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Amazon.com

It appears Amazon.com has entered the mp3 sales biz, with over 2 million tracks available for purchase (covering ~180,000 artists represented by over 20,000 major and independent labels).

All songs sold are free of DRM (copy protection), using the .mp3 format, at a 256kbps bit rate (variable bit rate used in some cases).  This means not only are you assured that these tracks will work on your current portable player and music software, but will continue to work on future players you purchase, no matter what kind you decide to own.  Plus, at 256 kbps, you get high quality (CD quality) audio that will sound just as good playing through your headphones as through your stereo.

Prices are also excellent, with most individual tracks mostly priced $0.89 to $0.99. Albums are usually $5.99 to $9.99.  As an extra feature, the "top 100 tracks" are $0.89 and the "top 100 albums" are $8.99.

You do not need to use any special software to purchase/download individual tracks, but in order to purchase an album, you need to download and install the "Amazon Music Downloader" (Windows and Mac OSX only).  You can only download the music once, so make sure to make backups of anything you purchase.

It's unclear from what I could read as to whether these are available for international purchase, so your mileage may vary if you're outside of the US.

Press release here, thanks to BoingBoing's notification.

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Ian: Matt.
Matt: Yes?
Ian: Get the monkey gun.
Matt: Is that a gun for shooting monkeys, or a gun that shoots monkeys out of it?
Ian: Uh…
Matt: Because we don't have either.

Mac Hall webcomic, February 19, 2004

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I've been going through my music collection lately and re-rating a lot of my tracks to organize better smart playlists.  In the process of doing so, I came across two soundtrack albums that I own that I really enjoy but have not heard for a while.  Listening to the entire albums again, I can wholeheartedly vouch for them as excellent and worth a listen.  You can probably pick them up for cheap, too, since they've been around for almost forever.

First up is the Gone in 60 Seconds soundtrack.  It's got a mix of music to pump you up, including the Chemical Brothers, Apollo Four Forty, BT (featuring Mike Doughty) among others.  Some of the rap songs on the album have a fair amount of vulgarity, so be warned that this is worth screening before passing along to a kid.  Overall, though, this whole album gets me pumped and is great music to drive to.

Next is the soundtrack from Resident Evil: Apocalypse (AKA that second Resident Evil flick).  This is noticeably more focused on hard rock and alternative tracks, but is equally strong in getting me psyched up.  This is the kind of stuff I used to like to listen to while warming up for a running race to get me in the uber-competitive mindset.

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Not much to say about my team this week except that no matter who I had chosen to play off my roster, there's no way I could have beat my opponent's final score.  Part of that is due to my players having some poor performances (yes, I'm looking at you San Diego defense, and you Mr. Hines Ward, who caught a total of 2 yards worth of passes prior to getting injured in the 3rd quarter).  But part is just my opponent having a good week with his team.  Thems the breaks, and hopefully my draft choices pan out in the weeks to come.

Fantasy Football Week 3 Matchup

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Exercise Your Mind

"Minds, like bodies, will fall into a pimpled, ill-conditioned state from mere excess of comfort."
    -Charles Dickens

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