A Tale of Two Albums!

I've ranted before that free music is often not worth the hassle. Today I got my hands on two albums in different circumstances.

A bit of late night surfing tipped me off that The Sunday Times were giving away a Moby compliation in today's edition. It was to advertise his upcoming album. This was obviously a more attractive proposition than the Prisonbreak DVD in the Daily Mail, which was piled up everywhere, while The Sunday Times was nowhere to be seen. (Heaven forbid I reveal my feelings on their comparative journalistic merits!) I had to visit three shops to find my copy.

But here's the funny thing. It's not free music because I paid £2 for a paper that'll be 95% unread. And I know I would have put that much effort in if I have been online searching for a download.

However I did score The Charlatans new album for free. I saw a Sky News story about the giveaway and a quick google found the Xfm site with a beautifully simple, no-stupid-registration-just-right-click-and-save-as downloadable album! It's playing now. Yes, it gets plus points for ease of access but I prefer the Moby!

Feeder - free but frustrating!

I've ranted about giving away free music before. If you want a good example of how not to do it look no further than this recent attempt by UK rock band Feeder.

Now I own several Feeder albums, have seen them in concert several times and have their posters on my living room wall - I guess that qualifies me as a sort of fan. But this annoyed me. Perhaps I'm the only one, and maybe all the positive feedback on their blog confirms that, but here is a message I sent them last night.

this stupid free download doesn't want to work! if you'd really like me to hear your cool new music why not just put it as a download from myspace? oh, cos you won't harvest my details for FeederSpam! yeah, I get it - except I never did get to hear this track cos it won't extract properly.i think you get my point ;)

This morning I got this reply...

You are the first person to say there is a problem ... please can you try again ?If it doesn't work still, please can you describe the problem ?I should add, we never send out spam via our mailing list, it's always important news which we think our fans would like to know!

I did try again. I got it to work. It's playing as I type - but I stand by my request for simplicity.

When FREE MUSIC isn't worth it!

I wasted time tonight. That wouldn't be such a problem if i had time to waste. The distraction was the lure of free music. My iTunes is populated by free - legally - downloaded music so I rarely miss a chance to add to my collection. However that may change.

My new iPod Video Nano - thanks family! - has seen me download a few favourite tunes in return for some hard earned cash. This is quick and you get exactly what you want. Better than a hour lost downloading music, music I'll probably never listen to, just because it's being given away. Besides the attached strings means my inbox will be flooded with emails about bands I have no interest in. Consider my music acquisition policy offically reviewed!

But if you just must get your hands on some free music you find some at hearitfirst.com and a solitary new track at delirious.co.uk.

Podcast or not to cast?

The terminology confuses some but podcasting can be audio or video that is pushed to the consumer, usually via RSS. Downloads are downloaded and therein lies the difference! If you're looking for easy, entry-level ways to distribute video stick to YouTube.

Start Your Own Podcast by MacWorld
How To Start Your Own Podcast by wikiHow