Random photos of Melbourne (page may be slow for modem users), via Monkey Puzzle. Thanks for at least thinking of coming to my gig. Get well soon. Next gigs likely @ The Laundry on Johnston Street or/and The Tote in Collingwood in September. Maybe a support gig in August. MONKEY!
Full explaination as to why BuyMusic.com is crap and iTunes rules. (via news.google.com Sci/Tech section) Simply, iTunes is cheaper and they let you do more with the songs (ie. almost no restrictions of CD burning or device transfer). Bring on the PC (and Australian) version of iTunes. How about emailing mp3.wiredrecords.com and demanding they drop their prices to match iTunes. Or actually, that wouldn't be fair, how about emailing Universal/EMI/etc. Australia and demand they drop their online prices.
Gig last night (at the Cornish Arms) was OK. We had problems with foldback (that's what we musicians hear on stage, we can't hear the front-of-house speaker very well so we have our own speakers on stage so we can hear our vocals and so the drummer can hear the vocals and guitar etc.) so that we couldn't hear ourselves so we didn't play very tight. Took a few songs to get into it but once we got over that hurdle it was pretty good. Nice feedback from the crowd. Recorded it via the soundboard. Soundboard recordings a nice (clear) but I prefer recording the front of house speakers with a microphone. You get nice crowd noise and you get a nicer mix because typically small venues don't need to pump as much through the PA (as the amps on stage are loud enough for the crow to hear) so the soundboard recording has quiet instruments and loud vocals.
Update: Dave/Pah reviews our gig.
More than two years ago I was involved in writing prototypes for online music delivery using both Intertrust's software and Microsoft's software (at the time it was Windows Media Player 7 with DRM). Microsoft's product was a dream to code for, very simple, compared to Intertrust's method that was very difficult and often had problems. What's more Intertrust's software was expensive while Microsoft's was free. The website I was coding for seems to have dropped Intertrust altogether. Now Intertrust are suing Microsoft for patent infringment. Apparently all the IP used for DRM and "trusted computing" is all Intertrust. I leave you to make up your own moral to the story.
Some excellent photos of Melbourne / Victoria by Steve Vit. Steve's a regular poster to The Age website's My Melbourne section. (thanks Dave)