What makes you happy ?

Last.fm is cool, the winamp plugin is also cool. But music tastes change and leaving the plugin installed on other machines means that I end up looking as if I really do listen to Amy Winehouse, Hilary Duff and Vanessa Carlton (and they are the ones that made it – there are equally shameful entries on the site). Faithless is a large entry as is Moby but I associate them strongly with the last house we lived in and certain events. Magic Numbers? I have no idea but I know it was me.

The Orb? Hmm….. DJ Vader – it was 1 track (Southern Sun remix) (again same house/time). I don’t look at the plugin and dwell but the site and that together make connections for me. Music does for everyone and while I’m not severing the past I’m wondering just how things will compare in 12 months or so. Fatboy Slim will be there, the CunninLynguists will be there, others? I have no idea.
So I have reset all my information at last.fm (it says 24 hours for it to be done) so I can start with a clean sheet. Actually their reset can take up to 24 hours (maybe they do it manually? After all, it’s only a db table surely) and it was using my old name so I have re-registered as markr_ – much quicker and less chance of a collision with the girls’ dodgy music tastes.

If what is above is some sort of map of my year then as of now I am standing at a signpost on a flat plain of sand. There are lots of directions to artists and tracks. Should be interesting listening.

Is Winamp still ‘it’?
I was checking and updating programs and it struck me that all I have used for music is Winamp for ages. I try different browsers, different editors, different graphics stuff, readers – many programs but the one solid thing in there is Winamp. That is no criticism at all – it does what it does and very well but is there anything different out there?
I just d/’d the Last.fm player-thing that seems to do little except say “This feature is only for Subscribers” and display similar artists. Which I can find at Last.fm anyway and I much much prefer the funkiness of liveplasma so I can’t see the player-thing lasting much longer today – there’s no real point to it is there? I have tried the Last.fm radio and spent so long hitting ‘next’ (or whatever it was) it became redundant). Pandora ….. no… even when it can be ripped.
So – is Winamp still the mutt’s nuts?

So I see that my podcasts folder is looking empty and I’m missing a few from Derek.
I go to his site – http://soundrepublic.co.za and from there find all but the first. [Actually it does have them all] So that’s 15 16 of the best trance podcasts ever. Looking around that site I see the link to http://derekthebandit.wordpress.com – now how cool is that? This guy is in my workplace – it’s not often you can say that!

If you like trance – get these files.

Found a copy of Scatman’s World earlier and even though it’s 11 years old it’s still damn good stuff. It’s 00:43, I’ve heard it several times today and right now the others are in bed and I’m sitting here with it fairly booming out. Stay-awake bouncy music :)

Current Zen playlists: Fatboy Slim (several), Moloko, Massive Attack, Tiesto Concerts (3), Bond (3), CunninLynguists, Moby, Rez, Scatman, Scooter (2), UB40, Trance 2006, Bez’s Madchester, Classic Trance tracks. 301 tracks. More….. maybe I need some. ZZTop possibly….

And apart from charging the PSP I think I’m all prepared.

Plugin below by Whoo which is neat. Easy to install too ;)
Disclaimer: I think that Winamp on the other machine – which my girls use – still has a Lastfm plugin installed. While I am happy to put my hands up to nearly all there, there is no way, at all, ever ever I have had Hilary Duff playing on this machine. Honest. I know I won’t be believed but it’s true. Really. Anyway, many thanks to whoo for a nifty plugin :)

I have no idea if I mentioned this one a few weeks ago but it’s that good why not do it again. DEREK “TheBandit’s” SOUND REPUBLIC – http://www.soundrepublic.co.za. Quality trance tuneage.

I mean mp3, .ape, aac and the rest of course.
I’ve got loads of music tagged but depending on what ripped it the tagging is all different which annoys me. So … playing around I can’t decide if
number – track – artist – album
number – track – artist
number – artist – track
track – artist
number – track
artist – track .. lots of combinations.
The top one makes most sense …. guess I need to play

Buy it.

What is a Piece of Strange

I have a Queen Platinum Greatest Hits ever sort of triple CD type thing. I like most of them (there’s always one that doesn’t quite hit the spot on every album of Greatest Hits) (except ZZTop) but I never play the CD. Ever. It’s ripped into the other machine but I never click to play it all – as opposed to Moby, ZZTop, Eminem, Cunnin Lynguists, Snow Patrol and many many others which I do play through. But when I hear a Queen track I always like it. I mean when I hear them on the radio, or in a shop I immediately ‘tune in’ to the music and mentally singalong. So I like them. But I never play their CD’s. And I have no idea why that is.

And why the hell not :)