Late Adopter (Really Late)

There was a time in my life when I felt pretty computer literate--and there are definitely times when I realize I am waaaayyy more literate than many in my life. But I must confess that this whole music sharing, downloading environment is a total confusion to me. There are plenty of sites that I visit that have tunes loaded up for playing and downloading--in some cases whole playlists and mixes (you know who you are!). Site seem to use an endless array of software to share tunes--many of which are on fairly recently released discs.

Obviously here at the TR, providing music clips, playlists, etc. would be a nice feature at times, but I just don't even know where to start, good software, legal options (yes, I confess that perhaps my real obstacle here might be old-fashioned notions of property and a strange aversion to breaking the this law).

So who of you can help me out here with a good platform and some guidance about what we are allowed to do and not . . . I promise to not hold you responsible for your answers (unless they get me in trouble!).

What a Long and Uninspired Trip

Finally back from the Chicago trip. I am sure you have all been desperate for some new content here in the TR--ha! Of course if one of you good friends would come out of the comment section and become a "player" there wouldn't be these long stretches without any musical thoughts!

So despite insisting that I was going to get out and take in some music while in Chicago, it never happened. The closest musical experience I had was lunch with Wobs while taking in these funky high-rise buildings across the river that appeared on a Wilco cover. In fact, as I thought about it, traveling often is a music-less adventure for me with the exception being traveling by train where I love watching the scene pass by while listening to the iPod which has the effect of watching a music video of sorts. But planes and hotel rooms seem to kill the spirit to listen in me and I am not sure why. I think it is primarily because traveling (for work I mean here which I do far too much for my liking) is a pretty joyless activity all around and I generally spend most of my time unproductively wishing I were home which makes it hard to enjoy music--or anything for that matter . . . whoa, best get off the couch here.

Luckily, College Roomy sent a rescue package that arrived today including goodies including the new Joe Jackson, an oldie but goodie from the late GW McLennan and the new solo effort from Gary Louris. So I will get to dip into those for the next few days which I imagine will get me back in the saddle--not to mention working on returning the favor.