Give up your CD collection

The squeezebox gives you easy access to your music via a friendly remote control. Digital music on your computer is great but wouldn’t it be so much easier if you could play it through your main hi-fi without cables trailing everywhere? Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to change the CD in your CD player very half an hour?
With the Squeezebox, all you have to do is rip your existing CD collection to your computers hard drive and you will never have to touch a CD again. Ever!

Great Quality Sound

Squeezebox features a high fidelity 24-bit Burr-Brown DAC, legendary in the audiophile community for their clean output and ultra-low distortion characteristics. Digital optical, coax, and analog connectors can plug into any home theater, stereo or amplified speakers. Basically, the squeezebox will connect to pretty much any soundsystem.

And its all wireless!

The player contains built-in support for true 802.11g and advanced lossless compression technologies. This means you can put your player three times as far away from your wireless network as usual and still get your music. If you don’t have a wireless network, don’t worry, the Squeezebox also has an ethernet port so you can plug it into your LAN should you need to. Even better, the Squeezebox can also act as a wireless bridge. Any wired device that you plug into it will have instant access to your network or the internet. All this with very little to setup.

The Software

To get your player working, you will need to download the free, Open Source software from the website. Available for Windows, Mac, Linux and on other operating systems, Slimserver is very easy to install. Once installed, simply open your web browser, type in the address of your Slimserver and you can change all the necessary settings through a user-friendly web interface. After telling the computer where your music is stored, Slimserver will find all your files and organise them for you. All that is left- plug your Squeezebox in! Of course, there are many fine tuned settings that you can play with to streamline your player.

Lots of formats

This isn’t just an MP3 player. The squeezebox also plays WMA, FLAC, AAC and Ogg Vorbis files. There are even plugins available that will let you listen to other formats should you wish.

Multiple Squeezeboxes?

Should you wish to (and if you can afford it), you can install multiple Squeezeboxes around the house. You can get them to play music independantly, all from one computer, or you can get them all to synchronize. Brilliant for that house party you’re having!

Beautiful Design

The Squeezebox is a slick accessory. Apart from it being compact, the Squeezebox boasts a massive, bright Vacuum Fluorescent Display. This lets you find out what you are listening to from the other side of the room with ease. Furthermore, due to the high resolution screen, the Squeezebox can display a number of attractive visualisations along with the music. This is a must have for your lounge. Sexy!

Easy Access

The Squeezebox itself has absolutely no buttons on its smooth body. Everything is done via a user-friendly remote control. Browsing the menus on the Squeezebox’s screen is a pleasure and even the least technologically minded person can get along with the interface. You can browse your music by Artist, Album, Genre and Year and can quickly build up playlists which can be saved for later listening. You can even search your music using the numerical pad on the remote. Text entry is exactly the same as that used on a mobile phone. What could be simpler? If you dont want to use the remote control, you can always login to the server through your web browser and tell the player what music you would like. This can be great fun if you are at the other side of the house- try turning up the volume whilst somebody else is in the lounge. You can really spook people out!

Squeezenetwork

Another nifty feature of the Squeezebox is Squeezenetwork. This is an online service that allows you to listen to internet radio streams with your Squeezebox without having your computer switched on. This is one of the most unique features of this player and is truly superb. For one thing, it gives you access to thousands of stations that a conventional radio simply could not provide. Great for foreign language learning- you can listen to the French News every morning before getting up.

Plugins

This being an Open Source project, there are hundreds of plugins out there to provide extra functionality. You can view your favourite RSS feeds on the players screen, play tetris, shutdown your computer remotely. The list really does just go on!

Try it out

Interested but you don’t want to make the investment yet? There is an answer.
Download and install the Slimserver software then get Softsqueeze, a software version of the Squeezebox. This little program emulates the Squeezebox onto your computer screen, giving you all the functionality of the real thing so that you can try before you buy.

The Verdict

This little gadget has changed my life. Every morning, I wake up to the sound of French Radio. Whenever I am juggling in the lounge, I bring along my Squeezebox to provide the music. All of this was not possible without this device. I would now find it very hard to live without it.
Possibly the best purchase I have ever made.

