Grateful Dead

...shall we go, you and I while we can... If you torrent shows, get this now. http://bt.tree.org/details.php?id=506552 This is the best copy available and I'll keep sharing it all weekend.

The next thing would be to convert the files onto the iPod for personal listening. I have a couple shows on it now but their in WAV format so 4-5 shows fill the thing up. I probably will convert them for the iPod but only after I get them onto disk via the above steps. OK on Toast. I have 5.0 from the OS 9 days and its a great program too. Im just being spoiled and using the freeware for now. Eric

I have been using a Sony WMD6C deck plugged into a Philips stand alone burner to do this I get one or two shows a week finished to my liking With 20+ years of aud masters it is a long ongoing process

...shall we go, you and I while we can... The only problem with them is that they take the music and put it in a lossy format. Some people can't hear the difference, some can. The reason these files aren't traded is they are degraded copies of the lossless files you started with. Sometime you might want to look at a spectral analysis of an mp3 file to see exactly how much you lose. The result is suprising! The other issue with iPods are those headphones, which, unless you buy a far superior and costly pair, also degrade your sound. The Ipod devices that will handle 20-40 GB's of information can hold lossless files and, since each show approximates 1 GB of information, you can get a lot of information on them for roughly $400.

Sounds like you have a nice workflow going. One thing if you are just burning audio cd's you may look at getting toast 7.0 for burning. Since a few versions ago you can put the flac files into toast and select to burn an audio CD. No need to run it through xACT. This won't work for .shn as it's a compression scheme and not a Audio codec which flac is. Takes a big step out of the equation. Lately it seem slike my iPod is my main audio player and I don't burn audio Cd's much. SO I've found a nice converter that works great. It's called Sound Converter and you can find it on version tracker. Cost is $10 and worth EVERY cent. So I've been taking flac or shn files directly to 256 VBR MP3 files. Depending on processor and ram it does not take to long. But as long as it sounds good on the other side I'm ok with the time it takes. It will also convert just about any format to any format. Very cool. Of course the MP3's are for personal use and never traded. I do give them away sometimes though.

I'm thinking of investing in a HDCD player - any thoughts? "From day to day, just lettin' it ride, You get so far away from how it feels inside, You can't let go, 'cause you're afraid to fall, But the day may come when you can't feel at all."

Hey Headway... Im using a iMac g3 (dv) with a LaCie burner. So far, so good. I also have 3 PCs and the Mac seems to be the simplest to get stuff burnt onto disk. Im listening to 4/15/89 that I got off off etree last night. This was all new to me a few weeks ago and Ive got onto the digital bus after years of analog trading. Heres a simple start up which Ive found (with some help). 1) http//db.etree.org 2) DL (flac or shn) to Azureus 3) decode to AIFF or Wav with xACT 4) use a burn prg (I have used iTunes 7.x and "Burn" 1.7 As mentioned I have Audicity for my analog tapes but have yet to experiment much with it as I am re-treading all my tunes from the above method. I just hope it wont take another 7+ years lol.. Eric

before i got a computer.i bought a phillips stand alone cd burner with analog in puts.this wont make digital cd,s but will let you make some thing to play,down side is you have to trak thim or you cant skip throug the cd and not to many people will condone this for trading.its ok for personal use but try to get some didgital lossless shows for tradin b&p me some cds and I will make you some

All of you mac users should pick up xACT from Versiontracker.com. It can encode, decode .flac & .shn as well as extract CD's and even write .flac tags. xACT is ALL you need. If your transfering your tapes, I'd really recomend that unless these are your masters, check bt.etree.org there are so many shows going at all times in both .shn and .flac. Chances are stuff straight from the masters are already done. If your transfring your masters, then seek out either a eridol UA-1X.http://www.onlinemusicstore.com.au/index.php?page=showProduct&id=ROEDUA… Which takes RCA to a USB device. This will offer much cleaner signal than the analog (mic) input on your mac. There are other devices out there so a little google search. For recording and editing I recomend SOund Studio. It's NOT free but not much money at all. Most new mac come with it already loaded. It's a nice basic editor. Audacity works well also, however since it is a cross platform program (windows and mac and even linux i believe). The interface is not very mac like and clunky. Again loads of options out there. Check versiontracker.com for pretty much any software you may need for the the mac. A lot of them are freeware most are shareware that costs very little. Hope this helps some to the fellow macheads out there. I'm not on here alot but I'll try and check back in. Also if your looking to get into recording shows or even alot of these transfer questions. Tons of info is available at http://www.taperssection.com. You have to register to post but there is a ton of people taping just about everything under the sun. Loads of info.

This stuff is right down my other hobbies alley. I love anything to do with RF and the funny thing is that even when Dan was doing this in the late 80s I didnt get more info. Its good to have that little slice of stuff to put into the ol noggin. I do have a few tapes of the earbud "stage" in the 90s where bobby is saying "I need more Vince" etc... I also recall being at the CalExpo run in 1992 when they were gettting used to the ear buds and they all kept messing with their ears etc.... Thanks for the info guys.Eric