Discussions on another thread have made me reinvestigate Manfred Mann. I've got a greatest hits which, sure enough, contains all the hits I remember but I'd be interested in hearing more.

Is there a decent box set or 'The Complete...' available of either the Paul Jones or Mike D'Abo years? I remember, back in the day they released a lot of EPs and a couple of instrumental albums.

This was from the SFTW mail out but I think it deserves a wider circulation :-)

I have an audiobook in .m4b format that I'd like to burn onto CDs. Any ideas how I could do this?

Direct burn to CD? Convert .m4b to .mp3s? Any thoughts?

Thanks

Hardly a matter of earth-shattering importance, but what's happening with the loathsome Sausage Sandwhich Game? During the summer it was replaced with something called 'Posession Battleships'. I missed a few episodes of the show and, suddenly, the SSG is back and I have to fast-forward through the podcast.

Anyone able to enlighten me?

After much deliberation, I've just taken delivery of a Roomba 'robotic' vacuum cleaner. Although friends have raved about them for years, I've never been really convinced it could be ss good as they said, but decided to take the plunge anyway.

I'd compare it to an iPad or iPod - until you've got one, you can't appreciate how wonderful it is.

It wakes up every night at 01:30 and vacuums pretty much the entire ground floor of my house, putting itself back to bed in it's docking station when its done.

It cleans at least as well as my old Dyson and, based on the contents of its dust bin, it's getting more dirt out of the carpet than the Dyson ever did.

It won't replace a proper vacuum cleaner - it can't do stairs - but it's perfect for a daily 'fill-in' clean of the main floor areas.

They key thing is, the FPO approves of it as well, rather than thinking its just a gadget! :-). It does, however come with a radio control so you can manually drive it around but, of course, I don't do that and just leave it to explore of its own accord.

...and, yes, the cats love riding on it. :-)

...so here's an HP scanner playing Little Drummer Boy.

Enjoy :-)

None more analogue!

Just read, in the new Word, that there's finally a new volume of Rock Family Trees available. Sure enough, it's there on Amazon...

Even More Rock Family Trees is the eagerly awaited new collection by rock's premier draughtsman and archivist Pete Frame. A legend in his own lunchtime, Frame is justly celebrated for his unique contributions to the literature of the music he loves.This latest set includes newly drawn family trees of Elton John, the Allman Brothers Band 1, ELP, Fleetwood Mac, Steve Winwood, The Drifters, Roxy Music, Roger McGuinn, Beach Boys, Martin Carthy, Shirley Collilns, Yes, Asia, Eric Clapton, the Yardbirds, Miles Davis, the Creation label and many more.

Even though some appear to be updates of older trees, this news still makes me unfeasibly happy :-)

Just idly leafing through YouTube and I came across this. It never fails to raise a smile from me

...and Terry Bozzio is a beast of a drummer

Went for my daily radiotherapy appointment today only to be told that my haemoglobin levels are low and so, to ensure the effectiveness of the radiotherapy, they want to change my blood! How neat is that, and I don't even need to go to a Swiss clinic to have it done! Eat your heart out, Keef.

I have an old, reliable CRT TV with SCART and component inputs, but not HDMI. I'd like to plug an Apple TV into the set but that requires an HDMI cable.

Question: does anyone have any experience of the HDMI to SCART converters out there? They're all around £100 so they're more than the cost of the Apple TV itself.

Can anyone recommend an alternative to an Apple TV? A box that connects to the TV and wirelessly streams ripped DVDs from my server.

Thanks

Mrs Stimpy has just returned from a day in that London and she's come bearing gifts - a Korg Monotribe.

It's an ickle teeny music workstation that crams a 4 part drum machine, 16-step sequencer and two-oscillatior synth into a package the size of a paperback book. Runs off AA batteries and has a little onboard speaker.

I'm in hospital for a couple of days next week and she thought it would keep me entertained. I love my FPO :-)

On a serious note, at first glance it has everything an analogue monosynth needs - VCO, VCF, VCA, preset envelopes, noise generator - this would make a great toy for someone wanting to dip a toe into vintage-style synths without spending a fortune.

The latest VEMIA vintage gear online auction has just opened. There's a couple of bits that have caught my eye and I'll be bidding on but there's a BEAUTIFUL as-new VCS3 (ex-Dartington College studio) in there. I know its a bit pricey but it really is the best I've ever seen...

http://www.spheremusic.com/Bargaindtl.asp?Item=8977

The latest episode of Ian Helliwell's Tone Generation podcast has just been released. It explores experimental music created on the Moog range of synthesisers.  Don’t be expecting the usual Switched on Bach and Keith Emerson fare; as usual with The Tone Generation, its all about sharing some of the lesser known early electronic material from Ian Helliwell’s vast collection.

It includes some fine Word friendly music from Walter Sear, Cecil Leuter, William S. Fischer, Paul Beaver, Bernie Kraus, Andrew Rudin and Nik Raicevic.

Listen online at http://a1.video3.blip.tv/0340012550058/Simonsound-TheToneGenerationEpiso... or subscribe through iTunes.

Just heard that Bob Brunning, founder member of Fleetwood Mac, Savoy Brown and (amongst others) The Brunning Sunflower Blues Band died a couple of weeks ago. I don't recall seeing mention of it on here.