71, or 69, my vote!

I'm with ya Tony.

Wish that Winterland set were coming out!

Yeah, that 1971. Of course it was one of the first sbds I got. That, and Cincinatti 1971 which a friend did for me, and the Felt Forum Radio cast. When you've got only a few tapes, you get very familair with them. On the last instrumental break in Goin' Down the Road, Jerry cuts loose into the stratosphere--just rips it. And the final wailing on NFA--Pig and Bobby--well, just seemed like they saved something up for it.

So many New Year's concerts seem to find the boys playing like the just want to finish off the year and go party. Check out some of the shows right before New Year's. Kind of like a runner who peaks before the last fifty yards.

the 6-4-78 sb of the UCSB show is up on dime and worth a download. It features the band in fine form with the famous "Harley" intro to NFA.

shnflac.net just put up 3-31-73. Highly recommended, for a second-set sequence that seems to surprise the heck out of the band.

Wow, this speeding arrow/zephyr is allowing me to hear shows I always wanted to, such as the Reno CA 1967 dates and the Mickey and the Hartbeat shows!

I remember reading somewhere, I think, or maybe I am mistaken, that Lon used to have a life.

I blame myself.

You are to blame!

Well, since my life now consists for a month more or so of wasting time in medical waiting rooms, hospital rooms and hotel rooms in the medical center area, this speeding arrow is a good find and keeping my mind occupied!

Just remember one thing--everyone who downloads from speeding arrow--the intent of those who obtained, cleaned, and digitized these tapes into SHN and/or FLAC files that they did not wish to have the material copied into MP3 format for distribution. It's aa bit grey, I think, for them to convert to MP3 for distribution, but as long as it's for personal use, especially walkman/ipod, I don't see it as being all that evil.

Chalupa might disagree--any thoughts, Tony?

MP3's

Not a fan. I would only get a MP3 recording if it was the only way to obtain a copy of a performance. I do find them fatigue inducing after extended periods of listening. Where I really notice the compression is on the drums, especially the crash cymbal. HOWEVER...... I have no problem w/ people converting files for their own personal use. They're your ears and if MP3s sound good to your ears I say grab as many as you can. (N.B. I have to admit that the AAC encoded files on my wife's Ipod sound pretty darn good.)

What gets my goat is when people distribute MP3s w/out being upfront about it. I can't tell you how many times I've seen shows up on the Dime and the show is 70+ minutes long yet the cd torrent is only ~300mb. There's no way there isn't a mp3 generation in there.

That's why I like that speeding arrow site. The guy is totally upfront about the music on his site being compressed. I mean what's really important here is that the music is getting distributed and listened to. Better to have an inferior recording then no recording at all.

That pretty much sums up my take on it. I'm still grabbing shn/flacs when I can. Most of my archive downloads were shns. Mind you, my ears are so shot from loud music that I can't tell the difference. Besides, I listen mostly in my car. AND--I grew up on nth generation copies of tapes with hissssss and speed issues and cuts and so on.

But it is wrong to pass off mp3s as lossless. And I think it's important to bear in mind that these tapes have been lovingly worked on by serious enthusiasts to make them as clean as possible. Since many of the uploads on dime and elsewhere contain the express wish not to have the files disseminated on mp3, it is important to respect those wishes. BUT--for personal use which excludes trading or posting, go for it. After all, all those shns on archive have become lossy streams only.

And yes, a great mp3 concert is better than no concert!


It's just that it's so addictive . . . . . .

I already had a problem of music overload before I started downloading the Dead recently. How do you guys find the time to listen to 3000 3-hour shows?

That's a really good question. . . . Right now I'm listening to about 1/4 or 1/5 of what I'm downloading, I'm just stockpiling because I have the time (I won't have the time when I return to my "normal" life, this year of treatment and caretaking I refuse to see as "normal") and the availability is there. I'm having a lot of fun and am calmed by the mechanics of what I do (download the MP3, convert in iTunes to Apple Lossless, burn a backup cd, convert to AAC files, load to iPod) and I listen when I can (on the shuttle back and forth to the hospital, when my wife is sleeping in the hospital, in the evenings over my laptop and my Bose Companion 2 powered speakers, walking to the stores in the evening, etc.)

I find that the cds burned with the Apple Lossless file sound pretty okay, not as fatiguing as otherwise, and the AAC files sound pretty good on the laptop and the iPod--these new B&O headphones (A8) that my father gave me are largely responsible for great sound, I've never head better headphones with an iPod or a regular stereo.

