Welcome to the "Real" World . . .

. . . my URGE service has been swallowed up by Real Network's Rhapsody service. The terms of service have stayed the same, but now I get access to the Rhapsody catalog of downloadable and streamable tracks.

Like most computer users I've come to despise Real and their buggy, invasive and awkward software. But I'm willing to give them another chance. The big plus to this change is that Rhapsody's catalog is really, really big, and with the addition of the URGE catalog, it's now freakin' huge.

The minus is that to use all the features of this new combined service you have to use the Rhapsody media player. I don't like it so far. It's clunky, it's been buggy so far (even so far as to get blue screened twice since I've started using it, and since I've been using Vista blue screens had been a thing of the long forgotten past).

I like the quality of the streamed audio, however, and am going to experiment with NOT downloading tracks to my computer. So far it works fine and that frees up gig after gig of space. Also, Rhapsody is fully compatible with my Samsung portable, so I can still listen to my subscribed tunes in my car.

The interface still sucks, they're trying too hard to look and feel like iTunes and they do a piss-poor job of it (and I don't really like iTunes in the first place, WMP11 FTW!!!).

But my sub doesn't run out till December, so I'll give them till then to work out the kinks, and if the mysterious blue screens of death don't keep coming up, and the streams continue to work as well as they seem to do, I may stick with this service.

Haven't tried to break it yet, we'll see how good the stream sounds while using bittorrent (for legally tradeable goods only, of course).

Guess the Theme

Another guess the theme URGE playlist for your enjoyment (previous entries tagged: Music Playlists).

All the songs are downloadable if you have a subscription.


1. Lady Victoria's Boombox by Mr. Deviant from Techno Obsession
(as techno as the album's title implies)

2. Victoria Lake by John Zorn from The Bribe
(chock full 'o John Zorn-iness, just like you like it)

3. Victoria's Song by Mike Lasala from Somewhere to Be
(Emo-ish guitar pop)

4. Victoria Crown by The Larch from Pouters, Rollers & Runts
(Jangly pop from the Paisley Underground school)

5. A Love Song For Queen Victoria by Mayor McCA from Welcome to McCAland
(Slightly Rockabilly Rootsy Pop)

6. Hotel Victoria by Quinteto Princho from Bailando Tango
(Tango, straight up, no fooling)

7. Victoria St by Angeline from Finally. . .
(Pop Singer/Songwriter stuff)

8. Luna De La Victoria by Jose Merce from Del Amanecer
(Traditional Flamenco Guitar straight from Spain)

9. Entry 3: After Her Victorian Operation Failed in Geneva (Autumn) by Specially Designed For Commercial Radio from A Public Service Announcement For The Dehumanized Population
(Ridiculous title, Ridiculous band name, Ridiculous Album name, the song . . . , meh)

10. The Victoria Principle by Linus Loves from Stage Invader
(Electroclash in an Old School Style, straight outta 1983, but recorded in 2005, and I'm liking it)

11. Victoria's Secret by Toby Keith from Boomtown
(A Toby Keith story song, exactly what you'd expect, for ill or good)

12. Spoilt Victorian Children by The Fall from This Nation's Saving Grace
(Mid Career post-punkness from one of the great bands of that era)

13. Victoria by Keith Jarrett from The Impulse Story
(A great Jazz Pianist in a Monk mood)

14. Victoria's Smile by 12 Girls Band from Freedom
(Straight outta Red China, 12 "girls" doing cheesy lite-classical with an Asian edge)

15. Victorian Romance by Diane O'Malley from Heaven's Embrace
(Did you say you wanted some harp music? Well, I've got some harp music right here for ya)

16. Sarah Victoria by Acoustic Alchemy from Early Alchemy
(more mellowness from that mellow duo known as Acoustic Alchemy, better put on something with a little edge before I fall asleep)

17. Victoria by Ella Baila Sola from Ella Baila Sola
(That's better up-tempo latin pop with a rock edge)

18. Victoria's Secret Blackmail by Sunshine (Punk) from Moonshower and Razorblades
(Moody Goth-ish Post Punk straight out of Tabor in the Czech Republic, Gotta love that combination)

19. Victoria Day by Amer Diab from There / After
(Folky, twangy, guitar pop straight out of Toronto!)

and finally, as if this list could be complete without a version of this particular song

20. Victoria (Live) by Ray Davies from Storyteller: X-Ray (Live)
(The Man, The Legend, doing what he does best, LIVE)


All this inspired by this Sundries post, naturally.

Are You Getting Sick of This Yet?

More Urge playlist blogging. Take a hint Microsoft, this would be a nice feature to add. Let the masses be your DJs.

See if you can guess the theme.

Zeroes - Spacehog
One - Three Dog Night
Two Sides (To Every Story) - Etta James
Three Little Birds - Bob Marley & the Wailers
Group Four - Massive Attack
Five String Serenade - Mazzy Star
Six Pack To Go - George Strait
7 - Prince
Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar - The Andrew Sisters
Cloud Nine - The Temptations
Ten Seconds To Love - Motley Crue
Eleven Long Years - Us3
Twelve - Jurassic 5
Thirteen - Johnny Cash
No. Fourteen - Love
Fifteen Flies In The Marmalade - The Legendary Pink Dots
Only Sixteen - Sam Cooke
(She's) Sexy and Seventeen - Stray Cats
Eighteen Year Old Girl - J.B. Hutto & The New Hawks
Hey Nineteen - Steely Dan
Twenty Years - Dwight Yoakam



Guessed yet?

