6 posts tagged “music”

Today was my first day back to school in 11 days (holiday break), and my eyes were really opened to two new tech revolutions. For the sake of entertainment, I've written them in skit-script style formatting. Both stories are true.

Morning Annoucement Lady: Mr. Hart is planning a school podcast to keep South students informed on activites and fun things to do in the school. If you would like to help in the podcast, please contact Mr. Hart at hart@school.edu.

Kid 1: Whats a podcast?

Me: Ah! The school finally has a podcast-...

Kid 2: Podwhat?

Girl: Pod...cast?

Teacher: Its some internet thing. I've seen it before in Newsweek.

Me: Ah, yes! Podcasts! Well, they're like internet radio. They're neat.

Girl: Podcast? Those dumb things in iTunes?

Kid 1: Whats a podcast?

Me: (sigh)

So, I guess podcasting isn't has mainstream has I hoped or thought. Has for helping with my school's podcast, I'm not really interested, even though it might be fun and provide good experience, plus I can play Leo and edit it up with some jazzy music. I'll have to give it thought.

The next one took place later. My friend Adam, carries around a CD player, and has always admired my iPod.

Adam: Hey Kev, guess what I got for Christmas.

Me: What? An iPod? Congrats man!

Adam: No, I got something better. Its called a Zune!

Me: Oh god, Adam, Zunes are....

Adam: No, its sweet. Its got 30 gigs, it has a big screen, and can play video.

Me: Yeah, but its ugly and big and-...

Adam: My brother has one too. We can trade songs!

Me: But, yeah, the DRM-...

Adam: They've even got this music store. I might buy some music instead of getting CD's.

I was very critical of the Zune when it came out, but now, I've changed my opinion. My friend Adam, who has never owned a MP3 player, buys CD's and rips them to MP3, and doesn't use iTunes, loves his Zune. Its fantastic for him. I think, in my power user mentality, I've written off the Zune. For me, getting a Zune would be horrible. I couldn't stand the DRM, I wouldn't use the URGE music store. However, my friend Adam, he loves it, and he talks about it the same way I talked about my iPod when I first got it.

This brings up a story, my Dad knows a commerical airline pilot. One time, at a football party, he complained and complained about flying an Airbus A320. He didn't like it, said the Airbus "handled like sh*t". But to us passengers, the Airbus A320 is no different from a Boeing 747. This must be what my friend Adam is experiancing. He loves his Zune, and can't tell the difference between the Zune and the iPod, but, his nerdy friend Kevin is going on and on about terms he doesn't know, like DRM, podcasting support, and other things.

To pilots and computer power users, the Airbus A320 and Zune are flawed. To passengers and my friend adam, they're just fine.

Hmmm, I knew there was a lot of socialist-types in Europe that believe that all human information should be free, but not like this...

Has you may know from my previous blog entries, in my US History class, we had to make a powerpoint with music in it. (See my struggles below with mine and DRM, which, according to a keen reader, apperantly aren't due to the DRM) Today, we presented these powerpoints, and the best one was done by a foreign exchange student.

I won't name him, but his powerpoint was good, and his piece of music was "Over The Rainbow". You know, not the Judy Garland one, but that other one sung by a man. The one that everybody knows, but can't recall it. They play in TV shows during funerals, but no one really knows. When everybody questioned the student about who did it, he said "Louis Armstrong". Everybody was pretty excited. A few kids yelled out getting it off Limewire. Even I, was enchanted about the song, and I planned to get it on iTunes. I look on the student's folder, and sure enough, the .mp3 is labeled "Over The Rainbow - Louis Armstrong.mp3".

So, I get home, and do a quick search on iTunes. "Over The Rainbow". Nothing by ol' Louie Armstrong. "Louis Armstrong". No Rainbow here. I'm confused, but then, it hits me. I boot up Frostwire, the open-source version of Limewire, and do a search for "over the rainbow louis armstrong" and sure enough, there it is. Lots of copies.

I go back to iTunes and put in a search for Over The Rainbow again. The most popular version is by a Hawaiian singer named Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. I use the preview feature and guess what... apparently, some years after his death, Louis Armstrong renamed himself Israel, and moved to Hawaii, gained 750 pounds (I.K. has he's known by his fans, was morbidly obese. He, himself died in '97, heart attack). </sarcasm>

This is not uncommon. When Napster was everywhere, and before we knew P2P sharing was a crime, I downloaded "Closing Time" by Green Day, only to find later that song was produced by Semisonic, not Green Day. There has been a few other songs like this, where on P2P sites are mislabeled.

So, I've caught the student in a crime. What do I do? Nothing. I won't even tell the teacher. Not only will this make me look like a super nerd and narc, the .mp3 was used for education purposes, which is under Fair Use. Not to mention, I think 95% of my US History class used pirated .mp3's for their presentations. Some, had the songs stream off of internet radio sites. Others, like me, brought in legal .mp3's.

So, I guess I'm left with a smug smile. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to listen to my legally purchased iTunes .mp4 verison of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's "Over The Rainbow"....

Well, once again, DRM proved to stop digital technology....

