This feature is a collection of contributions made in
response to our request for the experiences and comments of those who had used
any of the telephone-based telesoftware services which support AMPLE.
Bernie Dawson
I first got a Music 500 about a year before the Music 5000
was born. Because of the difficulty in understanding the manual I left it to gather
dust until the upgrade was available.
In the meantime I had discovered about modems, and that
Music 500 tunes were available for downloading on Prestel. The idea of
communicating with another computer via, and receiving programs down, the
telephone cable definitely appealed - I would be able to learn AMPLE from
working examples.
Since then I have acquired over 200 files, some amazing, others
less so; and, yes, I have learnt a lot in terms of programming and musical
knowledge.
What then is required?
1) A modem. This is an interface between the computer and
the phone cable.
Mine is the simplest possible type - a 1200/75 baud modem
without any frills like auto-dialling. It plugs into the RS423 socket at the
back of the BBC and into the phone socket on the wall. The disconnected phone
then plugs into the back of the modem (it can be used even when the modem is
switched off). The numbers 1200/75 refer to the rate at which data is received
or transmitted by the modem. I have not tried to understand this in any great depth
- it works for me and that is all that matters.
2) Controlling software. This allows the computer to talk to
the modem.
It can be ROM-based, but as I haven't got a ROM expansion
board and ROM sockets are therefore precious, mine is disc-based and it works
fine.
What do you do?
Set up the controlling software on your BBC, ensure the
modem is switched on, and dial the relevant number. You will then hear a
high-pitched tone which indicates the remote computer is ready to establish
communication with yours.
You then press the magic button on the front of the modem
and with any luck messages start to appear on the screen!
What is available?
1) Firstly, if you join Prestel (and within that, Micronet)
you can access Music City. This is devoted to BASIC/Music 500/Music 5000 tunes.
It offers telesoftware, letters and comments, and hints and tips.
The quality of the music files is generally pretty good.
Some files are free; others have a nominal charge (e.g. 50p) which I think is
split between the owner of the music copyright, Prestel, Micronet, and the programmer.
Music City originally promised great things but the frequency of updates has
lapsed badly since the end of June.
2) Other bulletin boards. These are where you phone up a
computer which is probably in someone's bedroom. They can be of two types
depending on the host computer's controlling software and modem. Some are just
like Prestel with viewdata-type pages; others require scrolling software to communicate.
I cannot access some bulletin boards because I cannot alter the
transmission/reception rates of my modem.
The ones I have used have been a source of great enjoyment,
some of them have so many files you are spoilt for choice!
What does it cost?
Ah! The $64,000 question. My modem was about £50. The disc
to control the BBC was £12. My Prestel bill is about £40 a quarter. This is
made up of a subscription, charges for access time, and any fees for downloaded
files. My phone bill is about £40 a quarter too.
The last two figures obviously depend on how long you are
'on line', and when you phone (like any phone bill).
I personally feel it is money well spent. It augments the
Music 5000 which is a great hobby. And what else would I do with the money -
get drunk down the local?
Bryan Anslow
I have downloaded programs for the Music 500 as well as the
Music 5000 - so far, about two and a half 80-track ADFS disc's worth.
This has mainly been from Prestel, (formerly from Musiclink,
and now, to a lesser extent, from Music City) although Dudley College of
Technology also provides a fairly good source of Music 5000 and Music 500
programs.
There are several others I have tried including Seahaven
bulletin board ('The Firm'), who formerly ran Musiclink, the various 'Musictel'
bulletin boards and Ampnet. It seems that whenever you contact one board they
have the phone numbers of others. There is an amazing amount of Music 500(0)
music out there, and I have only just scratched the surface.
In addition to the music programs, all of the boards have
some sort of hints and tips, questions and answers, and news and features.
There is invariably some form of 'registration' required for
these bulletin boards. This ranges from the trivial, requiring only your name
and the area you are calling from, to some which require full name, age, occupation,
inside leg measurement, etc. Of course there is nothing to say that you have to
be truthful.
The quality of downloaded music from all of these sources is
variable, but then, 'one man’s meat...', I suppose it is all a matter of taste.
Of course, music from Prestel always comes out more
expensive because, not only do most of the programs have a download fee, but there
are connection charges as well. In contrast, any downloads from DCT or any of
the bulletin boards are free, apart from the cost of the phone call.
In terms of transmission problems, Prestel comes out by far
the best, followed by DCT. The other bulletin boards all use scrolling software
and XModem which doesn't seem so reliable, and the 'Bad Program' message is
often more the rule than the exception.
