Students using audio download as new 'high'

[Euphoric]

Students using audio download as new 'high'

But critics say the digital drug promotes illegal substances.

October 8, 2007

Ames, Ia. - The wired generation makes friends, goes shopping, attends class and listens to music on the Web.

Now, they think they've found a way to get high online.

It's called I-Doser. The product works by allowing customers to download an audio file that contains a strange mix of beats and whooshes that the company claims can create a high, similar to being on drugs or under the influence of alcohol.

Chris Peck, an Iowa State University freshman from Marion, said he estimated 100 people in his dormitory alone have tried it.

He said he tried it about a month ago when his roommate came to campus with the program after a visit in Minnesota.

Late at night in his dorm room, Peck said he selected a track titled "Nitrous Oxide."

"I cleared my mind, sat back and relaxed and pretty much vegged out," he said. "The people around me said I was giggling and twitching a little. When I came to, I was really, really happy."

Compact discs from the company range from about $17 to $20, and individual audio tracks sport titles such as "Peyote," "Ecstasy," "Orgasm" and "LSD." The tracks cost between $3 and $4.50, three or four times the cost of standard music on iTunes.

The I-Doser Web site claims to use safe methods of "synchronizing your brain waves." It says the CDs and music downloads are a mix of binaural doses mixed with "advanced auditory pulses."

Binaural usually means hitting both ears at one time with sound stimulation, said John Polich, who has a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Dartmouth College and is an experimental psychologist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., a nonprofit research organization.

Polich said I-Doser "looks like a pretty good snow job," and he didn't know of any lab or scientist that has claimed patterns of sounds or tones produced changes in brain wave patterns.

"I've heard companies over the last couple of years claiming this type of stuff, but (there is) no scientific research to back it up," he said.

Several attempts to reach officials at I-Doser for comment were unsuccessful because e-mails sent to the company were not responded to. Its Web site does not include any company contact information or a headquarters location.

It says the I-Doser group is a team of underground music and tonal experts, programmers, testers, researchers and administrators.

Jim Peters of London, England, said in an e-mail interview that he is confident there is a "real provable effect" to listening to the I-Doser downloads, but said there are other uses for the type of sounds I-Doser sells, such as for emotional or spiritual cleansing.

I-Doser uses open-source software that Peters developed.

Jim Clayton, chairman of executive committee of the Stepping Up Project, a coalition in the University of Iowa and Iowa City/Coralville communities that works to reduce high-risk drinking, said even though I-Doser sounds like "bunk," he has some concerns.

"I do object that we have people who would go out into the world with a marketing plan that would try to glorify or sanctify the use of illegal or mind-altering substances," he said.

Peck, the ISU freshman who has tried I-Doser, described himself as a "pretty conservative person," and said he doesn't use real drugs. But he saw I-Doser as a safe alternative to drugs.

"Pretty much, it's experimenting without screwing yourself over," he said. "I think it's some placebo effect that makes you think you were doing this."

Jonathan Butz, 18, of Elk River, Minn., called I-Doser "just something to try," and a trend that has been sweeping campus, especially after it was featured recently in the campus newspaper, the Iowa State Daily.

He said he's heard sounds from I-Doser drifting out of dorm rooms, and conversations about it on campus.

He said he's tried tracks titled "Nitrous Oxide," "Alcohol" and "Acid."

He said the nitrous track made him laugh, almost as if he had no control over it. (Nitrous oxide is also known as laughing gas.)

"At first it just sounds weird and it hurts your ears, but then after a little while, the sounds are subtle differences," he said. "It's almost, like, hypnotizing."

Butz said he and a friend with surround sound in his dorm room cranked up a download of "Alcohol" after midnight about two weeks ago.

"It's really loud, and this blaring weird noise," he said.

Butz predicted the initial fascination with I-Doser on campus will soon fizzle out. He's already "kind of bored of it," and said some tracks last 45 minutes.

