From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V9 #160 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Sunday, June 8 2003 Volume 09 : Number 160 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: beautiful voices [cyo@landoftheblind.com] Re: Most beautiful voices [Kjetil Torgrim Homme ] Re: Vienna Teng News: CNN & new tour [Sander ] **Rachael Sage in June & New Album News!** [SpiritWe@aol.com] Charlotte Martin shows in New York ["Mike Gray" ] Theme for an Imaginary Western Show ["Phillip Hudson" ] voices [anna maria "stjärnell" ] re: mary fahl / "cleavage and poetry" [cjmacs ] Re: voices [Kjetil Torgrim Homme ] Apple Music Store and independent artists [Nadyne Mielke ] chiming in on the beatiful voices thread [Damon ] Re: Most beautiful voices ["Michael Pearce" ] Re: Mostinteresting voices [Birdie ] Re: Mostinteresting voices [Greg Bossert ] Re: mary fahl/most beautiful voices/venus hum [Neal Copperman ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2003 00:16:34 -0700 From: cyo@landoftheblind.com Subject: Re: beautiful voices dear Phil, thanks for mentioning Pipa, she does have the most beautiful voice (and being)...a funny angel-fairie. dear Meth, yes, come back west. yes, the redwoods ARE calling you.... hope all are well, cyoakha grace My picks for beauty of all styles...."people whose voices make me cry" Joni/Jane/Kate/Pipa/my mom/Grace Hearn of Hand to Mouth/both women in Mouth Music/Sheila Chandra/Fadia El Hage (cd is called Vox-DivineRites)/Yungchen Lhamo/Peter Himmelman/Peter Gabriel/David and David/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2003 10:03:46 +0200 From: Kjetil Torgrim Homme Subject: Re: Most beautiful voices [Greg Bossert]: > > and thanks. Bill -- to my embarrassment, i must admit that > Ms. Nova was on my list, and then I took her off. As I have said > before, she's is totally comfort food for me -- guaranteed to > bring me back from cranky clumsy thoughts -- and as a result, it > is hard for me to be objective about her, voice or music. but all > those early live recordings sure have a spark, yeah? I recently picked up Wonderlust, which was recorded in 1998 and released in 2000 (don't know why I haven't seen it before, I guess a store worker wanted it for himself and ordered a couple extra copies). it captures the mood from the concert extremely well, I get misty just hearing the crowd's report and Heather's little laugh and simple "thanks!". you know Heather isn't a great talker on stage, she's actually quite reserved, but my, her performance is always great. and in this recording it is impeccable. I've seen here three times here in Oslo, for which I am truly grateful, but hope I will have the chance to see her again. as for other beautiful voices, I think the relevant definition should be "so good even Old McDonald would sound ravishing", or else I would have to list half my CD collection. Stina Nordenstam is a given -- it's amazing how that whispery voice commands attention. I have a soft spot for Beth Sorrentino, although I'm not sure how well she'd do Old McDonald without the piano. Suzanne Vega, Kristin Hersh and Lisa Germano are another three who can never do wrong with me. to add to Yngve's Norwegian list, Radka Toneff was a classic jazz singer, dearly missed. she could bring any song or text to life with emotion. Kjetil T. np: Midheaven.04 (promo sampler from Mia Doi Todd's old label) Of ectophilic interest is Dengue Fever, which sounds like a Japanese pop in the vein of Sakura combined with bigband jazz/blues, and Ursa Minor, a more traditional band with bass, percussion, and Michelle Casillas on keyboards and vocals. the sample is a wailing song with very interesting guitar work (more of a sound effect than a bass line), which reminds me of Sarah Slean. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2003 10:15:16 +0200 From: Sander Subject: Re: Vienna Teng News: CNN & new tour marion.kippers@zonnet.nl wrote: >>>CNN's profile on Vienna is slated to appear tomorrow night, Friday June >>>6, on NewsNight with Aaron Brown at 10:00 PM EST! > > Does anybody know if this will be on CNN in Europe as well, and if so, > when? I tried to find some info on the CNN website but couldn't make much > sense of that. And I'd love to see Vienna! As I read the schedule for the international CNN, they're not showing this show here at all. :( Best I was able to find was this transcript: http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0306/06/asb.00.html (looong page - Vienna's bit is about 60% of the way through, search for VIENNA TENG in all caps - the intro on her starts three paragraphs above that). Nothing terribly exciting, and far too many tantalizing hints of "(SINGING)", but I fear that for poor Europeans like us it'll be the best we can get. Sander ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 04:26:30 EDT From: SpiritWe@aol.com Subject: **Rachael Sage in June & New Album News!