I can already see so many advantages:

1. My e-mail inbox filled up in no time flat with all the messages that accumulated during my absence this weekend, including the 3 mb-picture-loaded one that one of my dear friends has insisted on sending me regularly, just to keep me continually and painfully aware of the slowness of my dial-up connection. Well, no more!

2. Family harmony will improve dramatically as we will no longer be simmering in irritation waiting for the current Internet user to finish up “just one last thing.” [It's not like I ever hogged the Internet line or anything...]

3. I will actually be able to view on-line videos, listen to streaming audio and download files larger than 500k…and not have to block out an hour of time to perform any of the above.

4. I’ll be able to keep all the websites I maintain much better updated because it won’t take me hours on end just to synch them and upload new information.

5. Maybe someday I’ll actually get the wireless network running and then I’ll be able to do work from my favorite spot – the living room couch.

The only downsides I see are:

1. I may not get through as many books – you wouldn’t believe how much reading can be accomplished while waiting for new pages to load on dial-up…
2. Hopefully the local Panera won’t go out of business now that I’m not supporting them with my purchases when I spend the day on their wireless connection.

All in all, I’d say the pros definitely outweigh the cons. A huge thanks to my dear Dad for braving this new path into the 21st Century…and for getting it all set up while I was gone so that I didn’t have to do any of the work.

Here’s a copy of what I posted some time ago on my other blog (I’ve updated it here, though to reflect information for the newest version of Feedreader):

Have you heard the term RSS? There are a number of different definitions for RSS, but in a nutshell, RSS allows you to receive instant updates from sites as new posts are added. This is a great way to stay up to date with new information without having to visit numerous sites repeatedly to see if posts have been added or not. It has saved me tons of time and increased my ability to keep up with what’s going on literally around the world!

There are many options available, but here are step-by-step instructions for the RSS aggregator I use and really like:

1. Go to the Feedreader website.
2. Click on the “Download Feedreader” link at the top of the right column.
3. Click on the “Download Feedreader 3.03 from Fileforum” link.
4. Click on the “Download Now” link in the right column.
5. Save the file to your computer in the location you select.
6. Once finished downloading, follow the instructions to install Feedreader on your computer.

Once Feedreader is installed, follow these few simple instructions to start receiving updates right away:
1. Click on the “New” button to add a feed to your list.
2. When the “Add Feed” window pops up, enter the url for the RSS feed. (Note: You must enter the feed url, not just the website or blog url. You will have to find a link on the website or blog to the specific feed. For example, here is the feed for my blog. On Blogger, you can usually locate the feed by entering atom.xml following the root directory for the blog in the url window at the top of your browser.)
3. That’s it! You can experiment with different options and organize the blogs into folders, etc.

Feedreader runs as a stand-alone program on your desktop rather than as a web-based reader, which I really like. It’s a great program – you should check it out!

I used Word Press to build the blog and am using Blue Host for my hosting. I must say, of the three hosting companies I’ve used, I am most impressed with this one. The price is very reasonable, the service has been great so far, and the control panel capabilities are more generous and extensive than any of the others I’ve used.

Any feedback or suggestions for Music Matters Blog are most appreciated!

WordPress has so many features, I feel like I’ve barely even scratched the surface so far (and you wouldn’t believe how many hours I’ve spent on-line today researching all of this!). But I’m incredibly excited! Stay tuned in the coming weeks for the revealing of my new project…