Icelandic Musician Creates Album Inspired by a Punch-Card Computer
Lauded Icelandic experimental composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, creator of some of my favorite music to blog to, has released a new album that is a tribute to the IBM 1401 Data Processing System, a gigantic punch-card reading computer from the 1960’s. The story, as he tells it: In 1964, a computer – the IBM 1401 Data…
M-Audio Torq MixLab: DJ Kit For The Masses
In today’s music climate where something called “hip hop” is the regnant genre, dance fans may feel a little left out. That’s why they need to man up and check out the Torq MixLab from M-Audio, a mini DJ mixing studio kit perfect for aspiring Tiestos, Above & Beyonds and ATBs. (The kit includes the…
The Beatles Finally Heading to Online Music Stores, But Which Ones?
The Beatles are coming to an online music store near you “soon.” So says EMI’s head suit David Munns. Why should you care? Well, besides the fact that, you know, the Beatles pretty much invented the modern concept of a rock band, we could see an interesting battle between Apple and Microsoft. Will iTunes or…
T-Shirt Turns Air Guitar Riffs Into Actual Sounds: The World Weeps
Odds are that everyone has rocked out to the sweet sounds of an air guitar on at least one occasion and now scientists have invented a t-shirt that transforms your air riffs into real ones. The t-shirt interprets the movements of the wearer’s arms (one picks and the other creates cords) and wirelessly sends the…
WiDock Syncs Your iPod Anywhere in the House
Silex’s new WiDock connects to your wireless network to sync up your iPod sans cables. Why this hasn’t been built into Apple’s iPod dock already I can only guess, but thank God somebody is on the ball. It even supports security standards like WEP & WPA. The dock, which can also be connected via Ethernet,…
Microsoft Zune: Paying off the Industry One Label at a Time
It appears Microsoft has struck a deal with Universal Music giving them a portion of the sales from every Zune they sell. This undermines the traditional strategy created by Apple where music labels received money from song downloads, and not player sales. Microsoft has also said that similar offers are on the table for other…
EMI Says The CD Is Dead, Is It?
The CEO of EMI Music (you know, one of the biggest, baddest record companies out there) just recently went on the record saying that, in its current incarnation, the CD is dead. Muerto. Tot. “The CD as it is right now is dead,” he said, while burning £100 notes. (Digital music sales accounted for 11…
First Grope: SanDisk, Best Buy, Rhapsody Threesome
It’s not often that three big players hop in bed together and invite us to watch. So we wasted no time this afternoon at the Sansa Rhapsody music orgy, where SanDisk showed some slow tender lovin’ to their new bedside partners Best Buy and Real Rhapsody. The hour-long menage a trois led to the birth…