transmothra - signs of the collapse

Originally published at jeremyjarratt.com. You can comment here or there.

Recently, a friend asked me (me: the master of all things electronical) for some recommendations for downloading free music legally. Although i was hard pressed to name any legit source of free major label music, i have enough links to some really amazing sites that feature and host very good free music. Much of it is licensed under various Creative Commons licenses, and most is both free (as in beer) and free (as in free speech). As always, read the fine print for exact details for each site and every download. Additionally, check your local laws if you’re unsure about the license (personally, i have not found any gray areas here, since most of the music is either offered by the artists themselves as free, or is licensed freely, or is in some cases even public domain).

Since many of these are blogs, i highly recommend getting to know RSS feeds, and adding their feeds to your favorite feed reader. If you have no favorite feed reader, Google Reader is a great place to start.

So, without further ado, here are my top picks for really cool free, legal mp3 sites, in no particular order…

Amazon.com

Here are some free albums and some cheap albums. A whole lot of really good free stuff. At the top right you can select “Price: low to high” to get all the free stuff listed first, but the default setting is “bestselling, so that one shows the most popular free stuff, mixed in with some good cheap deals too. You can also go to single songs, too, and browse the links on the right by price and genre, etc.

Archive.org’s free music and netlabels categories

I could spend days without sleep sifting through some of these really amazing collections. You can drill down by keyword and genre and popularity. Very little big-name artists, but some serious gems (also a lot of duds, too, but if you look at the download counters you can tell which ones are liked – or at least downloaded – the most).

BlocSonic

This netlabel has tons of free samplers and whole albums by nobody you’ve heard before but every minute is really good, and they have an excellent mix of genres. I guess you could call them a metalabel, since their compilations frequently feature artists on other netlabels. One of the best free music sources around.

Note: these next two exemplary sites, despite my egregious lack of better-apt descriptions, are among my very favorite resources, not only for the wonderful personal touch you can find, but also for the incredible variety and sheer scope of their blogs and the insight gleaned from reading their notes on each feature, which are like meta-liner notes. These are both, as they say, earnest labors of love for their respective curators. As i’ve noted in a comment below, the best possible thing to do in lieu of giving you a lengthy and drooling description, is to implore you to go and dig deeply and feel the fresh cool sand between your fingers, and linger, and wonder at how new and interesting things can truly be when experienced with fullness and vigor. And maybe leave a note of thanks whenever you see something really cool that you enjoyed.

Free Albums Galore

This site frequently features avant-jazz and minimalist techno, but you can also find some fantastic alternative, pop, rock, folk, et cetera. Another great resource.

Catching the Waves

Another great free music source. See Free Albums Galore above. Same thing applies here.

Bandcamp

Bandcamp has tons of music from indie bands. Some free, some not. It’s fun to sift through, and you can find some real cool stuff here, sometimes even some up-and-coming bands that are just beginning to fly above the radar. Try this link for free stuff. I don’t use bandcamp that often, since i’m usually directed there by one of the other sites above.

The Peppermill

I have not heard anything from this label that i didn’t fall in love with immediately. TRUST ME ON THIS ONE. And try The Box: I cannot tell you anything about this record, except that it is freaky and weird and quirky, and yes, you DO recognize that tune.

I would be not only remiss, but probably also shamed before my peers, and quite possibly also drawn and quartered, if i didn’t point you to

Phlow

…who have awesome compilations and records, covering all kinds of genres, though a lot of it is maybe more techno and hip-hop and trip-hop oriented. Their massive year-end best-of mixes last year were pretty amazing.

Free Music Archive

Possibly the granddaddy of all free music sites, the FMA is a project of WFMU, “the most renowned freeform radio station in America”. They feature music of all kinds. This is one amazing resource that is just as much fun to sift through as it is to listen through.

Lastly, here’s one i just found out about:

Thomas’ Posterous

Having no experience with this one, all i can say is that it comes highly recommended from Catching the Waves.

Other great sites, archives, and blogs to check out

Oddio Overplay
The Silent Ballet
Netlabel Index
largehearted boy: daily downloads
RedFerret’s wikidump
3hive
FreeIndie
WFMU’s Beware of the Blog:mp3s
Netlabels Noises
Ektoplazm: free music portal
FrostClick:Audio
Jamendo (the King of free music sites)

Lastly (ok, really lastly), here’s my Google Reader bundle: Free Music et cetera (OPML)

Happy sifting!!

Originally published at jeremyjarratt.com. Please leave any comments there.

Here’s a list of some cool and useful stuff i’ve compiled for Holly’s brother. I thought i’d share it here.

