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Joined: Feb 2010
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I'll use a credit card if they don't offer paypal.
My Paypal account comes from a separate checking account in a whole different bank than my main account. So, worst case, I lose only the little bit in that account.
- Bud
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After yelling, screaming to and threatening ATT Executive Offices, we finally got a technician this morning. We "a short, a ground, and battery on the line. Looks like water" according to the tech.
He found a "better pair" in the distribution cable.
As a former phone man (my first straight job) I know that if the cable has a water leak in it, the fix will be temporary. It might last a week or a year, who knows?
I'll continue to keep PayPal off for a couple of days and if the line seems stable for now, I'll re-instate it for the convenience of those who prefer to pay that way.
Back when I was a phone man, out of service calls got attended to the same day or next day at the latest. We were out for 3 1/2 days and noisy, marginal service for an additional day until the technician showed up.
Whatever happened to "fix it right the first time?"
Oh well.
Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton  Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Bob,
Re-read my post, and then think about that, instead of 'water' screwing up your line. You are correct that the fix is temporary. An ounce of prevention....
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Absolutely, Bob. Yes, I voted. I don't like PayPal at all. I'm forced to use it when I sell stuff either on Ebay or a forum marketplace. I might like it better if they just charged a flat transaction fee. That's because they charge for drawing down your money, as you know. If I was buying more stuff using PayPal I would probably feel differently. I'm not a "merchant" so I can't accept Visa/MC as payment.
Stan
Cornet Curmudgeon
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Bob, I know from this forum and your website you have at least two businesses. The Sophisticats and Norton Music. You have written eloquently and in great detail about how you run your live music operation, how you play to your audience, how you are very careful to have redundant equipment so a breakdown doesn't stop the show, very careful to build your backing tracks and very careful about how you present yourself. I totally agree with all of it. What the audience wants, they get end of story. I don't want to hear any player crabbing about how they don't want to play this song or another. It the crowd loves it, play it with a smile, that's what you're paid for.
What I'm hearing now is Norton Music is not at that level. You're allowing your lifestyle choices to interfere with the running of an otherwise successful business. I work at a CPA firm, we do accounting, taxes, and business consulting. We're involved right now in analyzing how the new health care legislation is going to impact a client's multi-million dollar business. It's not a pretty picture so far but we're not done yet.
Competition is too fierce in any field to go about it half baked. It boils down to the old phrase "whatever it takes". You need reliable, fast high speed internet. It's not available where you are, move. Whatever it takes. You hate TV, never watch it. So what. If it gets you high speed internet... whatever it takes and nobody's forcing you to watch any TV.
You're a pro man, I admire you and your attitude and certainly life is a balance between how you want to live and what you have to do to make money. Sometimes compromises have to be made.
Apply the same principles you use on your live gigs to Norton Music. Our office charges about $300 an hour. This advice is free.
In reading this before I post it, it looks kinda blunt and I'm not trying to beat you over the head. If you were sitting across from me in the office I would tell you the same thing but interspersed with a smile and a wow, how about them Seminoles/Magic/Dolphins and how do you like the new rides at Disney World? But, I still would get the point across because that's what I'm paid to do and of course you'll make your own choice. It appears you've tried to run down all the options based on where you're living now and nothing is viable except maybe ordering the combo TV service. To me, the choice is obvious and you're not going to get rich fighting the phone company. Unless they're forced to spend a half million dollars to run cable for 10 customers, they're not going to do it.
Bob.
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Well, moving is out of the question. I'm approaching senior-citizendom and the house will be paid off in a few years.
I agree with the whatever it takes and that's why I started asking around. Talking with my neighbors, the Cable TV is less reliable than the phone company. One neighbor waited a week to be restored because a squirrel chewed her drop line. They have frequent, lengthy outages and service is slow and inefficient. Some of my neighbors have dropped the CATV for that reason and gone with the Dish thing.
