Gaming H25 I have received my first bit of swag. Pete ...

I have received my first bit of swag. Pete from the Reducers wrote to point out that the band is not defunct; they're still gigging and recording. In fact, their last studio LP, Shinola, wasn't released too long ago. My bad. He also sent me their latest, Old Cons, a covers collection that, like most of their stuff, is a tasty morsel. It encompasses a wide swath of styles and eras from 1981-01. With the exceptions of "Mack the Knife" and Santo and Johnny's classic "Sleepwalk" (which need never be covered by anyone) most of the songs are new to me-and perfect for the Reducers.

Sorry if it seems like I'm beating a dead horse. I just downloaded a 32-record GBV collection. It's a mishmash of stuff, but what is most interesting to me is Corpselike Sleep of Stupidity, a supposedly chronological collection of frontman Bob Pollard. It appears to be a work tape collection most likely from around 1991, and contains material from Propeller to Static Airplane Jive. Some of it has already appeared on Suitcase. One of the interesting things is to hear material from Propeller and Vampire on Titus without the layer of hiss that Mike Rep's remixes produced.

It's a mixed blessing. The detail and clarity rob some performances of their mystery-or reveal performances that are even less steady than previously imagined, as with "Unleashed! The Large Hearted Boy"-but others, such as "Red Gas Circle" and "Spring Tiger," gain from the newfound depth. Listening to "14 Cheerleader Coldfront" and "Kisses to the Crying Cooks" is a very different experience.

What I liked most about this collection is the variety; it's not just material recorded from one place. The GBV records of 1991-94 were diverse collections taken from many sources and recorded in different places; this compilation is more of an assembly of the records that turned me into a fan, with a "What's coming next?" suspense lacking since Bob's first solo LP.

The album came with a .b4s file, which is apparently a new playlist file type. It's another one of those play-everything, do-everything, help-you-manage-your-crap multimedia player: the iAM-Player. I already have way too many media players; explore at your own risk.

I also just downloaded a 1.5-gig episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. I must confess to being a Star Trek fan, but no, I don't speak Klingon or Ferengi or anything else. It's HDTV and looks great-a bit heavily letterboxed, but it's gorgeous. Is this too much for a mere tv show? With 18-meg segments, it's truly a huge download. I remember an Alias torrent site having similar-size files available, and there are no doubt other programs being encoded in similar fashion.

I suppose these HDTV downloads will eventually replace the now-humble 463-meg VCD. Another reason to dump your dial-up.

For those who aren't ordinarily Star Trek fans, the end of this season has been a high point for the franchise. Though I admit that the show has sucked at some points along the way, these are really good episodes. o