Baslinux mailing list

[Lee Forrest <lforrestster AT gmail.com>]

On Sat, Jan 13, 2007 at 02:23:23PM +1000, Ron Clarke wrote:
> Hi Folks,
> 
> On Fri, 12 Jan 2007 18:42:32 +0000, Lee Forrest wrote:
> 
> >> I listen to internet radio at about 20K signal, which uses far less
> >> bandwidth than the 10.5MB ATI Windows video driver we went to the library
> >> to fetch (turns out they also want some large installer which you can 
> >> only
> >> download with Windows).  Banning Windows would be far more effective than
> >> banning sound.
> 
> > Why do internet radio when the broadcast signals are everywhere and you
> > can pick up a radio for a dollar at a garage sale?
> 
>    I also listen to internet radio from time to time.

So? 

> >> My 56K connection is not adequate for listening to 20K internet radio - 
> >> it
> >> keeps cutting out.  Is Bach mindless entertainment?
> 
> > Sure can be. If you aren't paying attention to it and just letting it run 
> > in
> > the background. That's mindless.
> 
>    :)
> 
>    I think you are missing the point here.

I don't appear to be the only one :-)

> 
> > Again: I suggest that you get an FM radio and listen to a classical music
> > station. They are all over the place. Relying on computers to do things
> > that are already done very well by existing services is wasteful.
> 
>    I would suggest that listening to internet radio is not something
> that one does not pay attention to. Be it Bach (not my own cup of tea)
> or other specialist music (my own is traditional Celtic music), one would 
> not have it running if the whole purpose is to ignore it.

That's not my point! There are already plenty of music sources available
to you for almost nothing: Notably broadcast FM. Why use up bandwidth
and your computer for it?

And if you are just playing it in the background while you are concentrating
on something else, that's _mindless_. 

>    On the other hand, if there is an internet radio station that caters
> to one's own interests (e.g. that are not enough in the mainstream to 
> attract the sponsorship of commercial suport) then an internet radio
> broadcast can fit the bill quite nicely.  Especially when it is not in
> the same country, or even hemisphere, as one's self.
> 
>    In my case, that is something that my computer can do, but any number
> of FM radios will fail to do.

Again, you are missing my point: It is simply not okay to endlessly indulge
in complex technologies.  

There have been Celtic music fans and fanatics around for a long
time. Long before the internet showed up.

They somehow made do with printed music, instruments, local
clubs, tapes and records and radios and small movie theatres and
the TV and the mail and telephones and live performances of all
sizes, from buskers to taverns to churches to parks...

You just can't call yourself an environmentalist if you are
promoting unlimited over-indulgence in highly-destructive
industries.

Lee

-- 
BasicLinux: Small is Beautiful
http://www.basiclinux.com.ru