Loading device and streaming Vic20 software

[Vic20-Ian]

Interesting new device and mp3 website streaming software to the Vic20. £15 inc. Postage

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-Webstrea ... 2749.l2649

The Website is interesting:

https://www.load64.com/vic20//discover

https://www.load64.com/vic20//genres

I ordered one to try out.

[English Invader]

There isn't much going on for our beloved VIC20 these days so I decided to start a little project.

Don't know where he got that idea from?

There is a similar thing for the Speccy. You plug a tape connector lead from your Speccy to the headphone jack of your mobile phone and stream TZX files from an Android app. That one has been around for many years and is a lot better supported than this one for the VIC. Plus you don't need any special hardware.

[prowlr]

The ZX Spectrum has the advantage of having the mic input plug built in unlike the Vic20.

[joshuadenmark]

Looks very interesting, hopeing for a review.

[Vic20-Ian]

It is in the post on the way. Review to follow in a few days.

[Vic20-Ian]

I received this yesterday - very fast delivery from the seller.

The device is well packed with a USB Lead and adapters for USBC and Micro.

The website with instructions is at https://tinyurl.com/1530tape

I plugged it into my Galaxy Note 10 with USB C adapter and went to the software site at https://www.load64.com/vic20//new_music

I tried a few loads and got out of memory. I turned the phone up a bit to 75% (on screen as phone is silent with USB Connected)

I tried another load and the screen said ready after 1 or 2 second and then hung (or so I thought).

I tried this again and then realised how it is working. There is a small turbo loader and when it was believed to be hung up it was still loading. I was too impatient.

The turbo loader loads and runs and a few second later Alphoids fully loaded and ran. I tried Beekeeper, Bluestar and Bonzo 8k those all loaded first time as well.

13s for unexpanded games and 20s for Bonzo.

Overall it is a fairly impressive way of loading something new.

Ebay Service from remzi 10/10 - Great communication and posted next day
Packaging Quality 10/10 - arrived undamaged and complete
Packaging Style 5/10 - nice to received a personalised instruction but no branded box (hobby product)
Device Manufacture 10/10 - nicely made with a small clip together case and accessory adaptors. Well thought out.
Price / Value 9/10 - £15 including postage - a lot cheaper than a tape deck
Function 10/10 - works much better than expected
Speed / Utility of design 10/10 - I tried more new games in the last 15 minutes than I have in 6 months downloading, moving to SD etc.
Environment 10/10 - I like the curated collection with screenshots - got me to download and try Beekeeper
Novelty 11/10 - Great overall novel service delivery, nice to use your phone or a pc
Simplicity 9/10 - just the minor hiccup the first few loads - an introductory video could help

Ability to upload own games TBC - I have not tried this yet but it looks like it could create some community collation effort.

Overall I am very pleased with this "Tape Loader" and would recommend it to others.

[Vic20-Ian]

Looks very interesting, hopeing for a review.

Reviewed