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Thinksmart

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Posts posted by Thinksmart

  1. You'll want CDrs that can be finalised into an Audio CD (not CDRWs which are rewriteable data CDs).

    Any CDrs sold should do the job.  You'll need some software that does it for you. I used to do it all the time, but not written a CD in a good ten years or more now so I've forgotten which I used.   

  2. The new Hotlanta CD out from Ace/Kent this week is unreleased Soul - I'm looking forward to the pre-order arriving.

    Those Soul Direction discoveries are excellent.

    I cannot get the single edit reissue of Lawrence Beaman's Thinking Of You out of my head at present.  Very Barry White sounding:

    https://www.firstexperiencerecords.com/product/lawrence-beamen-thinking-of-you-the-7-remix-been-a-long-time-7-vinyl-black-picture-sleeve-pre-order-in-stock-8-3-24/

  3. First, you may not need a device buying at all!

    A lot of your modern hifi or radio devices will already have a bluetooth mode.  Your phone has Bluetooth. All you need to do is connect to it (enable Bluetooth mode on phone, search while the other device is in Bluetooth mode) and connect. 

    If your hifi or radio (or soundbar) has Bluetooth in it - you don't need a transmitter or receiver box at all.  You can then play direct from phone to the music playing direct over the air.

    Where a little box is helpful is connecting to a device that either doesn't have Bluetooth or it only uses the older poor quality versions.  You migh not care about the sound quality anyway for casual listening.

    There are lots of easy plug in and connect devices to buy online - the 1Mii one I mentioned is great.  You plug that into your device/amp and your phone then connects to that.  You can connect these little boxes by audio cables (to your Aux In) or for better quality by Optical cable (generally to Opt In).

    For most people if you need a box, get one on Amazon or wherever you choose, check it has an audio cable that connects to your hifi/radio etc. First though, check if your music playing device already has Bluetooth - if so, you don't need anything new.

    Another option is just to buy a separate dedicated Bluetooth speaker.  I bought the Soundcore 300 recently to take on holiday and it's excellent. There are lots of larger ones with handles to move around your home and garden such as from Soundcore (the 100) or Boombox, JBL etc.  You then won't need anything else, just connect your phone and play.

     

    Bluetooth varies in its quality, it uses what are called Codecs - which are how the Bluetooth file is compressed and decompessed at the other end. These range from its most basic (SBC) available on all devices, through first generation higher quality (AptX and AAC) through to High-Resolution (AptX-HD, AptX-Adaptive or Sony's LDAC which is only available on all Android devices).

    For a bluetooth speaker AAC /AptX is generally fine. The others are used more for earphones/headphones.

    For most people if not worried about the highest sound quality  - don't worry about these Codecs. If you're wanting better sound quality (and it does make a big difference) - I can provide more input either here or directly.  I doubt most people will want to bother with that though. The only reason I have the boxes I highlighted in an earlier post is for the best sound,  my devices typically already had AptX in them, but I had got used to using higher quality LDAC in earphones when travelling.

     

    NOTE: if using an Apple phone, it can only connect via SBC/AAC (AAC is good). Android phones support both of those plus the AptX versions I mentioned and LDAC.  To enable highest definition audio off an Android phone needs a mode opening, which I can help with easily.

     

     

    • Up vote 2
  4. Yes, my Bluetooth boxes have Optical Outs so I have mine wired into the Optical in port. Works really well and I can then use highest quality BT codecs such as LDAC or AptX-HD/adaptive. I use the iFi Zen Blue v2 and 1Mii Bluetooth transmitters.  The 1Mii recharge so are nicely portable between devices and properties.

  5. Also $tateside records put out two cassettes of early spins on tape.

    The Rare series by Ariola Records mixes early Modern Soul and Jazz Funk, and is on tape. https://www.discogs.com/label/577298-Rare-7?page=1

    Urban Classics 3 is on tape, Modern focused, even having We The People as its lead track.

    The Wind Down Zone series on Elevate made it to tape and was compiled by Ralph Tee. That has great MS selections on each one.

    Mentioning Ralph, I found a few tapes on Expansion:https://www.discogs.com/label/9974-Expansion?page=1 - I've got all those on CD. Beloyd is on Soul Sauce 3 for example.

     

    • Up vote 1
  6. On MixCloud you can then pick best shows from such as Solar Radio, Starpoint Radio etc. There are loads of great new releases shows there too dependent on your taste - if you check out the websites for those, then check Mixcloud for the shows you like the sound of - there will be loads there that can be downloaded ready.

    • Up vote 1
  7. I've had the misfortune to be interviewed on R4 a couple of times and what you hear is a tiny edit. You speak with a researcher first who takes notes and feeds them on. The interviewer has seen that, but often has little knowledge or interest in the actual subject unless close to them (to be fair, they cover a lot of subjects doing a daily show), it's just filling 5 minutes and trying to find an angle. They also know in many situations their audience has passing interest at best, nobody ever checks back for detail accuracy normally. My most recent interview was ended when I wouldn't give them anything scandalous or confirm their line towards muck raking. They didn't want truth, just an angle that would perpetuate the subject and fill time - BBC is now like them all in needing social media clicks. All the other interviewees had ducked out based on the researcher questioning beforehand.  It's not worth scrutinising a segment too much.

    • Up vote 1
    • Helpful 1


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