五師兄字

Coldplay《Don’t Panic》

我不算熱愛 Coldplay。我只喜歡他們第一張專輯《Parachutes》。如果看我 iTunes 的紀錄，《Parachutes》有六首歌是五粒星（Don’t Panic, Shiver, Yellow, Trouble, High Speed, Everything’s Not Lost）。但輪到第二和第三張專輯，我就只有揀了各一首歌為五星（分別是 Clocks 和 Speed of Sound）。

因為我是在 HMV 試聽《Parachutes》才買，故對於我來說我第一首接觸的作品就是 Don’t Panic。這首歌有我喜愛的結他疾奏，也有那使人心曠神怡的「午夜曲風」。試幻想一下一面聽著這首歌，一面駕著一輪開篷車在年夜的公路上奔馳…… 就是這神髓吸引了我買下《Parachutes》。

Last.fm ~ Free the Music

我的排行榜

看得多駅長的 Wild Chart，有樣學樣，我也來過音樂普查。右圖是我的 iTunes 用歌曲總播率來排序時的 screen cap，記下這 iTunes profile 由2006 年重新建立後我在家和在街（用 iSproggler 滙入）的播放歷史。

從圖中所見，我口味專一（或曰「悶蛋」），頭三十五位全是 Keane、Radiohead 和 Coldplay 的歌。而根據 Last.fm 的歌手排名，The Cranberries、西村由紀江、Suede 和 U2 也佔進高位。

至於中文歌方面，歌曲中排名最高的是第四十幾位的 at 17 / 青春。以歌手排名計，原來近兩、三年我聽得最多的是孫耀威、陳奕迅、Beyond、林憶蓮和古巨基。如果不是看 Last.fm 的數據，我也不知道原來我曾聽過孫耀威二百幾次！

Last.fm 推免費全首播放
Last.fm 的確是一個很有意思的 tools。是其中一個 web2.0 的典範。昨日 Last.fm 更在其 blog 中宣佈一個大躍進，就是會在 Last.fm 網站上讓用家免費播放（但不可下載）全首歌曲（而不是幾十秒的試聽）三次（如果加入稍後公佈的 subscription service 就可以無限次播放）。

這些歌曲包括四大（EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner）唱片公司和其他獨立唱作人的作品。在我看來，這新計劃的賣點並不在於聽眾方面（因為現在本來已有不少相類的網上播歌的服務，而且只免費播三次像不是太夠喉），而是在那些獨立唱作人方面。這計劃讓任何一個獨立唱作人上載自己的作品上網站，而當有人點播，Last.fm 就會將相關的廣告收益按播放率與歌手分賬。另一個照顧「長尾」的例子。

其實這概念卻又不是全新的。我一向用來在 blog 播歌的 imeem.com 也於上月有相近的策略宣佈。但可能礙於後台的關係（Last.fm 去年五月被 CBS 收購了），Last.fm 可以同時與四大唱片公司訂出協議，而 imeem.com 就暫時只有 Universal 應允合作。

似乎互聯網的發展使音樂/娛樂事業愈來愈精彩/複雜。有我們在這裡說的網上 streaming 加廣告收益，也有像 iTunes、AmazonMP3 或 Radiohead 一樣提供收費下載。發展的方向還是大有空間和變數。不過，無論結果怎樣變也好，似乎唱片業的生態已不會再回到以前的地方。用「白金唱片」來形容一個商業成功的歌手已是舊世界的方法了嗎？

你有甚麼看法？請留言告訴我！

My iPod Video arrived last Friday

I finally got my new toy last Friday evening. At the end I have decided to get the thinner 30GB instead of the 60GB, firstly because the 11mm thickness is just too attractive, and secondly they have stock for 30GB but not 60GB. For the same reason I got the white instead of the black (I originally reserved a black unit from the store). Well, I believe if the device has scratches, then the black body color would make the scratches become more obvious to be noticed. So in that consideration, I prefer white then (although black is cooler, but what good if it looks cool but crappy?)

The slim design makes my original 3rd generation 30GB iPod looks like a brick. I remember I used to like that design. Now I can’t remember why. With the new iPod I can really put it in my shirt pocket without really feeling it.

One bad thing about the device is that we don’t have access to the iTunes Music Store account, so all we can do there is to download the video podcasts, but cannot download (purchase) any Desperate Housewives, Lost, Pixars’ catoons and Coldplay’s music videos. I have spent extra HK$2xx to upgrade my Quicktime to Quicktime Pro, so that I could convert other mpeg files into the iPod format. My aim is to also put my wife’s and baby’s movies and photos in the iPod. I have converted a few clippings from the Quicktime site into the iPod format, and it looks really smooth in the iPod.

The next bad thing about the device is that it is still very easy to get scratches on the body (and as I said, that’s one of the reasons why I finally decided to get the white instead of the black unit). I am not sure how Apple could live with this after five generations of iPod and the recent complaints with the Nano. I am waiting for the silicon case to protect it.

Apart from these 2 bad points, I love this product very much (so far). It keeps its long winning UI, plus all the new features in Nano (world clock, device lock etc). It works perfectly with iTunes 6.1, and most important of it, it is slim and beautiful. I would give a 9/10 (9 out of 10) rating to this iPod.