MovableBlog: Archives: Moving Picture Experts Group Layer-3
April 5th, 2003
Month without MP3s: Recap »
The month without MP3s is over (see here for the background). About 3/4 the way though, I discovered the Legal MP3 Download weblog, through which I found Zach De La Rocha ft DJ Shadow "March of Death". There was also Beastie Boys' "In A World Gone Mad" (both songs are anti-war songs, and I was more interested in the artists than the message). Here are the CDs of mine that I rediscovered, which would give you an idea of the type of music I listen to:
- Aaliyah's Aaliyah
- Basement Jaxx's Rooty
- Basement Jaxx's Remedy
- Beastie Boys' Hello Nasty
- The Beta Band's The 3 E.P.s
- Blackalicious' NIA
- Blackalicious' Blazing Arrow
- Coldplay's Parachutes
- Cornershop's When I Was Born for the 7th Time
- DJ Spooky's Riddim Warfare
- Outkast's Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
- Radiohead's Amnesiac
- Radiohead's Kid A
- Zero7's Simple Things
I also did a lot of listening to WOXY Cincinnati despite living thousands of miles away (thank you streaming audio!). I'm really digging the Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" and may have to download the MP3 buy the CD. That above list of CD's may not seem like a lot, but that can be explained away by the fact that got cable TV about halfway into the month.
In other news, I just recently quit instant messaging cold turkey. Wish me luck.
Posted by Richard at 11:40 AM | Comments (1)
March 5th, 2003
Month Without MP3s »
This week is the beginning of my second week without any illegal MP3s on my hard drive. But since there was no announcement of that fact, there's no way you could have known this, so officially, today marks the first day. I will go a month without downloading or accepting from friends any MP3 that is not sanctioned by the record company or musical artist in question. Why?
- because artists who do it for a living deserve to be paid for their creation, irregardless of how pompous the artist or crappy the music.
- to rediscover my CD collection.
- to give credibility to my position that I am more likely to buy a CD of an artist whose record companies (independent or otherwise) puts out free, high-quality MP3s from their album as 'loss-leaders'. The RIAA seems more interested in fighting the medium rather than co-opting it.
- because the programs used to download MP3s contain spyware, adware and parasites. Yes, there are versions of software without them. Still.
- I'm getting cable TV this week. Not the smartest move on my part, but it's cheap, so...
I will not download MP3s nor will I accept them from friends unless, of course, the artist and/or record company has consented to their free distribution that way. In other words, if it's not available from the official website, then it will not be on my system. The major objection I can see to this is that people will think I'm "losing out" on all the great songs out there, to which I say, with a shrug, "yep, you're right".
So here goes: a month without MP3s.
Posted by Richard at 07:16 PM | Comments (5)