Music Mends Broken Hearts
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 Jason Tate's Photo Blog |
| If It Were Me ... PandoraEdition |
| If it were me ... Pandora(ish?) version: I'd be talking to someone about getting my service in all cars. Kill traditional radio. And I'd want a button on the dashboard where if I like a song, I can push one button to buy the album or song - and it'll automatically download to my iPhone/iPod/computer back home. | | Tags: if it were me, thoughts, industry, pandora |
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| If It Were Me ... Myspace Edition |
If It Were Me ... Myspace Edition: Drastic times call for drastic matters. What would I do? Change. Re-think how you would build the website/company if you were starting from scratch. Ditch the idea that you're fighting for identities online. Become a social aggregator (like FriendFeed was) that allows you to import all of your social streams (with commenting). Allow bands to better import outsides feeds with their music pages (and combine all of this into one front page feed like facebook). Remove all of the giant ads on the site and focus on smaller ad campaigns. Maybe even go completely ad-free for 6 months.
Or just die out ... I'm ok with that too. | | Tags: if it were me, thoughts, industry |
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| The Next Break Out Scene Band? |
With FOB taking some time to themselves right now (I'm not affixing any label to it - seems pointless) ... it seems we're in a transitional period for the next "pop-punk" superstars to emerge. Who do you think it will be? Seems like Paramore are the obvious choice, Hayley is probably the closest thing to a celebrity with cross-over appeal ... right? But beyond that, who's got the potential to come up through the ranks and be poster boys for the scene?
Please don't say Metro Station. | | Tags: question |
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| First Impressions: Four Year Strong - Enemy of the World |
Reminds me of early Sum41 meets NFG with some good old skate punkish drums - and, obviously, the patented SYG/FYS sound. I don't think it's as catchy as the last record (on the first few listens at least) - lots of gang vocals - some really good songs, a few that are a tad fillerish -- but it's overall a fun listen when you're in the mood for that sound. I have a feeling it could do really well though. "One Step at a Time" is a stand out.
It must really suck to be an AltPress reviewer right now. | | Tags: first impressions, four year strong |
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| Follow-Up: Gadget Post |
Figured it was worth checking back in as a follow up to my previous post searching for a certain multimedia gadget. I got a lot of great feedback from people on here, Twitter, and Facebook. I tried out XMBC, Windows 7 media center, and Boxee. I thought they all had pros and cons - however, none of them were extremely effective for what I wanted (having a laptop hooked up to the TV just didn't seem like a great long term solution). So I ended up grabbing the WDTV Live from Amazon. It's smaller than most hardbound books, was insanely easy to install, worked with my wireless network, and was set up completely in about 15 minutes. It's probably my favorite toy in the house now. It's perfect for listening to my music downstairs, putting on Pandora, or watching any videos I have on my computer. HD quality. Fast. Perfect.
So, yeah, I recommend it. With the Boxee Box coming out later this year (which will support netflix and hulu) - I may be grabbing one of those as well, but for right now - I couldn't be more satisfied. Got exactly what I was looking for. And it just works. | | Tags: gadget, toys |
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| Blueprints |
The best comment I've heard so far this year? When I was showing some possible ideas for the future of AP.net to Garett and he responded with ... "Man oh man. That is lightyears ahead of where we are (and where most others are too), I love it."
We're on the right track. Just had to share. | | Tags: inside ap.net |
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| You Tell Me |
What are your favorite websites to use beside AP.net. Design wise? A website where you love the profiles? Love the comment section? Love the news feed? Love the layout? Love the music player? Best forums?
Lemme know.
Why? If you've been following me Garett and Anton on Twitter - maybe you have an idea. | | Tags: poll, question |
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| Rules for Harmonious Living Part 1 |
I think the world would be better off if the following took place:
1) There was an add-on for Firefox that kept all spelling errors from ever reaching me. Someone @replies me on Twitter and can't spell a basic word that your browser even tells you is misspelled? Doesn't get to me. Someone responds on AP.net and tlkz lyke thz. I never see it. Seriously. It would save me a lot of time and annoyance.
2) People didn't blame me for the ads on the website. I have zero say over them.
3) People remembered that if they are going to @reply me and insult me - odds are you're going to be responded to with the same hostility. Don't go whine about it and try and take the high-road when you're the one that started the entire thing.
4) People stopped eating at places with horrible commercials. McDonalds and Taco Bell -- you're done right off the bat. Let's move this to all commercials and stop giving shitty places more money.
5) Shhhh ... don't tell anyone in the media: there have been tablets for years. Powerful ones that don't run a phone OS. Seriously. Anyway, I'll be chatting in this thread today.
6) I have nothing to do with ads on the website.
