You are Gareth Southgate and I claim my £5

He's very much a fringe player.

But he bangs* them it...

(*You have to speak American to understand that one)

My bangs* days are over.

The wanker who undertakes you and then jumps in front of you when your trying to keep your distance

I've learnt to pull back and keep the distance - it's infuriating but if you do it twenty times in a journey it still only adds a minute or two and you keep yourself safe, let them kill themselves

"I don't usually like to complain" ... proceeds to make the most ridiculous complaint ever ...

I always prefer the morons to be in front of me, not behind, so I can see what they're doing.

:lux:

Are you a middle lane wanker?

Monday morning manners. I don't mind a "Did you have a nice weekend?' You can return a simple "Yes - how was yours?" back over the net.
But "What did you do at the weekend?" as the opening line is far too nosey I reckon.

Opening question for all my students, great to practice past simple and continuous.

STV player.

Guess ITV player is equally amateurish and frustrating.

ITV x I simply can’t get to work on my browsers both safari and chrome. Sound and no picture. Apps on iPhone and ipad fine. Iplayer on everything so so much better

Yep, sack of shit.

Agree. iPlayer maybe better but still no where near as stable and good as other streaming platforms.

I used ITVX on my laptop for the first time since the change for The Netherlands game this afternoon as a second screen and found it worked well.

No idea why it won’t work on mine :(

Two hours on hold to speak to someone at Air NZ followed by a hour waiting for HMRC yestaerdy and getting "office now closed" then another hour plus still on hold this morning. "Call is valuable to us" my arse

Tradesmen. I need laminate flooring laid in two rooms. I've contacted four people. Two have ignored me outright, one eventually came to have a look, promised me a quote and then ignored me and the fourth one has quoted and given me approximate dates but is charging far higher than expected. Unfortunately one of the rooms is quite tricky if not I'd have attempted it myself.

Trades people that just ignore emails and texts rather than explain that they are booked up. Like a black hole - and of course then are put out when you go elsewhere for help.

You both inspired me to post on the things that make you happy thread

In fairness one has actually just come back to me, offered me a decent quote and will get it done by Xmas. Maybe he read my moan! I take some of it back.

Certainly not, and Im not just thinking of motorways but it happens on A roads as well

Planning hotels and flights around Chelsea (A) on the Saturday and then they move it after the TV fixture announcements :veryangry

If the Brighton (H) game gets moved I will probably turn green and go on a rampage!!!

People undertake you on A roads? Are these dual carriageways?

Welcome to my world, haven't seen Palace play live for over 8 years now due to TV scheduling moves.

Agree. Why can’t I watch ITV1 live on my mobile? It says “we don’t know where you are”, even when I use a VPN and set my location to London. If I use my laptop, it’s fine. I wish ITV would just stop showing football and leave it to the BBC.

Well yes, funny that.

Isn't it a bit hard to undertake if it's not a dual carriageway?

Also, people who tootle along at 40mph in the right hand lane of a dual carriageway*



*Not directed at cranesparkeagle

So you hog the outside.lane?

That within the last month asking Alexa to play a song now gets some "shuffled with similar songs" bullshit message, and some random shite... Preferred it when I occasionally got told to subscribe to Amazon music once in a blue moon - mainly when I asked for some obscure 80's tune.

Back to Spotify then... **** you Bezos.

Bloody hate it.

Get a decent MP3 player and **** em all off

I dumped spotify a year or so ago. Dont really miss it. Prefered the old Amazon playing the odd song with out all this shuffle bollocks. Simply dont listen at all now just play my MP3's as the mood takes me. Downloaded Uriah Heep last night for a bit of a change.

I use Qobuz and have done for years but occasionally get 'the lady' to play us a song. as a result I haven't quite got my head around the new service but I did ask it to play a song and it then tripped off into songs from the same era/style and TBH on the day it proved pretty useful.

