Stephen’s Untold Stories

June 1st, 2008

A couple of great lists

Here are two very interesting lists that I recently found. One is for travel and the other is for finding great free music online. Summer is a busy time at work, so any travel I do won’t likely be until fall, but I always have time to listen to good music.

Anybody else got any good ones?

January 4th, 2008

Trombone kitty is not amused!

As a trombone player, this made my day!

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December 17th, 2007

R.I.P. Dan Fogelberg

 

 

December 16th, 2007

A Fantastic Song

If you’ve never heard this, you should take a listen.

Israel Kamakawiwo’ole - Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What a Wonderful World

December 2nd, 2007

A Blast from the Past

Remember this?

 
icon for podpress  We Are The World: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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December 2nd, 2007

Yes, I now have a Banjo!

I bought my first banjo about a month ago, and I’ve been practicing a little.

I am glad to give a recommendation to the guys at banjo.com for helping me out. They have a new store inside Town Center Mall now.

Here is a sample of how I’m doing so far.

 
icon for podpress  You Are My Sunshine: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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November 7th, 2007

Find out what people are listening to

This is very cool. Here is what it showed for Georgia when I tried it.

music

Of that list, I do listen a lot to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen, and U2.

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November 3rd, 2007

A few more Mashable Toolboxes

Some pretty good ones here!

mindmapping

free

button

graphicstoolbox

creativecommonsheader

csstools

educationtoolbox

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September 8th, 2007

Mad World

A great song with a great video. The kids are the best part!

August 8th, 2007

Nice work

A group of 12-14 year olds play “Sweet Child O’ Mine.”

July 7th, 2007

Podcasting and Online Music Toolboxes

Mashable has done it again, and again. Following the releases of their blogging and video toolboxes, we now have two more. Fantastic Stuff!

podcastingtoolbox

Podcasting Toolbox

onlinemusic90

Online Music Toolbox

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June 13th, 2007

The epitome of cool

 The Dave Brubeck Quartet from 1961. 

May 25th, 2007

Time for some Moozart

Who knew that cows like classical music?

On Hans Pieter Sieber’s Priegola dairy farm in Villanueva del Pardillo, Spain, the secret to success is not some newfangled technology or machine. Nor is it a time-tested technique or process handed down from generation to generation. Rather it is the dulcet, layered tones of classical music.

And not just any music.

Sieber exposes his herd of approximately 700 heifers to the famous chords, crescendos and cadences of Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Link to article

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April 20th, 2007

I miss Buddy Rich

He was great. Here is a classic from The Muppet Show.

February 6th, 2007

Steve Jobs is Amazing

Apple CEO has some very interesting thoughts on music and digital rights management (DRM). It is refreshing that a man with such power and so much at stake is so brutally honest.

With the stunning global success of Apple’s iPod music player and iTunes online music store, some have called for Apple to “open” the digital rights management (DRM) system that Apple uses to protect its music against theft, so that music purchased from iTunes can be played on digital devices purchased from other companies, and protected music purchased from other online music stores can play on iPods. Let’s examine the current situation and how we got here, then look at three possible alternatives for the future.

Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music. That’s right! No DRM system was ever developed for the CD, so all the music distributed on CDs can be easily uploaded to the Internet, then (illegally) downloaded and played on any computer or player.

Read the rest here

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January 3rd, 2007

I want one!!

Even though I haven’t played much lately, I still love playing the guitar. Here is one that you can plug into a computer and record yourself.

Link to site

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January 1st, 2007

A merger for Satellite Radio?

I would love it if this would happen. I’ve had XM for a little over two years, and it would be great if I could get NFL games. XM offers MLB games, and I can’t imagine going without all the other great music and sports it has.

The benefits of a merger have been promoted by the chief executive of Sirius, Mel Karmazin, for a number of months, and Sirius officials continue to say that a merger would be a good thing. XM has not commented on the possibility, and neither company has said whether they have actually discussed the issue.

“When you have two companies in the same industry, we have a similar cost structure. Clearly, a merger makes sense from an investor’s point of view to reduce costs, and to have a better return,” said David Frear, the chief financial officer for Sirius.

Both companies have continued to lose hundreds of millions of dollars because of marketing and other subscriber acquisition expenses. During the year, XM sharply lowered its expectations for 2006 subscriber levels, from January’s predicted end-of-year total of 9 million to a maximum of 7.9 million. (Sirius reduced its subscription projection by about 100,000.)

Nate Davis, XM’s president, said his company believed that the slower-than-expected growth rate was of its own making and not a result of any market indifference. “We did not stimulate the market with new products,” he said.

XM’s most talked-about receivers, the Pioneer Inno and Samsung Helix, were first announced one year ago. Several new receiver models will be introduced later in 2007. In addition, production of some receivers was temporarily halted to stop a condition that was allowing satellite signals to be picked up by neighboring vehicles.

The hiccups typical of fledgling industries appear to be over. Both companies have their programming lineups largely in place and a wide range of receivers available in retail stores.

Link to article

December 25th, 2006

R.I.P. James Brown

Sad news for Christmas Day, but he deserves a mention.

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December 11th, 2006

Mozart’s Works on the Web

I majored in music as an undergrad, and one of the best things about my studies was the opportunity to study the genius that was Mozart. The fact that all of his works will be online is amazing news.

Mozart’s year-long 250th birthday party is ending on a high note with the musical scores of his complete works available from Monday for the first time free on the Internet.

The International Mozart Foundation in Salzburg, Austria has put a scholarly edition of the bound volumes of Mozart’s more than 600 works on a Web site.

The site allows visitors to find specific symphonies, arias or even single lines of text from some 24,000 pages of music.

Link to article

December 6th, 2006

Freedom for MP3s

This is a welcome event for music lovers everywhere.

After years of selling online music digitally wrapped with copy and playback restrictions designed to hinder piracy, major music labels are beginning to make some songs available in the unrestricted MP3 file format.

Normally, copy-protected tracks are only playable on certain devices. By selling MP3s, recording companies can ensure they can be played on Apple Computer Inc.’s market-leading iPod players without going through Apple’s iTunes Music Store.

Link to article