BeyondEarCandy Website

[Snowy Owl]

Hello friends,

I am so happy you have your new site up. Congrats to you! I will always be a huge fan and friend.

So I hope you can take some constructive criticism.

The fact that you have to pay to be a member of the site turns me off a bit. I hope it doesn't make you lose touch with people who have stuck with you from the start.

I was also wondering where the feature for the Sonata Arctica tour was. I am very sorry if it was not up to par for you, but I worked really hard on it and I hope it will be put up soon.

Please do not be angry, but I have been sad all day and I feel this may be the end of an era.

Your friend in metal,

Matt "Snowy Owl" Bankes

 

[Dave@BEC]

Hello friends, I am so happy you have your new site up. Congrats to you! I will always be a huge fan and friend. So I hope you can take some constructive criticism. The fact that you have to pay to be a member of the site turns me off a bit. I hope it doesn't make you lose touch with people who have stuck with you from the start. I also had another concern which I mailed to you guys. Please do not be angry, but I have been sad all day and I feel this may be the end of an era.
Your friend in metal, Matt "Snowy Owl" Bankes

Wow, not sure why you got the impression you needed to pay anything. The new website provides the same free access to streaming music, forum, content, giveaways, that the old site did and even added user requests and chat . The donation request "member thingy" concept was just to try and cover some of the monthly site costs, especially the even higher bandwidth option that some listeners have requested. Really tried to make it as cheap as possible at $4.95, just to cover some costs.

Not angry though, just surprised. Hope this clarfies the idea, as you know we're all about hangin' with people who are into this music, and that certainly includes you bro

 

[TheGreatDeciever]

Yea dude. You still get all the same powers + services of the old site, plus more w/the new request feature and what not, but the pay option is just if you want even MORE. I'm not a member and I already been thru the forum, accessed diferent stuff on the site and made/listened to radio requests! It's all good..... :Spin:

 

[Snowy Owl]

Well, I saw how cheap it is and I will throw a fiver your way to support you all. That is not an issue. It was just the principle of the whole thing. I hope it does not turn people off, that's all.

But maybe it depressed me a little bit to see BEC doing so well, while OSA continues to struggle for acceptance and respect. No one cares about us and our contest is a disaster, as only a couple people have entered. I don't have a clue on how to ship packages and I have failed miserably as OSA's president. Dreams can only take you so far I guess.

I want to help you all out more. I was hoping my pics and my tour diary from SOnata Arctica would have been a help. But seeing they were not even put up, I guess I didn't do good enough. I want to help so much! I want to interview people and meet bands like you all do, but I am thinking they may see me as a stupid starry eyed fan and not a press person. I am very serious about making a name for myself as a metal journalist and promoter. OSA was my ticket, but that seems to be dying.

I hope to hell the email I sent to Dave and Ann Marie does not tarnish our friendship. We have had too many good times and I have the highest respect and admiration for what you all do.

But Snowy is still just some punk from Harrisburg who knows a thing or two about bands, and not respected. He is very sad right now.

 

[AMBR]

Snowy:
I e-mailed you back. Did you get it? The SA thing will be going up. There was just so much going on, I didn't finish the editing, so it was totally my fault for the delay.

To all BEC listeners:
ALL the content provided by BeyondEarCandy.com prior to the upgrade will remain free. This includes access to webzine content i.e. news, photos, reviews, interviews, contests etc., the forum and the radio streamed at 64k or 32k. Also the new request feature and many of the other features will be FREE.
We at BEC have been providing this service at no cost to introduce all metal fans to great music and to help promote the bands.
The cost of the site has risen dramatically, and we need to do something to offset that a bit, which is why we're providing enhanced service for those who would like to support us. Anyone who does not want to pay a monthly fee for extra benefits can always buy our really, cool shirt!

As modeled by Rob Doherty of Into Eternity.

Only $10 plus s/h.

So I hope that clears up any misunderstanding.
Yours in metal!!!! AMBR

 

[Snowy Owl]

Yeah...I got the email. Thanks for being so understanding and not ripping me head off. This time of year is always hard for me because I lost my dad to suicide 7 years ago last week. I miss you, dad!

I do want to pay, but my wife won't let me! I'll probably persuade her sooner or later...hell, it is only 5 bucks!

I hope to God OSA can get some momentum because I do love it, and I want it to succeed. Without BEC there would be no OSA. I would like to think that even though we are not hosted by you anymore, we can still work together and sponsor each other and all that. Does anyone here think that OSA is a joke? I hope not, but if you do don't hold back. Let me know what we at OSA can do better.

Why do I ask to help you out so much? Because I owe you big for helping us get our start. Anything you want me to do, I will do it. I would kill to get an interview with a great band or have my picture taken with Tony Kakko or Magnus Rosen. I SERIOUSLY want to be a journalist that covers metal of all kinds, and as reviews of CD's go, I want to be the BEC equivalent of Mick Wall or Malcom Dome. I hope people enjoy my reviews.

