Podcasts down the drain

Do you know podcasts? Yeap, they are these radio-show-like audio clips that you can find via iTunes or within their author's website and listen at your ease. The thing is that these things still can not get off the ground. No one likes them, only one person in eight has even given them a try? So, why bother? Read this article on probably one of the greatest computer industry failures ever.

Albumart

Albumart is a cd cover search engine. You type the artist name and you get cover results. Useful for when you have ripped your cd's through Windows Media Player, iTunes or WinAmp and you cannot seem to find the cd cover [do not forget that these programs' cd cover finding feature is not perfect].

Musicovery [90/100]

Yet another internet radio [I see it coming... in the end we will end up as the best source for internet radios]! BTW I have added one extra label for all those radio reviews.

Its name is Musicovery and what is new is that you do not specify an artist or a music genre of your preference but your mood! You choose whether you would like to listen to something happy, dark or otherwise and the playlist changes accordingly. And if you cannot bear some kind of music you can always exclude it or, in the other hand specify one or two genres and combine them with the mood you are in.

Blogmusik [92/100]

Blogmusik claims to be a virtual ipod to you. It works pretty much the same as all customisable internet radios. You enter an artist and it is supposed to give you suggestions. But!!! Here, the program returns suggestions by the very artist you searched for!

Plus, it has an iPod like interface. Give it a try by clicking here.

Windows Media Player 11: a must have [90/100]

I must say that I always loathed Microsoft Windows Media Players. Since Windows 98 with its greyish windows-styled appearance until recently in release 10.

It was always changing drastically [if not completely] from release to release and never user-friendly enough so as to prefer it over, say, Winamp. Let alone the fact that should Microsoft incorporate some really useful and facilitating to the use of the software feature, that was removed on the very next release!

However, with Windows Media Player 11 the above do not hold true. It is the very first time I actually not only use it, but use it as my main media player!!! A really lightweight application with an intuitive and beautiful interface plus the best, handiest and most functional library seen on media software to date.

The one feature I did not like is the home page of Windows Media having been removed but in any case I had never personally used this one.

Pandora Internet Radio [77/100]

Blogging around lately I checked out a link by a lady's blog's links, reading "The Best Internet Radio". The only thing I can tell you is that it is indeed the best. I have tried several of them [not to say all of them] since their very first days back in 1999 and all I can say is give it a try.

What I especially like is the really great automatic personalization and the really cool feature of mix stations, i.e. you can create as many stations as you like and choose some of them and listen at a mix of their songs.

Mentioning should go as well to the exceptional sound quality which comes to your PC without all the "What's your connection speed?" hassle.

Yet, I think that their gizmos for connecting Pandora to your home stereo selling for $249 is not a great idea.

On the downside, there is the common found limitation of track skipping [not more that 7 per hour] but you can always switch to another station of yours or create a new one and bypass it.

Also note that [at least for now] variety is limited compared to, say, Yahoo! Radio.

Helena Paparizou "The Game of Love" [95/100]

I really think that everyone should check out Helena Paparizou's new album "The Game of Love".

In my humble opinion, it is one of the most professionally crafted Greece-related music products. And I really mean this. Even the accent is 99% US sounding [although the album is clearly Europe-oriented!]. Sorry for the 1% but in some words the Greek accent drops by.


As for the compositions, they are very easy going and within the current music trends [listen for example to "Somebody's Burning"]. Helena's voice is exceptional which is more than obvious on "Teardrops", "Gigolo" and "The Game of Love". Those of you who remember the 80's will recognize a Taylor Dayne tone in the more western styled songs.

Above all, give an ear [or two or three or four or...] to "Carpe Diem [Seize The Day]". I firmly believe that we are in front of a massive superhit. Hopefully, with the right support from the label...

We should also not forget to mention the high quality art design of the album booklet as well which was a very pleasant surprise.