It was a trick question, there is no theme.

(OK, that was a trick answer, the theme is pretty obvious)

Enough variety in the bands and styles chosen for you?

It works together surprisingly well.

(anyone else find it strange that the songs with #16-19 in their titles are all about the young ladies?)

(and could you get away with a song titled "Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar" and not have people think it's some sort of S&M anthem nowadays?)

Chain of Fools Rush In The Flesh For Fantasy Is Reality Radio Silence Is Golden Years Ago

Playing around with the search function on the previously mentioned URGE.

Was able to come up with this playlist of ten songs

Chain of Fools, Aretha Franklin
Fools Rush In, The Mighty Diamonds
In The Flesh, Pink Floyd
Flesh For Fantasy, Billy Idol
Fantasy Is Reality, Parliament
Reality Radio, Imani Coppola
Radio Silence, Circuits
Silence Is Golden, Garbage
Golden Years, David Bowie
Years Ago, Alice Cooper

Not bad, thematically, or musically, if you ask me (and I know, you weren't actually asking me, but I'm telling you, so there)

A suggestion for the good folks at Viacom and Microsoft, let the people have at it and share. They've got 'celebrity' playlists by the likes of castmembers of Laguna Beach, season 3. That's great, I'm so gratified and fascinated that Kelan is a big Bruuuuuuuuuce fan, and thinks that Gerry Beckly is his hero. But I'd bet more people would get into creating their own clever playlists (like the one above) if they knew that they could then be easily shared to all sorts of folks across the internets.

Do it right and you have a nation of DJs all trying to one up each other, out quirk each other, and out cool each other. Do it wrong and you have fewer folks laughing at how ridiculous some publicist mandated playlist compiled by MTV's darling of the week sounds.

Also, it would be great to be able to link the lists you make through blogs, an embedding code like YouTube should do the trick, you could still force people to listen to it through Windows Media Player 11 and the URGE shop. Think of it this way, the easier you make it, the greater your marketing department.

Solve these quirks, and you might just have a real rival to iTunes.

You still are going to have a hell of a time getting folks to give up their Nanos and iPods.

The Urge, and How to Get It . . .

Occaisionally I get early adopter fever.

I've downloaded the latest build of Vista, and plan on placing it on a currently unused hard drive and create a dual-boot system.

Windows Media Player 11 is in a beta now as well. This seems to be the version that they want to be compatible with IE7 and Vista. The new look is clean, the interface seems to work pretty well, and they are pushing their joint project with Viacom URGE.com.

I've signed up for the 14 day free trial and so far, I'm actually kind of liking it.

I'm as surprised as you are.

MTV/VH-1/CMT are heavily branded on URGE and those aren't brands that say good taste in music to me anymore.

But, so far I like what I'm hearing, and what it gives me access to. It's similar to Napster.com in that for a flat fee you can listen to songs, even download them to your computer, and if you pay a little more, download them to compatible devices. When Microsoft the Zune this would seem to be how they expect you to get content on their devices.

This is supposed to be their Apple killer. It ain't there yet, but it does work pretty well, looks clean and has some decent (though too few) radio stations.

Also the way they organize the music is pretty intuitive, which is a bit of a surprise for Viacom/Microsoft frankly.

Plus, the playlists are pretty fun. Here's an example of two.

Must-Haves: Bubblegum, a list that surely would please Prof. Althouse (she's often professed great love for this stuff)

14 songs from four different decades, and cheesy and bubblegummy enough to make you smile or make you run.

The list

1. Sugar Sugar, The Archies
2. I Think We're Alone Now, Tommy James & the Shondells
3. Dizzy, Tommy Roe
4. I'm A Believer, The Monkees
5. ABC, The Jackson 5
6. I Think I Love You, Partridge Family
7. Saturday Night, Bay City Rollers
8. Little Willy, Sweet
9. We Got The Beat, The Go-Go's
10 I Want Candy, Bow Wow Wow
11. I Think We're Alone Now, Tiffany
12. MMMBop, Hanson
13. Wannabe, Spice Girls
14. ...Baby One More Time, Britney Spears

It's a good overview of bubblegum, arranged chronologically.

The other list that I like is a Prince themed list called Prince Under Cover. It's got Prince covers that I wasn't aware of, plus the ones that everyone knows.

1. I Feel For You, Chaka Khan
2. Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinead O'Connor
3. When Doves Cry, Patti Smith
4. Thieves In The Temple, Herbie Hancock
5. How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?, Stephanie Mills
6. When You Were Mine, Cyndi Lauper
7. Rasberry Beret, Warren Zevon and the Hindu Love Gods
8. Purple Rain, Phish
9. Manic Monday, The Bangles
10. If I Was Your Girlfriend, TLC
11. Kiss, Tom Jones
12. The Beautiful Ones, Mariah Carey and Dru Hill
13. Down With Prince, Hot Chip