First there were banner ads, then animation, each of which greatly increased download time while waiting to read what someone has to sell or to watch a tiny caricature of a train scamper across our screens. Now a third pox is upon us.... music. <p>In looking at several rail websites recently, I've found that some have added what purports to be music, which takes forever to download. You can't stop it, nor go to another site until it downloads completely. When it does start playing, it is in fits and starts, making a broken record sound good. At best, it's a Muzak version of the City of New Orleans, at worst, it's unlistenable. None of it seems to be created by human beings. Sometimes you have to re-boot your computer to get rid of it.<p>I feel most of us utilize the web for information, not entertainment. If we want the latter, there is plenty of equally awful stuff to hear and see on the radio and TV, and you don't have to wait for it to download. What are your thoughts? <br>



ryarger1@nycap.rr.com

I have to agree with you there, Bob. I have never had the problem of not being able to move on to another site while the "music" is downloading, but I have never seen a web site that was actually enhanced by background music either. Most of the time I just leave my speakers switched off anyway. Sound can be great if it's meaningful and you give people the choice, you know, "click here to hear old 97 climbing up the 2% grade and blowing for the crossing", but I can really live without the kind of background noise that you're talking about.<br>



rjenkins@railfan.net

Totally agree with you. I surf on ebay looking for railroad collectibles and usually there are around 100+ new ones each night. More and more of them now have really annoying MIDI files attached which just delay me from looking at the item and moving on to the next item. Another site is the RR Museum of PA's website. At least they have a button where you can turn it off but all the music does for me is make me want to get off of their site.<br>



davelecount@juno.com