Mar 30, 2015

Annual Sprinkler Turn On:
It'll take a while, but eventually I'll become a handy man. Owning a new home brings all kinds of new responsibilities to the first time home owner, and I'm no exception. This week (5th week/last weekend of Mar, 2015) I bested the sprinkler system with some effort.

It's spring, and it's time to start watering the lawn. Time to execute that annual ritual which beckons the benevolent spirits of spring, and blesses my lawn with a healthy growing season. Last year I didn't wait long enough before I started watering the lawn, I was constantly worried that the cold weather was going to freeze out my sprinklers, causing all sorts of problems. Turning on the sprinklers is always a ritual filled with trepidation and hope. You worry that there might be damage, that you didn't blow out the sprinkler lines soon enough, that you didn't insulate properly, that the parts may not have weathered the season intact. You hope that everything will work perfectly when you turn on the sprinklers - That's seldom the case. It took a few years (we moved into this house (our first) back in 2005), but I think I've finally figured out how to turn on the sprinklers with shocking myself or damaging the system.

In addition to the annual sprinkler activation, I did some other spring, yard work. I cut the lawn - That took two hours; with bagging and trimming. I cleaned up the garage a bit. A bunch of leaves and debris from winter had accumulated over the last few months. I picked up all the rocks scattered by the snowblower. Finally, I dosed all those nasty weeds with a good coating of weed killer. Hooray for Spring!
<https://www.robsworld.org/iphoto/sprinklerturnon/index.html>

Rob's World D&D Campaign - Journal Entries:
I run a Face-To-Face D&D campaign, and the players in my campaign often contribute material for the group. One of the items that the players have frequently contributed is journal entries. I realize that writing 'Character-centric' journal entries takes considerable effort so it is always appreciated. The other players, myself, and many "Rob's World!" D&D Campaign lurkers (those who subscribe to the Campaign updates) appreciate the journal entries. They help the players remember and commemorate the previous deeds and feats of their characters. They help with research about the campaign world, and they entertain those who read about the exploits of our characters.

I just posted some "Rob's World!" D&D campaign journal entries. It's been a while (since Aug, 2014) since we've had journal entries. If you're following my D&D campaign, you might be interested. Due to the sporadic nature of journal contributions, I am now posting them as written in an 'archive' location on my webserver.
<https://www.robsworld.org/dndcampaign/Adventures/Journals/ajournal09/14mar2015.pdf>
<https://robsworld.org/mailman/listinfo/dndcampaign_robsworld.org>
<http://www.robsworld.org/dndcampaign/Adventures/Journals/>

That Damn Chirping Smoke Detector!
Today was going great - A beautiful day, with record high temperatures in the high 70s. We went out to eat (at Papideaux's), had our hair colored and cut, stopped at the local SCA/ACL/TASC hangout to watch some period combat, and finally returned home (six hours later) to relax before dinner.  Unfortunately, there would be no relaxing. Instead I was greeted, while ensconced on the 'throne' by a nagging chirp, chirp, chirp, coming from somewhere within the house.

After ending my duties in an unsatisfactory manner, I sought out the nagging chirp responsible for ruining my afternoon. After a brief search, the offending unit was located. A ladder was recruited and a new battery obtained (at least I didn't have to drive to the hardware store). I climb the ladder, remove the smoke detector, disconnect the power and extract the spent battery. Of course the unit is still chirping... Who is the sadistic SOB that designed these smoke detectors that continue to chirp after you change the battery? Yes - After you've changed the battery...

I'm a first time home owner, and this isn't the first time I've had to deal with an expired battery, but it seems that this time around the smoke detector was resisting my efforts to make sane the remainder of my day. Do you think the builder gives you instructions regarding the smoke detector when you move in? Do they save the instruction manual from the smoke detectors? Who in his right mind designs a smoke detector that requires the following steps to silence the ridiculous chirping caused by a dead battery?

