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.

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I would take the printed version over the online version any day, but the iPad version versus the printed version? I have a feeling the iPad version will win me over. It’s the same layout and great design with added bonuses. This is another one of those apps that will make me get the iPad. Imagine what other magazines could do with it. Popular Science would be another good tech magazine to do this. What about National Geographic embedding short videos when you click on a photo so you could see more? Or giving a voice over if you wanted to hear fun facts? Bon Appetit could upload videos with each recipe or how-to videos in sections where they explain unique cooking techniques. Sports Illustrated also comes to mind… of course there are sections I wouldn’t want to “come alive,” but what about including clips from games? Or mini-sports games in the app. The possibilities are endless.

I hate to say it, but if print is on it’s way out in the future… jumping on the mobile bandwagon seems like it could save a lot of magazines and newspapers. Of course, that might speed up the process, but I can’t help but think we’re headed that ways anyways. This might actually be a good stimulus to get more people reading magazines. For all those people with short attention spans who can’t take the time to read, maybe interactive reading apps like this could get them to read and find out more about what they are looking at.

Who knows. All I know is, this makes me want an iPad even more. I’m waiting a bit to see what Android Froyo does with tethering (through my DROID). I’m pretty curious about Google’s plans. My only concern is – if Google creates a tablet will all these apps eventually come to Android?

Check out WIRED’s iPad App video below.

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MashableMashable

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The gadget geek in me is jumping up and down, but so is the designer side of me. It’s very cool to read about and look at photos of past technology, crazy inventions, and (what were) futuristic ideas. At the same time, it is amazing to compare the designs from various dates such as 1874, 1940, 1972, and 2010. Design and the technology printing those designs was constantly changing as well. People were creating new ways to share ideas and information. Layouts changed from plain, standard column text to full page ads and articles with lots of photos and flexible regions of text.

Something that everyone should check out: Popular Science Archives

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The main areas that were highlighted in a summary of the report were:
Mobile media driving increased consumption
Parents and media rules
Media in the home
Heavy media users report getting lower grades
Black and Hispanic children spend far more time with media than White children do
Big changes in TV
Popular new activities like social networking also contribute to increased media use
Types of media kids consume
High levels of media multitasking

It’s interesting how much of an increase there is once children get to the tween, 11-14 year-old age group. This report didn’t even include texting, which would bring the amount of time up another hour or so for that age group. I also found the gap between gender pretty interesting. The report found that girls spend more time reading and networking than boys, while boys spend more time than girls on video game usage and visiting video websites. I find it rather disappointing that roughly 30% of children have any type of rules regarding the time they can spend with different types of media. One thing’s for sure, marketing departments should have a field day with this report.

Report: Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8 to 18 Year Olds, KFF
Daily Media Use Among Children and Teens Up Dramatically From 5 Years Ago, KFF
Generation M2: Understanding the Multimedia Teen, ReadWriteWeb
Media Consumption Way Up for 8-18 Year-Olds From 5 Years Ago, Game Informer

Also, if you’re interested in media consumption, WIRED came up with an interesting chart in the article, Balance Your Media Diet, as part of their How to Behave: New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans article, which I also featured here.

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cKc_pvpuqg

This morning I came across a Gizmodo post, Sneak Peek of New BBC Documentary ‘The Virtual Revolution.’ The multi-part documentary airs on January 30th. It’s a look at the internet featuring interviews with Tim Berners-Lee (MIT engineer behind the web), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Al Gore, Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, and Stephen Fry.

BBC has an ongoing website to capture the project in the making. You can also follow their updates on Twitter (@bbcdigrev). It looks like the series is divided into the following titles: 1. Power on the web, 2. The fate of nations, 3. The cost of free, 4. The web and us. I hadn’t heard of this series before, but it seems pretty interesting.
digital revolution is a four part series for BCC Two about how the web is changing the world. Due in 2010, it’s in production now, and we’re offereing a range of ways to interact with the programme team and the content we produce. get involved

Check it out at their official page BBC -- Digital Revolution.

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The thing I am most surprised at is that the majority of negative comments seem to be coming from people who already use Hulu regularly. According to several articles (below), Hulu is considering charging to access content beyond the current 5 most recent episodes… which people can’t see as of now anyways (at least for current TV shows). So they are charging for additional content. What’s the big deal? They have to make money somehow. This seems like a great idea to me. A majority of ‘free’ apps already have some sort of premium subscription to access additional content or to simply get rid of ads including Boxee, Pandora, Spotify, Grooveshark, so on and so forth.

