Media Player: Parsing Error & Silverlight Error

Over the past 3 days, I've gotten a couple different complaints about the NML's media player. The error everyone is getting looks like this: Then, it appears that once you get that error in whatever web browser you are using, the other 2 players (Windows Media Player and Flash) no longer work!

Thankfully, there is a really easy solution. All you have to do is clear cookies and clear cache from your web browser. If you have any trouble figuring out how to do that either check out the two links about cookies/cache or send me an email and I'll walk you through it!

tvick at naxosusa dot com

Getting an Invalid Argument Error on the NML?

I've received a couple of different emails about the streaming.asp error some students receive when trying to stream music from the NML. If you've ever gotten the error, it should look like this:

As you can see, you'll get an Invalid argument message, which will then continue to display when you try to stream music using Flash, Silverlight or Windows Media Player until you adjust your settings in either Internet Explorer, Safari or Firefox. Now, the key here is not to panic. I know website errors make my body temperature rise and my palms start sweating, but I promise there is no need for such a reaction anymore!

The key is to clear cookies. Yes - this will stress some of you out even more than the error message, but in order to get the NML to work after you receive that error message, you must delete cookies! (Picture courtesy of Scott Beale / Laughing Squid)

According to Ask Leo, cookies are simply a way for websites to remember who you are the next time you visit. He sites Amazon.com as a great example:

When you visit a site like Amazon.com and log in, Amazon might place a cookie on your machine that contains your account name, and the fact that you're logged in. When you come back a day later Amazon.com picks up the cookie and sees who you are and that you had successfully logged in the day before.

So if you rely on cookies to remember who you are for websites, make sure you have a record before you delete cookies! The best way I've found is to keep either a log on a table in Word, Excel, or just keep a running list at your desk. As always, if you have any questions, be sure and ask!

Naxos Music Library Content Suggestions

It's that time of year again where I get antsy for new music, and who better to get suggestions from than you?

For example, I was going through our catalog and realized we don't have much Moses Hogan music. Since I am the office choir nerd, I thought that Moses Hogan definitely needs to be in the Naxos Music Library. His music pretty much defined my choir experience in high school (enter Elijah Rock!, The Battle of Jericho, Wade in the Water, Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel, My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord...the list goes on...).

If you're going through the Naxos Music Library (Jazz, or Spoken Library too!) and think we need to add something to our catalog, let us know in the comments! I'd love to get more ideas for content you want in the NML. Better yet - I challenge you to come up with your favorite composer we don't have in the NML yet!

Pick of the Week: I Dreamed About You - Songs of Love and Longing from World War II

As we are 2 days away from Father's Day (June 21 for those of you who don't know) I thought it only appropriate to create a Pick of the Week based on what my Dad would dig. He's obsessed with WWI and WWII. Growing up, we spent a lot of time walking around battlefields throughout France where my great grandfathers served. While most kids got a Gameboy for Christmas, we would get lectures on these Great United States. At the time I resented all that gab, but now I cherish our family folklore more than anything.

However, one of the things I find so interesting about the period of 1910-1945 is the music. It really conveys how good and bad things were during those times. I can't imagine anything more difficult than sending loved ones off to war, and anything more joyous than having them home safe. That being said, I bring you I Dreamed About You - Songs of Love and Longing from World War II. It is a great collection of music from the 1940s from ABC Classics. Here's a quick song listing:

1. Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree
2. We'll Meet Again
3. Amor
4. It's Been A Long, Long Time
5. Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive
6. I'll Walk Alone
7. I Cried for You
8. Nightingale
9. A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
10. Room 504
11. Why Don't You Do Right?
12. Poinciana
13. I'm Beginning to See the Light
14. Star Eyes
15. I've Heard That Song Before
16. Don't Fence Me In
17. Frenesi
18. Home Town

I'm planning on putting together a playlist for my Dad on his account. Do you have any suggestions for all the Dad's out there? Hope you have a great Father's Day!

Are Music Subscription Services Working?

On Wednesday, John Bailey (Program Director over at KBIA) posted a very thoughtful blog about music subscription services. We've all known about the trials and tribulations of Napster, Rhapsody, and the many other attempts to direct music lovers to subscription-based music. There isn't a ton of inspiring information on the success of any of those models, so hopefully I can shed some light on what I think makes our model successful.

We have a very focused purpose which is to educate classical music students and aficionados about the history of music. We don't have any limitations on how much you can stream, and the only way you can increase the cost is by getting a higher-quality stream. Plus, we just upgraded to a Flash player, which streams at 96kbps (Near CD-Quality) and 192kbps (CD Quality), instead of our previous rates with Windows Media Player (64kpbs and 128kbps).

Clearly, classical music remains an important part of a music student's education and is used as background music in countless movies, video games, commercials, TV Shows, websites, etc. A subscription service is the perfect way to add to anyone's classical music collection, especially since you can take it with you wherever you go in the world with an Internet connection. You don't have to overload your computer or iPod with hundreds of megabytes, which is a MAJOR problem for me. Plus, it's so cheap! It's like buying 1 or 2 new CDs every month, even though we add roughly 500 tracks a month (if not more) from a ton of labels.

Are you using a music subscription service and which is your favorite? Better yet - if you do subscribe, what have you discovered that you'd otherwise have no idea about?

Key Word Search Function Down

We haven't received any inquires about the Key Word Search function yet, but wanted to let everyone know that our KWS server is down. We are in the process of rebooting it, but it will not be complete until tonight.

Please be advised that the Advanced Search function works. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Taylor or Nick and we'll help you find what you're looking for. Contact us at NMLHELP at NAXOSUSA dot COM.

IE8 Compatibility with the NML

The latest and greatest version of Internet Explorer 8.0 was released back in March, but many of our users have been slow to download it. (We haven't updated our office yet either - so don't feel alone)! Needless to say, there are still some bugs that the guys over at Microsoft are still working out, and one of the major ones affecting many websites is the lack of compatibility with most websites.

Sadly, ours is one of those that's being affected! However, there is a remedy to IE8's compatibility issues. I found these instructions online from Craig Bailey.

1. Go to the TOOLS menu
2. Click on COMPATIBILITY VIEW SETTINGS
3. Select the check mark box titled "Display all websites in Compatibility View" near the bottom of the pop up window
4. Click CLOSE

Hopefully this will resolve some of the trouble with viewing the NML in IE8.0. If you have better instructions and/or more insight into IE8.0 we'd love to hear from you!