OK, quick check-in time....

Just a quick message, as July 15th looms ever-closer and with it the potential drastic alteration and/or death of internet radio propogated by SoundExtortio...er, SoundExchange and its poodles on the Copyright Royalty Board, long since bought and paid for. We're just kind of sitting by, watching the clouds, waiting to see what happens now... and for those of you who got active and contacted your elected member(s) of Congress about the Internet Radio Equality Act, THANK YOU! I'm going to be voting a very, very interesting split-party ticket THIS election season, using candidate support (or lack thereof) of IREA as my primary voting cue. :)

OK, so here's the NON-IREA message I have for you today: OHMIGOD! Like, if you DON'T have good multimedia speakers and/or a dedicated sound card in your computer to listen to PLANET ZEB!... .you have no friggin' idea what you're missing! After my old set of Sonigistix 2.1 speakers bought the proverbial farm some few months ago, I went without a particularly neat set of speakers for that period of time, gradually getting used to the different sound coming out of my computer and thinking, "ah, well at least it's listenable."

So LAST week, Zeb treated himself.... a new set of Logitech Z-2300 2.1 multimedia speakers (read the online reviews of them-- they're everything every review glows about and MORE!) and a SoundBlaster X-Fi Fatal1ty Xtreme Gamer Sound Card, set to "Entertainment Mode" (since I don't really play computer games... it maximizes the processor for music audio sources). WOW! No, no, no one paid me for this announcement... and I'm not even saying you have to get the same products *I* did. But if you're looking for really super-wonderful sound quality in your internet radio experience (for the few days that it may be left on the internet!), GET A DEDICATED SOUND CARD and for pity's sake, DON'T CHINTZ YOURSELF on a cheap pair of computer speakers (or overpay for the "fancy brand label" of certain to-remain-unnamed "snob factor" systems). You'll love the difference in sound quality, and perhaps, as did I, fall in love with your favorite 'netradio outlet all over again. :)

Peace.

Z