There are a couple tutorials floating around the internet for how to download or “rip” music from your favorite MySpace artist before buying a concert ticket this summer, but they all require you to either sift through the source or install a program. Ick.

The following is not a tutorial.

One step: visit File2HD.com.

1. Paste the address (e.g., http://www.myspace.com/novicetheory).
2. Check the box and select Audio.
3. Click Get Files.

You’ll be presented with Streaming Version (Low Quality) and Original Version (High Quality). Go for the high quality first. Right click and Save Link As (Firefox). If it plays, there you go. If not (if the size is, say, 23kb), go for the low quality.

You’ll notice the file downloads as “artist name - song title”.mp3 (no more ugly strings of sixty characters!!). And may even include an ID3 tag.

Niiiiice.

We’ve kind of decided to stop posting random links. This is the most worthy exception there’s ever been. It’s even a worthy reason for me to stop doing all of my very important work right now and share this with you:
SeeqPod Playable Search

This is an extremely powerful search engine that limits its searches to only playable results. That’s: movies, music, presentations, podcasts, interviews, games. It streamlines the results into one flashy player… and streams them. One player.

Here’s what this means, for most people. Go to any computer that has an internet browser and immediately compile a playlist of any music you can possibly imagine. I’m serious. Give it a try. Forget sharing. Forget torrenting.

Read on to your heart’s content »

I’m studying abroad in Germany once again come Tuesday. I’ve started packing digitally, at least. I can’t quite afford to bring along my 80 gigs worth of music, especially since my laptop’s hard drive is a measly 40 gigs. I embarked on a solution a few days ago and found the mother lode.

Anywhere.FM looks and functions like iTunes… inside your web browser. It lacks a few features, but it still is not half bad. I’ve been loading my music library into the site for the past week now and I should have access to all of my music while in Deutschland. Did I mention it doesn’t limit your uploads? I’ll just have trouble finding it all, since Anywhere.FM doesn’t have a search function yet.

Anywhere.FM has a few features that will eventually mature. There’s a section for friends’ playlists, although I can’t quite figure out how to find friends. It also seems like the developers are building in some last.fm-esque music discovery functionality. We’ll see.

The site is good enough for me right now, and will only get better.

iTunes in the Cloud: Anywhere.FM

The sweet sounds of Willy Mason graced my ears last night in Cologne, Germany. I had never really listened to too much of his stuff before, he proved himself unto my musical tastes. The crowd of 50 or so in attendance gave him two encores.

At the concert, I noticed a few things that I’m assuming are typical of most shows featuring North American artists in Europe:

• Not as many people go. Not as many people know the artist. If mellow concerts are your thing, then concerts in Europe are probably your thing.
• If you want to chat with the band, now’s your chance. Although my friend and I didn’t stick around to chat with Willy and his band, the chance of that happening for the willing is never higher. If you’re the only person that is fluent in English in the crowd, you’re one of the only candidates for a decent conversation.
• You’ll hear all of the songs that you wanted to hear. This might be exclusive to Willy Mason, but his second encore was more of a request-driven jam session. In the words of a famous Kazhakstani diplomat, “Very nice!”

It’s pretty obscure, but has anyone else had similar experiences abroad?

It appears Apple has patched this “flaw” in the five user limit, thus invalidating last week’s “QuickTip: Let More Than 5 People Listen to Your Music (on iTunes) and Give the RIAA the Middle Finger”. My apologies on the shoddy reporting and false information. Passwording your library is not a work-around for the iTunes five user sharing limit.

I am now more enraged than ever at music sharing laws. Ugh.

Being the astute nerd that I am, I keep my music on a Mac Mini I’ve had for awhile on the other side of the room. The little guy keeps my music library organized and downloads the latest episodes of the one TV show I watch, The Office.

It’s surprising this hasn’t happened yet, but my music listening desire was left unfulfilled thanks to the 5 person limit imposed by (basically) the RIAA. I guess people really like my taste in music, or they are using myTunes/ourTunes. My anger seethes.

There’s a quick work-around, though. Simply password your library and then include that password in the library’s title. Case closed. I can’t wait for the day when the RIAA dissolves.

It’s one thing to drink yourself to death during the summer. It’s more worthwhile to set aside some of that money that would be spent on booze and attend a music festival near you. Tickets for these festivals are going on sale soon, if they aren’t already.

My first large-scale festival was Sasquatch! during Memorial Day Weekend last year. Talk about a solid three days and an earth-shattering line-up. Some of the highlights were (in no particular order):

• NIN
• Rogue Wave
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• Architecture in Helsinki
• Band of Horses
• Matisyahu
• Sufjan Stevens

Read on to your heart’s content »

While doing the typical college guy thing and trying to learn how to play the guitar better, I stumbled upon a fantastic website, Daytrotter. Admittedly, the site caters more towards the indie/emo/what-the-fuck-is-this-music genres. But we all know evident drug use and good music go hand in hand.

Daytrotter is actually the name given to sessions played by traveling bands. Since any successful band tours around the country, they are bound to drive through Rock Island, IL. If a band so chooses to stop in to Futureappletree Studio One, they are invited to share with the world some of their musical talents. To quote Daytrotter’s about page:

They use borrowed instruments, play with their touring mates, utilize a often unkempt toilet, eat some food and then cram back into their vans for the last half of the drive. What they leave behind is a pile of ashes, sometimes a forgotten stocking hat and four absolutely collectible songs that often impart on whomever listens to them the true intensity that these musicians put into their art, sometimes with more clarity than they do when they have months to tinker with overdubs and experiments.

When I first stumbled upon Daytrotter, my face nearly melted off when I listened to “Shut Up I am Dreaming of Places Where Lovers Have Wings” (warning: link plays music) by Sunset Rubdown. You’re lucky I am here writing today. Maybe that could explain the sudden lapse in postings.

Anyway, check out Daytrotter for some of your favorite bands and see if they have any songs. All of the songs are pretty good quality and of the utmost rockery.

Melt Your Face: Daytrotter

For those of us not as lucky to get a Reading Week like Rosario described, it’s mission critical for cramming. The last thing I want to worry about is what iTunes shuffle brings up.

For extended study sessions, I listen to soma fm’s Groove Salad station. Soma fm describes the station as “a nicely chilled plate of ambient beats and grooves.” Basically, it’s the best study music in the world.

So tune in and keep it on in the background to keep yourself from going crazy.

Linky-links:

• soma fm
• Groove Salad (direct link, will open your default music player)

Oh no(es)! It’s 15 minutes before that gut-busting party you were planning on throwing and you realized you don’t have enough/the right kind of/funk music! Well, you do, except it’s spread out across your closest friends’ (and auxilary hosts) iPods.

iPod -> Folder to the rescue!

While it has a clunky and awkward name, “iPod -> Folder” could potentially save any music-needing situation from the bowels of “cool” “retro” 90’s hits. It copies all of the music from an iPod onto a computer simply and easily, thus opening doors of crunktastic mixes and hyphy beats.

Read on to your heart’s content »