Archive for March, 2008

Tidbit Monster

By Collin, 19 March, 2008, No Comment

I’ve been collecting bits from the web the past couple of weeks in order to completely overwhelm you with them. An entirely wrong approach, I know, but I can’t help myself. Please enjoy these brief glimpses of joy and know that I always save the best for last.

Places to get free music:

Get the first disc of NIN (Nine Inch Nails) new instrumental opus “Ghosts I-IV” for free direct from their website. I have only listened to the first disc and it seems like he took one idea per song (ranging from marginal to decent) and stretched it out to last the entire song. But don’t take my word for it - check it out for yourself.

A new kind of record label: RCRD LBL. They “buy” songs from artists (or some partial rights to the songs) and offer them for free download on their website. There are a few gems in there if you’re looking to explore the music of artists you’ve heard about but not heard.

QTrax is a new piece of software that, like so many others, is striving to legalize peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing by having the labels give their consent for a portion of the ad revenue from the software they would use.  I have downloaded their beta and, right now, it’s a joke.  They advertise major label artists and then list their music as “coming soon” with no date or estimate on expected time of availability.  It may one day be awesome but right now it’s just ticking me off.

If you use bit torrent, then you have access to a “small” library of music from artists that performed at this years SXSW festival.  To help you wade through the ocean, one reporter has provided a brief review for each tune offered.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but you should check out eMusic.com’s free trial.  They have stuff from great artists like Spoon, Belle & Sebastian, Paul McCartney, Sufjan Stevens, Of Montreal, and other semi-indie gems.  It’s worth your time.

Now for Some Funny:
This is the funniest thing I’ve seen on youtube (or the internet period) in a while.  I would recommend watching them in the provided order.  If you’re interested in the information on the man behind the videos, read the articles below.
Eric Clapton - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_M9zWORBuA
Van Halen - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdFJTbaFcZ0
Slash - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHyl04-ytH8 *The best for sure
Article about him: http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/2007/10/shredders
More vids and info about being pulled from youtube: http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/02/watch-the-parod.html

Hulu is now Public.

By Collin, 13 March, 2008, No Comment

They added a TON of content and opened it to the public. Invites no longer required : ) Enjoy!

http://www.hulu.com

Hulu

By Collin, 7 March, 2008, 1 Comment

Stephanie and I watch a good portion of our television online.  VCR’s make you fast forward through commercials and are typically lower quality.  We find the ease of use and short commercial breaks entirely do-able.  Hulu is a site that originally started as a partnership between NBC and FOX and has grown to encompass several cable stations, film studios, and other video providers.  There is A LOT of stuff on Hulu worth watching and their commercial breaks are typically shorter and handled better than other sites I have used (NBC.com, ABC.com, etc.).

I just discovered that I have 10 invitations for others to join Hulu.  So naturally I turn to my “faithful” readers : )  The first ten people to respond to this wanting an invitation get one.  Let me know!