I want to buy a tablet for my six year old boy who has a learning disability and autism. We mainly use a Macbook (which he has damaged slightly which is one of the reasons i want him to have his own device), we also have a PC.

I don't want to splash out on an iPad for him yet, he has used our iPad and gets on well with it but don't want him to damage that.
I just need something that has WiFi, Flash, plays videos (mp4, avi), plays music files, displays photos and can run apps (musical, educational, puzzles) but that is fairly cheap i.e under £200, is there such a thing, (i think the tablet format is more suitable than the netbook/laptap format)

also is it possible to sync a non apple device to a Mac or does it have to be a PC
I've been googling all this and am getting a bit flummoxxed so any help would be appreciated, many thanks

Reading about Suede’s recent shows reminded me of their gig in Dublin, Olympia Theatre in 1999.

It was a great performance and one of the things that stayed with me was the pre gig music i.e. the music between the support act and the main act.

Rather than a mix of various artists it was two sides of two albums – side one of Surfer Rosa and side one of Never Mind the Bollocks

I thought it was a novel idea and I immensely enjoyed the pre gig buildup, which can often be a bore, as they’re among my favourite albums. (does anyone know if they varied the music throughout the tour?)

Any other examples of notable pre gig noise?

Pick one artist, any artist.

Pick your favourite album by that artist.

(We've probably done this or its like before but what the heck, eh.)

I'll start: The Who - Quadrophenia

Well, that was an interesting recent thread on stealing music, wasn’t it?

It’d be fair to say that we have differing opinions about how irresponsible it might be to download music without paying. Some of us would never do such a thing, some of us don’t recognise a connection between buying a product and an artist receiving payment and maybe a fair proportion of us have developed an economic model of both buying music and also stealing it for as long as they can remember using whatever technology is at hand.
I’m not here to debate the points, I’d just like to get an idea of how much of the music we have in our possession was legally obtained, i.e. when you obtained it did you do it legally.

So it’s like a stocktake, - everything you have, the cd you just bought, the one you just borrowed, the tunes on your hard drive, the vinyl you’ve gathered, the gifts you’ve received, the songs you taped, the box of cassettes/mini discs/reel to reels in your parents’ attic.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t have the machine on which to play it - if you still possess the media, it must be of value to you.

Assess your collection and calculate how much was legally obtained and how much wasn’t and choose the option below that most reflects your collection and (anonymously!) click it.

And for the sake of argument can we leave aside/ not count bootlegs/pre 1950s out of copyright/ still deleted material/the cd you made for the car/anything else uncertain.

Of late I have grown tired of messing about in iTunes. I’ve relegated my ipod to personal radio station /jukebox/collected–miscellaneous-tracks status and
I’ve been appreciating my cd and vinyl collection and giving things a proper listen.

I’ve had a copy of Kate Bush’s The Dreaming for about, oh, twenty years now and only this month have I paid it the attention it clearly deserves. How can I describe it – stark, hilarious, hysteric, clever, authentic, synthetic, fairly bonkers really and tremendously rewarding. (incidentally, checking out some of her 1982 videos slightly spoiled the visions I had when listening)

Also re-discovered Rufus Wainwright’s Poses, an album I had dismissed previously as morose only sounds majestic now.

Isn’t it great when you discover hidden wonders in albums you’ve had for years?

Nothing puts me more in the Christmas mood than hearing a hit record from a previous winter. They invariably aren’t Christmas songs but in their own way they reek of the festive season.
Such as:
Ian Dury & The Blockheads Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
The Human League Don’t You Want Me (anything off Dare really)
Frankie Goes To Hollywood The power of love

I think I’ll make a playlist, any other contenders?

Deluxe by Lush. Played on the piano. This I like.

I’m currently enjoying the various mixes/ mixtapes streamed on the sites Dublab.com and CosmicDisco.co.uk –

Are there any other mix sites the Massive would recommend?

I'm not hit seeking or suicide bombing, honest, I just thought I'd share that I don't read the mag. I used to get it, but I just don't have the time now, what with the kids and all those books i still haven't got to and the black vinyl i've carted from attic to eaves and learning the piano and bridge and and..everything else. Haven't listened to the podcast in over a year. Never miss the blog, though.

If Fleet Foxes are The Smiths then Mumford and Sons are Wet Wet Wet.

And if The National are Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds then LCD Soundsystem are Talking Heads.

Don’t know where I’m going with this really....want to join in?

I recently did a cull on my physical music collection and was dismayed subsequently that my wife felt I should get rid of more items than I had selected. Of course I disagreed and we debated the acceptable amount of lps/cds that one person should have in their house.

I have 700 cds 120 cd singles 430 LPs, 620 7”singles, 130 12”singles and 250 cassettes (mostly home taped). (I also have 200GB on the hard drive but that’s another thread)

I do some Djing so I feel a need to have hard copies and would be reluctant to cull any more. (Looking at the figures, though, I might have a harder look)

So I’m just curious, really, Massive, size wise how excessive is it, i.e. how does it compare to your physical collection?

I’m curious about the Massive’s favourite artists - in particular any artists that I have yet to discover . I have a top 5 and I’m going to throw in another fifteen (see first comment for full list)
Also - if you had to pick just one artist as your absolute favourite, who would it be?

The Jam
The Clash (today, the answer is The Clash)
The Beatles
David Bowie
The Smiths

Anybody else there? Just as good as the RDS in 2003, I thought.
Played for just under 3 hours.

Great vibe/sound/crowd.
Tasty versions of Let Me Roll It and Paperback Writer and the Fireman songs weren't too shabby either.
I'm still buzzing.

Hi

does anyone have any suggestions for a website that streams audio easily where I can preview full tracks
I have tried lastfm and find it difficult to control, I have tried to get spotify but it says i need to be invited
i've used songza which is user friendly but takes all its material from youtube
anyone know of anywhere that streams the original tracks and is easy to manage
just for listening / preview purposes

tanx

Kay

The recent pod discussion of the "dodgy metal past" thread made me consider HOW we get into music - in the past and present.

Nowadays you can have instant access to the music, photos, lyrics, history etc. of an act by going online.

Previously the process was more gradual and you gathered the information from various sources - radio, TV, print, word of mouth, other people's record collections, live gig etc. (any others?).

You allowed your imagination to work its magic on this material over a longer period of time.
The Internet is a great bountiful resource we barely predicted but hasn't it changed utterly HOW we discover music?

Or is just another medium?

I'd like to hear other readers' views - Think about your favourite acts - HOW did you discover them and how does that compare to your current methods?