** Hey y'all...and happy June! Firstly, *WELCOME* to all the new folks who've signed up on Rachael Sage's mailing list since her "Slow Down Spring Tour" began! Those of you who are local with us here in beautiful NYC know that tonight was a gloriously gorgeous night; the rain subsided and the air was clear and alive with spring/summer madness and beautiful, friendly New Yorkers out & about in the streets...For all of us here at MPress, the warming weather means of course: MORE LIVE SHOWS!! ===== The most exciting new-news is that Rachael's brand new album "PUBLIC RECORD" is complete, but it will only be available *exclusively* at her live performances until August 5th - when it will be released nationwide at stores like Tower, HMV, and Virgin and of course, online. Until then, you'll have to come on doooown, folks, to get your advanced promo copy! GONYC recently described Sage as "independent, passionate, and overwhelmingly talented" but no art's realized in a vacuum & some fabulously creative folks contributed to Rachael's new CD including engineer/co-producer Andy Zulla (Natalie Imbruglia, Foo Fighters, Heather Headly) - plus a slew of fine NYC players: drummer/percussionists Dean Sharp, Doug Yowell & David Rosenberg; string players Stephanie Winters, Julia Kent & Allison Cornell; bassists Matt Lindsey, Mike Visceglia, Conrad Korsch & Richard Gates; and guitarists Ben Butler & Jack Petruzelli. Special guests Trina Hamlin (harmonica), Jenny Bruce (vocals) and Russ Johnson (trumpet) also make appearances, offering new textures to Sage's trademark "folk noir" sound. But enough tawk - ladeeez & gents, we invite you to please put on your best sequins & catch Rachael performing new material at the following upcoming shows as her pre-release tour continues...Thanks as always for your incredibly supportive emails, letters and for letting us keep putting out indie records with poetry, passion & chutzpah! xoxo & light, The Peroxide-Friendly Folks @ MPress ===== Friday, June 13th Sirius Radio Interview (Satellie Radio heard around the country!) "Derek & Romaine Show" - Interview: 7pm LIVE BROADCAST: www.siriusoutq.com MORE INFO: www.sirius.com Sunday June 15 The Sidewalk Cafe - 8pm Celebrating Pride Month! for more info call 212-780-9083 94 Avenue A New York, NY Wednesday June 18 "Girlsalon" @ Meow Mix!- 8pm 269 E. Houston St. @ Suffolk 212-254-0688 New York, NY Saturday June 21 Cleveland Pride Festival (Rachael with be performing & MC-ing!) for more information call 216.371.0214 Time and Location TBA Cleveland, OH June 25-29 ...additional West Coasts Dates! (details TBA) *still being booked so keep checking website!* Saturday June 28 San Francisco Pride Festival 2pm for more information call 877.878.7243 Location Outdoors TBA San Francisco, CA Saturday July 26 Central Pennsylvania Pride Festival for more information call 717.574.1755 Time TBA South Riverfront Park Harrisburg, PA Sunday July 27 Bele Chere Festival - 3pm for more information call 877.878.7243 Location Outdoors TBA Asheville, NC "Sage plays a mean piano, pounding out lively melodies and tender upper register arpeggios with passion and precision...a virtuoso in her own right" - The Weekly Alibi (Albuquerque, NM) =============================================== mpress records * www.rachaelsage.com * 1.877.878.SAGE bookings & publicity: Rich Overton * mpressrich@aol.com retail, radio & 'net: Margo Wentzien * mpressmargo@aol.com special projects & music placement: Chloe Jo * 404.622.2231 =============================================== ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 09:31:20 +0100 From: "Mike Gray" Subject: Charlotte Martin shows in New York Hi Guys, Following on from the recent discussion about her, she has three upcoming shows in New York: June 10- 8:00 PM Sin-i New York, NY June 11- 8:30 PM -Bowery Ballroom New York, NY *Opening for Damian Rice June 12- 7:00 PM - Mercury Lounge New York, NY So if you want to her music out, it's a good opportunity. There's also some live shows been put up at http://webdev.