Category: Digital Music

  • The Downside of a Spotify’s Free Google Home

    Spotify is giving away a free Google Home Mini to any account with the family plan. That’s pretty neat. And they are doing it for new and existing users, which is great because it doesn’t make the mistake of punishing existing customers in the pursuit of acquisition. It makes sense for Spotify – get folks…

  • I found a fun easter egg in Spotify. When you play this Star Wars playlist, the progress bar in the desktop app becomes a lightsaber: (This is the bedtime music my 4 year old wanted. Who am I to argue?)

  • Apple’s DRM Announcement

    Eliminate DRM! Originally uploaded by nim. Apple announced that they’ll be offering DRM-free music in the iTunes Music Store! I don’t have much to add to the announcement, I’m just ecstatic that Apple is following up on Steve Job’s open letter. Beyond just offering DRM-free music, Apple even addressed Cory Doctorow’s lock-in argument by offering…

  • NPR’s most interesting podcast

    Browsing through NPR’s Podcast Directory, one in particular stood out; not for its content but for the way it was created. Most of the podcasts are simply NPR shows, but NPR: Most E-Mailed Stories is assembled based on the audience’s reaction to NPR news stories. People tend to share stories they like, so in theory…

  • Features lost in iTunes upgrades

    It seems every new version of iTunes removes some feature in the interest of Apple’s suppliers. Are Apple’s customers filing bug reports saying “please make your program not work with my other programs” and “please let me do less with my music”? Is DRM a dealbreaker for the music industry? If people demanded that their…

  • Grokster along party lines?

    If you watch the EFF’s Fred von Lohman in his debate on C-Span (via BoingBoing) you’ll notice that C-Span inserts three phone numbers: one for Democratic supporters, one for President Bush’s supporters and one for “others.” Am I idealistic in thinking that Grokster goes across partisan lines? Caricaturing the sides quite a bit, Republicans don’t…

  • iPod headphones as homework

    I got home yesterday and saw my iPod headphones on the coffee table, mangled and broken. This wasn’t that big a deal because I had first noticed they were broken a few days earlier. I figured they got caught in the vacuum cleaner like my ill-fated SOCOM headset, or maybe they got underfoot. Except a…

  • Moving songs between iPods

    I was given an 4th generation iPod as a gift and decided to give my girlfriend my 3rd generation iPod. One problem, I needed to get my music off my old iPod and onto the new one. I searched around a bit and didn’t come up with anything, so here’ what I came up with.…

  • Ben Tesch PodCast interview

    In the first PodCast I’m willing to listen to, First Crack interviews Ben Tesch, the captain at the helm of RIAA Radar and Mixmatcher. Why is the RIAA Radar important? Ford is refusing to sell Crown Victoria Police Interceptors to police in Okaloosa County, Florida because the police are suing Ford over problems with the…

  • On zipping MP3s

    Quick note to the world: putting MP3s into a zip file is a waste of time. You only save a little space and take up a lot of time because MP3s are already compressed. So the next time you have to send a bunch of MP3s somewhere, your best bet is the tar format, which…