Audio Questonaire

AUDIO QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS of poll (As of 9/11/08 - Tally by Jim-REPHEAL Grandon) 1. Do you normally purchase from us Cassette tapes 55 CD's 59

2. In your opinion, the sound quality of the products you listen to (1 is "poor", to 5 being "best") Tapes: 1- 7 2- 7 3 - 25 4-21 5- 9 Total

69 (average - 225 169 = 3.26)

CD's :

Total

1- 4 2- 14 3 - 24 4- 19 5- 4 65 (average - 162165 = 2.49)

3. Are cassette tapes or CD's more convenient for you?

Cassette tapes 47 CD's 65

4, If we were to offer only one of these, which would you prefer?

Cassette tapes 45 CD's 65

Page 2 - AUDIO QUESTIONNAIRE COMMENTS 1. "I have a CD player, but for me it's easier to backtrack on cassette tapes to pick up on something I've missed." (Mary S.) 2. "I love the start and stop ability of the tapes. I can remove the tape from the player and then put it in again to continue where it left off?" (Claudia-MARIE P.) 3. "An improved microphone will be good. I have mainly ordered CD's since available. I like the CD's best due to indexing, though sometimes I have later purchased the cassette to hear what was missed on CD. The coughing takes away from the quality, but how can you control that? I so wish that when you are doing both media, that you could start the CD's a little later when you're burning time waiting for the whole gang to get there. I am listening more for the information than the jokes. I do realize you also use the jokes to help lighten the atmosphere." (Bill M.) 4. "I prefer the CD's, but the CD's are shorter in length, and you get a bit more on the tapes. This is why I order both. I play the CD's in the car." (Eula-VICTORIA H.) 5. "1 prefer CD's with MP/3 format. The entire meeting can be recorded in full on the computer, and then converted to MP3. In this way, man y meetings will fit on one CD." (Steven A.)

6. "I prefer CD's because my car doesn't do tapes." (Russ B.) 7.

"I just recently purchased all new CD equipment." (Lucia K.)

8. "Cassette tapes are very easy to rewind if I want to re-listen to a portion of something just heard." (Marjorie M.) 9.

"Only interference is coughing when guests are ill." (Marjorie W.)

10. "Wish CD's were as long as tapes and didn't get end of meetings cut off.

Please allow whole meeting to be recorded on CD." (Rob E.) 11. "Hard to clearly hear JOHNEL's voice on either one." (Rick W.)

Page 3 - AUDIO QUESTIONNAIRE COMMENTS (continued) 12. "Coughing/sneezing chops out voice. CD's not as long-playing as tapes. CD would be better than tapes, but fail to record everything." (Alfred G.) 13. "Can't hear others that speak sometimes. It would be good to repeat what they said." (Myrna B.) 14. (Re. cassettes) "I can hardly hear it. Volume too low." (Wilma R.) 15. "I prefer CD's. Money is a factor why I don't buy." (Thora S.) 16. "CD's sound better, clearer." (Sue-CHAD W.) 17. "It is hard to hear the people's questions and comments sometimes. I can download the CD's onto my computer and then to my Ipod. I enjoy listening to my Ipod because I can hear everything better." (Cynthia G.) 18. "I actually like both the cassettes and the CD's." (Alma D.) 19. "There is so much coughing into the mike that it is nerve-wracking." (Joe B.) 20. "I have trouble hearing the tapes, and can't play the CD's in the car." (Don B.) 21. "The quality of the cassette tapes is fine, but volume could be a tad louder." (Bill S.)

22. "I have been purchasing cassette tapes, even though CD's are more convenient, because more of the meeting is on the tapes. I don't want to cause confusion, but have you considered using the MP3 format for audio recordings? It has become the de facto standard for audio recordings in the tech world. I have a MP3 player that is also a recorder. It is about the size of a pack of matches and cost around $80.00. 1 would be happy to donate one if you would like to try it. The advantages of MP3 are: (1) Many hours of audio can be stored on one CD in MP3 format, (2) The MP3

recordings can be sent out in E-mails instead of using CD's, and (3) The MP3 recordings can be put on a web site and people can download them to their computers. The disadvantages of MP3 are: (1) A MP3 player or computer or MP3 compatible CD player are required to listen, and (2) A MP3 recorder is needed or a computer can be used to convert the audio on a normal CD to MP3 format. God bless." (Dennis J.)

Page 4 - AUDIO QUESTIONNAIRE COMMENTS (continued)

23. "Please offer both cassettes and CD's; it is best." (Leonard A. S.) 24. 'Newer cars are only equipped with CD players." (Sally W.) 25. "I purchase both cassette tapes and CD's." (Kathryn R.) 26. "Average sound quality of tapes is not very crisp." (Evelyn T.) 27. "I tried CD's once but was dismayed to find that approx. 10 minutes was missing. (Re. Sound quality) I think a lapel mike would help." (Karl R.) 28. "We used to get the tapes, but they were too hard to understand. But we miss hearing the parts we miss on CD. Cassette players are hard to find when old ones wear out." (Don and Marlene M.) 29. "Prefer CD's, but the reason I ordered tapes at times was to get the complete service." (Rita W.) 30. "I have two boxes of your tapes. CD's are easier to store, as I keep all NDP stuff. Doesn't matter if tapes or CD's as long as I get them." (Gretel-RAPHAEL L.) 31. "Tapes hold more message—longer time period." (Paul H.) 32. "Either tapes or CD's OK." (William B.) 33. "Babies crying or throat-clearing into mike makes it hard to hear. But, either tapes or CD's Ok j ust hearing the Word is what matters to us. (Thomas & Suzanne E.) 34. "I am currently looking for a hand-cranked cassette player, for lonely times when there's lack of power—fellowship on the go!" (Jason E.) 35. "Couldn't hear people in background clearly. It was too loud when speaker clearing his throat or turning pages." (Carole S.)

Page 5 - AUDIO QUESTIONNAIRE COMMENTS (continued)

36. "I prefer tapes because I can start and stop without starting over, as with CD's." (Don F.) 37. "Personal preference is to not have the music on tape: (1) poor quality, and (2) takes up too much room on tape and miss some of the message. Tapes sometimes not loud enough." (Gary D.) 38. "It seems like the microphone is too close to your mouth." (Carolyn G.)

RESPONSE by: Chuck-JOHNEL These end-of-month meetings were originally started back in Spokane, Washington for the sake of those who wanted updates on what was happening. Taping was done for those who might be interested,. The atmosphere has always been informal.

My "coughing" (or clearing my throat) is a family condition (my dad had it and so on) and I do it without being aware of it. It is difficult to control for that reason. I will try to do my best to contain the coughs.

The acoustics of our meeting room is only fair, can't do much about that.

We learned that we had a bad microphone (it worked and then faded out and faded back in) and have since replaced it (pricey puppy).

The recording equipment is limited, we do not have a recording studio and lack that level of expertise. We do the best we can with what we have. Nancy-TONI has worked quite hard to get the upper hand on the technical aspects of the recording side of this work. Keep in mind that we do this only "part time", once a month for nine months out of the year.

The CD's run 80 minutes, the cassette tapes run 90 minutes - can't do much about that. We improve where we can and hope to do better in the future. God bless.

1 AJ CHRirJ