You never have to worry about spyware, adware, viruses, trojans, worms, or other malware, because i’ve already used this stuff, plus i only use apps and sites that are already well-known to be pretty friggin’ excellent. Every one of these sites and apps come with a solid reputation.

All of this stuff is 100% free, except for a few that you can optionally pay for, like Reaper (audio recording). Naturally, i do not recommend downloading pirated software or media content.

Awesome free stuff you have to have, or at least need to know about:

System utilities and just plain excellent basics

• CCleaner
  • http://www.ccleaner.com/
  • Formerly known as Crap Cleaner, this thing wipes out a great deal of the bad stuff that gets into your system
• AVG antivirus
  • http://free.avg.com/
  • free antivirus, one of the best (much better than McAfee or Symantec or the paid ones)
• Avast antivirus
  • http://www.avast.com/
  • also free, also one of the best (also much better than the paid AV apps)
• OpenOffice
  • http://www.openoffice.org/
  • free, open source replacement for MS Office. Includes everything you need!
• Spybot S&D
  • http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
  • Wicked awesome anti-malware
• Firefox, Opera, Chrome
  • Because Internet Exploder just plain sucks and is not secure, try one of these awesome browsers:
  • http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
    • My favorite, you can download every useful plugin imaginable for it. Would you like it to do something different, or look different? No problem.
      • Visit http://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox for anything you could ever need it to do.
  • http://www.opera.com/
  • http://www.google.com/chrome

Cool, useful stuff for your desktop

• Rocketdock (desktop dock)
  • http://rocketdock.com/
  • Clean your desktop by putting everything in a fancy-schmancy dock. Lots of cool goodies for it!
• Rainmeter (system monitor)
  • http://www.ipi.fi/~rainy/legacy.html
  • Able to display all kinds of system stats.
  • See also: http://customize.org/transmothra/gallery - i made a config for it.
    • Fits on screens 1440 pixels wide but can be modified.
    • You might have to go into display properties to crank up your display resolution.
• Stickies (post-it notes)
  • http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/
  • Like having Post-It notes for your desktop. Even comes with an alarm/timer. You can save, send, and share too.

Audio, video, media

• Audacity (audio)
  • http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
  • Great for recording audio, also has some cool plugins for editing/warping sound.
• Reaper (audio)
  • http://www.cockos.com/reaper/
  • Like having ProTools, only better. Trent Reznor uses it.
• foobar2000 (music)
  • http://www.foobar2000.org/
  • Great music player, and lightweight.
• VLC (media player)
  • http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
  • Great video player. Looks daunting, but all you have to do is play video or audio files. It’s one of the few that can open almost any file type. Can also convert, stream, save, etc.
• GIMP (images)
  • http://www.gimp.org/
  • Like Photoshop, but a little scarier-looking. A couple of hours playing with it and you’ll get the hang of it. Powerful.
• Irfanview (images)
  • http://www.irfanview.com/
  • Great, fast image viewer. Can also edit, make icons, convert, batch process, etc., etc., etc.
• DVDFlick (DVD authoring)
  • http://www.dvdflick.net/
  • Put your legally questionable downloaded movies on DVD with menus and everything! Not the best, but really easy to use.
• uTorrent (downloading)
  • http://www.utorrent.com/
  • Download anything you want with this.
  • Best sites for searching are:
    • http://www.mininova.org/
    • http://btjunkie.org/
    • Obviously, use at your own risk. Read comments, look at details, and install anti-malware apps first. BTjunkie even has icons for # of ‘good/bad’ reports per torrent, so make sure to check them out.
      • You can use Peer Guardian to hide your IP address while you’re downloading legally questionable content. Not perfect, but better than nothing.
        • http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/
• TVersity (media center)
  • http://tversity.com/
  • Like Windows Media Center, but free and better. Download podcasts and videocasts and share your video across your home network.
  • If you have an Xbox or some other device for your TV, you can even watch your hard-drive movies/music/photos on TV. Super awesome.

Web sites that you will presently become completely, slobber-mouth addicted to, because they are awesome and will make you WIN.