The Zephyr site uses a 256 bit rate, which minimizes losses, even though it makes the files somewhat large.

Lon: why do you do all of that converting? Why not just load the 256 bit MP3s directly into iTunes and your iPod? They sound good in mine.

Well, I get up 'round five a.m. and put on the first disc. I sing along in the shower and head down for breakfast--disc 2. Drive to work (okay, I walk)--disc 3. On a good day, one without pesky customers, I can nail about three or four more shows. Then, night comes, and I hit some of the heavier stuff.

3,000 shows? Nothing to it.

Actually, I only download stuff between 66-72; and having done so for around four years, that's not totally insane. Now Lon on the other hand . . . .

I may be mistaken, Lon, so forgive me.

I don't understand how you can 'up-convert' an mp3 into a lossless format. Isn't it impossible to restore any information that has already been compressed from the file? In other words, once an aiff, or wav has been compressed into an mp3, it can be compressed further (more lossy), but it can never be improved upon.\

Am I wrong?

I convert to lossless. . . because actually I feel they make the cds sound "deeper" . . .better on my home system. It may be an illusion.

I convert from lossless to AAC because of the capacity. . . I can store more on the iPod/iTunes (I have iTunes on an external harddrive as it already is larger than my notebook can hold). I've already dumped about 10G of audience shows from the iPod/iTunes that didn't sound so hot so after I'd listened to them a couple of times, I doubt I'd revisit them too often.

Cary, I don't know if you're wrong or right. . . I don't think you can really change the file, but I just find that the converted MP3s sound better on playback on my main system. Maybe I'm just imagining it. If so, it gives me something to do, it's sort of a ritual for me now after about 6 months or so of doing this for eMusic and Dead shows.

Lon on the other hand is downloading shows through 1975 (meager pickings from 1975!) I don't like Midland, never did, never will, and he ruins the later years for me. I'm not that crazy about the years from 1974 on when Hart returned and the Godchauxs sortof got jiggy. So it's not 3000 shows for me, but it's plenty!

I've got ALL the official product from these years and will keep buying!

I live in the sticks with access to dial up, never got into the tape trading scene and so far have not started downloading. I am not only technologically challenged, but also a Luddite. The Dead are , however, my first love so I buy all official product thru to 73 when I lost interest, and of course I have had my share of boots, in the past on vinyl and then cd. In time I will however get the official down loads. And much as I do love the Dead, I have also a fair bit of other music to listen to! Plus , I dont want to get divorced, as I said in a very early posting to this thread, wifey wonders how many Lovelights a man needs!

Of course it's insane to download every fart and burp the Grateful Dead created over the years. And, worse than too many Lovelights are too many Me and My Uncles! But we all need a hobby. Mine used to be going to the local traffic light and reading the license plates. But the cops thought that was a but squirrely and asked me to stop.

There is something to be said for listening to the evolution of a group such as the Dead. As with Lon, my interests are in the early years. And I'm no completest or elitist when it comes to what I download. I don't care much for chopped up partials or weak shows or (sorry)) audience (except those capital theater shows from fall 1970).

Beats waiting for the light to turn green.

Besides. I'm already divorced.

Those Capitol shows are something! There are some really good audience ones I've found, but yes a lot of them aren't worth hearing more than once.

Those early years. . . they can be different from night to night! Sort of thrilling to hear them grow and change as Bill mentions. This is a rare period for me (I'm hoping) in my life. . . I sort of leaned on the Dead when my wife began getting her treatment last November and they were there for me. Diving deep into their music was something new and I found that their music HELPS me. I've been reading about them during this time period as well. The music is here in my head now, and welcome there.

My wife is fairly supportive of the habit though no fan of the Dead.

Till now Wifey doesnt realise that I have more than one version of Me and my Uncle!!!!

And Jazzbo, I think I can empathise a bit with what you are both going thru, my partner was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 years ago, tuff times, but keep on keepin on, OK?

You scoundrel.

Tony, thanks, after nearly a full year of this we may be weeks away from the end. Helen's stem cell transplant was 18 days ago, and her white cell count is finally on the rise and the doctor's think everything is going well and are predicting a relatively long remission of the lymphoma.

I'm going to keep on keeping on.

That's encouraging, Lon! I wish Helen and yourself all the best.


John

Yay! Glad to hear things are looking up!

