topic Re: Hi all in Discussions & Feedback

Hi all

paddyguy — Wed, 02 May 2018 19:41:39 GMT

Only asking if o2 will be doing free streaming as three are doing it would be nice as without using your data

Re: Hi all

Anonymous — Wed, 02 May 2018 19:45:09 GMT

@paddyguy I doubt that will happen & only O2 will know that @Chris_K

Re: Hi all

MI5 — Wed, 02 May 2018 19:47:42 GMT

They already do have offers of this from time to time on certain phones and tariffs but I doubt it will ever become mainstream.
It's a marketing tool used by other networks and O2 have their own variations already.

Re: Hi all

paddyguy — Wed, 02 May 2018 19:53:52 GMT

Oh ive got the s8+ but dont get free streaming 😞

Re: Hi all

Anonymous — Wed, 02 May 2018 19:55:01 GMT

Then your not likely to get it if it didn’t come with the contract you have

Re: Hi all

Anonymous — Wed, 02 May 2018 20:13:24 GMT

Voda have just launched a rolling 30 day SIM only yoof focused entire MVNO network called Voxi with unlimited data for social media , and currently free music and video passes for unlimited data on those, (Selected suppliers but including Netlix, Spotify and the usual suspects) with 2gb 5gb or 10gb 'everything else' data and unlimited minutes, texts EU roaming and even picture messages for £10, £15 or £20. You have to be under 25 to join. The only restriction on free stuff is you have to have some everything else data left.

So I wouldn't be so sure that unlimited data for selected services isn't coming - there are huge net neutrality issues tho!

Re: Hi all

Anonymous — Wed, 02 May 2018 20:24:08 GMT

O2 got rid of unlimited data years ago & I don’t see them bringing it back anytime soon

Re: Hi all

Anonymous — Wed, 02 May 2018 21:01:22 GMT

It's only unlimited on certain services @Anonymous and so encourages people to certain content providers (who may also want a subscription) - and not others. But if it's a choice of 'free' data on say Netflix & Spotify as long as you have a subscription or paid for data on Amazon or Sky Go or Apple Music plus the subscription - I think Netflix & Spotify will win out. No wonder Rupert's sold Sky to Disney - He can see which way the wind's blowing ...

QUESTION : what happens to all the paid for buy & keep online content, videos and music that were supposedly ''yours to keep forever' when Sky, Amazon & iTunes close down their video & music streaming services?

Re: Hi all

sheepdog — Wed, 02 May 2018 21:41:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
....

QUESTION : what happens to all the paid for buy & keep online content, videos and music that were supposedly ''yours to keep forever' when Sky, Amazon & iTunes close down their video & music streaming services?

ANSWER: Its not a problem: you're supposed to make a backup copy. You do invest in backup devices don't you?

BTW, this Voxi thing won't last. We've been here many times when it gets to a point where they're losing money and ~~have to~~ will put up prices or the rather more subtle way of reducing components of a tariff. Even better cost-wise for them, speed and bandwidth will drop proportionally till you're forced to change to a tariff that suddenly is "our fastest ever speed with even less benefits".

Sheepdog in "3 drives on a vinyl backup" mode

Re: Hi all

Glory1 — Thu, 03 May 2018 01:38:52 GMT

@Anonymous, I can't comment on Sky and iTunes but I can for Amazon as I'm a Prime member. Amazon substantially increased their subscription to Prime (by £30 pa) on the grounds that membership would include streaming of 1,000s of films and TV shows, which is increased regularly. Also included are Amazon exclusive TV series like Ripper Street, Bosch and Sneaky Pete. I doubt anyone, including me, would continue to pay £79 pa (or £7.99 pm) simply for next day delivery! So I can't see them getting rid of this service unless they wish to lose substantial revenue or are prepared to offer a comparable service/perk to justify Prime's subscription.

Prime Music and Prime Music Unlimited are not included in the Prime membership subscription. If you wish to subscribe to either service you have to pay an additional monthly fee on top of your Prime subscription. As they are competing with the likes of Spotify and iTunes, again I don't see it disappearing in the near future. Though I do agree with @sheepdog it probably won't last forever. It's why I personally prefer to download my music. Once I've paid for it it's mine to keep forever. Oh and it gets backed up regularly, just in case 😉

Re: Hi all

Anonymous — Thu, 03 May 2018 03:50:21 GMT

@sheepdog wrote:

Sheepdog in "3 drives on a vinyl backup" mode

Are we talking Greece 2000? Which amongst other great things was the second track on the timeless Tranceport CD mixed by Oakie himself.?

ANSWER: Its not a problem: you're supposed to make a backup copy. You do invest in backup devices don't you?

YES, I have a multi terrabyte nas but that's not to backup it's to serve hi res music files , mainly I have vinyl and ripped flac version of CDs on the NAS + higher resolution files : 24/192 and ting.

Oh and 11,000 songs on Google play and a thousand or so on Amazon....

Problem is however hi-res the file you upload, you only get a vbr 256 mp3, cos people are prepared to spend a fortune on hi res TV, but claim not to be able to hear the difference between an MP3 and a hi res FLAC
Which is hardly surprising when they mostly listen to them on telephones....

BTW, this Voxi thing won't last.

Probably not, though not sure how much bandwidth restrictions they can make to a service designed to stream video, they'll probably close it to new signups like talk mobile and migrate them over to Voda in a couple of years. It does illustrate the point regarding operator selected services tho.

NB I really suck at HTML

Re: Hi all

Anonymous — Thu, 03 May 2018 03:47:31 GMT

@Glory1 wrote:
@Anonymous, I can't comment on Sky and iTunes but I can for Amazon

🙂 Yes I have some fairly strong views about Amazon.. See my previous posts on atrocious customer service. The general point is that things ard cyclical and don't last forever . A few year ago Nokia were the world's largest handset supplier.....

