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?

[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 :)

great

[wishus]

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

good thinking!
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*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: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...

Check out mvm

[Anne Marie]

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