I have been thinking about adding a feature to JEmplode -- chatted with Mike about it a little, and wanted to get some feedback here before I run off and work on it.

It's a bit controversial, I think, so bear with me.

I am thinking of adding a basic irc client to JEmplode. It'd be another toplevel window like the editors. However, this client would have the ability to share music between empegs.

The idea is that someone could mark their empeg database as searchable or searchable and downloadable, by people in a given irc channel. In the former, people could query my music but not get at it; in the latter, they could query it and download it as well. Additionally, I could drag-n-drop music from my database onto a nick in the irc window to give them the music; this would provide the middle ground of being able to search someones music, but having to request that they transfer it to you.

That's the basic idea -- doesn't anyone think it has merit? Or is it just another napster desitined for the dumps?

rjf&

You know, honestly, I wouldn't care about music sharing. But an empeg-specific chat client that used a "known" specific IRC server and channel would be excellent.

Is there ever an empeg IRC chat ? I just did IRC for the first time theother day...

Hmmm. So what would make it (the client) 'empeg' specific? Or do you mean if empeg fanatics just hung out on a known server/channel somewhere it would be cool?

rjf&

Or do you mean if empeg fanatics just hung out on a known server/channel somewhere it would be cool?

More specifically, if everyone were given a REASON to hang out on the channel, even those who normally wouldn't otherwise use IRC, that would be cool.

I think part of the reason not everyone uses IRC is the hassle of setting up the client and congregating on the proper server/channel. If that were all just hard-coded into Jemplode, then I think people would use it.

I think part of the reason not everyone uses IRC is the hassle of setting up the client and congregating on the proper server/channel. If that were all just hard-coded into Jemplode, then I think people would use it.

gotcha. and of course getting that working is a prelude to more complicated features anyway... so.... I'll take that to mean you think it's a good idea ;-)

cheers,
rjf&

I think chatting is a good idea. The file sharing isn't interesting to me but I won't comment on whether or not it's a Good Idea.

I have a feeling that people may object to discussing piracy on this BBS, but that an IRC room would different.

Cool, thanks for the feedback guys. While I doubt this carries much weight, the impetus for this idea is not piracy -- but we can discuss that somewhere else.

I will look into the irc client sans frills for now.

rjf&

I will look into the irc client sans frills for now.

It's important that for this to be successful, it would need to be incredibly simple, with as few options as possible, and be as firewall-friendly as possible (I know IRC isn't very firewall friendly to begin with, but you know what I mean).

I mean, if you're going to make a Toaster Kettle, it's best for it to be easy to operate.

A decision will have to be made as to which IRC server and which channel will be used for this purpose. Any empeg fans hosting an IRC server and want to devote the resources to this cause?

Any empeg fans hosting an IRC server and want to devote the resources to this cause?

I typically use the openprojects server(s) -- for anyone who doesn't want to wait for this project, I'd might suggest people could hang on irc.openprojects.net, #empeg.

rjf&

Y'know, this just sounds like bloatware to me.

Personally if i want to go into chat i'll use netscape or some other standalone chat client.

If you just want a simple, firewall friendly, preconfigured chat client, then just get someone to put up IBMs IRC Chat applet on a web page somewhere.

Like, how about putting a webbrowser that is preconfigured for the BBS into JEmplode? (would actually be trival with Javas built in NET/URL/HTML classes

Personally, I can see a benefit in having an online place to talk. From searching the posts here, there have previously been a few attempts at setting up an IRC channel to support empeg but AFAICS they died a death, a semi-official channel looks good to me.

Actually, what about multiple channels, e.g. #empeg-support, #empeg-chat and so on? Obviously it depends on how things pan out but often on IRC ppl want somewhere to hang-out without seeing continual "How do I ....." type questions.

While I'm here, I'd just like to say I'm still "sat on the fence" about sharing empeg files. While it would be good to share superior bit-rate rips of CDs with other empeg users, if it turned into (another) publicly available source of .mp3's we would possibly have another Napster and all the problems that go with it?
Rue

I think starting with a single channel and then splitting it in the future if demand calls for it would be wise.

If we fragment it to much to start with I think it would hurt more then help.

I also think throwing it into JEmplode is a fantastic idea. The ease of use would almost certainly help make it more popular. Additionally, I would imagine that any song indexing would be simpler if you were basing in a program which already houses the database.

Feature creep is your friend

-Geoff

Incidentally, I was just looking at the connection screen for irc.openprojects.net, and I noticed that their terms state that heavy MP3 trading is verboten on that server.

So if you're serious about doing the sharing feature, you probably want to pick a different IRC server.

Then again I would guess that any IRC server that condones heavy MP3 trading is probably going to be a WaReZ board and have spotty service...

There was enough negative feedback on the sharing idea that I have ditched it. Still thinking that an easy irc client would be helpful to people though.

rjf&

Maybe if we just started with a weekly meet time and grow from there?

For me, IRC is only useful if the channel is regularly populated and you can drop in whenever you like. An IRC "meet time" has never worked for me.

i have my irc client set to auto-perform /join #empeg on efnet

two problems with that channel:

it's always just me and the bots...

the bots are set to kick idle users ever 2 minutes...

regarding the topic... i'm all for it... hate to see the idea scrapped...

perhaps it could be offered as a stand-alone app... or as an add-on for an existing irc client..
--
sancho

I don't see why the bots need to kick idle users. I think there is an advantage to sit idle on a channel waiting for someone to show up.

Regarding the lack of users: I would hang out on the channel more often but I've been busy lately. My point about this whole idea is that if it were built into Jemplode, then more people would use it and the channel would be empty less often.

Oh, I just noticed that you said #efnet.

The channel we're talking about on this thread isn't on efnet.

there is an #empeg channel on efnet already... bots and everything...

i still don't see anywhere in the thread where a concrete decision was made which server/network to use...

though, if the consensus is to use irc.openprojects.net, i don't really have a problem with that...
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sancho

RJF was talking about irc.openprojects.net, #empeg. Not that it's going to be any more populated than efnet...

Though 'sharing' per se might be a touchy topic, I think a search feature would be very interesting. You could even have some statistics ... 20,091,211.33 days of music on empeg machines at the moment ... or whatever.

I'd love to be able to see what music others are listening to these days ... even pop up most popular among us geeks (better not be Britanny).

Wouldn't that be fun and exciting? huh? huh? Wouldn't it [nudge]?

yes, it would be cool. We had a private network setup last year, but it fell apart due to a lack of participants. Plus it didnt always work too well.