If that's all it does then it would be a bit lame I agree but according to the blurb you can ask it to shuffle play any album and a whole load of playlists etc. so TBH for effectively free (i.e. I would subscribe to Amazon regardless) then I would think most people could get to hear what they wanted?

Huge caveat that I haven't really tried anything.

What I really don't like is how the lines between prime and music are so blurred (deliberately in the comms/marketing) that I get stressed about inadvertently using/signing up for Amazon music which I think still exists. I am OK with how they market generally but whoever runs their music marketing has it terribly wrong IMHO.

I play music I own.


:angel::angel::angel:

That's because you are old. Mind you, so do I.

That’s true of course. But some pieces of music you really do need to commit to in order to appreciate them fully. And I doubt if I would do that unless I actually owned them.

Agreed.

Especially if you go old school with vinyl. I also buy both CD and vinyl formats. I ripp for MP3 on my phone. Use the CD’s in the car and when I want to really listen pop on the 33rpm old school blasts

My kids buy albums when it’s something they really want to get close to, they both started when they were 16 or 17. Vinyl albums or CDs. It might be harder to shake than we think.

Spotify is good for sharing music with friends, though, that’s where they have a big advantage over other services.

I pretty much only listen on streaming services now. But very often to albums I also own.

I very rarely listen to Spotify - the last thing was a Chicago house playlist from Faith magazine which I gave up on halfway through when I realised I owned about 90% of the tracks. The adverts are a pain in the wossname. They sent me an email yesterday saying "Bad news: This year, you didn't listen enough to get your own Wrapped." whatever a Wrapped is.

I listen to what I own to, nowadays I listen more to 5 live than any music

Spotify sounds pretty shit really and I can’t quite get past that, except if I’m cycling or whatever. Apple Music sounds a billion times better.

I have always done that up until around 3 years ago. I originally subscribed to Qobuz to buy highly discounted albums (hi-res) rather than for their streaming. because it was 'there' I started to listen to their hi-res streaming too, in part because I enjoy listening to the new releases and discovering new bands/sounds. TBH they have nailed it and it's extremely difficult to spot the difference between the stream and our own local music in a 'blind test'. So we stopped buying and subscribed the family instead.

I thought I would be the last person to move to streaming for 'quality listening' because I am over sensitive to 'how it sounds' - it's a curse and runied many a gig even :(. I realise that most people (always seems odd, but true) don't worry about the quality (ipods, transistor radios and 'basic streaming' being all the proof you need) just the tune. But Qobuz gets a thumbs up from me.

Qobuz is higher quality than a vinyl record, imo.

Depends on the hifi/record player.

That's what sons are for!

Yeah - I am a fan of Hi Res (long term Linn owner) and would agree. So much so that we are all digital these days (local and streaming). Qobuz seems to be a well kept secret still but back to the earlier point - most people won't pay the extra for quality because it simply doesn't bother them.

I really struggle with the vinyl is the ultimate in sound concept. So many people I know bang on about it and go home and play their latest spin smiling at the hum, crackle and pop of their new purchase. But each to their own.

Not really, though you might find listening to the LP more enjoyable for other reasons, but you’re receiving inferior information.

Role reversal these days. I have often been jogging him to listen new names. He doesn't have the time these days as life gets in the way. TBF I am 6 mths behind at the min. Too many distractions and audiobooks but will get back into my stride after Xmas I reckon.

I have both, on a very good system. LP wins 90% of the time. I don't get hum, and clean my records ultrasonically (so minimal static, pops and crackles). Not all records are 100% analog, mind.

I’m really just saying that the music made in the studio has to be manipulated and modified more to be translated to vinyl, I do agree that many vinyl records sound incredible, but they sound less faithful to the music actually recorded.

I would tend to agree with that. There is a joy for many in the experience of vinyl that starts with leafing through albums in the store, reading the album cover through to the ‘process’ of putting it on the player and for some, even cleaning the album etc etc etc. It’s definitely a different experience.

