Downloads

Ah, I love summer! One of the great things about summer is that you can do all of those fun things that you never get much of a chance to do the rest of the year, like download new music.

Got up this morning, and spent most of the morning and afternoon researching and downloading music. There is a radio station around here called 95.7 Ben FM. Their claim to fame is they play "Anything they feel like," but what they basically play is 70's, 80's, ad 90's classic/light/alternative rock and pop. They DON'T play country or hip hop, my two least favorite genres. My favorite thing about them is that they don't play the same 20 songs over and over like the other radio stations. We discovered this station last summer when we moved into this house and were painting practically 24/7. We were listening to SoJo 104.9 (another Pop/Rock station) at first, but after hearing Maroon Five-This Love for the 1,000th time, we decided to find another station (don't get me wrong, I really like that song, but not that much). So, we ended up on 95.7, where we barely heard any repeats, and now, that is the only radio station I listen to.

Well, with all of the projects I have been doing lately, I've been listening to the radio a lot. I prefer the radio for working music over CD's or MP3s. I enjoy the randomness of it all (to be fair, I can accomplish this on my laptop, but I wasn't about to take that out by the pool or in a room where I am painting). And believe it or not, I respect the commercials and traffic reports. They keep me connected to the outside world (sort-of). So, as I was saying, I've been listening to the radio a lot. I discovered they do repeat stuff, but maybe in a 2-3 day range. I've grown to like a lot of the songs I hear, most of them from the 80's. Well, I discovered Ben FM's website has this neat thing where it shows you every song they played, by the hour, for the last 24 hours. You can buy the song there if you'd like to. So, what I did, was I looked at all of the songs for the last 24 hours, and made a list of the one's I wanted (about 35 or so).

I haven't quite figured out where I stand on the illegal download issue. As a musician, and music teacher, I understand the purpose of copyright laws, and understand that it is equivalent to stealing when you illegally download music. Despite this, I do it anyway. I know it is technically wrong, but when it is stealing that is this easy, and there is a very small chance of getting caught, who wouldn't do it? I do occasionally buy tracks on iTunes (which I promptly burn to a CD and rip in WinAmp, so I have unrestricted versions of the files), mainly so I don't feel so guilty about downloading music. Let's say I have $10 or so in our budget that I can spend on whatever I want. Let's say there are 15 songs I want to download. I'll buy 10 of them legitimately, with my money, and download the other 5. I know I am rationalizing here, but this is more honest then what a lot of other people do.

I was fortunate enough to have a $15 iTunes gift card that I got for Christmas. I downloaded and installed iTunes, and bought 15 of the 35 or so songs there. Then, opened up LimeWire (despite the recent lawsuit), and downloaded the other 20 songs. Most of them were from the 80's, a good number of Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Madonna, and Cyndi Lauper tracks. I used to hate 80's music. Meg's a big fan of it, and her musical tastes have rubbed off on me over the years. I still can't take that power ballad crap like Journey and REO Speedwagon. Haven't had a chance to do much with the music yet. I'll make a few playlists, loadem' up on my MP3, and maybe make some CD's for my car.

For dinner, Meggie made delicious quesadillas, which was an improvisation, because we were supposed to have chicken Caesar salad wraps, and we forgot to buy lettuce. After dinner, I took a bike ride, finished organizing the MP3's I had downloaded and did this week's money stuff.

Oh, I started reading a new book the other night. The Rainmaker, by John Grisham. Don't know how it is yet. It always takes me a while to get into the story of a book. I can't believe how much I am reading this summer. Actually, the last two summers I read lot. In the summer of 04, I read Harry Potter books 1 - 5. Since Book 6 came out last summer, I wanted to refresh my memory, and ended up reading the first five books again, and then book 6. So, technically, I did read a lot. However, now I am reading slightly more diverse books, even though they are all legal thrillers, a genre I have come to enjoy.

Oh, I also found a solution to my insomnia issues. Most people count sheep--I count bubbles. I picture being under water (breathing though, and not feeling wet), and counting bubbles that rise to the surface. I usually get to between 40-60, start dreaming, wake up a little, think to myself "I'm supposed to be counting" start from where I think I left off, and then fall asleep for good. It has worked like a charm two nights in a row now. Gotta go read and then count some bubbles!