Spotify is a service wherein you can apparently listen to a library of 8 million songs whenever you like, so far only available in seven countries in Europe. Damn you international Twitter friends for getting all the cool stuff first!
Anyways, so it’s like, mobile access to tons of licensed music all the time, and Spotify reports to “compensate the artists fairly,” which according to this lovely infographic, is a pretty seriously low rate on return, considerably worse than comparable streamers Rhapsody or Last.fm.
BUT it sounds like a pretty good deal for the users, not to mention easy-to-use…seems like Spotify could be the harbinger of that New Digital Music Revolution we’ve been hearing is coming ever since iPods were a thing.
Look at how much fun these young people are having sharing music!
If anyone ever wants to take me to ROFLcon I will be all over that.
Till then, you can check out a video by Motherboard talking with some of the speakers of the event, including I Can Has Cheezburger, Regretsy, Autotune the News and more. It’s an interesting look into the humor, industry and downsides Interweb LOLz can have on the lives of those not intending to become viral sensations. Watch the video.
I like reading books like Strunk and White’s Elements of Style and pretending like I’m going to remember anything I read there.
I like debating the semantics of whether words like “impactful” are or should be real words.
Confession: I worry about the proliferation of blogs watering down the art of writing. Much like everyone suddenly having access to a zillion fonts when desktop publishing arrived lead to some pretty heinously-styled documents (I’m guilty of more than a few), so too being “published” instantly online whenever you want tends to cause people to lean more into “can” than “should,” and while I admire the democracy of a medium equally available to everyone to express themselves, I often find myself chiding that there is a right way to do it. There is a right way to break the rules. There’s also a right way to spell “you’re”.
The instantness of the Internet is the guilty temptress here: you just type it all out and hit “Publish” and that’s it, onward to the next e-task. The world goes so fast now that it does often seem a waste to stop and reread to make sure you’re really saying what you wanted to say.
Though not a trained writer in any sense of the word (there are definitely some wonky commas in this post), I think it’s important for designers to be able to properly write. There is a huge divide between understanding what you’re doing in your own head, and being able to write about it in such a way that makes your viewers or clients understand in the same way.
So I say, have a voice, a distinct writing style. Say your piece as concisely as possible (Strunk and White reference!). Have fun with it, but most importantly, take your time.
I just want to take a moment to point out my new favorite thing on the internets, Dropbox. It is a file-sharing program wherein you can store your files online, share a folder with a friend, and even get to files on-the-go from your fancy spacephones. What I love most is when I update a local file, or drop a new one into the DB folder on my desktop, it both automatically uploads it to their server AND updates the local copy on the computers of all the people sharing that folder. It’s like Version Cue and Google Wave had baby who only possessed the best file-sharing features of each.
I’ve pretty much been through the entire Internet at this point (what can I say, sleep is just not for me) but for those who have not yet traversed the width/length of the wilds of the Web, Unmarked Vehicle‘s Michael J. breaks down a few essential tools to get you started: Tools for Inspiration on the Web
