All of the Sony/BMG released David Bowie albums (the last five) have been boxed up into a 10 CD set, all packaged in little replica vinyl sleeves, all for only $70.70 [Chaos.com, Amazon.uk].
That's $14.14 an album. With an extra disc+ of bonus tracks each.
This is the era of David Bowie I prefer, the 90's and 00's era, when he started messing with electronic sounds.
Unfortunately I already have all of these albums, except Outside. And I may already have Outside and just forgot. I do that sometimes...
Now if they'd release a similar boxset of the non-album tracks for $40 maybe I'd buy that.
Probably not.
By "promo" I mean cheap. The cost of a single ($4). Up to 10 or 12 tracks.
The cost of a single because the expectation is that I'm likely to only like one song. At best.
The tracks could be a random selection of a certain genre. They could be the artists the record company is pushing that month, or a selection of catalog artists they wish to try to push to the front again. Although I would very much prefer a cross label selection. Or a compilation of the latest indie tracks.
I'd even like to be able to subscribe to a set of promo CDs. One a month, the cost of a good CD a year ($30? $50?). I'd subscribe to "heavy metal selection" in a heartbeat.
It would be a way for me to discover new music. A scheduled way instead of when I feel like putting in the effort to try to "discover" new music.
Radio doesn't do it for me. It rarely plays the music I like, and when it does it over-plays it and kills it for me. Or they don't back announce a track enough, or clearly enough.
Thirty second samples on iTunes don't do it for me. Especially as I open iTunes and am left blank, wondering what I want to hear. Something new and something good. But iTunes won't tell me.
I can listen to my friend's recommendations. When I find something I really like I try to tell my friends. I know how hard and frustrating it is to find something new and good.
But my tastes don't always match theirs. And theirs don't usually match mine.
When people speak of subscription services, this is what I'd imagine. Prepaying for something requires it to be cheap. I don't know what I'm getting, I don't know if it will be any good. The service acts as an advertisement. I'm happy to pay for it because it's specific and targeted.
I'm sure something like this has existed in the past. I remember talking to a radio person once and they said they subscribed to a "Top 10" CD that he received every week. It contained the top 10 tracks of that week as per the charts (I may be remembering this wrong).
That's sort of what I'm saying, but a bit more effort would be nice.
Wouldn't it be nice to think that there was someone at a record company digging through their their catalog looking for good tracks, making a compilation and actively selling their old assets to their customers?
Nah.
But I'm pretty sure a service like this wouldn't fly. The people are used to advertising being free. Especially music used in advertising. And I'm not sure the artists would go for having their product sold for nothing. They're used to fighting for their share, no matter how small, of record company profits.
And just how many tracks these days are owned by companies big enough to set up such a service?
It's a pity, I'd really really love a top 10 suggested metal tracks of the month service. Really.
iTunes?
A shot of a sniper rifle gun sight quickly taking aim next to (but not at) a person's head and firing, then moving on to the next person... quick cut to a driver speeding past cars, swapping lanes constantly, taking the smallest of gaps and just missing the other vehicles.
Images of a kid shopping for a gun, being shown a pee-shooter covered in safeties, but requesting a shoulder mounting gatling gun... quick cut to same shopper buying a car, requesting the V8 with exposed engine and flames.
Tagline... "Cars don't kill people. People kill people."
Irony!
Dave recently found the full set for me! Scans to be posted soon.
The flavours were:
- Pink Grapefruit
- Passionfruit
- Tropical Acerola
All three flavours, plus Mango, have been introduced over the past few years in Europe, and seem to have stuck. Tropical Acerola appears to have been popular enough to re-release in this years Summer Edition (with new flavour Mango), but the other two flavours are gone.
I tried some of the Aussie Pink Grapefruit. Like all the Europe vs. Aussie comparisons, it had a strange un-flavour for the first second before settling into the sweetness. The European Tic Tacs don't have that first step and are slightly sweeter. The European packets seem to indicate the flavouring is at least partially "natural" while the Aussie packets are 100% artificial. Yum.
I've certainly consumed products that were far longer out of date with no regrets.
I fail to get any hint of what I consider to be Lime flavour from the lime Tic Tacs I've tasted in both the Lime & Orange and Citrus Twist boxes. The Lime Tic Tacs are no different. They're perhaps a little stronger flavoured than those in combination boxes, but the taste isn't totally pleasant. "Citrus" is the only word I have to describe the taste.
Perhaps I just have no real idea of what Lime is, having only really enjoyed lime sweets and sugary drinks.
Katie indicated my mouth smelt of dish washing liquid.
It's the first box of Tic Tacs I haven't finished since Wintergreen.