7) And because I need to get it off my chest: THIS. | | Tags: rant |
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| Does This Gadget Exist? |
| Does a device exist that I can plug into my TV (downstairs) - and it will allow me to watch/listen to files that are on my computer (avi, divx, xvid, mpg, mp3, etc.) upstairs? | | Tags: question, technology |
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| If It Were Me ... Microsoft Edition |
I think it's time someone tried a game changing move in the music industry. Someone with money. Someone that's been lagging in recent product launches and needs to do something to really re-spark the public interest.
Microsoft - I'm looking at you.
Want to be cool again? It's time for a device that you pay a monthly fee on (like an iPhone data plan) that gives you unlimited access to music. That let's you download music from any source (omgz, yes leaks, etc.) and a % of your monthly fee goes to the artists on your device (I listen to a lot of Manchester Orchestra one week - they get a higher percentage of my monthly fee). Put some smart people in front of the numbers and let's figure this out. Let's make it ridiculously simple.
Leaks, release dates ... a thing of the past. Spend the insane amount of money it would take to convince labels that their way is no longer working. I bet if you spent as much as you are trying to overtake Google with Bing -- you'd be able to change the music industry (and compete with Apple's iPod) in 2 years. Here's a battle you can win by innovating instead of copying. | | Tags: if it were me, thoughts, industry |
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| Fuck Spam. |
I'm sick of SPAM on the forums and blogs. New rules is now in place: You can't create a thread (or send PMs) until you have 15 posts. I'll start with 15 - see how that works - and raise it if need be.
Don't forget you can click a user's name and "report a post" if you see spam. | | Tags: inside ap.net |
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| Any Geniuses Out There? |
| After so many years doing this you'd think I would be the one with the answer to this question: But does anyone know a really good way to record phone conversations? Like for interviewing artists? Something besides "hold a recorder to the phone" would be preferred. | | Tags: question |
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| This kid is a straight up hustler. |
Poor kid just wanted to be a dancer. He coulda been somebody, maybe a contender. But nooo ... the parents want him to be tough. Want him to be a man. Well, he'll show them. He's going in style baby. This kid is a straight up hustler.
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| Inside AP.net & More |
Few things to write about this morning ...
First up, the new (beta) version of the mobile website is now up and running. We've had a mobile site for a while; however, it's sort of sucked. Not many features. Bland. Boring. So I finally had a spare minute to sit down and change it. So, what you'll now see if you visit AP.net in your mobile phone is a streamlined version of the website specifically made for the new era of smartphones (iPhone, Blackberry, Android powered phones). The website is made to load as quickly as possible - and give you access to as many of the features on AP.net as we can. After spending a few days with it - I may even enjoy the experience more than I do on my desktop (it's more along the lines of my design style at the moment as well). There are still a few things left to do (such as fixing some bugs, adding some other notification stuff to the page [like # of PMs and quoted messages on the homescreen, and a dot or something on "new" threads], and trying to streamline the code even more). The goal is simple design and as fast loading as humanly possible - with as many of the AP.net features as we can realistically fit.
A few notes: There are more mobile browsers than desktop browsers it seems - so it's harder to make sure everything works in all of them. At the moment I have focused on the big ones and hope that most of the features scale down. However, I know for a fact that the site looks horrible in the default Blackberry browser. So please install Opera Mini if you have a Blackberry. It should be the very first install on a new Blackberry phone no matter what. As for other phones/browsers -- I am still testing things and discovering problems as time goes on. I don't personally own an iPhone or android device - so I will have to find ways to go test it (hmmm, I'm thinking I'll go hang out in the Apple store with a pen and paper) and take advice/tips from user comments.
If you'd like to leave bugs/questions/comments about the new mobile site - this thread is a good place. Please leave me as specific of information as you can. Browser/phone is crucial. Thank you! Also, because I know I won't be able to respond to everyone on Twitter -- thank you for all the kind words that everyone sent so far about the new mobile site. That was really unexpected, but very appreciated.
On to other topics ...
The new Fair album is really good. It's got a Death Cab for Cutie vibe -- but if you like Aaron Sprinkle's past work (solo albums or production) this is a must own. I'm really impressed. The single is on Amazon - and you can pre-order the album. I definitely recommend it.
Also recently watched (500) Days of Summer which I thought was surprisingly good. Unique way of telling the story - good acting - and so many Morrissey/Smiths references. Check it out.
Ugh. Can't stop sneezing.
Watched District 9 last night. Was a fun movie. Guess that one was set up for a sequel. Hopefully not in an over the top way - but with the same feel as this one.
Hmmm, it looks like the new Alkaline Trio album hasn't been well received by some people in our forums. I haven't heard it yet - but now I'm worried. Hope it's good. Gonna wait a bit before I give it a spin though - don't want to be influenced by comments I've read and I'm not really in the mood for that style at the moment. Maybe in a few days. | | Tags: inside ap.net, mobile site, recommendations |
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