Tag Archives: RIP

Christmas Playlists

Posted on by Standard 1

Despite Halloween and Thanksgiving being more my favorite… I do enjoy Christmas & Christmas music, both traditional and decidedly not-so.

I resisted streaming for a long time, in favor of just popping mp3’s on to a thumb drive & listening in the car/truck. I’m still in a lot of remote areas, and I think I clung to a desktop setup for a while longer than the rest of the world.

Someday, someday, I will rip all my CD’s, corral all of my purchased mp3’s or FLAC files, & pop the stuff on some kind of server so I can call it up at will.

I use Spotify occasionally. I would use it more, but I refuse to pay for a premium account, and sometimes I swear songs vs. commercials are 1:1 if not 1:3. I refuse to pay for Spotify premium account because we have whatever all-encompassing Amazon plan gives you Prime and Amazon Music.

I’m still building my Amazon playlists… I may pay for one to move to Spotify lists over. Maybe. I’d rather just by records, CD’s, & downloads directly from artists.

I haven’t dipped into YouTube Music yet. I think I have 2 or 3 Pandora accounts, but they’re just frustrating these days when you can actively pick a song with other services.

I just reached out on a couple of FB forums asking for suggestions, and I’m still pouring through, but these are my playlists across different platforms…

I ‘m still adding/shuffling on the Amazon lists and they’re good for all-day playing. I might have to make one narrowed-down with my absolute favorites.

So, what’s on your Christmas playlist? Any glaring omissions? Any you love or hate with a passion? Tell me about your holiday music in the comments. Am I missing any good Festivus or Hanukkah songs?

AI Generated punk rock Christmas art.

Let’s start some #AxlRumors:

Posted on by Standard 4

So, Axl is everywhere in the rock media world again and 15 year old me reads every stupid article like those it’s those goofy gossip columns in Rip or Metal Edge that used to be one sentence stories with bold rock star names jammed into one long nonsensical paragraph. Β I’m actually excited to maybe try & see whatever version of Guns N’ Roses eventually ends up in Pittsburgh (if it makes it that long).

#AxlRumors

#AxlRumors

I even made a parody news article with my last post that fell super flat with no reads or comments. Β Oh well, my bad.

I know I broke the one rule of blogging by never having regular steady content any more, but work with me here.Β  I want some interaction. Β Maybe no one cares. Β I guess we’ll see.

Let’s start some Axl Rose rumors.Β  Use the hashtag #AxlRumors on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or newer cooler social media platforms that I am wholly unaware of but still use hashtags.

You can post the url to your rumor(s) here in the comments, and we’ll see if it gets beyond this little corner of the internet, and if anyone finds their way back here.

Kapish?

I’ll start:

Now you.

⚠ Go! ⚠

(Don’t forget the #AxlRumors hashtag!)

More questions on digitizing my music collection…

Posted on by Standard 7

So my last blog post on the subject got some great input, but now I must raise some more specific questions.

  • “The” – So, what do you do about the word “the”?Β  Say a band like the Misfits… Do you tag them Misfits, or The Misfits?Β  The Ramones?Β  The The?Β  Name the file without the “the”, keep the “the” inside the ID3 tag?Β  In the stuff I have currently, it’s mix & match.
  • Alternate Spellings?Β  – The first band that comes to mind is $parechange? a.k.a. Sparechange00.Β  You may have never heard of them.Β  (Am I a hipster for that remark?)Β  I have them on a few compilations and I have 2 of their albums.Β  Different spelling. Same name. Same Band.Β  Do I tag them all the way it appears on the album, then move them all to the same artist folder?Β  I’m not sure if this will pop up with other bands, but it might!
  • Volume – How do you regulate volume?Β  I have used MP3 Gain with varying results.Β  They recommend a volume that’s lower than most commercially produced mp3’s.Β  I’d like all the stuff to be somewhat level.
  • Hidden Tracks – Do you split/name them as separate files if they share one track?Β  I plan to.Β  No doubt.Β  I just dunno if I want to number then the next number like 13 if it’s the 13th song… or 12-1 & 12-2.Β  Decisions, decisions.
  • Tags? – Not ID3 tags, but is there any player out there with a way to tag a song with attributes… Say I have live songs, bootlegs, and acoustic or unplugged as tags.Β  Say I want to hear live stuff, but not bootleg quality live stuff, or unplugged live stuff… or only bootleg stuff, including live & studio stuff.Β  I’d like to be able to play via tags… because (to me anyway) one song could fall into multiple genres.
  • Strays – Dump ’em all in one folder?Β  Bother tagging them correctly?
  • Various Artists – I have a ton of compilation albums (especially punk comps) & a good amount of soundtracks.Β  Do you let your burning ripping program make folders for each artist with the album in it, or do you put all the tracks into one folder with the artist in the file name somewhere?Β  I generally like to keep them all together, but I can see the benefits of breaking out per artist.

