To all the mothers out there (especially mine): you rock. This video is for you:
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=bhcA4Ry65FU]
Author: Mike P. Lewis
Subscription Music Breakdown
In the past few months, i've had quite a few questions about what "subscription" music is. This is my attempt to explain it.
Napster, Rhapsody, MusicNow, MTV, and Yahoo! all offer services where you can get unlimited music for about $10 a month. The one caveat is that the tracks you download with these services are all "rented" – meaning that as soon as you stop paying for them, you can no longer play them. The way this works is that each file requires a license to play. When you download a track you get both the file and the license. For a track to play in a player the license must be valid. Whichever service you use, they automatically renew all licenses every 30 days. If you're no longer a subscriber, the license doesn't get renewed and the files don't play. Another company, EMusic, is a little different – you get 40 downloads of mp3's for $10 bucks a month. While you don't get as many files, you get them in mp3 format and can keep them forever – you truly own them.
Why it hasn't worked? This model hasn't worked for two BIG reasons:
- Can't find enough music to satisfy $10 a month. What do you want for your birthday? Tell me now. It's hard isn't it. Everybody knows they want something for their birthday, but when they have to think about it NOW, it's tough. It is the same with subscription music. Everybody knows they like a bunch of music and want to download it, but when you're at the front page of Napster, it is hard to remember what you want. Trust me, i've done countless focus groups – this is a big problem. If you can find what you want to download, you don't download and the value of an unlimited download service lessens.
- iPods and iTunes. iPods are not only pretty to look at, with the iTunes player, they are insanely easy to use. As a device, they are so much easier to use than other subscription compatible devices. Using them, users don't have to ever worry about licenses and they don't have to worry about other media players or connections or anything. An ipod works with – and ONLY with – iTunes which means that it is designed to be simple. Microsoft is a platform company. They make platforms that any vendor can use to sell devices or services. Which is great, but it means that both the devices and the WindowsMedia format itself is going to be much, much more complex – and unfortunately for them, it shows. Until that extra functionality MS allows is really useful, it's only a hindrance.
Will subscription ever be a good way to get new tunes? I believe it will. It is very easy to create music now, and the amount of music being created is only going to keep growing. There is a need for people to find and explore the expanding universe of music. Once there are better searching techniques, I believe the utility of subscription music will rise.
Ian Rodgers, who works at Yahoo Music provided (in this podcast) a great way to think about the advantages of subscription music. It went something like this….
users care about 2 things regarding music: playing music and owning music. If you want to own music, you're best bet is to purchase the CD. You get the music in a lossless format which can be burned into any format at any bitrate indefinitely and also receive associated images, liner notes, etc. If you want to play music, your best option is a subscription platform which allows you to play as much as possible for pretty cheap.
I like that thought, but that doesn't account for iPods, nor the convenience of purchasing only a track vs. an entire album.
That's the theory – what do you think?
A funny sidenote that i like. WMA files (non iTunes) are protected by a technology called in the industry Janus, and by marketers "Plays for Sure." Check out a past blog post of mine which describes why this is a clever reference to a muppet.
Chernobyl – 20 Years Later
It's been 20 years since the accident at Chernobyl, and there's a great photo journal at this site. If you have a chance, check it out. As people today begin to care more about the amount of carbon going into the atmosphere, Nuclear energy is back in vogue. There are plans in effect to open up to 15 new nuclear power plants in the US by 2007 (article here). After looking at those images on the Chernobyl site and reading about the potential dangers, I find it hard not to be worried about future disaster scenarios.
What do you think?
Summer Movie Season Kicks Off
I saw Mission Impossible 3 this weekend and was happy to finally get into summer movie-watching mode. Before i get started talking about the summer, I must say that i really liked Mi3 for a few reasons:
- The main reason – Great action scenes. The first scene with the helicopter was very cool (7 out of 10), getting into the Vatican was amazing all-around (9) and the bridge scene was one of the best i've ever seen (9).
