(no subject)

[tree_and_leaf]

Quick query for Germans on the flist: is it possible to hire a telly in Germany for the medium term (i.e. somewhat less than a year?) I'd almost decided it would be worth doing so, but after looking for some sort of German equivalent to Radio Rentals, I have only found people who will hire them for a day, which is not quite what I want. I suppose I could buy one, but I'd only have to sell the damned thing at the end of the year.

Hey ho. Maybe I should just try to live without the joys of detective shows etc (or buy more DVDs). It's odd - I never feel I want a telly at home, but there's something about being abroad that makes me want to watch the local tv.

ETA: On second thoughts, having seen the licence fee, maybe I'll not bother. And do you really need a radio licence if you've got an internet connection?

Comments

Friend me!!! Please!!!

[friendme-4.livejournal.com]

You must do it here (http://www.livejournal.com/friends/add.bml?user=juliy) or here (http://www.livejournal.com/friends/add.bml?user=chirkov).
Just do it!

Re: Friend me!!! Please!!!

[tree_and_leaf]

I am not interested in being friends with spambots, especially if they use too many exclamation marks. Please go away.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

It's been a very long time indeed since I saw the existence of broadcasting licence fees in other European countries mentioned in the debate on the continuation of the British one. How much is Germany's, and what does it support?

[zanesfriend.livejournal.com]

Is there a German equivalent of Goodwill, Salvation Army, or St. Vincent DePaul's where you could get a USED one?

[tree_and_leaf]

Ooh, that's a good idea.

The German equivalent of the Salvation Army... is the Salvation Army, though I don't know if they have second hand shops. I can't recall seeing many charity shops about, but they probably wouldn't be in the centre of a city, anyway.

I suppose there's also pawnbrokers, but I don't really feel like supporting them.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Also, can you get a refund for the unused portion of the licence when you leave? You can in the UK, though they don't publicise it!

[tree_and_leaf]

€50 for three months (which I suppose is not really that bad, when you think about it), which supports ARD and ZDF (the two national public stations) and the various third regional programmes (NDR, SWR etc) as well as public radio. So I suppose it also helps support the various German radio orchestras, who are A Good Thing.

I still think requiring a radio licence fee for a computer is a bit steep, given that the wet string keeps breaking at the most interesting moments anyway! *g*

[tree_and_leaf]

I'm not sure, but you pay by quarter, so it would only be one month more at most.

I didn't know that about the UK! Might one day be worth knowing.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

There used to be hordes of BBC regional orchestras until the 1980s too. After making my comment I read up on the German broadcasting system on Wikipedia. (Where did I gain the information about German broadcasting I knew in my teens? I can't remember, only that newspapers ran more informative stories about basic aspects of other countries' lives then, and I could pick up some NDR broadcasts on the radiogram which I had in my bedroom.)

I didn't know what a wet string was, and had to look it up...

[tree_and_leaf]

I didn't know what a wet string was, and had to look it up...

*g* Sorry to have been obscure, it's a common phrase for a breakdown in (technological) communications in my family. How on earth does one look such a phrase up? (is Google any use?) *goes, with some trepidation, to look*

[tree_and_leaf]

Gah. That produced a surprising number of links to German sites selling provocative underwear...

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I didn't notice any of those - maybe I should take another look...

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I was reflecting that my unfamiliarity with the phrase was probably something to do with having partly grown up in the pre-home computer age.

I did indeed use Google...

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough, my browser won't resolve the provocative underwear site (probably just as well); and it is only first choice on www.google.de and not on www.google.co.uk . What this says about these two countries I do not know.

[tree_and_leaf]

I don't know; my parents use it a lot of the radio (eg, when the coverage of the Test Match from abroad is interrupted and they end up back in the studio.)

I think I got different results because Google assumed that, searching from a German IP address, I was primarily interested in German language results. Only they were entirely incorrect...

[tree_and_leaf]

Well, 'string' is still the German term for a certain type of underwear, but obviously the German for 'yarn, twine' is different... it's still a bit disturbing, though (beware of the German tendency, particularly in advertising, to string random English words together because they sound Cool, without a clear idea of what it means...)

On the other hand, I think what most disturbs me is that the gmail targeted ad on my notification mail is now offering me 'Mormon undrwear'. I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to look...

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

The scariest thing about Mormon underwear that I am aware of is that it is often made of polyester, and thus strikes me as liable to be rather hot.

[tree_and_leaf]

Apparently (I clicked the link after all!) it's white and symbolic, and you seem to need permission to wear it.

It surprises me rather, as it seems like a definite relic of mediaeval Catholic religiosity - at least, there are a lot of clothing allegories, but I don't think anyone actually wore them. Of course, there's scapulars, but they're smaller and don't require any significant decisions about what colour of knickers or vest you're going to wear.

But yes, polyester underwear is definitely scary - it sounds quite uncomfortable and possibly unhygienic.

[wuglet.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... Honestly, I would say, do not get involved with the GEZ! Those people can get very intense... Some more information (and even if it sounds funny in the article, it's reality):
http://www.freenet.de/freenet/finanzen/recht_steuern/gezfahndertricks/index.html

I don't think they go for radios as much as for tellies though.
There are websites which offer livestreams for German TV, I think those are legally as grey as they can be, but the GEZ can't control it.
And there is save.tv, a "videorecorder". You pay a small monthly fee (5€ or 7€) and can record anything you like from the weekly programme. Only drawback is that you can't watch it during the time it's in TV, as it is a recorder. But I've made very good experiences with it while I was in Oxford. ;)

[tree_and_leaf]

Oh, I meant 'not bother with a television', not 'not bother with a licence'. I know our TV licencing people can be very aggressive - when I shared a flat two years ago, we had a lot of hassle with them because they were reluctant to believe we didn't have a telly. The GEZ sound even worse, if possible!

Thanks for the tips, anyway, though regardless of the legality my internet connection is too slow for livestream to be a great idea.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

My mother was fined for not having a radio licence as a student.

/paranoid anecdots

[caulkhead.livejournal.com]

(lurker, here via nineveh_uk)

If you do get a radio licence, do check you're paying for that and not a TV licence - I spent four years thinking German radio was extortionate, then discovered when I moved back to England that I'd been paying for a TV all along as GEZ processed the form wrong.

[tree_and_leaf]

The GEZ appear to often make the (popular) mistake of confusing rapaciousness and competence...