The Compact Disc killed music

OK, well maybe not completely, but I would argue it hastened the demise of the traditional record label. The Compact Disc itself is not entirely to blame, but the digitization of music that began with the compact disc is the primary culprit in my eyes. Without the CD, you don't have iPods or Napster, or iTunes, etc.
But in reality, this post isn't going to be about the death of music, but more about the rebirth of vinyl.

I was reading an interesting post written by Tommy Shaw of Styx fame, called "Tommy Shaw's Vinyl Ritual" (read it here if you'd like http://thecomet.com/posts/exclusive_blog_tommy_shaws_vinyl_ritual) and I was struck by this statement:

"Sitting back listening to music playing ambiently in a room with all its acoustic artifacts, knowing that in a few minutes you’ll be gently reminded by that subtle little popping sound to flip the disc to the other side if you wish to hear the whole thing, means you have to be involved. "

I come to realize that music is just (mostly) relegated into the background of my life now, where in the past it was such a focus. I don't know if it's a phase, or a lack of (or perhaps a lack of exposure to) good quality new music, but TS is certainly right. Every time I break out the vinyl, I'm a lot more focused on the music. Maybe it's because I have to put forth the effort to actually find the record, take the record out of the sleeve and fire up the stereo, as opposed to say setting the ipod to random, or jumping onto youtube while surfing the net.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a vinyl snob who rails on about the inadequacies of mp3 files, and how they would rather listen to cats knock over trash cans. Heck I have an ipod full of tunes (though more and more I listen to podcasts instead of music in the car), and I had a wall full of CD's (which have now been banished into 4 giant cd folders) to go along with my collection of vinyl. I guess maybe I'm saying that it's nice to slow down a bit from a hectic life, and enjoy the soft crackle of classic vinyl...

Phew, that was a close one, Thanks Mach!

$25 for a USB Dongle sized PC

From the article:
Braben has developed a tiny USB stick PC that has a HDMI port in one end and a USB port on the other. You plug it into a HDMI socket and then connect a keyboard via the USB port giving you a fully functioning machine running a version of Linux. The cost? $25.

For $25, I'd pick one of these up in a heartbeat.

I just can't...

...get this song out of my head. And everytime I hear it, I like it a little more...

Goodbye Wall-o-Tunes

Killed in the name of progress...
Before:
















After:

OK I Lied... One more post :)

Bin Laden

From Sports Illustrated writer Peter King:
"Smarter people than I will write today about what it means. I don't have anything deep on that, other than this: We kept our word. We said we were going after bin Laden and wouldn't stop until we found him. It took a decade, but we did it, and I'm so proud of the men and women who have done their part to defend our country and find bin Laden."

I think that pretty much covers it.