Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/09/21/please-support-the-voyager-g.html
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An inclusion of the price tag of $98 would be a useful addition to the article, methinks. (From the description, I was actually expecting two or three times that amount. But then, cost overruns in Kickstarters are hardly unusual.)
We are honored that Timothy Ferris, the original producer of the Golden Record, will be in the recording studio
Not to be confused with Timothy Ferriss, whose virtue is debatable (or at least that is the impression one may get from discussions prompted by his various appearances on BB).
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I was always facinated with the Voyager as a kid. I mean, it will never get far enough to encounter aliens, but still, I loved the whole message in a bottle thing.
I remember a book from the library, I think it was bay Carl Sagan, which had a page showing what Voyager would look like in 100 years, to hundreds of thousands of years in the future (all pitted up from micro meter and not so micro impacts) and how far away it would get.
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Me too. Still are. It’s a power- and hopeful idea. I’m seriously tempted to buy this thing. It’s difficult to rationalize though - I don’t even own a record player.
The Pioneer plaque has a similar interesting background.
If you wonder why there are no photographic depictions of human anatomy present on the record:
Prudes - ruining life on earth AND beyond.
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If you ever play Terran you know that you gotta scout early and often.
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Send. More. Chuck. Berry.
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I get that shipping is expensive, but $10 to the U.S., and $50 to Canada?
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There are bears in Canada.
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40th anniversary? But they launched in the year I was born… oh… damn.
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Pledged, because my wife is going to do back-flips when she unwraps this. Y’all better deliver, or I’ll spend next few billion years chasing you through the Local Group.
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My father was the head of the radio team for Voyager I and II. He and his team designed and built the radios that received and transmitted. (Actually, that receive and transmit. I understand they still work.)
As a young kid I remember him showing me the concept of this disc, and what it was supposed to mean to ‘others’ in the universe. I was fascinated. Though he has passed, he would be terribly happy this is still a thing. Cool project.
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＼（★´−｀）人（´▽｀★）／
The record always seemed silly to me. Because it seemed to contain to contain a collection too shallow and diverse to be meaningful to a civilization that finds it.
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Vinyl? Really? The reason for this compilation won’t come to fruition for tens of thousands of years. It’s the sort of probject I could see the Long Now Foundation getting involved with. Transcribing the document onto vinyl makes about as much sense as putting it on 8 track tape, or wax cylinder.
If the kickstarter were about expanding the package for the next probe, updating the images and sounds, and periodically refreshing the media it’s burned on (dvd rom, magic crystals, whatever next years’ storage happens to be)- that’s the sort of stuff that would justify the effort. The only way I could see a vinyl release being worth it, is if they included a replica head, and had some kind of maker project where we build the turntable, following the instructions on the cover.
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It’s not true to claim that a vinyl LP was the intended medium for listening to the audio tracks. The intended medium was, obviously, the original gold record, which is not a vinyl LP and probably doesn’t sound like an LP, given that the recording medium is metal. So this recording is really no more authentic than the early 90s CD. Plus, I would argue that this material is not subject to copyright because rights-holders gave away that protection when they agreed to allow it to be reproduced as a Federal government “document.” The fact that you are having to pay the original copyright holders again suggests that the material on your LPs will not come from the masters for the Voyager recordings, but from other sources such as the masters for commercial pressings of the same tunes. Again, the lack of authenticity seriously undermines this project. But it looks like there are enough people who want to buy a nice, pretty box set.
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You think Canada is bad? Try shipping to AC +79 3888, the shipping rates there are astronomical!
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Yeah, but if you’re willing to pay the shipping rates, I hear you get a golden copy instead of vinyl!
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That should be the stretch goal!
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