I dropped a big stack of cds the other day. They were in the multicolored jewel cases, several of which did not survive the fall. Which persuaded me that I need a different kind of storage.
This one has its merits, but I was thinking more along the lines of binders.
Having endured the ever-popular habit of hovering in almost every public toilet situation, I can only applaud the appearance of products to encourage alternate hygiene solutions among the female population. Whether this be at live shows, clubs, restaurants, or your average shopping mall, the Whiz and the Go Bag (which made their appearance at Glastonbury) can only mean that a hoverer-contaminated seat is a thing of the icky past. And if we should be so lucky, maybe word will get out to the guilty parties.
Which brings to mind a joke I heard in college a long, long time ago:
Student A (all students being women):
My mama taught me to always wash my hands after peeing.
Student B: My mama taught me to always wash my hands after having a number 2 (this college being in the South and polite)
Student C: My mama taught me to never pee and have a number 2 on my hands.
Student C must be the one peeing and having the number 2 all over public toilet seats, although logically, we can’t rule out Students A or B.
After a meeting of minds, an amazing mike stand is created.
And many other ways in which to pamper your music player.
The Keyboard Experience has a keyboard and six percussion tubes plus an MP3 player dock. If you prefer eight tubes playable by hand motion, there’s the Percussion Tubes device. Both under $80 at your local Kmart or Best Buy.
Making your own percussive music means you can dance around while generating a custom rhythm, right? How cool is that?
Still lugging those heavy cases of vinyl around to all your gigs? Or maybe you have a collection that you’d like to move to your iPod, but can’t be bothered with the fuss.
The USB Turntable makes it easy. It will set you back about $220, and is currently out of stock, but Firebox says it’ll be back next week.
The $2,000 Transporter targets those who choose lossless formats (wav or flac) for encoding their music. These digital files, stored on a computer, can be streamed over a wi-fi network to the device, which connects to the user’s receiver and speakers.
What could happen if you casually set down your iPod while puttering in the yard? Or you don’t notice that you dropped it?
a) The dog would think it’s a new chew toy
b) The sprinklers could come on
c) It might fall out of your pocket into that bag of manure
Or you could shell out some bucks for the wireless speaker that lets you keep your iPod out of harm’s way.
Microhouse, techno, and experimental minimal electronica fans rejoiced at the end of 2004 when it was announced that the Force Inc. Music Works family of labels would begin releasing again, having resolved issues arising from bankruptcy of German distribution giant EFA.
For those of us who like to wear our musical tastes on our sleeve so to speak, they are now selling T-shirts through their website.
Other techno-related shirts can be found at Hardwax’s website, and at Kompakt’s online store, in the back catalogue section.
Uh-oh, looks like something else I’ve got to have. Banging on the furniture turns into a musical interlude. Well, some day.
Shortly after getting an iPod for graduation, a son spent the better part of a Saturday adding album art. Now Specere has come out with Art Collector 1.0, an application that simplifies this process.
Plastic City is teaming up with Apple to offer an 512 MB iPod Shuffle preloaded with 35 tracks from the label.
Nice idea, although I wouldn’t personally buy it. Now, if they had a regular iPod with the entire Plastic City back catalogue, or maybe stuff from the entire UCMG New York or UCMG Germany label conglomerates, I’d be all over that.
In a story from the Beeb, Apple is checking into reports that workers at their iPod factories are toiling under sweatshop conditions.
Quite a bit of time has passed since the article linked was written, and since then Numark has created a product specifically built to allow DJing with a single IPod. It’s a bit like having two CD turntables and a mixer all on one board, with a socket to place the IPod in.
I’m a little late in blogging about this, but for those that aren’t aware, there’s a rather interesting item made by a couple of guys centered in China. It’s called the FM3 Buddha Machine, and it’s basically a lo-fi speaker inside a plastic housing which emits 1 of 9 ambient loops at a time.
Monolake’s recently finished a project based entirely on the Buddha Machine loops, so you know it’s good stuff.
Instead of using up to ten pounds of tone woods from rain forests, the manufacture of this IDSA-award-winning guitar requires less than two pounds from local wood sources. Plus, it’s very colorful.
It’s billed as a digital instrument for modern times. The interface is a square filled with LED switches. Press the switches, and you get music and a light show composed and designed by you.
Toshio Iwai collaborated with Yamaha to produce this dandy device.