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Une histoire drôle du temps de l'URSS

A Moscou, on annonce: "Demain à 9 heures, distribution gratuite de viande." A 5 heures du matin, la place Rouge est noire de monde. A midi, on annonce: "Moins de viande que prévu, que les Juifs rentrent chez eux." Ils s'en vont. A 15 heures, on annonce: "Moins de viande que prévu, que ceux qui ne sont pas membres du Parti rentrent chez eux." Ils s'en vont. A 20 heures, on annonce: "Moins de viande que prévu, que ceux qui ne sont pas titulaires de l'ordre de Lénine rentrent chez eux." Ils s'en vont. A minuit, on annonce "Il n'y a pas de viande, que tout le monde rentre chez soi." Et le dernier partant dit à son voisin, après cette interminable attente: "Ces Juifs, toujours favorisés".

Translation to English: A funny story from the USSR era.

In Moscow, it is announced "Tomorrow, at 9 o'clock, there will be a free distribution of meat". At 5 o'clock in the morning, Red Square is heaving with people. At midday, it is announced: "There is less meat than expected, please can all Jewish people return to their homes". All the Jewish people leave the Square.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, another declaration: "There is less meat than expected, please can all non Party Members return to their homes". All the non-members leave the Square.
Later in the evening, at 8 o'clock, it is declared: "There is less meat than expected, all those not possessing the Order Of Lenin must return home". Those not in posession of the medal are obliged to return.
Finally, at midnight, it is declared "There is no meat, everybody go home!". The last person to leave turns to his neighbour after a seemingly endless wait and says "These Jewish, they're always being favoured aren't they!!".

Admittedly, its better in French than in English.

For anybody who lives in a fairly small town in the UK, it can be very difficult to get your hands on even some of the most mainstream French newspapers (Le Figaro, Le Monde, Libération etc). Most small newsagents will refuse to order such newspapers in as so few people wish to buy them. In fact, international newspapers are only realistically viable in large towns and cities. Not any more….

Une Révolution!

In fact, there is a large selection of French press (Newspapers, Magazines, Comics etc) that is available right to your doorstep thanks to the International Press Network.
The UK’s leading supplier of international press, the network offers over 300 international titles to its subscribers. Subscription is done online and you can subscribe to a paper for a 3, 6 or 12 month period. As usual, the longer you subscribe, the more discount you get. Most newspapers cost around £1.20 each with a postage charge on top.
For example, to subscribe to the French Newspaper “Libération” for a year would cost around £80 in total. The paper is delivered straight to your doorstep and you can choose which edition you wish to receive (Mon, Tue, Wed etc).

If you are a French citizen living abroad, a modern languages student or you are simply interested in finding out about French culture and society then this is a really handy solution. For students, it is great for keeping up to date with contemporary issues in France and can be very handy when it comes to writing coursework or answering questions in both the classroom environment and oral examinations. Furthermore, it is a fun way of depthening you knowledge of both the French language and French culture and provides super respite from your creased textbook. This is just one of the ways you can spice up the process of learning a modern language.

For a full list of the French titles available, visit this page

Podcast Directory

If you are using iTunes, find the podcast you want on the website then simply click “installer dans iTunes”.
If this does not work, click “voir le lien RSS” and copy the link displayed. Go to iTunes, click on the advanced menu, click subscribe to podcasts and paste the podcast in. Now make sure that the podcasts are downloaded onto your iPod (you do this through iPod options, Podcasts)

If you use a podcast/news aggregator then here is an independant link to an xml file that contains all the podcasts currently available. This xml file does not seem to work with iTunes.

OPML File

Thanks to Mag-Zine for providing the xml file!
Enjoy the listening

At the end of Book 1, Michel Strogoff, travelling under the false name of Nicholas Korpanoff, is captured by the Tartars and taken prisoner. However, when Ivan Ogareff, the russian traitor arrives at the prisoners camp, Michel Strogoff is at great risk of being discovered as the courrier of the Czar; designated to travel from Moscou to Irkoutsk in great haste to deliver an important warning to the Czar’s brother, the Grand Duke.
The second book in the two part story tells the tale of Michel Strogoff’s escape and continued efforts to reach Irkoutsk, the Siberian capital, with his travelling companian Nadia Fedorovna, before the traitor Ivan Ogareff arrives there and liberates the city to the tartar army.
This sequel is no less a masterpiece than the first book and I was certainly not disappointed. There are some sad moments but there are some equally happy moments. Un unexpected twist at the end of the book left me thinking for quite a while and I realised just how much of a genius Verne is.
Go out and read this book- preferably in French, but in English if you must.