• Step 1: Turn off the circuit breaker supplying power to the smoke detector.
  • Really? Turn off the circuit breaker?
• Step 2: Remove the detector from its mounting bracket.
• Step 3: Unplug the power supply from the smoke detector.
• Step 4: Remove the dead battery from the smoke detector.
• Step 5: With the battery removed, press and hold the 'test' button for 15-20 seconds.
• Step 6: Replace the new battery in the detector.
• Step 7: Plug the power supply in to the smoke detector.
• Step 8: Restore power to the circuit breaker.
• Step 9: Reattach the breaker to mounting bracket.

I recruit the wife, we take up stations in the basement and bedroom, with iPhone's in hand we establish a two-way communications link (I call her on the phone). Why? Because another sadistic SOB has decided to use a foreign language on the labels for the circuit breakers. Yes - Step one actually says that I have to turn off the circuit breaker. I'm trying to comply with the instructions - Because my first attempt to silence the smoke detector has failed. So now I have to turn off the circuit breaker?

Perhaps you can decipher the writing on the inside of the circuit breaker panel?

Could the master bedroom be ‘Furnace’ A or ‘Furnace’ B? Doubtful, I’ll save those for last. Perhaps it’s ‘Kit GFI’? I’m betting that’s the Kitchen (Ground Fault Interrupter). I don’t think it’s ‘Basement’. It’s definitely not ‘Tread Mill’, I had to have that circuit installed especially for the treadmill… What about ‘Fut Bath’? or ‘Refv +E Rec.’ - What the hell is that? What about ‘Not West Rec.’ - I’ve got no idea what that is.

I start flipping switches. “Did the lights go out?”, “No”. “How about now?”, “No”. “What about now?” “Nope”. Great - What the hell now? I head back upstairs. “The lights didn’t go out?” “Nope”. So now I’ve got to find the key for the circuit breaker outside. I guess I’m going to need to go outside and see if the circuit for the master bedroom is out there. “By any chance, has the smoke detector stopped chirping?”, “Yes”. Great - Apparently something I did earlier, while futzing about fixed the issue, reset the damn capacitor, or maybe it just gave up.

Why! Why does something like a smoke detector have to be this difficult? If you’ve ever wondered why people disconnect their smoke detectors and then die in a fiery inferno… You can stop wondering. It’s because it’s nearly impossible to make the damn things STOP CHIRPING!
<https://www.robsworld.org/electricalboxlabels.png>

Magic Items for 3.5 D&D Campaign:
I run a Face-To-Face D&D campaign, and I spend plenty of time generating unique magic items for that campaign. Recently (During the months of Feb/Mar, 2015) I've generated thirteen unique/new magic items for two player characters. Below are links to the magic items. One of the items (a Blast Disk) in the pdf documents is copyrighted by Wizards of the Coast (makers of D&D game) - I've since removed it from the copy that I am now making available online - So as not to infringe copyright. The others are all copyrighted/created by me. There's a total of 13 unique magic items described in the linked pdfs: Thargrond's flagon of benevolent brew, Double-breasted shuriken bandolier, +2 Sais of Saladene, Mystic trap, Sandals of the cricket, Umbra of parrying, Always there throwing axe, Armor of the ancient islander, Dagger of Grimm, Cotton shirt of the lucky one, Dwarven war axe of armor's bane, Moon locker, Shield of the shark bite, Blast disk. 

While these magic items were specifically created for characters in my D&D campaign, you may find them useful for your D&D campaign. You are free to use them in your D&D campaign, but you must obtain my permission if you wish to post them anywhere online (or use them for any purpose other than for use in your FRP campaign/a FRP campaign that you participate in). If you're interested in descriptions of the actual magic items, you'll need to read the linked document.
<https://www.robsworld.org/Unique%20Magic%20Items%20for%20Rob's%20World!%20D&D%20Campaign.pdf >
<https://robsworld.org/mailman/listinfo/dndcampaign_robsworld.org>
<https://www.robsworld.org/3ecampaign.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/3enewfeats.pdf>
<https://www.robsworld.org/3ehsrls.pdf>

