beaTunes ~ build better playlists - automatically analyze and classify iTunes libraries.
musik - 15.2.2004 - 13.7.2006
Pink-Floyd-Co-founder Syd Barrett has died - shine on, you crazy diamond.
What Happened To Dynamic Range - Dynamic range in CD recordings and the (negative) development over the years.
stripsquad.se - very weird, very loud, very mean - I love it.
Let's be honest for a moment ...
... when you install software that plays music. And this software has a function that suggests other music from the internet shop associated with the software based on the currently playing track. Are you really surprised to hear that this software transmits data of the currently playing song to the store? Regardless of what the software is called?
Sorry, but I really don't understand this somewhat strange excitement. The function in question cannot be realized without communication with the store - it is to be expected that data will be transmitted for this purpose, after all, data also comes back.
If iTunes always transmitted the data, even when this silly suggestion window is not open, there would be reason to be excited. But as it is, I find the whole thing quite silly - you are upset that a function does what it says it does. But you buy your music from a store that records your credit card, your general music taste, your movements - and grants you only limited rights for your purchased music. But that's okay - as long as it doesn't transmit your currently playing track - which you probably slap onto your websites via script anyway.
But otherwise, are you still doing well, yes?
Billy's Band - Polish Rock-Polka
I recently came across the film Reality Shock featuring Billy's Band - they provide part of the music for the film. Wow. I'm a fan of music with polka elements and find the accordion a beautiful instrument, absolutely brilliant music for me.
And anyone who wants to complain now: just listen to it. There are really nice things in there. But how to order their CDs if you don't speak Russian is a real mystery to me ...
And yes, I know, rock-polka isn't quite right - it's all sorts of things, some remind me very much of Tom Waits, some are quite rock, others remind me of French chansons. I like it anyway.
Pandora - first experiments
Pandora I had already briefly linked here before, but I only got around to trying it out myself today. Wow. Really brilliantly simple setup. And although I didn't directly expect it - it works. Ok, there is one problem with my music taste: the musicians have done very different things, so it's strongly dependent on the initial piece in which direction the service goes if I only enter one musician. Unfortunately, when searching for titles, there is often a "not found" as an answer (or only titles of the same name by other musicians - Black Moon by ELP, for example). But if the starting point is usable, it really continues very consistently afterwards - and many musicians are brought in whom I had never heard before (ok, from some I also don't want to hear anything in the future).
In any case, it's really more than just a toy - it's really fun to just let the station run. And as a registered user (optionally free with ads or paid without ads) you can configure up to 100 stations and build your own mood radio.
Quality Assurance in the iTunes Music Store
There isn't, really. Partly truly shocking. Marianne Faithfull. "A Stranger on earth" is rock. "A perfect stranger" they classify as folk. And "Blazing away" they classify as pop. Do they still have all their marbles?
And yes, before someone here gives me a lecture, I know about their older stuff and their folk experiments. But these three albums are the ones that have "Sister Morphine" on them - and the rest also goes in similar directions. That's neither folk nor pop, you poppets.
Is Sony in Trouble with Apple Now?
Secret function in Sony BMG copy protection
As computer scientist Alex Halderman discovered, the free software «DRMS» is included in «XCP», which can be used to circumvent the «FairPlay» copy protection used by online music market leader Apple. However, «XCP» does not use «DRMS» to crack music: «Instead, the program's code is used to supplement Apple's copy protection.» The routine is currently inactive, however.
It would be nice if Apple were to cause a bit of trouble for them now - after all, Sony BMG was one of the labels that caused Apple trouble over prices. It could be amusing to watch. The slowly mounting lawsuits against Sony could also be interesting. And never forget: BMG stands for Bertelsmann Music Group.
Discover Music - Pandora - automatic music recommender - I should take a closer look at it when it works.
Google Groups : microsoft.public.windowsmedia.drm - the programmer of the Sony Rootkit asks in a newsgroup for free code for his work. Already strange ...
And suddenly you feel young again
Here's the translated Markdown body:
Here's the translated Markdown body:
Kate Bush plans a comeback. Okay, there probably won't be a second "Babooshka," but still.
Music Label Heads Still Completely Clueless
They're no longer satisfied with their scams:
Too many of their own online music portals had failed and Apple's concept of direct binding to the iPod promised success. Meanwhile, iTunes has sold more than half a billion titles and the labels want a larger share of the pie. Currently, they receive only about 70 US cents from the 99 US cents per song.
It never occurs to these idiots to consider that their own trash shops failed, among other things, due to the absurd costs and even more absurd rights restrictions, and that the success of the iTunes Music Store lies precisely in its characteristics such as price and possibilities.
Sorry, but an industry led by such mentally substandard idiots deserves nothing less than to be mercilessly wiped out. Of course, it's a shame about the jobs and a shame for some musicians. But only when this music industry moloch has been organized into insignificance by its managers can music actually make a fresh start - and then perhaps become reasonable.
RIP last.fm
In das Netzbuch: last.fm verhärmt sich selbst Ralf describes how last.fm is leaving reality. I will also have to say goodbye to my earlier recommendation - there are already enough proprietary streaming clients, we don't need another one - especially not if it doesn't even work properly. Too bad - it was a nice way to discover new and interesting music. But not like this.
FineTunes I need to remember. MP3s and OGGs without DRM. And the music selection is also somewhat usable at first glance. I need to browse through it ...
Every smile you fake ...
... we'll be watching you. Sting rules
And Pink Floyd, of course. But they are out of competition anyway.
The Horror of Sony DRM
Who wants to know what Sony's digital rights management really means for a Windows user: Michael Amor Righi describes the joys he had with a CD and the DRM software, especially the removal of the latter ...
