iRiver forever!

It finally happened - I upgraded an electronic gadget, rather than buying a new one! While 99.9% of the population are happy to use Apple iPods, I (and a handful of other people with impeccable taste and a dislike for market saturation) prefer the iRiver - the HD320 to be precise.
But why do I like it so much? I'll tell you:
1) The build and sound quality are outstanding
2) It's a joy to use
3) It looks cool
4) Most importantly - computers treat it like an external hard disk, meaning you're not tied into the crapness that is the "My Music Library" part of iTunes. You can simply plug it in, copy the files you want, and unplug it.
5) It has other stuff built-in, namely a picture viewer, FM radio, and a microphone
6) The firmware is user-upgradeable, and there are several funky "RockBox" options to choose from
7) You can watch movies on it
8) It has a 20GB user-upgradeable hard drive, which knocks most of the opposition into a cocked hat (bar the more expensive iPods).
9) Native support for Ogg files

Pretty compelling reasons to get one! Sadly the HD320 and 340 players have now been discontinued, but you can still buy them on eBay.

I've had mine for nearly 4 years, and the battery has recently started to under-perform quite noticeably, providing just 2 to 3 hours of life for each 4-hour charge. Thankfully, those fine people at VideoJug have provided a how-to film, showing exactly how to replace the battery. I spent £6.50 on a spare 2200mh battery on eBay, and half an hour of time fitting it. The only fiddly bit was levering up the motherboard slightly at one end, while it made rather alarming creaking sounds as it strained against the plastic clips holding it in place. The battery connector itself is tiny, and you'll either need good fingernails, or a very small screwdriver, to ease it into place.

It's all working beautifully now, and the battery life is back up to around 15 hours. Happy days are here again :)

Smoothie heaven

I've just made (and possibly invented) the tastiest smoothie ever! My taste buds have gone to heaven, on the following recipe:

- 2 whole oranges, cut into segments
- One kiwi fruit
- 2 large ice cubes
- Half a cup of Pomegranite and Acacia berry juice (ready-mixed, commercial variety)
- 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream. I prefer the "Swedish Glace" non-dairy tofu-based brand, but any normal vanilla ice cream would be fine

Add all these ingredients into the blender / smoothie maker, and blend for 20 seconds.

Scoop out the insides of a large, ripe passion fruit, and add to the mix. Blend again for 10 seconds, and serve. I think I'll call it "Orange Sherbert", because that's a good description of its taste. Enjoy!

Radio Wars

Ever since we got a digital radio in the office, we've had an ongoing battle between the programmers, to settle on the "radio station of choice". For me, this is Planet Rock - which plays mainly AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, etc. - but for Zoe, it's BBC Radio 6 Music, which boasts the worst living DJ, George Lamb. This is a man who shouts into the microphone, has an ego the size of Manhattan, and would be right at home selling vegetables in a Sunday market. His "running jokes" consist of a one-second clip of someone shouting "Shabba!", a two-second clip of someone shouting something angry, and his never-ending quest for a nice glass of "ting" (whatever that is). Particular low point of the show consist of listeners phoning in, asking for George to send out a "big Shabba" to their friends (cue the repeated playing of the aforementioned one-second clip, accompanied by moronic laughter). This *might* have been funny once - in 1991 perhaps - for a week, or two at the most. But it's been dragging on for months, and is about as funny as a chronic liver infection.

Thankfully I am not alone in my aversion to this pirate of the airwaves - there is now a "Get George Lamb off 6 Music petition", and a Facebook petition for the same cause. Even the BBC have had to publish a glossary of his inane ramblings, in case his one remaining listener can't work out what he's on about. To paraphrase the man, George, you are clearly a Don who's havin' a bad one, and has gone a bit wafty. Begone.

Salvation has arrived, in the form of the Sussex Gold radio station. This is the best radio station that any of us have ever heard - even Zoe. Their choice of music is first-rate, advertising is kept to a minimum, as is the news. Lots of sing-a-long favourites, from the likes of David Bowie, The Beatles, ABBA, etc. Thank goodness that someone is still broadcasting decent music!