My old "Fisher" 60-CD changer had "random" too accurately defined and would indeed play the same
tune more than once in a sequence. What the iPod and newer devices like it do is something other
than scientific "random." Each tune that gets played is noted and not played again in the "shuffle"
sequence. It could be that's why Apple calls the function "shuffle" and not "random."
In any case, my point stands -- what's "too much" music in the age of 160-gig iPods?
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Hirst" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2008 7:22 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] FBI Warning
> It us my understanding that true random play should allow for the same track to be repeated an
> infinite number of times. Has anyone ever experienced this using either hardware or software
> digital player?
>
> Tom Fine wrote:
>> Hi Steve:
>>
>> Don't you think the idea of "reasonable-sized collection" is getting modified in the iPod world?
>> For instance, a 160gig iPod can hold hundreds of thousands of (low-quality lossy compression)
>> tunes. It can hold at least several if not many thousand Apple Lossless Format tunes. You can set
>> the whole thing on "Shuffle" and never hear the same tune twice for weeks, months or years, but
>> you can eventually play through the whole library. So, then, the question becomes, what is a
>> reasonable amount of time and space for music in one's life?
>>
>> Also, just what's wrong with being passionately interested in something collectable, especially
>> when it's such an experience as music can provide? What is a better use of one's time? I would
>> argue that most things that occupy the hours of a 2008 American day are not a better use of the
>> time.
>>
>> -- Tom Fine
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Abrams" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2008 2:44 PM
>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] FBI Warning
>>
>>
>>> About fifty years ago I received a letter with some good advice from the famous behaviourist B.
>>> F. Skinner. He said simply: "There is only so much space and time in the world and the problem
>>> is to make the best use of it." Once every few years this letter shows up and I pin it to the
>>> wall for some months. Then it vanishes again as a bookmark.
>>>
>>> The question for us is to determine in each case the point where a hobby becomes an obsession.
>>> It is possible to do a calculation of the time you want to devote to listening divided by the
>>> number of records you can listen to, taking into account the propensity for listening to a
>>> relatively small number of favourites over and over. A collection becomes large when the
>>> majority of items have only been listened to once and many items have never been auditioned.
>>> Also you should have a very good memory, a catalogue or both. Furthermore records should be
>>> immediately accessible.
>>>
>>>> From this point of view the optimum size of a collection is surprisingly
>>> small. I find that I devote more time to replacing recordings with better copies or transfers
>>> than to acquiring entirely new material.
>>>
>>> The job of maintaining a large archive is something else. In general, if you earn a living from
>>> what you do, that is a good excuse.
>>>
>>> Steve Abrams
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard L. Hess" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2008 4:12 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] FBI Warning
>>>
>>>
>>>> At 03:22 AM 2008-06-19, Steve Abrams wrote:
>>>>> An ordinary CD is a 16 bit recording sampled 44,000 times per second.
>>>>
>>>> Hello, Steve,
>>>>
>>>> I'm sure you will have a name for this disorder, but for the sake of the archives, a very minor
>>>> correction: CDs are sampled at 44,100 samples per second.
>>>>
>>>> Your post was excellent, but I don't do pruning--I just acquire less now than I did now that
>>>> the "basic collection" has been purchased (over 40 years and yes, I still have things on LP
>>>> that aren't on CD). I have MUCH more space allocated to tape machines, parts, and related
>>>> stuff, but that's my business...and I'm sticking to that <smile>.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>>
>>>> Richard
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask]
>>>> Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX
>>>> Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
>>>> Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
>>>
>>
>>
>
> --
> Mike Hirst
> Managing Director
> DAS-360°
> 16 Ocean View
> Whitley Bay
> Tyne & Wear
> NE26 1AL
>
> tel: 0191 289 3186
> email: [log in to unmask]
> web: http://www.das360.net
>
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