Archive for February, 2008
Feb 28th 2008The World of Social Music - Last.fm, Pandora, and imeem
Like music? Holy crap! I do too!
Music has always been an integral part of my life, and I have tried to experience as many musical outlets as possible. Performing, attending concerts, recording and even working in music have all done so much for my appreciation of music. At the end of the day, however, it all comes down to LISTENING (the thing you do with your ears). Its a simple process, but the amount of musical channels we can choose from can make it very difficult to concentrate on music we want to hear.
With so many ways to listen to music (radio, CDs, concerts, media player, internet…), I have gravitated towards social music websites that (attempt to) play nicely with other musical mediums and also easily introduce me to new music. There are a host of music-oriented social sites out there, but I have gravitated towards 3 of the more popular: Pandora, Last.fm, and imeem.
While none of the three get near to my ideal music-listening experience, they each have their own inherent strengths and unique weaknesses. After much usage on all three platforms, I’ve rated them in this order:
3. 
I use imeem primarily to listen to any song on demand. Unlike pandora or last.fm, imeem allows you to search for just about any song and play the full version right there on the spot. Last.fm is making progress in this area, however, and imeem seems to be losing battles to keep full-length tracks up instead of chopping them into 30 second previews.
imeem Strengths:
- On demand listening - As stated above, imeem makes it easy to search for a particular track and listen to it right there on the spot.
- Extremely social - imeem is a social network that revolves around media, so its easy to find people who listen to the same music as you. Of course you can friend, message, comment, feature, blah blah whatever any imeem user, and even join groups based on your tastes . My personal favorite is the “I Hate Phil Collins” group, which apparently really doesn’t like Phil Collins (note: I enjoy Phil’s work in Genesis and some of his solo stuff, just not the “I’m shackled in Disney’s basement forced to write schlocky soundtracks” era).
- Customizable - Out of all three social music platforms, imeem definitely has the most customizable interface, allowing users to change colors, background images, and quite a few of the basic CSS-controlled objects.
imeem weaknesses
- Tries to be too many things - imeem definitely bites off way too much more than it can chew. “Hey let’s share/feature/favorite/embed/rate music, videos, photos, blogs, playlists…” Way too much going on. Leave a lot of the features to the already-successful social sites and concentrate on a few of your strong features.
- Poorly-tagged songs - Did you know Led Zeppelin did “Dream On?” Neither did I. That’s what you get for letting a 14 year old upload music.
- Discovering new artists isn’t tailored to the user - They have a “discover” button that takes you to a random song, which is cool, but if you’re going to be putting the energy into creating a strong music profile, you should be able to use that profile to discover new artists based on your interests.
Check out my profile on imeem, and add me as a friend IF YOU DARE. Continue Reading »
Comment? »filed under:music
Feb 19th 2008I was Chuck Norris’ Siamese Twin
This was a school project I did when I was first learning Photoshop. I recently stumbled onto it hiding in my folders and thought that I’d share it. *Important Note* This project was done almost 3 years ago, before the Chuck Norris revival movement hit full swing.
Comment? »Feb 15th 2008Lightning Strike, Outer Banks, 2005
This photo was taken a few summers ago at the Outer Banks in late July. My family and I go on vacation every year there and we were given this awesome lightning storm. It was shot with my low-end Canon digital camera with a 15 second time exposure.
Here are more photos from the same storm.
2 Comments »filed under:photography
Feb 8th 2008new profile pic
So I designed this to be my new profile picture for my ever-expanding collection of social networking websites. I hand drew a picture from a photo and messed around in Photoshop. I’m not the best at Photoshop, so I’d really like some honest constructive criticism. Hit me up with a comment with what you think of it. Thanks
2 Comments »filed under:design
Feb 1st 2008The Odd Ballroom
The Odd Ballroom, a 3D short film created by my friend Andrew Sloan, is in its (almost) final form. This incredible 3D film took 7 James Madison University animation students two years’ spare time to complete. The story revolves around a janitor at a failing freak show and his longing to be in the limelight. Its a spectacular story reinforced by amazing animation.
I was brought onto the project to do all the sound for the film. I spent the next few months (in the midst of graduating college, finding a job, starting a job, and doing other freelance work) arranging and manipulating sound effects in Pro Tools. I feel bad for taking such a long time to complete the foley, but I feel even worse about not being able to make original music for the film in the time frame I was given. Maybe someday…
This project was a very positive experience all around and my respect for 3D animators and audio technicians grew immensely. Do yourself a favor and watch the film.
Comment? »filed under:music
