PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

The video above discusses the Senate version of the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). In the Senate the bill is called the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). SOPA has gotten more attention than PIPA because it was moving faster in the legislative process. But PIPA is just as dangerous, and now it is moving faster.

PIPA would give the government new powers to block Americans’ access websites that corporations don’t like. The bill lets corporations and the US government censor entire websites and cut sites off from advertising, payments and donations.

This legislation will stifle free speech and innovation, and even threaten popular web services like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.

The bill is scheduled for a test vote in the Senate on Jan. 24th: We need to act now to let our lawmakers know just how terrible it is. Visit http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa/ to act NOW!

Still Not Clear on SOPA & PIPA? Click on the below Infographic with Simple Explanations

Digital music download service now available from online electronic music magazine Resident Advisor. RA publishes electronic music news, reviews and has become an immense resource for club nights, events and of course, their DJ charts; where each month, roughly 3000 DJs, from 80 countries chart 30,000 tracks. They’ve now enhanced this service by making digital music available to purchase directly from RA as MP3 or WAV music downloads.

Download Digital Music, New Service from RA

If a track shows up on an artist’s chart (and it is in fact available on digital release and been verified by RA) you will be able to preview and purchase the track directly from the chart page. RA has not let any insight into exactly what digital music vendor they have partnered with to provide the music downloads. The charts are powered by digital music dj software Traktor (more than likely just a sponsorship deal or organization/formatting engine for the dj charts). RA reviews are powered by online dance music store Juno, giving you the ability to preview tracks through the Juno Player and either add the release to your wishlist or purchase directly from the player. They also provide a link to the Juno Records (for vinyl releases) or Juno Download (for music downloads) pages to purchase directly from the Juno websites.

Music downloads purchased this way more than likely earn RA a commission for each sale. We’re assuming the new music download service directly from the RA charts may also be provided by Juno on a commission base – it just makes the user experience a little easier by not having to navigate to several websites to make a purchase.

In addition to the artists charts, RA says it will also be adding digital music downloads from account users favorite artists and labels in the coming weeks and months.  I think it’s a great addition to the site. Though, for me, purchasing digital music really comes down to the functionality of the website I purchase from. Can I store music for download later? How is the download process? How is the price? What music, artists, labels are available? How are the files named and what information is encoded?

Whether these questions can adequately be answered by RA’s new music download service remains to be seen. The RA site and system is undoubtedly a great resource for finding new music and connecting with the electronic music community and artists. This may just be a great opportunity for a few impulse buys – which I’m sure is what they’re counting on.

In this video the crew discusses their adventure travels through the annoyances of airports and the folks surrounding them.

Twilight Frequencies: What was it like preparing for your trip to Honduras?  If you can recall the initial feeling you had, what types of things were you expecting to see or learn? Were you scared? Had you been out of the United States before this trip?

Michael Peters: It was strange, because like many trips, none of us really believed it was going to happen until we officially booked the plane ticket.  But as we learned the trip was a go, absolute complete excitement filled my body!  And I’m confident in saying that feeling was mutual for the other members.  I had been abroad before as had the other members, but for this time was different.  This trip had a mission, a mission we all had personal investment in, and I’m not speaking financially.  If anything, the only apprehension I had was the fear of failure.  I yearned so bad for this endeavor to be a success, because ultimately it was not just for us, it was for the organization we were working alongside and the lives they were touching.

Digidesign, makers Pro Tools, the industry standard in Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), as well as a slew of plug-ins, consoles and live performance rigs, is retiring… well, the name at least. The end of Digidesign and their flagship software Pro Tools is far from over, but parent company Avid, makers of video and film software, has decided to merge Pro Tools, as well as their other three major companies, M-Audio, Pinnacle and Sibelius, under the umbrella name Avid.

So what does the new company name mean for Digidesign? Not much really; Pro Tools will still be ProTools and staff and support will remain virtually unchanged. The only change customers will notice will be the Avid name and new logo on upcoming packaging and a new website that will be launching on April 12, 2010.

