We don’t listen to albums now; we listen to collections of songs. – Tom Silverman

After what felt like the end of my search yesterday, I couldn’t help but feel like all the music that I’ve collected over the past few years in my iTunes library is going to sit stagnant as I adopt any new service. Apple has yet to release a “cloud/streaming” option, but perhaps when that comes it will be the best solution for me. For now, here’s my take on a few services that I have frequently used and a few others that I checked out…

Pandora is a great quick-fix, supplemental service. You pick a song, artist, or genre to search for and it creates a playlist/radio station of similar songs. It automatically saves that playlist/station until you choose to delete it. You can add items to the list to vary what it plays, like/dislike songs, but other than that there’s not much to it. Mobile versions available. Free (Ads, Limited skips, 40 hours/month) – Premium $36/year

Grooveshark is good for creating quick playlists of music you like by selecting it from current playlists or searching for it. Just like Pandora and several other services, you can favorite tracks and save lists. Free (Ads) – Premium $3/month or $30/year

Last.fm is an excellent site. The biggest appeal for me here isn’t the music service itself, but its scrobbler. Last.fm is linked with nearly every other service out there. You connect the service to Last.fm and then any song you play on another service is sent to Last.fm and is automatically added to your profile. This is useful to keep track of your listening habits, to display your history with various blog widgets, and to use with Last.fm’s own recommendation system. Last.fm is vast. You can buy tracks, add them to your library (collection of music), find recommended music, “love” tracks, tag tracks, create playlists, keep a journal, find events, look up charts, etc. Mobile versions available and there are many plugins you can find to incorporate Last.fm into nearly anything. Free – Premium $3/month

Hype Machine & We Are Hunted both are pretty similar. They both claim to have the latest emerging music and they are both pretty limited, but they both have a place in the music service list. Both of these sites, along with TheSixtyOne are excellent places to find new music. They all seem to pretty much focus on emerging indie stars. Free

Rdio’s biggest advantage over another service, MOG, is that they allow you to scan your iTunes library to automatically add “all” of your music to your Rdio collection (it was only able to match a third of my iTunes collection). You can create playlists, keep a running queue, see new releases, recommendations, and top charts. Invite only. $5/month Unlimited Online Listening – $10/month Unlimited Online & Mobile Listening

Until Google or Apple decide to finally come out with some sort of cloud/streaming solution, I have decided to settle on MOG as my go-to service. MOG is sort of a cross between Pandora and Rdio. What made me switch from Rdio is that I actually found every song I was searching for to match a playlist of current chart toppers that I had made in my iTunes library. I also really like the Radio slider. When you pick a song/artist to play you can use a slider to decide if you’d like the auto-created playlist to be comprised of that artist alone or if you’d like to stir it up Pandora-style and add music from similar artists. I found this to be the perfect blend of having the music I love in one place while having the option to introduce myself to new music that I will most likely love as well. The more I played around with MOG, the more I grew to love it. Here’s a few things worth mentioning… the pop-out window/player, I’m going to mention the slider again, Last.fm scrobbling can be enabled, you can pick nearly any artist or any song and actually find it available, you can create a queue, pick favorites, create/share playlists, and keep a blog. Also there is what seems like an endless list of playlists from both users and artists. The one feature I’m missing is the ability to keep a library/collection and scan my iTunes, but these are features that support says are coming. It’s one of those things I keep thinking I feel I need because I’m used to it, but at the same time I’m pretty happy with just picking a song, adding a little variety and giving the thumbs up or thumbs down as I go. 3 Days Free Trial – $5/month Unlimited Online Listening – $10/month Unlimited Online & Mobile Listening (Includes Ability To Listen Offline)

Of course there are hundreds of options out there, but these were my favorites… with the exception of Spotify, but sadly, it’s not available in the US and I’m too sore at it to give an explanation of its features.

Share/Save

MashableMashable

Share/Save

If you have a phone that runs Android as the OS, I suggest you try SlideScreen. It’s probably not an app that I would have found, had it not been for a recent Gizmodo post, SlideScreen Android App Replaces Homescreen With Beautiful Information.

