DJSkyler.com

I neglected to post as of late as I have been concentrating on adding to the links page. It’s become very convenient to access my weblinks on my own site rather than scrolling through my massive Firefox bookmarks. I also upgraded my Wordpress from version 1.5 to 2.0.1. It was really easy thanks to the instant upgrade options with my host, Dreamhost.

I bought some new toys, but the first has been giving me problems. It’s the Roadmaster USA MP3 FM Modulator, an innovative mp3 player for the automobile. You plug the device into your cigarette lighter, and plug a USB flash drive loaded with mp3s into the unit. The player then transmits the mp3s to your car radio. It also has an input to plug a regular player into for the FM transmission. I purchased the VFM7 model last summer at Costco on the recommendation of a friend. Problem was, it habitually would stop playing the mp3s mid-song, and I would have to unplug the unit to reset it again and again. My friend reported he had no such problem with his unit. So I ended up giving mine away to a girl who had an mp3 player and didn’t need to rely on a flash drive.

So this last Christmas season Costco put up a new model for sale, the VFM8. I so love the concept of the device that I figured the new model probably overcame any design flaws, and gave one to my Brother for Christmas. He reports that he is getting hours of enjoyment out of it in his work truck. So in January I finally got one for myself and got maybe 5 solid hours of good play out of it. I then talked my Mom into buying one for her car. On the day my Mom got one, my unit stopped transmitting the FM signal. I can see by a light on the USB drive that it is playing the mp3s, but my radio no longer picks up signals from it. Well, thanks to Costco’s easy exchange policy, I am going to bring it back next week and exchange it for a third try. We’ll see….

The other toy I got has been much more satisfying, a purchase from Woot.com. It’s a Pioneer 1000 Watt 5.1 Surround System. It’s certainly not a state of the art system, but it’s better than my TV speakers and my first real experience with the realm of home Dolby Pro-Logic. The first surround movie I watched with it was X2, and it’s no surprise that it greatly enhanced my experience of the film. In one quick scene, the X-Jet blasts from behind the camera, and the back speakers anticipated its approach. Television was a surprise as well, as I never realized that so many TV commercials were broadcast with surround effects. However, I also find that some programs are rather conservative with their surround sounds. I expected Survivor to be awash in jungle sounds, but the surround didn’t kick in much until the tribal council sequence, which then amped up the music in surround to emphasize the emotional drama of voting out a player. My guess is television producers probably don’t invest much into surround as not many viewers have it, whereas commercial producers might use it more often as an extra edge to get people’s attention in case they do have surround speakers. Anyway, as my DVD collection continues to grow, I foresee much enjoyment out of this new toy.