If there is one thing that is funny about the music business its that it really tries hard to retain it’s control over the use of music. As a musician who creates the music, I understand that. However at the same time there is such a thing as being too controlling. In that respect the movie industry has been lucky to learn from the music industry’s mistakes. Lesson they need to currently learn: get rid of the copy protection. I so appreciate that iTunes and Amazon no longer use it.
Here’s part of my issue. I tend to buy CDs unless I really only like one song. Therefore I rip my music to a high quality MP3 to store on a server at my house. This allows me to stream my music throughout my house to any computer or stereo that is nearby. I keep it on a central server on purpose. I do the same with the movies I have. I rip the DVD to my server as well. This allows me to stream a show to any computer so that I can enjoy it. Same holds true for any shows I purchase off iTunes or the net. I keep it all central to my house so that I can make easy use of it.
However, I know full well that it is primarily the major labels and the RIAA that have made it difficult for Apple to allow this kind of freedom for an enduser to enjoy. So much so that it is translating to how I can use my new iPhone. Because of major labels Apple has had to make iTunes and iPods play nice with only one machine at a time. I’m sure that I’m not alone in being someone who has multiple computers. Because of this, I want my iPhone to sync with any of my machines that is nearby. Especially since I go to the lengths of keeping my data distributed to all my machines.
Fortunately this morning I was able to find a workaround thanks to Google that showed me a way to allow me to sync my iPhone to any computer that I own. The way it should be. It works great and was surprisingly simple – but still shouldn’t be something I should have to “think up” in order to make use of the devices that I own.
However, I now need to double back to the idea of the movies I have on my server. I use the same settings to rip all my movies. I do it for consistency and quality. The rub is that I don’t understand why some movies will not transfer to the iPhone. I don’t understand why the exact same rip of two different movies, with the same settings will result in one movie that transfers as it should and one that doesn’t. It makes zero sense. C’mon MPAA get it together. If I own the damn thing I should be able to watch it when and where I’d like. Just as I can with music. I should get to do this without having to jump thru hoops.
Speaking of jumping, I need to jump into the rest of my day, got a lot of music to go create.
The idea of gaining control over your life can sometimes be like getting blood from a stone. We all know it ain’t easy. What a funny saying right? Well, Nicholas Howard has summed up the idea of squeezing blood from a stone in his song Blood From a Stone. Though I have to say that the intro made me think of an old Elton John song and I half expected the melody riff of that song to start playing at any moment during a very long intro.
There’s a very 70’s vibe about Nicholas. He also has a similar voice to Adam Levine. I’m sure he gets that comparison a lot. there’s another singer that works with a drummer friend of mine who also has a very similar voice as well – Rhett Frazier. I don’t know if Nicholas refers to himself in 3rd person like Rhett does, but I do like his vibe.
This song certainly has a lot of turns in it. Changing up towards the end into more of a Gospel type of thing. I almost wonder if that could have been a cool intro the wind down into the song with. Who knows.
Either way it’s a cool tune for a slightly more somber feel. Good for when you’re feeling a bit down and need a consolation song to help ya thru it.
Go get it now!