It is a pity that the programs are not transmitted in text
format because, although it would take longer, any errors could be seen and
corrected with a text editor. AMPLE isn't too forgiving of an odd 'bit' in the
wrong place.
Graham F Firth
Of all the current databases AMPLE DCT is about the best. To
get access to any copyright music you now have to pay a very modest
subscription as they have to pay (like AMPLINEX) a fee to the MCPS. They have a
good hints section. AMPLE DCT1 is on 0384 239944 (Viewdata).
Music City is a total waste of time - it is updated very
infrequently, and now that Prestel is charging for off-peak access, it is not
worth the effort of even looking at it.
Wimbledon BBS (01 542 3772), Mitcham MBBS (01 648 0018), and
ACMB Musicworld (0932 245593) have all got some good Music 500 & Music 5000
programs on them.
All of us old timers sigh with nostalgia when anyone
mentions Musiclink - the best Music 500(0) database. It was part of the
Tubelink section of Viewfax, itself a section on Prestel. Unfortunately Viewfax
pulled out of Prestel and it all closed down (incidentally owing a lot of
contributors money for Telesoftware that they had supplied and Viewfax sold).
One of the editors of Musiclink - Alan Baker - now runs a
bulletin board for his local computer club (The Firm on 0273 513872). One day
we hope that Musiclink will return on there - but it won't be for quite a while
as Alan's wife is very ill and Alan doesn't have the time to set it all up.
One beneficiary of all these bulletin board databases is of
course British Telecom, as it is very easy to run up incredible bills when
logged on, even on a local call - BE WARNED!
Leslie Whalley
Music City, like most of Micronet, is a disappointment. It
offers a selection of music files at reasonable cost, but this is seldom
updated. Hints and tips are very rare. The only section which is updated
regularly is the one devoted to members’ comments, but many of these are
extremely trivial. It is not worth subscribing to Micronet just for Music City.
Incidentally, as a protest against Micronet's decision to
apply time charges except after midnight I have just succeeded in getting them
to send me a bill for 4p!
AMPLE DCT, operated by Dudley College of Technology is much
better, and improving. Access to the main database is free, and an interesting
selection of non-copyright music and hints is available. For £3.50 you get a
year's access to their Maestro section which provides a further selection of copyright
music files. It is well worth accessing DCT if you can afford the phone calls.
Pete Christy
Touted by Micronet as a replacement for the late, lamented
MusicLink, Music City has proved a bitter disappointment. The updates were initially
abysmal, and are now just very poor. The software quality has been poor, and
there have been none of the excellent tutorials that were the hallmark of MusicLink.
On the plus side, it's only a local phone call for Micronet
members.
DCT is a very good database - if you can get on to it! The
software is good, and there are good technical tutorials and hints and tips
items. After the demise of MusicLink it seemed to be a temporary haven for former
MusicLink contributors, though I see some of the old familiar names are
starting to discover AMPLINEX (hooray!).
On the minus side - for most people it's a long distance
phone call. Also, thanks to the wonderful quality of British Telecom's
telephone lines it regularly takes several attempts to get a line good enough
to allow you even to log on! This makes downloading a tedious, time-consuming
and expensive business. No wonder British Telecom's profits are up!
Roy Atkins
I live in Holland so I suppose I would not be expected to
use such services as Music City or DCT - but I have in fact contacted DCT on a
number of occasions using my Miracle Modem WS2000.
I think the DCT service is well organised and the quality of
the software is quite high, in fact some of my favourite AMPLE pieces have come
from there. However, for me it is a very expensive business to use DCT from
Holland, especially to browse. Also, my system has hung on the last byte
several times; I have not yet found out why.
Patrick Black
I use Music City, via my Micronet subscription, and I like
the basic idea. My only criticism is that the music is pretty much of the same
genre (perhaps I should contribute something else!), but the pieces themselves provide
plenty of ideas for programming.
The problems with Music City are not due to the organisation
itself, but to Prestel/Micronet.
Updates don't appear often enough - at the start of
September, Music City promised to chase up files they'd sent to Micronet and
which hadn't yet been published. As I write (early October) Prestel/Micronet
have still not put them up.
Another cause of discontent is the time charge slapped on by
Prestel last July. Access time used to be free during the off-peak telephone
times. Now it costs 1p per minute during this time, and more during office
hours.
