knolleary » amazon http://knolleary.net taking my thoughts for a walk Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:18:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Playing (and winning) the MP3 game http://knolleary.net/2008/02/13/playing-and-winning-the-mp3-game/ http://knolleary.net/2008/02/13/playing-and-winning-the-mp3-game/#comments Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:08:08 +0000 nick http://knolleary.net/2008/02/13/playing-and-winning-the-mp3-game/ For a long time there hasn’t been a viable option for linux users to buy main-stream DRM-free music in the UK. I have looked at the various independent stores out there, but they simply don’t have the music I want. I have been eagerly waiting for Amazon to launch its MP3 store – something they recently confirmed would happen at some point this year.

Adele - 19

But today, out of nowhere, play.com have just launched their own music store. That’s right – I didn’t say ‘announced’ or ‘promised’; they have actually launched it today and I have bought my very first MP3 album (for the record, Adele’s 19).

Their FAQ have all the gory details; music is availble at either 192Kbit/s or 320Kbit/s depending on the recording, can be redownloaded a (limited) number of times and are unencumbered of any DRM. They only have content from EMI and some independent labels at the moment, but this is certainly a good start.

According to The Register, where I first heard the news, all tracks will be 320Kbit/s eventually, with the average price being 70p/track or £6.99/album.

All considered, play have won the race as far as I am concerned. Amazon will have to do something pretty special to make me look their way.

]]> http://knolleary.net/2008/02/13/playing-and-winning-the-mp3-game/feed/ 2 Links for 2008-01-10 to 2008-01-27 http://knolleary.net/2008/01/28/links-for-2008-01-10-to-2008-01-27/ http://knolleary.net/2008/01/28/links-for-2008-01-10-to-2008-01-27/#comments Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:30:36 +0000 nick http://knolleary.net/2008/01/28/links-for-2008-01-10-to-2008-01-27/
  • Amazon MP3 store to go global – Boing Boing – Confirmation that Amazon’s MP3 store will be rolling out this side of the pond.
  • Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture – I can’t think of enough words to describe this. Powerful and moving don’t begin to cover it.
  • Tetrical – 3D Tetris Stacking Game Developed by Digital Machina – 3D tetris – what more can I say?
  • Evan Davis: How interest rates work – Evan does a good job of explaining the economics of interest rates. It’s simple stuff, but I always struggle to make it stick in my head.
  • Scripted Web Frameworks, and why Django Got it Right – “The problem I started to run into fairly early on was I didn’t know the ‘Ruby on Rails’ way to do it, but knew perfectly well how I might have done it in a chitzy CGI.” Interesting piece on why Django was a better fit for one person. I am inclined to ag
    • ]]>     http://knolleary.net/2008/01/28/links-for-2008-01-10-to-2008-01-27/feed/ 0     Links for 2008-01-01 to 2008-01-08 http://knolleary.net/2008/01/09/links-for-2008-01-01-to-2008-01-08/ http://knolleary.net/2008/01/09/links-for-2008-01-01-to-2008-01-08/#comments Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:30:38 +0000 nick http://knolleary.net/2008/01/09/links-for-2008-01-01-to-2008-01-08/
  • Gaming the Creative Commons for Profit – Fascinating explanation of how a CC license is the perfect tool for someone wanting to make money suing over copyright infringement. As a non-professional, not-out-to-scam, hobbyist photographer, I’m happy to stick with CC.
  • Amazon S3 plugin for WordPress : tan tan noodles – msg free since 2005 – A plugin that seamlessly integrates S3 into Wordpress. WIll be interesting to see if this works over the xml-rpc upload mechanism as well.
  • Black Bird | Progetti » WordPress Library – A python library for accessing Wordpress installations over XML-RPC.
  • http://www.cartoonlabs.com/comics/index.php?date=2008-01-01&show=sinfest – The true meaning of the New Year.
  • Dave Gorman: Problem Solving. – Dave proposes a solution to the “a month isn’t exactly 4 weeks” problem. I for one look forward to Gormanuary and Intermission ‘08.
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