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&cat=Charlotte%20Martin [that link needs to be all on one line, if it's not!] with her permission and her new EP is called "In Parentheses", her first release on RCA and it's out on August 5th. Cheers, Mike ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 02:39:21 -0700 From: "Phillip Hudson" Subject: Theme for an Imaginary Western Show Meth said: What is Pipa up to? I recently found my Dreambeach CD in a pile and brought it to work with me, and I was transported back to the redwoods at dusk all over again.... Ah Meth, you got me thinking about those lovely times, with Happy's incredible performance in Santa Cruz, and then the all-day redwoods show the next day. I think the backdrop of those huge, glorious trees touched a lot of people that night, and Wendy Rule's fire circle performance in the big grove was the perfect finish to the night. I remember all those rapt attentive faces lit by the firelight, the giant trees dwarfing the humans seated at their base; the stars whirling bright above me as I collapsed from sleep deprivation...beyond that, it's all a bit fuzzy. Oh yes, and I remember the dripping candle wax nearly setting fire to one of the stage monitors, and the backstage curtain dropping on me at one point like a booby trap. With the exception of the fire drill and the curtain, I really miss that stuff. So, in the spirit of using creative visualizations as thought-forms to help shape our consensual reality, etc, etc. (I personally don't believe in such foolish things, of course, but have it on good authority that they work whether you believe them it or not ;), here are my talent picks and locations for the currently fictitious EFW 2004 Summer Event. The only personal rules I made were that performers from the EFW 2K main show would cede the stage to others this time( except Happy of course), and that the scenario was realistically attainable ie; it's rather unlikely that Gabriel, Bush and Amos would be in attendance. (creative visualization is all very well, but you'd all be thinking I believed in Faeries or something if I ran with that kind of list: it's tough enough getting Happy out here ;) So, some time in summer 2004: Saturday Dream Team Location: Rio Theater, Santa Cruz, 680 or so seats, so bring your moms. http://www.riotheatre.com/ Happy Rhodes Vienna Teng Louisa John-Krol (just happening by from Oz on a quick tour) Pipa Pinon Terami Hirsch Sunday Dream Team Location: A large private property in the mountains around Boulder Creek, ( not the same one as EFW2K), it has mucho camping, parking and a permanent soundstage in a meadow, and is less than two miles from town and motel accomodations. Can hold about 300 people. Happy Rhodes' Redwoods Appearance( of course) Louisa John-Krol ( Gotta see these antipodean Divas every chance you get: besides, she's Faerie, and they play best in the woods, surrounded by their ethereal kin). Kitka Cyoakha Grace Jill Tracy So that's my little Summer weekend daydream, and it's actually do-able in terms of locations; they're real. ( hint hint) The performers are all local except Happy and Louisa ( who is admittedly a bit of a stretch, but cripes, we got Wendy didn't we?) What does your dream weekend EFW04 lineup look like, and where would it be? Curious and ever optimistic phil - --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.483 / Virus Database: 279 - Release Date: 5/19/2003 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 03:08:23 -0700 (PDT) From: anna maria "stjärnell" Subject: voices Hi.. my most beautiful voices are.. kate bush tori amos bjvrk caroline lavelle david sylvian david bowie stuart of tindersticks margo timmins maria mckee(love her new album) Sophie zelmani louise hoffsten pj harvey susan court anna maria __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM). http://calendar.