An informational blog with news and commentaries about streaming audio, radio, gadgets, music and artists - GOoseneck

Inmates Gettin' Down!

nospam@example.com (GOoseneck) — 2007-08-12T17:07:00Z

It's one of those times when images say more than words.

These are inmates from a penitentiary and rehabilitation center in the Visayan Islands of the Philippines doing an awesome video to the beat of Michael Jackson's "Thriller". And just when you thought you've seen everything! It's almost mind-boggling--the thought of how inmates can get so organized and pull this one off.

Beware The Deletemusic Worm

nospam@example.com (GOoseneck) — 2007-08-06T01:30:10Z

This past Thursday, an item made the rounds of most tech news sites and this has something to do about a Windows computer worm that deletes mp3 files in an unsuspecting user's personal computer. Security experts went so far as describing it as a worm that "hunts down" and destroys mp3 files in an infected PC.

Their choice of the phrase "hunts down" leads one to think that the worm was created with a purpose in mind. Although they have also said that the worm may only be the product of idle hands, the question that is not being asked is whether this is the revenge of the evil empire?
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From Rubber Boots To Music Downloads

nospam@example.com (GOoseneck) — 2007-07-29T10:09:00Z

Way back in 1898, the Finnish Rubber Works was founded in a town in Finland. They would manufacture galoshes and later also tires. The rubber company was a success, so much so that in almost every Finnish home you would find a pair or two of their long black rubber boots. They would soon export their boots to neighboring countries but perhaps one of their biggest customers would be the Soviet army, which bought the rubber boots for use by their soldiers. Emblazoned on the rubber boots would be the name of the town, which also represents the company logo. It's a name that you are probably quite familiar with today--NOKIA.

Humble beginnings? Perhaps. You could say that the journey was a long one, coming from supplying the Soviet army with rubber boots to being the world's leading cellular phone manufacturer. But there is certainly nothing humble about the recent plan unveiled by Nokia--the plan to venture into the world of online music downloads.
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Is There Really A Market For High-Priced Mp3 Players?

nospam@example.com (GOoseneck) — 2007-07-23T03:20:02Z

Over the weekend, I had a chance to read some articles about really high-priced mp3 players. We're talking about $600-$800 players. So it basically led to the title of this entry--is there really a market for these kinds of players?

Obviously the manufacturers of these units think so. These kinds of high-ticket players have been around for about five years now. There are no publicly available sales figures for these kinds of units so it's a bit hard to gauge their success. So to give myself an idea for how owners of such units feel about their investments, I went snooping around a bit and some of their reactions was a bit of an eye-opener.
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Prolonging Internet Radio's Agony

nospam@example.com (GOoseneck) — 2007-07-15T11:22:00Z

Today, July 15, is supposed to have been the date that thousands of internet radio broadcasters are sent to their final resting place. This is due mainly to the ten-fold increase in royalty payments that the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) plans to impose.

The heart of the conflict is that the internet broadcasters argue that such rates would put them out of business. At the other end, commercial artists and record companies, through their collection agent called Soundexchange, argue that the hike was necessary to ensure proper compensation for their work.

So it was basically a whirlwind week last week when court testimonies and arguments went back and forth regarding this issue. And then there were the private meetings and negotiations that ended up in Capitol Hill. When the dust settled, internet radio is still alive ... just barely.
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The Spice Girls--Reunion Of A Dysfunctional Family

nospam@example.com (GOoseneck) — 2007-07-13T18:05:27Z

About a couple of weeks ago, the Spice Girls announced the dates of their reunion tour. They are all set to rekindle "Girl Powah" in such exotic locations such as Buenos Aires, Madrid and Hong Kong among others. After the announcement of plans for the reunion about a month ago, there was an almost immediate barrage of negative press.

This year saw a couple of successful reunions by British bands The Police and Genesis, both of whom are surefire future Hall of Famers if I may add. So will the girls be able to carry on the successful string of reunions by British bands by December when their tour kicks off? Or will the string end with the loudest of thuds?
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Live Earth: Answering The Call Of Nature

nospam@example.com (GOoseneck) — 2007-07-08T18:20:15Z

One of the biggest global concerts in more than twenty years was staged yesterday and you'd really have been living in a cave if you hadn't heard of Live Earth. Some writers have already described it as bigger than Live Aid, perhaps the pioneer of multi-venue global concerts. It was twenty-two years ago that Live Aid, organized by Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats and Midge Ure of Ultravox, helped raise money and awareness for famine relief in Ethiopia.

This year, artists from all over the world stationed themselves in various venues throughout the seven continents with the objective of raising awareness on global warming. This makes Live Earth significantly different from Live Aid because it was not about raising money. Mother Nature is in trouble, so now we ask ourselves how are we going to respond to the call?
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Remove DRM From Music Files The Easy Way

nospam@example.com (GOoseneck) — 2007-07-03T15:10:00Z

You may have read that there are some digital songs being sold online these days that are already DRM free. While this may be true, it only applies to the products from a specific music label that agreed to remove DRM from their music. This may leave you in a dilemma especially if you like to transfer music across several types of digital music players. Certainly not all the music you like will come from the label that is DRM-free.

To date, there really is no easy way to remove DRM, but it can be done. It just takes a little effort, the right tools and some creativity. For the tech-savvy, the process has probably been simplified down to a science with each step being achieved using the appropriate tools. For those who may have a little harder time understanding technical stuff but wish to enjoy their music across different platforms, the process can be confusing resulting in some resources being wasted along the way. Thankfully there are "all-in-one" programs out there that can help.
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Prince is Giving Away Free Compact Discs

nospam@example.com (GOoseneck) — 2007-06-30T19:16:00Z

The artist known as Prince is giving away free copies of his upcoming album Planet Earth, but you have to be in the UK this weekend just to get it.

When Prince Rogers Nelson aka Prince aka Alexander Nevermind aka O(+> aka TAFKAP aka Prince again released his hit "Controversy" way back in 1981, he probably had a premonition of how his career path would go. Obviously he is no stranger to controversy or conflict.

The eagerly awaited new album, slated for release July 16 worldwide and July 24 in the U.S., is being launched as a free CD with newspaper The Mail. This practice is known as "cover mounts" and record companies naturally frown on this type of promotion. With a high profile musical royalty such as Prince involved, the move by The Mail has ruffled more than a few feathers.
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Lossless Compression--The Audiophile's Choice

nospam@example.com (GOoseneck) — 2007-06-23T17:35:00Z

No, lossless compression has nothing to do with liposuction as someone asked me just recently. Obviously this person was just being cheeky. Lossless compression is a process quite similar to what people who enjoy listening to digital music do when they encode their favorite songs into compressed format.

The difference lies in how much data is kept intact. When you encode a song from a compact disc into mp3 or Windows Media Audio (WMA) or AAC, about 90% of all the data from the original track is thrown away in order to compress the file down to a fraction of the original size. This is lossy compression.

Lossless compression on the other hand, compresses the original file size down to only about 60-75%. Quite bulky still as compared to the significantly pared down mp3's or WMA's. But nothing is thrown away. Yes, no data is lost. This is lossless compression. And if you'd like to store your original music in smaller files but without losing any of the original data, then this is the format for you.
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