when i was in high school, my parents had shitty computers. i sank endless hours into the old school dial-up trying desperately to connect with my nicaraguan boyfriend, so when it came to music discovery, i was a mess. columbia records got me started with some bjork, beck and the reality bites soundtrack, but napster was a far cry from anything we could pull off at home.in college things got better (mainly bc i was in close proximity to kids with music). then there was iTunes and the iPod, making everything portable and easy(er) - but we became obsessed with our friend's libraries so we could have the latest and greatest. i've been to 'ripping parties' where a bunch of people shared DRM free tunes, but hell if i remember what i took. with so much music, there's not that sentiment attached to a mixed tape or the thrill that comes with buying a new record. the lack of cover art is just the beginning- we don't have time to organize all of the information we're getting. it's all stuffed into folders and archives that live on our hard drives, but when do we actually dip into it?
there's freedom in a subscription service like rhapsody - you don't have to spend money on a record with only 3 good songs. hype machine gave love to the mashup darlings, making stars of dudes like atrak and fred falke, while pandora revolutionized music discovery. then lala came on the scene with ties to hip music blogs and lets you listen to any song once, before paying for a web stream or download. today, a new player is entering the scene who i believe combines the best aspects of all current music services into one service that's affordable and super fun.
mog.com is a network of music blogs- they pull together the best stories from their network and push it out in a weekly newsletter. every week, i get a newsletter from mog about new top albums, songs and stories from their community- which is a pretty cool alternative to pitchfork's way hipster approach to music. today, mog launched a new music player that gives you "all you can eat music" for 5 dollars a month. you can build and share playlists with your "real" friends AND connect with other users who have similar taste to discover new music.
i've spent the past few weeks testing out the mog player and i love it. it has the best of rhapsody and pandora in one player- you listen to an artist "radio" station, sliding a ruler to set how heavy you want that artist in rotation. this lets you choose whether or not you're in discovery mode and also gives you the option to queue an entire album or search for playlists that have your favorite artists.
i have high hopes for this baby. seeing that i spend way too much time married to my computer, it can only make my day more fun and less productive. maybe if they come up with a mobile app, i can actually get out the house more regularly.
Posts
3 comments:
I'm a die-hard Lala fan. I've been using it exclusively for over a year now, and haven't looked back. I was excited to hear about MOG's offering, and signed up this morning.
I typed in "Mew". I figured, if they have Mew then they'll probably have most stuff I'd listen to. I clicked play on the album, and it tried to pop up in a new window. Ack. I'm used to Lala, where the player stays in the window you're using to browse. But okay, not a problem.
Then I realized...I've only got an hour to play around. Crap! It's Wednesday morning, and I'm supposed to be working. I was going to throw on the Mew album and maybe some other stuff, but decided I didn't want to mess with it if I could only have it for an hour. This isn't to say I won't subscribe, but I'll wait for some reviews. If I were rolling out MOG, I would have done a full 24 hour trial, or launch on a Thursday or Friday afternoon, when people are more inclined to play around.
I'm interested in your thoughts about MOG versus Lala. I buy two or three albums a month on Lala at about eighty cents a piece, so I spend under $3 but listen to way more than that, at one listen per album.
Either way, MOG is neat, and I'm glad Lala has some competition. Whoever gets a mobile app first will soar ahead, in my humble opinion.
sometimes, it's hard to forget these digital downloads have a physical value attached to them. It's almost a pre-required action to continually listen to get your money's worth. With subscription services you definetly benefit from wide selection and cost-effective pricing. But, it's not a permenant copy!
Now, unlike per track or even album downloads at iTunes I do prefer the idea of "unlimited music" on Rhapsody, regardless of "rubbish licenses"!
@rob ironically, mew played here on sunday and i was really close to going. opted for staying in and cooking dinner instead and i stand by that decision.
@josh i agree with you about the physical/emotional with music, but i'd argue that downloads don't satisfy that issue. i believe hard core music fans will purchase a streaming service for instant gratification and discovery and buy the records they love on vinyl.
Post a Comment