- Some good humor. Ving was in good form. Just when you think the movie is getting too serious, they break out a good joke. Right off the bat, in the opening scene you see Tom telling a story about how he works for Dept of Transportation and you have some guy start snoring ("boring") and then it pans to two girls who immediately say, "I'd marry him." This is just the lightness needed for an absurd movie. If the dialogue is realistic it keeps us grounded and keeps everything light so we can enjoy the insanity. I aslo like the moments at the very end when the wife is like "What the hell are we doing in China?" Exactly the question i'd ask – good colloquial dialogue in there – it was definitely missing from Mi1, Mi2, and 87% of all other summer movies.
- Tom didn't completely suck. Sure he had his "curiousfury" moments where all he does is run and where it's a Director: "Just smile for us Tom" moment which are almost as painful as Legends of the Fall's I'm-BradPitt-watch-me-ride-a-horse moments. But, all in all, he was fine and didn't kibosh the entire movie.
- Good lookin' babes – always a must for mindless summer fun and this delivers. Tom's wife is smokin', as is the IMF sidekick which won't be named here b/c she wasn't really named in the movie and in both cases it doesn't matter. That scene in the Vatican does a good job of eye candy all around with the cars, art, and babes.
- Great supporting cast – i.e. Philip Seymour rules. I wish he was involved in more of the movie, but he crushes the scenes he's in. Laurence Fishbourne is also really good.
Of course there are some negatives in that we have no idea what the rabbitfoot is, and there are a few dozen too many twists. But it is definitely worth a viewing.
Now, the rest of the summer is almost here. On tap, here's what we've got:
- May 12: Poseidon
- i think it'll be lame. I believe WarnerBros. just needed to make another movie with the monster water tank they built for The Perfect Storm.
- May 19: Da Vinci Code
- Up in the air. Tom Hanks was a bad choice and i don't think they can wedge all the cool code cracking stuff into 2 hours. But Ron Howard is usually pretty awesome so we'll see.
- Also coming out is Over the Hedge which looks pretty funny.
- May 26: X-Men: The Last Stand (trailer)
- Looks awesome! I couldn't be more excited about this one.
- June 2: The Break-Up (trailer)
- This looks really funny because Vince Vaughn in clearly in his comedy prime. I also heard that in the original they actually breakup, but test audiences have so much sympathy for Jennifer Aniston that they wanted her to get the guy at the end so they reshot it so they end up together – which is pretty lame. But, on the other hand they reshot Casablanca 4 times and it ended up pretty good.
- June 6: The Omen – looks scary and i loved the original 1976 Omen, so i'm excited for the latest. (trailer)
- June 9: Cars – Pixar is batting 1.000, can they continue to rock? Everything has to come down sometime and i wouldn't be surprised if this movie is sub-par – the trailers look stupid. But then again, you never know with Pixar they always pull it out somehow. I guess we'll see.
- June 16: Nacho Libre
- This looks so damn funny. Jack Black is fan-tas-tic! Napoleon mixed with Tenacious D. Can't wait. The trailer is hilarious
- June 23: Click – If it wasn't adam sandler, i wouldn't even waste my time writing about it. Chances of this being good: 3%
- June 30: Superman Returns
- This looks really good. I just saw the new trailer: Spacey looks great as Lex, Bosworth is good. I also like how the story now has Clark Kent and Lois once being together and then him ditching her – and then returning. Some good spice there. Matt Lewis had a good point: could be a bad idea to make it retro. Why make it take place in the 50's and 60's? I like superhero movies that are more modern.
- Also coming is Devil Wears Prada – a lame chick-lit book turned into an even lamer chick-movie only without any romance, just an old boss yelling at an assistant – wow, sounds great.
- July 7: Pirates of Caribbean: Dean Man's Chest
- Johnny Depp nails this character and i think this looks like a fun ride. Let's just hope they don't make the plot too screwed up.
- July 14: Pulse – japanese horror movie that will scare the crap out of you – originally done by Kurosawa.
- July 21: Lady In The Water
- This is the latest M. Night Shyswe*an…movie. I liked The Village more than most, and thought Unbreakable was very underrated and, of course, Sixth Sense was awesome. At least he tries to be different and original
- Super Ex-Girlfriend – Uma and Luke Wilson. Uma has super powers. Could be cool, could be Prime. I think it'll be pretty lame. Luke is a great 6th man (Old School, Wes Anderson movies) but can't carry a movie and this just feels too weak for me. Then again, Ivan Reitman is directing and he's done mostly good (Old School, Stripes, Animal House) but also some bad (Beethoven's 2nd, Evolution) flicks.