Equally if you compare a top end vinyl deck/system with a cheap system playing low bit rate than of course it will sound better. But in every ‘like for like’ blind test I have heard including on some setups costing the most stupid money I haven’t ever consistently picked out vinyl as the best sound.

What I did realise while chasing this topic was quite how many different versions of each album there are out there and that some are really badly processed.

As the eof the day you make your choice and pay your money. We have spent far too much on audio gear (I daren’t add it up) but I wouldn’t return to vinyl. I have good friends who are 180 degree different on that. I have far more friends that don’t care :)

When we make an album we produce separate masters for vinyl and digital, and different services receive distinct masters according to the bit rate on their service. Often half a dozen “different “ masters, but in any case, at least two, vinyl and digital.

I'm lucky to have the best of both worlds. Much of my vinyl collection is pre mid-80s, and newer stuff is very good via Qoboz. In any case, most people are probably only listening to CD quality via Qoboz, not hi-res.

Yeah - then someone goes back to remix and/or remaster it and so on. Always good to hear what you guys do. It's a bit of a minefield once you realise because you can start fretting over which is the best version of those. I first noticed it on a Who album and a Whitney Houston on the same evening. Not sure either artist(s) being associated with the best of sound production but that's a different point. I don't have the words to describe it but one version of the Whitney Houston album made me want to scratch my eyes out it sounded so bad. Maybe compressed the life out of it or something. I started digging around and comparing various versions/releases to prove the point but have tried to forget it ever since as it's just another slippery slope I fear and life's too short.

Some of the prices on this site are bonkers/annoying: https://better-records.com/

Yes, very annoying. I was buying lots in the 90s/early 2000s, when no-one was interested. Wish I'd picked up 2 copies of everything!

You win, on account of having the most advanced perception. Listening through your eyes is next-level.

Yes, there are a lot of poor re-pressings out there. Compressed so that they could be cut/mass-produced quickly. Discogs is very helpful.

Up to a point. Unfortunately there are an awful lot of commenters on there who don't seem to appreciate music, just the quality of pressings/sleeves/inner sleeves &c.

I'm certainly no music buff, and never been one of these hi-fi snobs, but I recently got a Bose Mini Player which I mainly use in the bathroom.

I have to say the music sounds completely different to the old Jambox I was using. The clarity of the instruments is so much better, and each instrument can be distinguished (if not a tad too bassy).

It got me thinking, what is the real sound/intent of the producers and artist?

Throw into the mix my hearing is changing and different sounds become dominant or diminish because of my hearing.

I guess it comes down to the same music can sound different to different people depending on how they are listening to it and how their hearing functions.

Also, whether the sound engineer did a good job, or not; room acoustics etc etc

Danny Murphy

Very true. I meant more for working out which are the pressings to look out for, or avoid.

Suspect that is probably right for many. The reason I used Qobuz in the first place was for the hi-res music and so I always look to play the highest quality available unless casual listening with someone else's playlist.

I have discovered some great music just by picking up other users hifi test playlists. One problem is that over time tracks come and go (I assume they re-catalogue them and links no longer work).

Anyway- digressed a bit but interesting topic.

Things that annoy me - people like me who digress :).

If you’re ever offered a copy of any of the first three Roxy albums on vinyl, which has a red label from after Universal absorbed Island, you have an opportunity to hear an utterly cocked up pressing. That’s one of the most shocking examples I’ve heard. I think they used the master for the CD and used really poor recycled vinyl.

I assume you've never heard anything on Chicago's Trax label? Recycled vinyl, often with paper in it and as may has well have been pressed on digestive biscuits.

Yeah - I use discogs for info. As you say I think the pressing is yet another opportunity for difference. I know some people even collect the versions. Can't afford mentally or wallet to go there. What do you do with them - can't imagine having the time to play them all .... and why? Just want the 'best' version but.....

I have a couple of CD comps.

The Traxbox CD set sounds excellent to me compared to the original vinyl pressings I have - a lot of work seems to have gone into sorting out the sound. Utterly dreadful artwork though.

