I discovered a new fun itunes pastime, searching for cover tunes of famous standards. For instance you may be familiar with Jose Feleciao's "Light My Fire", but there are a lot more covers than that, in a wide variety of styles and pacings. It's fascinating.
My first iMix.
The Arts: July 2004 Archives
I have been listening to "Poetry and Airplanes" by Teitur. Although he seems to have one of the world's worst web sites (It's so bad, I won't link to it), the music is nice. It is kind of a cross between pop and folky-easy listening. The lyrics are interesting, but it's the kind of music you can play without preventing conversations.
I have used both MusicMatch and iTunes software to both RIP music as well as to buy music online.
The iTunes folks have really intrigued me by displaying celebrity playlists. Ordinarily, I don't engage in a lot of celebrity curiosity. I don't read people magazine, or collect autographs. I don't have any curiosity about how Martin Sheen feels about Iraq or what Will Smith thinks about nanotechnology. But what music they listen to, for some reason, that seems interesting to me. Of course I have this niggling feeling that the playlist may have created by their publicist or perhaps the studio overlords who also happen to own a music catalog.
How do I like buying music online? For the most part I like it. I still have this little voice in the back of the room whispering that the software will change and your rights to your purchase will be taken away or restricted over time. When I have the CD, I feel I can prevent the music industry from busting down my door to get back my latest purchase. I still wish that I could buy the right to check-out a fixed number of titles at a time and then return them when I am done. I like listening to samples before I buy.
What am I listening to now ... "Be My Yoko Ono" by the Barenaked Ladies.
I'm probably the last to discover this gem, but you can make your own paper cd case online. Very cool and very simple.
While we're on the topic of art, check out http://www.robertsabuda.com for instructions on making your own pop-up books / paper crafts. I have his book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and it's simply amazing.
