#261279 - 02/08/2005 05:47
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: furtive]
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member
Registered: 10/01/2002
Posts: 139
Loc: Houston, TX, USA
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Me too, I haven't really had the desire to spend my free time messing with music. It's sad, I am one of the lucky ones to own an empeg and I really am not that into music, well ever since Nirvana and Gangter rappers destroyed the art.. Anyway, the most important thing for me is stability. Is the Alpha release going to crash on me? I've had maybe one crash in over 4 years on what is now my 2.0 setup.. Thx Quote:
Ok, I currently run V2.00 on my empeg. Is there any reason I shouldn't upgrade to this alpha release?
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#261280 - 02/08/2005 12:41
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: jnmunsey]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31599
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
Is the Alpha release going to crash on me?
Prior alphas did, for me. I have not yet tried A 11.
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#261281 - 02/08/2005 14:48
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: tfabris]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 09/08/2000
Posts: 2091
Loc: Edinburgh, Scotland
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Previous alphas were utterly flaky for me, but a11 has been very solid. The only bug I have seen a few times has been the one where playback hangs at the end of a track, and any fwd or rew just moves to the next/prev track but doesn't play it.
A reboot through hijack sorts the issue out straight away, so no biggie.
_________________________
Rory
MkIIa, blue lit buttons, memory upgrade, 1Tb in Subaru Forester STi
MkII, 240Gb in Mark Lord dock
MkII, 80Gb SSD in dock
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#261282 - 02/08/2005 15:06
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: jnmunsey]
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old hand
Registered: 28/12/2001
Posts: 868
Loc: Los Angeles
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Quote:
Anyway, the most important thing for me is stability. Is the Alpha release going to crash on me?
Probably. I have been using this for the last half week or so, which amount to maybe 4 or 5 hours of drive time. It has rebooted on me two times, had strange pauses and other wierdness a few times, and frozen (requiring me to pull it out and stick it back in again) once. More problematically, Emplode is still pretty flaky and crashed the first time I have used it, requiring a rebuild of the database. And I suspect, given what other people are reporting, it still can get stuck in a rebooting loop on a particular location.
All of these problems have been in the previous Alphas, and while it is a bit early to say for sure, it seems that Alpha 11 is no less or more stable than 8 was. Which, for me, is fine. I wouldn't go back to V2 for the world, I like a lot of the newer features. And most of the problems seem pretty minor. Emplode being flaky is a bit more problematic, but I rarely change the music on my player nowadays more than once a month and I can deal.
I don't want to sound like I am bitching, I really do appreciate the guys still working on these and understand that anything we get nowadays is just gravy. But if stability is your main concern, I would still say stay away.
Edit: Funny, nearly simultaneous replies with pretty opposite responses. The funny thing is that the problem frog51 reports I haven't seen. So obviously YMMV.
Edited by ninti (02/08/2005 15:15)
_________________________
Ninti - MK IIa 60GB Smoke, 30GB, 10GB
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#261283 - 02/08/2005 15:14
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: ninti]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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This alpha stability thing has been very interesting to me. I've been on v3a8 since its release, and v3a7 before that, and I get reboots once in a blue moon. I think I've had five total spontaneous reboots in more than a year of running the recent alphas. I haven't touched the newer ones yet, partly because they don't add much that I'm interested in (if it ain't broke...) and partly because I'm empegless in my car.
But I just find it very interesting that a lot of people have problems with the alphas and I never have. I wonder what's different about our usage pattern. My collection is in the 7,000 range, I run several third party apps, etc. All my tracks are LAME-encoded mp3s of varying bitrates, most recent ones are preset standard. I have a tuner and use it frequently (or did when it was in my car) but don't make use of any kind of RDS functionality.
Any patterns to the reboots? Certain activities bring them out more than others? Just grasping at straws here, I find it hard to believe something about my empeg unit makes it crash less than other peoples'.
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#261284 - 02/08/2005 15:20
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: tonyc]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 13/07/2000
Posts: 4180
Loc: Cambridge, England
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Quote:
All my tracks are LAME-encoded mp3s of varying bitrates [...] I find it hard to believe something about my empeg unit makes it crash less than other peoples'.
People is a plural.
Sorry, that's not what I was going to say: as mentioned in the release notes, a certain feature of MP3 headers would crash alphas 8 and 10 straight-out every time. Lame never writes headers with the exact properties necessary to cause the crash; other encoders might well do.
People experiencing crashes and glitches with alpha11 should probably try increasing their ReserveCache.
