thinglets: The Beginning of the End of the Compact Disc

With EMI announcing that they will only be selling CDs to large retailers from now on, and that small stores will have to buy their stock from the “large” retailers (read: Walmart), CDs and independent music stores are hearing the death knell in the not-to-distant-future.

Gone are the days I remember of growing up at the local record store and meeting with friends, music geeks, and other pretentious community members who spent hours debating who the best drummer was. It may have been a bit sad, but it was ours. I’m certainly not expecting the Compact Disc to be around forever, but to screw over the independent retailer and pumping business to a chain like Walmart… I better not hear any more stats about how CD sales are slipping as a defense against P2P; their obviously doing their best to make sure sales fail.

Hey EMI, the Jerkstore called and they're all out of you!

we all had to say goodbye
unlimited supply – e.m.i.
there is no reason why – e.m.i.
i tell you it was all a frame – e.m.i.
they only did it ‘cos of fame – e.m.i.
i do not need the pressure – e.m.i.
i can’t stand those useless fools – e.m.i.
Sex Pistols – E.M.I.

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Filed under  //  big box   cd   compact disc   dyscultured   EMI   music   obsolete   record label   sales   sex pistols   technology   walmart  
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Posted 7 months ago

DyscultureD Podcast 39: Don't Be Dissin' Twitty

DyscultureD Podcast 39: Don't Be Dissin' Twitty

Show Notes

Remember that July 15th is Text Nothing Day

Full Dysclosure

  • Google seeks to be a gamechanger with Chrome OS
  • Rogers subsidizes netbooks for expensive data plans
  • Who should be the long arm of the net law in Canada?
  • Indie filmmakers support Bit Torrent technology and Net Neutrality
  • United Breaks Guitars… and then they break our hearts
  • Fiddy Cent works cheap PR with teen Youtube critic

Movies

  • Bruno models Number One behaviour
  • Michael Moore’s latest film a "love story"
  • Ryan Reynolds get greenlit as Green Lantern

Websites of the Week

  • Twitterfall - have a waterfall of aggregated tweets flow down your browser
  • Nerdfitness - an oxymoron by name and a good idea for us all by nature

Music

  • Endangered Ape - Tales of Survivalist Horror Pt. 2

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Filed under  //  chrome   crtc   dyscultured   netbook   podcast   rogers   united airlines  
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Posted 8 months ago

DyscultureD Podcast Thirty Eight: The Double Down

This week's episode!

My other web outlet is at DyscultureD where we do a weekly podcast on all things right and wrong with pop culture. Follow the link above to this week's episode... show notes below.

Full Dysclosure

  • The scratch ticket affair that is the MJ memorial
  • Bell buys Virgin Mobile and The Source
  • BNN buckles on IP and copyright video clips
  • Pirate Bay sells short
  • Alternate Bit Torrent options
  • Browser Wars Part @?$#%
  • Canadian made TV hitting US Big 3
  • Cheap Trick’s not-so-cheap trick in music promotion

Websites of the Week

  • Mike - bookseer.com - a simple recommendation engine for your NEXT read
  • Anth - theusermanualsite.com - ever lost a user manual for a gadget or appliance? Find it here.

Music

Laura Smith - I Spy a Monster - www.laurasmithmusic.com

 

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Filed under  //  canada   canadian   dyscultured   global television   music   podcast   pop culture   social networking   tech   television   web  
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Posted 8 months ago

thinglets: My Interview with Garry and Sachin

I don't necessarily like to crosspost my work at DyscultureD over to lovehatethings on a regular basis, but I figured, for those that follow from their own Posterous site, this would be of interest.

Thanks to Garry and Sachin for putting aside some time to talk to DyscultureD last week. Hear what the guys are up to and where Posterous may be going in the near future.

The direct link to the podcast via the web is here, or you can subscribe via iTunes.

I hope you enjoy the interview.

dyscultured

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Filed under  //  dyscultured   garry tan   interview   podcast   posterous   sachin agarwal  
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Posted 10 months ago

DyscultureD Episode Fifteen: "The Quint" is up!

DyscultureD

Click HERE to listen or subscribe to DyscultureD on iTunes!