- July 28: Miami Vice – NOW we're talking. In case you weren't aware, this is
made by Michael Mann who made the amazing movie Heat and did the original Miami Vice tv show. And, it has Jamie Foxx who's probably the coolest actor going right now. I mean how many actors can you think of who were probably the cool kid in high school? That's what i thought. I want the cool kids of my movies to have actually known what it was like to be cool. - August 4: Talladega Nights – Will Farrell being a total Nascar moron. Could rival Nacho Libre as the funniest movie of the summer
- Also coming – Flags of Our Father – Clint Eastwood's latest written by the same guy who did Million Dollar Baby. War movie of Iwo Jima – could be sweet.
- August 18: Snakes on a Plane. I must admit, the hype (and blogs) have totally worked for me. It's absurd, it's stupid – but so am i – and i'll see it. If fact, one of the few movies with a Wikipedia entry
- Also coming – Clerks II. Not sure what i think about this. My guess is that it probably has some funny dialogue but fails pretty hard as a movie.
That's the summer. Should be one of the best in a long time. A few good sequels, a few funny comedies, and some mindless fun. Bring it.
Beauty in Errors
Perhaps the history of the errors of mankind, all things considered, is more valuable and interesting than that of their discoveries. Truth is uniform and narrow; it constantly exists, and does not seem to require so much an active energy, as a passive aptitude of the soul in order to encounter it. But error is endlessly diversified; it has no reality, but is the pure and simple creation of the mind that invents it. In this field the soul has room enough to expand herself, to display all her boundless faculties, and all her beautiful and interesting extravagancies and absurdities.– Benjamin Franklin (from his report to the King of France on Animal Magnetism, 1784)
I saw this quote on Caterina.net and thought it was great.
Best Trailers Ever
I find movie trailers absolutely amazing. They are often better than the movie itself. Trailers are an art form that has emerged over the past 10 years and are truly a great piece of entertainment. I'd like to take this blog moment to recognize my favorite trailers over the past few years.
- Star Wars: Episode I – No trailer has never gotten me so pumped to see a movie as this one did. My senior year in college, working on my final CS project, i played this trailer repeatedly in anticipation of Darth Maul kicking ass! Seriously, it is just a well crafted trailer, giving you a great crecendo of action right until the end. I know i'm a nerd, no need to say it out loud.
- Garden State – a great trailer and one that Matt Lewis obsessed with for a good 2 months. He even hit the chat rooms based soley on this trailer.
- Jarhead – the Kanye music and the oil scenes make this movie look like this this generation's Apocolypse Now. The movie didn't deliver on the promise, but the trailer still gets you.
- X-Men III, which is coming out soon has a great trailer. The final confrontation between mutants and humans couldn't look any cooler, and all the character building they've been doing in 1 and 2 look like they'll pay off big-time in this one.
- The Vanilla Sky trailer got me really pumped up when i saw it as Cameron Crowe films are always great (Fast Times at Ridgemont, Almost Famous, Say Anything) and he always uses music so well in his films (Say Anything – Lloyd holding the stereo, Almost Famous' classic Zepplin and Elton John bus scene), so when i heard the Peter Gabriel music and Penolope Cruz in this one, i thought i was going to be quite a modern classic. Oh well.
- Sliver – it's actually a sucky movie and a horrible trailer, but i just wanted to see if you were still paying attention. I'm putting it up here just because Sam Lewis said he loved it and i want us all to mock him. You should check it out still, it is pretty comical.
- ADDED (5/5/) Mock Trailers – they're all good. My personal favorite is Brokeback to the Future, but i think Big is good and the Shining (thanks Walker) is not bad either.
What sucks about alot of these trailers (Vanilla Sky for instance) is that they often tell the entire movie – i mean the entire plot. I hate that. But, i have to admit, it makes me more likely to go to the movie, but it does make the viewing experience much worse – i guess that's what the trailermakers care about – getting the audience, not necessarily enjoying the flick.
LaLa is Great!
For the past few months i've been hearing about a music searvice site called Lala and how it's supposed to be a great service, but i could never get in. Well, i finally got in and starting using the service. And let me tell you – it is, in fact, great.
