Service Report

Since we launched our new Flash™-powered site and media player on February 11th, we've been busy fixing bugs and helping our beloved spacefans migrate to the new service.

Some of the bugs were pretty obscure and most users never ran into them. Others affected more people and required immediate fixes. And a few fell into "we can make this better" category; not really broken, but perhaps unclear or confusing — something we wanted to improve right away.

The worst issue was caused by conservative network administrators at various companies (and the Pentagon!) who blocked the electronic "port" that Flash uses to communicate with your computer. (It's that message about Port 1935 you see when the player is loading ). Once we figured out what was happening, our Flash programmers came up with a fix right away, but it took over a week to install it, test it, and roll it out to our main site.

ALL BETTER NOW.

Really. We've had about 10 days of almost completely problem-free operation. Our support experts Leyla and Joseph are starting to breathe normally again, and we are slowly turning our attention to additional upgrades and improvements. We're also bringing a second Flash server online to improve our delivery to people overseas and to backup our primary server. It's all very geeky, but it makes for a more reliable, problem-free service.

Finally, today we introduced a new service plan: $12 a YEAR for access to the new shows on Sunday.

"But drSpace," you ask, "I thought the show was free on Sunday."

Well yes, it is, but so many of you were streaming it (up to 8 times!) on Sunday, that the cost of providing it free has become really difficult for us. See Why Pay? for the full story.

Rather than taking away the free show, we're hoping that at least 1,000 of our Sunday listeners will sign up for the new plan and help defray the cost for everyone else, including folks who've lost their jobs lately and need the program more than ever. You can see the details on our PLANS page or here.

We're emailing about 15,000 of our Sunday listeners today with news about the new plan. While we're at it, we're holding our first-ever "contest" or "raffle" or whatever you want to call it.

From the new $12/year subscribers we will pick 15 and give them free upgrades to our AAA, Radio Channel, or This Week Anytime subscriptions.

Like the army who need "a few good men," we just need "a few good subscribers" to give Hearts of Space a firm financial foundation during these crazy "fast times."

Safe Journey :: Stephen Hill aka drSpace

Comments

[Richard Mitnick]

Hey Stephen-

The new player and the web site are just the cat's pajamas!!

As you know, I myself now have a weblog devoted to Public Radio and serious music. You know this because you encouraged me to do it.

For anyone interested, it is at http://richardmitnick.wordpress.com

I have been encouraging all sort of music and PubRadio people to check out the new HOS site and the player. There is no Public Radio presence for HOS that I know of in the areas between and surrounding New York City and Philadelphia. This is a travesty.

There are lots of people who can afford public Radio at US$40 or 50 a year, but not satellite, not direct subscriptions to HOS.
They are being denied a service that was one on the air in the New York City area not once but twice each week.

So, I hope that some of my friends at http://www.wnyc.org and http://www.wprb.com, even some folks at the great Jazz outlet http://www.wbgo.org are going to wake up to what they are missing.

I hope you don't mind a little horn tooting.

>>RSM

[Eli M. Whitaker III]

Hi Stephen
The new site looks very nice and the flash player is neat.

The only problem is that the audio quality of the flash player at my end is very poor. Your voice sounds phased and the music sounds generally "computer" as opposed to the more audiophile like quality it had with the old wma stream. For the last couple of weeks I've compared the two and have chosen the old player because of the better sound. This week the flash player still has the phased sound and the other player is gone. Would it be possible to retain it for those of us who need it? I notice the tab for it at the top of the website is missing.

Thank you all for the wonderful work you and your group do. The new site, like I said, is really great. I don't want to disparage anyone's work. I just humbly request access to the previous player.

Thanks
Eli

[Richard Mitnick]

Eli-

This is Richard.

I am not having anything like the experience you are. I have two separate subscription for HOS, on at home and one at work. Three computers are involved, and I have no problems on any of them.

I never objected to the sound in the old 64kbit stream; but the mp3 stream on my computers is excellent.

I hope that others will chime in here.

Eli, if you would like to extend this conversation outside of Stephen's blog, either on the computer or on the telephone, I would be happy to do it.

I pop in here often, so let me know.

[Stephen Hill]

Eli, Richard:

The problem that Eli is reporting is traceable to the speed of his Internet connection, vs. Richard's.

When the new Flash player loads upon entry to HOS.com, it does a "bandwidth test" to measure the actual speed of the user's connection. If it is too slow, Flash delivers a 64kbps or even a 32kbps stream! This is the reason for the "phasey" sound of the voice and the general lower quality of the stream vs. the Windows Media service.

Eli, please contact our support experts by email to [email protected] so we can work with you to test your Internet connection and see if there is any way to reconfigure your setup to mitigate your problem.

:: drSpace

[Eli M. Whitaker III]

Hi Richard
In light of what you've said I think I'll upgrade my flash player and try again. I've never had a problem with mp3 streams either and when I play the 6 min. introduction stream, it sounds great. So I don't know what happened. I wondered if a flash stream had the fidelity that a asx, m3u, or pls stream did.

Anyway it sounds great tonight.

As I said, I'll try again. Next Sunday I'll report back. Meanwhile I need to check under the sofa cushions and in the sock drawer for $12 to support the Sunday shows. A dollar a month is a great deal!

Thanks
Eli

[Miriam]

Hi folks, please continue the good job! As an IT person, I know how difficult it is for all involved to find and fix bugs. Well done!

And - as I've said before - I appreciate this station as it allows me to listen to your slow music overseas!