new blog ! hurrah !

right...so, this is the new home to my music blogs.
hurrah !

i think what i shall do, with this new blog established now, is take the music blogs that i had already posted on my facebook page - so as to save room on my page - is repost those entries here.

sort of backlog...
(right term? backlog?)

but, here now is my newest blog written today, actually.

music blog :: the format wars revisited

so with many different types of formats out there at present moment in the music industry, it becomes much more difficult for people like myself to choose which to go with:

a) downloads (legal *ahem* or...*ahem*...yeah, you know what i'm talking about..)
b) buying it on CD
c) or now on vinyl

option (c) does come with its complications, if you are not in possession of a record player.
although, as i had mentioned way-back...bands are putting out their music in the vinyl format and then inserting each record sleeves with little cards in them, on which are printed codes so one may download the entire album digitally.

lately, option (b) is slowly dying out, i find. CDs will become like tapes, and like 8-tracks before that...

so, conclusively, option (a) seems to be the best bet nowadays for music.
whether it's downloading, or streaming music online, i'm sure every will agree that the internet is the best and (arguably) the most reliable source for finding/listening to music.

one can google such bands/artists, and surely they can find some sort of music website that has at least one link to their song(s) so listeners can listen to their music freely.
if you like the song/artist, you can surely find another website with more music to listen to/download other songs from said band/artist...

case in point: Cold War Kids, one of my top 5 favourite bands of all-time, are releasing their second album (Loyalty To Loyalty) September 23rd. but they are giving fans the choice of listening to the entire album - by streaming it (mtvu.com, apparently.) before the album even hits the stores.
(also on their myspace page, they have uploaded one of their songs and two remixes of this song for the fans to listen to and/or download.)

Coldplay were also ones to do this, as they previewed their whole album Viva La Vida... a few days before its release.

but, being a hard-core fan of both bands, i chose not to listen to the streams.
tempted, yes.
but in the end, didn't. i wished to remain surprised.

Radiohead i think, had the right idea with In Rainbows. Yes, they sold their album online for whatever price fans had wanted to give it - minimum of a mere penny i do believe though(?)
then later, they released it in CD format, and also (of course) as a vinyl.
in the end though, i'm not entirely sure of the sales that the cd had made...i want to say that it did well? maybe? not too sure...but i am sure that someone will correct me on this.

so when will we see the end of the cd? anytime soon? perhaps...
vinyl is seeing somewhat of a comeback. but will it stick around?
downloads and mp3s i figure will be sticking around for a good, long while...

(on a personal note...i much prefer vinyl. nothing sounds better.)