Analog to Digital Conversion

I discovered, probably late to the game, that I can download my Economist paper into an audio file (an MP3 I think).

Cool. But that simply leaves an audio file on my computer - although I think it is possible to download directly to a mobile device. Why would I want to leave the files on my computer? I can't easily listen to them that way. And although some day I do plan to dedicate a computer to my stereo system, it seems like a very expensive and time consuming proposition just to be able to listen to the Economist.

More to the point, when I am at home, I just as soon read the magazine (or newspaper - or whatever its called). The point is to be able to take the magazine with me in a more portable manner - like with a little MP3 player. Unfortunately, the audio edition is too big to fit neatly onto my player. What a bother, my player is all gummed up with electrons and won't play. Sigh. So much for that idea. I may be forced to buy a new player just to listen to the Economist. What are the chances of that? Slim.

What would get me to buy a player would be to be able to listen to something that I can't easily access by other means - baseball audio files. I've called MLB to speak to them about purchasing their gameday audio (I've had it in the past but, again , the lack of portability from a computer is an issue for me). One of the most pleasant things I can think to do would be to download a game to a player, take it out to the back yard (not something I am willing to do with my MacBook) crack a beer and listen and read the paper.

MLB's gameday audio is constrained in two respects: first you really only get live access to games. For many reasons, this is not always an option. Baseball simply is not on my daily schedule as a general matter. Second, the archived games are not complete. In other words, the archives may not contain all games. So there really is only limited access to games. Pity.

The kicker is that the archives can still only be accessed as a direct stream from MLB. You can't download the games directly from the site to put on, say, a portable player to take out to the backyard and listen to. MLB is still linked to a computer (in the main). Forgive me for being a Luddite, but baseball is a Luddite sport. And computers really aren't meant to serve as a music platform. They are just an accident of innovation. Apple, as well as other companies, has it right. Portable electronic devices will be more prevalent at the expense of computers. Computers are for word processing and making spreadsheets and power point presentations and graphic design. As an entertainment system, something better is needed.

I recognize that you can get gameday broadcasts for the iPhone, which has many of the features of a computer - and the all important link to mlb.com.

Still, I'm not about to buy an iPhone just to listen to baseball games while I'm out hiking or at the beach. I'd either break the thing or it would get dirty/salty/sandy and its little gears and wires would freeze up. What I need is a simple portable and inexpensive device - like a used iPod - that I could download game files to. Not something easy to find at a price that includes the risk I'd take on buying used electronics (i.e., not yet found).

Not that I don't understand the reasons mlb might have for not wanting to allow such access. Once transferable electronic property is created, it gets hard to control and profit from its transfer. But it should be technologically possible. Such is iTunes raison d'etre. Maybe at some point mlb will figure out the demand for old games and start selling them. There is lost opportunity here.

I understand there is technology that allows you to record the streaming media to an MP3. So, one could dram of setting a computer to stream a game, and record it, and thereby create MP3 files. A neat little fantasy. But it reminds me so much of an older method: just buy a cassette player and set it next to the radio and press "record". It's an old and inelegant solution. And it takes time. And it kinda defeats part of the appeal of the digital revolution. It's like converting English measurement to metric units. It's just English units in new clothing.