Avid promises the new site will include improved navigation, organization and overall  user experience. The new Avid.com will include all current Digidesign.com pages. At first, the new site will only include Digidesign US, but within a few months the international Digidesign websites will be included as well.

Who will see the biggest advantage? Customers who purchase products from multiple Avid companies; such as ProTools HD for DAW, M-Audio Axiom Pro 49 for a MIDI controller and Sibelius for scoring music. Digidesign.com will be the first company website to integrate into Avid.com, but M-Audio.com, Sibelius.com and Pinnaclesys.com will soon follow suite. This complete transition will begin providing multi product line customers benefits like a simplified product registration, single login ID, and a one-stop source for all product information, support, downloads and news.

The biggest advantage most likely will come by the way of new products and current product integration – like the recent additions Pro Tools M-Powered, Video Satellite between Media Composer and Pro Tools, and Sibelius integration into Pro Tools. Think of Adobe after their acquisition Macromedia – each of the company’s related software now integrate seamlessly, allowing users to flip back and forth, starting projects in one program and polishing in another, using each programs unique benefits to your advantage. Don’t rule out the possibility of suite packages or integrated plug-in packages.

Gust of Wind # 9

Le Loup (The Wolf), Family

Hardly Art

www.leloupmusic.net/

This Gust of Wind rings familiar with the current escapade of musical trends, but still manages to leave a special mark that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

I enjoy big sounds, church-choir-harmonies, along with the added down-home flavor of the banjo – they all play very well together on this album. It’s a record that leads to epic moments that catapult the ears toward the mysterious energy of nature. There are moments of straight fire, with Le Loup bringing the morning air and the energy of the sun. Then there are the building moments of swishing water on the track “Sherpa,” which is sort of similar to riding down a calm river, then you’re jolted into the realization that you’re heading for a waterfall and it’s manageable enough to ride.

Another favorite on Family is the song “Beach Town.” A hazed out tune that uses a progressive harmony that ends in the distance, as if they sing to us from a cave. The song starts out with samples of birds and voices, coming and going. The song is out of the wilderness, and we are walking toward the noise with our torches in hand. As we embark toward the sound, we come on a village of people in jubilation.  These people offer up an indigenous well being– they make crafts, build fires, and live in the trees.

Family is a special record, one worth having, and one that will play well down the road. It’s on par with any of today’s most talked about bands, but it does have its own special moments.  These moments will essentially give Le Loup a larger following; they rest well on drives in the mountains or walks in the woods. If you’re not into the profound feeling nature provides or that unhinged beaten path, this record will also suffice surrounded by the pesky wires, and dust bowels that riddle the rooms in our lives. Don’t be surprised if you find your mind running in the open pastures of the open air, with the autonomy of simply just being.

- Ryan Boos, October 5, 2009

Gust of Wind # 8

Air, Moon Safari

Astralwerks

http://en.aircheology.com/

This Gust of Wind gives meaning to the word Classic, establishing its place as one of the most important albums to hit the shelves in a long time.

Since Air will be releasing their new album Love 2, on October 6th, I thought this would be a good time to rehash Moon Safari, and reflect on its amazing feeling. Moon Safari is by far the best album released by the profound French duo. For those who missed this record, I strongly recommend purchasing it; they recently reissued it with quality extras.

From the beginning the music buckles you in for a hazy trip, flowing in the mystical tones, and wilderness of sound that makes Moon Safari such a classic. The instruments speak to the mind, the rhythm fluid and consistent, while the keys are able to ride just above in a liberating way. Throughout this record the science fiction noises of the future interject over the bands thorough instrumentation’s – essentially, the backdrop of time and the places we see ourselves in, are running parallel with Moon Safar, as it takes us through the tides, and the mystique of the other side.

Air is out there, no question, and they connect to a dimension that requires a great focus. But not only is this record a path toward an influx of futuristic revelation, or a focus for the reality of nature, or one’s self. It has the tools to provide some moments that are simply fun, without losing the unique destination of the journey, or the fatigue of too much thought. Let go, and let Air design new images in your mind, new ideas for your own creativity, new energy for new ambitions, and a place to escape when the material world gets too crowded.

