|
Earlier this summer I found an old CD wallet with some CDs in it I thought I'd lost. And, I can't believe I'm saying this, but as I write this I am letting iTunes rip them in its proprietary AAC file format. The reason why this is so hard to believe, is because I used to insist upon all of my digital music being in MP3 format only, so as to be compatible with any software or device I wanted to play it in.
But I guess things change. As I've gotten older and my life has become more busy, I've simplified. I no longer DJ, nor do I spend hours on end at my computer dubbing my own voice into my favorite sing-along tracks. The truth is, the only way I listen to my own music, that is when I'm not just streaming from Pandora, is on my iPhone or in iTunes. I used to import my MP3s into games like The Sims so that I could listen to them in-game. Now I just mute the game music and play mine in iTunes, so that I can play, pause and skip using the media controls on my keyboard.
Even my most recent music purchases have been from iTunes, and I haven't even bothered to convert them like I used to. So, instead of hunting down the most up to date freeware tool for ripping these found CDs to MP3, I decided to keep it simple and let iTunes do it. If at a later point I decide I need any of the tracks in MP3 format, I can convert them as the need arises.
|
|
|
I guess it's been a little while since I've written anything! Last week I came down with a cold, and while it was nothing compared to the one I had in early December, it still had me moaning and groaning and asking for my mommy, and there were a good two days when I was unable to do much of anything other than stare off into space. It was a short cold, though, and I was better by Thursday morning. After that, well, it's amazing how behind in life two days of uselessness will get you.
But I do have something really exciting to share. You already know about this if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, but for those who don't, here's the scoop. Last Saturday night, we decided to join a few of our friends for bowling. Okay, they bowled while I sat and watched.  We heard that there was a karaoke competition going on in the bar inside the bowling alley. Sandra and I finally gathered enough courage to go sing, but by then the contest was over. We still sang a few songs, as did a couple of other members of our group, and we all had a really good time. While I was singing one song, Sandra was chatting with the girl hosting the karaoke, and found out that the competition is an ongoing weekly event, and at the end one winner from that location wins a trip to Las Vegas. Deanna (the host) pointed to me and told Sandra, "that girl singing right now has a really good chance of winning; she should come back and enter next week."
!!!!!!!!!!
Amazingly, without a drop of alcohol in me, I agreed to do just that. I even talked to Deanna and got her business card (which I promptly lost; thank God for Facebook!). She told me to e-mail her if there were any songs I wanted that she didn't have, and she would get them for me. I'll also be bringing my microphone stand so that I don't have to have someone hold the mic for me; I'll be a lot more confident that way!
I'm so freaking excited! I feel like my voice is not nearly what it used to be, so to have someone who isn't my friend, and just trying to make me feel good, say that they think I could win feels awesome! I've had my USB microphone and stand in the office hooked up to the computer all week so I can practice and record myself to see what I really sound like, and decide which songs are my strongest. I think I'm going to kick some butt!
|
|
|
I stopped watching American Idol a few years ago; it was the same thing season after season and I got bored. In it's place I now follow America's Got Talent. I love the variety of the acts, and even though there are still a lot of singers, they all sing different types of music, which is awesome. Not to mention I find AGT's judges much more entertaining. David Hasselhoff is cheesy and goofy and not afraid to make fun of himself, Piers Morgan plays the Simon Cowell position but is not quite as evil (in fact, some nights I find myself grumpier than he is), and Sharon Osbourne is just fabulous.
So, I know the AGT finale was last week and I'm a little behind the times. Blame my busy life, and then thank TiVo that I was able to watch it at all. And now that I have watched it, I just have one thing to say.
Barbara Padilla was robbed.
Even though there were a lot of really great acts this season and I really liked a lot of them, for the last couple of weeks I was certain Barbara was going to win. I don't personally enjoy opera, but I can appreciate when someone is good at it, and Barbara is sensational. Every performance she gave throughout the competition was flawless. When she and Kevin Skinner were pulled up as the top two in the finale results show, I thought, "Oh, this is easy." I was completely and utterly shocked when Kevin was announced as the winner. I liked him at first. The country songs he sang in his audition and then in the quarterfinal, he sang beautifully. It was enough to bring tears to my eyes. But in the semifinal and final performances, as he stepped out more into the pop/rock category, it was awful. He was way off key, and it became apparent to me that he was someone with a nice voice who just couldn't sing very well, apart from a couple of songs he had probably practiced to death. I like him, I think he's a sweet guy who very much deserves a break from life, but he just did not deserve to win that competition over someone like Barbara Padilla.
|
|
|
One of the things I had to do to prepare for my trip to Oregon was buy a few new MP3s to listen to on the plane. I got a few songs that have become popular recently, and a few old favorites I didn't already own.