Micronet areas (including Music City) are still free from
midnight to 8am, but I for one don't find these times convenient, and for
various reasons (largely the 'take it or leave it' attitude of Prestel and
Micronet) I flatly refuse to incur time charges. My usage of Prestel and
Micronet has thus decreased enormously, and so I no longer access Music City
very often.
I fear that British Telecom and Telemap will kill off useful
areas like Music City as domestic subscribers vote with their feet and leave
the system.
Jim Brook
I log on to DCT about once a month and find them very useful
and friendly; in response to a question they produced a 'worksheet' for me on
changing mixes very quickly. Currently, there seem to be problems with updates,
though. Maybe college holidays are a snag in this regard. I use BBCSoft's Modem
Master software - only 12 quid or so and an absolute bargain - miles better than
Commstar and a third of the price.
I also log on to Music City about once a month, but as well
as update problems, the style is a bit juvenile. Maybe it has to be - after
all, most of the readers will be young, I imagine ('young' is under 45, by the way).
I should add that DCT is only a local call to me, and I never log on to
Micronet till after midnight when there are no on-line charges, just the cost
of the call.
Pete Holdroyd
I use Music City (occasionally) and DCT. The latter has
recently started a section for copyright music, after coming to an agreement,
like AMPLINEX, over the payment of royalties. I have paid the £3.50 annual fee,
and will be logging on in the near future.
I find little difficulty in down- or up-loading to bulletin
boards - the Musictel setup has been a rich source of Music 500(0) material -
and if AMPLINEX were to be made available by modem, I for one would be logging
on.
On the other hand, could AMPLINEX be put on DCT, as another
section? A thought!
Editor's note:
Are there any other members who feel that AMPLINEX by phone
would be a good idea? Bear in mind that an average AMPLINEX disc contains
something like 175K of information - it would certainly be more expensive than sending
a disc through the post.
Finally, we have some information provided by the organisers
of the DCT and Music City services themselves.
David Reed of AMPLE DCT writes:
The DCT database is run by myself, as part of an educational
project providing teaching materials about viewdata. It is currently edited
from Cumbria by Alistair Johnson.
The DCT database (and thus AMPLE DCT) can be called by
anyone with a modem capable of 1200/75 standard viewdata format: if they can
call Prestel, they can call us. It is a public access system with no passwords
(unlike Prestel and Music City) except for the copyright music 'Maestro'
section. This section makes us probably the only 'bulletin board' that legally offers
copyright music.
Because our system is free and unsponsored, we cannot pay
our gallant contributors - we rely completely on their generosity. As well as newly-contributed
music we have permission to carry the old MusicLink files: MusicLink were Music
City's predecessors and, I don't think anyone would deny, probably the best
on-line AMPLE area of all. We are also still interested in receiving Music 500 (AMPLE
BCE) files.
All of our non-copyright music is freely available: it costs
only the price of a phone call to the West Midlands. Also free are our tips
pages and 'worksheets' - step-by-step guides to aspects of AMPLE programming.
We aim to put up 5 or 6 new pieces of music every fortnight.
To generate sufficient pennies to pay the
Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society, we charge a modest subscription to the
private 'Maestro' section on the DCT database, for which callers require
passwords. The recent increases in prices for Prestel subscribers and prices
that Music City charge (e.g. 50-75p per tune) compensate for the long-distance
call that many of our users have to make.
Callers can leave messages for public display on the DCT
database, but on a second, pilot system callers can list music members and
mailbox them directly as well as instantly place public messages.
I must emphasise that AMPLE DCT is not run as a business. It
is part of a broadly educational system that attracts 600+ calls a month on one
phone line. We will be making more lines available early next year. Next year
we intend to start selling AMPLE DCT discs - this is to make our material more
widely available and to give at least some recompense to our generous
contributors.
Hybrid Technology will shortly be publishing a disc of AMPLE
DCT music, most of which is Alistair Johnston's remarkable original material.
Included on this disc are some examples of the output of
both AMPLE DCT and Music City.
From AMPLE DCT we have an AMPLE program which displays some
sample screens from their database (F.DCTdemo) as well as a seasonal piece of
music programmed by David Reed himself ($.Snowman). From Music City we have a
more traditional festive offering of Christmas carols played on the instruments
of your choice ($.Carols) as well as an extract from the latest Music City music
disc - 'Rat In Mi Kitchen' by the band UB40 ($.RatInMi).
The Music City music disc is reviewed in the News and
Reviews section of this issue and the AMPLE DCT music disc will be reviewed in
AMPLINEX 009.
Published in AMPLINEX 008, November
1988