Full Dysclosure
MacWorld Expo: The Show Before The Show
Phishing for the Fail Whale on Twitter
Facebook Says No Boobs Allowed - Unless You Are One Of Their Policy-Makers
Why Facebook is losing its status as “Treehouse 2.0″ - Parents Welcome!
Spotify: The Torrent Alternative

Tech Segment
The 6 Things That Kinda Shoulda Probably Won’t Happen in 2009

Wheel of Pop
Movies 1990

Websites Of The Week
Mike: www.makezine.com
Anth: www.ponoko.com

Musical Selection
Fembots

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Filed under  //  dyscultured   movies   music   podcast   social networking   tech   web  
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Posted 1 year ago

DyscultureD Podcast 14 is Up!

Our "Year in Review" show even though I hate year in review shows. We hit the high and low points in tech, gadgets, movies, television and the web for 2008.

DyscultureD

Episode Fourteen - Father Time-Warner

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Filed under  //  dyscultured   gadget   movies   podcast   tech   television   web  
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Posted 1 year ago

DyscultureD Episode Eleven: Avast Ye Scurvy Amazonians

Click here for the podcast page or search Dyscultured in iTunes.

Show Notes for Episode Eleven

full dysclosure 
Pownce Pwnd 
MySpace verdict 
Firefox past 20% in browser wars 
Firefox Amazon Plugin to torrent site 
Mozilla Music Player Songbird 
Google Reader Changes

movies
Choice DVD Gifts 

wheel of pop
Children’s Holiday Specials 

websites
aviary.com - powerful online image editing
shoutfactory.com - pop culture revisited 

music
The Barmitzvah Brothers - “Library Page” from the cd - Let’s Express Our Motives: An Album of Under-Appreciated Job Songs

 

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Posted 1 year ago

Dyscultured Episode Ten - Doctor Eight Ball

dyscultured

Can be found at DyscultureD and on iTunes... check it out!

This week...

Twitter and Facebook and Google and Pirate Bay
Five Years in the Future by IBM
Linux on the iPhone
Websites of the Week
Musical Selection of the Week

AND the announcement of the creation of SMSLess to fight ridiculous text message charges.

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Filed under  //  dyscultured   gadget   internet   music   podcast   pop culture   tech   web  
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Posted 1 year ago

thinglets: AC/DC jailbreaks iTunes

from dyscultured.com

In a post from a couple of months ago at lovehatethings.com, I lamented how the 99 cent download could be damaging to the integrity of many artists as it essentially did away with idea of the full album/cd as a unified piece. Citing that same defense (kind of), AC/DC this week said it would not sell any of its new album Black Ice on iTunes because people would be to tempted to buy single tracks and ignore others thus deconstructing the full work. Brian Johnson opined, "Maybe I'm just being old-fashioned, but this iTunes, God bless 'em, it's going to kill music if they're not careful...."

Two things... I do agree with the point that there should be a place for the full CD as a single work. I grew up listening mostly to music of a past generation in progressive rock. One of the reasons I was drawn to that style was the frequent ability to create larger scale concepts even through single songs set in a certain order.

But AC/DC... seriously... I appreciate the band and music for what they are: bawlz to the wall cawkrawk (don't ya love phonics?) but what album have they EVER released that could justify this stand? Now I appreciate that some people may have an affectation for listening to Back in Black as an entire piece, but that's mostly because people bought the CD to look retro-cool to their friends, or they stole it from an older relative's collection, and not becuase there's an intrinsic tie that holds the songs together any more that any AC/DC song. I mean, let's face it, other than the different growlings of Bon Scott and Brian Johnson, the couple of hundred riff-laden guitar rock songs of AC/DC could probably be interchanged from one album to the next without much problem.

So, if artistic integrity is not the issue, could it be that the band is simply afraid that the single hit or two they may have from this album will cause their demographic of fans to readily buy a full CD anyway? We know that integrity from a social justice perspective is not the issue, because their retailer of choice is Walmart.

I think they could have had a great marriage with "You Shook Me All Night Long" and the new iPod Nano's shake and shuffle technology... it would have been interesting to see Steve Jobs dressed in a school boy uniform at a press conference anyway.

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Filed under  //  dyscultured   iTunes   music   thinglets  
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Posted 1 year ago

DyscultureD: New podcast! Check it out!

Please check out my latest blog/podcasting escapades with my good friend Mike Vardy from www.effingthedog.com.

At DyscultureD we skewer the latest pop culture happenings north and south of “The 49th Parallel” - including movies, television, music, the internet, gadgets and much more. Feel free to explore the site and the podcast as we turn pop culture upside down to a state we like to call…DyscultureD.

Dyscultured

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Filed under  //  dyscultured   media   podcast   pop culture   tech  
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Posted 1 year ago