I own a pair of Shure E3cs that I bought at Target on sale for $30 (retail is around $200). It was an amazing find and I’ve been quite happy with them. I had some Etymotic ER6i IEMs before owning the Shures, and the Shure phones are a bit more durable (thicker cable) and easier to take in and out (soft rubber tips instead of comply foam tips). They both have their place in my collection and both get used.

However, to my dismay, the last time I pulled my Shures out of the case to listen to music, I found that the sound coming from the left driver was much quieter than the right. At first, I didn’t even hear anything and thought that the driver was dead. I frantically searched the internet and the forums on Head-Fi and found that it might just be wax build-up (eww). I took the rubber tip off and the sound was still very quiet. There was no visible obstruction and I poked around lightly with a paperclip to see if I could free the wax, but there was none.

When I got home, I used the paperclip to GENTLY remove the filter (without poking it through the end, I just pushed to the side and pulled back, the friction of the paperclip pulling the tiny silver plug with green filter out). I then soaked the filter in rubbing alcohol for about 10 seconds, using the paperclip to ensure there was no air and that the alcohol got in and through the filter. I then picked it up and let the alcohol drain through the filter. I let the filter air dry for about a minute, then re-installed it the same was it was installed before I removed it by gently inserting it, green “cap” side first, then pushing it down by the metal sides (DO NOT PUSH ON THE GREEN FILTER, IT WILL TEAR) until it was properly seated at about the same depth as the other side. Volia, worked.

The entire filter is about the size of one grain of couscous, maybe 2mm by 0.75mm. The filter has TINY holes to prevent wax from getting in the driver, and obviously did its job. Shure should really include instructions on how to change the filter like Etymotic does. Instead they advise you to contact customer service, and I’ve heard of repair bills around $80 to just clean and replace the filters.

Link to the User’s Manual

Sucks.

Check it

I had a problem: I wanted my radio station to automagically play my newer music and update the stuff that it plays every day, yet keep enough older stuff that there is still some variety, especially if no new music gets discovered for a while. I’d need to find some way to keep the most recent 200 or so tracks playing on my station.

Let’s start by looking at what we have and what we have to do:
Files on a Linux fileserver playing on a Windows server (via samba) in Winamp using EdCast to stream to sc_serv (Shoutcast) on a different Linux server in the DMZ. Currently, I have the X: drive on the Windows server mapped to the Linux Fileserver. Winamp re-scans the fileserver every 3 days for new music and adds it to the library, but I still have to manually go in and add new tracks to the playlist.

Some initial ideas and problems:
-Use XML-RPC / SOAP from another music cataloging program that I currently use
+I just really feel like there was an easier way to do what I wanted without going through all the trouble.

-Telling Winamp to [re]load the playlist: the Winamp API Uses C++…yuck…I don’t know or want to learn C++ just for this project. Plus, DRY applies, someone HAS to have thought of this before.
+Solution: httpQ, a simple http listener plugin for Winamp that uses a simple and easy to implement control scheme: simply call the right URL and Winamp does what you want. Awesome. ( http://httpq.sourceforge.net )

-Finding files that have been modified recently, and if none have been modified in the time specified, keep looking until you find enough files
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I recently got around to installing Reason after the reinstall of OSX after the Kalyway update to 10.5.2 made booting take around 20 minutes, most likely due to something not being perfectly compatible with the updated EFI patch that I also applied at the same time….so basically Time Machine had to step in and help out, further stressing the point of having good backups of everything, always.

Anyway, enough OSX86 talk for now, enjoy the preview of a recently-revived track I have been working on, Black and White

I’ve decided to try my hand at making something that sounds like the way I feel sometimes.

Have a listen.  The title is Broadcast0.  There is no artist as far as I am concerned, I’m just playing what I feel.

here

I finally got around to getting my radio station working, currently it’s 128kbps stereo and 16 listener limit, we’ll see how things go.  I already have a few people lined up that are supposed to be doing shows and maybe more in store…just trying to work the bugs out right now.  My setup is kind of wacky, but it works…basically I stream from a music server on my LAN to Winamp on a windows 2k3 server to my webserver for final distribution.

http://seanp2k.com:12000/listen.pls

Check it out!