Conflow

Yes Ron, you are correct 'tit for tat' Brian.Conflow. Granot, There was absolutely no need to do that ~ I shall contact you 'Off-Forum' as I usually do, and we will come to a shake-hands over our different points of view. Brian.Conflow.

To:- Roger (Yorkshire) Many Thanks for 'seconding' the proposal for a utility where we could... "Delete one's own Recent Posting" I completely agree with your comment whereas sometimes a 'Posting' can lead to a misunderstanding by a Reader whose response is usually "Selective Quoting" (out of context) as a basis for their reply...that's not fair play! This 'Tic for Tac' method of communication is responsible for more debates and arguements on this Forum than I care to remember. It's better for one to have the oppurtunity to delete ones own Posting in the 1st instance rather than wasting this valuable space with what amounts to a..."Storm in a Teacup". Furthermore it should eliminate 'multiple-postings' and free up 1st.Page space for more Topics, surely that's more beneficial to all ? Brian.Conflow. (304.twbsq)

Hi Al, and Granot. Sure I agree with the points made about 'Imperfect Laws' ~ I said nothing about disbanding UNICEF ~ I was simply replying to Granots Post No:1038 (above) ~ in particular, I was countering the negativity of Granot's last Post in making the point that all is not 'Black' in this World and thankfully there is an awful lot of good in it, this despite the Legal imperfections some of which seem to favour Mamon and the Moguls, a point I had raised earlier in this Debate. At this stage I think we should all get back on track and try and give "Ginger" some answers to his origional query ? Granot, I never,never, Cut,Paste and Quote others' correspondance ~ its simply a personal principle of mine, and I do not know how your Post No:1038 became "quoted" in my Reply to you. To say the least I was shocked when I saw the "quote"....here again Al is another example where one would like to delete a personal 'Posting' before it was published on the Forum. Best to all... Brian.Conflow.

Granot, Yes, I appreciate your descriptive examples of 'Slave Labour~Greed, Mamon & Abuse' ~ we also have these things in our Country, its called 'exploitation' and I don't know of any Country which is blameless in that respect, and it exists irrespective of Colour,Creed,or Religion ~ it's Universal. But thats no excuse to 'throw in the sponge and give up' ~ the United Nations is imperfect but they are trying. Have you forgotten about UNICEF, Oxfam, Sans Medicare, Concern, Islamic Red Cross and the hundreds of other Voluntary Organisations finance by ordinary people like you and I who bring relief to millions of 'abused peoples' around the World...sure our efforts are not perfect, but damn it we are trying and thats what our God asks of us...Charity to another. It's so easy to be negative in these matters, but let's not forget the magnificent good works done by so many of all Nations for so many millions in other Nations...and there are those who want to destroy that ?? Brian.Conflow.

Hi Al and Boxig, I am sure most readers will agree both of you on the points raised 'off topic' re:- Morality and Laws...but then at the end of the day surely this all boils down to an 'informed conscience' capable of making morality decision's without hurt nor injury to another ?....problem being that there are many persons in this World who ignore their conscience and act irrespective of the consequences..usually for self interest. Examples are abound all around us, so if we are not going to slide into total anarchy we must have Law's to protect the basic fundmentals of Human Life...although imperfect, being man-made, it's the best we can do in our current phase of Human development. What the future holds, I don't know ~ does anyone ? Al, You raise a very important issue in one of your recent Post's:-...Igor please erase this Message.... There are so many times that readers reply to the Forum 'in the heat of the moment' and soon afterwards either regret or wish to erase their..Posted Reply... Question: How can one do this with ones' own Post ?? Brian.Conflow

Hi All, I have been following this wonderful debate for the past while and althought there are "Pros & Cons" in the various replies put forward, and having had experience of 'Copyright Design Issues' I would like to make some points,viz:- 1) Copyright Law in the U.S. is quite different from E.C Law and the subject of 'Fair Use' origionally applied to Music Copyright. It's now established that 'Musical Fair Use' must be limited to 30 seconds and for demonstration purposed solely. 2) However there is an addendum to the 'Fair Use Law' in that a work of artistic merit in Literary and Imagery and Design pursuits should come under the 'Fair Use Law' (see link below to the U.S Copyright Office) http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html They can be reached at:- 101 Independence Ave SE. Washington DC.20559-6000. USA. In Gingers case (USA only) ~ given the circumstances of his origional Lost Images for which I presume he had paid a 'fee' to a competent Professional Photographer, then he has the right of redress of bringing this matter to the attention of the Copyright Office above. It all makes very interesting reading..... Brian.Conflow.

