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Shut up Meg
Jan 8, 2019

You're safe here.
I'm in favour of the British TV license and I am not ashamed of it.

It's a flat tax that is levied per household, with some exemptions for those who don't use any of the services (and these exemptions have to be amended regularly due to the very fast change in how we consume media).

That money is used to create media for the British public to enjoy. That media does not have revenue generation as its primary criteria, unlike private TV broadcasters.
It is isolated from the govt by law which means it is very difficult for the sitting govt to influence it.

So, compare the BBC News to the news from the Korean Central News Agency and you can see a massive difference between state-owned and state-owned/controlled news.
Compare the BBC News to Fox News for a comparision against a private entity.
Which of these models do you trust to deliver honest news to you?

And for quality, compare one hour of David Attenborough's Planet Earth with Kevin James's The King of Queens.
Make sure to include all the commercial breaks, continuity announcer voiceovers and pop-up banners advertising other shows on the network.


Bonus question: compare NK News with anything with Kevin James in it and decide what world you want to live in

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Cojawfee
May 31, 2006
I think the US is dumb for not using Celsius
Why would anyone compare planet Earth to King of Queens for any reason?

Shut up Meg
Jan 8, 2019

You're safe here.

Cojawfee posted:

Why would anyone compare planet Earth to King of Queens for any reason?

I'll admit I am cherry-picking examples, but my point is that the BBC doesn't have the same pressure to cater for the lowest-common denominator in order to win the viewing-figures battle.

They have the option to put out quality TV and it doesn't have to justify its existence on how much advertising time it sells during that programme's timeslot.

Inspector Gesicht
Oct 26, 2012

500 Zeus a body.


It would be cheaper to just resurrect Chris Farley using expensive black-magic then to hire Kevin James for the role as the "comedic fatman", but we can't have everything.

mobby_6kl
Aug 9, 2009

There's a similar licensing requirement here as well, they try to scare you into payment but there's hardly any enforcement. It's like $2 for radios and about $6 for TV per month so it's not much but also not insignificant., Considering the thousands of income tax and VAT I already pay it's more annoying that they're nickel and diming you though.

Imagined posted:

How would you know if you fixed it? :ohdear:

Make your own analog tv!

https://youtu.be/SSiRkpgwVKY


Lowen SoDium posted:

Turns out he dropped it at exactly 11:59 PM June 12, 2009.
Well gently caress...

F4rt5
May 20, 2006

Shut up Meg posted:

I'll admit I am cherry-picking examples, but my point is that the BBC doesn't have the same pressure to cater for the lowest-common denominator in order to win the viewing-figures battle.

They have the option to put out quality TV and it doesn't have to justify its existence on how much advertising time it sells during that programme's timeslot.

Isn't NPR kinda sorta the US equivalent? The BBC also have, I would think, regulations to make sure a certain percentage of programming to be for public education and such things. I know the Scandinavian equivalents have this, and they are pretty much modeled after the BBC.

bring back old gbs
Feb 28, 2007

by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

Shut up Meg posted:

I'm in favour of the British TV license and I am not ashamed of it.

It's a flat tax that is levied per household, with some exemptions for those who don't use any of the services (and these exemptions have to be amended regularly due to the very fast change in how we consume media).

That money is used to create media for the British public to enjoy. That media does not have revenue generation as its primary criteria, unlike private TV broadcasters.
It is isolated from the govt by law which means it is very difficult for the sitting govt to influence it.

So, compare the BBC News to the news from the Korean Central News Agency and you can see a massive difference between state-owned and state-owned/controlled news.
Compare the BBC News to Fox News for a comparision against a private entity.
Which of these models do you trust to deliver honest news to you?

And for quality, compare one hour of David Attenborough's Planet Earth with Kevin James's The King of Queens.
Make sure to include all the commercial breaks, continuity announcer voiceovers and pop-up banners advertising other shows on the network.


Bonus question: compare NK News with anything with Kevin James in it and decide what world you want to live in

why not combine both and create the worst of both worlds like canada

Shut up Meg
Jan 8, 2019

You're safe here.

bring back old gbs posted:

why not combine both and create the worst of both worlds like canada

Isn't that Quebec?

E: I apologise to any Québécois for comparing your country to N.Korea and Kevin James.
That last part is unforgivable.

