7 posts tagged “amazon”
Downloads:
- eMusic: http://www.emusic.com/album/Patrick-Watson-Wooden-Arms-MP3-Download/11443563.html
- iTunes (US): http://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=313783404&s=143455
- Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Wooden-Arms/dp/B0028JSDFA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1243605993&sr=8-2
You must buy this album. Patrick Watson (the band, lead by Patrick Watson, the singer) are the point at which Andrew Bird, Tom Waits, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, Antony & The Johnsons and Bjork all meet.
These are my favourite songs:
Why are you loyal to certain brands/stores? What keeps you coming back?
Sponsored by Microsoft Small Business.
I would say Apple gets more of my money than anyone else. It almost wasn't to be.
I used my first Mac back in 1996 - I think it was a Performa 6300 - for work and wasn't all that impressed. The classic Mac OS (version 7 I think was the latest one) was extremely slow, I think we only used it for Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark Express.
When the iPod got popular, I refused to buy into it. Partially because what is popular in consumer electronics isn't always what is best, and also because at the time I used a PC for which Creative's software integration was second to none. I got their Zen Jukebox Xtra.
It was around the same time that, recording my own songs as a hobby, I started hearing about Mac exclusives Garageband and Logic Express being worth my attention. Not wanting to spend too much on a system I may not use, I went for the low end Mac mini system.
It was this that kick-started my love affair with Apple.
My Zen Jukebox Xtra started to show a few weird behavioural traits as I filled it - it, being hard drive based, skipped and went crazy if I walked too fast. I decided to get a flash memory MP3 player for my daily commute, and now using a Mac, an iPod Nano was the best choice. Plus Jess had one and loved it.
I have bought...
- A 1.42GHz PPC Mac mini
- A 4GB iPod Nano
- A 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro
- An 80GB iPod Classic
- A 16GB iPhone 3G
- A 500GB Time Capsule
- Numerous accessories and programs
... and been extremely happy with all of them. They might cost slightly more than their rivals in some cases, but the build quality of their hardware is superb, and their software is designed for people who don't want to dick around during set up or hunt for options in obscure menus to do simple things.
I do think the "They just work" mantra is a little inaccurate, as I have still had issues, but having used every version of Windows since 3.1, as well as different distributions of Linux, I feel I have a good grounds for comparison when I say Mac OS X is the best consumer OS out there.
Other than Apple, my spending habits are as you'd expect of a 28 year old guy with a decent job and no kids - my clothes all come from GAP, Old Navy and band merchandise stands; I drink Starbucks; I eat a lot of Subway and Chipotle; I get a lot of my entertainment items from Amazon.com. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.
Things that annoy me excessively...
1. Referring to a Bluetooth-based wireless headset for mobile phones as "a Bluetooth". I know Bluetooth is a brand name (named after an old king; its real name is along the lines of IEEE 802.15.1 or something equally catchy), but seriously.
2. Saying or writing "should of" instead of "should have". Grr.
3. The United States Postal Service. I have had so many issues with them since I moved here. The most recent: it has so far taken six days for two CDs to travel around 12 miles (having already taken ages for Amazon to ship in the first place).
I need a nap.
It's been a good week.
With the launch out of the way, work has been less hectic. There were still bits and pieces to do on the sites we launched - some post-launch bug fixes, new features and responses to feedback. Other than that, I got to move onto my other project which - while also bearing an ever-looming deadline - I am comfortable about.
Tuesday was Jess' birthday so we went to our favourite Mexican place. As it was a special occasion, we had cocktails and dessert... and I'm very glad we did. Despite it being a girly drink, I love pina colada; and the weird ice cream things we had for dessert were very tasty. Jess really wanted to go to a Thai place, but given the distance, this was a perfect substitute.
Yesterday, I left work just after 5.30pm and got home around 6.15pm, despite having to take a detour to drop off our rent cheque. Considering last week I didn't leave work/get home until around the same time the following morning, it was nice. Jess was staying late at work, though, so I didn't know what to do with myself.
I did very little. I made myself a very simple and meat-free dinner, watched a whole disc of Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law then got into bed and played Solitaire on my swanky new phone. Somehow, I held off the sleepiness washing over me until Jess was home and in bed.
She had to get up early again this morning, leaving me to bum around. I spent my morning devouring another disc of Harvey Birdman, dicking around on the computer (it's amazing how much time you can waste looking at online galleries, Wikipedia entries and Amazon) and playing more Solitaire and Bubble Breaker.
My lunch was a bit more interesting - Jess had brought me home some steak, mashed potatoes and broccoli last night so I reheated that and downed it with copious amounts of Diet Coke. My dessert was Dairy Milk from our stash of imported chocolate.
I'm about to get a shower then head to meet Jess after work so we can pick up the last of her birthday presents. Despite two consecutive weeks of one of us working the weekend, things are calming down as the weather slowly (oh so slowly) picks up.
This week's calmer Dale is soundtracked by...
- One Cell In The Sea by A Fine Frenzy
- Deserter's Songs by Mercury Rev
- Armchair Apocrypha by Andrew Bird
- Logic Will Break Your Heart by The Stills
Which are your favorite sites for shopping online?
Amazon.com. While I was annoyed when they swallowed CDNow.com, removing all of their cool features and the Kindle makes me very suspicious, they have maintained their position of dominance by doing everything right and innovating constantly.
Christmas is the time for giving, and being a nerd, I've found a great charity in Child's Play. As it was founded by a video game site, Penny Arcade, it naturally puts video games and toys in the hands of children in hospitals around the world. Although the cause is the most important element of this annual drive, it also shows that people who play games aren't the violent sociopaths traditional media suggests.
You can either donate a dollar amount using Paypal (which is the way I roll), or choose from the Amazon wishlists of a large number of hospitals (including the Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, fellow Brits). Once the donations are all in, they are used to buy toys that weren't bought from the wishlists and delivered by the truck load.
They also host a charity dinner, allowing people to bid on sharing tables with big names in the land of nerds. This year, they have Wil Wheaton from Star Trek: The Next Generation and a selection of developers - including, I think, some of the guys behind the Halo series.
Continuing my last post about how the way music is released is changing, I saw the most ridiculous thing today.
The point of downloading music is that you don't have to go to a retail location and buy a physical asset. Also, in theory if not in practice, you are saving money by not buying a physical asset with all of the overheads they entail - manufacture, shipping, the cost of running and staffing a store, etc. This doesn't really hold true - iTunes and their competitors charge about the same as Amazon for most new albums, which is one of the main reasons I still buy CDs: if I am going to pay that much, I may as well have something physical and unrestricted to show for it.
Anyway, back to the ridiculous. As you may know, Starbucks are making in-roads to retailing music. It started off with jazz, world music and the other generic coffee shop soundtrack fodder, but they've slowly been edging towards music by well known and popular acts. Paul McCartney, Feist, The Police, Dave Matthews Band, Joni Mitchell and the like. While picking up a latte and a bagel, you could also buy CDs, and this was fine.
Today, alongside the CDs, I saw what I initially thought were CD copies of the new KT Tunstall album, Drastic Fantastic. It was about the same size as a CD case, albeit... wait, way too thin. It was actually just a giant iTunes voucher that allowed you to download the album. What's more, the fucking thing cost $15! The actual CD, which you can use on any device you please, is only $12 on Amazon right now.
The entire concept is so backwards and ill-thought that several portions of my brain have collapsed trying to comprehend it. Do the majors really not understand why illegal downloading is so prominent, and why artists are increasingly shying away from them to get their music out there?
