Wilco and Fleet Foxes Get Out the Vote

Pledge to vote and you'll get a link to a free download from Wilco and Fleet Foxes -- a cover of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released," complete with Jeff Tweedy's falsetto.

All people of voting age should vote anyway, so get yer free tune as a bonus.

http://wilcoworld.net/vote/

Another Side of Bob Dylan -- His Web Site

I was looking up the lyrics to Dylan's "Desolation Row" today. A Google search sent me to his site. Some immediate strangeness here -- usually lyric searches send you to sites where listeners have transcribed the songs. But I got the official words from the official site. Instant credibility!

Then I noticed a bunch of play icons. I click one and I'm listening to the song -- the entire song, not just a clip. I click around to see what else is on the site -- and the song keeps playing. It's a beautiful thing. Then I discover he's got almost every song he's ever recorded on this site. Free streaming. Searchable.

I love Bob Dylan even more now. Check his site out. Do it. Now!

Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy

A quick recap of the history of Chinese Democracy by Guns N' Roses ... it's been 10 years since it was started. It will come out November 23, 2008. It's like when a movie is slated for a summer release, then moved to February when all the really bad movies come out. No rock album I've ever heard is worth 10 years of work. At some point I think Axl should have just given the album a new name.

Anyway, listen to the title track for yourself.

Switch Audio File Conversion Software

I've run across a couple of albums recently that came to me in WMA format -- a format that has no good uses in my book. Who encodes in WMA these days? Can't be played in iTunes or on an iPod. WMA files are dead to me.

Or were. Thanks to Switch Audio File Conversion Software (available for Windows and Mac), I was able to convert those files to MP3. I tried the free version; a paid version is also available, though I don't know why you'd need it. The free version did exactly what I needed it to do: turned WMA files into MP3 files. You can set the encoding bit rate to your liking. I chose VBR with a max bit rate of 320. Converted files showed no artifacts, blips, or blurps.

It was fairly easy to use: in most cases you can drag and drop files that you want converted. For some files I had to use the manual Add Files dialogue box (reason unknown). File conversions weren't quick, but I turned about 20 WMA files into MP3s in about 30 minutes.

In addition to MP3, you can convert to OGG, WAV, and other formats. And you don't just have to start with a WMA file; for example, you can start with MP3 and go to WMA. Which would be awesome if you lived in 1999, I guess.

Verdict: Highly recommended.

DRM Is Dead, Finally, I Hope

Wal-mart has joined Microsoft and others in first saying they will stop supporting tracks purchased with DRM, and then reconsidering and continuing support the DRM'd files after public outcry. Now these companies are stuck with the cost of upkeep on those technologies.

I hope all companies now realized that DRM is not only a pain for consumers, it's a pain for sellers, too.

Here's the message Wal-Mart sent out today:

NOTE: This is a follow-up to our email titled "Important Information
About Your Digital Music Purchases" from 9/26/08.


Based on feedback from our customers, we have decided to maintain our
digital rights management (DRM) servers for the present time. What this
means to you is that our existing service continues and there is no
action required on your part. Our customer service team will continue
to assist with DRM issues for protected windows media audio (WMA) files
purchased from Walmart.com.


While our customer support team is available to assist you with any
issues, we continue to recommend that you back up your songs by burning
them to a recordable audio CD. By backing up your songs, you insure
access to them from any personal computer at any time in the future.


We appreciate your support and patience as we work to provide the best
service possible to you. As we move forward with our 100% MP3 store,
we'll continue to update you with key decisions regarding our service
and your account via email.


Thank you for using Walmart MP3 Music Downloads.


The Walmart Digital Music Team

Today's Rhapsody MP3 Deal

Michael Jackson Thriller for $3

Today's Amazon MP3 Deal

Echo & the Bunnymen for $5

Good for October 9 only.

MMW releases Radiolarians 1

Medeski, Martin, and Wood released Radiolarians 1 on September 30. This is the first of three Radiolarian albums the group aims to release this year. The premise: go on the road with some songs, workshop them, then record them. Repeat. And repeat again.

An interesting experiment, but we'll have to see if the variety proves enough to warrant three albums worth of material.

Check out Free Go Lilly (MP3) from Radiolarians 1