Plinkey
Aug 4, 2004

by Fluffdaddy

JazzmasterCurious posted:

Isn't NPR kinda sorta the US equivalent? The BBC also have, I would think, regulations to make sure a certain percentage of programming to be for public education and such things. I know the Scandinavian equivalents have this, and they are pretty much modeled after the BBC.

No, not really.

NPR gets next to nothing from federal government funding.

shovelbum
Oct 21, 2010

Fun Shoe

Plinkey posted:

No, not really.

NPR gets next to nothing from federal government funding.

Hence the shameless corporate whoring

Iron Crowned
May 6, 2003

by Hand Knit
Lynx chat: I used to have a long and a short Lynx, and I'm still pissed at myself that I forgot to pack them when I moved. I got to the point where I was tired of loading my car and frustrated and just said gently caress it and started my 3 day drive to the east coast :cry:

Arsenic Lupin
Apr 12, 2012

This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.


shovelbum posted:

Hence the shameless corporate whoring

I watched a '60s Julia Child the other day. (They're on YouTube. They're awesome.) The show loving taped over the labels on the milk carton. And the measuring cup. Because NPR was a government service that didn't advertise products.

carry on then
Jul 10, 2010

by VideoGames

(and can't post for 10 years!)

Shut up Meg posted:

I'm in favour of the British TV license and I am not ashamed of it.

It's a flat tax that is levied per household, with some exemptions for those who don't use any of the services (and these exemptions have to be amended regularly due to the very fast change in how we consume media).

That money is used to create media for the British public to enjoy. That media does not have revenue generation as its primary criteria, unlike private TV broadcasters.
It is isolated from the govt by law which means it is very difficult for the sitting govt to influence it.

So, compare the BBC News to the news from the Korean Central News Agency and you can see a massive difference between state-owned and state-owned/controlled news.
Compare the BBC News to Fox News for a comparision against a private entity.
Which of these models do you trust to deliver honest news to you?

And for quality, compare one hour of David Attenborough's Planet Earth with Kevin James's The King of Queens.
Make sure to include all the commercial breaks, continuity announcer voiceovers and pop-up banners advertising other shows on the network.


Bonus question: compare NK News with anything with Kevin James in it and decide what world you want to live in

remember when this regressive as hell tax funded the paycheck of abusive jackass jeremy clarkson for decades? good stuff.

Plinkey
Aug 4, 2004

by Fluffdaddy

Arsenic Lupin posted:

I watched a '60s Julia Child the other day. (They're on YouTube. They're awesome.) The show loving taped over the labels on the milk carton. And the measuring cup. Because NPR was a government service that didn't advertise products.

Do you mean PBS?

Iron Crowned
May 6, 2003

by Hand Knit

Arsenic Lupin posted:

I watched a '60s Julia Child the other day. (They're on YouTube. They're awesome.) The show loving taped over the labels on the milk carton. And the measuring cup. Because NPR was a government service that didn't advertise products.

That doesn't just happen with PBS programming, but it's to avoid lawsuits. It's fairly rare in scripted programming because props don't need to be edible, but I do remember spotting it a few times in the late 90's/early 2000's.

Most of the time though there's a company that makes prop products, such as the Morley cigarettes that you see in just about every TV program with a smoker.

Imagined
Feb 2, 2007

carry on then posted:

remember when this regressive as hell tax funded the paycheck of abusive jackass jeremy clarkson for decades? good stuff.

Let's ask Jeremy Corbyn or any random Iraqi how objective and non-partisan the BBC is...

wa27
Jan 15, 2007

Iron Crowned posted:

That doesn't just happen with PBS programming, but it's to avoid lawsuits. It's fairly rare in scripted programming because props don't need to be edible, but I do remember spotting it a few times in the late 90's/early 2000's.

Most of the time though there's a company that makes prop products, such as the Morley cigarettes that you see in just about every TV program with a smoker.

I remember watching some Disney sitcom 20 years ago and laughing whenever I saw their can of    OLGERS coffee.

