Fake’s Tank

The more I use it the more I’m impressed by Ubuntu and Linux distributions in general. In addition of giving a second life to my old PC hardware due to it’s low system requirements, the software is actually more useful.

My friend has a iPod that stopped playing the mp3s it holds. The proprietary Mac and Microsoft software he normally uses, like the obvious iTunes or other iPod rippers of sorts, did not recognize his iPod either.

I had a huntch Ubuntu would have something to offer to save his music collection. While I was expecting to have to do a few console tricks, turns out the included media software read and fetched the mp3s off his iPod without any problems.

The only thing we haven’t tried yet was to actually try and ‘reset’ the iPod using the open source platform. My guess is that while I could get his mp3s back, we were going to have to return the songs to the iPod using iTunes in the end.

Because the process of saving the files on my Ubuntu box, sending them over to my Mac and re-include them to the freshly wipe iPod through iTunes would have been too lenghty, my friend wanted to try a few other things first. At least now we have a back up solution, though.

Feels good to be a nerd with social skills.

I was pointed towards a MSN Music video service called In Concert in a Lenny Kravitz press release sent to The Music Tank.

While the Kravitz show didn’t really spark any kind of interest, I did spend a few minutes around the video streaming service looking around for stuff I would actually enjoy.

For something obviously “Microsoft” and actively targeting a wide audience, they kind of have a nice choice of mainstream artists.

Notably, you can stream the Smashing Pumpkins and Chris Cornell — which mostly does Soundgarden songs — among established artists like Elton John.

Services like these are nice because things are neatly grouped and bow-tied, but it’s not making any effort of posting content that would allow for musical discovery. It’s a service that brings them money first and foremost and the showcased artists are filtered accordingly… and that will always seem inevitable for giant portal websites like MSN.

If you follow the news around torrent downloads, you might have heard the Demonoid tracker is blocking requests coming from canadian IP addresses after legal pressure was put on the group by the CRIA.

A comment posted on TorrentFreak in reaction to the news sums up my position on the subject, word for word. It seems like I’m not the only one either, since TorrentFreak decided on publishing the comment as one of their news post.

This part is probably the best excerpt, as it illustrates my problem perfectly:

I listen to heavy metal music, a form of music that “the industry” stopped supporting many years ago, so I have a hard time feeling any sympathy. Sites such as Demonoid have done far more to promote the music I love than your organization or the industry in general has ever done. I can find out about new artists and new releases from artists that are never promoted. I can listen to music from artists that have never been played on the radio, will never be shown on MuchMusic or MTV, and never have a review or even mention of their new album written about in the local newspaper. From listening to this music, I can make an informed decision if I wish to purchase the album or not, as I am not going to gamble $15-20 on something that I haven’t heard anything off of before.

The guy is very conservative when the price tag is being mentioned. I have spent over 30$ for an Opeth album just because it had been imported to Canada.

Speaking of which, Radiohead is giving away their new album on their website.  Actually, they ask for whatever you want to give them. I don’t think I even like Radiohead  that much anymore, but I bought the album anyway as a statement (and besides, we all know Radiohead doesn’t release bad material). I gave them about 7 Canadian dollars, and should be getting the link to download the album on the 10th of October.

Tool really deserves to be considered as one of the most important bands of the modern era alongside the Beatles and other similar icons.

One example of why that is lies in this video explaining Tool’s approach to song writing with an analysis of the song “Lateralus”.

Macs really seem to have all the best looking applications for themselves. Even if Apple forgets about an idea, someone will make it for them before you know it.

Coverflow runs alongside iTunes to allow visual browsing of all the albums you may have in your library. Before long, I’m sure this way of browsing (or a variation of it) will be integrated with iTunes someway or an other — its much too cool.

It was with great surprise that I happened to notice there was a new In Flames album out. Real Life having caught to me, I really am not the Web�s Favorite Webmaster that used to know what was happening in music anymore.

Being an official fan of In Flames for a while now I bought the album even knowing I had not liked their previous release, �Soundtrack to Your Escape,� that much. Excited like a schoolgirl I galloped towards the closest set of speakers to give a chance.

�Come Clarity� is musically closer to �Reroute to Remain,� featuring heavy and powerful riffs without sacrificing the melodically driven side of In Flames I have grown to expect in time.

There’s even an appearance by Lisa Miskovsky, with is really everything but a metal signer. It adds more depth to the track �Dead End,� without turning too cheesy like, say, the Amy Lee/Sale Stuart duo.

The bottom line is that it�s a really good album. Like the others, which is good in this case.

Good things sometimes fall from the sky when your are just going in to spend the gift certificate you got on Christmas.

I also bought and enjoy the new Rhapsody record, “Live in Canada 2005,” which I didn’t know but happened to be recorded in Montreal (my hometown). It was really strange to hear the guy speaking to the crowd in french out of the blue.