Mar 20, 2015

Finding the right Credit Card:
These days, it's just about impossible to survive without a credit card. Especially if you do any foreign travel whatsoever. The only way you could survive without a credit card is if you don't do any foreign travel, don't travel by air, and don't need a rental car when you travel. Having the right credit card can make or break your travel plans. Over the last few weeks I undertook a determined effort to find a very specific credit card. We needed a credit card for an upcoming vacation, and I'll likely have some additional business travel to Europe in the coming year. I wanted a credit card that met some very specific requirements:

• 1 - A credit card with no foreign transaction fee(s). There's always a conversion rate (foreign currency conversion rates), but charging the card holder extra money just because they're making purchases outside the country where the card was issued seems like an extra fee, for no logical reason. I want no part of that. Foreign transaction fees aren't foreign exchange costs/rates. Banks do this all the time. International banking operates across borders all day long, every day. They don't incur an extra cost just because they're exchanging credits and debits across national borders, and neither should I.
• 2 - A credit card with no annual fee. Here's another scam. The bank is making money by charging me interest (if/when I don't pay the full balance), and they're making money by holding onto my money (if they hold my savings), and yes they charge vendors a fee for processing transactions (If there's a sign saying they accept Visa it's because they have an agreement with Visa, and they pay for the processing service). What am I getting (as a card holder) from an annual fee? If I'm not getting something I value, then I don't want to pay an annual fee. It's like paying for the privilege of an I.O.U. At the end of the day - I owe the vendor the money, not the credit card company. A credit card takes the place of an I.O.U. Another BS fee that I don't want to (won't) pay.
• 3 - A credit card capable of true Chip and PIN transactions. When I say uses 'Chip & Pin', I'm not talking about the US credit cards that have a chip. Yes there's a difference between true Chip & PIN and the EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) technology that only uses a Chip (or Chip and Signature). The Chip prevents the card from being used outside of specific transactions where the card is used (if it doesn't have a stripe). The old magnetic stripe can be duplicated and used for multiple purchases. The Chip generates a unique code that can only be used for that transaction. Chip and Signature is a poor/ridiculous substitute for true Chip and PIN. A PIN would prevent someone who stole your card from using it over and over again (before you/the bank disabled the card).

Credit cards haven’t had a makeover in years, but all that changed with the introduction of EMV (Europay, MasterCard, and Visa) technology (rollout in the US didn't really start until 2012 (remember the big Point-Of-Sale breaches at Target and Home Depot?), and adoption reached approximately 70% by 2015. EMV offers a much more secure shopping experience in that every time the card is inserted into a chip-enabled checkout device, the purchase generates a unique transaction code that cannot be used again.

These are requirements that my current banks and credit unions either could not or would not meet. I tried calling my Credit Unions and Banks, I spent hours on the phone trying to find out whether they had any credit cards that met these requirements. They either wouldn't send me a chip and pin card (we're not issuing them until later this year - that sometimes led to a lengthy discussion about EMV standards and Chip and Signature vs Chip and PIN), had a foreign transaction fee, or wanted me to pay an annual fee for a card that met my needs. Ridiculous - Why would I sign up for something that benefits them, but puts a new burden on me? Here's what you asked for, it's great for you and us, but now you have to pay extra. Remember when ATMs first rolled out? For that matter I still don't get it. An ATM saves the bank money. With ATMs in place, the bank doesn't need to pay a cashier/teller. Yet, they still charge fees to get your money out of an ATM. Yeah, I know that there are still costs associated with maintaining the machines, but if they're more than the cost to hire a bank teller, then someone's doing something wrong.

After determining that my current banks and credit unions weren't able/willing to meet my needs I started searching for a new card. Thankfully there are plenty of websites out there with consumer oriented reviews and comparisons. After some amount of searching, I found two Credit Unions that met all the requirements. One was the 'State Department' credit union. The other was 'Andrews AFB' credit union. I wasn't too keen on the idea of having a 'State Department' credit card in my wallet - One can only imagine why... So I went with the somewhat more obscure "Andrews Federal Credit Union". Given the context of a Credit Card, most people don't know that Andrews is an Air Force Base.