For a US History project, I needed to do a Power Point, and set some music to it that was representive of the idea of "Fearlessness". I picked out "Duel of the Fates" by John Williams (bit of Star Wars). I had recently gotten the song legally off of iTunes, and tried to pop it into Power Point, but guess what, Power Point wouldn't recongize the protected Mp4 format.

Well, now, I don't know what I'll do. I tried burning the song to CD, and then copy it back to iTunes, so it would come in Mp3, but iTunes 7 was janked, and I couldn't figure out how to do it. I like to fancy myself a technical-adept person (since I've used a computer since I was 3 year old, you know, but maybe I'm kidding myself).

I wanted to use a purchased song in a simple, legal, Fair Use way. I wasn't going to give a copy to every one of my friends, or put it on the internet, I just simply wanted to use it for my power point, and I couldn't because of the stupid lawyers and their DRM.

On the Zune, I believe that technically, its better that the iPod. Bigger screen, better UI, awesome Wi-Fi sharing feature, but its crippled by DRM features. I've seen a Zune at school, and its a very impressive device, but, the lawyers got their hands on it and ruined it. Microsoft's engineers shouldn't be blamed for the Zune, Microsoft's legal team should. Remember, DRM (or Digital Rights Management) isn't protecting our rights, its protecting the rights of the RIAA. What do you have when you have a RIAA lawyer burried up to his neck in sand?

Not enough sand.

I reset the playcount, just this once, so the songs are totally changed up.

1. The Logical Song - Supertramp
2. You're So Vain - Carly Simon
3. Island in the Sun - Weezer
4. Come Sail Away - Styx
5. White Flag - Dido
6. The Other Side - Red Hot Chili Peppers
7. Stuck In A Moment - U2
8. Charlie Brown Theme Song - Charlie Mingus
9. Up Around The Bend - CCR
10. Live to Win - Paul Stanley
11. Back In Time - Huey Lewis and the News
12. Burning Down The House - Talking Heads
13. Everybody Wants to Rule The World - Tears For Fears
14. A Thousand Miles - Vanessa Carlton
15. Noah - Carly Comando
16. The Classic Battle - NFL Flims
17. Requim For A Dream - Howard Shore
18. The Imperial March - John Williams
19. Indiana Jones Theme Music - John Williams
20. Some Kind of Monster - Metallica
21. A New Game - NFL Flims
22. Cossack's Charge - NFL Flims
23. A Horse With No Name - America
24. Flavor Of The Week - American Hi-Fi
25. Goodbye Beautiful Day - Aviatic

Ow.... my fingers are sore.

I'm under the weather today kids, so my blog entry will be a bit subdued to say the least.

Today, the Apple iPod turned five, which may seem a few years longer than you remember, which is about right for me to. The iPod was introduced in 2001, to some critism, it only worked on Macs, only had a Firewire connection and had only had 10 hours of playback. Despite these, it was a technical marvel, a very very small hard drive.

Slowly over time, small improvements brought iPod to the front of the MP3 player field, a very simple control interface, and the great iTunes application, and the move to allow use on Windows. No MP3 device had really taken over the market.

I own an iPod and love it.

Meh, this entry is so bad. I shouldn't even post it. The fact of the matter is, I'm kind of blogged out. I've been blogging some in-dept posts for what, three days straight, and I feel am burned out on blogging. Personally, I don't know how I can keep this up. I'm not really 16 anymore... (Yeah, like 17 is too old to blog :) )

Well, I'm sure I'll find a way to keep this up. Later.

What are your top 25 most played songs? 
Submitted by Cooxie.  

A fantastic question. I have some sort of obsession with statistics. I love sports stats, and stats of all sorts, and since I've been using iTunes, I've demanded my friends and fellow internet people send me their top 25, just to compare. I've also examined my own top 25 with a keen eye, trying to wait for some pattern to jump out at me. Never happens, either. Oh well.

1. Jumper - Third Eye Blind
2. Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra
   
3. Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
4. We Hate It When Our Friends Are Successful - Reel Big Fish
5. Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers
6. Under Pressure - Queen def. David Bowie
7. Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
8. Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes
9. Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes
10. Today is Gunna be the Day - Oasis
11. Perfect Situation - Weezer
12. Blow Me Away - Breaking Benjamin
13. Too Much Love Will Kill You - Queenn
14. Dust in the Wind - Kansas
15. Back on the Chain Gang - The Pretenders
16. Another Day - Paul McCartney and Wings
17. Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers
18. Unfaithful - Rihanna (ugh, I went through a phase)
19. You're My Best Friend - Queen (seriously, I'm not really a Queen fan, but I guess I've listened to a lot of their songs over time.
20. Drops of Jupiter - Train
21. New Years Day - U2
22. U Can't Touch This - MC Hammer (another phase)
23. Don't Speak - No Doubt
24. Rock Me Amadeus - Falco
25. Banana Phone - Raffi (.......no comment)

Ahhh, well. Look for another post from me. I'm a blogging machine lately. Don't stop me now. I'm burning through the sky at... oh sorry. :)