Be Back Shortly

I'll be without internet access for a short time. Hopefully it won't last more than a couple of days. I wish that I could have found someone to guest blog during the meantime, but unfortunately I didn't have much notice or time on my hands. I'll be back before you know it though.

Update: Unfortunately it looks as if I'm going to be without internet access for a few more days. I'm intercepting someone else's connection at the moment. Over the next couple of days I'll do my best to add a few more blogs, respond to comments, and check the blogs that have been requested to be added to the blogroll. Stay tuned for more updates.

TheLastRipper - last.fm Audio Ripper

I discovered a neat little tool via lifehacker It's called TheLastRipper and basically what it does is connect to your last.fm account, and rip the streams and album art to the folder of your choice. That was enough to convince me, however this little tool is actually capable of much more than just that. You can find the full list of features below. Of course the legality of this tool is in question, which is actually acknowledge by the following disclaimer on their homepage: "Please be aware that recordings of radio streams, may NOT be legal, we recommend that you investegate your local laws, before using TheLastRipper." It will be interesting to see how long this lasts. In the meantime though, I'm sure that all you last.fm aficionados will find this tool very useful.

Features:
Recording streams to mp3's
Organize mp3s in folders: Artist/Album/Track/
Downloads coverart
Generates playlist in M3U, SMIL, PLS
Appends ID3v2 tags
Improved clipping of songs
International characters
Support for http proxies
General exception handling dialog


Homepage: http://www.thelastripper.com
Download: http://www.thelastripper.com/download.html
File Size: 266kb

Please Give Me Some Feedback

Although the main function of this blog will always be to strive to serve as the authoritive music blogroll on the internet, some of you may have noticed that I periodically post information concerning music blogs, music related software, industry news, etc. Before I continue with this tradition, I would like to get some feedback from you fine visitors. Is this something that you would like to continue to see in the future, or would you prefer only to see the blogroll when you visit this blog?

I'm particularly concerned with reorganizing not only the blogroll, but the blog/site as a whole, in order to make it easier to navigate. The list has grown much larger than I had originally invisioned, and I realize that it has become rather tedious to navigate. I was considering either adding a main menu, with the subcategories 'Blogroll', 'Music Blog News', 'Music Industry News', and 'Resources' under the welcome/intro. I've also considered adding either a drop down menu, with which I could add the previously mentioned menu categories, as well as a way to skip straight to the category you prefer on the blogroll. Another option I've considered is to use a tabbed layout once again using the menu subcategories. Of course I could always just leave everything the way it is.

I've been getting close to 1,000 visitors a day here, and sometimes more, so I'm going to be disappointed if there aren't any comments in response to this.

I want to know what direction you would like to see this site go in, and it's impossible for me to know unless you provide me with feedback.

Any feedback, suggestions for improvement, innovative ideas, and critiques are welcome. Lay them on me.

Be Back Shortly...

I just wanted to let you all know that I have to travel away from the lab in order to work on some important research here in Antarctica during the next couple of days. As soon as I return I will resume adding new blogs to the blogroll, check all the blogs that were recommended, and add them to the list if they meet the requirements.

I also plan to regularly update this blog with the latest in music industry news, music blog news, music related software and websites, and other miscellaneous music related items whenever I return. This is why it is so important that you leave feedback in the thread located directly below this one. I want to know how you, the visitor, would like me to organize all of this so that you can conveniently find what you are looking for here. Thank you to those who have already left comments concerning this. They are most appreciated. Take care everyone. I'll be back shortly

Featured Blog - 4 Brothers Beats

4 Brothers Beats 2.0, as the name suggests, is the second incarnation of an amazing blog. The tagline for their blog reads:

"This is a tribute to the original music that built hip-hop. The best beats in soul, funk, and jazz collected by 4 brothers"

They more than live up to such a bold claim by regularly serving up some of the best soul, funk, and jazz to be found in the music blogosphere. There are actually six contributers to the blog and they are: soulbrotha, Rich, Arkane1, Lafayette, and GeeeFlat, and last but not least, the newest member of 4BB, Nikos. They are a friendly bunch who work hard to bring you amazing selections week after week, so be sure to stop by their blog, and don't forget to leave a comment should you choose to download something.

4 Brothers Beats:
http://fourbrothersbeats.blogspot.com


New URL for 4 Brothers Beats:
http://4bbweekly.wordpress.com

News From The Music Blogosphere: New Home For Lost In Tyme

I have great news for everyone. The legendary blog, Lost In Tyme, has finally found a new place to call home. It's great to see that not only has this legendary blog resolved their hosting issues, but the LIT crew have managed to come back stronger by implementing several new features. They have started their own forum, which I expect to be very active once more people are made aware of it's existence, so get your ass over there and sign up. It also looks like they plan to re-up all the material that was lost when their original blog was deleted. You can find their new homepage and the link to the blog below. Thanks for informing me of the new link RainyDaySponge, and for linking back to me. It's a real honor.


Lost In Tyme Homepage: http://lost-in-tyme.ucoz.com/
Lost In Tyme Blog: http://lost-in-tyme.ucoz.com/blog/
Lost In Tyme Forum: http://lost-in-tyme.ucoz.com/forum/

Nine Inch Nails Makes 'The Slip' Available For Free Download

Nine Inch Nails has made its new ten-song, 44-minute minute album entitled "The Slip" available for free download at www.nin.com (free signup required). The new set includes the songs "Echoplex" and "Discipline" which were both posted online during the last couple of weeks ahead of the new album release.

The music is available in a variety of formats, including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike license). All downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits. For those of you interested in physical products, the band plans to make a version of this release available on CD and vinyl in July.

"The Slip" track listing:

1. 999,999
2. 1,000,000
3. Letting You
4. Discipline
5. Echoplex
6. Head Down
7. Lights In The Sky
8. Corona Radiata
9. The Four Of Us Are Dying
10. Demon Seed

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor released the instrumental "Ghosts I-IV" album online on March 2. The two-hour collection of 36 untitled instrumental tracks was made available in various high-quality DRM-free formats at different price levels. According to a press statement, a total of 781,917 copies of the project were transacted at NIN.com in the first week of release, including paid and free downloads, plus pre-orders for physical editions of the set. The total gross earned was reported as $1,619,420.

Nine Inch Nails Homepage: http://nin.com
'The Slip' Download Page: http://dl.nin.com/theslip/signup