Qualifying as a member of the Credit Union was a bit more difficult than I had anticipated. Of course I assumed that a retired member of the Air Force would qualify. I even thought that my current employer might qualify me for membership. I would never have imagined that I would only be able to qualify by becoming a member of the American Consumer Council. After becoming a member of the ACC, I filed out the Andrews FCU credit card application. I was approved in less than ten minutes. Wow - That was quick. The card is on its way. I plan to use this card whenever we/I travel. It will certainly come in handy when we/I travel overseas.

The new card has a 1.90% APR introductory rate (9 months). That's amazingly low! With a 7.99 - 18% variable APR afterwards (that's normal, but the low end is much lower than other cards). No balance transfer fees (that might come in handy). No annual fees or cash advance fees - Sweet! and of course there's no international or foreign transaction fees. One final note about Chip and PIN versus chip and signature:

As mentioned above, most of the Chip & PIN cards being issued by US Credit Card companies (for U.S. Consumers) are actually Chip & Signature. Chip & Signature is not as secure as Chip & PIN. With Chip & Signature, a thief who gets your card could still rack up lots of fraudulent charges. With Chip & PIN the only way a thief could abuse your card is if they guess your four digit PIN. Of course, the bank will disable your card after three incorrect attempts.

By the end of 2015, every credit card in the US will be replaced with new EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) Chip and PIN cards (that's what the Credit Card companies have been promising - I doubt that will actually happen). It's taken US banks and merchants forever, but they're finally switching over to the new Chip and PIN cards. Unfortunately, many banks are going to skimp on standards by issuing Chip and Signature cards (oh, they'll call them Chip and PIN, but they'll actually be Chip and Signature - a less secure form of EMV standard).

It won't be long before all our cards will be replaced. The results for banks and credit unions will be a huge reduction in the amount of fraud related to credit cards. The black magnetic stripes will go away, if you've got a proper Chip and PIN card you won't even need to sign in order to complete a transaction. Note: Checking my wallet now (in March of 2019), I find five credit cards, and four out of five now have an EMV Chip. The only card that doesn't have the Chip is my Military Star Card. It's a bit of an odd-ball. All the cards still have a magnetic stripe, and only one of them is an actual Chip and PIN card (The Andrews card).

If you've traveled to Europe in the last few years (10 plus years in most places), you'll know how far behind we are (in the states). It's been a chore trying to use the old mag-stripe card during my last few visits to England. Now that I've got an actual Chip & PIN card, I'll be ready for my next vacation or business trip. I'll actually be able to purchase a train ticket without having to find an attendant at the train station - not the easiest thing to do. I won't have to worry about cash (the ATMs won't take mag-stripe or Chip and Sign cards) and I won't have to pay those ridiculous foreign transaction fees.

What's in your wallet? If you decide to switch early, make sure you get an actual Chip & PIN card. That Chip and Signature card isn't much help if your card is stolen or you want to use the card overseas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_and_Air_Force_Exchange_Service#Military_Star_Card>
<https://thepointsguy.com/guide/top-cards-with-no-foreign-transaction-fees/>
<https://www.andrewsfcu.org/join-andrews-federal-credit-union.html>
<http://www.americanconsumercouncil.org>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMV>

AOL's WebMailUI client has a bug:
I spend several hours a year tracking, parsing, evaluating, analyzing, reporting, mitigating - spam! It's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it. The job isn't all that difficult, but reading email headers isn't all that easy. Especially when the spammers do everything they can to obfuscate and complicate things. What helps is a clear understanding of the 'Rules' for internet messages. That's why their are rules like RFC5322: <https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5322>. This internet standard, created and published by the Internet Engineering Task Force. This particular document (RFC5322) specifies the Internet Message Format for email sent between computer users. This specification is the most recent/current standard (published in 2008) which all email providers, engineers and ISPs should be using when they generate, send and receive email messages.

