Slightly Remarkable

I am sick and tired of the greedy label companies and their bull crap. These people just do not have any common sense whatsoever! What gives!?

Think about this: Label companies are suffering. Why? Because people are pirating (illegaly distributing) the music they’ve published. Now, more people are actually paying for their music at the very decent price of $0.99 per song, rather than pirating it. But now that they know they can make money off of it, the labeling companies want to make more money from it? Shouldn’t they be satisfied with the fact that they are getting any money at all?

Personally, I completely disagree with pirating music. It is outright stealing. However, if the iTunes store were actually closed because the labels are greedy, I would highly recommend that EVERYONE AND THEIR PARENTS DISTRIBUTE ALL OF THEIR MUSIC! Never buy an album again, until they realize how freaking stupid they are. It’s one thing to be against the illegal downloading of music; it’s another thing to be against another company’s store paying you!.

So, I was fortunate enough not to be hit terribly hard by the recent and powerful Hurricane Rita. We got some strong winds, but there wasn’t a great deal of damage in our area. This is a very, very good thing. However, the winds were strong enough to uproot a nearby oak tree, cutting off that precious “bzzt!” from the street we live on (and the street behind us). We weren’t able to get lights until late, late last night. Needless to say, the past few days have been absolutely miserable due to the excessive heat that Texans endure when they lack electricity to power the air conditioner (yes, it’s hot during and after storms — I don’t get it, isn’t it supposed to be cold after a storm?).

Well anyway, I’m back in business albeit a little behind in my schoolwork. What may be considered “regular” around here — spontaneous posts/updates — should resume shortly, most likely by the end of the week. Whew! Now where did I put that 9-volt battery? BZZT!

(By the way, I’m kidding. I don’t really lick 9-volt batteries in glee.)

You can grab the ZIP and overwrite your older version via cut/paste.

The only thing new in this version is that you have an option to display folder titles as list item headers when you show all folders. Enjoy!

I redesigned the Chategory web site and modified its content in anticipation of the upcoming release. (I say upcoming, but that doesn’t mean next week. We’re still in the early alpha stages.) For those of you who can’t wait to get a taste of what’s coming, have yerself a look at the first alpha release. It’s only going to get better from here, folks!

Really, what’s worth more, a smaller size or 2GB that are practically free considering the price difference? While I can see that a smaller size would make it cost more for Apple to make the iPod Nano, I can’t see what Apple has given us for the additional $50. I’d have to say that getting an iPod Mini would be the better deal, but maybe I don’t really know what’s new…

On a slightly off-topic note, what happened to the iPod Mini page? Looks like Apple won’t be selling Minis anymore, in favour of the Nano. That can’t be good. If you want an iPod Mini, I suppose now would be the best time to get it…

What makes the iPod Nano better than the iPod Mini?

Okay, you have super-sized Sony who owns a music distribution company called BMG Music. This is supposedly a large company, right? I mean, think about it. It’s owned by Sony. Wow, okay, now besides the fact that they lack a large amount of music that they should have (I can literally list about 15 bands they don’t have music from including Breaking Benjamin and Muse, and there are other bands that they do have, but only have their oldest albums, and these include Cold and Jimmy Eat World), this large music service sends (gasp) the wrong CD’s in the mail!? I got someone else’s order in the mail yesterday — talk about disappointment. Instead of the Coldplay (Parachutes) and Matchbox Twenty CD’s I ordered, I found The Game and two John Mayer CD’s in the package. What is going on? I had to email them and tell them to send me a shipping label so that I could send the CD’s back at no cost to me, but I am frustrated that it will be possibly two more weeks before I get my CD’s. I hope this mistake doesn’t occur often. I like their deals, but if it takes a month to get my CD’s, I may as well stop at my local retail store and pick the music up there. Good grief, I hope this doesn’t happen again. Anyone recommend any other music service similar to BMG’s but better?

Update: after contacting BMG Music, they said that the CD’s I ordered are on the way and that I can keep the CD’s that were accidentally sent to me at no extra charge. Okay, great, but… What do I do with three unopened CD’s that I don’t want to listen to? I don’t like John Mayer or The Game — is there somewhere I can trade these CD’s for other ones, or perhaps resell them somehow?