I inquired about satellite, but they want a 2 year contract a heavy installation fee and won't guarantee that I can access the Internet, not even in sunny, calm weather (I know thunderstorms interfere with microwave transmission, but I unplug my gear during the storms anyway).
Here comes the reliability part of my business.
I have an expensive but very reliable web host and credit card authorization company. I chose them for security and reliability. I pay more, but I get more. I get a 99.99% up-time guarantee. The web host runs on redundant servers and the servers are housed in what amounts to a vault able to withstand 200mph winds. Visa and Master Card payments go through without my intervention and get delivered immediately. I've done the instant download with Visa/MC since 2004 and I haven't had a single problem with that.
Because of the high security standards the web host does not automatically process PayPal and then deliver the product. There is some fraud involved in PayPal, probably mostly due to naive users falling for phishing scams. They didn't tell me why, they just said they will do nothing to compromise security. Most people ship physical products, so a slow PayPal doesn't matter. If you go to Guitar Center and order an amp, it isn't going to get shipped without human intervention.
So everything works automatically except PayPal.
PayPal is not necessary to run a business. I do on-line business with plenty of high-profile merchants that do not accept PayPal. However a couple of my customers requested PayPal so I instated it.
Because my Webhost/Cart will not automatically ship PayPal orders for security reasons, I have to fill them manually. So when the e-mail from PayPal comes in, I match it with the order, and send out the URL/Username/Password to the customer who can then download the product. When the Internet is working, it works fine.
Unfortunately neither ATT nor Comcast cares about reliability around here. The problem is the cable ('plant') doesn't pass many homes per mile of cable so any investment here does not return a lot of customers per dollar invested in the 'plant'.
So when these things happen, the PayPal people are inconvenienced. I know I wouldn't want to place an order, wait a couple of days, e-mail the merchant with no response, not knowing that the merchant would love to respond but cannot. I find it better for my customers if I drive to a WiFi spot and disable PayPal until my service is restored.
Phone service came back yesterday. So far so good. If it stays on until Sunday or Monday, I'll restore the PayPal service.
Insights and incites by Notes ♫
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Bob,
This is why I suggested the wireless solution that I did. It doesn't use a satellite system where you have to send the data request over the landline. The signal isn't going to get chewed up by squirrels or waterlogged. The antenna may be directional, but I'll also be willing to bet that if the winds blow and knocks it off center a bit, you aren't going to lose your signal.
It is pure internet, and if it proves reliable, you can even switch to Vonage for phone service
If you've looked at it, can you tell me why you wouldn't use it? I'm curious.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Gary, is wireless as secure as a landline? I've heard not, but that was a few years ago. Technology may have improved.
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Hi Gary,
I've bookmarked it. Haven't had time to check it out.
Internet hasn't been reliable enough to conduct business, the phone got fixed yesterday, and we had a gig 100 miles RT away. Today's gig is closer, but it's an early setup.
The telephone number is 3 counties away from me, so I'm not all that hopeful.
Looks like Monday.
Thanks,
Bob
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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I was wondering if you owned your property or not. That does complicate things. If it were me, I would look into the HughesNet service by DirecTV. It's line of sight so nobody's likely to intercept your transactions unless you're using wireless routers in your house and I'm sure you're too smart for that. I've had satellite for years but only for TV not for internet. I live in the big city in SoCal and we do get huge thunderstorms here just not as often as you do. I've never lost the service while I've been watching not to say of course I didn't lose it when I wasn't watching so I didn't know about it. 15 years ago at least, I was in one of the big home entertainment stores during a rainstorm and while I was in there the storm got worse. They were demoing the brand new at the time DirecTV service. When the storm sounded like it was right overhead, the thunder rattling the windows, the rain coming down in buckets just like Florida (I've been there several times during storms) the signal did drop out but only once for 15-20 seconds or so. This was when the system was brand new using their first gen sats and equipment. I know it's better now. The thing to keep in mind is you can handle being down for a minute or two and that's all we're talking about most of the time. The dish only loses the sat when a storm cell is directly in the line of sight and that usually doesn't last very long before it's moved out of the path. Heavy rain alone doesn't interfere, it seems to be when the very center of a really big storm with all the thunder and lightning is directly in the path to the sat. Still, there's probably some sat forums where you can read and ask about that. While they have to put into their advertising and agreements the fact they can't guarantee service I know it's pretty good and reliable. Nothing's perfect with this btw, I've has high speed internet cable for years now and I've had a few outages, once or twice it was for most of a day. A friend lives up in the mountains 125 miles from here in a retirement community with individual homes and like you they have copper phone lines but no high speed cable. Several people in the park use HughesNet for their internet and it's pretty good. I know one person who uses wireless through AT&T. As for the cost, at least it's a business expense on your Sch C. Good luck.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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If ya feel like a good fight, your telecom provider is regulated by your state's Public Service Commission (PSC). This is one of the things that they and your state representative are there for. A letter to the PSC, a call (or calls, if you can get your neighbors to go along) to your rep may do the trick.