What doesn't help are companies like AOL that fail to follow the standards. Their web-based email interface (WebMailUI) is applying an improper format to the outgoing 'messages generated by users. The date format it's applying appears in the messages 'Received:' line in the following format: yyyy-mmm-dd. For example: a recent test message included the following 'Received:' line:

"Received: from 67.173.230.210 by webstg-a06.mail.aol.com (10.72.16.205) with HTTP (WebMailUI); 2015-Mar-07 14:39:08"

This format: yyyy-mmm-dd does NOT conform to the RFC standard: dd-mmm-yyyy. As a result, automated parsing software that respects the RFC/Internet Standards (such as that used by SpamCop and other email clients) will fail to recognize the date as a valid string. Possibly failing to process email properly, preventing delivery or simply displaying an incorrect date. Not only does this make it difficult for other software developers to create functional software, scripting and email applications, it also makes it easier for Spammers to flood your inbox with unwanted crap! 

The worst part about this problem? I can vent about it here, but there seems to be no way for me to tell AOL about the problem. They do not have any way to email them on any of their web pages (that functionality is 'Coming Soon' (I doubt it), and their Chat function is limited to 'paid AOL members'. I plan to continue looking for a way to reach AOL. I'm posting this here (Originally posted on my F*book page), and I'll try to post it on the AOL F*book page. I also plan to publish it on my personal website. When I do, I'll probably tweet it out as well (I actually don't remember whether I tweeted the URL of the aol_date_format document that I published).

• AOL you suck for the following reasons:
  • A - Your software/email interface does not conform to internet standards.
  • B - You do not provide an adequate / easily accessible channel with which to contact you.
  • C - You're making it easier for spammers to send their spew.

I call on AOL to fix this problem! Of course I didn't exactly give up there...After posting these comments/this rant on F*book, a few friends commented:

• After posting these comments/this rant on F*book, a few friends commented:
  • Roger B: Provided a link to the AOL postmaster: <https://postmaster.aol.com/SupportRequest.php>
    • Robert Vaessen: Thanks for the info. That page wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but I was able to submit a report to AOL through that web portal, their postmaster blog, the AOL help 'application' on Facebook, and I tweeted about the problem. Hopefully one of these channels will result in some sort of action by AOL
    • Robert Vaessen: I've posted a webpage about this 'AOL date format' issue: <https://www.robsworld.org/aol_date_format.pdf> I'm sure it will get indexed by Google and other index crawlers.
  • Chris U: god bless u for reading RFCs....
    • Robert Vaessen: After emailing three different AOL help addresses/forums and a few personal email addresses (of AOL sys admins (discovered through some google sleuthing)), I believe I've 'reported' this 'date-time' format issue to the correct people. I received email feedback from two actual people, who seem to care. John Kelley at AOL (The Tech Manager of the Anti-Spam Team) had this to say:
      • John Kelley: Thanks for reporting this. Depending on which received line is wrong, this may be my team (we are looking into it now) or it may be one of two other teams. If we determine that it is not my team, I will certainly notify the proper team leads and make sure that it gets appropriate attention. I apologize. And I know the difficulties parsing spam can create.
    • Robert Vaessen: I also received email from Marcel Becker at AOL (The Director of AOL Mail). His reply was also quite positive:
      • Marcel Becker: I received your mail regarding a wrongly formatted time stamp in one of our received headers. Thanks for reaching out to us and pointing that out. It’s indeed a bug introduced in a new service we rolled out last month. We will get this addressed and fixed asap. We value constructive feedback and bug reports. So if you want, please feel free to share a mailing address with me so I can send you a little thank you gift. After all, reading and parsing mail headers is not really a rewarding task ;-)

Based upon this feedback, it looks like AOL is going to fix this problem. Hopefully this will help to slow the tide of spam against our inbox. This non-standard date format created a small gap in the defense against spam, but spammers will take every inch they can get. This small gap allowed spammers to increase my spam count (in my Inbox) by 30% during the first 10 days of March. Note from Robert: Back in 2015 (For many years before/after), I used to keep detailed statistics on spam I received. Where it was coming from, how much of it, and the types of spam. At this point (March of 2019), I have given up on the statistics. I'm still fighting spam, but I have been able to really crush it now that I have better control over my hosting environment (specifically email hosting), and mail servers are implementing DKIM, SPF and other anti-spam measures.

