Today, Apple announced that it has added the Beatles catalogue to its iTunes stores. This is a big deal to many people, and a big non-event to a nearly equal number of people. But it undoubtedly represents a major breakthrough in what has been, by all accounts, a long and difficult period of discussions between Apple and the Beatles' representatives.
I am a huge Beatles fan, and have been since the ripe old age of 10 or so. Even so, I can't really say that the Apple deal is a major "wowee-kazowee" moment for me. I have been listening to the Beatles in digital form for years already, after adding all my CD's to the hard drive of my computer and to my MP3 players. And I am not a big fan of iTunes to begin with. As any iPod/iPhone user knows, Apple does not play well with others. I hate the way they make it so hard to get, manage and move music - even music you are paying for or have paid for - and I resent spending big bucks on their products, only to be told that I am limited in what I may watch or listen to, or how I may watch/listen to things. Not to mention, I still prefer listening to the music I like best, including the Beatles, on CD with a good pair of headphones. The digital version isn't the same, sonically, and I am not in a big hurry to download anything the iTunes store will be adding.
On another front, however, I am embracing the online musical universe known as Blip.fm. This site basically offers you the chance to play digital DJ, by putting together your own set of streaming music which is then listened to by other users. Those users can then give you "props" for playing songs they like, or become a listener of your "station", and you can find other DJ's to listen to yourself. It's free, and (for music geeks like me) kinda addicting. In fact, as soon as I blow this popsicle stand, I'm headin' over there to start streaming a new set of tunes.
Each time you choose a song to play on your station, you can also post updates on what you're playing instantly, to your Twitter or Facebook pages. And you can hook up your Blip.fm activity to other social music sites like Last.fm, so your blips can be simultaneously scrobbled (if you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, then you're even more of a net-tech noob than I am, which is highly unlikely).
Suffice it to say, between all the blipping and scrobbling, I'm gonna be wasting waaaay too much time for the foreseeable future. Until I get bored of it, which, with my attention span, could be any second now. But if you're interested in what my blips look like, and you want to catch it before I get distracted by a shiny object or something, check my page by clicking here: http://blip.fm/invite/ChrissieInFl Have a rockin' day, y'all...
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