Peter
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#261285 - 02/08/2005 15:23
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: tonyc]
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old hand
Registered: 28/12/2001
Posts: 868
Loc: Los Angeles
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Quote:
I think I've had five total spontaneous reboots in more than a year of running the recent alphas.
It's hard to say for sure, but with Alpha8 I averaged maybe one every 8 hours of use or so. I run nothing on the Empeg but Hijack (though it isn't on since I put on Alpha 11, haven't gotten around to it yet). Some of my songs are older encodes, but 90% are Lame as well. I do have a tuner but never use it anymore. And there doesn't seem to be any pattern to the reboots at all. *shrug* I don't know why some people have more problems than others, I agree it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
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Ninti - MK IIa 60GB Smoke, 30GB, 10GB
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#261286 - 02/08/2005 15:30
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: peter]
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member
Registered: 24/10/2000
Posts: 106
Loc: San Jose, CA
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Yeah, "people" is a plural, however just to throw another log on the grammar fire he's using a possessive form of people, not a plural form. If he dropped the possessive, he'd be saying how his empeg crashes more than other people [implying that people crash]. His apostrophe may be mispositioned, but his intent was good  Sorry, the freelance writer in me comes out at the strangest times To add my two cents on stability, I have been using the v3 branch since the beginning, upgrading to pretty much each release (I skipped a few here and there) and have the occasional stability problem. Lately I've been getting a lot of sigkill errors, but once I get off my butt and send my empeg to the Eutronix guys for a memory upgrade I'm hoping that will end. My usage pattern? Around 7500 songs or so, high concentration of Ogg format, quality 5 to quality 6 (VBR). Mishmash of mp3's encoded with various settings, mainly LAME --alt-preset-standard except when I was in my experimental phase. Have quite a few CBR 160's as well. I bounce all over the place on my playlists and play up and down my collection. Used the tuner a lot until I got my new headunit, now I just use the empeg as an aux. I never use emplode. First off, I don't have a windows machine... second off jEmplode does the trick mainly. I'm using 69.0...1 although it drives me nuts with the "one sync per run" bug. I occasionally get hangs when synching. I synch new music frequently, generally once (sometimes twice) a week. I too would not ever go back to v2. First, I'd be screwed without the ogg support. Second, I have gotten pretty spoiled to the newer look and the newer features. Oh, I use hijack also (413 currently but I think I need to upgrade). -- Gary F.
_________________________
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Tigger, 2nd Owner -- Mk IIa, 80 Gb, Blue
S/N #40103789
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#261287 - 02/08/2005 17:33
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: jnmunsey]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
I really am not that into music
Heathen!
Quote:
well ever since Nirvana ... destroyed the art..
Sacrilege!
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Bitt Faulk
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#261288 - 03/08/2005 08:04
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: wfaulk]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 09/08/2000
Posts: 2091
Loc: Edinburgh, Scotland
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Reminds me of an amusing argument I regularly have with my brother (mostly to wind him up.) He was born after Star Wars, so firmly believes Nirvana have been the single most important and influential band ever. So I like to mention The Beatles, Jimi, Iron Maiden etc etc I mean, I like Nirvana, but just as another band who put out some good music (and some dross) and then lost their singer in a fairly stupid way 
_________________________
Rory
MkIIa, blue lit buttons, memory upgrade, 1Tb in Subaru Forester STi
MkII, 240Gb in Mark Lord dock
MkII, 80Gb SSD in dock
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#261289 - 03/08/2005 08:49
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: frog51]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 05/01/2001
Posts: 4903
Loc: Detroit, MI USA
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All Nirvana did was knock Guns and Roses and Mariah Carey off of the top of the charts. Good job IMO. I was never a big fan of Nirvana, but it didn't matter because there is SO much good music out there, you just need to know where to look.
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Brad B.
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#261290 - 03/08/2005 10:10
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: SE_Sport_Driver]
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old hand
Registered: 23/07/2003
Posts: 869
Loc: Colorado
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Personally, I think when Nirvana was "on" they were amazing. When they weren't, they were pretty average. Overall, I tend to lean more toward the experimental / avantgarde side of music, so I've never listened to the boring crap they churn out for the radio. Frankly, major label (even big independant label) bands have done very little to impress me. Do I greatly enjoy a lot of it? Sure. Impressed? Not generally. Brad, you especially I think should check out Gridlock. Band is defunct now, but the members still produce music seperately. Their final album "Formless" is especially enjoyable. Challenging at times, but enjoyable.
