07 Wednesday Nov 2007
Posted in Music, Technology
Back in June I blogged about the idea of having a plugin for the iPod that would allow me to savour the joys of DAB Radio. Well it would seem that the first one to the market will by the same people who make the very retro looking portable radios – Roberts. the Robi as they’ve called it has been reported to be available from the 1st December.
07 Wednesday Nov 2007
Posted in Books
I’ve recently been on the road during the day or at home sick so had the benefit of hearing a bit more Radio 4 than I normally would. That includes hearing the programme ‘book of the week’ . This may sound pretty dull, it but proved this week to be far from it with John O’Farrell’s An Utterly Impartial History of Britain (or 2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge). The excerpts that have been broadcast have been very funny and educational. For example in describing the politics of England prior to the Gun Powder plot the different factions have been likened to football teams and the occasional hooligan behaviour.
If history is taught in the manner that this book adopts, then I think we’ll have a lot more history students engaged and enjoying the subject. On the strength of what I’ve heard I’d recommend the book.
30 Tuesday Oct 2007
Posted in Music
Saul Williams is following in Radiohead’s footsteps of have the album for free or buy with a contribution ($5 in this case). Saul, has at least set the free version’s bit rate to be 192kbps and a choice of qualities if you make a contribution. More information at Saul’s website http://niggytardust.com/saulwilliams/
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails is also indicating that he is likely to follow the same route next year with a new release.
25 Thursday Oct 2007
Posted in General
To get Office documents onto my Nokia N770 and make them decently readable I’ve been using a combination of CutePDF which a printer driver that acts as a printer driver but produces PDF files along with FBReader. Admittedly CutePDF has a couple of weaknesses, such as hyperlinks can’t be followed from the PDF document it does produce a good reliable results, and its free as well. As for FBReader, it produces nicely rendered pages and is very easy to work with on the N770.
del.icio.us tags: N770, FBReader, CutePDF, Nokia, Internet Tablet
24 Wednesday Oct 2007
Posted in Music
The Scissor Sisters have announced that they will be releasing a fans only single of ‘Lights’ available only at scissorsisters.com. The release will only be available for a limited period. so if you want to get the single, then best sign up to their website pronto.
22 Monday Oct 2007
Posted in Music
In a time when all the commercial organisations and law makers the world over are decrying peer to peer networks for copyright theft and critising ISPs for not stopping it. The Canadian government have chosen to impose an additional purchasing tax for downloads with the tax biased against monthly subscriptions (the model that organisations such as the EFF suggest maybe the way forward). For more details go here.
This maybe a shorted sighted move to replace declining tax revenues from physical media, but given that organisations will pass the tax on to the purchaser, it is only likely to encourage people to use peer-to-peer solutions more as the purchase price goes up.
22 Monday Oct 2007
Posted in Music
19 Friday Oct 2007
Posted in Music
Jesse Malin is back in the UK touring, along with a new album called ‘Love it to Life’ – as you may guess from the title and cover it is a live album. The album is being released through One Little Indian at the end of the month.
19 Friday Oct 2007
Posted in Music
With CD sales are falling, and Vinyl sales rising (admittedly not at mass market volumes). The music industry has come up with a new format in to try keep sales up and please everyone. Fightstar is releasing its next single on a disc that is vinyl on one side and a CD on the other. Fightstar’s record company, admits the vinyl-disc is a gimmick but hopes it will capture fans’ imagination. Sounds like fun, but I’m not sure I’d risk my turntable cartridge or CD transport with such a disc.
17 Wednesday Oct 2007
Posted in General
The Delays are releasing a new EP on the 12th November called Love Made Visible as prelude to a new album. The EP is a limited release of only 2000 copies, so you might want to preorder on the web from the likes of Amazon or HMV.
To go with the EP there is a video for ‘Love Made Visible’. Click below to see the video.
Amazon.co.uk: Love Made Visible
Phil (aka MP3Monster)'s Blog 