Poor mans iPod
Just a quick note on a gadget that I bought the other day that is really cool. The bookstore had an Imation RipGO! mini-cd burner, reader and MP-3/WMA player on clearance so I picked it up. These were $400 when introduced an brand new at $48 it was a steal. The unit had problems burning discs (not with playing them) so I requested a warantee replacement with Imation. It was really easy to get the replacement and it came yesterday. I am now able to burn discs with it so that will be nice since my laptop only has a slot loading CD-RW so I can't write mini-CDs with it. Anyhow I can get just about 3 hours of MP-3s at 160K on a single 185MB disc and over 3 hours at 128K. Not a bad play time. The unit has about 3 hours of LiIo battery and seems to last me a couple of days of listening in the car and around campus/work.

The sound quality is excellent and 100% skip free. The headphones that came with it are not bad either. I am looking forward to getting some of the new 220-225 MB mini-CD blanks and will probably get close to 4 hours of playtime on a single disc. It will cost me alot less than an iPod in the long run and I am able to play the discs in any compuer that has a tray loading CD slot. When I get an iPod next year I can then xfer all the MP-3s over to it directly from the mini-CDs and still have the CDs as backup.
4:00:57 PM     comment []

Wacko Jacko
Recently you would need to be living under a rock not to notice the resurgence of interest in Michael Jackson. I guess every 10 years we need to drag up something to hack on him about. I don't want to say that I am condoning his recent behavior or agree with his lifestyle, quite the opposite. I have long viewed Michael as a music genius as well as Prince. I guess when you are that talented and have all of that money which enables you to express yourself anyway you like or desire you can become a little eccentric and crazy (to say the least ;).

I have always enjoyed Michael's early material, up to about the album Bad. After that his albums have been well not as good as Bad. I grew up in my formidable years listening to a lot of Disco, funk and other pop dance music and his early material will always spark memories (good and Bad) of that time of my life.
5:19:16 PM     comment []

Genesis Three Sides Live CD Versions
Since I intend this blog category to hold my thoughts on music, I thought it would be a good idea to note interesting useless facts about music and the bands I like here.

One such fact is that the currently in print version on Genesis Three Sides Live does not contain the studio tracks like Paperlate from the US version. My friend Richard mentioned the other day that he saw a single CD version sans the studio tracks. I checked my copy which is the original release and it is a two CD with all three live sides plus the studio tracks. This original version is not in print anymore, so if you see a copy grab it because it is a collectors item.
10:29:53 AM     comment []

90's and beyond Progressive Music
Recently a good friend and fellow music buff, Richard Ledford has turned me on to some of the '90's Progressive Rocks bands. Bands like The Flower Kings and Spock's Beard have picked up where Yes, ELP, King Crimson and others left off in the '70s. I have been critically listening to several compilations of both bands work over the past several weeks and quite like alot of it. Some of it is just going to have to grow on me. One album I have been listening to today is the Flower King's Space Revolver CD, which is quite different than my favorite so far--Stardust We Are.

I will write more on contemporary progressive rock when I get more time.
5:45:45 PM     comment []