Hi Igor, Many thanks for your personal reply concerning 'contacting Forum' ~ Things now seem to be getting back to normal. Although 'Log-Ins' are slow, given time, I am sure all the small problems will be sorted. Just one simple suggestion:- Could the 'Add Reply/Preview Panel' be moved from the bottom of the Page and be placed under the 'Message Entry Screen' (where we type in Messages)...It would be easier to Edit Messages. I very much like the clean simplicity of the 'New Layout' ~ very effective indeed and much appreciated Brian.Conflow.

Hi Ron, To try and give you an 'appraisal' of should you ?, or shouldn't you turn it off ?. I can give you some general background information, but at the end of the day it all depends on the PC and who is your ISP Provider ? and what Home & Search Pages are you using ? and what Anti-Spam and A/Vir Systems are you using ? These new 'fangled gadgets' in Home and Search Pages are called ~ BHO's ~ Browser Helper Object's. It has been my experience (apart from Microsoft BHO's) that these 3rd Party BHO's are being foisted on to the general Public without any permissions requested. Furthermore as any Computer Engineer will tell, these things are responsible for more Internet Crashes than anything else. Also when a PC encounters a 'Web Hi-Jack' attempt, these 3rd Party BHO's usually succumb to the attack and then proceed to spread the infection through Internet Explorer...and Oh boy...are they loved by the Hi-Jackers. Having said that, there are some BHO's which are extremely well designed ~ especially the IE Intergrated ones which come with XP-SP2 and the SP.Upgrades ~ tough as old boots. It all boils down as to how the particular PC is set-up for the Internet and what's its Operating-System, therefore each PC has to be evaluated individually....there is no general answer to your query, excepting, should you be running XP-SP2+Upgrades and proper Anti-Spam+Anti-Virus plus current updates ~ then there is no need for these 'iffy' 3rd.Party BHO devices. Brian.Conflow.

Ronnie ~ Granot ~ Ken, I just tried Kens 'pasting suggestion' concerning Ronnies Website ~ It worked immediately ! Granot you are correct as usual, I rang my son Peter, who own's a professional Web Publishing Company and he tells me that there are specialist Companies who sell Libraries of 'Keyword Phases' and will guarantee a Web Page entry into the first 5 Search Pages of certain catagories for a fee. The other alternative is to 'shop around' and find Link Sponsors such as Fuji Film, Agfa, Kodak, PC Magazine and many many others who will link your Site to their 'Main Page Site' provided you allow their Link to appear on your Site. ~ It not a bad deal at all if you can get approval.... Brian.Conflow.

Hi Ron, OOpps...I think you picked me up wrong, I was simply replying to Goddi-Gary's Post of 20th Sept @ 02:26 AM ~ where he asked a question concerning 'Re-sizing Images' specifically for use in Object Editor, to which I responded by offering an alternative method of doing this which avoids degrading the Image in Object Editor (a consequence of multiple experimental Saves)....to be fair,not everyone has Photoshop. Brian.Conflow.

Gary, There is one way of doing it which takes only the 'real time' to play the Midi. I use a good Sound Recorder called:- Audio Recorder ProV3..here is a Link...... http://www.ezaudiorecorder.com This package can 'Record' the Midi Sound whilst you play and automatically converts it to an Mp3 or a Wav or Ogg File for you. You can also pre-set the 'Bitrate' for best quality. It does cost a few $ bucks, but there are also others from:- http://www.webattack.com some are Freeware, simply type in Audio Recorder in the 'Search Window'. Brian.Conflow.

Leif, Yes I agree with you, Audacity won't play Midi Files, I tried many times. As to the availability of the new version......? Brian.Conflow.

Re-Sizing Images Here is an (alternative) '2-part way' of doing this compared to the 'experimental method' which degrades the imported JPeg image. 1)...You need two items:- A good 'Screen Ruler' and a 'JPeg Cropper' 2)...For the 'Ruler' see further down this page for 'Floating Cooler Ruler' 3)...For the Lossless 'JPeg Cropper' get on to this Link:- http://www.jpegclub.org/jpegcrop.zip Link to Cooler Ruler http://www.fabsoft.com/pages/Downloads/Downloads.htm Run down the page and find download 'Cooler Ruler' Method a)...Use the 'Ruler' to measure the size of your Background Photo. (Note measurements) ...Pick an appropriate 'pasting area' on the Background Photo and measure its size. (Note that) c)...Use the 'Cropper' to reduce the Overlay Photo to that choice of size. Import it into Object Editor. d)...You can then move it around for best fit, and virtually guarantee its going to fit. In this manner you can judge the relative ratio sizes of each Image for best effect and also use the 'Ruler' for lining-up the Images and any Text you may wish to import. This may sound tedious but once you have made 2~3 attempts, its childs play afterwards. Brian.Conflow.

