July 19, 2007
YouTube Custom Players
My Music Channel
Very Cool, if you can create a channel in YouTube, you can create a custom player.
Posted by Steve at 11:47 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
May 16, 2007
The beginning of the end for DRM
Amazon's announcement of having a DRM-Free MP3 Music site is good news. They aren't the first to do it. emusic has been doing it for years. Apple will be doing it.
emusic is too niche, and Apple is too proprietary. But Amazon presenting this MP3 based store has the power and scale to make this work in a mass market - and make the music industry finally re-think the business models around music distribution.
In ten years, we will all look back and laugh that we tried to protect digital media with DRM.
Yes, we will see more product placements in movies, and we will see more ads in videogames, and music, well, music will become the promotional device for a band to make money on other things. Artists will start to produce more music and release it more frequently.
Will people still buy media? Yes, they will if it's easy and cheap enough to get at the very instant someone wants it.
Will music make it's way around to people who didn't pay for it? Sure. But let's face it - it does that now. Any college kid these days who wants a CD but doesn't want to pay for it can tell you where they can get it in 10 minutes. Is there a way to monetize that scale? There must be.
The music industry knows its current business model's days are numbered - and DRM-free stores will force their hand in figuring out the new model.
So here's to putting DRM in the history books.
Posted by Steve at 04:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 01, 2007
the gauchos rock
awesome, 3 brothers from Mesa, Arizona - rock out at 10, 12, and 14 years old. these guys whill go places.... Los Guachos de Acero (sp) Funny, but this song was also one of the first i learned how to play on the guitar. I had a magnificent mullet back then...
Posted by Steve at 12:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 23, 2007
100 Greatest Guitar Solos - Tablature for the greatest guitar solos of all time NOT
stairway #1? c'mon, i could play that note for note when i was twelve years old. could you possibly pick a safer choice? what's more pussy? the guitar world readers putting stairway at #1, or the about.com stating that "Due to legal concerns, the tablature originally accompanying this article has been removed"?
how about #76 - Cinnamon Girl - never has so much been done with one note. now that would have been a ballsy #1.
comments on your #1?
Posted by Steve at 01:15 PM | Comments (696) | TrackBack
December 27, 2006
Pitchfork Feature: Top 25 Worst Album Covers of 2006
yep, some of these are pretty bad.
for example:
Check out this quote:
Okay, fine. But this cover is a bad gradient, a Larabie future font, a miscast drop shadow, and a clipart image that we've actually seen used elsewhere (twice!). If this was 1973-- and the music doesn't go out of its way to suggest it isn't-- Hipgnosis would be really disappointed.
and click through to read the rest:
Link to Pitchfork Feature: Top 25 Worst Album Covers of 2006
Posted by Steve at 01:04 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
October 30, 2006
» Halloween Playlist Spectacular - Yahoo! Radish
Looking for music to play tomorrow whilst you sit on the porch, get drunk, and hand out candy to kids? Look no further...
Link to » Halloween Playlist Spectacular - Yahoo! Radish
Posted by Steve at 11:56 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
June 04, 2006
got kids? try Animusic
if you're not into cheesy emerson, lake, and palmer /yes-like music fronted by animatronic machines roboting it out onscreen, chances are your kids will be.
netflix has volume 1. 
Animusic - DVD Info & Clips - Animusic 1
Posted by Steve at 08:58 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 03, 2006
yep, the new tool has arrived
Eric really says all you need to say. This was the first actual CD I have bought in a long time. Sometimes you just gotta have the packaging. Plus, neither Yahoo! nor the Russians had it. I couldn't wait.
Posted by Steve at 11:09 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
April 12, 2006
Tool...coming soon
10,000 Days
i really, really hope i can still get into tool. i seem to be outgrowing most of these types of bands. can tool hold up?
Amazon.com: 10,000 Days: Explore similar items
Posted by Steve at 09:40 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
April 09, 2006
Bridges - Jets Overhead
My Yahoo! Music pick of the week:
Posted by Steve at 07:41 PM | Comments (17) | TrackBack
February 09, 2006
editors - back room
these guys are big in London. if you like Interpol, you'll like Editors.
editors - back room
Posted by Steve at 05:08 PM | Comments (63) | TrackBack
a fever you can't sweat out - panic at the disco
i haven't written about any music in quite a while, quite frankly, because i haven't heard anything that has has moved me to do so in quite a while. let's face it, either i'm getting older every day, or the music today is mostly over-produced derivative crap. a fever you can't sweat out is no different and this is a bit of an old record, but i guess when you get derivative enough, you get something new and fresh.
anyway, this one has to be played loud. i mean really loud.
think thursday with fallout boy with shudder to think.
