Business Evolutionist

Used CD's vs. iTunes

I don't buy digital music. I have iTunes installed for my iPod, but have not purchased a single song from the iTunes store. I love the idea, love Apples's implementation, but I still won't buy music that way.

I've been buying used CD's for a couple of years now, mostly from a local store that always has a great selection. But over the last year or so I've been buying more and more used cd's online, and so far it's been great.

So, as a service to readers, I thought I post a little comparison chart of the major differences between online and used...

	Used	iTunes	Winner
Selection	I've been able to get CD's that are out of print	Huge, but limited by record companies	Used
Quality of music	I can rip the CD to MP3 in any bitrate I want, typically 192	128 it seems is the norm for online services	Used
Freedom	The CD's are mine. If anything happens to my MP3's, I can just rip the CD again	Locked in with Apple format (AAC)	Used
Delivery	Most have been delivered w/in a week or so	Immediate	iTunes
Cost	$5.00 or less for a whole CD. My average cost for the last 10 has been about $4.00	$0.99 cents a song or $9.99 for a full record	Used
The winner for me?			Used

I'm not picking on iTunes here. Because I have an iPod, I'm limited to which digital music stores I can use. I don't care for the DRM that any of these services have. They limit my choices for playing the music back. This became even more important when I recently had to install a new car stereo and I chose one that could play CD's with MP3's.

What do you think? Are you buying music through a digital service? If so, what am I missing?

Don't miss Candlebox...

I went to see Candlebox last night in Baltimore (at Rams Head Live) - the show was AMAZING!

They have about two months left on their tour, check them out if you can.

Here are some pictures that I took with my camera phone... not the greatest quality, but you get the idea.

The good news is that they are working on a new record!

Fun Little Music Meme - II

Here are my answers to the Music Meme post

• Your Age: 38
• Occupation: Business Analyst
• Where do you live: Hershey, PA
• MP3 Player: 4g iPod
• Total songs on your player: 5,944 (I just cleaned it up)
• What's playing now: Mind, Body & Soul - Joss Stone
• Favorite Artist: Ooh, that's a tough one. It really depends on what day of the week it is. Maybe Oasis or Muse or Ours... man, that is a tough question...
• First album added to your player: It was either Adam Bomb or Alicia Keys, it's been so long.
• Latest album added to your player: Children - Mission UK
• Guilty Pleasure: Kelly Clarkson.... I love that song 'Since U Been Gone'.

Fun Little Music Meme

A couple of issues of Playlist Magazine featured a section called "Local Scene". The basic idea was to find out what was on the average persons MP3 player. I thought it would be fun to spin this out as a post, so here goes.

Feel free to answer in the comments or post the response on your own blog.

Your Age:
Occupation:
Where do you live:
MP3 Player: (iPod, Rio, etc)
Total songs on your player:
What's playing now:
Favorite Artist:
First album added to your player:
Latest album added to your player:
Guilty Pleasure:

I'll post my answers in the next day or so.

The Buzz is High

It is pretty rare that I look forward to buying a CD from a band I've never heard, however that was the case with Arctic Monkeys.

Everywhere I turned over the last couple of months, it seemed I kept hearing about this band. An short blurb in Spin was the first, some blogs, then a couple of friends who have Sirius mentioned them.

Well, after listening to the CD non-stop over the last couple of days all I can say is that the hype was well deserved. I really dig them.

The second track, 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor', is an infectiuous tune that I can only classify as Brit-Punk.

The whole CD is good - and I might have to check them out while they are on tour. They'll be playing in Philly on March 26th and DC on the 27th, both within 2 hours of my house... my guess is both (all the US) shows will sell out.

Arctic Monkeys on Amazon. The bands official website

Have you heard Arctic Monkeys yet? What do you think?

DRM Madness...

Jeff Nolan over at Venture Chronicles points us to a GREAT (very technical) article on Digital Rights Management Gone WAY, WAY too far...

Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far
I Googled the company name ("First 4 Internet") and came across this article, confirming the fact that they have deals with several record companies, including Sony, to implement Digital Rights Management (DRM) software for CDs.

...
When you run a "Copy Protected" CD, the music can only be played using the media player that ships on the CD itself and that limits you to 3 copies at most.

This is pure evil.

The main takeaway: disable the CD autorun feature. The progam installs when the CD is first loaded.

What do you think about Copy Protected CD's? Are you using online services like Napster or iTunes to get music instead of buying CD's?

How was the show, Jon?

I went to see No Address, Breaking Benjamin, Staind, and 3 Doors Down last night (that was the order they played).

The show was GREAT! Well, No Address and Breaking Benjamin were great... I left during Staind. Personally I didn't understand how these bands all got picked to play together... whatever. If you get a chance to see NA or BB, go check them out - they were great.

I bought the tickets online and then this morning I got a survey email asking what I thought of the show. I've gotten plenty of survey types of emails before, however, this one came from the concert promoter (Electric Factory) and venue (Hershey Park) - not who I bought the tickets from (ticketmaster). I thought that was interesting, I don't recall agreeing to share my personal information with anyone. I'm sure I agreed to it in the Terms & Conditions (that no one ever reads), but I think that is something that should be a little more clearly explained during the purchase process.