SlideScreen can either run as a home screen replacement, or as an app that you just call up when you want to use it. There are three main sections on SlideScreen’s “home screen.” The upper section features updates to your email, phone, text messaging, and calendar. The middle section slides up and down and features local weather, time, date, battery power, and a few other icons that would normally be found in Android’s default status bar. The bottom section features stocks, Twitter, and Google Reader updates. At any time you can move the middle bar up to make the bottom section fully accessible via a cycling menu. You can also move the middle bar all the way down to cycle through your top section of personal updates.

The home button can be set to go to your default Android home, or made to go to the SlideScreen home. The menu button, with one touch, brings up your app library with a small area at the top to set 8 shortcuts. With a second touch of your menu button, SlideScreen brings up a choice of Phone or SlideScreen settings.

While it is very slick and a beautiful app, it still leaves a lot to be desired. If we’re adding Twitter support, where’s Facebook or instant messaging support? And where, I ask, is support for the regular Email application. I use Gmail which is nice on SlideScreen, but I also use Email to sync with my nonGmail addresses. Those addresses also happen house my business email. I’d also like some control over how much space each line item takes up, what color they are, and the order in which they appear. Hopefully the developers continue to add features and customization options.

All in all, this app is beautiful. I tested this app via the free version and used it for all of 5 minutes before purchasing the Pro version for $6.99 from the Android Market (SlideScreen). Take a look at the YouTube walkthrough (below) that Larva Labs has posted.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUu8Qevx-Hg

Share/Save

I have an iPod Touch and have used many free and paid apps which I have purchased through the App Store. I also unlocked my iPod Touch for a time and took the chance to use some apps through Cydia. Recently, I bought the DROID and have been using apps which I purchased from the Android Market. On occasion, I also use mobile web apps.

In a location where phone service is not always available, I use many an app that does not rely on having service. Mainly these apps are for passing time (playing games) or catching up on a little reading with apps like Kindle for iPhone. A good majority of the apps I use on my phone or my iPod do require an internet connection whether it is wireless or 3G. For those apps, I wouldn’t really mind if the apps were replaced by web counterparts. A few web services that I use now (Xpenser, Meebo, Facebook) either only have a web app, or are inferior apps on either iPhone or Android OS and I would rather use the web interface. Some apps lack a user friendly, attractive UI and I would much rather just see development go into a web interface. If it’s something I use frequently, it’s quite simple to bookmark a web site on my phone’s desktop to return quickly.

A clear upside that I can see to a movement towards mobile web apps is that HTML5, CSS etc. is much more accessible than the development tools necessary to create apps for certain app stores. It would most certainly bring an increase in development and the web apps would most likely be accessible from all phone OSs. It would be nice to see apps that were just as good on Android as they are on the iPhone.

Of course, there are many downsides as well. First, it would be hard to charge for web apps, although I suppose there could be subscription type fees applied. Second, like the current stores, there would be an overwhelming amount of shovelware out there and would most likely open the phones to web delivered virus attacks. You would also need a signal in order to access the apps and at first, page transfers will be slower than moving around in native apps.

Native apps are preferred for now, but I’m guessing there will be a big increase in web app development next year, especially as the divide between phone OSs continues to grow. If developers could make a web app that could compete with similar apps across the various app stores and find a way to make a profit, it could start a wave of innovative new web apps that everyone could benefit from.

Share/Save

When I read the post, it got me to thinking, why has it taken consoles this long to integrate social networking into the systems? Why didn’t PC games jump on the bandwagon a long time ago…and why haven’t they yet? Is they Wii going to jump on at all?

Yesterday, came the release of an Xbox update that added Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm, and Zune support. Here’s a few of the features (accessible with an Xbox LIVE Gold Membership), as listed on Xbox.com:

• Facebook: The usual, plus invite friends to play over Xbox LIVE and see your friends up close with full screen photos
• Twitter: Read, reply, and post updates to your Twitter feed and keep up to date in real time
• Last.fm: Explore radio stations, skip, ban and love tracks as you listen
• Zune: Instant-on 1080p HD streaming video, share experiences through Video Party

Today, comes the PlayStation 3 Firmware update which will enable people to:

• Update your Facebook News Feed with Trophy and PlayStation store activity. It also enables developers to set specific criteria to publish additional game information to your feed.