Git 'er done!
R.
"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."
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I prefer PP because I have never had a problem with it, but will use a CC if it is something that I want enough. I have a septate CC JUST for online purchases, so it don't worry me as muceas if I used my main one. As for any type of satellite internet, I know too many people that have it (in the Ohio-Michigan-WV-Tenn areas) and flat out hate it. All different comapnaeshey ALL say that they are at the mercy of the weather way too much, or there speeds are no where near what they pay for over 60% of the time.....but it is all they have...:( IMHO, I would stick with the easiest option for you, and that is dropping PP, but this is IMHO, YMMV, yada yada... 
i5 3.20GHz, 32gb RAM, 1tb SSD OS, 12tb HDD, 4gb gForce vid card, 32" monitor, Audient id44, Win10 x64, BiaB/RB 2023, Reaper 6,IK Multimedia Total Studio 3.5 MAX, Waves 10
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I also use one CC dedicated to Internet purchases and nothing else. It makes it easy to keep a check on.
I am now considering giving up one of my land lines and getting a cell phone with Internet and e-mail capability. Since e-mail is essential to filling PayPal orders, I'll have two methods and the odds of both going down at once are slim.
I've never owned a cell phone before, so I'll have to do a lot of research, along with Gary's suggestion about alternative DSL providers.
And as of this year, the PSC no longer regulates the phone company :-(
I used to be able to threaten the PSC and get results, but this year that didn't budge them. I called the PSC and they said since there is now competition with phones (cell phones, CATV and traditional land lines) there is no need to regulate.
It hasn't rained hard here since they fixed it on Friday, so it's still wait and see for me.
Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Bob,
Cell phones with Internet will run you a pretty penny. You're limited to 5GB per month on Verizon, and my basic phone and data plan cost me about $120 per month. I used to have a Palm Treo, but what I ended up doing with that, because I couldn't use it for e-mail (keys too small) was to get a cellular modem and a netbook. With the Cellular modem, part of my data plan, I can plug it into any computer and get internet access, but honestly, it isn't all that fast.
If you're going to go that route, look for something that is 4G and NOT AT&T unless you have VERY good coverage down there.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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We have a company called Metro PCS that offers unlimited talk, text and web for a flat $40 per month, taxes included. For the one "smart phone" that they offer, it's "50 (which seems like the one I'd require, as it has an iPhone sized screen).
They appear to have good coverage in Florida and a few other parts of the country (mostly urban areas) - at least by their coverage map. They are probably slower than the big boys, and they don't offer a wide selection of phones. I need to go to the store and try one out to see if it will be able to do what I need it to do.
I really don't have a great need for a cell phone for any other reason except for the pay-and-go I keep in the car on the way to a gig in case of emergencies. I'm with Leilani most of the time, I work out of my home, and when I'm out, I'm usually doing something that I don't want to be interrupted by a phone call (concerts, theater, communing with mother nature, and so on). So a land line serves me well.
