Why iTunes is evil

Over at boingboing Cory Doctorow takes the opportunity of an Anti-iTunes DRM demonstrations across the USA tomorrow to sum up why iTunes is evil:

"You didn't have to abandon your CDs to switch to MP3s, [...] but if you want to go from Apple's iTunes to a competing device, ever, you have to be prepared to abandon your whole investment.
Add to that Apple's willingness to remove features from iTunes Store songs in the name of "updating," the absence of any way to give away, sell or loan your iTunes Store songs, and Apple's use of blacklists and legal threats to prevent people from adding functionality to the iPod and iTunes and buying an iTunes song starts to seem like a worse and worse deal (especially since many artists report that they're seeing $0.07 or less from the sale of their music on the iTunes Store, so all your money is doing is lining the pockets of the same recording companies that are busily suing grannies, little kids and everyone else they can get their hands on)"

I have nothing to add, except that i found it pretty annoying when I was forced to download iTunes together with Quicktime (only to promptly delete it).

T-Qualizer Shirt

This T-shirt with a built in sound sensitive graphic equalizer panel is equipped "with a battery pack that snuggles discretely into a pocket inside the shirt."

Hm.

"The end result is an awesome sound sensitive music T-Shirt that commands attention."

Yes, probably.

"Each frequency of music will activate a different equalizer bar, just like the equalizer on your home stereo!"

OK, I already guessed that much!

(via)

Inflatable speakers

cebop POP Blowup-speakers claim:
The sound quality is better than conventional portable speakers, which don’t allow for much range and have a hollow, “tinny” sound. The plastic skin works as a resonating surface, allowing a richer and wider range of sound with more bass.
They're probably the only sound system that use an inflatable form to produce sound.
All that for meager $49.50 ...

(via)

The Three Sirens - A self learning robotic rock band

The Three Sirens are not conventional musical instruments but autonomous, self learning robot musicians. They are not controlled by humans. Artificial neural networks control every aspect of the robot’s activities. This means that the authorship for their music does not belong to any living being (no predefined material or musical knowledge is available to the system), all musical material is generated by self organizing learning processes in an improvising manner.

Link to Video of guitar-bot Aglaopheme's solo.

(via Autonomous Mutations)

Stairway to Heaven backwards (and reversed)

Jeroen Offerman took three months to learn to backwards-sing Stairway To Heaven and performed it *memorized*.
The video shows the reverse version reversed to give the original song.

Amazing! Crazy! Amazingcrazy!

(via)

Gas Tank Orchestra

Gas Tank Orchestra features a wide range of instruments including strings, reeds, horns, and percussion, all constructed with discarded automobile gas tanks from the streets of New Orleans by Artist/Musician/Scientist Gregory John Wildes. GTO is an orchestra improvising with improvised instruments. ...
The orchestra is self-arranging as it explores the balance (between chaos and epiphany, between conscious and unconscious, between left-brain and right-brain, between this, that, and so on) in staying/changing together.

This not only sounds like interesting instrument-tinkering, but also like an interesting approach to music-making.
Also sounds interesting!

(via)

Meet Oskar Fischer

Time to give an old friend some exposure - my acquaintance with Oskar Fischer dates back to my teenage punk days ... and since then he studiously and stolidly works on his own peculiar solo-program.
He's always played in bands too, mostly percussion (best known of those was Dr. Moreau's Creatures), but he earns my true admiration due to his very individual style he has developed, starting back then.
While his sound is still always out of the ordinary, the production standards have improved notably over time.
Oskar worked with drum machines already in the 1980s and has upgraded his electronics regularly. In his live-performances he plays the guitar and sings.
Like in these two mobile clips from his gig at last year's ROBOEXOTICA's closing event at Arena Wien: part of Carpet Crawl (mp3), a cover from Genesis, and Crazy Train (mp3), one of Ossi's own compositions.
Talking of which i must mention my favorite: High in the Subway - i'll have to rip a mp3 soon and make it available here.

Also a favourite to ask for at shows is his version of the 3rd man Theme (original by Anton Karas).
Around 1987/88 I bought my first tape put out by Ossi with his solo-program. Since then he has published a number of limited edition cds and a vinyl, i believe.

1961 synthesized speech audio, remixed

Remixer Lee Govatos has transformed that 1961 Bell Labs proto-computer voice into a funky freestyle track:
He Saw The Cat

(via, background on voice)

Clip: Bipolar Robot

wmv-movie ...
and on YouTube

Bad News of the Day: RIAA sues family that doesn't own a PC

The RIAA has filed a file-sharing suit against a family in Rockmart, GA. The family doesn't own a computer. ... link
(via)

Good News of the Day: Court throws out RIAA attempt to sue little girl

A judge in Michigan has thrown out a case where the RIAA attempted to sue a small child for file-sharing, after failing in its attempt to prosecute the child's mother. ... link
(via)

Credit Card Guitar Picks

Learn how to make guitar picks from old credit cards.
(via MAKE:)

A Rocking Kid

Time to introduce to you one of "myFriends"™ from myspace (which is, quoting Xeni Jardin, actually Rupert Murdoch's space):
Total Annihilation, which i was pointed to by Boingboing: Ten-Year-Old Robot Punk Rock prodigy ... "The robot kid sounds kick-ass."
Must go there and check it out!

Electric Cigar Box Guitar + Amplifier inside a Cracker Box

Video of "Out of Milk and Butter Blues" played on cigar box guitar and battery powered cracker box amp.

(via Boingboing)

Good morning ..

happy to welcome you to Mocking Minority's Blog.