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2003 07:37:38 -0400 From: cjmacs Subject: re: mary fahl / "cleavage and poetry" fleur wrote: >"Dream of You" - she said she is often inspired by cinema. One night late >she was watching the Hitchcock movie (she loves Hitchcock) "Vertigo" on TV >and wondered what a theme song for that would sound like...and that's how >this song was born. aagh! see what happens when you're on digest... not only did she beat me to it, but she named the correct song (i had inadvertently posted that the "vertigo" song was "want to". hell i never pay attention to song titles anyway...;-) oh and for all those wondering about jewel's image change (got the new album as a promo a few weeks ago; sorry, but imho it sucks), here's a tiny blurb from launch news: >Her debut album, Pieces Of You, was released in 1994, when she was still a naive 20 year old. Nine >years and five albums later, Jewel has grown up and is comfortable with her adult sexuality and said >playing up her sexy good looks in photos is, "another playground to me to say 'Here's cleavage and >poetry.'" i think happy should write a song titled "cleavage and poetry"... better yet, how about naming the new album that! chuck n.p. notwist: neon golden n.r. mark haddon: the curious incident of the dog in the night-time ***** you have received these electrons from: cjmacs@comcast.net ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2003 15:24:59 +0200 From: Kjetil Torgrim Homme Subject: Re: voices [anna maria "stjdrnell"]: > > bjvrk weird, the d in your name survived, but not the v in Bjvrk's name. > caroline lavelle ah! how could I forget ... > Sophie zelmani I actually debated putting her on my list, she has a very "clean" and pleasant voice. btw, a couple of months ago I was visiting a friend, and he said "listen to this" and put her on. I was stunned: "So you know Sophie Zelmani?" then it was his turn to take pause: "You've heard of her?" we were both convinced we were one of the select few (in Norway) who appreciated her music :-) Kjetil T. np: Mia Toi Dodd: zeroone (v. cool (or geeky) name for a third album ;-) since I got this after The Golden State, it seems very much like a demo tape. it's just Mia and her guitar performing for her Macintosh, and four of the ten tracks were remixed for The Golden State. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 09:51:36 -0700 From: Nadyne Mielke Subject: Apple Music Store and independent artists The CD Baby website has a page up about the recent talks between Apple and various independent labels. You can read it at: http://cdbaby.net/itunes They originally had more details available, which you can see on /. : http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/06/06/ 1548241&mode=thread&tid=141&tid=188 I think I've said it here before, but it's worth repeating: I really really like the Apple Music Store. I'm still too much of a traditionalist to buy full albums via them (I like having the physical CD, although my CD collection has become more of an archive than what I use to listen to CDs), but Apple says that about 45% of the songs downloaded are full albums. I've purchased some of their 'exclusive' tracks, as well as one or two tracks where I know it's the only one I like (such as feeding a guilty pleasure of a cheesy pop love song :) or I'm interested to see if I'll like the artist. I'd love to see more independent artists represented on the Apple Music Store. The exposure would be fantastic, and (according to CD Baby) the terms of the contract are very artist-friendly. What more can you ask for? For the Mac users here who haven't browsed through, go take a look. It's quite cool. For the rest of y'all, find a friend with a Mac and make them show you around until Apple releases iTunes for Windows. /nm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 10:51:38 -0600 From: Neal Copperman Subject: Savage Grace [was Re: beautiful voices] At 12:16 AM -0700 6/7/03, cyo@landoftheblind.com wrote: >My picks for beauty of all styles...."people whose voices make me cry" >Joni/Jane/Kate/Pipa/my mom/Grace Hearn of Hand to Mouth/both women in Mouth >Music/Sheila Chandra/Fadia El Hage (cd is called Vox-DivineRites)/Yungchen >Lhamo/Peter Himmelman/Peter Gabriel/David and David/ Hand to Mouth are now going by the duo's names (Grace Hearn and Michael Savage). They have a new album out called Messy Blue Ending. I haven't tracked down a copy yet, but Mary Lydia Ryan says it's beautiful. Available on CDBaby or straight from their site http://www.graceandsavage.com neal now shuffling over: 1979-1983, Volume 1 - Bauhaus The Color of Blue - Martha Reich Home of the Brave - Laurie Anderson Professional Smart Aleck - Carla Ulbrich feet on the ground - madeleine king ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 11:34:05 -0700 From: Damon Subject: chiming in on the beatiful voices thread hi all - ok, i can't resist adding my ugly voice to this thread... scanning my cd racks and picking out a few artists / albums where i really notice the