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- Message-ID: <music/prince-faq/amp-faq_1012040902@rtfm.mit.edu>
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- Newsgroups: alt.music.prince,alt.answers,news.answers
- Subject: alt.music.prince Frequently-Asked Questions
- From: matt@prince.org (Matt Conrad)
- Organization: prince.org, the ultimate resource for Prince enthusiasts
- Followup-To: poster
- Summary: This posting contains information about alt.music.prince
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- Originator: faqserv@penguin-lust.MIT.EDU
- Date: 26 Jan 2002 10:29:19 GMT
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- Archive-name: music/prince-faq/amp-faq
- URL: http://www.prince.org/faq/display_faq.html?type=A
- Posting-Frequency: monthly
- Copyright: (c) 1999, 2000 prince.org Partners
- Maintainer: Matt Conrad (matt@prince.org)
-
- ===========================================
- alt.music.prince Frequently-Asked Questions
- ===========================================
-
-
- 1. General questions about alt.music.prince
- -------------------------------------------
-
- Q. What is alt.music.prince?
-
- A. alt.music.prince (AMP) is an unmoderated Usenet newsgroup for the
- discussion of the musician Prince, who used to go by an
- unpronounceable symbol. The usual ASCII representation of his symbol
- is:
-
- O(+>
-
-
- Q. Why wasn't the newsgroup renamed?
-
- A. When he changed his name, it made sense to change the name of the
- newsgroup. Unfortunately, he chose a name that has no ASCII
- representation, and Usenet is still an ASCII world.
-
- There were other reasons for leaving alt.music.prince as is, one of
- them has also been mentioned by others: how would new fans/Usenet
- newbies find alt.music.O(+> or whatever (or alt.music.tafkap, as has
- also been suggested)?
-
- And probably the most overlooked reason for leaving alt.music.prince
- alone was purely technical: overwhelmingly, most systems carrying
- Usenet news are UNIX systems; some of the characters often used to
- represent the symbol have special meaning to UNIX and should never be
- used as part of a newsgroup name (or any other file/directory name).
-
- Of course, now that he's once again calling himself Prince, the issue
- is moot.
- [credit: Tim Buck]
-
-
- Q. Who founded AMP, when and why?
-
- A. Ron Jarrell created the newsgroup (on behalf of Tim Buck) on May 9th,
- 1993 as an unmoderated alternative to the Prince Mailing List (which
- became moderated due to abuse).
- [credit: Raymond Meyll, Tim Carlson]
-
- For more info, see:
- http://www.prince.org/events/showevent.html?m=5&d=9&y=1993&t=O
-
-
- Q. Does AMP have a charter?
-
- A. Yes. While reading it, keep in mind that it was written in that short
- period after Prince's "retirement" but before his name change. At the
- time, Paisley Park Records was still in operation and Paisley Park
- Studios was available to the public as a rental facility.
-
- Without further ado, here is Tim Buck's charter for AMP:
-
- Despite the recent press release from Prince saying he is
- retiring from studio recording, Prince is still an important
- force in the entertainment industry. His recording label, Paisley
- Park, will still go on, and he is not going to stop writing
- music. His album contract with Time-Warner is still valid, and he
- has enough material for an estimated 50 albums in the vault at
- Paisley Park. Paisley Park Studios is becoming one of the most
- popular recording locations for many new and established artists.
- Prince is still around.
-
- With that introduction, here is alt.music.prince, a forum for
- free-form discussion about Prince, his music, his label Paisley
- Park, and other artists on Paisley Park. The emphasis is on news
- about just what is Prince up to (like "When is the new album
- coming out?", "Who just signed to Paisley Park Records?", etc.)
- but discussion is welcome on any topic related to Prince.
-
-
- Q. What other newsgroups exist for discussion of Prince?
-
- A. You may find that your news server carries alt.fan.prince and
- rec.music.prince, but both groups have little-to-no traffic. Why
- didn't rec.music.prince catch on as a "Big Eight" replacement for
- AMP? Good question.
-
- Although it isn't for discussion per se,
- alt.binaries.multimedia.prince was created as a place for AMPers to
- post and retrieve binary files (such as images and sound clips).
-
- German-speaking enthusiasts might enjoy checking out
- de.alt.fan.prince. Also, Prince-related posts often appear in
- rec.music.funky.
-
-
- Q. How can I access AMP?
-
- A. For starters you'll need some sort of access to the Internet. Most
- of the time Usenet is part of the deal. If your news server doesn't
- carry AMP, ask the administrator to add it; chances are he/she will
- be agreeable if you ask nicely. You can choose from a wide variety
- of programs for reading and posting.
-
- Failing the above, many Web-based services offer access to Usenet.
- The most popular one is Deja (http://www.deja.com), which allows
- you to read and post from your Web browser.
-
-
- 2. alt.music.prince culture
- ---------------------------
-
- Q. Can I post about Prince-related merchandise I want to buy/sell/trade?
-
- A. Go ahead. Such posts are a familiar part of the group. But be advised
- that you may get flamed if you do something like asking an
- excessively high price for a common item, or offering for sale
- pirated copies of officially-released recordings still in print.
- Generally you will be okay, though.
-
-
- Q. What can I do to prevent getting ripped off in online transactions?
-
- A. If you're considering a transaction with an unfamiliar person, you
- may want to check the Bad Traders list maintained by Rudedog.
-
- For more info, see:
- http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Portal/4995/badtraders.html
-
-
- Q. What about bootlegs?
-
- A. Bootleg recordings circulate pretty freely in AMP without
- interference from anti-bootlegging forces. But they are illegal in
- most places, so buy/sell/trade them at your own risk.
-
-
- Q. What are CD-Rs?
-
- A. CD-Rs (some people omit the hyphen) are recordable compact discs that
- will play on most standard CD players. CD-Rs are popular among AMPers
- for making digital copies of bootleg CDs and even creating "homebrew"
- live/outtake releases.
-
-
- Q. Who/what are the "Naysayers"?
-
- A. After people began to complain about the long-delayed release of the
- Crystal Ball set, O(+>'s Website (http://www.love4oneanother.com)
- displayed a message asserting that "naysayers will eat words on toast
- when the Ball drops!" Disgruntled fans on AMP immediately dubbed
- themselves the Naysayers. This highly informal group has been
- critical of some of Prince's recent business practices and music
- releases.
-
-
- 3. About this FAQ
- -----------------
-
- Q. Why doesn't this FAQ answer questions about Prince?
-
- A. The General Prince/O(+> FAQ answers such questions, and to avoid
- repetition they are not duplicated here. The prince.org Website is
- the official home of the General Prince/O(+> FAQ (and this FAQ as
- well).
-
- Additionally, the General Prince/O(+> FAQ is posted to
- alt.music.prince, alt.answers and news.answers on a monthly basis.
-
- For more info, see: http://www.prince.org/faq/
-
-
- Q. Is this the only FAQ for AMP?
-
- A. No. Another FAQ was written in 1994 by Bret Gorsline. He handed it
- off to Chris Reayoul in early 1995, who in turn passed it on to
- Raymond Meyll later that year. That FAQ hasn't been updated since
- late 1995 and is seriously out-of-date. However, it makes for a nice
- "historical" document.
-
- For more, info, see:
- http://www.mth.uct.ac.za/~webpages/henk/a.m.p.FAQ
-
-
- (end)
-
-
-
-