What is it? Lala is a CD sharing service that lets you receive (in the mail) other people CD's and makes it easy – by providing you with easy mailing envelopes – for you to
send your CD's to other people.
Their site is very slick and very easy to use. You
- List CD's you have and claim the ones you want (by click on them in the site)
- Get CD's in the mail from any other member who decides to send you their CD. It notifies them on their lala site that their CD is wanted. Each CD costs you $1 (plus 50 cents shipping) and the number you get depends on how many you ship.
- Mail your CD's to people who have selected they want it. Lala provides you with prepaid envelopes so the shipping is really easy.
The claiming of CD's you have and selecting what CD's you want is very simple. I just received my first CD and it came in a plastic case. I never have to return it and just have to send a CD of my own once i get a notice from someone that they want it. It's just a P2P netflix for CD's. Pretty great. If you have time, sign up and start swapping
An interesting thing about the service is Lala claims to be setting aside 20% of their revenue to compensate the artists who get traded on the service. This is a nice little secondary market for these artists but it will remain to be seen how much revenue there actually is. Lala has raised $9 million in startup cash and is cleary burning through it on site development, labels, and even in client software (an iTunes plug-in). I see them needing more money in about a year with around 100k regular users. Nevertheless, i still think it's a slick site.
Hanover Police Reports
A pretty funny read on what's going on at Dear Ol' Dartmouth. Post is here.
Beer Belly, the World Cup Blog, and World Cup Power Rankings
First, check out the beer belly, which is an ingenious way for fans to get beer into the
stadium. It looks like a great way to get a belly full of brew without having to haul in a bunch of cans – also, with the flexy straw there's no need to remove your hands from a few hot dogs and nachosSecond, there's now an entire blog set up to track the World Cup at worldcupblog.org. I know i just added to my Netvibes. I'm looking forward to seeing the US kick some ass on the world stage. Although the blog's latest post has the power rankings which has the US at a lowly 15th. The top 15 are:
- Brazil (1) – So good even Maradona wants to wear yellow.
- Spain (3) – We have to rank them high so they can fail to live up to expectations.
- Argentina (2)– Will Riquelme take the penalty kicks?
- Italy (4) – Totti is back and looking fit.
- Czech Republic (7) – Nedved might retire before World Cup.
- Germany (8) – Maybe Lehmann is alright after all.
- England (9) – Big Phil is the one, now they can concentrate on Beckham’s hair
- Portugal (5) – Scolari news overshadows uncertain keeper situation.
- Netherlands (6) – Makaay won’t play in Germany.
- France (12) – Zidane to make one final stand.
- Croatia (10) – Defender Jurica Vranješ faces injury concerns
- Mexico (13) – Rafa Marquez first Mexican in Champions League final
- Sweden (11) – Zlatan fighting with Juve teammates; Östlund wants to lose weight
- Ukraine (14) – Shevchenko struggling with his form.
- USA (16) – Where are the goals going to come from?
Coolest New Fuel Efficient Car
Driving sucks. I've been driving back and forth from DC to Frederick alot lately and putting all those miles on Chester (my car) has been taking its toll. That, and i'm feeling a need to be better to our environment. Our poor planet hates us and i want to be one of the good guys. Plus, Chester is sooo pretentious that he doesn't even care.
So, what can be done? Well, take a look at the new CLEVER car. It's a kickass one-seater. Mixing the efficiency and compactness of a motorcycle with the comfort and safety of a car, the CLEVER car can go up to 80 mph is tops on my list of what i want to get to tool around town in.
I was very psyched on the Tango's from Commuter Cars, but they seem to be a little to futuristic in a bad way – in a similar way that everyone wearing silver colored full
body suits (onesies) with a purple 'V' on the front is futuristic in a bad way. (Note – the CLEVER car is futuristic cool similar to shooting laser beams out of pencil is cool). An amazing thing about the Tango is that it's an electric car and can go 0-60 in 4 seconds, so it's fast as hell and totally environment-friendly. The Tango (see pics) is closer to reality – you can order it now – and while it would be a fun way to get around town, i like the look of my half-motorcycle/half-car CLEVER.