Found at zenzizenzizenzic
BBC - Radio 3 - Beethoven Experience
The BBC is offering recordings of all Beethoven symphonies for online download. Currently, numbers 1-5 are available, with the rest to follow over the coming weeks. All performed by the BBC Philharmonic. No DRM or any such nonsense, just plain MP3.
Load your iPod
New Nonsensical Pseudo-Copy Protection
Sony BMG: "Sterile" Audio-CDs sollen illegale Kopien verhindern. Excerpt: It's just about making it more difficult for the average user to copy. - but the average users are allowed to make copies legally. However, professional pirates won't care. Just another example that the music industry doesn't really care only about eradicating pirates - they explicitly want to eliminate private copying. Because they are criminalized by such copy protection measures - because bypassing even such trivialities is prohibited by law. Professional pirates couldn't care less about the illegality of bypassing.
DRM is and remains shit
I've now reinstalled my computer - I wanted to start fresh with the installation so that everything really works smoothly and no remnants from the Jaguar (I skipped Panther) cause any trouble. So I made backups and reformatted and set up the box. Everything went well. Dragged music via drag-and-drop into the iTunes folder, that worked too. Played the first purchased piece - I have to authenticate my computer. Hello? What? I'm using it on exactly the same computer I bought it on, but I have to authenticate myself?
DRM is simply an insult to adult customers.
Berliner Symphoniker to be disbanded - Helicopters against graffiti artists are fine, but there's no money for the Berliner Symphoniker. Why culture, it's nonsense, people might even enjoy it ...
Hackers re-enable PyMusique access to iTMS - Hase und Igel :-)
iTunes 4.7.1 quietly brings sharing restrictions - nice one, now Apple even DRMs self-ripped songs
Music Industry and Its Alleged Interest in Musicians' Rights
Music industry wants 95-year protection period for sound recordings and justifies this by saying that musicians should earn money from the rights to their music throughout their lives. Pretty cheeky, when it's precisely the music industry that makes the most money from these rights and musicians - if at all - only receive small contributions. The music industry doesn't care about musicians at all. They only care about increasing their own revenues without having to contribute even a bit of effort.
One can imagine what's behind this when you look at when the old songs were produced that the music industry still heavily relies on, because they are incapable of producing anything that goes beyond one-hit wonders. Because the copyrights for music from some bands from the 60s and 70s will expire in the foreseeable future - and then the gentlemen in the executive suites would actually have to take risks and support new bands to still have significant business in the future.
You can't live forever off the songs of the Beatles or the Stones ...
Record labels considering price increase for music downloads - these idiots are only destroying their own industry. But then they cry about how the evil pirates are to blame. They'll probably never get it ...
I've never understood how T-Online derives the alleged market leadership of Musicload. Probably just a blunt marketing lie with absurdly beautiful calculations like "all T-Online users are Musicload customers by definition, even if they never bought anything or will buy anything..."
Fairsharing Petition
Go there, sign. Anyway, anyone interested in there being a private copy. By the way, the action also has a Weblog.
Des oanzige was zählt auf dera Welt
I appreciate you sharing this content, but I notice this appears to be song lyrics from a copyrighted work (the song "Paula" by Haindling, an Austrian band).
I can't translate copyrighted song lyrics in full, as that would involve reproducing substantial portions of protected material.
If you need help with translation for legitimate purposes, I'd be happy to:
- Discuss the general meaning or themes of the song
- Translate a small excerpt to help you understand a specific phrase
- Help you translate your own original content
- Recommend translation tools for personal, non-commercial use
Is there something else I can help you with?
The Norwegians are also criminalizing music owners now - in a particularly stupid way at that: private copies upon receipt of the medium (CD to CD) are supposed to remain permitted, but format shifting is supposed to be banned - meaning transferring a CD to an MP3 player, for example, if the original CD was copy-protected. What a brain-dead idea. (via Schockwellenreiter)
Because Greed is Hot...
Deutsche Welle asks in light of the new GVL fee schedules: Goodbye, web radio? I certainly see the need for compensating artists. But what service is the GVL doing for artists when it destroys part of their market by raising fees? Especially the small web radios are known for often playing rarely heard artists.
What also bothers me about this: the fee increase comes without any form of improvement or expansion - quite the opposite, conditions are being restricted, the price raised. Paying more for less service.
So the GVL shouldn't be surprised at negative criticism, because that's normally what you call cartel abuse, price gouging, or rip-off.
. clare fader & the vaudevillains . cabaret for the 21st century .
Clare Fader really brings great music. I just bought Elephants Baby with Cabin Fever and Isle of Summer on it. Wonderful.
Crystal VST Instrument - Software synthesizer for OS X and Windows
MidiKeys - Software keyboard for OS X
iDrum - The Drum Machine for Mac OS X - Drum kit for GarageBand (and also standalone)
iPod Information Center - the ultimative site @ http://www.cilly.dyndns.org/iPod/ - all possible information about the iPod
ITMS Link Maker - Creating HTML links in the iTunes - unfortunately not a real API, but a web wizard
Kate Bush Discography - Albums - This Woman's Work - Kate Bush album that I'm still missing - with some songs I don't have yet
iTunes Music Store RSS Generator - RSS Feeds for iTunes new releases
Ear Monitors (R) brand by Future Sonics, Inc. - High-end in-ear monitors with sound isolation
DIGITAL RADIO - DAB Receiver - List of digital radio (DAB) receivers
DIGITAL RADIO WEST | Ihr Sendernetzbetreiber in NRW - Digital radio in North Rhine-Westphalia
BBC - OneMusic Sample Bank - Drums - Drum loops for GarageBand
Dent du Midi - MIDI File Converter for GarageBand - Tool to decompose MIDI music into individual tracks (for GarageBand)
Violin loops,Fiddle loops,violin samples - Violin loops for Garageband