[BC] copying/distributing church programs

[WFIFeng@aol.com]

In a message dated 11/20/2005 11:55:31 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
reader at oldradio.com writes:

> The easiest path was to just convert the MD 
>  to CD with a Sony home CDR. We have been burning shows that way for 
>  over 2 years. Now the stations want the show sent to them via email. 
>  At some point soon we'll be forced to buy a PC and software and go 
>  through the learning curve. The program doesn't have the money to do 
>  that. The church collapsed due to a money scam several years ago, so 
>  I bought the CDR to keep the program on the air.

A PC doesn't have to be a bankruptcy-inducing investment. You can obtain very 
functional equipment that is "behind the bleeding edge" for a substantial 
discount. For example, by shopping around, you can put together a pretty powerful 
PC for about $600. (or less) (An AMD XP2800+ or even an XP3000+ for example.) 

As nice as they are, skip the flat screens, and go with a plain ol' CRT 
monitor. (17" minimum, 19" recommended.) That will save you at least a couple 
hundred  $ right there. As long as it supports at *least* 1024x768 you're fine. 
(1280 x 1024 is better. Just use "Large Fonts".)

You can install Windows 98SE. Many dealers sell legitimate copies at 
virtually giveway prices. (Around $40) (Then get connected to a High Speed Internet 
line *behind a router*, and do a Windows Update.) 

I have found that the audio quality of the built-in sound cards is quite 
good. Via the radio, nobody is going to be able to tell the difference. However, 
it's not a "waste of money" to get a decent "Prosumer" sound card for about 
$90. (Optional.)

You can get a decent HD for about $100. I *highly* recommend Maxtor. The 
budget is your main limitation, here. You certainly would want at *least* 80Gigs. 
The more, the better. Partition the drive into an 8Gig segment, then the rest 
becomes the "D" drive. Windows and all Applications go to the "C" partition. 
All of your audio and data files go to the "D" drive partition. This makes 
backing-up and defragging much easier and quicker.

The video card can be a "plain vanilla" $30 or $40 AGP unit. You're not doing 
anything with 3-D so that is not necessary. Any basic card with at least 
32Megs of video RAM will suffice. (This is one area where cutting-corners is not a 
serious risk factor.)

256 megs of RAM should be enough, but you can go as high as 512 under 
Win98SE. (Above 512Megs, the older versions of Windows don't make much use of it, if 
any.)

CD burner drives are dirt cheap. You can get a good one for about $40. I 
highly recommend Lite-On. 

You can use a freeware audio editor like Audacity. 

Most modern motherboards have USB and LAN ports built in. Naturally, if 
you're going to be distributing your programs via the Internet, a High Speed 
account is absolutely essential, and using a router is beyond essential. The very 
survival of your machine is at stake. A router is only about $60, and will 
effectively shield your machine from 99.999% of the nasties out there. Only a very 
dedicated, determined hacker is likely to get through a router. It's just not 
worth it to them to go through the trouble to hack "some Church" or home user, 
so the router really is the best means of intrusion protection. Just be very 
wary of incoming e-mails. (Use the *free* Thunderbird e-mail client and the 
Firefox browser. 99% of the headaches will be gone.)

I would also suggest that you set up an FTP site. You can get some very good 
prices and outstanding service from the site I use and recommend to everyone: 
123ehost.com

They have packages starting at only $50 per year. Depending on how many 
stations you're distributing to, you may want the next plan up, which is only $100 
per year. You don't need a Domain name, because the FTP clients are quite 
content to work with just the IP (numeric) address. That will save you a few $, 
also.

Your clients can then go directly to your FTP site and download the files. 
Set up an account for yourself with full read/write privileges, and read-only 
for everyone else. (No frantic "Ooops! I erased the online file!" calls or 
e-mails.)

If you have more questions, be sure to "type-up". There are others here who 
can also help with advice & suggestions. All of the advice I've shared is 100% 
firsthand experience. I've built dozens of systems like I've described, above. 
Bang-for-buck, you absolutely cannot beat the AMD processors. They outperform 
the Pentium 4's by at least six-to-one on math-intensive proceedures, like 
digital audio processing.

I hope this helps.

Willie...