If I come on too strong I am sorry, because I know BEC is YOUR project. I just help on the freelance level. But all my life people who picked on me in school and in life are saying I was a loser. People look at me at work as some kind of freak. I want people to see me and go "Hey, there's Matt Bankes, and he is a good man and he did something with his life." I don't want to be remembered as a PENNDOT clerk and a college dropout who's father smote himself because his mom fell in love with another woman.

You understand and respect me for who I am, even though I do go crazy sometimes. Good friends make my world go round.

 

[TheGreatDeciever]

Um, yea dude, it's all good. Setbacks happen, and anyways, it's not like progress isn't being made, you just have to realize that everything takes time. BEC's been around for a while. It's all good, you know?

 

[Rider of Theli]

I have a question for the paying members...

I'm also a paying member now, and no matter what music player I use (Windows Media Player, WinAMP, etc), I cannot seem to get the 128 stream going. The 32kb stream plays long enough for the station ID, then it shows who's playing (still in 32), yet I then get no sound.

I have tried this on both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox with the same results. The 64 kb stream works perfectly fine. But I cannot seem to get the 128 stream fired up.

Is there anything anyone can recommend for me to try?

Thanks!

~Hoyt.

 

[Rider of Theli]

anyone? ...anyone at all?

 

[AMBR]

anyone? ...anyone at all?

Dave did not get back to you on that? Sorry. I thought he had. I'll contact him right away. Are you clicking on the link under the Members Only section that says, "CD Quality Radio!" ?? Let me know and I can shoot you the direct URL if need be. Can't post it here, of course.

 

[Dave@BEC]

I have a question for the paying members...

I'm also a paying member now, and no matter what music player I use (Windows Media Player, WinAMP, etc), I cannot seem to get the 128 stream going. The 32kb stream plays long enough for the station ID, then it shows who's playing (still in 32), yet I then get no sound.

I have tried this on both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox with the same results. The 64 kb stream works perfectly fine. But I cannot seem to get the 128 stream fired up.

Is there anything anyone can recommend for me to try?

Thanks!

~Hoyt.

I just fixed it last night, working with the streaming host company. The issue was that unlike older versions of the WinAmp, the newer versions of WinAMP (and possibly other players) could not handle that the "Intro" station ID was recorded at 32kb and the stream file was 128kb. When I had added the server for 128kb, the host company just reused the 32kb "Intro" file. I was able to replicate the issue with a newer version of Winamp and have had the 32kb Intro file removed, and now all works great!!!! I will likely add an intro file at 128kb in the future, but again that should not be any issue.

So start cranking up the tunes at CD quality!! (I emailed you as well)

 

[Dave@BEC]

Dave did not get back to you on that? Sorry. I thought he had. I'll contact him right away. Are you clicking on the link under the Members Only section that says, "CD Quality Radio!" ?? Let me know and I can shoot you the direct URL if need be. Can't post it here, of course.

Actually had been working on this one with M.E. sending me some info. back and forth, just took a while to trouble shoot...but again all should be rockin' now!!

 

[Rider of Theli]

hey, no worries man. Thanks for the hard work! I'll check it out this evening as soon as I get home from work!

HUZZAH!!!

~Hoyt.

 

[MEFlyingV]

Actually had been working on this one with M.E. sending me some info. back and forth, just took a while to trouble shoot...but again all should be rockin' now!!

Glad I could help Dave. And the new station ID intro sounds GREAT (though the old one had a certain charm also). Who did the voice on the new intro?

P.S.- Me and the wife are going to see Blackmore's Night Dec 9th at the STRAND THEATER in Lakewood. Per chance shall you and your wife and Ann Marie be there? Pray tell thee, good lord....

Ooops, getting into the "mood" for a bit early eh? Ha!

 

[MEFlyingV]

Dave,

Hi. I just requested Nicodemus' AND IT BECOMES YOU. It seems like the song started by the PRIOR song on the CD fading in, ending, and then AND IT BECOMES YOU started.

I dont think that is how it is on the CD is it?

 

[MEFlyingV]

Morning all..

I am listening to what the site SAYS is

Midnight Sun - Metal Will Stand Tall

But the song is kind of ballady and it sounds like the words are GATES OF HEAVEN. Is this the right song????

 

[Dave@BEC]

Thanks M.E., sounds like some clean up work for me. Lot of songs now (and more coming , so bound to be a few oops here and there

 

[MEFlyingV]

Thanks M.E., sounds like some clean up work for me. Lot of songs now (and more coming , so bound to be a few oops here and there

NP Dave. My motto is...

I came,

I saw,

I beta tested.

ha!