Mercel Becker was gracious enough to even provide an Amazon gift certificate. I’m glad that the problem is actually going to get addressed, as it currently prevents thousands of users from reporting spammers who are abusing the AOL email system. Fighting spam isn't easy, but someone's gotta do it. Thanks to these responsive AOL employees, it looks like we'll be able to roll back the tide. Just a little. PS: I just sent a test email (9 Mar, 2019) from the AOL Webmail interface to my Mac.com email address. AOL is now complying with RFC5322. I'm not sure when they fixed it, but I just wanted to check. Everything looks good!
Rob of Rob's World! - a long time spam fighter: <https://www.robsworld.org/index2.html#fightingspam>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DomainKeys_Identified_Mail>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sender_Policy_Framework>
<https://www.robsworld.org/aolgiftcard_mar2015.png>
<https://www.robsworld.org/aol_date_format.pdf>
<https://postmaster.aol.com/SupportRequest.php>
<https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5322>

Mar 10, 2015

Subscribe Now!
<rant>I despise the new subscription based business models. We've had some classic subscription services for hundreds of years: Newspapers and magazines. Then came the horrid model of television subscription in Cable TV. That abomination pretty much defined the category of 'Subscription Model' for decades - With Comcast charging you a monthly 'fee' to 'lease' your Set-top box, Modem, DVR, Digital Converter, etc. I can remember when 'Ma-Bell' owned the phone in your home, and you weren't allowed to buy your own, disconnect their's or even relocate it to a different room! Comcast does a really good job of preventing consumers from owning their own equipment...

Lately we've seen a resurgence in the subscription based model. Some are o.k., like music subscription services: Google Play, Apple Music, Spotify, etc. While others in the category remind us that every success in the subscription business model will spur a collection of horrible ideas such as: Software subscription services: Office 365, Adobe Creative Cloud, Ink (HP Instant Ink), Fonts (Typekit, fontdeck, Webtype), Images (Getty Images, PhotoSpin), and more - Even groceries and other consumables (like diapers) are starting to get in on the model.

Some of these services seem like a good idea, but some are a scam and others are destined for failure (are we beginning to enter another ".com" bubble with this rush to subscription services?). Take for instance the cost of subscription software, images and fonts. As a consumer these Subscription Services will do one thing and one thing only: Suck all the money out of your wallet for very little return. 

They may be a good idea from a corporate IT infrastructure point of view, but why must these companies pitch these services as a consumer option? They will definitely cost more in the long run (for consumers), despite the low upfront costs. Do you really think you're going to pay less per ounce for ink when it starts shipping in tiny quantities directly to your house? Do you really want another company hooked into your internet, monitoring your 'Ink' consumption (and who knows what else)? Even the music subscription model is one I despise. Sure I like to 'listen' to music without 'buying' it. Isn't that what the radio used to be for?

As for subscription (aka streaming) music services. Unfortunately, I can't find any college radio stations in my area, and it's currently impossible to find any decent music stations on the radio. It's chock full of 'Infomercials' and niche broadcasts. If you want to listen to music without a 1:1 ad ratio, you'd better be willing to shell out some subscription bucks. I've been forced to find new ways to listen to new music.

I've been resisting the software subscription model as long as I can. Thankfully I haven't been forced into Adobe's Creative Cloud or Microsoft's 365* days a year money suck office suite - Yet! On a positive note, Apple's iWork applications (Pages, Keynote and Numbers) are free, non-subscription based, and now they're even available to everyone for free in iCloud! If only we could get the rest of the world to stop using a buggy, costly, office suite that's quickly rising in price?

