I want this!

Well, the Brennan JB7 just came to my attention. It's a "CD jukebox" in that it is a CD player with a hard drive. From their info:

* JB7 holds your entire CD collection on a hard disk to give you instant access to any of your music and play unbroken music for as long as you want.
* You can choose and play an album or track without getting out of your chair.
* You get to see what is playing from across a room.
* One button plays your entire music collection at random - another turns it off - its what you need when its late and you just want to unwind.

I have been messing about with other media players such as the Argosy and Iomega, but they are slow and not really meant for music. What I am looking for is an "mp3 player" with a huge hard drive. At this point, the best bet is a large USB drive and media monkey software on my computer. Media Monkey is the best music management program I have found for a large music collection.

Nice feature, the JB7 backs up to a USB hard drive. I assume it can also copy from one as well. The big problem is how my music has gotten screwed up over time (track numbering, genres, etc.) if I make the move. The genres are the real piss off as I hate it when the track is something like Beethoven's fifth symphony and it gets tagged as blues!

A good feature is that the Brennan JB7 uses the Freedb CD database, one of the better music DBs out there.

Anyway, features are:

* Stores 1200/2500/5000 CDs on 80/160/320G (high compression typical CD)
* Stores 600/1200/2500 CDs on 80/160/320G (normal compression worst case CD)
* Total 60W RMS
* 32 key credit card remote
* 2.4 million album database - update on CD
* Text Search for Track or Album by remote control or front panel
* Segue - blends one track into the next
* 180 x 32 soft scrolling graphic vacuum fluorescent display
* Compact 4.8 x 16 x 22 cm
* 1.6kg steel and aluminium construction
* One touch startup - relax let JB7 pick the tracks
* One touch rip - transfer a CD track to MP3 player
* One touch record - convert vinyl to MP3s
* Loads CDs to hard disk at 12x - play music while loading
* Battery backed up clock with alarm
* MP3 encode at 128k, 192k or 320k - done automatically
* USB 2.0 Full Speed 12 Mbits / sec - compatible with USB Mass storage class devices formatted with FAT16 or FAT32 - USB memory sticks, Ipods, MP3 players, USB hard drives. Not MP4 players and Touch iPods.
* Rear connectors - loudspeakers, line in, line out, headphone, 24V DC
* Backup music and playlists to external USB hard disk for safe keeping
* 400MHz Blackfin processor with Dual MAC
* Find and play MP3s on MP3 players and USB drives as if they were internal
* Transfer MP3s to and from USB
* External laptop computer style 24V power supply / AC adaptor - included - works from 110V to 240V. Size 3cm x 6cm x 13cm. 3m overall lead length.
* Loudpeakers 22cm (H) x 14.5cm (W) x 18cm (D)

Price is a bit much at £339 to £409 (septics can go here for currency conversion).

OK, there may be some downsides, but I am waiting for a time when this type of device is much more common and at a better price point. Although, it does have some really nice features that pretty much outweigh any downsides I've read about.

You can read a couple of good reviews of it here and here.

Oh, yeah, and a plus for non-Euros, the JB7 runs on a switching external power supply, meaning it works anywhere in the world.

When will the US wise up?

Brenda Spencer opened fire with a rifle at the Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California, killing two adults and injuring nine children. She later explained her actions with the statement, "I don't like Mondays" back in 1979.

The Boomtown Rats were at a US radio station for an interview when the story of Brenda Spencer came over the news wire. As a loud mid '70s rock band, the Boomtown Rats were (respectfully if not completely accurately) branded punks by the media. As the Sex Pistols and the Clash became the voice of young London punks, The Boomtown Rats carried the flag for the youth of Dublin. After their debut album saw respectable sales in 1978, they recorded "I Don't Like Mondays," their most successful and most enduring hit despite the fact that many US radio stations refused to play it.

I wonder why?

Since Brenda Spencer went "postal" there have been many shootings like this. School shootings like this happen all the time, but they are treated as local news, unless they are like Columbine or yesterday's Virginia Tech shootings.

I mean 32 dead. Wow, that's a new record.

I guess the next big school shooting is going to have to top that to become news.

There are other songs which pinpoint the real instrumentality which allows for this carnage: Guns. Cheryl Wheeler's "If It Were Up To Me", Wall of Voodoo's "Shouldn't have given him a gun for Christmas", Captain Sensible's "Yanks with Guns", Robert Bobby "Guns across the USA", The Beatles "Happiness is a Warm Gun", Johnny Cash "Don't Take Your Guns to Town", Lynyrd Skynyrd "Saturday Night Special", Harry Chapin "Sniper", Indigo Girls "Don't Give that Girl a Gun", various versions of "The Devil's Right Hand", I Can Lick Any Son Of... "Dear Mr. Heston", Ian Hunter "Gun Control", Pearl Jam "Glorified G", Robert Bobby "guns Across the USA", any other suggestions out there?

Anyway, Cheryl Wheeler's "If it were up to me" which ends with "If it were up to me, I'd take away the guns." is also not played on the airwaves. The pro-gun crowd is too scared of it.

Why, let's face it, more guns does not equal less crime. If it were the case, Philadelphia would be one of the safest places in the nation with the largest number of NRA life members and amount of concealed carry permits. Also, Virginia, they can just strap on a gun there, but this is the second time they have been victimised by maniacs with a gun on a large scale (anybody remember Lee Boyd Malvo and John Allen Muhammad?).

I mean those last two paralaysed the nation's capital with only one gun. Shit, the East Coast!

Not bad.

It is the guns and I don't hear many people talking about gun responsibilities!

Sorry, but 28 years is too long and too many bodies have piled up from guns. It's costs this country too much to treat all the gunshot victims.

It's time for guns to be banned.

The only thing stopping that happening is the gun lobby.

For a great piece on Brenda Spencer listen to Mike Pesca's piece from Day to Day, January 31, 2005:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4472389

Add on the following songs:
Stephen Sondheim: Gun Song, Bobby Bare Jr.: Gun Show, Railroad Jerk: Gun Problem, Kittens For Christian: Gun Country, D.R.I.: Gun Control , Guess Who: Guns, Guns, Guns, Junior Reid: Gun Court, Boy Wundah: Change (The Anti Gun Crime Song), 311: Guns (Are For Pussies), Gorillaz: Kids With Guns, Robert Bobby: Guns Across The U.S.A and Bigger Guns., UB40: Guns In The Ghetto, The Damned: Gun Fury, The Tannahill Weavers: At The End Of A Pointed Gun, Steely Dan: With A Gun, Buju Banton: Mr. Nine, Aerosmith: Janie's Got A Gun, Indigo Girls: Don't Give That Girl A Gun, and Julie Brown: Homecoming Queen's got a gun

MORE SUGGESTIONS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!

BE SURE TO CALL IN AND REQUEST THEY BE PLAYED ON THE RADIO IN AFTER THE NEXT MASS SHOOTING!