TMBG Needs a New Dial-A-Song Machine

Ashileedo writes "Thought this was interesting. They Might Be Giants is down to their last Dial-A-Song machine, a Record-A-Call 675 circa 1983. For those who don't know, They Might Be Giants has a phone number you can call and listen to various recordings they've done" ...which is an American institution, in continual operation since the 1980s. (718)387-6962. "They're open to computer-based answering machines that can handle multiple files easily. Read more about it at theymightbegiants.com." They appeal to "the more technically minded fold out there -- if you know of any over the counter kick ass computer based answering machines that can handle multiple files easily, we're all ears!"

Comments

Re:Found a possible toolkit

[SquadBoy]

Could something like this work to build it. I can't wait to get home and play with it. I'm serious here lets build it, install it and give it to them. These boys used the term "geek rock" over 5 years ago this alone makes them worthy of our time and effort.

Re:Why help them, they haven't helped us?

[Rader]

Glad to see someone on slashdot got that right.

TMBG & The Offspring are a couple of the few better-known bands that have done a great job moving to the internet EARLY.

maybe TMBG wouldn't mind about Napster so much, if they would do a few things that The Offspring do: such as merchandise, tour dates (and maybe tour!) etc. Of course, maybe TMBG could start selling Napster t-shirts like The Offspring did! What a great sense of humor!

Rader

Re:Why help them, they haven't helped us?

[rjh]

TMBG is a great band. But, they have publically decried Napster and P2P in general. Why should we help them with something that is run 1980's technology?

1. They aren't anti-Napster, nor anti-P2P. What they are against is the dilution of their own online community. When people download TMBG MP3s from Napster, they miss out on the large online community of TMBG fans, which TMBG has put a lot of effort into building. TMBG has little problem with fans sharing songs; TMBG has a big problem with Napster building their online community at the cost of TMBG's online community.

2. Why should we help them out? Because we're geeks. Because we like fixing problems. Because we think that maybe, just maybe, the world would be a better place if things worked right. There's an old axiom about courtesy--you aren't courteous to other people because they're superior people, but because you are. The same applies to helping others.

Not free (as in beer or speach)

[Sawbones]

And in runs on WinTel machines but, but Call Center might work. Heck, most "digital answering machine" software would do, wouldn't it? Granted, it couldn't play differing files and you'd want to set it to not record.

Dunno, but a possibilty.

Debba-da-dong-dong-da-dee-da-debba-debba-debba-d a-dong-dong -da-dee-da-d ebba-D world destruction, Over and ovature, N do I need apostrophie, T need this torture :)

Maybe something like Fax On Demand

[eap]

In the place I used to work, we had one of those fax on demand phone systems. Users could call in, press a few buttons, and have a fax sent to themselves.

I don't see how having music streamed over the phone line would be any harder. It would probably be easier.

On a related topic, I have been wanting to create an answering device running off a PC with a voice/CID modem which I can program to ring/not ring, play a certian message, or reroute calls based on time of call and caller ID data.

Basically, I'd like certain people to always be able to get in touch with me, but I don't want to leave my ringer on and get woken up at 6AM by some bozo trying to dial the Paper Warehouse.

Can anyone tell me if this would be possible with inexpensive hardware and a PC running Linux?

great

[wishus]

great.. now the /. effect will take out their last machine.

good thinking!
---

*beep beep beep beep beep beep...*

[krog]

the website is fine, but the phone number is Slashdotted!

dial-a-song costs

[john_heidemann]

You forgot the slogan of dial-a-song: "It's free if you call from work"

I've done this with vgetty.

[bmetz]

I've done a dial-in mp3 server with vgetty before. You typed in the first 4 digits of the band's name, then it used Viavoice Outloud to generate a band list, then you chose the right band, then it would tell you the available songs, then you chose a song, and then it streamed the mp3 out of the phone. It's very trivial to implement. It's a $10 voice modem off eBay, a spare pentium, and 2 hours installing vgetty and writing a 100-line perl script.

If anyone is serious about wanting to do it this way I can provide assistance: bmetz (@) yahoo.com

Re:I've done this with vgetty.

[SClitheroe]

A $10 voice modem ain't gonna sell many albums...you need some real telephony hardware, like a Dialogic board, which can handle multiple lines, and has great (professional) sound quality to boot. A four line card can be had for about $200, if I remember correctly.

Re:Why help them, they haven't helped us?

[xinit]

When did Napster become a qualifying factor in helping someone. If that were the case, I wouldn't cross the street to help a napster kiddie.

However, since that ISN'T the case, TMBG has done an awful lot for their fans; cheap / free concerts, give-away electronic versions of songs, freely available dial-a-song (except the toll cost), and they DO sell their music online in mp3 format - if I'm not mistaken, it's THEM selling it, not a big name label (I could be wrong there).

It's really not much different from a friend who's deeply into the Microsoft world asking for my help on recommending him a new component DVD player. I should refuse to help him because his OS has DVD playing support and mine doesn't?

Oh yah, and that whole 80s technology thing... trés passé. Off the top of my head, I've seen /. stories on Atari handhelds, various emulations of old tech, and basic old hacking of 80s equipment here in the past month.

So, anyways, my basic point is this; put up or shut up. If the 80s tech they've been using for the past ~20 years is such crap, perhaps you con offer up a better Linux based telephony solution? Oh right... emerging tech...

Re:Why help them, they haven't helped us?

[bmongar]

For years TMBG has given music on their web sites. They want fans to hear their musice, especially that which isn't mainstream enough to make it onto their albums (that says a lot). Their problem with P2P is that it disconnects fans from the band. They would like to see people coming to their web site to get music, they can then see concert and album announcements. All that is missed when Napserting for Why the Sun Shines

They have always had a good online presence, ehy released an entire album internet only. Why help them because they are cool.

Check out mvm

[Anne Marie]

No need to reinvent the wheel: mvm will handle their needs including multiple simultaneous connections.