Barry & Bob, Did you see Kens..."Kat Kleener"...on the other thread ? ~ absolutely terrific ! Brian.Conflow

Ken, Where in the name %$# do you get them ? ~ That "Kat Kleener" was terrific ~ Now there's no Screen left....that's one less job to do ! Keep up the good work... Brian.Conflow.

Hi Bob, In the 'Trade' we use an alcohol based Fluid, the main ingredient being:- Isopropyl Alcohol. This alcohol is absolutely clear and leaves no residue and dries out quickly. It should be applied with a Lint Free Cloth or Swab)...It removes grease,oils,and other hydrocarbon debris without effecting Plastics. Its also great for cleaning Keyboards. Do not rub hard nor apply pressure. You will find it available in most Office/Computer Equipment Suppliers under the general usage name:- Direct-Thermal-Transfer Printer, Cleaning Fluid in 100ml Bottles. (Inflammible) (Do not use Domestic Glass/Window Cleaners) Hope this helps.... Brian.Conflow.

No problems Ronnie, Only trying to help you and Ken with some Instructions, because when I first downloaded the 'Ruler' a few years ago it nearly drove me mad due to the lack of any 'Text Instructions' - but now the thing has become my right-hand man. I hope you get some use out of it ? Brian.Conflow.

Kurt, I do not understand your Post about an 'argument' ~ I thought we were having a debate ? Concerning Marianne's problem, I recorded one defective Track from Mariannes Link(s) with 'Audio-Recorder ProV3' and put it through 'Norton Wave Editor' and found a progressive linear Fade-out which quite obviously must have been caused by something...perhaps a consequence of her Camera Batteries running down...I found no evidence of different 'sample bitrates'. As to offending me, you certainly did not, as to your other allegations about my CD-knowledge, I recently posted a 'Technology Link' to www.imation.com (CD Manufacturers) which went into the whole 'gambit' of Commercial CD-Production which can be verified by many readers of this Forum, so perhaps your comments were a little hasty. Sure, I agree with you that Debate is good ~ provided personal assumptions are constrained and not made 'de facto'~ Regards, Brian.Conflow.

Hi Marianne, Yes, Kurt and I had a 'bit' of a debate, and in response I am always mindful of the fact that the vast majority of PTE Forum Readers are non-technical so I tend to 'over-simplify' things and use analogies to explain what may be going on. Kurt on the other hand wishes to have 'things' word perfect and quite rightly so, but one can always 'pick holes' in another's argument - thats O.K for a Debating Society, but I must confess that I steer well clear of such activities when posting to this Forum. In relation to your 'sampling rate' the adopted Standard is 128kb/sec as set out in ISO/IEC 11172-3 Layer 3. Major work was done on this in the late '90 by the Fraunhofer Institute at the behest of the ISO and IEC Authorities where it was given official recognition. Sure, there are other sampling rates but it is the considered opinion of those Authorities that nothing substantial (note) was to be gained with the higher rates ~ sorry I won't get into another debate on this. For those who are interested, a full dessertation on Mp3's can be had from the Fraunhofer Institute and the Lame Organisation to mention but a few. In closing I must reiterate what I said...You must tell 'Audacity' what 'bitrate' it is to 'Save As'...it does precisely that once told, otherwise it defaults to other settings. Brian.Conflow.

Cool Ruler Ron and Ken, Yes the Ruler does float on the Screen, put your Mouse Icon anywhere within a blank space on the Ruler and you can drag it anywhere and also 'Flip it' with the right/angle Arrows on the extreme left.. You can also 'Re-Size' it by dragging the 'Rifle Sight Icon' on the exteme RH.Side of the Ruler. Calibration: The Ruler is accurate to within <1.5mm once Calibrated. Do you see the little Icon Boxes within the Yellow Window, pick the 3rd from the Left side. Now choose 'Custom Scaling Factor' now get a genuine Plastic Ruler and superimpose both Rulers on the Screen. Now adjust the Scaling factor. For my PC the Scaling Factor is '87. This Scaling Factor is different for each PC.Monitor, however once "set" you dont have to do it again. I use this Ruler all the time in 'PTE Object Editor' for setting up the alignment of Text and Object positions before I hit 'Save As'...No it doesn't Save with the 'Object Screen'...and yes, it can be SUPERIMPOSED ON ANY WINDOW on the PC, which Photoshop and others can't do. Printing an Object If you use the Ruler to set the dimensions of 'any object' prior to Printing and then Print it, you will find that the 'printed object dimensions' are exactly as you set them on the Screen ~ provided the Ruler was calibrated in the 1st instance. I use it for setting up and printing my own 'Home-Made CD-Labels' 122.mm x122.mm... Try that with other Rulers ?... Floating You can 'Superimpose it on this EMail' and 'scroll' the EMail up and down behind the Ruler...try it !....yes it certainly does float. Brian.Conflow.

