Dean Nelson

Amid mounting legal attacks, it seems the controversial Russian music downloads site AllofMP3.com is enjoying its time in the spotlight, benefiting from a boom in traffic. Both total pageviews and unique user levels have skyrocketed this month, reports Digital Music News, citing the traffic tracker Alexa.com. [read more]

Good! AllofMP3 deserves the attention! I just added more funds to my balance and got a 10% bonus in celebration of the FIFA World Cup – how cool is that?! Plus, if Italy beats Australia in tomorrow’s game then I’ll get an extra 10% of today’s purchase; if Italy wins 1:0 then I’ll get a 50% bonus. What’s not to love?

That’s not to say AllofMP3 needs gimmicks like a FIFA giveaway to get my business – that just puts them above and beyond the rest.

[dugg]

There are lots of different music services out there, but allow me to highlight some of the most hawesomer ones I’ve come across:

• AllofMP3 – I’ve blogged about them before, and I’ll do it again. AllofMP3 continues to be my favorite music service because of they’re insanely low rates – just $0.02 per MB or about $1.25 for an entire album. Compare that to $0.99 per song on iTunes and it’s easy to see why I love AllofMP3.
• Pandora – It’s kinda like radio, but kinda not like anything else you’ve ever seen before. If you’ve used Yahoo!’s Launchcast service before then you probably understand how a radio can “learn” what you like by your ratings, etc. Pandora takes that philosophy and truly goes beyond to learn what you love and make new recommendations. Oh yeah, it’s free.
• Lala – If physical CDs are your thing, Lala is for you. It’s like a community based Netflix or Blockbuster Online for music – send in your CDs to share, earn points, and spend your points on other CDs. I haven’t used the service myself, but the premise sounds cool.
• Mercora – Dubbed “the world’s largest jukebox”, Mercora’s music is comprised of a P2P database connected to tons of custom playlists created by its users. While it is P2P, it’s all streamed – since it’s not actually downloaded to your computer and Mercora pays royalties, it’s both free and legal. I haven’t used it, but Eriq has; maybe he could elaborate on Mercora’s services.
• Yahoo! Music Unlimited – Though it’s not free, YMU has a ton of music available for streaming and also offers tracks to download (though they’re significantly more expensive than AllofMP3). YMU incorporates Launchcast as well, so you can listen to a wide variety of music as the program learns your tastes.

I would recommend AllofMP3 over any other service because of three main reasons: 1) it’s hella cheap; 2) you keep the music you buy, and; 3) you pick the format and bitrate for your tunes. It really comes down to what you wanna do with your music, specifically, whether or not you wanna be able to take it with you, access it at any time, or just let the randomness of streaming radio take you where it will.

That’s right, Alice in Chains is playing this year at Rockfest on July 29 at the Columbia Meadows! Like Nirvana, Mother Love Bone, Sublime, and Blind Melon, Alice in Chains is one of the many ill-fated grunge-era bands whose lead singer passed away too soon. I’m really glad to see AiC back together and I would so love to go to the show. Although we can’t really afford it, I’m trying to talk Christina into going – especially if we buy tickets now at the “discounted” pre-sale rate of $34.50 ($6 for an “AliceInChains.com Service Charge”? WTF?).

Who’s comin’ with me?

No, that’s not Lenny Kravitz – it’s AiC’s new [temporary?] frontman William Duvall

I’ve always loved drums and percussion in general. Drums just have a way of making you move, and I love that. Here are some of the best drummers today:

Read the rest of this entry »