Music, film, entertainment
and other sites that sell interesting things

The Oldies Project
Now this is extraordinary. As a teenager, pirate radio was the only radio. And BigL, Radio London, was the station I tuned my tranny to whenever I got the chance and the batteries weren't flat. When the Labour Government sank them I switched to Radio Caroline. You can now listen to what I loved so much during the Sixties, without the hiss and fade, and the amazing playlists include things that you'll never find on any iTunes or even Limewire search. Big thanks and hearty congratulations to the team that put this brilliant project together.

Total Recorder
If you'd like to record the above, or any other internet broadcast for that matter, this simple utility is free and works well, albeit a bit sadly designed at the time of updating.

CD database
Very substantial resource of CD data - tracks, artists etc. This is where your PC’s CD playing software probably gets the information from which it magically displays the tracks of a CD when inserted.

Kids’ days out
Brilliant resource for anyone stuck for somewhere to take the children for a trip. Probably good for older folk too.

Plants
Everything you could possibly want to know about graden plants, indoor plants, potted plants and, well, plant plants.

More plants, and flowers and, er, plants
Rapidly developing and well-managed site with some famous tv personalities backing it too. Good for last minute presents.

Loot
The well-established and much-thumbed weekly classified paper has been on-line for some time now. The place to go if you’re looking for anything second-hand, including PCs

Dabs
Consistently one of the best sites offering the most competitive prices for a wide range of electronic and PC goods and software

cdwow
maintaining their position as the cheapest place to buy CDs in the UK

Mesh
I have had wonderful performance from my vintage (1997) PII machine and this company’s products are still topping most review charts. The business has grown rapidly, easier said than done in this area, and there were some back-up problems a couple of years ago but these appear to have been resolved. Genuine recommendation. I've recently bought again - a couple of basic systems and a really nice Shuttle + Illyama ProLite E4815.

Hi-Grade
My other piece of extremely hard-worked equipment was an M6400 from Hi-Grade. Good value and excellent build quality with first rate components. The business had an excellent review recently in the PC press too. Another genuine recommendation for a company that has developed significantly. Extraordinarily good value old stock available on the site from time to time too.

Hewlett Packard
Another supplier of heavily misused equipment in my office! Printers seem to cope with virtually everything thrown at them and I’ve found the 890 Professional really good for Home/Office use for several years now. Good reports about their PCs, too, which seem good value and well supported. Sites worth a visit. Had to replace the 890 with a 5150 as the former had no USB connection. Gave the old one to my son and I have to say that he's got the better printer! Gave the 5150 to my daughter and now running a 7760 which has 12 buttons, none of which I have yet used other than the on switch!

I am also now using a vp6110 projector made by these people which is excellent. Provided by the Learning & Skills Development Agency I do have to look after it but fortunately didn't have to pay for it so I can't comment on the value for money other than to say they spent months researching how to spend piblic money and so, one must assume, it should be on your list of options, at least.

It also provided superb entertainment at a summer party recently showing films on the side of a house from the middle of a field. All strictly educational, of course!

wooden toys
Tulip Toys sell those wonderful wooden things that adults love (and children quite like!)

Amazon
There's something about those neatly packaged brown cardboard parcels. It's a better day all round if a new DVD or book arrives.

Gadgets
Innovations catalogue always was about the only interesting thing to drop out of the Sunday papers. Occasionally, there's even something that actually makes sense

More gadgets
The GadgetStore is a division of the Serif software group. They have some great products and usually at good prices.

Limewire
Controversial, maybe, but I believe that these music sharing sites are little different to sharing tapes, albums or CDs as I’m sure we have all done in the past. More often than not I finish up buying a CD as well as keeping the mp3 file on my PC. A recent really annoying problem has been the inclusion of other software in the download which, although generally harmless, is a pain and brings yet more 'spyware' and 'adware' into your life. Limewire is free of this. The subscription is extremely modest and claims to make the sharing process legal. I started with Napster, then Morpheus, Kazaa, Kazaa lite . . . hope this one lasts!

S1X AH, T1GRX
With the advent of the new ‘European’ style number plates in September 2001, which offer precious little scope for individuality, the choice of personal plates for your car will narrow dramatically as the dwindling number of old-style plates yet to be issued leaves just a few odd combinations of letters and numbers. This is the official DVLA site and it has excellent search facilities. The prices are considerably cheaper than buying from the private dealers.