Cojawfee
May 31, 2006
I think the US is dumb for not using Celsius

Iron Crowned posted:

Lynx chat: I used to have a long and a short Lynx, and I'm still pissed at myself that I forgot to pack them when I moved. I got to the point where I was tired of loading my car and frustrated and just said gently caress it and started my 3 day drive to the east coast :cry:

Like you abandoned all your stuff? What is with owning a Lynx and just having no regard for your own property?

buddhist nudist
May 16, 2019

Iron Crowned posted:

Most of the time though there's a company that makes prop products, such as the Morley cigarettes that you see in just about every TV program with a smoker.

That's Early Hays Press, which makes a ton of fake brands. Creating/providing props for TV and film is a huge industry, or at least larger than most people probably think.

Fun Fact: Independent Studio Services (the fine makers of Let's Potato Chips) also claims to be the largest private armory in North America.

buddhist nudist has a new favorite as of 17:41 on Aug 28, 2019

Arsenic Lupin
Apr 12, 2012

This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.


Plinkey posted:

Do you mean PBS?

Whoops. Yup. Actually, it was NET then, as I recall; National Educational Television.

Iron Crowned
May 6, 2003

by Hand Knit

Cojawfee posted:

Like you abandoned all your stuff? What is with owning a Lynx and just having no regard for your own property?

Not all of my property, I mostly left crap behind. The other casualty I regret though is my collection of 90's Aliens action figures

Krispy Wafer
Jul 26, 2002

I shouted out "Free the exposed 67"
But they stood on my hair and told me I was fat

Grimey Drawer
Public TV and radio is weird here. Like there’s NPR radio, but then there’s a separate public TV broadcaster that does Arthur and Caillou. But sometimes the TV side decides to competes with the radio side. I have 2 OTA sources for This American Life when it’s just easier to bypass the affiliates and download the podcast.

Kanine
Aug 5, 2014

by Nyc_Tattoo

Konstantin posted:

How the hell is this still a thing in 2019?

but america.txt

Kanine
Aug 5, 2014

by Nyc_Tattoo

Imagined posted:

Let's ask Jeremy Corbyn or any random Iraqi how objective and non-partisan the BBC is...

Lynxifer
Jan 2, 2005
Comedy "Buttsecks" Option

Imagined posted:

Let's ask Jeremy Corbyn or any random Iraqi how objective and non-partisan the BBC is...

One of my bigger issues is that fact that as a licence payer, I have no control over how my fee is used. I don't mean literally what department it goes to, but if I wanted more or less of one thing? Too loving bad, suck it up pleb.

I fully realise that some people enjoyed older Top Gear with others being in love with the nature output, etc, but it still doesn't matter, the BBC just makes whatever the BBC wants and I'd have no control over output, even just a token vote that every holder would get. And yes, I find it hillarious how the BBC is supposed to be forced to be 100% neutral because of said fee, yet you get such incredible and open bias it's not funny.

Don't get me wrong, I loved comedy like Red Dwarf, and also that BBC2 showed Star Trek on Wednesdays in the early 90's. A lot of content they made would never have been commissioned on ITV or Channel 4, but it doesn't detract from a lot of critical issues as I see them, with no way of the payers resolving or even working towards resolving them.

Related and back on topic: Points of View, or other "right to reply" style shows.The BBC one used to be hosted by Anne Robinson, but with the rise of Twitter and the internet as a whole, it made specific shows for complaining about things programming or content pretty much redundant as whatever complaints would be reposted as an online news article the day after something trended, instead of waiting 4 weeks for a TV program to be made.

Trabant
Nov 26, 2011

All systems nominal.

Lynxifer posted:

Related and back on topic: Points of View, or other "right to reply" style shows.The BBC one used to be hosted by Anne Robinson, but with the rise of Twitter and the internet as a whole, it made specific shows for complaining about things programming or content pretty much redundant as whatever complaints would be reposted as an online news article the day after something trended, instead of waiting 4 weeks for a TV program to be made.

Which reminds me of an excellent thing Channel 4 just did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1xxC_Rr__U

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.

Krispy Wafer posted:

Public TV and radio is weird here. Like there’s NPR radio, but then there’s a separate public TV broadcaster that does Arthur and Caillou. But sometimes the TV side decides to competes with the radio side. I have 2 OTA sources for This American Life when it’s just easier to bypass the affiliates and download the podcast.

From a global broadcasting perspective the US in general is weird. Broadcasting got its start in the US as independent stations. The stations quickly realized that they could save a lot of money by pooling their resources to produce content so they formed "networks" to do that but he ownership of most stations remained independent and usually ran at least some local programming.

The US was wealthy enough to support multiple commercial broadcasting networks on the basis of advertising. In most of the rest of the world, even in places with a tradition of independent print media like the UK, the consumer base required was just not there for even one commercial network which is why most other countries have at least one network directly funded through the government or taxes/fees on receivers: otherwise there wouldn't have been any content for those receivers at all in the early days of broadcasting.

NPR and PBS are basically an attempt to create a hybrid of the two approaches. NPR and PBS stations are not owned by NPR or PBS but instead by non-profit organizations that serve specific communities or regions. For example, in Minnesota there is Minnesota Public Radio which operates pretty much all of the NPR affiliate stations in the state but each PBS affiliate in the state is owned by a different organization (e.g. Twin Cities Public Television, Duluth-Superior Area Educational Television, Lakeland Public Television, etc.).

NPR and PBS don't actually produce most of the content that appears on their affiliated stations, instead the stations purchase most of their content from independent content producers or each other directly. That's why NPR programs often have the "American Public Media," "Public Radio International," or "PRX" bumpers or why so much of PBS's programming has the WGBH logo. This is also why affiliated stations owned by different entities usually have different programming or different schedules (it's a somewhat recent development that PBS is creating recommended prime-time schedules for their stations to follow). This purchasing of content represents the bulk of an NPR/PBS affiliate's spending.

PBS and NPR affiliates are expected to get most of their funding from individual donations, charitable grants, and corporate sponsorships. The federal government's spending on NPR and PBS mostly comes in the form of subsidizing stations in rural areas that otherwise wouldn't have the population needed to support a station.

Mr.Radar has a new favorite as of 20:38 on Aug 28, 2019

Peanut Butler
Jul 25, 2003



doctorfrog posted:

Is this a player that’s easily available? I could use a new one that runs on a standard battery instead of an internal, irreplaceable one.

Unfortunately, it's an old no-name one I got for cheap around 2010- its probably still out there (or something like it) on amazon or aliexpress

T-man posted:

My first MP3 player ran on a single AA that lasted weeks even with the lovely no-brand kind my family got on clearance. It never broke, had expandable memory, an easily memorized control scheme, and let an awkward middle schooler feel better about not having a smartphone. (#latemillenialthings/#earlyzoomerthings) Plus it gave me some way to play all my pirated music outside. :shh:

lol my first one was a 32MB Diamond Rio that had controls that broke almost immediately- you had to transcode to lossy as gently caress .wma for it to fit a whole album and it came with a Nelly Furtado song - it was like five years later I got a slick lil 1GB Sony number that was barely bigger than the battery that ran it, had it for years before losing it and getting the bigger cheap one with an SD card slot
#earlymillennialthings

an ex gave me a Sansa Clip but I've never used it aside from wiping it when we broke up, haha

Pham Nuwen
Oct 30, 2010



doctorfrog posted:

Is this a player that’s easily available? I could use a new one that runs on a standard battery instead of an internal, irreplaceable one.

I like the Sandisk Clip Jam, specifically the one shown here: https://www.sandisk.com/home/mp3-players/clip-jam

You just plug it into your computer and it looks like a USB drive. I don't even remember the last time I charged it, and I use it several hours a week while running or walking the dog. The battery is internal but these things are $30 on Amazon so it's not a great loss if the battery eventually dies. You can insert a microSD card and add more music if you want; I have tried it with a 32GB card and it worked fine, not sure how big it can go.

Imagined
Feb 2, 2007
I used a Sansa Clip for a long time when I worked nights at 7-Eleven, hooked up to a little boom box, because we weren't supposed to have our personal phones (did anyway) and damned if I was going to leave an iPod anywhere within reach of those customers.

I also had one of those 32mb Diamond Rios. I have no loving idea what I was thinking when I bought that. CD Walkmen which could play MP3 CDs were both better and cheaper even at the time.

Shut up Meg
Jan 8, 2019

You're safe here.

Pham Nuwen posted:

I like the Sandisk Clip Jam, specifically the one shown here: https://www.sandisk.com/home/mp3-players/clip-jam

You just plug it into your computer and it looks like a USB drive. I don't even remember the last time I charged it, and I use it several hours a week while running or walking the dog. The battery is internal but these things are $30 on Amazon so it's not a great loss if the battery eventually dies. You can insert a microSD card and add more music if you want; I have tried it with a 32GB card and it worked fine, not sure how big it can go.

I've got the Clip Sport and my experiences are the same as you.
My only comments are to consider getting the model that supports bluetooth if you want that option.

Oh, and the menu is a bit weird: you can never navigate through the music quite the way you expect.

There is some software that lets you sync it with itunes. Can't remember the name, though.

Standalone mp3 players are still not obsolete tech.

Unperson_47
Oct 14, 2007



I have a 1GB Sansa Clip I bought in 2007 or so. I used it for 8-10 hours every night every other week for 4 years straight (7 day, 12-hour shifts with every other week off) and it's still my main MP3 player.

Lot of Coast to Coast AM listened to on that thing. I use a 3rd party "OS" on it called RockBox.

Unperson_47 has a new favorite as of 21:23 on Aug 28, 2019

doctorfrog
Mar 14, 2007

Great.

I have a Sansa Clip at the moment (sans the clip, which exploded when I dropped it one day), and I hope it runs a good long time, so I don't have any pressing need for one at the moment. I guess I sometimes miss the days when electronics sorta revolved around the AA/AAA battery.

Anyway, if I really wanted one, I could still get a Sony voice recorder, many of their cheaper models run on a NiMH AAA, included. They play MP3s just fine and connect as a USB drive.

spookygonk
Apr 3, 2005
Does not give a damn

Back in 2004 did a trip to New York and my other half bought this mp3 player:



128mb of memory goodness.

wa27
Jan 15, 2007

Unperson_47 posted:

Lot of Coast to Coast AM listened to on that thing. I use a 3rd party "OS" on it called RockBox.

Rockbox was cool - I put it on my iAudio X5L.

Looking back, the amount I spent on mp3 players definitely wasn't worth the enjoyment I got out of them. I think it was $250 for a Dell DJ, $400 for an iAudio x5L, and $99 for a gen 1 Zune, all within a 5 year span.

It's weird to think that the ipod was released in 2001. I got my first player in 2004 and still felt like an early adopter.

wa27 has a new favorite as of 21:40 on Aug 28, 2019

Unperson_47
Oct 14, 2007



Before the Clip, my mp3 player was the Sansa c140 which ran on a single AAA battery. Remember when there was no standardization for interfacing to a computer so you had dozens of different connectors and cables, some proprietary? Glad it's all mini/micro USB now.




wa27 posted:

Rockbox was cool - I put it on my iAudio X5L.

Looking back, the amount I spent on mp3 players definitely wasn't worth the enjoyment I got out of them. I think it was $250 for a Dell DJ, $400 for an iAudio x5L, and $99 for a gen 1 Zune, all within a 5 year span.

It's weird to think that the ipod was released in 2001. I got my first player in 2004 and still felt like an early adopter.




What an odd shape. "Color sound" is the best kind of sound. Reminds me of PCMCIA cards that definitely belong in this thread.



I still use a Linksys PCMCIA WI-FI adapter in an old-rear end Dell laptop.

Unperson_47 has a new favorite as of 21:58 on Aug 28, 2019

blugu64
Jul 17, 2006

Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Shut up Meg posted:

I'll admit I am cherry-picking examples, but my point is that the BBC doesn't have the same pressure to cater for the lowest-common denominator in order to win the viewing-figures battle.

But I am the lowest common denominator, so it’s nice that everything is targeted at me.

Sair
May 11, 2007

I used one of these for years, I still think it was one of the better designs for an mp3 player. Ran off a AAA.

Phy
Jun 27, 2008



Fun Shoe

Sair posted:

I used one of these for years, I still think it was one of the better designs for an mp3 player. Ran off a AAA.



To this day I organize my music by putting it into individual folders and swapping the folders on and off my phone over a cable, and using a music player app that plays nicely with that

Apparently I'm not supposed to do this any more because phones are packed full of "viruses" and "malware"

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Bobby Digital
Sep 4, 2009

Unperson_47 posted:




I still use a Linksys PCMCIA WI-FI adapter in an old-rear end Dell laptop.

This reminded me of buying an iPod before they were USB-compatible and having to buy one of these:

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