(If you buy any of these MP3s through the links provided, I will earn a commission.)
|
|
|
![[photo of grave marker]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2085/1511163767_8621648839_m.jpg) Timory's grave marker in River View Cemetery in Portland. Taken by a photographer who did not know her, but appreciated the marker's uniqueness. Nearly twelve years ago, my friend Timory Hyde was killed when she and a friend fell from a third story window during a party on (but not for) her twenty-third birthday. Timory was from Oregon, and we knew each other from the MDA summer camp there, but coincidentally, the accident happened while she was attending college in Rhode Island, the state where I had found Chris and would eventually end up living. In fact, Chris and I had been here in Rhode Island visiting his family, and had seen Timory and had dinner with her, just a week before she died.
Timory was an aspiring musician... a singer and songwriter, who also played the guitar, the piano, and the didgeridoo. She was studying music at Brown University. There is no doubt in my mind that were she alive today, you would know her name.
The reason I'm writing about this now? It all has to do with a discovery Chris made, quite by accident, while surfing the web one night last week.
Chris has trouble staying awake when we watch TV at night, so to keep himself awake he often opens up his laptop and plays around on the internet. So it was on this particular night. For whatever reason, he decided to search for information on the band OK Go. I've listened to their music for a couple of years, but it's typical for Chris to think my tastes in music are weird until he takes an interest in the same stuff 2-3 years later.  Anyway, he found a discussion on the meaning behind one of the band's songs, and that's when his proverbial jaw dropped.
I remember Timory telling me about a friend from college, a fellow musician, named Damian. Damian, it turns out, is Damian Kulash, lead singer of OK Go. And the song, Return, a song I've heard a hundred times and never thought anything of it other than it's a good song... well, it's about her. It's about Timory.
Keep reading...
|
|
|
![[album cover]](http://www.confoozled.com/archives/assets/wikiband-thumb-200x200.jpg) The album cover for my Wikipedia-named band. There's something I really need to write about, but I'm waiting for someone to help me find something first. In the meantime, here's a little game I borrowed from Neil:
1. Hit a random article from Wikipedia. The article title is your band's name.
2. Generate a page of random quotations. The last four or five words of the last quotation on the page are your album title.
3. Go to Flickr's "last 7 days". The third photo is your album cover. (The third item for me was actually a video, so I skipped it and went to the next one.)
If you've got some graphical know-how, you can put them together as I did here, or just show us what you got. For those who can't see the image, my band name is Military Police, album title is Nothing Endures But Personal Qualities, and the photo is this one of Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
Okay, yeah, that's a pretty strange combination.
|
|
|
We were eating dinner at the bar at Dave & Buster's last night during the start of the Monday Night Football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys. When pop singer Kat DeLuna began her rendition of the national anthem, the sound box was turned down very low, so I wasn't sure if I was hearing what I thought I was hearing. What I thought I was hearing was one flat note after another, and after we pulled the sound box closer and turned it up, it was confirmed. She was horrible. I've never even heard of this chick before, but apparently she's some kind of pop sensation. Uh, yeah, okay. She was off key right from the start, and the more she tried to dress it up, the worse it got. I'm not really one to brag about my own singing ability, but I could have done a hell of a lot better job, and there wouldn't have been any stadium full of Cowboys fans booing me. It's really not that hard of a song to sing, so I'm not sure what kind of drugs the people are on who have declared her to be a "pop singing sensation". I guess I'd better hurry up and sign up for American Idol.
Oh, and in case you missed it, here is Kat DeLuna's rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, in all its nails-on-a-chalkboard glory.
|
|
|
Yesterday I was contacted by a promoter representing the Chicago band Liquor Boxx who asked if I would consider featuring the band on confoozled.com. After listening to a few tracks I was more than happy to oblige. They describe their music as a merging of classic and alternative rock. The important thing is that they're pretty damn good.
If you happen to live in this area, Liquor Boxx' east coast tour is making a stop this Friday at KC's Tap in Pawtucket, RI. Showtime is 11pm.
You can sample some of their music at their MySpace page and their Sonicbids site.
|
|
|
Just in case some of you were still concerned, my post the other day was entirely facetious. Its intention was to make "Music-Pro" look stupid... even though he/she will probably never read it, it made me feel better.  Don't worry, I don't plan to stop singing!
|
|
|
I've recently learned that all my life, my family and friends, virtually everyone I've ever cared about, have been lying to me. They've all told me that I'm a good singer, encouraged me to sing in talent shows at school and camp, and after I moved away, family members have told me how much they miss hearing my voice. I never believed I was American Idol material, but I at least believed that I wasn't awful... that I could carry a tune and my voice wasn't hideous. How embarrassed I am that I believed what I was told all those years.