This is one of the best albums ever recorded, and easily one of my top five of all time. It’s a bit hard to believe two people  thought of something this wonderful, but in the reality of technologies today only a human can translate emotion to others, as if we are all connected by an invisible rope.

All day today there is an official Air, Love 2 world premiere listening party – World Premiere Listening Party: Listen to “LOVE 2″ Online Now! (starts at 12.00 CET on monday 28th, for 24 hours)

- Ryan Boos, September 28, 2009

Today is a great day! The functionality may have been up for a few days or more, but I’ve just noticed today. You can FINALLY add MP3 album’s and tracks to your wishlists on Amazon. I use the wishlist technology on Amazon extensively and have been hounding customer support as to why it was not available for MP3 for months… maybe a year. They’ve finally listened (I’m convinced it happened solely from this avid supporters nagging and ongoing anti-itunes campaign… I’m sure). Either way, it’s here. Now, how long will it take until my album art / digipak whining catches the ears of a programming philanthropist? Hhhhmmmmm….

Musicians and brands alike need to pay attention to Nine Inch Nails…they, Trent Reznor and Rob Sheridan creative NIN masterminds, really know how to create a user/fan experience. They hit the nail on the head when they created the new nin.com 2.o with deep user community interaction with remixes, photos, videos, forums and more. They’ve now taken the concept 2 steps further and developed a free iPhone App where you can access your nin.com user account from for iPhone or iPod Touch. But wait, there’s more. You can access all the vids and pix and conversations and add the pictures to your wallpaper, but really cool things start happening using your GPS enabled iPhone. You can choose your phone to use your current location and get involved in a conversation with people near by. They’re also going to add a pinpoint to google earth for each concert they play, each time a new comment pops up, google earth will cross the globe and pinpoint the user. Very cool when a large group on fans are in one area for a show. Plus you can take pictures from your phone and post and share your experience instantly. Don’t want people to know exactly where yer at? They’ve developed a “fuzzy” location feature which randomly changes your position within a mile. Never a dull moment in nin land…  Stay tuned to access.nin.com the app will drop sometime this month.

What’s better than taking a long drive and listening to some new music? Honestly, there’s a small list and this one’s up there. So what do you do to get prepared for a journey into the sunset? 1.Map yr shit out; that way when you daze off groovin to yr new fav tracks you don’t get lost. 2.Make a fresh playlist for the ride 3.Make sure you got enough supplies to last the trip. There’s a new beta site out to help complete at least two of these tasks all at once, giving you a little extra time to check the oil and the air in the tires…sure. amplifiedjourneys.hk will map out your trip and make a new playlist based on some ideas from you. The site is put together by harman/kardon, makers of elite automobile stereo surround systems. The genre list is a bit too vague for me…I wouldn’t consider any on the list actually music I listen to…or at least that I’ll admit to. But you can also suggest artists that it will try to fill the playlist with. The coolest part…the playlist is nearly exactly the amount of music you’ll need for the trip; it even breaks the tracks into different sections according to turns and directions on the map. I believe it’s also suppose to take the area you’re traveling through for influences. I could imagine a nice trip from Chi to tha D starting with some Chicago House moving into some ol’ school Acid then ending in a wave of 2nd Generation Detroit Minimal Techno artists. Check it out before your next journey.

Tried of waking up the morning after a killer concert, knowing you had a fab time and the sound and visuals were majestic, but you had such a great time “overindulging” you can’t remember if they played your all time favorite song? Setlist.fm is a new wiki-like service that enables users to find set lists from concerts. You can collect and share set lists and search, add, edit and embed your favorites to your website. The service also allows you to sign in using your facebook account. I wish they had this service in the “rave days” when I had a hard time remembering what city I was in, let alone the tracks I heard or even who I went to see…God Love Technology!