from my NASLite+ file server.

I spent hours coming to the following conclusion/resolve:

CONFIGURE THE AUDIOTRON WITH A STATIC IP ADDRESS AND NO DNS SERVER

Considering these two network-attached devices are on the same switch/LAN/subnet, I’d prefer to use an empty gateway but the AudioTron won’t accept that, so I ended up using the IP address of my router. I was able to get away with 0.0.0.0 for the DNS server, thankfully.

I’m not sure if it’s necessary, but my current (finally working) configuration has “NAS-User” for the “Windows NT / 2000 / XP USER NAME” and an empty/blank PASSWORD (although it will display ********* after saving the respective settings). The “Windows 98 / Millennium SHARE PASSWORD” is also empty/blank and similarly displays ********* after saving it.

My particular NASLite+ box has 4 hard drives and the second one (Disk-2) is dedicated to .mp3 files, so my SHARE 1 DIRECTORY is “\\NASLITE\DISK-2″. In that same page, I have the “Search all folders in shared folders listed below” radio button selected.

Why not use the easier method of using the “Search all folders in all shares” radio button, you may ask? Because that results in the AudioTron locating and queuing close to double the amount of .mp3 files, which then results in duplicate tracks. So, in the scenario that I’m playing an album, I’d hear two of the same track, back-to-back, which is completely unacceptable.

Sticking with the “Search all folders in all shares” scenario, looking at the Network History suggests that the duplication issue is due to the “\\NASLITE\Disks” folder also being added to the queue.

For example:

Host NASLITE found at IP 192.168.1.27
Share \\NASLITE\Disk-1 has 0 new songs
Share \\NASLITE\Disk-2 has 15206 new songs
Share \\NASLITE\Disk-3 has 0 new songs
Share \\NASLITE\Disk-4 has 66 new songs
Share \\NASLITE\Disks has 14936 new songs
Share \\NASLITE\Info has 0 new songs

Comparing the Location values of Playing vs. Next… in the Home page adds more validity to the aforementioned suggestion.

For example:

\\NASLITE\Disk-2\mp3\music\Example Artist - Album Name\01-Name of Track 1 - Album Name.mp3
\\NASLITE\Disks\Disk-2\mp3\music\Example Artist - Album Name\01-Name of Track 1 - Album Name.mp3

If this information if helpful to you, please leave a comment and let me know.

Check ‘em out on Amazon Listmania!.

Bulletin from Koufax’ via myspace:

02/04/08 1:45PM
New Album “Strugglers” Out Soon
Koufax recently completed the tracking of its fourth full length player “Strugglers.” The 11 song album was tracked in Eudora, KS by Nick Day at the Black Lodge. Mixing by Michael Krassner in Phoenix, AZ begins this week, so a new song or two will be uploaded on this site toward the end of the month. Release dates are yet to be confirmed, however it appears summer is most likely for Europe and USA with touring in the respective areas to follow. Other details will surface, as they come in. Stay smart / look sharp!

This just in from Stanhope via myspace:

Jan 28, 2008 10:23 AM
Subject: On The Off-Chance You’re Near Lafayette, LA…
Body: I forgot to put this one on my calendar before I left for Costa Rica…

March 1st
307 Downtown
Lafayette, LA
Tix now http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/26831

If you live there, please let all your overbearing, judgemental friends know in a blog or a bulletin so they can tell you that you’re wrong for liking me.

My Xtra exhibits a “playback error” when trying to play certain mp3s. The resolution is to use foobar2000 to re-encode these mp3s. Specifically, click “File / Open” and open the respective mp3. Before you get started, you’ll need lame.exe. Extract the contents of the .zip file anywhere on your hard drive, then copy/paste lame.exe anywhere, for example in the foobar2000 folder. In the following steps, when prompted for lame.exe, browse to where you pasted it.

In the two versions of foobar2000 I’ve used, the track starts playing automatically, so stop playback if that’s also the case for you. Right-click on the file (the item in the playlist), click “Convert” from the menu, then click “Convert to Same Folder”. Choose “MP3 (LAME), 190 kbps, V2, fast” from the dropbox then click OK. Click “Yes” in the warning window that tells you there will be quality loss. Your newly-created mp3 will have a different filename and a newer timestamp than the older one. This newer one is (obviously) the one that should be copied to the Xtra.

The only problem I’ve observed is that sometimes, not always, the converted mp3 isn’t able to be fastforwarded or rewound, if those words still apply in the digital world. In other words, once you start playing the track, if you try to fastforward or rewind it, you’ll have to start over, so be cautious. I haven’t looked into that problem - I’m leaving good enough alone, or whatever the saying is.

Helpful site for those who use FM transmitters to interface portable audio players to their vehicle’s audio system.

Myspace can be useful. I just came across this bulletin:

It’s official! The Joel Plaskett Emergency will be touring with the Tragically Hip in the United States. From San Francisco to New York, the Joel Plaskett Emergency will be rocking venues with the always fantastic Tragically Hip. These shows are going to sell out fast, so check the show dates (link to tourdates ) and get your tickets ASAP! This is one tour that you don’t want to miss!

No worries for our Canadian fans either. While the Can-Americans get their fill of Emergency Rock, we’ll be putting together dates for our fans North of the Border. See you soon!

The JPE Team

From the upcoming shows section of the Joel Plaskett profile:

Oct 18 2007 8:00P
La Zona Rosa Austin, Texas

Who’s coming to the show?

OH THE BEEMANITY