Did you actually get to a point where there's an actual link to an actual mp3? It looks like they make you install some sort of P2P software before you can download any music. Did you do that?

No, I never made the attempt to actually download anything. I thought I'd better ask someone for advice first.

Okay, I will listen to all of you about the "free" MP3 site. I was suspicious due to the "if it sounds too good to be true, it is" cosmic law, and thought I should ask. I suppose the other free sites are like that too. I actually looked at the terms of service for one of them, and it said that (paraphrasing) "while some of the songs are by the original artists, I understand that others are by people singing in the style of the original artists." That kind of surprised me, although I suppose it shouldn't.

Yet another possibly dumb question: if you get Dish TV, do you get actual network channels (NBC, Fox, PBS, that stuff) in addition to the fancy schmancy channels? You'd think this would be findable on the web site, but no.

I am so hating the whole deciding about how to get TV in a non-bunny ears world. All I want is PBS and Fox and the big three. Why so hard and pricey?

Are you getting digital TV over the air right now, flea? A digital signal might come in clearer than an analog one (and there will only be digital signals in a few months, anyway). It's free, though.

Our TV is 20 years old, so to see if we got the digital channels clearly over air we'd have to buy the digital converter box for old TVs ($60 minus the govt. $40 coupon) and try, I think. But then if it didn't work we'd have the stupid box to deal with. Just with bunny ears and traditional signal we get seriously nothing. One channel, very very snowy.

On reading the fine print, I think with Dish we can get 40 channels ("family plan") for 19.99 and then add local channels for 5.99. Unfortunately you can't just buy the local channels!

This page might give you some kind of idea about how well digital TV signal might come in.

mr. flea (technology geek) thinks that page is really cool.

Unfortunately even our digital channel reception is sucky; everything is at the bottom of red or in grey. It's kind of amazing; we live only 60-70 miles from Atlanta, after all!

It's an awesome page, but I'd trust them if they say you won't get reception -- I obsessed on them when we dropped the cable, and found them to be reliable (good digital signal with occasional dropouts @ 3-30 miles depending on the station).

I have a question I have not researched, yet.

Will the big honkin' mast antenna on top of our house be useful in the digital age?

Is an antenna an antenna, or will it have to be replaced?

Why is google maps different now than it used to be?

Is it just different for me because I'm suddenly hitting something different, or logged in differently somehow, or has it really changed? I don't like it. Make it go back!

Flea, cable and satellite companies are required to offer local broadcast channels.

My television watching is still more analog than digital, and I've been pondering my cable bill as part of a general belt tightening. It looks like I can get most of my non-broadcast shows online from the source or Hulu, except for one or two that I'd have to pay to download. I prefer watching television in my den on my television, but it looks like a Tivo on my wireless network could play those shows on my television. Is that right? Is there some other way? This whole thing makes me feel kind of stupid.

I could get minimal cable for $19 a month rather than the $53 I'm paying now for digital basic. I'd probably have to get an external antenna to cut cable entirely, because some channels are pretty fuzzy on rabbit ears. (I recognize that this is all a first-world problem. With my budget, I should really just watch fuzzy TV and like it.)

While I'm asking ignorant television questions, if I got a second monitor, something I'm thinking about anyway for work, could I watch internet television on one monitor and work on another?