According to my databases I have 91 CDs of official Dead product + about 810 hours of unofficial live Dead (a few hours of that is outtakes.) Never mind the vinyl. And yet I saw 5-18-72 on dimeadozen the other day and decided to give it a whirl. Not a bad show (surprise surprise) and supposedly it's a relatively recent find (within the past 2 years), or least this version that sounds nice. I heard part of it about 5 years ago and gave up as it was distant and hissy (like an old Who AUD ) - not a problem now.

I probably only do part of a show a week nowadays, but it's nice to have lots of bottle in the cellar to chose from.

And oh so easy to get drunk!

Healing vibes for


(((((Helen and Lon)))))

Thanks guys . . "you are kind!"

Geeze, you'd think we liked the guy or something. Me, I'm just in awe of his 13942 posts. Here's a man who knows how to goof off

Something to aspire to.

Yes indeed, years of training and a fair dollop of hypergraphia yield results!

Listening to a really cool "Turn on Your Lovelight" from St. Louis, 1969!

You are my hero

St. Louis '69 is a great choice, Lon! An all-time favorite of mine.

If anybody ever finds a better version of the Cryptical/Other One suite, let me know about it!

I've been following my music cyberguru Lon around music BBSs now for at least 10 years.

I don't believe I've heard this one. Guess that's in store for later.

Meantime, it will be up against the Harpur College version. Jerry soars so high at the end! That lick with which he usually ended the jam and eased into the second verse--so intense that he kept on going anyway.

Not to break the flow or anything, but has anyone been listening to the "Phil Lesh and Friends Instant Live" CDs from the tour. I've picked some of 'em up (a couple with Greg Osby and a couple with John Scofield). They're all really nice, but the ones with Scofield have some really great moments. He fits in really well with the band and the two guitar attack on these CDs are pretty great. Listening the the Nashville show right now. The first CD has some country-ish leanings, but the second CD just jams like crazy. Really like this one alot. Haven't gotten to the third CD yet.

I was hoping Osby would go a little more out than he does with the band, but he's still fine. Phil's band does a great job. And I like Joan Osborne.

Any other opinions?

I haven't listened to enough Phil and Friends stuff, but he seems to be the one who is carrying the torch right now. He does so not only through the excellent playing, but by the rotation of the friends--keeping it fresh. I'm amazed that he didn't have a group on the side during his G.D. tenure as did Jerry, Bobby, and Mickey. Renews the mind and allows all sorts of new ideas and possibilities to emerge--just as so many of the great jazz musicians have done over the years.

I'll keep my ears open.

Let's see if I can really wreck Lon's life"

Download Mozilla Firefox. Go thence to add ons (under tools). Type in "Down them all." Download same. Thence to, say, GDLive.com. Left click the whole column of files. Then, having highlighted the files, right click Down Them All. Thence, take a nap--or better--do something productive like attend to your job

Hey, no no no . . . I will resist. I'm still busy with the speedingarrow site. .. Right now I'm in April 1969!

Some amazing music!

Some not too news from Phil:

http://phillesh.net/philzonepages/friends_stuff/hotline.html

Basically, he has prostate cancer; but it appears to be nipped in the bud.

I'm sure we all wish him a speedy recovery from the surgery.

So the next Rhino, coming January 15th is...


Band Grateful Dead
Venue Cow Palace
Location Daly City, CA
Date 12/31/76

One The Promised Land [4:00] ; [7:18] ; Bertha [6:23] ; Mama Tried
[2:50] ; They Love Each Other [6:45] ; Looks Like Rain [7:15] ; [1:11]
; Deal [5:21] % Playing In The Band [22:28]

Two Sugar Magnolia [8:30] (1) > Eyes Of The World [12:22] > Wharf Rat
[12:30] > Drums [1:21] > Good Lovin' [7:13] > Samson And Delilah [7:01]
% Scarlet Begonias [11:34] % Around And Around [7:59] % Help On The Way
[4:20] > Slipknot! [12:02] > Drums [0:50] > Not Fade Away [10:38] >
Morning Dew [14:38]

Encore One More Saturday Night [4:43] ; Uncle John's Band > And We Bid
You Good Night

That's it?

With so much gold in the vault, this doesn't seem to be the one I'd trot out to unveil the new partnership. Still, not a bad concert. And at least they are starting it back up.

Fork!

Ah well.

Next time maybe a sixties show.

Darn! You'd think Rhino would come up with something special for the Christmas season....

Being at the Cow Palace for New Years in 1976 was special for my Christmas season.

Also underwhelmned