The 21st Century Mix Tape
April 24, 2008
Hands up if you ever spent four hours hunched over the radio, finger over the pause button getting ready to tape the Top 40?
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What to do with the music?
April 15, 2008
As part of my day job I get sent dozens of CDs every week. These take the form of full albums, album samplers, white label promos and singles - even big package singles with sleeve notes.
Sphere: Related ContentWhy music DOES cost
April 14, 2008
This was going to be a simple video post originally but I decided it required more than that as I started writing. So instead it’s a full post with a video attached.
Sphere: Related ContentHow I split my music
February 23, 2008
Over the last few years I’ve interviewed a number of bands and musicians, from bands just starting out with their first gig up to bands with top ten albums and major recording contracts.
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February 22, 2008
I had the chance tonight to do something I haven’t done in a very long time - sit down on the sofa, in the dark, with my iPod on and listen to music.
Sphere: Related ContentUsual Eurovision Rubbish
February 20, 2008
In just three months time the campest of camp shows in the history of broadcasting will come around for the 52nd time. Yup it’s the Eurovision Song Contest again folks.
Sphere: Related ContentRipping my DVDs
January 11, 2008
Still no baby
I have hundreds of CDs sitting in a cupboard in my living room that are 1) never played, 2) never looked at and 3) collecting huge amounts of dust.
But I have no intention of selling or giving them away. Why? Because I have every one of them on an external hard drive attached to my computer - I’ve ripped the lot of them and still continue to rip every new CD I get.
I’ll then either transfer them to my iPod, play them directly from the computer or burn the tracks I want to a CD that I can play in the kitchen or bedroom.
This is how I personally choose the use the media that I’ve personally spent a considerable amount of money on. Something I purchased for my own personal use. I don’t share my music over the internet, I don’t make tracks available for filesharing - I just use it the way I want to.
But at the moment I’m still breaking the law. Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 it is illegal to rip music from a CD and put it on your computer or transfer it to a digital device - which is plain and simply bollocks.
Not only is it a giant pair of hairy ones it’s also completely uninforcable, totally pointless and a waste of a statute book.
Fortunately the government have realised this and when they’ve finished the consultation that will let the labels and rights holders bleet on about rights and copying - they’ll change the law and I’ll no longer be doing something illegal.
But all the articles I’ve read on this subject (Google News) talk about CDs and music - none mention DVDs. In fact some of them go as far as to talk about it being EVEN MORE ILLEGAL to circumvent copy protection and DRM.
So if thats the case - on one hand I’ll be legally allowed to rip one form of media but on the other a criminal for ripping another form of media to put on the same device. Phooey!
I’m currently going through my DVD collection - also in the hundreds - and ripping them (episode by episode for TV shows) to another external hard drive to a format that will work on my iPod and still comfortably play out from my computer.
This will eventually mean I can leave the DVDs in the same place as the CDs - a locked cupboard - and watch them all either on my iPod or streamed from my computer directly to my TV through a pre-set playlist (the whatever I fancy tonight playlist).
Why should it be illegal for me to use content in the way I want to that I’ve already paid for?
Why should I be forced to buy another copy of a song, movie or TV show on top of the one I purchased on CD or DVD just to be allowed to play it on another platform?
I hope this consultation will lead to DVDs and CDs being put on the same level - If I can rip one I should be allowed to rip the other. I paid for the rights to use it, I’m keeping all the originals and am not selling anything or giving anything away.
Sphere: Related ContentTracks for 10p?
September 26, 2007
How much does it cost you to send an SMS message? 10p, 15p - 20p at most?
Or even less if you have a big chunck of free texts because you went crazy and ended up paying over the odds for a service you don’t need to get a better ‘free’ phone.
Now you can use one of those free texts to get yourself a ‘free’ song from the iTunes music store and it apparently also applies to the 99p DRM free tracks as well.
If you text “ROCK” or “POP” or “LIVE” or “ITUNES” to the short code 85100 within the next two days - you’ll be sent back a code you can use to ‘purchase’ a song on the iTunes store.
Thus saving yourself upwards of 60p - now the rules say you can only have one code per phone number but I’ve heard that people have used it to get more than one - in fact up to 20 so who knows.
Depends whether you like breaking the rules or not.
I can’t personally try it out as short codes don’t work in Jersey and as I use a Jersey mobile network they won’t work for me. But if you get it to work give me a shout.
Apparently the code has to be used by 30 September and I’m sure everybody already knows about this but me.
Sphere: Related ContentiPhone in Jersey?
September 17, 2007
As I have little more to pass time and occupy my mind than browse the internet on the slowest connection in the world in a browser with NO TABS - I thought I’d blog about something I saw the other day and forgot about.
I was just reading a story on the The Register about the iPhone coming to the UK very soon and probably through O2 - which is nice for people living in England who happen to want to use O2.
I’m sure I’d switch to O2 in a second if I lived in England to get the iPhone - after all British mobile companies are all pretty much the same.
But I live in Jersey - my choice is between Jersey Telecom (expensive but reliable), Sure (cheaper but patchy coverage) and Airtel-Vodafone (new, massive company, cheap but not overly great coverage).
At the moment I’m with Sure - I switched about a year ago just after they launched (until then Jersey only had a single mobile operator) but am thinking about switching again in the new year.
This will co-incide with my need for a new iPod - I’ve been holding out on buying a new one (I currently have a Gen One Nano) until a Touch iPod comes out - well now it has and I’ve agreed to wait until Christmas with my wife.
But Christmas is about the same time my current mobile contract runs out and the other day I noticed Jersey Telecom have a BIG iPhone display - shouting about the fact that it will be coming soon and offering DEMOS of the phone to anyone asking.
So this means it’s more than likely JT will be the Jersey iPhone retailer and provider - so do I switch to JT in January, pay a slightly higher monthly rate for a fewer free minutes and text messages but get an iPhone!
Or do I got to Airtel who currently offer the cheapest rate, free minutes that include UK mobile and landlines, a rapidly improving coverage and the backing of two massive mobile companies (Bharti and Vodafone) - but stick with a different phone.
The JT option gives me a device with everything built in (and data calls are FREE with JT) but with the Airtel option I can get a cheaper phone and buy an iPod Touch so have two seperate devices (something I’m used to) and have to pay data rates.
What would you do?
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