I started checking out Apple’s new iTunes and the online music service.. So far I’m pretty darn impressed. The thirty second ‘live preview’ gives a good idea of the song, and the price point of 99 cents a song seems quite reasonable. I bought three songs and had them downloaded and playing in under a minute.<\/p>\n
I’m sure a slower connection would be torture, but they reccomend DSL or cable when you click on it, so it’s not like they didn’t warn people…
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\nThe first thing I tried was a search for additional versions of the Johnny Cash classic ‘Ring of Fire’… I got three that I hadn’t heard before, which was something of a surprise. I collect renditions of that song. The collection dates from back when I was a WCBN DJ and I discovered about a dozen covers of the tune in the station library.<\/p>\n
The first one was by a deep voiced country singer named Earl Scruggs. The instrumentation is fairly standard, with banjo, fiddle and guitar. The drum and bass line are set to a much more rock-and-roll rhythm than the original though, and it’s nicely innovative without going too wild.<\/p>\n
The second one was by 80’s big-hair songstress Olivia Newton John. For some reason it has a heavy harmonica component which almost, but not quite, masks her light voice at times. The twangy guitar is another welcome distraction, but it’s kind of painful to listen to. I bought it anyway.<\/p>\n
The third one I knew I had to buy, even before I listened to it. It’s by Grace Jones. She’s actually pretty good. She’s got a deep voice and a strange accent, but the musical arrangement is a sort of Reggae-rock interpretation, so it all works.<\/p>\n
I’ve added them to the iTunes playlist along with the other 16 versions… And what’s really cool is that with the new version of iTunes, I can set up a quick streaming server and specify that playlist as the only one that I want to share. It’s almost like being a DJ again, but without having to get up at two in the morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I started checking out Apple’s new iTunes and the online music service.. So far I’m pretty darn impressed. The thirty second ‘live preview’ gives a good idea of the song, and the price point of 99 cents a song seems … Continue reading