After a reading marathon, I have finished the first book of Jules Verne’s ‘Michel Strogoff- De Moscou à Irkoutsk’. Devotedly, I have immediately progressed onto the second book in the series of two.
Admittedly, the prospect of reading what could be considered as ‘more difficult’ French literature did scare me slightly. Apart from ‘Jean de Florette’, ‘Manon des Sources’ and ‘La Gloire de mon Pere’ this is the only true french literature I have read. I must admit that until now I have taken the easier route of reading translated English literature such as ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Whilst, strictly speaking, the language in these books is not necessarily much easier than Verne’s writing, I feel that I now need to move on to some real French literature if I wish to further progress.
The first book of two takes you through the journey of a man called Michel Strogoff, a courrier of the Russian czar.
It so happens that Siberia is under invasion by the Tartars and a political exhile called Ivan Ogareff is on the run. Michel Strogoff must run a very important errand for the czar and will have to travel all the way from Moscow to Irkoutsk to deliver an important warning to the czar’s brother, the Grand Duke. However, if Ivan Ogareff, a fearsome general, manages to escape to Siberia and join the tartar army then the grand duke is in great peril, for Ogareff has his mind set on killing the Duke. Strogoff must leave russia and travel across the vast Siberian plain into invaded territory by chariot, by horse or by foot. He is in great peril and at all costs, he must not be recognised. Will Michel Strogoff reach Irkoutsk before the tartar army? Will he survive all the perils and obstacles in his path?
This is a truly excellent piece of literature that will have you on the edge of your seat all the way. Well worth a read. I’ll let you know how I get on with the sequel.

20th of December

If you haven’t already signed the petition, please visit the antidrm website here
There is also many links relating to the DRM site included at the end of the article.
It is well worth reading.
Thanks for your support

Thankfully, this does not mean the end of the movement and the forums are still online and full of people. The blog is also still being updated.
The cause of Anthony’s disappearance (the guy who runs the site) is currently unknown although some suspect he is hiding from the big corporations behind this new law (You are always treading dangerous ground when openly opposing Microsoft).

There is a nice article in English on the Anti-DRM law in France here

The DRM law is being brought in to stop people ripping songs and web-streams from currently freely available web-radio streams in France. Find out more about DRM and what it stands for here

My Personaly view is that this law will have little effect. Whilst many web-radios will close down, it will still be quite easy to rip songs from french radios by recording directly from a computers sound card.

Please sign the petition on the site to put an end to this infringement on civil liberties.

The Law

The new law, due to be voted by the French National Assembly would impose DRM (digital rights management) on stations who traditionally broadcast using a publicly accessible stream. This principle is comparable to that which ‘Apple’ have used on music downloaded from the ‘Itunes Music Store’ to prevent the peer to peer distribution of MP3 and AAC files. The object of this new law is to protect “authors rights”.

DRM

Digital rights management would put a stop to the illegal distribution and copying of radio diffusions. Already, programs such as ‘station ripper’ have appeared on the web that permit users to rip a broadcast into an MP3 file on their computer. Some even permit you to sort through the broadcast to extract songs which can then be used in an MP3 player. Digital rights management involves encrypting the stream so that it cannot be ripped in this way without breaking the encryption (quite tricky!)

A costly Measure

The new law would force the webradios, usually run by small collectives, to fork out for expensive server technology to encode the stream.’Windows Media Player’ is just one example of such technology. The license alone for such a technology would be too expensive for most of these radio stations who are already paying SACEM, an organisation that promotes author rights, for the right to broadcast commercial music.

Bye bye freedom

Individuals would then have to connect to the stream using mainstream programs such as ‘Windows Media Player’ or ‘Real Player’, making previously popular and more liberal solutions such as Nullsofts ‘Winamp’ obsolete.
This law would ironically deprive the French of yet another liberty, in a country whose national motto is “Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite”.

Don’t let it happen

Don’t let the french government get away with this.
A collective of some twenty or thirty french webradios has put together a website with a forum and petition to campaign against this law. Over 5000 signatures have already been obtained. Your voice is important and will count!
Please go to http://www.webradios-france.com and sign the petition!