Back asswards

I don’t often get my CBC budget cut analysis from the sports section, but maybe I should.

From Bruce Dowbiggin’s take on the recent cuts:

CBC’s core business, its relevance to the public, would probably be in the following order: 1. News and current affairs; 2. Radio; 3. Sports; 4. Light entertainment. The problem with the current CBC is that its executive structure has the order reversed.

Though I’d quibble with Bruce’s list — there are news and current affairs programs on radio, for instance — this rings true to me.

Full list of CBC Music direct URLs

Update July 18, 2013: CBC Music has posted an official list of streams (thx, Colan)

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CBC just launched a new music service, imaginatively titled CBC Music. It

offers access to 40 web radio stations, a vast array of music and blog posts by CBC personalities through a website and via mobile apps.

Rather than listen to these stations via a website or mobile app, I’d prefer to listen via VLC. However, there doesn’t seem to be a list of publicly-available stream URLs.

So I made one.

You’re welcome.

Special (e.g. Complete Cohen, Complete Blue Rodeo)

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_SPCIAL_H.pls

Radio 3

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_R3_WEB.pls

Classical

Radio 2 Classical

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_R2CLAS_H.pls

Essential Classics

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_ECLASS_H.pls

Operatic

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_OPERAT_H.pls

Baroque

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_BAROQU_H.pls

Modern Masters

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_MODMAS_H.pls

Orchestral

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_ORCHES_H.pls

Piano

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_PIANO1_H.pls

Chamber (nee Glenn Gould Sampler)

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_GGSAMP_H.pls

CBC Records

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_CBCREC_H.pls

Canadian Composers

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_CANCOM_H.pls

Jazz

Radio 2 Jazz

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_R2JAZZ_H.pls

Jazz Masters

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_JAZMAS_H.pls

Jazz Songbook

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_JAZSON_H.pls

Jazz Canada

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_JAZCDN_H.pls

Smooth Jazz

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_JAZSMO_H.pls

Singer-Songwriter

Canadian Songwriters

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_CANSON_H.pls

Singer-Songwriter

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_SINSON_H.pls

World

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_WORLDM_H.pls

Rock

Indie

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_INDIE1_H.pls

Rock (with hosts)

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_ROCK01_H.pls

Rock Classics

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_ROCKCL_H.pls

Hard Rock

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_HAROCK_H.pls

Pop

Pop 40

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_POP040_H.pls

Adult Pop

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_ADLTPO_H.pls

Jukebox Favourites

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_JUKEBO_H.pls

The 70s

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_70S001_H.pls

The 80s

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_80S001_H.pls

The 90s

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_90S001_H.pls

Adult Alternative

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_ADLTAL_H.pls

Blues

Blues

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_BLUES1_H.pls

Blues Classics

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_BLCLAS_H.pls

R&B/Soul

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_RBSOUL_H.pls

Hip Hop

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_HIPHOP_H.pls

Aboriginal

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_ABORIG_H.pls

Country

Country

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_CONTRY_H.pls

Alternative Country

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_ALTCRY_H.pls

Country Classics

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_CLSCRY_H.pls

Electronic

Electronic

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_ELECTR_H.pls

Ambient Lounge

http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/CBC_AMBIEN_H.pls

That time Timbuk2 replaced my 5-year old bag, for free

I love it when I experience great customer service. It seems to happen so infrequently that I feel compelled to share whenever it does. Every once in a while, you deal with people who stand behind their company or product so much that you can’t not tell people about it. For example, when the Australian Boot Company replaced my 2-year old boots in 2009. Or when they did it again a year later.

This time, it’s a story about Timbuk2. They make bags.

About five years ago, I bought a black/black/black Timbuk2 laptop messenger bag from Europe Bound in Toronto. I love it. It’s perfect. It holds all my stuff, and is great for daily commuting or a weekend trip. It’s travelled with me almost everywhere I’ve been for the past half decade.

But last summer, I noticed that my bag’s original velcro flap fasteners just weren’t as, well, velcro-y as they used to be:

Not surprising for something that gets ripped apart several times daily. Still, a bit of a nuisance. So I emailed customerservice@timbuk2.com, and asked: “Can you suggest the best way to repair this?” The reply arrived later the same day:

If you don’t mind us sewing through the flap, we should be able to replace it for you.  You can fill out a warranty claim here:  http://www.timbuk2.com/tb2/retail/warrantyreturn.htm

A kind offer, but I wasn’t keen on them sewing right through the bag to fix it. So I asked, “Is there any way to replace the velcro w/o sewing through the flap?” Again, a very speedy reply:

Looks like we can try to repair it, or worst case scenario, just replace the bag. Go ahead and follow the instructions here, and we’ll get you all squared away! http://www.timbuk2.com/wordpress_cms/customer-service/the-timbuk2-quality-guarantee/

So I filled out their warranty form, got an RMA number, and then, promptly did nothing for a year. Yes, that’s right. I got busy, or lazy, or perhaps just plain forgot, but I never sent my bag for them to diagnose and/or try to fix. I just kept on using the bag with the non-velcro-y velcro. It wasn’t ideal, of course, but it got my stuff from point A to point B.