No Twitter, or Last.fm support just yet. I seriously hope that they continue to add social networking features to all of the systems. It is a great way for people to share a common interest. You should be able to link to friends and share what’s going on as you play. As Johnson said, it would be great if players could connect and share tips and strategies for certain games as they came across certain areas in games. The Xbox update gives the ability to see which of your Facebook friends use Xbox LIVE and add them to your Xbox friends list. I really hope this is a feature that also gets added to PlayStation eventually.

The gaming consoles are just starting to dip their toes in the water on this one. I hope they decide to jump right in because it it would be great to see everyone connect while doing something that they enjoy.

Share/Save

If you have yet to jump on the Twitter list bandwagon, here’s a few resources that may be of some help:

HOW TO: Use Twitter Lists – Mashable (The Social Media Guide)

There’s A List For That – From the Twitter Blog

10 Twitter Lists You Should Follow – Read Write Web

Listorious – Keeps a directory of public Twitter lists. You can search or browse and find the lists you’d like to follow.

TweetMeme Lists – Finds the lists that are most tweeted about.

Share/Save

www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_iN_QubRs0

Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, speaks on TED about changing media. I’ve posted his talk above: How cellphones, Twitter, Facebook can change history.

The talk itself is very interesting. I was a little surprised at how much time was spent on how media affected a few isolated events. The talk repeated the same message that I’ve been reading in articles all over the internet lately. That’s the idea that media has gone from a one-to-one relationship to a one-to-many and finally to the many-to-many relationship that we have today. At one time people could talk to one another. Then TV networks, radio show hosts, or columnists could reach out and deliver a message to a broader audience. Today millions of people can literally communicate with millions of other people with all sorts of different messages. Not only can a person talk to a person, but an organized (or unorganized) group can interact with another group thousands of miles away if they’d like to. Shirky states that we have had the “largest increase in expressive capability in human history.”

Shirky mostly touched on Twitter and a tiny bit on text messaging. I didn’t actually catch any mention of Facebook. I think it’s just assumed that it’s included as one of the biggest networks that people can communicate through. I thought one specific quote was especially interesting.

These tools don’t get socially interesting until they get technologically boring. It isn’t when the shiny new tools show up that their uses start permeating society, it’s when everybody is able to take them for granted.

It seems that this is entirely the case. Most people are still acting like Facebook is a brand new network, when really it’s been around since the beginning months of 2004. It just seems new and exciting because everyone and his brother is now a member. Or Twitter. Twitter is already three years old. It wasn’t until the end of 2008 or early 2009 that Twitter really started being dropped in conversations. In either case, both networks are now mentioned daily, if not hourly on news stations and throughout personal conversations.

As Shirky says,

The question we all face now is how can we make best use of this media even though it means changing the way we’ve always done it?

As I had touched on in a previous post, Social Media -- Where Is It Headed?, more and more people feel the literal need to get involved. This of course leads to what Shirky touched upon -- more and more of the “producers” of content are amateurs. Every second, people are connecting to new networks and adding content to those to which they already belong. Are we going to hit a breaking point? How are we supposed to filter this media, or are we?

Share/Save

There are videos in a variety of different categories. What I most enjoyed were the videos on advertising, marketing, and the spread of information on the internet. This is why I love the internet, social media, and digital media. There is so much information out there. I can’t get enough of how much there is to learn, how easy it is to get your hands on practically any information, and how people display it. Whether it’s videos, websites, photos, blogs, etc. The variety and depth of material is astounding. Check out the video from my last post if you don’t get where I’m coming from. Amazing.

Share/Save

I went ahead and synced the bookmarks. Of course, it all seemed fine….until it synced again and they all disappeared. Fine. So it was working finally on Safari, but Firefox was having a fit. I uninstalled it on Firefox thinking the add-on was gone. It should work fine now, right? Just make new bookmarks? Working working….restart Firefox. Poof! All bookmarks are gone again. Safari was still working fine, but sporadically choosing which bookmarks to delete. So I uninstalled it for both browsers? Problem solved? Of course not. Apparently this is an issue that remains unanswered by many. But I did get it to work again.

To fix Firefox, the quick and dirty solution is to create a new profile and delete your old one. Apparently it’s a known issue that xmarks messes things up. Nice. Here’s how to use Terminal on OSX to get into the Firefox Profile Manager (For other OS, see articles linked below): /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -profilemanager


I chose to create a new one and then fully delete my default user (along with deleting my files). Some people may want to chose to just delete the profile and not the files.