All of them.

There is an International long distance call of 6 minutes showing up on my cell phone bill.

Trying to find out what number/country was called is bloody impossible. Talked to 3 people at the phone company and none of them had a way to find out.

The good news is, the last guy took the charge off the bill, which is nice, but not really the issue.

Odd that a phone company cannot provide the numbers behind their bills... maybe I've watched too many crime dramas on TV!

People that play music and videos from their phones, on public transport, without using headphones.

Tend to listen to a DAB rock station more than anything. It annoys me having to decide what to listen to (trying to keep this on thread) so I let someone else do it for me..

I doubt that one has been mentioned on this thread at all.

Well played Sir.

Why?

My favourite Danny Murphy punditry moment was early on in Klopp's tenure when Liverpool had an early rounds FA Cup tie away to lower league opposition. As is often the case with these old school style pundits Murphy had got a bee in his bonnet about the English players being poorly treated by the incoming foreign boss, and on this particular evening Adam Lallana was the focus of his frustrations.

Murphy had been chuntering on all evening about how Lallana should have started and with Liverpool needing to engineer a breakthrough in the second half he could contain himself no longer, describing how Lallana would be 'absolutely fuming' at Klopp for being left on the bench and not brought on to turn the game. You could almost hear the steam coming out of Murphy's ears.

A mere 30 seconds or so later the camera cuts to the Liverpool bench and there's Lallana, completely at ease, head back and roaring with laughter at something the guy next to him has just said, looking for all the world as if he's having the time of his life. All poor Danny could manage was a sheepish 'he'll be feeling very frustrated inside right now, don't worry about that'.

Doesn't make him a good or a bad pundit but the timing of it was great.

When I worked for Telefonica they had a special department who dealt exclusively with the rozzers.
They didn't get involved in the everyday queries like yours unfortunately, only the big fraud or tracing people via cell towers type of cases.

I think one of the people I talked to said something along those lines. They would have to make an application to some department to get the information.

I told them not to bother, it wasn't that important.

Rather oddly I just got a text from the phone company saying they have credited my account with a figure that is more than the figure I was asking about. Odd thing is I didn't have a problem paying it anyway as I'm pretty sure it was my wife calling Kenya (don't ask!), I was just curious to know if it was that for sure, as she used WhatsApp and don't think we should have got charged.

Just ordered a 2023 desk planner from Amazon. Tried really hard not to subscribe to Prime. Ten seconds later my trial Prime confirmation email arrived:mad:

It works out as good value. They promise to sling your packages at your own actual front door. Not next door or two doors down. Service.

Do.what I do, Sing along or offer them your headphones to use.....

I quite like him for his dislike of the Clowns. Mind you our Clinton really does a fine job on slating the clowns on soccer Saturday. :D:lux:

Danny Murphy always seems pi##Ed.off. which I like

I like Danny Murphy because he seems to talk sense for the most part and given the chance offers good insights into the game. Sadly most hosts are only there for the laughs these days.

I think he's only used for Welsh internationals but always find Hal Robson-Kanu has something interesting to say.

I've quite enjoyed Ian Rush at World Cup.
Not prone to hyperbole, and talks sense.

Which means he won't be asked to do it again.

Exactly, unfortunately

Was that the same Ian Rush who said that playing for Juventus was “like living in a foreign country “?

I liked that Danny Murphy moment on match of the day a few seasons back, after we beat Chelsea. It was Roy’s first win since taking over from FDB. A loud, impassioned “there is no way Palace are going down” rant.

For that alone, he’s alright in my book.

Football commentary especially today's France game...

Yep and didn't realise he'd have to kearn a foreign language but he was still ok in ghe England v Wales match

Yes yes yes.

Is the woman one of Prince Andrew's daughters? Shockingly poor.

It's awful commentary, that's the bbc for you, hoping for Jonathan Pearce for tonights game. One of the last decent commentators around.