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Dave
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#261291 - 03/08/2005 12:25
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: peter]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/06/2001
Posts: 2504
Loc: Roma, Italy
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Really, THANK YOU! I was stuck with loads of work and could not even test the Alpha10, but I'll definitely go to this as soon as I have a spare minute. You guys are just great. I know it is just obvious at this point, but I want to say that in 4 years, now, I just think I could never live without my empeg(s) and it is just amazing how after such a long time buying an empeg still proves such a fantastic thing to do! Thank you! 
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= Taym =
MK2a #040103216 * 100Gb *All/Colors* Radio * 3.0a11 * Hijack = taympeg
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#261292 - 04/08/2005 12:51
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: Taym]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/06/2001
Posts: 2504
Loc: Roma, Italy
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Ok, I finally tested it! It is just great that it does not mark songs randomly any longer. Now I can finally mark songs as I need, again! In re-enabled the AF in the radio, and I only had one frequency change when it was not supposed to occur. I'll test it more during the weekend, when I will have a chance to see if it also changes frequency when instead it is supposed to do so Anyway, since it can be disabled, any misbehaviour will not create any major problem. Also, I noticed that before changing frequency, I could here some noise. As to the rest, it really seems stable!
_________________________
= Taym =
MK2a #040103216 * 100Gb *All/Colors* Radio * 3.0a11 * Hijack = taympeg
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#261293 - 05/08/2005 10:52
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: SE_Sport_Driver]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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I never understood what the big deal about Nirvana was- though pretty clearly they were amazing in some way because everyone and their dog credits them with bringing grunge to the forefront and killing 80s pop metal. I've always felt they were loud with overplayed drums and simple riffs. I thought the other groups out at the same time (Pearl Jam and Soungarden specifically) were much more impressive musically.
I was really into Pearl Jam, and I always thought their stuff was better than Nirvana. In fact, "Ten" is still probably in my list of Desert Island CDs, or at least the Bomb Shelter 20, But Nirvana didn't pave the way for PJ did they? I mean, Soundgarden, PJ, and STP pretty much all came out at about the same time. Or am I missing something?
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
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#261294 - 05/08/2005 11:13
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: JeffS]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 19/01/2002
Posts: 3584
Loc: Columbus, OH
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Different strokes for different folks. Pearl Jam may be better musically, but Eddie Vedders voice makes me want to rend my ears from my head. I uploaded a bunch of Pearl Jam tracks to my empeg a year or so ago because I thought that they should probably be there, but I fast forward through them every time now.
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~ John
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#261295 - 05/08/2005 11:25
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: JBjorgen]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 09/08/2000
Posts: 2091
Loc: Edinburgh, Scotland
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And I am 180 degrees away from you on this one, as I am particularly impressed by Eddie's voice, but reckon Kurt always sounded like a shambolic moaning drunk Still got all PJ and NIrvanas albums though, as well as Stone Temple Pilots, Temple of the Dog, Soundgarden and various others from that group.
_________________________
Rory
MkIIa, blue lit buttons, memory upgrade, 1Tb in Subaru Forester STi
MkII, 240Gb in Mark Lord dock
MkII, 80Gb SSD in dock
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#261296 - 05/08/2005 11:29
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: frog51]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Quote:
And I am 180 degrees away from you on this one, as I am particularly impressed by Eddie's voice, but reckon Kurt always sounded like a shambolic moaning drunk
Exactly!
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
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#261297 - 05/08/2005 11:31
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: JBjorgen]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Quote:
Different strokes for different folks.
Oh, no doubt. And I'm really not arguing which band is better, only that I'm not really sure why Nirvana gets all the love when it seems to me there were several bands that contributed to the changing music scene.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
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#261298 - 05/08/2005 13:12
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: JeffS]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 19/01/2002
Posts: 3584
Loc: Columbus, OH
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I think it was because Nirvana got wider radio play earlier and opened the doors for the grunge bands to get more airtime, bringing their sound to an awaiting angst-ridden suburbia.
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~ John
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#261299 - 05/08/2005 13:35
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: JBjorgen]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 06/04/2005
Posts: 2026
Loc: Seattle transplant
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Quote:
...bringing their sound to an awaiting angst-ridden suburbia.
When I was a kid we didn't have angst! Kids today are so lucky.
All we had was boredom and restlessness.
"Food? We didn't have food! We ate wool coats and we were happy!"
</Billy Crystal>
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10101466 (2x60GB, Eutronix/GreenLights Blue) (Stolen!)
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#261300 - 05/08/2005 13:49
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: JeffS]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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I'm a much bigger fan of Pearl Jam than I am of Nirvana, but I give Nirvana more credit for "changing" the music scene (not that they were trying.)
You are spot on that musically, Nirvana's song structures, lyrical content, etc. are nothing to write home about. And that's kinda the point. They took a minimalist approach to rock at a time when overproduced, formulaic hair metal was dominating the charts.