*When I originally wrote this (in March of 2015, I hadn't purchased the subscription version of Microsoft Office - Well, as of now (March of 2019) I have. In February of 2017, I purchased 5 copies of Microsoft 365 (Home Subscription (lets you share apps/installation with family members) - Military Edition) for $39.99 each. ($199.95 total). I activated the licenses, and am now enjoying five years worth of Microsoft Office applications. Doing the math; Normally, I would pay approximately $129.00 per year for the latest version of Microsoft Office products (for the Mac). So this is clearly a huge savings - but then again, the normal price for military is $69.99, but I bought it when it was on sale for $39.99. Given the limited scope of this sale, I wonder whether Microsoft actually makes any money off the sale of the license at this low price? (Note: The normal/non-military/discounted price for Office 365 Home edition is $99.99 per year. I saved 60% off the standard price!

I certainly don't want or need most of these subscription services. I wish I didn't have Cable TV* (but marital harmony demands some concessions/*Actually I was able to get us off of Cable TV - that's another story altogether), I wish I had an acceptable alternative to subscription music (I still purchase the music I enjoy most), I loath the idea of subscription software, dread the idea of subscription ink, and can't imagine a future where I have to 'rent' my access to computer resources.

Unfortunately, it looks like the days of consumer 'Ownership' are on the way out. The new model for American consumers seems to be 'Subscription'. Where the licenses are held by the corporations, the property is 'Intellectual', and once your money runs out, you end up with nothing! You can't sell your Pandora tunes in a garage sale. Do we really want our society to depend on goods and services exemplified by the 'Easy Rental' model? 

We need to reverse the trends of bad customer relationships, outsourcing, consolidation and the ever present rush to make it cheaper. American's need quality products, not cheap, disposable, cloud based subscription services.</rant>

Music Marches In:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. Where do I get all this stuff? For the long story on my music discovery efforts, see my music page. After rdio was shut down (in Dec of 2015 (yes this post was written in the 'future')), I searched for an alternative streaming service, but the only thing that made sense (given price, catalog, service, support and my existing preferences) was Apple Music. I signed up for a 3 month free trial in December of 2015, and I've been a $9.99/month subscriber ever since - Thank you for not raising your prices (as of Mar, 2019). For now, eMusic is my primary download service (even though it's catalog is severely shrunken - no major labels, and the minor labels seem to be disappearing on a daily basis), and Apple Music streaming is my primary music discovery service, but I certainly can't afford to buy my music from them, and the other major players - Amazon and Google both think that the outrageous prices that Apple charges are o.k. Really? - $1.29 for a single track!

Artists want you to Hear their music - If you like it, you'll buy it; or maybe you'll buy some concert tickets - That's where bands really make their money. The major labels of the music industry want you to pay for their product. - letting you hear it for free is contrary to their business model. Well, guess what? I won't buy the music if I can't listen to it first, and no one listens to the radio anymore (I don't because of all the advertising, interruptions, lack of new music and lack of information - you can never figure out who/what is being played) The major labels are killing themselves with their restrictive distribution and dissemination policies. If you like new music, you can do a web search to find your favorite artist's web site, a new music web site, or an archive of free music. Free music is available - Legally! Don't believe the propaganda of the major labels - Not all free music is illegal. You can legally download and listen to all sorts of music for free (Have you heard of Pandora, Presto, MySpace, SoundCloud or DashRadio?). I download (purchase) most of my music from a couple of commercial sources (eMusic and iTunes), but I occasionally download tracks (legally) from various websites, newsgroups and blogs in order to satisfy my craving for music.