Amazon.com: A Fever You Can't Sweat Out: Music: Panic! At the Disco
Posted by Steve at 02:50 AM | Comments (1748) | TrackBack
November 05, 2005
baby we were born to run
springsteen is podcasting: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BruceSpringsteen
Posted by Steve at 07:41 PM | Comments (4)
September 05, 2005
yep, RealMedia still sucks
i haven't had a real media player on any of my machines for years. it was always pretty much a virus in my opinion - you couldn't get rid of it if you tried, and it infected all parts of your machine.
for some stupid reason, i thought i would try it again for the ease of downloading movies and being able to watch them offline using their Starz and RealMovies service. It's gotta be easier than BitTorrent, right?
what was i thinking?
first of all, installation was a nightmare. when you logged into starz, it actually triggered a login into real player, which i had yet to install. second, when i did then install the player, it of course required a reboot. oh yeah, it also requires internet explorer, which i never really use, except for special occaisions like this.
okay great, it's a trial, but you have to take my credit card. i get that.
let's try to download a movie. connecting to Real network....
"Sorry the service is unavailable"
what?
read the FAQ. oh, of course, i have to log out and then log in again.
okay, whatever.
let's try downloading a movie. sure, Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. oh, right, you have to check if i'm 18 or 21 or something because this is unrated. ok fine. how do they do that? you have to have me enter in a valid credit card again! you just took my credit card! I did it anyway... "Sorry, this service is unavailable right now"
RealMedia - you suck ballz. you always have, and you always will.
back to BitTorrent.
Posted by Steve at 08:53 AM | Comments (3)
August 10, 2005
tommy lee - tommyland: the ride
with a yahoo! music unlimited subscription, why not? I probably would never ever buy this album, but it sure is worth the rental. Want to get inside the mind of a rockstar? Let's go for a ride in Tommyland.
Try Tired with the refrain "Well, Tommy got tired of Pamela/Ed got tired of Salma/Puffy got tired of J.Lo and Ben did too"
and the bridge
"Some day i will find the one /she'll be my best friend and make me cum/she'll love everything i love to do, and when i find her, i'll take two!" Corny for most, but this is Tommy Lee, and you don't doubt for a second that won't take two. Only in Tommyland.
This is one of those few rockstar solo records out there that seems to shine a little brighter, not unlike Dave Navarro's solo record (who btw, also plays on this album).
Seriously though, this is a pretty good recording all around, with more guest cameos than an episode of Fantasy Island.
Give it a listen.
Posted by Steve at 08:48 AM | Comments (820) | TrackBack
August 03, 2005
bob mould - body of song
let me just get this out of the way: body of song is in my opinion bob mould's best work in years. like his blog, it's clearly a personal album with his politics and id worn on his sleeve. but not so much that it gets in the way. bob is gay, i am not - yet i can still find his love songs applicable between a man and woman even if they were not written with that in mind.
the music itself definitely has traces of his electronica projects as well as a little sugar on top, but mostly his guitar work shines though. there's plenty of layers here and a bit too much vocoder for my tastes (think cher: "do you believe in love after love? (love) (love)" ) but if you used to be a fan of bob/sugar/husker du i can't recommend body of song more.
Posted by Steve at 03:47 PM | Comments (208) | TrackBack
July 11, 2005
ketars for sale
this only makes sense, but there are quite a few keytars available on ebay, cheap, cheap, cheap.
don't remember what the keytar is? it's pretty much the suckiest 80's instrument ever created.
the 80's are back with a vengeance, baby. i was just in Europe, and all the women are wearing off the shoulder sweaters, and leggings under their jean skirts. dudes are wearing lacoste shirts that used to be called izods.
there's a new twist that you are going to like. the latest trend for women is to grow out their nether regions and let it hang out of their bikini. the american pie era is over!
Posted by Steve at 04:27 PM | Comments (383) | TrackBack