Ugh!!! My stupid Xbox 360 just started throwing out the red ring of death on me again. This is my 3rd dead Xbox 360. At least this time it’s still under warranty so it won’t cost me anything to replace. Well, except 3 weeks of no Rock Band 
Sorry to all my friends and family that wanted to play this game with me. I guess it will be 3-4 weeks before we can plan another Rock Band party
Stupid Microsoft.
Check out the new last.fm sidebar on my website. Now you can listen to almost any of the songs that I’ve put on my Hitz compilations, right from your web browser. No more dealing with stupid iTunes. Yay! Unfortunetly, last.fm only gives me one playlist, so you’ll have to scroll to the bottom of the list to see the latest songs.
So I’ve gotten sick of using iTunes to handle my Hitz music mixes. Aside from constantly getting random errors from the iTunes client (which is preventing me from editing my last Hitz, which should have two songs from Paramore), I don’t like that you can’t listen to it directly from my website and users have to be using iTunes.
I went looking for a suitable replacement and I found last.fm. Wow, these guys have come a long way from what they did when they first started. They had every song, except one that I’ve put on my playlists, which I think is pretty danged good.
Better late than never, here are my favorite tracks this month!
January 2008 Hitz List – Check out the iTunes iMix.
Thanks to KROQ, I’ve discovered a pretty cool sounding band named Paramore. They have a nice punk-pop style sound, that I’m really into right now.
I’ve actually been listening to the Editors for awhile now, but I just didn’t get around to putting them on the list last month. They’re an indie band with an upbeat guitar track, and kind of an opposite vocal sound. I like them!
Young Folks was passed on to me by a friend. This Swedish song has a very pop-y sound, and a very funky music video to go along with it. Check out the video after the break.
Oh my gosh, I love the song Dashboard from Modest Mouse. I’ve been listening to this song for months and still haven’t gotten sick of it. Catchy lyrics and a great sound make for a hit!
Rob Dickinson has a much softer, melodic kind of sound, I like his one song, My Name is Love, but I’m not a big fan of any of his other stuff… too slow for me.
I found the last band on this list, Eisley, from the BUTR podcast (probably the best podcast on the ‘net). Anyway, they have a unique sound, something between pop and indie. Their song, Invasion, has a really nice chorus that just gets stuck in my head… even when I have no idea what they’re saying.
As I type this Steve Jobs is still giving his Keynote presentation at Macworld in San Francisco. The most interesting thing that I was looking forward to was anything to do with movies on the iTunes store and HD. As it turns out, they will be supporting HD movies in the movie store, at least for rentals. Here are the rental specs:
iTunes Movie Rentals
$4 for new releases?! What are they thinking? Here’s a quick comparison with my Netflix account. In December, I rented 8 movies, and it cost me $15.07. Some quick math: $1.88 per movie. And that’s in HD!! That pricing scheme is absolutely ridiculous. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’d never spend that much to rent a movie anymore, not with great alternatives like Netflix around.
With Macworld starting up on Tuesday, there are lots of rumors going around about what Apple plans to introduce. Lots of blogs predict a sub-compact notebook, with USA Today reporting that it may be 50% thinner than existing MacBooks. The announcement I’m looking forward to the most however, is movie downloads. Movie rentals are expected to be announced on Tuesday, but I’m more interested in what Apple plans to do with their Apple TV set-top box and what extra may be had in the iTunes Store.
The battle between Blu-ray and HD-DVD is seemingly at an end. But, I think that we’re going to be downloading movies quicker than we think, making Blu-ray not really all that exciting. That’s why I’m looking forward to what Apple might have in store. I’m hoping that they’ll introduce HD content into the iTunes Store. That would finally make movies on iTunes exciting to me.
One problem remains though: DRM. The music companies have just now figured out that DRM on music is bad for business. But, the movie companies haven’t learned that yet. If you bought the latest movie release on iTunes, you’d have to plunk down $9.99 to $12.99. And then you could only play it on an Apple approved device: like an iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, or iTunes itself.
I don’t think that movie downloads are really going to take off until DRM is removed. It’s just too risky to spend $10 bucks per movie and be looked into a device that you can’t control. Until the studios realize that though, they’ll probably just fracture the market with many different DRM schemes and end up confusing the consumer. Just like they did with HD-DVD vs Blu-ray.
So it’s been 11 days since New Year’s, but better late than never, right? I had a great time over New Year’s up in central California, near San Luis Obispo. From playing a lot of Rock Band to finding 14 new geocache‘s to going on a 2 mile hike, it’s probably the most active New Year’s I’ve ever had. And by far the best too!
The hike we went on was great, pretty strenuous at the start, but worth it in the end. The views of Pismo Beach and the ocean were spectacular, just check out the picture below! We started the hike at the southwest end of the mountain, and followed the ridge up to its peak at 630 feet, then descended through a great tree covered valley to the Sycamore Mineral Springs. There we sat in naturally hot mineral springs to sooth our aching muscles!
What a great trip!
Back in high school I used to create mix CDs full of the great songs of the time. Remember Dishwala? Matchbox Twenty? Semisonic? Those of you who’ve seen my CDs know that I created full on album art and covers for my mix CDs as well. Guess what? It’s time to bring back the Hitz, baby! Digital style 
I’ve been listening to some songs recently that I really wanted to share. While I thought about making a podcast featuring these songs, I’m just not sure about the copyright crap involved. So, for now, I’ll stick to just writing about it, and linking you to the playlist in iTunes. Enjoy!
I’m getting really close to closing down my Facebook account. After reading this article, I’m even that much closer. Here’s what I don’t like about Facebook:
I just downloaded Miro 1.0, which used to be called Democracy player. It combines an RSS news reader, with a Bittorrent client, and specializes in playing video files. There are many built in video RSS feeds to choose from, including many that are in HD, and all of them are DRM free.
The idea behind Miro is awesome. Instead of watching (or recording) live TV and tuning in to a program at the right time at the right channel, you just subscribe to it. Kinda like how season passes work on a Tivo, any new programs will just appear in the player. Internet+RSS+Video=No more TV.
The big problem right now is content. The shows I want to watch: CSI, Heroes, etc. Are all owned by Big Media, who have no clue how to use the Internet, and so I can’t just subscribe to the Heroes RSS feed and watch each new episode when it comes out. If that ever happens, then I’ll be in “TV” heaven.
Holy cow. There is a Guitar Hero III demo that you can grab on torrent sites in ISO format. Just burn to a CD-R (Yeppo, a normal CD-R) and pop it in the 360, and it will just work. Sweet!
The few tracks they have are a lot of fun. They’re pretty hard though, harder then GH2. I’m more excited about Rock Band though
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