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Microsoft & Music – A Remix We Don’t Need

Topics: Music | 3 CommentsBy admin | July 15, 2009

Why is Microsoft the last thing I think of when I think of music?

You’re sitting at your computer listening to your favorite song, and suddenly your system freezes, an error box pops up saying that the “Bing Streaming Music Player” is not responding, and the music gets stuck in annoying loop. Which of course, you might not even notice, if you were playing Vanilla Ice’s ripoff of Under Pressure (we would’ve embedded those clips but ASSCAP is suing people for doing that lately). In any case, this is what I imagine happening regularly if Microsoft does in fact launch their streaming music service later this month. Remember how Microsoft’s first big media partner RealPlayer (which has actually won awards for how bad it is) used to not only try to spy on you obsessively, but would always crash while doing so? Remember the Zune launch and all its software problems? Personally, I don’t even use iTunes; I refuse to download a 72MB piece of software just so I can buy some music. I typically buy from Amazon, or if it’s an indy release, sites like CDBaby , DigStation, or Amie Street. And for streaming music, Pandora (in spite of their recent legal problems) is working just fine. Microsoft and music just don’t mix, in my opinion. Fortunately, there are plenty of other resources; here are eighteen to keep you busy. Where do you get most of your music?

Read Comments

  1. Posted by kristin on 07.15.09 7:18 am

    i’m an itunes addict. i’m really afraid of getting sued. i miss the old days of napster and half day long downloads, though. what i wouldn’t do for legal free stuff…

  2. Posted by eDWeiRD on 07.15.09 7:45 am

    Legal free and independent music can be had from Tunenami (www.tunenami.com).

    I still buy CD’s. I like liner notes. Shoot me. If it’s a band I haven’t heard yet and I’m curious about them I first hit the bands website (yes even if all they have is a Myspace page). Most independent artists have a few free MP3′s for free (sometimes whole albums). If they don’t then I fire up Bittorrent, grab the record, listen to it, then decide whether it’s worth the money. I actually buy more this way.

    Alternative Tentacles has an impressive list of MP3′s from a good cross cut of their discography. I think every band they’ve put out is represented except Dead Kennedy’s.

  3. Posted by admin on 07.15.09 8:32 am

    I’m with eDWeiRD; a smart artist has free stuff, and if they don’t I might torrent, if I like, I buy. There are parts of that new book Free: The Future of a Radical Price that really makes sense.

    Let me try it, and I’m likely to buy it.

    As an artist myself, I like to see artists get as much of what they’re worth as possible, rather than some big media company getting it.