Michael Bugeja, director of ISU's Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, said it's no surprise young people think they are getting a high from I-Doser, because they've grown up with virtual reality, surrounded by television, electronic gadgets and video games.

"Why shouldn't they think it's real?" asked Bugeja, who has studied how electronic communication influences relationships. "We've engaged them."

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/app...NEWS/710080316

[Zaprenz]

SWIM is intrigued....

still if you look @ their webite

A dose is not passed on to the I-Doser Store until it is proven working by a good majority of the tester staff. We find that users of I-Doser fall into one of 3 categories: Susceptible to Binaural Beats, Originally Unsusceptible to Binuaral Beats, and Immune to Binaural Beats.

^Sounds vaguely reminisant of the placebo effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_recording

[xctico]

i-doser torrent + google

Reputation Comments on this post:

useful information

[MADali]

Hehe, SWIM tried this. He put on his headphone, the track is 60 minutes, and its just the same sound bite. While he was listening to it, he was surfing on the net. He was kind of relaxed (doubt it was any specific effect, just listening to anything for a long time will probably make you relaxed), but then suddenly the headphone malfunctioned for no reason, and a loud SSSHHHHHHH started playing, and SWIM freaked out and pulled off his headphones.

His heart was pounding like crazy!

[Zaprenz]

Originally Posted by MADali

but then suddenly the headphone malfunctioned for no reason, and a loud SSSHHHHHHH started playing, and SWIM freaked out and pulled off his headphones.

His heart was pounding like crazy!

That must have been the methamphetamine/adrenaline one! [or not]

Agreed SWIM hasn't listended to them all but the site looks very borderline scam-ish.

• Music alterating you mood !? Who would have thought!
• Binaural = Stereo
• Good old placebo effect
• How much do you have to pay??

[podge]

Originally Posted by MADali

SWIM freaked out and pulled off his headphones.
His heart was pounding like crazy!

I see a new thread emerging - audio bad trips.......

Reputation Comments on this post:

LOL!

[Joe Duffy]

How long till we hear about the first audio overdose?

[Zaprenz]

Now if the songs contained infrasound (frequencies below audio perception = below 20HZ) that would be interesting [except they wouldn't work through normal sound system].

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound

Thing is the amplitude required is usually very high (no turning up your sub-woofer to max wont do the trick - SWIM wouldn't be surprised if a lot of audio equipment automatically has below 20Hz filters anyway)

It's also not mean't to be a very pleasant experience (does depend on frequency) but SWIM thinks it was researched for croud control or remembers reading about it somewhere.

SWIM also watched a programme which showed some tombs, religious settlements to be natural helmholtz resonators (think blowing over the top of a bottle) which when drums are played inside or wind blows past the entrance to the cave the sub-audible frequencies are amplified in a cumulative way. This of course can then create altered perception, feelings of awe & fear etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmholtz_resonator

Still your not going to be getting infrasound frequencies with this kind of "chilled out" music. SWIM would definately suggest it's an expensive placebo.

Reputation Comments on this post:

thanks, the tomb comment is the most interesting thing in this thread, lol

[xctico]

Q tried the peyote, marijuana, heroin, and black sunrise... the only one that had some effect was the peyote [of course it was NOTHING even close to what's advertised - basically a 100% true peyotl experience... they even warn unexperience trippers to stay away from this one] it was relaxing, gave a sense of appreciation of the moment... lazyness and lack of interest for self... interesting, even fun, but certainly not honest advertisement....


btw... Q got it off a torrent site at a great price... 0.

[augentier]

This is hilarious..

My little brother, who has never done a drug in his life, listened to the ecstasy one and said that he saw a bookcase bend (like walls "breathing")..I'd try it but I was told the tracks are like 30 min long??

[Panthers007]

Oh yeah. And Jazz music leads to marijuana addiction. Negro music! Egads! And Hitler outlawed Swing and threw the "Swing Kids" into Dachau concentration camp. Same story. Why am I not surprised this came out out of Iowa?