There may be other solutions to this problem. I suggest people post them because there seems to be a lot of confusion in forums right now with this issue. I’m not saying the profile solution is the best way to go, it’s just best solution I saw out there and it worked fine for me.

Here’s two articles from MozillaZine that might be useful: Lost Bookmarks & Profile Manager

Share/Save

Every time I sit down to update my networks, I am surprised at how long it actually takes. Between posting photos, posting videos, publishing blog posts, updating statuses…not too mention actually generating the photos, videos, and posts. As always, the more work something takes, the harder people try to figure out a way to make it quicker. Such is the case with the our new social media commitments.

Brian Solis, principal of an award-winning Public Relations and New Media agency writes a number of excellent articles on social media. One in particular, The Social Media Manifesto: Integrating Social Media Into Marketing Communications, is especially valid for this post. Surprisingly, even though it was written two years ago, it seems to precisely describe our current relations on the internet.

Monologue has given way to dialog…Content is the new democracy and we the people, are ensuring that our voices are heard…Those who participate will succeed – everyone else will either have to catch up or miss the game altogether. Engage or die.

Of course that is in regards to marketing. Companies will most certainly go under if they don’t grasp this new technology. But even in a broader scope, I think everyone is starting to feel this pressure, little by little. The more they have pressure, the more they will want to interact or feel left out. More and more I’ll find myself say, “Have you heard from John Doe? I saw his pictures posted on Facebook, seems like he’s having a good time.” If they aren’t already on Facebook, the reply has gone from “What’s Facebook?” to “Man, I really need to join that soon.”

But what if people don’t have the time? It takes too much effort…or it’s too confusing to them. What happens then? It seems that companies are taking care of that. Of course they would. It seems the more social media interactions they can get their hands on, the more they can establish trends, customer satisfaction, buyer needs, etc. Such gives way to the incorporation of Arduino and RFID tags to do the digging for them. Ovens automatically tweet what is prepared, plants tweet whether they need water, trash cans could communicate exactly what you are throwing away, GPS can map where you are traveling, so on and so forth. Applications already in place such as DandyID, Lifestream, and many others can list almost every social network activity that you take part in while you’re doing it. Biometric Facial Recognition software is now being incorporated into programs such as iPhoto and Picasa to identify and tag people in photos. It’s only a matter of time before you can snap a photo with your cell phone and it will be able to identify people in the room and pull up their social profiles. Think I’m exaggerating? We’ll see. In the article, 7 Technologies Shaping the Future of Social Media, Mike Laurie paints a pretty good picture.

What really gets to me is what he touches on at the end of his article, Mind Reading and Natural Language Processing. Sad thing is, it is probably not far off. They are already deep into developing technology that will allow people to just think what they want to say and a computer types it for them (Brain-Computer Typing). Next comes being able to control that computer by thinking what you want it to do and concentrating. Final step is simply thinking what you want to do and the computer interprets your thoughts automatically without much effort. Why wouldn’t the next step be to make not only computers work this way but phones, ipods, etc.? Think I should tweet how crazy this is and your computer does it for you. It sounds outrageous, but it’s just around the bend. It’s already available to some people with limited motor skills.

My question is…does technology that does the work for you actually constitute social media? I think the greatest thing about social media now is that people make an effort to communicate more with each other. Not just each other, but even a broader population then they normally would. Even corporations are listening with increasing interest to what people have to say. In another article by Brian Solis, The Definition of Social Media, he describes the basics of social media:

…a shift in how people discover, read, and share news and information. It’s a fusion of sociology and technology transforming monologue into dialog. It is an evolving phenomenon that has captivated some, intrigued others, and is feared and underestimated by many.

Brian Solis offers two definitions which he thinks could replace the current Wikipedia definition of social media. His first one is closest to the current one:

Social media describes the online tools that people use to share content, profiles, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives and media itself, thus facilitating conversations and interaction online between groups of people. These tools include blogs, message boards, podcasts, micro blogs, lifestreams, bookmarks, networks, communities, wikis, and vlogs.

So I guess even if computers take over doing our interactions for us, it still constitutes social media. But where is the fun in having our computers communicate for us, without any effort whatsoever? Will we still feel that same euphoria that comes from interacting with another human being?

Share/Save