I'm not surprised at all, tbh. I'd like to see the results from the other test that was mentioned in the article about the high bit rate samplings, but it just links to the procedure page. I figure that they're rather similar, since there's rarely much of a difference unless you're comparing an overly compressed file with FLAC.

The Personal, Portable Media Cloud
 

Recently, a new tech product has surfaced on the market - one that solves a very specific problem for a particular niche of media consumers.

There exists a digital media user base with larger-than-usual libraries. I’m speaking of anyone with multiple TB of media, whether it be audio, cinema and TV archives, CBR collections, ePub libraries, or any combination thereof.

Naturally for collections of this size, these consumers have a great passion for their media, and desire full-accessibility to their content at all times.

A percentage of these users have created a solution by holding-fast to their grandfathered-in unlimited cellular data plans, and use one of various dedicated home servers to make their data instantly accessible on any web-enabled device without any fear of data caps or throttling. (I am among these users.)

There remains however, a less-fortunate base of media consumers who don’t have the luxury of unlimited data or a dedicated server, (Subsonic or otherwise) to grant them the freedom they desire.

Which brings us to the solution of the personal, portable media cloud.

Seagate now manufactures a surprisingly small Wireless Plus Portable Hard Drive with its own built-in WiFi network and a 10 hr internal battery.

This device acts as your own personal (and portable) wireless network - on the road or off the grid, your media is always accessible, wirelessly to any device.

It is robust enough to stream up to 3 different HD movies to 3 different devices at the same time.

Use the Seagate Media App on any of your devices, or the codec-ready application of your choice. The Seagate Media App also works as a sync tool to backup your devices’ files to your portable HDD.

The 1.5 TB model is $155 and the 2TB edition is $197 - a small price to pay for the freedom it will bring. This product solves a very particular problem for a very small niche of users, but for those users it is exactly what they've been looking for.

http://i.imgur.com/6iN3F4x.jpg

Early Electronic Album of the Day
 

The Electrosoniks (Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan) - Electronic Music. (1962)
My favorite of the dozen or so generically-titled electronic releases of the early 60s.


Fun trivia - The UFO sound of the opening seconds from "Moon Maid" were lifted by the novelty group, The Ran Dells two years later on their mega-hit, "the Martian Hop." They were heralded for years for their "innovative" early-electronic sounds but were perhaps one of the earliest examples of illegal sampling. (Though, notably - Buchanan And Goodman beat them by several years in 1956 with the equally-successful "The Flying Saucer Pts 1 & 2")

Also - Jean-Jacques Perrey visited Dissevelt and Baltan during the production of this LP and cited them as an inspiration for his move to electronic music.

Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials! Wish I could go but I'm sure you'll both have a fantastic day. Your lady is beautiful, by the way! :thumb:

Weekend Update:

This eve, over Chinese food, I was discussing my wish to purchase an ultra-cool 5LP import box set with my girlfriend. Fortunately, (no pun intended), my fortune cookie had my back.

You cannot deny a man with this fortune cookie his beloved vinyl fix.

http://i.imgur.com/WF41cgj.jpg

An Incredible Grail and Outstanding Good Fortune
 

Once in a while, for no particular reason, the stars in your world align and an outstanding bit of good fortune befalls you. I was the recipient of just such a fortune this afternoon.

Every day I try to take a few minutes to explore potentially rewarding sounds that had somehow previously avoided my radar. Often I’ll review the universally-acclaimed album charts for a given genre as an interest-of-the-week on rateyourmusic.com. Sunday morning’s theme was the peak of the downtempo scene – late 1990s utlra-chilled choons filled with trip-hop rhythms, mellow minimal melodies, jazz-infused horn riffs and the sparse and fragmented fills from a Fender Rhodes.

This was music generally associated with hip, urban cafes in the 90s and found widespread mainstream popularity through Ministry of Sound’s chillout compilations of the cool sounds of Ibiza.


These compilations are fine if you just want an atmospheric bed of sound for your late night laptop adventures or for small gatherings, but none of these are particularly memorable. I was on the hunt for an ultra-chilled tour de force – an anthemic masterpiece of critical acclaim. That album, as I quickly learned, is Kruder & Dorfmeister’s K&D Sessions.


Originally released in 1998, both the 4LP set and the double-CD versions of the album were issued exclusively in Germany. The album has since become a holy grail for lovers of dub and downtempo classics. I was disappointed to find that, bootlegs aside, the album only had one proper release 17 years ago.

But that’s when I stumbled upon wonderful news – it just so happened that the album was newly-remastered by Bernie Grundman for a special 5LP audiophile edition released in March of this year!


Most of the major distribution channels were sold out, with sellers in the USA asking $110-$169 for copies of the album. Thankfully, I was able to get my hands on a copy locally this afternoon for $15 and I couldn’t be happier.


The audiophile edition also comes with a download code for a 24-bit digital archive of the remastered set. What an incredible addition to my electronic music library!

Second Toughest in the Infants… at LAST!
 

Why have one grail when you can have TWO? Followed up yesterday’s Kruder & Dorfmeister Sessions Remastered Edition with this treasure, also from Germany – an original press of Underworld’s Second Toughest in the Infants. This was the last of their vinyl-issued albums missing from my catalog of over 375 analog and digital albums, and it is so exciting to finally claim one for my own!

And, to top everything off, the seller threw in the classic “Rez / Cowgirl” single as a surprise gift!


Second Toughest was the incredible follow-up to the Underworld Mk 2 debut, Dubnobasswithmyheadman. The record is equal-parts floor-stomping club anthems and cerebral, meditative headphone music.

Hyde’s stream-of-consciousness free form lyrical poetry deconstructs the objective properties of language and functions purely as a rhythmic device, complementing the subtle progression of Rick Smith’s atmospheric abstract techno.

This, like all of Underworld’s recordings, is a milestone for the ages.

I just bought Second Toughest in the Infants, actually, so good timing. I'll listen to it tomorrow, though I probably won't have as high an opinion as you do. My only experience with Underworld is the last Eno/Hyde album.

Wow, that's wild! Did you buy it on vinyl, CD, or a digital DL? I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on it once you've given it a few listens, and I'd be more than happy to provide you with any info for suggested additional UW listening.