But now, a The Sims On Stage member by the name of "Music-Pro" has set the record straight. I'm an awful singer. And I know by his/her name that they know what they're talking about.
Whether everyone I've ever encountered in life is tone deaf, or this was just a cruel, cruel joke they all conspired to play on me for twenty-eight years, I don't know. But at least now I know the truth. And I promise I will never torture you all with my bad, awful singing voice again.
|
|
|
I had some fun tonight, that is, before spilling my drink all over my computer desk, singing Avril Lavigne's Sk8er Boi on The Sims On Stage. Enjoy!
|
|
|
Tonight I decided to tackle the long list of Shania Twain songs available on The Sims On Stage. What I discovered was that while I love all of her music and love singing along with her, her songs are actually very difficult to sing solo. This one was the only one I could bring myself to publish.
Here's the MP3 for those who can't see the Flash, and also an MP3 of the other song I recently posted.
|
|
|
Recently I've taken up a new hobby: online karaoke at EA's The Sims On Stage (formerly known as SingShot). Here is one of my recordings.
I'm having a lot of fun with it and have recorded several other songs already. As I do more I will try to share here every so often.
(PS: I am working on a way to convert them to MP3 for those who can't see the Flash.)
|
|
|
Imagine this scenario. There are two fast food joints next door to each other: Filthy Fred's Fried Food, and Sanitary Sam's Sandwiches (names are purely fictional). Filthy Fred's has received some health code citations and there are a few documented cases of food poisoning which may or may not have been a result of eating at Fred's. Sanitary Sam's, on the other hand, has an exemplary record with the health department. Yet, for some reason, maybe because the prices are better, maybe because the food just tastes better, or maybe because people don't like being hand fed by strangers wearing full surgical scrubs, masks, and rubber gloves... the customers keep on flocking to Fred's, and Sam's gets almost no business in comparison.
In our free market, we'd say "tough" to Sam's, right? We'd tell them they need to find a way to entice the customers over to their side - lower their prices, improve their flavor, or start treating their customers better.
What if, instead of following that advice, Sanitary Sam's decided to threaten each and every customer they see going into Fred's with a lawsuit if they don't start coming to Sam's instead? What if they claimed that the customer not choosing the healthiest and safest option available to them was an actual violation of the law?
Keep reading...
|
|
|
This morning I came across this article on Slashdot, about a couple of record companies that are including download codes with their vinyl records that allow the purchaser to download DRM-free MP3s of the tracks on the purchased record. When asked why the files were not restricted with DRM, one of the companies' co-founder was quoted as saying, "Making a legal, paid-for version of the file less useful than a copied or pirated one doesn't make sense."
I think we can safely say that is the most intelligent statement made by a record company exec ever.
|
|
|
![[musical note]](http://www.confoozled.com/smilies/icon-o-matic/music.png) If I were the president...
I would institute mandatory ass paddling for judges who make stupid rulings like this one.
The Copyright Royalty Board decided earlier this month to unfairly single out internet music broadcasters by requiring them to pay exorbitant digital transmission royalties on top of the basic royalties that all broadcasters, digital or over-the-air, pay. There is no legitimate reason for this, and it puts all internet radio in jeopardy.
I worry about how sites like finetune, which has become my sole source of music at work, are going to survive. Being a completely free service with no ads, I've wondered how they've been able to afford the royalties they already pay. Granted, they allow users to buy songs and albums heard on the service, and I'm sure they get a commission for that, but it can't possibly be enough to cover these new outrageous charges... can it?
|
|
|
It's "music Wednesday", and I'm still trying to keep up with covering topical news as much as I can. I have about three minutes left of my lunch break, so here's a quickie...
We've all heard the warnings about the damage our ears can take from loud music, but did you know that it could even collapse a lung? If you think about it, sound is just vibrations travelling through the air, and the louder the sound, the more forcefully the air is pumped. Intense vibrations like that could damage any part of your body - not just your ears. Extremely loud bass tones have been known to start my heart palpitating, so why not puncture a lung, too?