I have the pay-as-I-go cell phone which never gets used simply because in the unlikely event that something would stop me from getting to the gig set-up time on time, I want to contact the client. I usually leave with enough time to allow for traffic snarls, and haven't been late for set-up yet, but I have used it a couple of times to remind the client that I'm there waiting for the door to be unlocked so we can set up our gear. I have thousands of minutes saved up just from my maintenance fees, hmmm, I wonder if I can sell them???
If the Metro PCS can give me OK phone service where I live, and handle basic web chores like answering my nortonmusic e-mail, it should do me fine. My second land line (the one without DSL) costs me close to $40 per month to start with. The snag might be that it's a business line with a yellow page listing. I'm sure the pro at Metro can advise me if that will work or not.
In the mean time I'm gigging, working on 3 new style disks, working on a new fake disk, gigging as much as I can in the slow season, looking for more band gigs (it's a typical summer thing in Florida), learning new songs for the duo, and spending quality time with my spouse. So I don't think the process is going to be speedy (unless the phone goes out again).
As long at the phone is working OK, I've got time to check out all the options.
I'm planning on re-instating PayPal today.
Notes ♫
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Phone repairs seem stable (for now) so PayPal is back up on my site.
PayPal, Visa and Master Card are OK (Discover is coming, depending on how fast my bank moves)
Still checking into the other options.
Notes ♫
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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User Video: Next-Level AI Music Editing with ACE Studio and Band-in-a-Box®
Band-in-a-Box® 2024 German for Windows is Here!
Band-in-a-Box® 2024 für Windows Deutsch ist verfügbar!
Wir waren fleißig und haben über 50 neue Funktionen und eine erstaunliche Sammlung neuer Inhalte hinzugefügt, darunter 222 RealTracks, neue RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, "Songs with Vocals" Artist Performance Sets, abspielbare RealTracks Set 3, abspielbare RealDrums Set 2, zwei neue Sets von "RealDrums Stems", XPro Styles PAK 6, Xtra Styles PAK 17 und mehr!
Paket | Was ist Neu
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The newest RealBand 2024 Build 5 update is now available!
Download and install this to your RealBand 2024 for updated print options, streamlined loading and saving of .SGU & MGU (BB) files, and to add a number of program adjustments that address user-reported bugs and concerns.
This free update is available to all RealBand 2024 users. To learn more about this update and download it, head to www.pgmusic.com/support.realband.htm#20245
The Band-in-a-Box® Flash Drive Backup Option
Today (April 5) is National Flash Drive Day!
Did you know... not only can you download your Band-in-a-Box® Pro, MegaPAK, or PlusPAK purchase - you can also choose to add a flash drive backup copy with the installation files for only $15? It even comes with a Band-in-a-Box® keychain!
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Backup copies are offered during the checkout process on our website.
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Handy flash drive tip: Always try plugging in a USB device the wrong way first? If your flash drive (or other USB plug) doesn't have a symbol to indicate which way is up, look for the side with a seam on the metal connector (it only has a line across one side) - that's the side that either faces down or to the left, depending on your port placement.
Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows® Today!
Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows for free with build 1111!
With this update, there's more control when saving images from the Print Preview window, we've added defaults to the MultiPicker for sorting and font size, updated printing options, updated RealTracks and other content, and addressed user-reported issues with the StylePicker, MIDI Soloists, key signature changes, and more!
Learn more about this free update for Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows at www.pgmusic.com/support_windowsupdates.htm#1111
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A few excerpts:
"The Tracks view is possibly the single most powerful addition in 2024 and opens up a new way to edit and generate accompaniments. Combined with the new MultiPicker Library Window, it makes BIAB nearly perfect as an 'intelligent' composer/arranger program."
"MIDI SuperTracks partial generation showing six variations – each time the section is generated it can be instantly auditioned, re-generated or backed out to a previous generation – and you can do this with any track type. This is MAJOR! This takes musical experimentation and honing an arrangement to a new level, and faster than ever."
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