Re: Hi all

paddyguy — Thu, 03 May 2018 08:56:16 GMT

Ok thanks 😉

Re: Hi all

Anonymous — Thu, 03 May 2018 09:18:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Glory1 wrote:
@Anonymous, I can't comment on Sky and iTunes but I can for Amazon

🙂 Yes I have some fairly strong views about Amazon.. See my previous posts on atrocious customer service. The general point is that things ard cyclical and don't last forever . A few year ago Nokia were the world's largest handset supplier.....

Fair comment @Anonymous ... I have always had a Nokia phone = as a tech newbie it was the only name I knew ... currently have the Windows 650lte (was a Nokia phone originally)

Re: Hi all

sheepdog — Thu, 03 May 2018 18:26:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@sheepdog wrote:
Sheepdog in "3 drives on a vinyl backup" mode

Are we talking Greece 2000? Which amongst other great things was the second track on the timeless Tranceport CD mixed by Oakie himself.?

Glad you got the pun Not a fan of mix CD's as I preferred CD singles (I have the original single somewhere and the album!) with multiple remixes though saying that I've been listening to Trance 2000 album today which brings back the glory days of late 90's trance.

I need re-do all my collection to hi-res from wav as I have a Sony Walkman that does hi-res - mentioned on another thread I really dislike the phone/music interface and with a decent set of earphones and isolation, you can tell the difference between an ok mp3 rip and higher res files. And the added bonus, you can ignore all the PPI and "just answer 3 marketing questions" calls.

Right back to youtube to some obscure trance tracks at random....

Sheepdog in "hands in the air like I just don't care " mode

Re: Hi all

Anonymous — Thu, 03 May 2018 18:44:02 GMT

@sheepdog wrote:

Sheepdog in "hands in the air like I just don't care " mode

You crack me up @sheepdog

You have a wealth of tech knowledge + can take apart an episode of Strictly Come Dancing + a good sense of wit ... & ... your 'Sheepdog in blank blank blank mode(s) tickle me pink

Re: Hi all

Anonymous — Sat, 05 May 2018 01:45:51 GMT

@sheepdog wrote:
I Need re-do all my collection to hi-res from wav as I have a Sony Walkman that does hi-res - mentioned on another thread

If they are .wav most likely they are 16bit/44.1khz/s (what the wider world recognises as hi-res these days - so you could use EAC (http://www.exactaudiocopy.de) to convert the .wavs and rip your CDs to 16/44.1 flacs at about half the file size and play them on your Walkman @sheepdog

Real hi-res is 24 bit or weirdly 1,2, or 4bit if you are Sony. So in order to understand the difference you need to picture the analog sound wave as a wave in the air. From the orchestra to you at its purest.

Or a wave vibration on a speaker surface or the rise and fall of a stylus on a record groove (the groove and it's bumps are a physical representation of the sound wave.) This is why vinyl enthusiasts say the vinyl sound is fuller, there is no sampling involved . Sadly turntables effect the purity of the wave markedly due to defects in the vinyl turntable speed, vibrations and so on. Reel to Reel analog tape (pulp fictionesq) was a lot more reliable just much harder to duplicate

So in order to duplicate the wave digitally you have to sample it. The analog signal (in red) when encoded to 4-bit digital sample (in blue) gives a bit depth or word length of 4, so each sample's amplitude is one of 16 possible values. In a 1 bit word length sample there is only one posible position. 2 bit is 2 to the power of 2 so 4 positions.

It goes up in 2n where n is the bit depth . So 2 to the 3 is 8 positions . 2 to the 4 for 16 positions as above.

16 bit is 2 to the 16 or 65,536 positions and 24bit is a whopping 16,777,216.

Then you have to introduce time so take the wave above, you could call that a second, so you have a sample rate of 24 samples a second . All you would hear would be 24 clicks in rapid succession

16/44.1 is sampled at 44,100 hz or 44.1 khz/s or 44,100 times per second. You can now calculate the bit rate (like the mp3's) so 16/44 is a bit rate of (2 for two stereo channels * 16 bits * 44khz ) 1,408 kb/s compared to a 256 kb/s for an MP3

Now 24 bit 192 khz are 9,216 kb/s so files are huge even when compressed lossesly as a flac & take up around 2gb per 45 minute album. Music Studios often sample at 24/384 but in general home based hifi can only process up to 192.

Sony's version of hi res involves 1,2,or 4 bit word length but far higher sampling rates SA CD is 1/2.8Mhz ie 2*1*2,822,400 or 5,644 kb/s though clearly you could double up to stupid eg 8/22.4 or 358,400kbps

Lots of 'pirate' 24/88, 24/96 or 24/192 files are 'hi res' cd rips or worse vinyl rips. (I love vinyl but it's really hard to rip well, see above.)

@sheepdog wrote:
I really dislike the phone/music interface and with a decent set of earphones and isolation, you can tell the difference between an ok mp3 rip and higher res files.

Ok so my Huawei phone can play 24/384 - CPU's even ones in phones, are great at processing digital files but crap at clocking, in fact the clocks in computer & phone processors are deliberatly jittery in order to prevent signal interference .. clocking is making sure the spaces between the samples are even. The only way I can describe it is when you see a length of flashing lights on a motorway they usually flash in wave cos the clocking of the flash is one second off, one second on- but the waves are usually uneven. Cos the gaps are not exactly 1 second. So the only way to use a 'puter or phone or even a Walkman to play hi-res with fidelity is to take the signal and re-clock externally before passing it to the digital audio converter (dac) and then the amplifier and speakers.

haaaaave it larggggge Dublin Serious Heaven. 😇