The other interesting thing that happened was when I bought a glass of wine for my wife, they swiped my Drivers License through some handheld device as they were checking my ID. Does that seem odd? Anyone know what that is for?

Don't get me wrong here - I'm not some paranoid conspiracy theorist; I don't think that some evil force is building a database of my every action. I just think that some companies could do a better job of explaining what they do when they do stuff that is out of the ordinary like that... especially swiping the drivers license! I was telling myself all kinds of stories about that (just as nature abhors a vacuum, so to does the human mind...). LOL!!

I probably would have agreed to Ticketmaster sharing my info with Electric Factory, they do a lot of shows on the east coast and I wouldn't mind them knowing a bit more about my musical preferences so they can keep me informed of good shows (within, say, 45 miles of my house).

New Music on my iPod

I've been listening to a lot of Jeff Buckley over the last couple of months. The most recent addition to my collection is the Legacy Edition of Grace. The second disc has some alternate versions of some of the songs on Grace as well as some cover songs and other material. My favorite CD, and the one that I've been listening to the most is Live @ Sin-e (double CD). It is a one-man show recorded before Grace was released. Disc Two has a wonderful cover of a French song entitled "Je N'en Connais Pas La Fin" - I've probably listened to it 100 times. It is credited to Edith Piaf, so I ordered one of her CD's, Souvenirs. I like the Jeff Buckley version better, both versions are great though. The rest of Souvenirs is pretty good, probably something that I otherwise might not have picked up on my own - it is a nice change of pace to my normal listening habits.

One of the other cover songs on Sin-e is Strange Fruit by Nina Simone. I've got two Nina Simone CDs, neither of which contain my favorite song of hers, Feeling Good, which I remedied by ordering Feeling Good: The Very Best of Nina Simone. If you've never listened to her, this is a great introduction to a wonderful talent... this CD also has Sinnerman on it, which is an amazing tune.

Another band I've been listening to a lot lately is Muse. I was instantly addicted the first time I heard them - the first CD I bought (last year some time) was Absolution. Every song is fantastic, from start to finish. I bought Showbiz during my spring travels and it is almost as great as Absolution - I just ordered two more of their CDs - Origin of Symmetry and Hullabaloo Soundtrack. I can't wait to get the second one, it is a bunch of B-Sides and a live concert (that is really highly rated on Amazon).

I got a nice surprise last week when I discovered that Butch Walker, the singer/songwriter of Marvelous 3 (who broke up a couple of years ago), has released two solo records! I picked up Letters earlier this week at a local store and ordered Left of Self-Centered with the two Muse CDs that evening when I got home. Letters is supposedly a bit softer then 'Left of..' - overall I love it and have been listening to it non-stop for the last couple of days. It makes me really anxious to get the other one! If you haven't heard Marvelous 3, they released three (huh - I didn't put that together before...) CD's: Math & Other Problems, ReadySexGo!, and Hey!Album. They are all filled with just great Rock & Roll.

The other purchases have been for the wife, including Antics & Turn on the Bright Lights by Interpol. Both have some great tunes on them. If you like The Cure and The Smiths, I suggest checking out Interpol. My wife heard them on one of the Music channels on Cable. The others are Breaking Benjamin, Mudvayne and Theory of a Deadman. I love the Breaking Benjamin CD, so we got tickets to see them this summer.

Speaking of concerts, the show I really wanted to see was The Killers & Keane at Merriweather Post Pavilion was sold out by the time I heard about the show. Oh well, I'm going to have to get tickets to see Oasis at Merriweather in September. We did get tickets to Duran Duran, which was (surprisingly) a great show. A friend of mine got us seats 10 rows back, center stage - talk about spoiled! That was nice.

So, what are you listening to? What was the last CD (or 2 or 3) you bought? How did you discover them?

Instant Music

It's been a bit since I've blogged about music... but I just got my hands on this cool little device called Instant Music.

It's pretty cool. Basically, it is a bridge from an analog audio source to a computer (via USB) so you can create digital copies of music from old records or tapes.

I'm just starting to get the feel for it - and all the associated software - but my initial impression is that it works pretty darn well.

I'll try to post a file or two to show the results.

The soundtrack of your life

Aleah (she rocks, you know) points us to Life Swap.

Are you a musical snob? Can you find a song for every occasion? Bore your friends with your music taste so discriminatory that you can't discriminate? Or do you just want a new, free CD?

Enter the Life CD Swap:

1. Send me your mailing address with the subject header "CD Swap."


2. You will be assigned one person whose address you will receive by email.


3. Make one CD that emcompasses you (yes, you), your experiences, and your personality in musical form. Be sure to print a song list for your recipient. Make it pretty.


4. Have the CD for your assigned recipient in the mail by December 24th


5. Wait patiently for your own CD.


6. Post your songs of choice and how they narrate your experience.

Sadly, the deadline has passed (Dec 15th for getting in). But what a great idea!

I wonder if Lauren will run this again??

Posting playlists is cool... but actually burning a CD and sending it to someone is on a whole other level of cool. Getting to hear the songs is what it is all about.

Does anyone have any interest?