voice as one of the most stunningly beatiful aspects of the music: laurie anderson in _strange angels_ and now _life on a string_ anneli drecker (her voice makes even the smooth pop of her solo release worth keeping) susan court kristy thirsk (she can add that little extra that makes me keep something i might not otherwise) julia fordham (who i confess is not really my thing otherwise) imogen heap (beautiful in a powerful, rooted-to-your chair kind of way) grace hearn robin holcomb katel keineg loreena mckennitt milla noa happy rhodes (not always imo, but can be stunningly beautiful) as for male voices, i find jon anderson's voice strangely beautiful - it's quite haunting in some of the tracks off _the friends of mr cairo_ by him and vangelis. also, guilty confession, though his output is utterly execrable by any ectophilic standards i really like peter cetera's voice, enough to keep a copy of _solitude, solitaire_ kicking around. i'm sure i've missed a whole bunch i'll regret as soon as i send this. also, these are voices i would deem in some `slightly objective' way beautiful - there are certainly other voices i like just as much or more but might not give that appellation for whatever reason. - -damon - -- dl+ecto@usrbin.ca: protecting my real address since 2002 (too late!) > EWS starts here! < ------------------------------ Date: 7 Jun 2003 12:25:11 -0700 From: "Michael Pearce" Subject: Re: Most beautiful voices A few more after thinking about it: Crystal Gayle Marianne Faithfull (her first incarnation) Julee Cruise Sarah Brightman Scott Mackenzie (minus the permanently overplayed "San Francisco") Jon Mark (Mark-Almond Band, but his solo still moves me) This has been a great thread! Michael ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2003 13:10:38 -0700 From: Birdie Subject: Re: Mostinteresting voices Michael scribed... This has been a great thread! I agree, I think it should go on the calendar, to be brought up every......February! You know that time of year, when the bins at the record shops and the cinemas are treated as landfills????? Great time of year to think of great singers or...producers fro that matter. In the meantime, I'll drop Todd Rudgren, and Paddy McAloon (prefab sprout) into the hat and Tracey Thorn & Ben Watt (everything but the Girl) in there, too..... A fave producer is....Thomas Dolby. ta Birdie ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 14:28:37 -0700 From: Greg Bossert Subject: Re: Mostinteresting voices On Saturday, June 7, 2003, at 01:10 PM, Birdie wrote: > Great time of year to think of great singers or...producers fro that > matter. > > A fave producer is....Thomas Dolby. brian eno daniel lanois flood brian eno KaTe george martin billy corgan brian eno alan moulder butch vig steve albini brian eno - -g - -- I have never been afraid to change the circumstances of the world - -- Happy Rhodes ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 18:38:44 -0600 From: Neal Copperman Subject: Re: mary fahl/most beautiful voices/venus hum At 12:37 AM -0400 6/7/03, cjmacs wrote: >speaking of beautiful voices, i'm amazed that no one has mentioned >annette strean of the band venus hum! in fact i don't think i've >seen any mention of them yet here on ecto. they're a synth-pop band >from nashville and their latest(major label) release "big beautiful >sky" is pretty tasty. anybody that likes electronic pop with great >vocals would enjoy them. annette reminds me of bjork / sarah m./ >kirsty thirsk on a couple tracks ("montana" is particularly >bjork-ish), but she has enough of her own personality to make you >forget about comparisons. That sounds pretty interesting. I'd noticed the name recently, for the odd reason that it is attached to an upcoming performance by The Blue Man Group. You've also got Tracy Bonham on that bill too. Kind of intriguing, and kind of odd. And, sadly, the same night as Nanci Griffith, at a much more enjoyable venue. I'll probably end up there. neal np: Ends of the Earth - Peter Bruntnell nr: Ahab's Wife - Sena Jeter Naslund ------------------------------ Date: 08 Jun 2003 13:32:50 +1000 From: Andrew Fries Subject: Re: Apple Music Store and independent artists On Sun, 2003-06-08 at 02:51, Nadyne Mielke wrote: > I'd love to see more independent artists represented on the Apple Music > Store. The exposure would be fantastic, and (according to CD Baby) the > terms of the contract are very artist-friendly. What more can you ask > for? A couple