I'm in a bluesy (bluesey?) mood, so listen to this song

My Virtual Chumby:

Song for 9/19/2006

I saw World Party recently at The Belly Up. Great, fun show. Enjoy this song by them:

Song of the Day

Just was in the mood for the Transplants. Enjoy!

New Napster Music Widget

I am truly excited about our new widget, which allows you to embed any song from our catalog into your social networking profile (such as myspace), blog, or other web site. Here's an example:

Meebo Widget

Let's see how the meebo widget works.

Heavenly Gondola

A fantastic view of Lake Tahoe from the view deck of the Heavenly Gondola ride. Darcy and I decided to take the ride, and to have a drink at the top.

Are you getting tired of all these pix of Lake Tahoe? Me neither. 

At Napster, we recently rolled out NapsterLinks, which are URLs that allow you to play full-length streams from Napster. Here's a sample NapsterLink. Clicking on the link pops up the Napster web player, and will prompt you to either register for a free membership (no payment, no credit card...it's free!), or to sign-in with your existing Napster account.

I Want To Hear What You Have Got To Say - By The Subways.

The NapsterLinks tool is located at http://free.napster.com/napsterlinks. Here's a popup version of the NapsterLinks tool for creating NapsterLinks and embedding them on your page now.

Afternoon Thunderstorm on The Lake

We had a nice afternoon thunderstorm yesterday. I tried like hell to get a shot with lightening, but the lightening was too infrequent. I held the shutter open at one point as well, but I got too impatient and proceeded to just take lots and lots of pics hoping there would be a flash. This shot is nice though. 

Phoenix and I go for a swim in Lake Tahoe

We're in Lake Tahoe this week. Took a swim with Phoenix, who really likes the fresh water over the ocean. In San Diego, she spits the ball/stick out of her mouth as soon as she retrieves it, but here she'll bring it back to shore to us every time. 

Found this as I was going through some recent pictures that I had not yet posted. This is my dog, Phoenix. We're glad she likes the snow. 

Lone hoop

Sometimes while I'm traveling I will spot each and every hoop I see, usually by salivating at the thought of playing. I like hoops. This is a very cool hoop (taken at Dehy Park, Independence, CA...our pooch likes to stop there). 

Another beautiful Lake Tahoe sunset

 

My life is a subscription, so why can't my music be one as well?

Let's first define subscription for the context of this blog: An agreement to receive or be given access to goods or services for a specified period of time, or for a series of consecutive terms.

I subscribe to pretty much everything: Phone (landline and cellular), electricity, water, Satellite TV, Tivo, Satellite Radio, Cable ISP, newspaper, magazines, fantasy football tips (not doing me much good though), etc. My life (or is it my body?) is pretty much just a subscription.

Even gasoline is a form of subscription. Think about it: you can't use your car unless you pay for gas, and how many people wouldn't jump at the opportunity (especially right now) to pay a flat-rate monthly fee for gasoline? I know I would. So, all other car mechanical items aside, my world would allow me to drive my car as much (and as far) as I'd like to, with no incremental cost (above my monthly subscription fee) for gasoline.

I'm trying to draw an analogy between driving cars and listening to music, though it isn't perfect, because my mp3 player is not exactly the same as my car. For one thing, there is no 'free' gasoline alternative as there is with music. But suppose there was. Suppose you could acquire gasoline via Black Market for free or really cheaply, but every time you did it you were breaking the law and taking a risk of getting caught. If an alternative to this was a Gasoline Subscription, that was reasonably priced, then this hypothetical world would fill in the missing pieces to my analogy, and provide the basis for better getting my point across. So, back to the point: my car (/mp3 player) may look good, and have all kinds of great features, but it is severely limited in its functionality w/out fuel (/content), which I have to continually purchase. Gasoline (/music) gets me from Point A to Point B via my vehicle (/player). My consumption of fuel is similar to my consumption of music. They both take me a certain distance, and once consumed need to be replenished in order to go further. Though we'll never see a Unlimited Gasoline Subscription offer (perhaps there will be an unlimited electricty subscription offer someday though), there are Unlimited Music Subscriptions available right now. I just-so-happen to work for a company that offers this very service: Napster.

Why should you prefer having access to every song vs. purchasing music on a case-by-case basis, or breaking the law and pirating music off the Net? If you're like me, then you don't want to pay every time you want to consume music. I love music, and listen to a wide variety of artists and genres. As is true for everybody, my mood determines my music preferences at any given time. Every now and then, I'm in the mood for music that I listened to during my high school or college years. I definitely don't need to own that music...I just want to listen to it for an hour or so (to get me from Point A to Point B). I also like to listen to many of the Tuesday new releases to keep my options fresh.

The Napster music subscription provides this: A 'key to the door of the music vault' for a reasonable flat-rate monthly fee. You can have any song, at any time, and you don't have to buy it to consume it. Listen at home. Listen at work. Listen in your car. Listen while you take walks or run. Listen while you exercise. Listen while you party. Listen while you sleep.

Have your cake. Eat your cake. But don't buy your cake.

What's your thought?

Next up: Apple's subscription model: Just because you're buying, doesn't mean it's not a rental -- yes, you will have to buy it again.

I now have all of my pictures on smugmug. Vacations, holidays, family, friends, etc.

Have I remarked how much I love my Nikon D70? Darcy took this (along with many other pictures) that capture the me and the water so clearly. This camera is awesome.  

It's been a very, very, very, very long time between blogs. I promise myself to pick up blogging more regularly, since I have so many thoughts to spill. This is me water skiing this week in Lake Tahoe. I've had a blast this past week using my new ski. More soon. Next topic: I'm a subscriber. 

Lake Tahoe Winter 

Fantasy Football Superbowl!!!

I made it to the superbowl in one league, and am in the semi-finals in another. I've had a good fantasy football year. I'll blog the results shortly. I'm currently with my wife, stepson and dog in Lake Tahoe, having a great time. We've gone skiing 5 of the 6 days that we've been here thus far. Our friends the Fienes and the Balfours have their families up here in their own places as well, and we've had lots of fun watching movies and football games, playing poker, and just hanging out. More soon!

Skiing on Christmas Eve. What a beautiful day!