In my mind, the secret to their success was two things. The first is timing, because Nevermind came along at a time when rock really needed a new direction. More importantly, I think that the Nevermind albun was heavy enough to bring in the recovering metalheads, visceral enough to pick up some leftover punk rockers, yet still polished enough to have pop appeal.
I also give Butch Vig all the credit in the world for harnessing the raw power and anger of Kurt Cobain and turning it into a monster record that millions of people wanted to listen to over and over. I remember the first time I heard Smells Like Teen Spirit came on the radio as if it happened yesterday, and even though it wasn't my cup of tea at the time (I was heavy into classic rock back then) I could tell it was going to be big. I never thought it would spawn a totally new direction in rock, but that single really jumped out at you and forced you to listen, even if you didn't like it. This made Nirvana seem more revolutionary than Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, etc. even though that may not be the case when you listen to the other Seattle bands who *didn't* get picked up by the big labels.
Also, STP don't really belong in this discussion. They were really part of the second wave of grunge (Core was released late in 1992 and didn't get airplay until 1993) and IMHO a blatant ripoff of Pearl Jam. They did have some good tunes along the way, but they were definitely derivative of the first wave of grunge acts.
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#261301 - 05/08/2005 14:21
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: tonyc]
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enthusiast
Registered: 11/06/2003
Posts: 384
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Quote:
at a time when rock really needed a new direction....
I always wonder what kind of bands and music we'd have if Grunge hadn't hit when it did. Would the dirty power pop of bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain have had a chance to break into the mainstream?
--Nathan
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#261302 - 05/08/2005 14:24
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: tonyc]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Thanks Tony, that was a great post. I guess I just missed most of that dynamic at the time. Quote:
Also, STP don't really belong in this discussion. They were really part of the second wave of grunge (Core was released late in 1992 and didn't get airplay until 1993) and IMHO a blatant ripoff of Pearl Jam.
My bad, I never got into STP, so I didn't really know their timeline.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
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#261303 - 05/08/2005 14:32
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: Robotic]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31599
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
When I was a kid we didn't have angst! Kids today are so lucky.
All we had was boredom and restlessness.
I am SO saving that up.
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#261304 - 05/08/2005 16:31
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: JeffS]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Quote:
In fact, "Ten" is still probably in my list of Desert Island CDs, or at least the Bomb Shelter 20,
Pearl Jam CD: $16
Fire Sale Empeg W/ upgraded hard drive: $300
Being able to listen to a forgotten CD on the way to lunch without searching for a jewl case or shuffleing discs in the car: Priceless.
Man, I'd forgotten how much I liked that album.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
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#261305 - 08/08/2005 11:30
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: JeffS]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 19/01/2002
Posts: 3584
Loc: Columbus, OH
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I drove over 12 hours this weekend and didn't have a single lockup with Alpha 11 on my MK2A with 32mb, making it the most stable alpha version for me yet.
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~ John
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#261306 - 08/08/2005 12:00
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: JBjorgen]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/01/2002
Posts: 3937
Loc: Providence, RI
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Quote:
I drove over 12 hours this weekend and didn't have a single lockup with Alpha 11 on my MK2A with 32mb, making it the most stable alpha version for me yet.
I put about 12 hours of road time in last weekend and another 7 this weekend with no lockups either. I'm not sure anything in my current playlist has locked up, though. Some stuff I have is more likely to lock up than others.
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#261307 - 08/08/2005 12:14
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: peter]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14494
Loc: Canada
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Worked well enough on our road trip these past two weeks -- at least as well as any prior v3alpha release did. Several "sigkill" player restarts were noted, and I managed to get the wrong track "details" on the "INFO->TRACK" display by hitting the LEFT fp button quickly into the start of a new track (so that it went back to the previous track, but left the new track's info on the screen..).
Cheers
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#261308 - 08/08/2005 12:15
Re: Car-player v3.00, eleventh alpha release
[Re: mlord]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/01/2002
Posts: 3937
Loc: Providence, RI
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Quote:
Worked well enough on our road trip these past two weeks -- at least as well as any prior v3alpha release did. Several "sigkill" player restarts were noted, and I managed to get the wrong track "details" on the "INFO->TRACK" display by hitting the LEFT fp button quickly into the start of a new track (so that it went back to the previous track, but left the new track's info on the screen..).
Cheers
Hm. You do remind me of 2 things:
1) got a sigkill when using "search" to manually tune a frequency
2) when tuning to AM, I see signal strength (620am has signal, 610 and 630 don't) but hear nothing. FM is fine.
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