Ball-and-socket joint includes a joint housing and a ball head with a ball pivot. The apparatus comprises virtual channel means for creating a user selectable virtual channel for reproducing selected programs from various genuine channels. The identification result is also sent to the host computer simultaneously. The control signals can be carried in wireless carrier signals and can include bytes of data that define changes to the value of one or more operating parameters of an exercise device. When playing back the thus manufactured optical disk on a reproduction apparatus, the barcode data can be played back using the same optical pickup.