Just another thing to think about the next time you crank that stereo...
|
|
|
The battle over music copyrights and digital rights management continues to wage. If I buy a song or an album, I want to be able to listen to it on any device I might have, anywhere I might be. On my computer in my office at home, and on the one at work. When I entertain, I want to play it on the stereo in the living room. I want to be able to wake up to it on my alarm clock. To hear it in the car while on the road, and on my personal music player when I'm fitness walking or on a plane. I paid for it; I'm entitled to listen to it wherever I am, on the device best suited for that environment.
The problem is, the record companies fear that allowing such interoperability with music purchased and downloaded online would only lead to even more widespread illegal copying and sharing of music. So we have DRM. The music files you purchase from digital music stores are locked up to restrict what devices, and even what software, you can use to listen to them, and those devices depend on what music store you purchase from. If you buy from a store that sells Windows Media format, your software player is going to be Windows Media Player and you will have to use a portable device that has been licensed by Microsoft to decode the format (which does not include the most popular portable player, the iPod). And if you buy your music from Apple's iTunes store, you'll be playing it in the iTunes software on your PC, and on an iPod or iTunes-enabled cell phone only. So, if you want to have all the extra features of the iPod, but want to save a little money buying your music at some of the Windows Media stores which have slightly lower song prices, you're out of luck. And if you buy a cheaper brand of portable player but want to buy any songs that are exclusively available from iTunes, you're similarly screwed.
The only legal way around these restrictions is to burn the songs to a CD, then re-rip them to an unprotected and compatible format. But, this method is a hassle, and doesn't maintain your track information - you'll have to rename and re-tag the ripped songs. That's just too many hoops to jump through to listen to your legally purchased music on the device of your choice. And it doesn't do anything to stop the illegal sharing of music. Those who are going to share know how to get around DRM and will always find a way. If anything, DRM is only increasing the amount of illegal sharing. Many people who download music illegally do it in protest of the way they are treated when they purchase it legally. If they were allowed to enjoy their music in the way they choose without having to jump through so many hoops, they would be more than happy to pay for it.
Keep reading...
|
|
|
- Is music site SpiralFrog spinning out?
Music start-up SpiralFrog announced last year it planned to open up a web site offering free legal music downloads, supported by advertising. But after the firing of its CEO in December, followed by the resignation of ten more board directors and managers, many are wondering if that dream will ever become a reality.
- Internet leaves music labels singing blues
As the major record labels are feeling the pinch from continued piracy by consumers unwilling to put up with the unfair restrictions still applied to purchased digital music, they are moving closer to allowing the sale of completely unrestricted MP3s, which would at long last allow consumers to play their legally purchased music on any device they choose.
- Say What?! Simon Cowell Says He Doesn't Enjoy Music
American Idol judge Simon Cowell, known for his predictions that Americans would find Clay Aiken too ugly and Ruben Studdard too fat, among other moronic comments, has now admitted that he doesn't even like to listen to music... further proving that he has no business judging the quality of music made by others.
- Teen intends to fight suit filed over music downloads
The 16-year-old son of a woman who successfully fought off the RIAA has now filed a response to their suit against him, alleging that the record label cartel has defrauded the country by demanding extortionate settlements far in excess of any actual damages, and by encouraging and enticing young people to download music for free only to turn around and sue them for the same behavior they encouraged.
|
|
|
- Ex-Supreme at center of knockoff-band battle
Mary Wilson, a former member of The Supremes, is urging the Texas legislature to pass a bill that would prohibit a band from taking the name of a classic group and performing their music, unless at least one member of the original group is part of the performance. Seven other states have passed similar laws already.
- Music buffs can join in trips, party
Organizers of the Ojai Music Festival have developed a new program called Ojai Road Trips. The program organizes outings to music performances throughout southern California, open to anyone willing to fork over $100 - and their own transportation... 
- A Real Music Store Sprouts Online
A Manhattan independent record store, Other Music, will be launching its own online digital music store next month. Not only is it the first store of its kind to do so, they're taking the progressiveness one step further by offering standard MP3s free of any and all digital rights management.
- Live Nation to Provide Concert Listings to Social Networking Music Website Last.fm
Social music network Last.fm will soon carry a live feed of US and Canadian concert information provided by Live Nation, the world's largest producer of live concerts.
- Mandy Moore Depressed, Regrets Making Bad Music
Mandy Moore has admitted to recently having a bout with depression, and is working on a new album, the writing of which she says has been therapeutic for her. She has also apologized for her earlier music being so... bad.
|
|
![[photo of me]](http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/7fe9c3e52fcd03d2253441f7ddc89ab3.jpg?size=144)
![[album thumbnail]](/photos/albums/userpics/10001/thumb_img_0986.jpg)
![[album thumbnail]](/photos/albums/flood2010/thumb_IMG_0112.JPG)