Kurt, I stated in my Posting..."That I was keeping things simple for the Purpose of Explaination".... If you so choose to give a fuller, more Complex Technical explaination about Mp3 Formats and their Coded Headers ~ please do so ~ and while you are at it please indicate where the File header is and why there is a 2sec Intertrack Gap in virtually all Commercial CD-Recordings. And please,please let the readers know all about the degradation of Mp3's when they are over-edited and over 'Saved As'....and most important what happens to the 'Musical pitch' in these circumstances. That is what this topic is all about.... On other matters... The 'Redbrook CD Format' to which you refer is a comparitive newcomer to CD-Music Technology - it has nothing to do with the way the WAV is made - it's simply a 'User' information stream about the Artist, Song Title etc,etc. AND MOST OF ALL it's geared towards Copyright and ways of preventing people from copying a CD which they have paid for. Furthermore with Wav Recordings (pure audio) ~althought they are not digitally encoded, but usually Digitally Recorded in the Studio, and for the most part they are certainly 'highly compressed' usually for the purposes of fitting more Tracks on the CD. If you didn't do that and allowed the full 60db dynamic range you would probably end up with 5 or 6 Tracks on the CD. But yet you maintain that WAV CD's are pure Audio Streams....If memory serves me correctly that went out with 8, 16, 32 Track Studio Tape Recorders such as Studer, Ampex EMI etc. I know because I was in the Studio Business in those days when we had pure Audio. Furthermore, I never mentioned WMA (Windows Media Audio) which is a 'Hybrid Format' neither did I mention Flac nor Monkeys Audio ~ two more 'Hybrids' ~ which I am well aware of, being an inveterate user of the "QCD Media Player" and its many Codecs. Now tell me what have these got to do with "Audacity Sound Editor" and Mp3's and WAV's ?? ~because Audacity can't handle them~ and I don't know anybody who uses these Formats in PTE Presentations. So instead of taking my simplified Post (selectively quoted by you) out of context, pehaps you would like to offer an explaination to Marianne for the...'apparent change in pitch'...of her edited Mp3 Files ?...I gave her an explaination, whats your's ? Regards, Brian.Conflow.

Marianne, When working with (Commercial) Wav or MP3 Audio Files one must always be aware of the following, I shall keep it simple:- 1)...Whether it's Wav or MP3 there is a mandatory 2 secs of 'Lead-In' in each Audio Track. 2)...To the Listener this 'Lead-In' sounds to be a 'silence period' where in fact it contains sub-liminal 128bit Data Signals which are arranged as 'Tags' which imparts to your PC or Player vital information about 'Bit-Rate', Subjective Loudness, Compression Range, Format, Artist Name, Song Title, Cddb Library data, Copyright and so on and so on. 3)...You must understand that Wav and Mp3's are designed to "Fool" the Human Ear into hearing things that are simply not within the Music any more ~ It's complex ! 3)...Editing or Cropping out that 'Lead-In' makes Audacity default down to the lowest 'Bit Rate' it had encountered unless you instructed Audacity to save the finished Edited File as XXX Bit Rate in Stereo or Mono. Consequentlly of course the final Edit will usually be shorter in 'Time-Span' that the time span of all tracks in series. 4)...After 'Multiple Edits' and 'Save As' all digitally Compressed Files loose their 'Hi-Frequencies' and super-compress the 'Lowest Frequencies' and flatten out the dyanamic range of the Music but leave the 'Peaks' intact. This sounds to the Human Ear as a distinct change in 'Pitch' (or speed) due to the loss of the dyanamic frequency range of the Music. (More about this can be learnt from Fletcher-Munsen Curves in any Audio-Acoustics Book and desertations on MP3 Formats). 5)...When Audio Editing always use 'Save' and only use 'Save As' for the final compilation ~ Much like a JPeg ~ this will greatly reduce the 'phantom effect' you hear. Hope this goes some way in explaining this phenomenon... Brian.Conflow.

Ken & Ron, Ron, I wasn't here this morning ~ Many thanks for helping Ken out with the Ruler URL. Ken, I checked the link you sent for the Calculator ~ Yep,you have the right one ! Brian.Conflow.

Some Goodies Following on from 'Kens Calculator List' (below) here are a few more helpful goodies..... Measure your Photographs & Everything else Did you ever want a 'Fully Floating Screen Ruler' which you can position anywhere on the Screen (Vertical or Horizontal) which accurately measures in 'realtime' Centimeters or Inches with pre-settable Calibration ?....Works with every Screen on the PC ? and can be 'Overlaid' anywhere ? Well here it is:- www.fabsoft.com (Type it in) And a Mathematical Calculator that does virtually everything including Pixels/Inches www.xmlcreatre.com Enjoy ~ Brian.Conflow.