of things, actually. First of all, I could ask for encoding in a standard, open and portable format. Apparently Apple uses something called "AAC", and I suspect it will not work with anything other than Apple's players. I'm almost as weary of that as I would be of being locked into some Microsoft format. Similar logic applies to the shop's front end: I would ask for one accessible regardless of hardware and OS; and since I use Linux, iTunes for Windows is not going to do much for me either. Finally I would ask for a precise, up-front explanation of what sorts of copy protection will be applied to the tracks I'm about to download. I had a quick look at their front page, and could not see that subject mentinoed at all, yet I suspect there are some fairly strong restrictions in force, or they'd be in courts already. So sure, I'm very happy to hear they offer good terms to artists and small labels. But I'm not rushing to buy an Apple just yet. - --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Grrr...Arrgh!" -- Mutant - -- 13:16:48 up 1 day, 22:01, 2 users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00-- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2003 01:01:41 -0400 (EDT) From: josh burnett Subject: Re: Apple Music Store and independent artists On Sat, 8 Jun 2003, Andrew Fries wrote: > Finally I would ask for a precise, up-front explanation of what sorts of > copy protection will be applied to the tracks I'm about to download. I > had a quick look at their front page, and could not see that subject > mentinoed at all, yet I suspect there are some fairly strong > restrictions in force, or they'd be in courts already. The copy restrictions are pretty reasonable, I think. You can use the tracks on up to (I think) three computers - if you no longer want to use one computers (if you replace it, for example), you can de-authorize the old computer. You can burn tracks to an unlimited number of CDs, though you do have to change the playlist every five or ten times (I don't remember which). That's about as generous as the record labels are probably going to allow them to be, I suspect... jcb. - -- Joshua Burnett http://notgoingtostop.org/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 22:14:05 -0700 From: Greg Bossert Subject: Re: Apple Music Store and independent artists i completely understand Andrew's caution and suspicion at the Apple music endeavors. while i have been working with various Apple (since developing a file system for the Apple II in 1983) and Macintosh (since before they were available, by way of a Lisa at the Mark of the Unicorn offices) computers and OSes for around 20 years, and while i have used Apple products throughout that time for my music and for my "day job", and found them sometimes frustrating but always worth the effort, and while i find it one of the few companies in the enormous computer industry who actually cares about the user experience and the integration of their products into the user's world, nonetheless, i'd always recommend thought and consideration over blind brand loyalty. fortunately, Andrew's concerns can be addressed through some simple web research -- whether that satisfies him is of course up to him. i hope that everyone makes their own mind up based on the facts, and isn't scared off by the hype, since one or two successful online music ventures that respect artists and independent labels could tumble from power the already fragile RIAA. CDBaby surely seems like a better choice to be driving the music business than the big 4 or 5 distribution corporations, and they seem pretty enthusiastic about the Apple stuff... for those who missed the CDBaby announcement, here is a good summary from the BBC: On Saturday, June 7, 2003, at 08:32 PM, Andrew Fries wrote: > On Sun, 2003-06-08 at 02:51, Nadyne Mielke wrote: > >> I'd love to see more independent artists represented on the Apple >> Music >> Store. The exposure would be fantastic, and (according to CD Baby) >> the >> terms of the contract are very artist-friendly. What more can you ask >> for? > > A couple of things, actually. First of all, I could ask for encoding in > a standard, open and portable format. Apparently Apple uses something > called "AAC", and I suspect it will not work with anything other than > Apple's players. I'm almost as weary of that as I would be of being > locked into some Microsoft format. AAC is a branch of the large family of MPEG2 Layer 3 encoding schemes, and thus