New Way to Download Music (legally)

Here's their blurb:

"Amie Street helps you discover new music you'll love quickly and easily. With millions of songs to choose from we make it simple and enjoyable to find your next favorite song.

How do we do this? It starts with the fact that all songs on Amie Street are priced from free to 98 cents. Instead of the arbitrary $0.99 per song, on Amie Street the community determines the price of music. Every song starts free, or very cheap, and increases in price, up to 98 cents, as more and more people purchase it.

This variable pricing system ensures that the public gets music at a fair, community-driven price point, and makes it easy for you to find the type of music you want. We then encourage you to talk about the music you like by putting money in your account for more downloads when you recommend songs that continue to rise in price. You can play the music you purchase from anywhere on the web and all Amie Street downloads are iPod compatible DRM-free mp3s. "

I just downloaded the new Coconut Records (Jason Schwartzman) album called "Davy" for a little over 7 bucks! This album is exclusive to Aime St music, but even if you could find it on itunes or zune -you can't beat the price at Amie St - and it is DRM free.

I also picked up the Little Joy album for around five bucks (highly recommended).check out their sweet video:

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr's assassination. A tragic loss for our nation and for the world. I was reflecting on some of his speeches this morning and came across "Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence" (you can download the mp3 to listen to the speech) delivered on this very day, exactly one year before his death. The speech makes many points that parallel our current war in Iraq. Writer Juan Cole outlined his analysis of King's stance against the war in Vietnam with what he assesses as "10 Things Martin Luther King would have done about Iraq" here. Below are some very wise, forthright, and challenging excerpts from King's speech:

"But they ask -- and rightly so -- what about Vietnam? They ask if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government."

"Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence, when it helps us to see the enemy's point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition."

"If we continue, there will be no doubt in my mind and in the mind of the world that we have no honorable intentions in Vietnam. If we do not stop our war against the people of Vietnam immediately, the world will be left with no other alternative than to see this as some horrible, clumsy, and deadly game we have decided to play. The world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve. It demands that we admit that we have been wrong from the beginning of our adventure in Vietnam, that we have been detrimental to the life of the Vietnamese people. The situation is one in which we must be ready to turn sharply from our present ways. In order to atone for our sins and errors in Vietnam, we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war."

King closes with a statement of hope, eloquently saying:

"If we will make the right choice, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood."

Artcasts

I was browsing the podcasts on zune this morning and came across the podcasts from San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - they have great interviews, commentaries and even enhanced photo/audio podcasts. If you're wondering what a podcast is - you can break down the name as a portable-on-demand-broadcast. Basically its and mp3 or mp4 audio and/or video file that can be downloaded (usually freely and legally) and listened to at any time. Think of it as a recording of a radio show. I know the SFMOMA October 2007 podcast has Olafur Eliasson content and I'm really looking forward to hearing it.

Christmasasaurus

If you're already tired of Nat King Cole and the rest of the department-store Christmas music - head over to the Christmasasaurus page and get free mp3s of chip-tune/8-bit renditions of the classics. If you're not familiar with chip-tune music, it is basically made by hacking vintage video game systems - often the original Gameboy and 8-bit Nintendo. It's a real fun sound, guaranteed to help you lighten up a little. I especially enjoyed Bit Shifter's version of "Winter Wonderland."