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Sitting on a packed tour bus or in a busy cafe speaking my intimate thoughts out loud into an MP3 recorder doesn't sound too wise now does it?

Stick with a pen and notebook, and make sure you TAKE the time to hammer it into the computer as soon as you get back home. It will be time worth spending because you'll be editing and polishing as you type (as well as taking out those personal passages that you didn't want to share online - if you want to publish your travel stories on the web). That's what I did for my two-week tour of New Zealand and IMO it worked out fine.

I hereby award you +1 from my phantom mod points! You may be interested in the WSP Module Player Plugin for Winamp 5 which improves the accuracy of music module playback.

To play tracker modules I'd still opt for Modplug Player over a mysterious Winamp plugin, because from the composer's perspective, the crucial thing is that the listener hears their tune as it was intended to be heard. It's one of the problems inherent in module formats that although the size of the files are relatively small (which allowed the scene to take off in a big way over BBS's), the output depends so much on the player you use (unlike MP3 for example which uses standard decoding algorithms across players).

In fact, if I'm gonna play the role of a total purist, the only real way to listen to a module is either:

1) To play it in the tracker in which it was originally composed (Fast Tracker 2 for XM's, Impulse Tracker for .IT's, etc.)

2) To play an MP3 version of the tune, which was created from a WAV file that was output in said tracker

Many composers (well before the scene kinda died :) release their stuff in both MP3 and the original tracker format. PLUG ALERT: As do I (MP3's / modules.

--screamager [previously of the KFMF, now just reminiscing]

I hereby award you +1 from my phantom mod points! You may be interested in the WSP Module Player Plugin for Winamp 5 which improves the accuracy of music module playback.

To play tracker modules I'd still opt for Modplug Player over a mysterious Winamp plugin, because from the composer's perspective, the crucial thing is that the listener hears their tune as it was intended to be heard. It's one of the problems inherent in module formats that although the size of the files are relatively small (which allowed the scene to take off in a big way over BBS's), the output depends so much on the player you use (unlike MP3 for example which uses standard decoding algorithms across players).

In fact, if I'm gonna play the role of a total purist, the only real way to listen to a module is either:

1) To play it in the tracker in which it was originally composed (Fast Tracker 2 for XM's, Impulse Tracker for .IT's, etc.)

2) To play an MP3 version of the tune, which was created from a WAV file that was output in said tracker

Many composers (well before the scene kinda died :) release their stuff in both MP3 and the original tracker format. PLUG ALERT: As do I (MP3's / modules.

--screamager [previously of the KFMF, now just reminiscing]

As always, only blog when you have something to say. I posted once every few days. This gave me time to see things and made sure I had some news worth posting.

Tell your readers about the places you've been to but also what you thought of the places. If you found something was worth checking out, or if you wasted your time seeing something that turned out to be dull, say so. But keep it concise, and make sure that you've said everything you want to say in a few paragraphs.

Don't bore your readers with accounts and descriptions of the people that you met/hung out with/got drunk with/kissed/whatever! No-one really cares about Eddie's Personal Soap Opera except Eddie. Just keep your blog focused on your travels.

Always include links for places or areas of interest so that people can get more info. A quick set of Google searches will make your blog much more interesting and accessible.

Make sure you use a cybercafe that allows you to pay after you've used the machines (i.e. not one where you have to buy 'credits' and where your time is being counted down on the screen all the time). It sucks to be pressured to write because you're running out of time.

Perhaps an obvious one, but use weblog software that won't break. You may not be able to telnet into your box to rework the config files when you're travelling, and it's so frustrating when you're not able to post that all-important account of your experiences. I use Blogger which is an online weblog service and is free for the basic version.

If you're in a city for a while (e.g. a few days), don't use mainstream cybercafes. They often have software that restricts your use of the machine. Spend some time searching for a facility that may be off the high street or smaller, but that offers the same deal without the restrictions. The best places I found were not cybercafes at all - they were travel shops that had a few internet-connected PCs. The advantage is that, in these places, the owners are less tech-savvy and you'll have a machine that you can install things on (e.g. software for processing and uploading photos - see below). Plus you won't be restricted because of firewalls etc. (e.g. for FTP).

Photos: I uploaded my photos once every few weeks. I regularly dumped them to CD in a photo store, made a selection, processed each image in Photoshop, created thumbnails and HTML files with Express Thumbnail Creator and uploaded them to my site with WS FTP LE. Photoshop is obviously not free, and I had to find cybercafes that had it pre-installed (wasn't always easy). Express Thumbnail Creator is shareware, and WS FTP LE is free. The best thing would obviously be to have all this stuff on CD before you sit down at the PC.

Be aware that some cybercafes will charge you for upload bandwidth (never very much though).

COMMENT all your photos! It takes time but it's worth it. Express Thumbnail Creator has this feature built in. Nobody really wants to go through pages and pages of unlabelled thumbnails of sunsets and mountains. Also, commenting your photos is a good test for yourself to ensure that you're only putting interesting photos up.

As soon as your photos are up, announce it in your blog and send out a mail to everyone in your address book who may be interested (mail to yourself, BCC everyone you're sending to).

M.

______________________

Anyone that sees the words 'Christmas' and 'commercialism' in the same sentence will already have a pretty good idea of the mindless preachings to come. Or how about 'Christmas' and 'sellout'? Hm, let's analyze it and clear away some of the mystique.

What do we enjoy about Christmas? Firstly, Christmas boosts morale (to use the most horrible of sappy phrases) and gives us something to look forward to. I know this because of the feelings of anticipation that run through me when I think of leaving my wonderful place of study in the Greatest of Britain to venture on home to Luxembourg for the three-week family and friends event. Not that I'm a 'family' style cosy-on-the-couch-watching-the-9-o'clock-news sort of person at all, but, for me and others that I know, going back represents something exciting, an annual event the details of which remain under wraps (forgive the pun) until I'm actually there.

The more 'traditional' of us cry out that Christmas is simply a time where everyone spends and spends to each other's material gain. My oh my, what a horrible idea it must be to stimulate the (often depressed) economies of the Christian world for a couple of weeks. The religious meaning of Christmas is far from lost - on the contrary, it's something we are submerged in from beginning to end, from television broadcasts to omnipresent Christmas carols and Christmas-tree figureheads. In fact, one must wonder if the festive period is not simply the time deemed most appropriate by the more conservative Christians to air their frustration at the dwindling numbers of their flock, via the usual channels of accusations of distorting religious events into capitalist spending sprees.

'Peace and good will to all men' (okay, I've taken off the faded argyle pullover) is actually realized at Christmas, but perhaps not in the manner of which The Flock might approve. Instead of walking around with painted-on toothy grins and shaking hands with yesterday's enemies to form temporary pacts, we hit Christmas parties (oh, the shame) like it's everyone's birthday, reunite with old friends at such occasions and enjoy the double-hit of simulateously giving and receiving chosen items. What can do that, if not Christmas?

The worst of it is that, in the end, the majority of those that spoke out against the commercial side of Christmas (which, ultimately, is a means to a more noble end) also attend the gathering and reap the benefits I described. Wiping the words 'hypocrite' and 'bigot' from my vocabulary - at least for the next couple of weeks - I shall promptly opt for the Route of Good Will and party myself insane.

More where this came from at www.scandal.org.