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<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4>I love your idea but I have 2
problems.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4>1. An OGG file is not standard. I work
with OGG for my job and it is a total pain because not many players play that
format. I thought WMA was standard because everything I have will play WMA
files.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4>2. I don't think copy right stuff should be left
out. I myself can easily make stuff up, but not everyone can. Plus I
myself don't have time. Plus, are you judging Dectalk skills or are you
judging creativity? If you are judging Dectalk skills, people should be
familiar with what they are judging. If your judging creativity, what is
the point of limiting it to just Dectalk?</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4>Here's my idea. Pick a song that everyone knows,
and see who can do it the best. No text files allowed so that we can't
copy each other. <BR></FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4>SNOOPI BOTTEN </DIV></FONT></STRONG>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 12/18/2007 2:45:59 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
tony@baechler.net writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Hi
all,<BR><BR>This probably sounds crazy but I thought I would throw it out
anyway. I <BR>guess it's the holidays or something, I don't know why I
came up with this.<BR><BR>How about a competition of original DEC-talk
creations? It would be <BR>like music contests but only for original
files and they must use <BR>DEC-talk. They could be plain text for
sending to a hardware <BR>synthesizer or loading into the demo or it could be
an mp3 file. Each <BR>contribution should be no more than five minutes
in length. You can use <BR>as many voices as you want. Mix it with
music or whatever. Here are <BR>the rules I had in mind but of course
this is all subject to change and <BR>discussion:<BR><BR>1. No copyrighted
works. That means no Red Dwarf, etc. It must be your <BR>own
original creation. It can't be DEC-talk singing a popular song or
<BR>reading a copyrighted story. Public domain works are fine. I
am <BR>arbitrarily defining public domain as anything published before 1923
and <BR>whose author has been dead for at least 70 years. That complies
with <BR>both US and international laws. Agatha Christie would not count
for <BR>example because she died in 1976. Arthur Conan Doyle would count
but <BR>only for works published before 1923. He died in 1930.
Tolkien <BR>wouldn't count. This rule would be strictly enforced because
the files <BR>would be available for public download. I will not debate
differences <BR>between US, UK and international copyright laws.<BR><BR>2. It
should not be longer than five minutes. If you need to go longer
<BR>than that, please explain why. It would be better for an author to
<BR>submit two entries of five minutes each than one long ten minute
file. <BR>As much as I like DEC-talk, I don't necessarily want to hear
it for ten <BR>minutes at a time. That also keeps file size
smaller. This applies <BR>even if you submit a text file, and especially
in that case as the demos <BR>have a small size limit and copying it directly
to a serial port can <BR>overload the internal buffer, at least from my
understanding.<BR><BR>3. You don't have to follow a certain format, but music
is probably <BR>better than speech. If you want to mix music and speech,
that's fine. <BR>You can mix in background music as long as it doesn't
violate rule 1 <BR>above. If you want to compose original music, so much
the better. <BR>However, music is not a requirement. If you just
want to do spoken <BR>word, that's acceptable. It must be primarily
DEC-talk making the <BR>sounds though. You talking and having DEC-talk
say one word won't <BR>count. This is somewhat up to the judges to
determine what qualifies <BR>and what doesn't, but a good rule would be that
DEC-talk should do at <BR>least 50% of the audio. Mono or stereo are
fine.<BR><BR>4. No adult material or excessive swearing. I personally am
not opposed <BR>to some adult material but I am not allowed to host it.
If someone <BR>wants to host sexual material, that is up to them but it won't
be hosted <BR>here. This is not up for discussion as I am not the one
who made that <BR>rule. I know that this rule is enforced and I don't
want to lose <BR>Internet access, thanks anyway. Material should be
suitable to all ages <BR>but something in the "PG" rating scale would be
accepted. If in doubt, <BR>don't swear.<BR><BR>5. Only mp3 and ogg
Vorbis files are acceptable formats. Wave files are <BR>just way too big
and .wma and other formats are too hard to play on all <BR>devices. The
exception is that flac files will be accepted because they <BR>can be
converted to wave and there are converters for most platforms. <BR>Zip,
.exe, html, etc will not be accepted. You may make a zip file with
<BR>your mp3 file and a README, but other files will not be accepted. If
in <BR>doubt, ask first.<BR><BR><BR>The judges of the contest will be anyone
who wants to download the files <BR>and cast votes. I expect that the
judges will be mostly from this <BR>mailing list but hopefully people will
spread the word. All entries <BR>would be uploaded with ftp or email
attached, depending on size. I <BR>would hold them until the deadline at
which time I would put them up for <BR>public download on a web site. I
would probably make one master zip <BR>file with everyone's entries for easier
download unless there are less <BR>than three entries. There would be a
short time (probably two weeks) <BR>for judges to download, listen and
vote. After the judging deadline is <BR>over, I would count votes and
announce the winner. If someone wants to <BR>donate prizes, the winner
would get a prize, otherwise the winner gets a <BR>pat on the back and public
acclaim on the site and mailing list. After <BR>the contest is over, the
entries would be kept indefinitely.<BR><BR>The inspiration for this comes from
the annual IF Competition which has <BR>similar rules. Also, it would be
nice to get more DEC-talk original <BR>creations out there that are free of
excessive copyright restrictions. <BR>Submitters are encouraged to
either release their files to the public <BR>domain or use a Creative Commons
license. Regardless of what license is <BR>chosen, authors give
baechler.net and other affiliated sites <BR>nonexclusive re-use and
redistribution rights. For more about Creative <BR>Commons, look at
http://creativecommons.org/ . It is not a requirement <BR>to license
your files in this way but it is recommended and encouraged. <BR>This
gives people the right and ability to use your works in their own
<BR>creations without paying royalties in most cases and knowing that they
<BR>are not violating your copyright while you still have ownership of your
<BR>creation and can use it any way you see fit. If you put your work in
<BR>the public domain, you give up all rights to it, now and forever and
<BR>anyone can do anything they want with it without your permission or
<BR>knowledge.<BR><BR>If you have questions, it is best to post on the mailing
list but you <BR>can write to me directly. I would like to see this
actually develop <BR>into something interesting. Other sighted people
have music <BR>competitions, so why not one designed for the blind?
Anyone may enter, <BR>sighted or blind as long as their entries comply with
the above rules. <BR>A final update to the rules would be posted at the
time the contest <BR>officially opens. What do you all think? I am
interested in getting <BR>discussion
going.<BR>_______________________________________________<BR>DECtalk mailing
list<BR>DECtalk@bluegrasspals.com<BR>http://jaybird.no-ip.info/mailman/listinfo/dectalk<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
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