Any more tips/tricks advice on organizing, ripping, tagging, & playing your digital music.Β  I have mp3 folders now that are somewhat organized… but I have a vast quantity of stray chaos that I need to get in order when I put everything all in the same place.

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Moving my CD’s to a full-out digitial collection. It is time.

Posted on by Standard 20

I need to step into the 00s.Β  I know it’s already the 10s, but I’m obviously already behind.Β  Yesterday I filled 4 giant under-bed storage containers (& one little one) with CD’s.Β  I need to rip this veritable mountain of plastic to a more easily & instantly accessible medium.

Enrico Caruso with a "Victrola" bran...

Where is the USB port on this thing...?

I also have a pile of vinyl that I believe I’m set up to rip… I just have to plug everything together.Β  Maybe after that, I’ll do my the last few of my cassette tapes.

For the younger readers:

Any advice?

First one to say iTunes gets a stinkpalm.Β  I don’t like programs that “take over” and are meant for people who don’t know what they’re doing.Β  I also dislike anything that asks me to “synch” anything.Β  NO.Β  I DO NOT WANT TO SYNCH ANYTHING.

I have a Google Music account that’s awesome, I might use it to store a bunch of the stuff I like to listen to.Β  Google has aΒ 20,000 song limit.Β  I’m over that, no doubt.

I’ll most likely keep the CD’s so I have something to listen to when the grid crashes.

Winamp 1

WinAmp (Old School)

I will most likely use CDex and Mp3Tag to get everything in order.Β  I have experience with them and like them.Β  They’re free.Β  I also like WinAmp as a player.Β  Yes, I still like WinAmp.

I’ll probably need a 1TB (or bigger) external hard drive.Β  Where can I get an inexpensive yet reliable one?Β  My usual spots are TigerDirect or NewEgg.Β  Is there somewhere else I should try?

The compact disc

There are 1s and 0s on here? I don't see any.

It will make accessing the music any time I want much easier.Β  I’ll be able to control the genres & tags, add artwork, and if I get crazy I can hook up something so I can play all of my stuff from any computer in the house.Β  I also have an FM transmitter somewhere so I can further destroy the sound quality broadcast to any & all radios in the house.

Re-buying probably isn’t an option for at least a quarter if not half of my collection.Β  I have a lot of local D.I.Y. stuff and stuff from touring bands that I’ve never heard from again.Β  Also; I’m cheap.Β  I bought it once.Β  I’m not buying it again.Β  I think I’ve bought Appetite for Destruction at least 6 times.Β  Two cassettes, 3 CD’s, & a vinyl.Β  Does Axl really need another dollar out of me?

I’d try a service like Ripshark, but why if I can do it myself?Β  Also; I’m cheap.

Sadly, my Insignia can’t handle any SDHC cards over 4GB, and it freaks out once you hit over 2000 songs.Β  Maybe I can put a backup drive in my car & hook it to my stereo, to play my entire music catalog at will?Β  I’m getting ahead of myself.

Have you done this yourself?Β  Are you thinking it’s time to do this too?Β  Do they make a 2TB iPod yet?Β  Should I go with mp3‘s or rip to something else?Β  AAC? FLAC?

So many options.Β  I suppose I’ll finish the entire project some time in 2015.Β  I’ll still be quicker than PennDOT.Β  If the world ends before I finish this, I’m going to be really upset.

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Functionless art is simply tolerated vandalism. We are the vandals.

Posted on by Standard 4

Peter Steele Well, if reports are true this time, Peter Steele is Dead. Type O Negative keyboard player Josh Silver has confirmed andΒ  Blabbermouth.net are all over it.

Joel Gausten has a pretty good story to share, among many others.

I got into Type O negative around the time of Bloody Kisses, and really enjoy all of their stuff.

My favorite things about Type O Negative is the humor.Β  Yeah, they were dark, slow, scary, goth, depressing… but they knew how to laugh at that.

The After Dark video is probably one of the funniest music related movies that I’ve ever seen.Β  I wish more bands were able to poke fun at themselves, the image, and the scene seamlessly and with such success.

In fact, I’m going to have to look for that on DVD or something, as I have no idea where my VHS is right now.

Hopefully Dimebag Darrell & Peter Steele are throwing trays of food from the green room at each other right now wherever they are.Β  Or maybe they’re throwing them at Jimi Hendrix, Joey Ramone, & Elvis.