A brief history of AMPLINEX

Roy Follett

AMPLINEX has now moved into its fourth year of operation and I feel this is an opportune time for a short review of our aims and activities. During the last three years our active membership list has constantly changed, with the number of new members joining almost matching the number who have either lost interest in AMPLE or looked elsewhere for information.

AMPLINEX was born of a casual thought of mine. Sitting at the Beeb, after what seemed hours wrestling with and not solving a particular AMPLE problem, I said to myself, 'somebody out there must have already solved this problem, if only I could talk to them.'

Luckily, I had on my files a name given to me by Nigel Sixsmith. Early users of AMPLE will remember that Nigel started a short-lived AMPLE User Group. It was a shame it failed: I think it was mainly due to it being paper-based. However, the name he had given me was, of course, Kevin Doyle.

Kevin had developed an idea for a disc-based AMPLE Music Exchange and was arranging to advertise the idea through Nigel Sixsmith's AMPLE User Group newsletter when the group folded. Following lengthy discussions between us, we decided to launch AMPLINEX - Kevin would be the editor and I would look after the administration. If Kevin casts his mind back to those discussions, I think he will agree that I probably railroaded him into getting involved. Anyway, he provided the software expertise that was needed to design the disc-based magazine, and we set about constructing the first issue, based on our own contributions.

Having had the idea, now we had to make it work. The second bit of luck turned out to be the enthusiasm of the members, who seemed to be brimming over with ideas, music, hints etc. All that was required was AMPLINEX: a method by which this knowledge could be spread around.

Since the beginning of AMPLINEX I have been amazed at the amount of expertise and knowledge that has been submitted by our members. A quality so high that you, the members, can quite justly feel proud that you have made AMPLINEX highly regarded as a fount of AMPLE knowledge.

Well, that's enough praise - you might start resting on your laurels. At the moment we have approximately four hundred current and lapsed members. At duplicating time I do, on average, eighty discs; but during the following months this number can be expected to rise to about one hundred and fifty. As new members join and take back issues, the final total may rise to around one hundred and eighty discs per issue.

Of the discs distributed, on average, 25% are free of charge. In other words, a quarter of our members make submissions of some sort for each AMPLINEX disc. This might seem a low number, but I consider it a very good percentage. I doubt whether any of the home computer magazines can claim that 25% of their readers regularly write to them.

It would be nice, though, if there were more submissions; just think how good the content of AMPLINEX would be if we doubled that figure. But I am afraid that some members think that they have nothing to offer, and if they do submit something they feel the need to apologise for its quality, or that it has been sent in before.

All I can say to such reticent members is: send it in. Kevin will decide whether to use it or not. You have nothing to lose and a free issue to be gained. A free issue is earned by the submission, not by whether it is finally used in AMPLINEX.

This might be a good time to apologise to those members who in the past have made submissions, earned a free issue, and then failed to see their work on the disc. Basically, I make the decision as to whether to return your cheque and not the editor, so in general all submissions (except adverts) are accepted in place of payment. To say to a member, 'we could not get your hint or your music on the disc therefore you cannot have a free issue' would be wrong.

Unfortunately, the disc is of finite size, and some items have to be omitted or held back for later use.

Whether we will be still going in 1993 is anyone's guess, but our longevity is dependent on the participation of as many members as possible. If we get no submissions then there will be no AMPLINEX.

We do have some warning signs: we distributed two hundred and five copies of AMPLINEX issue 001; by issue 014 that figure had dropped to about one hundred and fifty. So, in general, there is a decline in interest. At the same time, those members we still have are as enthusiastic as they ever were. So I say again, we need your help to let us keep the future reputation of AMPLINEX as high as it is now.

In case new members have not realised: AMPLINEX is not a User Group with a panel of experts acting as a source of AMPLE knowledge, but an Exchange (PO box if you like) with the ability to put you in touch, via the disc, with other AMPLE users. So if you have problems it is the other members who will try and give you assistance, based on their experience.

As most members will realise, running AMPLINEX is a spare-time occupation taking, as far as I am concerned, ten hours a week. This an average over a two month period and doesn't include duplicating day. The majority of the time is spent reading and listening to the submissions, and then entering the details on my database. This database is used by Kevin to keep track of what he has and has not used.

To keep the administration to a minimum, may I make a few requests to members making submissions, which would help me a great deal:

Firstly, when filling in the release form, at the section marked 'content', if the file is music, would you put whether the copyright is your own or not. Secondly, if you are purchasing back numbers and making a submission, please send two cheques: one for two pounds (for the next issue), and the other to pay for the back issues.

One last point: as we have been running late for some time now, members quite rightly get a little worried in case their discs have gone astray - especially when they see their cheques have been cashed. All I can say to members is, if you are worried please write to me, but please enclose a SAE for a reply.

Finally I would like to thank all of our members for their marvellous support over the last three years.

Now, I wonder if I solved the problem that started it all?