Here's a listing of some of the music I legally downloaded - and paid for!

eMusic monthly downloads:
Every month I download ~50 tracks from eMusic.com. This month (Mar of 2015) I downloaded 50 tracks (from eMusic) at the low cost of $23.26. Despite the published standard member cost of $23.26, I only pay a $19.99 monthly fee. This makes the tracks extremely cheap - That's right I didn't actually pay $23.26, that would have been the price if I purchased individual tracks at the standard member's price (still cheaper than iTunes). If you're on a monthly plan you get a discount over the non-member prices (which average $0.89 per track). When you purchase an entire album you get an additional discount. Plus I get a discount for being on a special plan (as a member) - I've been 'Grandfathered' with additional credits since I'm a long-time loyal member (since 2006). As a subscriber/member, you save plenty over the likes of iTunes, Amazon and Google. I only paid $19.99 for my $23.26 worth of downloads. The price for these tracks came out at ~$0.40 per track - Way less than the cost on iTunes or Amazon. If you bought these tracks on iTunes you might have paid approximate $57.00! An eMusic non-subscriber/non-member would have paid nearly $45.00! - That's approximately 20% less. I saved approximately 65%.

* Lost Icicles, Volume 1 - The Icicle Works: (18 tracks) The Icicle Works were something of a 'One Hit Wonder' band that I listened to in the 80s. Their number one hit - Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream) charted at number 2 in the U.K. and number 35 in the U.S. This best of compilation (released in 2008) covers many unreleased early Icicle Works tracks and demos. The band originally performed and recorded from 1980-1990 (broke up in 1991). Then, like all good bands from the 80s, they reunited in 2006 in order to play live dates. No new albums yet.
* Lost Icicles, Volume 2 - The Icicle Works: (11 songs) The Icicle Works were something of a 'One Hit Wonder' band that I listened to in the 80s. Their number one hit - Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream) charted at number 2 in the U.K. and number 35 in the U.S. This best of compilation (released in 2008) includes live recordings from 1984. Volume 2 features some of their best remembered/most popular songs.
* Inform - Educate - Entertain - Public Service Broadcasting: (11 tracks) Not to be confused with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), PSB are a London-based band consisting of three artists. This group has toured and recorded since 2009. I discovered this band by listening to eMusic recommendations. They're very interesting, experimental, progressive. Using an odd assortment of instruments and sampled voice-overs (from public information recordings) they create sonic landscapes that informs, educates and entertains. Unfortunately, like so many gems I discovered on eMusic, this band is no longer available on eMusic.
* Education, Education, Education & War - The Kaiser Chiefs: (10 songs) A favorite band since I first discovered them back in 2004. This album was released in 2014. I definitely like this band. For some reason I can't get enough of those British post-punk bands. You may have noticed that all four selections this month featured bands from the U.K. Unfortunately, like many of the eMusic discoveries - None of these bands are available on eMusic. I discovered them on eMusic (that's where I get my MP3 downloads), but they're no longer available on eMusic. While the price remains great, it's really difficult to find my favorites.

Unlike some music outlets, eMusic doesn't have any DRM and they don't insert unique track id's into the ID3 tags. Their terms of service are consumer friendly. eMusic allows you to burn as many CDs as you like and copy downloads to an unlimited number of your computers and portable MP3 players. At less than $.50 a track (I'm currently paying $19.99 for $22.99 worth of downloads per month - I'm on a grandfathered plan that new members cannot get) you can't really go wrong. You don't have to be a member/monthly subscriber to access the site or buy music, and the membership prices (per album) are compared to the non-member prices right up front, so you can see how much you save as a monthly member. eMusic offers a really good value for your download dollar. iTunes and Amazon still charge more. eMusic offers more music for your money, and the variable bit rate recordings make for exceptionally high quality recordings. If you still want your own copies of the music, check out eMusic.

These are some of the items I added to my music collection during this month. Since revamping my music collection back in September of 2005, I've been slowly adding, revising and updating the collection. If you have a comment, question or correction regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email. Please keep in mind that my collection isn't for sale, and I'm not interested in giving you any copyrighted materials. I'd rather not go to jail for music piracy. :-)
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_on-demand_streaming_music_services>
<http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/07/emusic-lets-the.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/music.html>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMusic>