Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
Pedro Quaresma schrieb: > > Haha, portuguese people don't earn enough money to be able to buy > soccer game tickets at leisure :) :( Totally OT, but out of interest: How much are the tickets anyway? Let's say I'd want a medium priced seat close to the middle of the field. Which also reminds me of Germany 2006: One of the stadiums is twenty minutes from me, but prices will probably be astronomic as well. Marco -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
Haha, portuguese people don't earn enough money to be able to buy soccer game tickets at leisure :) :( -- Pedro R. Quaresma Salvador Caetano IMVT Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes / Lotus Notes Administration and Development [EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492) Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 40K km., "Esperanza" 'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes Para: [EMAIL PROTECTED] A/C: Ref: cc: (bcc: Pedro Quaresma/SCAETANO) Assunto: Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics Marco Thorek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 15-06-2004 03:40 Solicita-se resposta a swcollect Pedro Quaresma schrieb: > > I still do that now and then to be honest. In Portugal many times we > have to wait months or even years to get a game on the shelves. Most > recent example is Prince of Qin, one of the best RPGs of 2002, started > being sold in Portugal last month, and at full retail price no less! > > So I honestly don't think it's a crime to get a game from the net, > test it, and if it's bad, bin it. If it's good, buy it. Shouldn't you be at the Euro 2004 anyway? ;-) Marco -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online http://www.toyota.pt
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
Pedro Quaresma schrieb: > > I still do that now and then to be honest. In Portugal many times we > have to wait months or even years to get a game on the shelves. Most > recent example is Prince of Qin, one of the best RPGs of 2002, started > being sold in Portugal last month, and at full retail price no less! > > So I honestly don't think it's a crime to get a game from the net, > test it, and if it's bad, bin it. If it's good, buy it. Shouldn't you be at the Euro 2004 anyway? ;-) Marco -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
Edward Franks schrieb: > > What I find an interesting observation of human nature in action is > the fact so many folks that download stuff illegally turn the whole > business into some noble moral imperative. But that's a whole 'nother > topic. Humans tend to legitimize their actions, so that their inner morality is to them in balance with the collective morality. Marco -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
I still do that now and then to be honest. In Portugal many times we have to wait months or even years to get a game on the shelves. Most recent example is Prince of Qin, one of the best RPGs of 2002, started being sold in Portugal last month, and at full retail price no less! So I honestly don't think it's a crime to get a game from the net, test it, and if it's bad, bin it. If it's good, buy it. -- Pedro R. Quaresma Salvador Caetano IMVT Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes / Lotus Notes Administration and Development [EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492) Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 40K km., "Esperanza" 'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes Para: swcollect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> A/C: Ref: cc: (bcc: Pedro Quaresma/SCAETANO) Assunto: Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 09-06-2004 21:33 Solicita-se resposta a swcollect On Jun 9, 2004, at 3:20 PM, Stephane Racle wrote: > Following up on this thread - the software industry often mentions > billions in losses due to piracy. But is that based upon an estimate > of how many illegal copies of software packages are in use, or is it > based on an estimate of how many people use copied products but would > actually have paid for them had they not been able to get an illegal > copy? There's a big difference between the two, and I suspect many > people who pirate software would not bother purchasing it anyways. Not > that I'm saying one is better than the other, but I am curious about > the numbers being wielded around by the software industry. They go with the numbers that give the biggest loss to piracy (estimate of illegal copies in use). On a personal level, I've met few people that would actually copy something illegally and then pay for a legit copy when it was available. YMMV -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online http://www.toyota.pt
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
Edward Franks wrote: What I find an interesting observation of human nature in action is the fact so many folks that download stuff illegally turn the whole business into some noble moral imperative. But that's a whole 'nother topic. Which can be quite funny sometimes, depending on the mental capacity of the individual. Or it can be very tedious, like the whole Abandonware movement, which I try to distance myself from. -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED])http://www.oldskool.org/ Want to help an ambitious games project? http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
On Jun 11, 2004, at 11:02 AM, Jim Leonard wrote: Edward Franks wrote: I have done this for some music -- download music illegally, listen to it, buy the CD. Nowadays I just listen to streaming radio and/or download it for later listening. The golden-goose questions are how many people download illegally/buy later and just what percentage of what they download do they buy honestly buy later? Given the packrat mentality of so many people into pirating I would be surprised if either of those figures was more than 10%. Just look at the usage figures for BitTorrent. I don't think that many people are sharing Linux ISOs. ;-) True. But at least I'm honest about it ;-) Indeed. :-) What I find an interesting observation of human nature in action is the fact so many folks that download stuff illegally turn the whole business into some noble moral imperative. But that's a whole 'nother topic. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
Edward Franks wrote: I have done this for some music -- download music illegally, listen to it, buy the CD. Nowadays I just listen to streaming radio and/or download it for later listening. The golden-goose questions are how many people download illegally/buy later and just what percentage of what they download do they buy honestly buy later? Given the packrat mentality of so many people into pirating I would be surprised if either of those figures was more than 10%. Just look at the usage figures for BitTorrent. I don't think that many people are sharing Linux ISOs. ;-) True. But at least I'm honest about it ;-) -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) World's largest electronic gaming project:http://www.MobyGames.com/ A delicious slice of the demoscene:http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/ Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings: http://www.oldskool.org/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
On Jun 9, 2004, at 4:00 PM, Jim Leonard wrote: [Snip] I have done this for some music -- download music illegally, listen to it, buy the CD. Nowadays I just listen to streaming radio and/or download it for later listening. The golden-goose questions are how many people download illegally/buy later and just what percentage of what they download do they buy honestly buy later? Given the packrat mentality of so many people into pirating I would be surprised if either of those figures was more than 10%. Just look at the usage figures for BitTorrent. I don't think that many people are sharing Linux ISOs. ;-) -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
Of all the people to pick... (FYI Ray Charles RIP 06/10/04) As an aside, emulation of vintage synthesizers is getting pretty damn good (Hammond, Clavinet, Fender, etc.) Some are direct samples, some are emulated. Even the cheaper ones sound respectable. Of course you did say "exactly". Piracy: The way they calculate losses makes my head spin. Sort of like when the RIAA busted a "real" CD pirating operation, they claimed they had something like 140 CD burners. Turns out the physical number of burners was much less, but because some were considered "high speed" they upped the number citing their capacity was "equivalent" to that many burners. I'm sure piracy loss $ numbers factor in the expenses involved marketing selling and supporting the additional copies of the software, the discounts (competitive upgrades, upgrades, end-of-year we're desperate for bottom line discounts, etc.) Then consider the quality of software (my shiny upgrade to Macromedia Studio MX 2004 was a CD and a license key in an otherwise empty box, now throw activation on top of that, and the fact that the software was almost unusable until the 7.01 patch recently released), the fact that they can set the software cost to be whatever they want, etc. Yeah, nothing new here, just venting. On Jun 9, 2004, at 11:57 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ***Stephen wrote: What I was wondering was if there's a shortcut that would enable me to take a game, extract all the Roland sound files from it, and convert them directly into *.WAV files, but from what you say and from what I've read, this isn't possible. ** Understand that 'Roland Files' are actually plain, old MIDI files, played on a special sound card called the Roland Sound Canvas, or SCC1 or Roland RAP 10. In most cases, the music was composed on this type of card, because it had the best samples of it's day. Today's sound cards all have a 'sampled sound' feature, rather than using FM synths to play music, so the music is *pretty* close to what you would hear if played thru an old Roland card. Just find (extract) the MIDI from the game, and play it using your sound card, but running in MPU-401 mode. A good example of what I'm trying to say is this: You can play the opening to the Ray Charles song 'What I Say' on any organ, and it'll sound good. But it'll only sound EXACTLY like the record if you use a classic 60's Hammond organ. Joe -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
Jim Leonard wrote: Tom of Quest Studios has a whole website on this: http://www.queststudios.com/ Forgot to mention that the MIDI files Tom has on his site were created using a very novel method: The program played the notes to what it thought was a Roland MT-32, but instead was a MIDI patch cable running to another computer with a MIDI board which RECORDED the MIDI information into a file. So even Sierra games, which used a custom format that wasn't straight MIDI, were able to be captured and reworked into normal MIDI files. Very clever indeed. -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED])http://www.oldskool.org/ Want to help an ambitious games project? http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Understand that 'Roland Files' are actually plain, old MIDI files, played on a special sound card called the Roland Sound Canvas, or SCC1 or Roland RAP 10. In most cases, the music was composed on this type of card, because it had the best samples of it's day. Actually, "roland files" were typically composed on an MT-32, which was a MIDI module but not general MIDI. The Sound Canvas/SCC1 was the first General MIDI board, and it did sound awesome, but it didn't arrive until 1992. All the Roland MIDI stuff from 1988 to 1992 was MT-32 custom patches, and does not sound right if you simply play the file. Tom of Quest Studios has a whole website on this: http://www.queststudios.com/ -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED])http://www.oldskool.org/ Want to help an ambitious games project? http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
Stephen S. Lee wrote: OK, I didn't know that DOSBox could do that. I'll look into that! Remember, the emulation is about 95%. It sounds good, although the Adlib emulation gets a couple of volumes wrong for some reason. So if it doesn't quite sound "the way you remember it", don't blame your memory. What would a "high-quality" cable be, for one thing? (I don't know; I'd like to specifically know so I can buy one at Radio Shack or wherever.) Any Monster cable (Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.) will do fine. > Also, what program would you recommend for this? It'd be nice to be able to edit things like the silence at the beginning of each *.WAV file. Goldwave is shareware and pretty good. Audacity is free and also pretty good, although the interface is not intuitive and may take some tweaking (for example, you load your files, process them in full 32-bit floating point bit depth, then RENDER them to a new file -- not exactly the Windows metaphor for working with files). If you're willing to pay, Sound Forge is the best single-track (mono or stereo) editor for the price. There are more expensive solutions, and less, but price-to-performance Sound Forge is the best. Adobe bought CoolEdit and turned it into Adobe Audition -- haven't tried it, but a lot of people used to swear by CoolEdit. What I was wondering was if there's a shortcut that would enable me to take a game, extract all the Roland sound files from it, and convert them directly into *.WAV files, but from what you say and from what I've read, this isn't possible. Not by a longshot. But a Rolant MT-32 emulator is currently being worked on, so who knows, maybe in a few years... -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED])http://www.oldskool.org/ Want to help an ambitious games project? http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
***Stephen wrote: What I was wondering was if there's a shortcut that would enable me to take a game, extract all the Roland sound files from it, and convert them directly into *.WAV files, but from what you say and from what I've read, this isn't possible. ** Understand that 'Roland Files' are actually plain, old MIDI files, played on a special sound card called the Roland Sound Canvas, or SCC1 or Roland RAP 10. In most cases, the music was composed on this type of card, because it had the best samples of it's day. Today's sound cards all have a 'sampled sound' feature, rather than using FM synths to play music, so the music is *pretty* close to what you would hear if played thru an old Roland card. Just find (extract) the MIDI from the game, and play it using your sound card, but running in MPU-401 mode. A good example of what I'm trying to say is this: You can play the opening to the Ray Charles song 'What I Say' on any organ, and it'll sound good. But it'll only sound EXACTLY like the record if you use a classic 60's Hammond organ. Joe -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
On Wed, 9 Jun 2004, Jim Leonard wrote: > Stephen S. Lee wrote: > > Actually, where can I find a collection of such extractions? I was > > I wasn't aware of a collection, hence my desire to someday make a radio station > for it :-) There actually is a collection out there on the Web that has a whole bunch of Origin music, but that's it. > 2. Emulation. DOSBox (dosbox.sourceforge.net) does a 95% job of > emulating PC Speaker, Sound Blaster, Adlib, and Tandy/PCjr *and* you can > record the output to a mono .WAV file. If emulating anything OTHER than > PC Speaker, you need to change the output rate from 22KHz to 44.1KHz or > else it may sound muted (not as "bright"). For PC Speaker, 22KHz is > perfect. OK, I didn't know that DOSBox could do that. I'll look into that! > 3. Record the actual games themselves with a sound card (play game on one > machine, run a cable to another machine, record). [...] This is the procedure that I was intending; I'm constructing a setup (pending electrical work in my new apartment) where I'll have a modern computer right next to a 486 equipped with a Roland LAPC-401; the intent is to do just this with the two computers. What would a "high-quality" cable be, for one thing? (I don't know; I'd like to specifically know so I can buy one at Radio Shack or wherever.) Also, what program would you recommend for this? It'd be nice to be able to edit things like the silence at the beginning of each *.WAV file. What I was wondering was if there's a shortcut that would enable me to take a game, extract all the Roland sound files from it, and convert them directly into *.WAV files, but from what you say and from what I've read, this isn't possible. -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
YES! Those are the guys! After working with them on this, we got the files extracted, and then one of them made the little extractor file for me. I was unaware that they then posted it on their site--cool! I didn't want to post the extractor on the Museum site, because I felt as tho I didn't deserve the credit (after all, it WAS their file). Nice to see that they understand the historical value enough to share it with the world. :) Joe > > From: Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 2004/06/09 Wed PM 04:26:37 EDT > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics > > > On Jun 9, 2004, at 11:37 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > [Snip] > > I have been accused in many forums of 'weilding my morality like a > > club'. I patiently await Jim's response--and anyone else's > > views...are my previous comments on this topic now hypocritical? :) > > I think as long as you kept the sound samples to 30 seconds or less, > plus just did a representative group of them (not all), then you should > be ok. > > I don't know if these are the folks you are working with, but the > Nuvie project (New Ultima VI engine) at http://nuvie.sourceforge.net/ > has the sound file decoder available. They even hope to one day make > it possible to play U6 and have the sound files work. :) > > -- > > Edward Franks > > > -- > This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to > the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' > Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ > > -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
Edward Franks wrote: On a personal level, I've met few people that would actually copy something illegally and then pay for a legit copy when it was available. YMMV I have done this for some music -- download music illegally, listen to it, buy the CD. Nowadays I just listen to streaming radio and/or download it for later listening. -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) World's largest electronic gaming project:http://www.MobyGames.com/ A delicious slice of the demoscene:http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/ Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings: http://www.oldskool.org/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
They estimate the demand for software, then compare it to the actual shipment of legal products - the difference is the percentage of pirated software (which would be option number 1 in your question, I believe). From there, they multiply that number by market size and reach a monetary estimate on the loss caused by illegal software. Check BSA for more info: http://www.bsa.org/ I don't buy the "pirating for evaluation purposes" thing either, but I'm with Jim on this one - anyone who has more than 200+ original software at home can hardly be called a pirate if he downloads a game or two (especially if it's older, and no longer for sale through it's original publisher). I think it's a matter of common sense, more than anything. Best regards, Tomas Buteler --- Stephane Racle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Following up on this thread - the software industry > often mentions > billions in losses due to piracy. But is that based > upon an estimate of > how many illegal copies of software packages are in > use, or is it based > on an estimate of how many people use copied > products but would actually > have paid for them had they not been able to get an > illegal copy? > There's a big difference between the two, and I > suspect many people who > pirate software would not bother purchasing it > anyways. Not that I'm > saying one is better than the other, but I am > curious about the numbers > being wielded around by the software industry. > > Stephane > > Jim Leonard wrote: > > > Tomas Buteler wrote: > > > >> Ouch! That hurt... :) As a third-world resident, > allow > >> me to clear a couple of issues: > > > > > > I should have explicitly mentioned Asia, since > that was what I was > > thinking about -- sorry! > > > > -- > This message was sent to you because you are > currently subscribed to > the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send > mail to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of > 'unsubscribe swcollect' > Archives are available at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ > __ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
On Jun 9, 2004, at 3:20 PM, Stephane Racle wrote: Following up on this thread - the software industry often mentions billions in losses due to piracy. But is that based upon an estimate of how many illegal copies of software packages are in use, or is it based on an estimate of how many people use copied products but would actually have paid for them had they not been able to get an illegal copy? There's a big difference between the two, and I suspect many people who pirate software would not bother purchasing it anyways. Not that I'm saying one is better than the other, but I am curious about the numbers being wielded around by the software industry. They go with the numbers that give the biggest loss to piracy (estimate of illegal copies in use). On a personal level, I've met few people that would actually copy something illegally and then pay for a legit copy when it was available. YMMV -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
On Jun 9, 2004, at 11:37 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [Snip] I have been accused in many forums of 'weilding my morality like a club'. I patiently await Jim's response--and anyone else's views...are my previous comments on this topic now hypocritical? :) I think as long as you kept the sound samples to 30 seconds or less, plus just did a representative group of them (not all), then you should be ok. I don't know if these are the folks you are working with, but the Nuvie project (New Ultima VI engine) at http://nuvie.sourceforge.net/ has the sound file decoder available. They even hope to one day make it possible to play U6 and have the sound files work. :) -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
Following up on this thread - the software industry often mentions billions in losses due to piracy. But is that based upon an estimate of how many illegal copies of software packages are in use, or is it based on an estimate of how many people use copied products but would actually have paid for them had they not been able to get an illegal copy? There's a big difference between the two, and I suspect many people who pirate software would not bother purchasing it anyways. Not that I'm saying one is better than the other, but I am curious about the numbers being wielded around by the software industry. Stephane Jim Leonard wrote: Tomas Buteler wrote: Ouch! That hurt... :) As a third-world resident, allow me to clear a couple of issues: I should have explicitly mentioned Asia, since that was what I was thinking about -- sorry! -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
Tomas Buteler wrote: Ouch! That hurt... :) As a third-world resident, allow me to clear a couple of issues: I should have explicitly mentioned Asia, since that was what I was thinking about -- sorry! -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) World's largest electronic gaming project:http://www.MobyGames.com/ A delicious slice of the demoscene:http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/ Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings: http://www.oldskool.org/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
--- Jim Leonard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > So yes, I'm > a pirate, but it's not like I'm trafficing Madden > 2005 into China or anything > (which *IS* a real concern, third-world countries > are responsible for actual > revenue loss in the software industry). Ouch! That hurt... :) As a third-world resident, allow me to clear a couple of issues: Actually, Asia does contribute to the highest losses in the industry (US$ 5 bil.), But the second and third regions that are responsible for revenue loss are Western Europe and North America, with over 3.2 and 2.3 billion dollars worth of pirated software. Both regions are almost entirely developed countries. Although common sense might tell you third world countries in general pirate more software, most don't generate enough volume in sales to actually hurt the industry as pirates in the US or Canada do. Best regards, Tomas Buteler __ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
Stephen S. Lee wrote: Actually, where can I find a collection of such extractions? I was I wasn't aware of a collection, hence my desire to someday make a radio station for it :-) planning to do this myself for a bunch of older games (Might & Magic III-V, Civilization I, Lands of Lore I, etc.) I was planning to extract all the music from each game; is there a faster way of doing this than just getting the game to play each tune and recording it? There are three main ways of doing (IBM PC) music: 1. Extract the files and try to get them to play in a player. Works best for MOD, MIDI, and some other formats like .ROL/.CMF (Adlib/Soundblaster). When playing MIDI you *might* be able to improve quality by playing it on a modern sound card under Windows, but it depends on the wavetable quality of your card and/or whether or not the MIDI is General MIDI (fixed instrument patches) or had custom instruments/instrument mappings. As for Redbook (CD) audio, just rip the tracks. For ripping, I recommend EAC (Exact Audio Copy), as it has special processes for dealing with scratched CDs to produce the least errors, and besides it's free. Most online databases like CDDB and FreeDB will *not* have the individual tracks named, so just rip everything as Track01, Track02, etc. and sift through it later. 2. Emulation. DOSBox (dosbox.sourceforge.net) does a 95% job of emulating PC Speaker, Sound Blaster, Adlib, and Tandy/PCjr *and* you can record the output to a mono .WAV file. If emulating anything OTHER than PC Speaker, you need to change the output rate from 22KHz to 44.1KHz or else it may sound muted (not as "bright"). For PC Speaker, 22KHz is perfect. 3. Record the actual games themselves with a sound card (play game on one machine, run a cable to another machine, record). Use high-quality cables and recording settings (at *least* 32KHz, 16-bit) for the best results. If you're lucky, you can "cheat" a little by having cards that do things digitally -- on an AWE32, you can use the digital out connection to record Adlib, and on a Pro Media Spectrum 3D card (one of the last cards Media Vision put out before they died) you can play and record on the same card. I believe SB Live! cards can do this as well (you select the "what I hear" source for recording) but it is hard to get SB Live! and newer cards to actually *play sound* from older games. Regardless of how you get the sound, if you're going to preserve it properly in MP3 format, use LAME with "--preset standard" if you want to ensure nearly transparent quality without unnecessarily wasting space. -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) World's largest electronic gaming project:http://www.MobyGames.com/ A delicious slice of the demoscene:http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/ Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings: http://www.oldskool.org/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
On Wed, 9 Jun 2004, Jim Leonard wrote: [snip] > For that matter, anyone who wants any audio out of a game, music or > otherwise, talk to me first. I also have a 386 with a Sound Blaster and > MT-32 hooked up dedicated to recording older game sound/music. Actually, where can I find a collection of such extractions? I was planning to do this myself for a bunch of older games (Might & Magic III-V, Civilization I, Lands of Lore I, etc.) I was planning to extract all the music from each game; is there a faster way of doing this than just getting the game to play each tune and recording it? (Hi, everyone! I'm still around. Kind of busy though, although things have thankfully died off a bit.) -- Stephen -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: By the way, with the help of some Australian friends, I was able to actually extract the speech from the FM-Towns Ultima 6--a 3 year quest for me (AND a few others in this forum!) Geez, you should have asked me. I have been screwing around with PC audio for two decades and probably could have done it for you in an afternoon. I've decompressed, extracted, and converted audio from RealSound games back in the late 1980s, for example. For that matter, anyone who wants any audio out of a game, music or otherwise, talk to me first. I also have a 386 with a Sound Blaster and MT-32 hooked up dedicated to recording older game sound/music. According to the law, if a sample runs less than 30 seconds, it is legal to 'lift', and even use in your own work, WITHOUT the permission of the creator, or copyright holder (we've seen this in rap music for years). I don't know where you got that impression, but that's not the law and even a 2-second sample can get you sued. The first highly-public case of this was Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock with their album "It Takes Two" in 1988. (They sampled Maze for the song "Joy and Pain" and got sued.) Another case in 1987 was Pump Up The Volume by M/A/R/R/S (although the money from that settlement went to a children's charity). This is why, when I remastered the audio for Mindcandy, I removed the rap vocal in one of the music pieces. Would posting the sound samples on the Internet be a violation of copyright law? Not if your usage is covered under the Fair Use clause of the copyright act. Are they there for educational, historical, or reference purposes? I'd say yes, so you seem to be fine. Also, you aren't costing anyone any money and aren't misrepresenting the trademarks, which is the type of thing that would get a lawyer interested. I have been accused in many forums of 'weilding my morality like a club'. I patiently await Jim's response--and anyone else's views...are my previous comments on this topic now hypocritical? :) Not at all. I freely admit that I used to pirate stuff in the 1980s, but since I never would have paid for it, and I never contributed to anyone else getting out of paying money for it, I don't feel I did anything wrong. Back then, there was no such thing as a "demo" for a game -- you either bought the game or you didn't. Nowadays there are demos for practically anything you want to buy, so software piracy is a lot harder to justify. I still pirate older software, but for the purposes of documenting it in MobyGames. I download a game I don't own, document it on MobyGames, and delete my copy when I'm done; I can always grab it again from some source if I need it later. Since I do so to facilitate historical and educational documentation, it is covered under Fair Use. Besides, I'm not preventing companies from getting revenue, which is the real thing you have to worry about. So yes, I'm a pirate, but it's not like I'm trafficing Madden 2005 into China or anything (which *IS* a real concern, third-world countries are responsible for actual revenue loss in the software industry). As for your own morality, I don't have a problem with it :-) It's good to have some morals in today's society as long as they're reasonable and logical. If someone's morals force them to, oh, say, murder abortion doctors, well then those aren't good morals :-) . The fact that you are examining your actions and our current laws shows intelligence and freethinking. Bottom line: If you have snippets of music/speech online because you are documenting the game and the game's experience for historical reasons, you have nothing to worry about. (If you had the ENTIRE speech online and were SELLING it, well then that would be a problem.) -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) World's largest electronic gaming project:http://www.MobyGames.com/ A delicious slice of the demoscene:http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/ Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings: http://www.oldskool.org/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/