Oolite Bulletins

I really want to buy this:

http://atlas-music-resonance.web.cern.c ... -sales.htm

But as a Linux user who doesn't believe in the Corporate Machine that is Apple I can't have/don't have iTunes and I don't live anywhere near CERN...

But you surely know somebody who knows somebody at CERN...

CERN website:

As scientists, we are concerned about preserving our planet. The Resonance package can be purchased in the following ways:

Local Sales: hard copies in recyclable packages only at CERN.

Proceeds from the sales of Resonance will go to the Happy Children's Home in Pokhara, Nepal to help them build their orphanage.

How predictable. It's more Right On to care about the putative environmental ill of mailing a cd from france/sw to the UK than about providing for kids without any parents.

I bet steve jobs would hop on his private jet and stop by CERN to pick up some hard copies, if enough people asked him - it's for a good cause after all. Perhaps a Nepalese orphan would walk barefoot from Nepal to CERN and on to the UK, if he received in return enough pocket change to feed his brothers and sisters for a year?

[/rant]

DH… being in agreement with your stance on Apple etc, I took umbrage at your plight, e-mailed CERN… and received this reply:

Thank you for your interest in the ATLAS CD Resonance. We encourage our clients to purchase the package electronically. However, due to the large demand, we are now looking into a solution for selling hard copies via mail orders. This will take a little time to get set up…

… I am curious to know why you do not use Apple iTunes. We will be offering electronic downloads from other locations, as soon as they are set up. Would you purchase a download from a different store?

Hope that helps.

Thanks EV - I emailed whomever is listed on the resonance pages as being responsible for the sales and received precisely nada in response. SO well done.

Why do they presume everybody can and does use iTunes? So much for the Scientific Community (one to which I used to belong) being CopyLeft and Open Source orientated. Clearly they're not (in this case at least).

I look forward to the alternatives with baited breath!

EDIT - can you PM the email of the responder to your email - I'd like to tell him why I don't use iTunes...(PM because I'd hate for it to be picked up by a lurking spambot)

That very friendly e-mail was sent by Steven Goldfarb, one of the vocalists.
I explained my views on Apple in general, and on mp3’s in particular… they sound abysmal on a decent hi-fi.

Other download stores are now available.

Hooray! Just refreshed the site (it was obviously cached!) and you're right!

Magic...

Nice one EV!

Is this music made by and/or for the CERN project staff? If so then I'll buy!

Selezen wrote:

Is this music made by and/or for the CERN project staff? If so then I'll buy!

My wife was trying to buy it for me for Christmas - but got stumped initially by the iTunes only download. Now she's stumped (and has had to ask me to help!) by the Amazon.com download process - so it's not so much of a secret Christmas present any more...

Selezen wrote:

Is this music made by and/or for the CERN project staff? If so then I'll buy!

Yes... the musicians are physicists, engineers, support staff etc, who all work at CERN... and love making music.
A bit like Max Q, the NASA astronaut band, I suppose.

Just had another friendly e-mail from Steven Goldfarb, informing me that hard-copies are now also available by post, via the ‘Buy Now’ paypal link at the bottom of the sales page. Very nice people, these musician/physicists… I’m impressed.

Excellent - perhaps my download-a-phobic better half might be tempted to order it by this method instead (and I still prefer the old fashioned "CD" over the fully digital medium.

Hard-copy makes a much nicer present anyway… and sounds so much better.

DaddyHoggy wrote:

I still prefer the old fashioned "CD" over the fully digital medium.

Ha… there’s me, still thinking that CD’s are modern, as I listen to some old vinyl… pops, crackles and all. Actually, doing sound tests between CD and vinyl of the same album, the sound off the vinyl is better… in some ways, I’m a bit of a Luddite, I suppose. No mp3 player in my household, let alone mp3’s… even the digitised music on my computer, that I listen to while playing Oolite, is recorded in WAV format.

Many years ago, I spent some time high-up in the Himalaya, living with the Tibetans in exile. I have very fond memories of that time, even though I saw great poverty there, and because of this, I find the charity that Resonance are supporting, the Happy Children's Home project, such a worthy one… well worth supporting.

Actually, the "old fashioned" was done somewhat tongue-in-cheek, because my 9yr old doesn't like CDs but loves her MP3 player (just a generic £20 quid job but with decent headphones).

I gave my Hi-Fi(s) away to charity and then had to go and get a USB turntable deck so that I could still listen to my vinyl.

My classical albums still sound amazing on vinyl - the hum in the quiet bits, the sounds of breathing or the odd cough of the musicians.

My favourite album of my childhood is "Sounds Outstanding" bought by my dad for the specific purpose of "testing your new STEREO equipment to the full" - the spatial diversity between the two speakers I have never heard on any other album.