12 months passed, and then, a few weeks ago, for whatever reason, I decided to email Timbuk2 again. “I know it’s been a year,” I wrote, “But does your offer still stand?” Their reply:

You can go ahead and still send the bag in. Just make sure to write that RMA number on the outside of the package and we will either issue you a store credit or fix the bag.

Keep in mind this is more than a year after I filled out the original warranty claim, and five years since I bought the bag. And I didn’t even buy it from them! I bought it from a third-party retailer. So I headed to Canada Post to mail my messenger bag off to San Francisco.

Well, as it turns out, shipping a messenger bag (even an empty one) can be pretty darned expensive. So, I emailed Timbuk2 one more time to let them know that I appreciated their offer, but that the cost to ship my bag to them was prohibitive.

A few days later, their reply (from Heather):

We apologize for the long wait.   I sent over another email with a credit code in it to use on our website. You can use this to purchase a new bag. We just ask that you donate your current bag to someone in need.

Boy oh boy, that’s above and beyond. And that last line — that’s classy.

Want to guess who I’ll buy my next bag from?

My real-life experience using CanadianForex

Bank wire transfers suck.

They suck in (at least) three ways:

1. Banks charge a fee for every transfer (my bank, TD, charges $30-80 per transfer)
2. Banks’ international exchange rates are terrible
3. Sometimes, your money needs to pass through an intermediary bank, which may charge additional fees

Ugh.

So then, when when Jenna and I decided to move to France, I started looking around for alternatives to bank wire transfers. After looking at several options, we decided to try out CanadianForex, an online forex service that advertises better exchange rates and lower fees than the banks. I was skeptical.

So then, for the benefit of anyone considering CanadianForex, here’s a quick outline of how it all went:

Setup

I set up our CanadianForex account while we were still in Toronto. The process was pretty simple. It involved filling out an online form, taking a telephone call from a friendly CanadianForex rep to confirm a few details, then sending in proof of our Canadian bank account (a scanned bank statement).

After we arrived in Lyon and opened our French bank account (which is an entirely different story), I decided to try to actually move some money. I set up our French bank account as a beneficiary, then placed an order online.

Exchange Rate

I ordered Euros on January 11, 2012. That day, if I’d bought Euros through my bank, one Canadian dollar would have bought me 0.74867 €. At CanadianForex, the rate was 1 CAD = 0.7627 €

Bottom line: Using CanadianForex got me an extra 1.4 centime on the dollar, compared to TD Canada Trust. Not bad.

Fees

Because of the amount we transferred, CanadianForex didn’t charge us any fees.

Zero fees.

TD would have charged us at least $30 CAD per transfer.

Customer service

I telephoned CanadianForex a few times — once to confirm that my French banking details were set up correctly, and another time to confirm that there would be no intermediary bank involved. Both times friendly human beings with Australian accents (CanadianForex is owned by Austalia-based OzForex) helped me out and answered my questions.

The rest of my dealings with CanadianForex were entirely online, and very straightforward.

Side note: When I asked TD about their wire transfer protocol, they handed me a photocopied form, and told me that when I wanted to transfer money, I could fill it out and fax it to them. Fax!

Timing

From start to finish, the transfer took a few days. I ordered Euros on January 11, and received a confirmation that they’d been deposited in our French bank account on January 16.

When I checked, the transfer was exactly the amount quoted, and indeed, there were no fees or intermediary banks involved.

Again, not bad.

Overall

CanadianForex advertises itself as a cheaper alternative to wire transfers, and in my (lone) experience, it is. If you feel like saving a percentage point or two on international money transfers, they’re definitely worth checking out. I’ll definitely use them again.

My new favourite iPhone app: Instacast

I love podcasts. I listen to a lot of podcasts. And almost exclusively, I use my iPhone to listen to podcasts.

But heres’s the thing: subscribing to and downloading new podcasts to my iPhone is fiddly. Syncing with iTunes on my Mac is fiddly. Downloading new episodes a-la-carte via the iTunes app on iOS is fiddly.

Which is why I was absolutely delighted to learn about Instacast. It’s a standalone podcast downloader and player for iOS, and it’s exactly what the iPhone’s built-in should have been. I wish I’d known about it sooner. Here’s a video:

Introduction to Instacast from Vemedio on Vimeo.

If you listen to or download podcasts regularly, and aren’t satisfied with iTunes, Instacast is well worth the $1.99 asking price.