Hulu to Charge Monthly Fee for Access to Unlimited TV Episodes, Mashable
Hulu Considering $5 Monthly Fee For Older Episodes, Gizmodo
Hulu’s subscription service might run $5 for access to select shows, Engadget

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This could be good. It would be nice to have more mainstream titles added to the Watch Instantly catalog. I doubt however, that this will boost the sale of Warner Brothers DVDs at the time of release. People are turning to Netflix because they don’t want to have to buy DVDs either because they don’t want to own the DVD, don’t want to venture out to rental stores, or because they are trying to cut costs. There are a number of other methods that people can turn to in order to see the new releases, the biggest being the iTunes Store, RedBox, Blockbuster, XBox Live/Playstation Network, Amazon On Demand, video rental stores, and as Gizmodo suggests, peer-to-peer sharing via torrents. I’m guessing the latter of the list will gain some momentum, especially as other companies join in.

Elsewhere:

• Netflix, Warner Brothers End Dispute, Reach Deal on DVDs – Bloomberg on BusinessWeek
• Netflix Is Losing New Release Rentals – Gizmodo
• 28 Days Later: Say Goodbuy to the Netflix New Release Rental – Mashable
• Netflix, Hollywood Politics and the War for Streaming Movies – Gizmodo
• Netflix bends over, agrees to delay renting Warner DVDs – Engadget

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Uncharted 2 – Definitely the top of my list for 2009. First, you couldn’t get closer to playing through a movie if you tried. Uncharted 2 had an excellent use of sound and graphics, as well as excellent interaction with the environment. My favorite part of any media is when it makes me go, “This is amazing, I can’t even begin to think how much work went into this.” Uncharted 2′s visuals were unbelievable. The level in the mountains of Nepal was breathtaking. I loved that there was almost no load time and I often was confused whether I was watching a cutscene, or expected to control Drake. I especially appreciated how much of a step up the game was from it’s predecessor, only because I thought the original Uncharted was an amazing game to begin with. Uncharted 2 added vehicles to interact with, more puzzles, another excellent story. It also continued to utilize sound not only as background noise, but as a main component. As soon as I started hearing drums and an increase in volume, my heart would start pumping with the expectation of a new battle with the enemy.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Yeah, so it made many of Joystiq’s “disappointment” lists. Personally, I think these games are amazing. Yes, they stretch pretty far into the “this probably would never happen” side of things, but again, like Uncharted 2, the graphics, sound, and varied interaction was just awesome. This game was one of the most intense games I’ve ever played. It also made me reflect and pay close attention to how anyone else played through it. I played through the game and there were certain points, other than just the airport scene that made me go, “What the f***?! I can’t believe they actually did that.” It toyed with my emotions, and made me think. On the other hand, I also watched a close friend play the game with almost no regard whatsoever to what his character was being made to do. As soon as the airport scene came up he just started firing. Two other players, a bit younger, I let play the game. The older one, admittedly, was not within the “Mature” rating age, I sat with him while he played “the scene.” Although he didn’t fire at first, I could see he didn’t really think about what was going on. I explained thoroughly what was going on in the game, and what they were actually playing out. We had a quick discussion and both boys were surprised where the game was taking things… especially when the game makes you feel like you are a modern soldier with “realistic” missions. He stopped shooting. His younger brother played through the game and when he got to that part, he asked me to skip over it as soon as he was dropped into the airport. He was appalled at the task before him.

inFamous – So, at first, I have to admit that I had no idea what people were thinking when I saw this on so many Game of the Year nomination lists. The graphics are good, but not as good as the two previous titles I’ve mentioned. The story is good, but you don’t really understand what is going on throughout most of the game. The sound is alright, but not a major component. But the interaction and the sandbox environment… once you start to build up your powers, you can’t stop. I mean come on… you’re electric! Once I realized that I could toy with the game AI a little, I started to have some fun, now I can’t stop. You can climb literally everything, glide/fly through the air, drain anything electric of it’s power. You also start to acquire new powers which enable you to vary your attacks quite a bit. I still don’t think it’s GOTY material, but it’s definitely a blast.

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time – I can’t help it, I love Ratchet & Clank. It’s probably one of my favorite series on the Playstation, and one of the main reasons I won’t switch to another console. Graphics, sound, script, interaction, weapon modifications… the fun never ends.

Other – Plants vs. Zombies and Machinarium.

2009 Titles That Look Awesome, But Are Still Sitting On My Shelf Waiting To Be Played – (Too Many) Red Faction: Guerilla, Assassin’s Creed 2, Killzone 2, Resident Evil 5, Fallout 3: DLC, SKATE 2.

Disappointments – Borderlands. It’s good. It’s creative. It’s attractive. It totally feels like a rip off of Fallout 3. And it takes sooo long to build up your character.

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