• Google Calendar
  • http://www.google.com/calendar/
  • You can even remind yourself of appointments via email or SMS to your mobile phone! You can also share calendar events and add other people’s events to yours.
• Lifehacker
  • http://lifehacker.com/
  • Learn how to make life easier, cooler, better, and awesomer. Comes in many flavors, from real-world DIY projects to digital shortcuts
  • I really cannot say enough good about this site. Some of the best tips, tricks, and suggestions i’ve ever found for all areas of life, both digital and in meatspace.
  • Seriously. Wicked awesome.
    • See also: Instructables (my favorite Instructable ever: How to perfectly fold T-shirts in seconds)
• Facebook
  • http://facebook.com/
  • Find old friends. Avoid others. Lots of dumb widgets, and you can “poke” people until their brains bleed. Annoying, but awesome too.
• Picasa
  • http://picaseweb.google.com/
  • Share photos, sync online with folders, etc.
• Flickr
  • http://flickr.com/
  • Photo sharing
• Gmail
  • http://mail.google.com/
  • Best email app ever.
• Google Reader
  • http://www.google.com/reader/
  • Keep up with news, blogs, or anything with an RSS feed with this. Addictive and awesome.
• Twitter
  • http://twitter.com/
  • Like a micro-sized blog. Send “tweets” from your cell phone or via web.
• Wordpress
  • http://wordpress.com/
  • Actual blogging. Best platform there is. Very customizable.
• Indeed
  • http://indeed.com/
  • Job search
• LinkedIn
  • http://linkedin.com/
  • social networking, career-oriented.
• Craigslist
  • http://craigslist.com/
  • Pretty much everything. Ugly but made out of 100% pure WIN!
• BoingBoing
  • http://boingboing.net/
  • “A directory of wonderful things” - weird, cool stuff, plus news you might not hear about elsewhere.
• Digg
  • http://digg.com/
  • Social news site. Most popular submitted stories rise to the top. Addictive, interesting, and easy.
• last.fm
  • http://last.fm/
  • Social networking, music-style. Also download their desktop player. With that you can play music tagged with descriptive keywords. For fun, try typing in “unlistenable.”

If you’re ever looking for killer software (or a web site) that does ‘X, Y, and/or Z,’ just let me know and i’ll point you to something good, safe, fun, and useful.

My username is “transmothra” on most sites - if you run into me online be sure to say hello!

Originally published at jeremyjarratt.com. You can comment here or there.

Harkening back to the legendary days of old, i present to you… MTVMusic.com

Originally published at jeremyjarratt.com. You can comment here or there.

Here’s a funny card i sent to my good friend Greg earlier today. I think it’s a minor fucking masterpiece.

Thought about you while on the toilet today, directly after touching myself in an inappropriate and medically questionable manner, and right before i scrambled downstairs to find those pills that i take to help me forget that i am secretly a raging homosexual. Forgetting my prior enterprise, i neglected to wipe and left a warm, gooey trail all the way down the hall, which will henceforward always remind me fondly of you, and your inadvisably unaltered face.

Have decided i’m going to dedicate my life to Jesus. Do you know him? He’s that Mexican guy who lives at the end of my block. I just found out that he was the one who “stole my innocence,” back in my prison days. That’s a euphemism for fist-raping me in the man-twat while wearing rawhide work gloves and strangling me erotically with a bicycle chain his sister sneaked in for him.

Anyway, wishing you a happy whatever-it-is that you people celebrate today. Oh, wait, i forgot - you’re white. In that case, just have a regular, mediocre day. I’m sure you’re used to having nothing much to look forward to by now. Remember, the Bible says that the meek will inherit the Earth, and that the Bible has been all but proven to be completely full of lies. So don’t get your hopes up, lest they be pointlessly dashed against the rocks like so many empty-headed salmon. Fortunately for you, the inevitable Heat Death of the Universe will ultimately render us both paradoxically equals. So you have that going for you anyway.

I sincerely hope your cries for help do not remain unheeded for much longer, especially seeing as i’ve placed a rather large wager that you’ll survive until at least the end of the year. I do try to keep up with whether or not you’ve died; in the future (once my foolish but potentially lucrative bet has paid off), i’ll try to take a more active role in this regard.

See you at the comic book store with all the other clammy, pale losers and underwear-fetishists.

With greatest vague ambivalence or something,
your well-heeled, superior-bred Estonian advocate,
jeremy

p.s., oh, and give my best to M, and keep whatever’s left over for yourself. I think you deserve it, even if no-one else does.

Originally published at jeremyjarratt.com. You can comment here or there.

Want an argument for accessibility?

Here you go! (via Ma.tt)

Uber-cool Glenda Watson Hyatt, aka the Left Thumb Blogger, shares her perspective on how WordPress has improved her ability to communicate effectively on the internets.

Whether you are 100% able-bodied or not, accessibility is important. Because no matter who you are, the future is coming. Some day many of us may have devices assisting us, whether we need them or not, and completely removing all barriers between humans and machines will be an important first step in enabling us to proliferate on the digital grid - on a truly level playing field.

I’ve committed to making my upcoming theme be as accessible as possible. You should too, especially if you want to meet the Future head-on. Keeping all variants of humanity and machinery in mind when designing user interfaces of any kind will be important there.