an ISO standard. it was originally known as MPEG2 NBS (non-backwards compatible) in that it was not compatible with MPEG1 layer 3 (a.k.a. mp3). the AAC schemes have been carried forward into the MPEG4 audio layers, and it is this MPEG4 version that Apple is using for their music store. AAC was developed by the authors of the original MPEG1 layer 3/mp3 encoding scheme, as part of the MPEG group that includes AT&T, Dolby, Fraunhofer IIS, and Sony, and is in no way Apple proprietary nor specific. like all MPEG encoding schemes, it is itself a family of actual codecs, and has various packaging schemes as well. like many ISO standards, there are licensing restrictions for AAC, but they are very similar to mp3. here is a good overview: and these folks developed it, and seem to hold hold the original rights to the IP (though Dolby is managing the general licensing): and here is the Dolby licensing site: > Similar logic applies to the shop's front end: I would ask for one > accessible regardless of hardware and OS; and since I use Linux, iTunes > for Windows is not going to do much for me either. well, there are already Linux implementations of the codecs available from both of the above links, subject to licensing requirements, of course. the licensing issue got addressed with mp3 (if painfully) and i suspect it will get addressed for AAC. see this isn't to say that i would support a drive to add more codecs to the Apple store, though obviously they will continue to use some sort of packaging scheme to carry their DRM data. > Finally I would ask for a precise, up-front explanation of what sorts > of > copy protection will be applied to the tracks I'm about to download. I > had a quick look at their front page, and could not see that subject > mentinoed at all, yet I suspect there are some fairly strong > restrictions in force, or they'd be in courts already. here are the terms of sale and service. many people seem to feel they are better than any other corporate-run licensed music distribution service. take that with as many grains of salt as needed... some of the points that are unusual compared to other such schemes are: * the license to copy content to up to three computers * the license to burn and/or export the content Apple did, disappointingly, pull the license to share content via the local network to other Apple computers, after someone distributed a hack to allow sharing over the internet. but they are at this point still open to customer feedback, so complain to them if you feel this is a reasonable right. > So sure, I'm very happy to hear they offer good terms to artists and > small labels. But I'm not rushing to buy an Apple just yet. eh, i run Linux all my home network servers (about a dozen, including the machine that used to host Ecto), and i write my "day job" code for distribution on Solaris, but i do all of my development and music on a pair of Apples, including a lovely Ti powerbook -- owning an Apple product or three has proven to be no burden to me. nonetheless, clearly the goal here is to get Apple to support a Linux (FreeBSD, etc.) version, and even perhaps get them as an ally on obtaining a less restrictive license on AAC decoders. alternatively, come up with a purely open source alternative that undercuts the big distribution houses but actually gets some money back to the artists and independent labels and stores. i'm all for that, but in the meanwhile, the Apple effort looks like a good first step... - -g - -- I have never been afraid to change the circumstances of the world - -- Happy Rhodes ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 22:19:21 -0700 From: Greg Bossert Subject: Re: Mostinteresting voices while we're talking producers, i forgot the producer of one of my top 5 albums ever and a part of why we are here: kevin bartlett (and who is, i hope, feeling whole and hearty these days, and making music...!) On Saturday, June 7, 2003, at 02:28 PM, Greg Bossert wrote: > On Saturday, June 7, 2003, at 01:10 PM, Birdie wrote: >> Great time of year to think of great singers or...producers fro that >> matter. >> >> A fave producer is....Thomas Dolby. > > brian eno > daniel lanois > flood > brian eno > KaTe > george martin > billy corgan > brian eno > alan moulder > butch vig > steve albini > brian eno - -g - -- I have never been afraid to change the circumstances of the world - -- Happy Rhodes ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V9 #160 **************************