This sort of garbage happens all the time. In Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA) the young folk suggested setting up musical instruments in front of City Hall for anyone to play to make people feel good. It was overwhemlingly embraced and resides there to this day.

[Senor Gribson]

"binaural beats" use the effect of 2 different frequencies played at once resulting in a beat frequency which is the difference of both frequencies. this is used to allow us to 'hear' sounds below our hearing range. when each frequency is played into a different ear, this supposedly can force brainwaves towards the beat frequency.

these binaural beat tracks have been around for a long time, and are often added to relaxation tapes and trance songs. as far as i know, they don't work at all but if anyone is interested, look up brainwave generator on google. it's not worth buying, but the demo is kinda fun to play around with.

Reputation Comments on this post:

binaural beats are crap.

[Mint boi]

Videodrome... similarities anyone?
they're gonna take over the world with music

[allyourbase]

in the terms of the music production world I believe "use the effect of 2 different frequencies played at once resulting in a beat frequency" would be called a square wave....biaural is just another way of saying "stereo"....remember that old record RCA used to give you with its turn table stereo boxes? "what is the best way to explain RCA stereophonic sound...." these guys seem to be marketed on a different explanation of the same principle. throw in some scientific voodoo (IT GETS YOU HIGH DOOD!) and they try to charge 17 dollars a "dose". de omnibus dubitandum, perhaps this more than other things.

[Senor Gribson]

Originally Posted by allyourbase

in the terms of the music production world I believe "use the effect of 2 different frequencies played at once resulting in a beat frequency" would be called a square wave.

no, a square wave is simply a normal wave consisting of only constant + and - peaks. on an oscilloscope it looks like:
_ _ _ _ _ _
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_|

but beat frequencies are the result of 2 sine waves superimposed over each other. sometimes this can result in a square wave, but not always.

this diagram explains superposition pretty well, i think. http://www.geocities.com/ac_dc_ac/squarwav.gif
and here's an example of a beat frequency: http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/f...eatsimage2.jpg

when played normally, it sounds kind of like a 'flanger' effect applied to a droning frequency. what binaural beats do is use stereo sound to play each frequency in a different ear, allowing your brain to combine the frequencies and produce the beat rather than have the waves physically blend together.

[MrG]

Hehehe, what a load of crap!

Personally I blame the damn hippies. So you get comfy, lay back and breath slowly and relaaaaaaaaax. Do this for 30/60mins whilst listening to this audio-narcotic and, hey fucking presto, bish bash bosh, you take the headphones off and feel . . . . chilled out!

Brilliant, lets sell it to the Japs, they'll make it way more efficient and be able to sell it back to us for a tenth of the price, only inside the CD case will be a little pill that says "eat me".

[Panthers007]

Don't forrget the bottle of head-cleaner marked: "Drink Me."

[Senor Gribson]

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30192

[FuBai]

As with a lot of these things we don't know how much is placebo and whether it has any more relaxing/intoxicating effects that normal music does. I know that by playing certain songs I can get my blood pumping, for instance the Foo Fighters with Pretender is good for that, but equally I can relax my self with something like Itchycoo Park by Small Faces. I would want to see a couple of double blind placebo studies with a sample size of at least 100 each before I would be ready to give too much credence to the claims.

[Thirdedge]

Swim tried to download the player but could not get it to work. He emailed the company for support but did not receive a response.

However . . , I see potential here. Take a look at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzSRVgF501M&eurl=
It is a short video clip that causes a short lasting hallucination. Swim thinks something similar to this mixed with various sounds, possibly combined with other technology could work well.
While I-Doser may be a bit of a scam / or very mild, the future could see us being offered some interesting virtual reality drugs IMO.

[Pino]

I thought I-Doser was a ripped version of this one: http://uazu.net/sbagen/ Some explanation about the license infringement: http://uazu.net/sbagen/i-doser.html