Kim Wilson Blog

It may be a crazy download world, but buyers still need to be diligent and know what it is they are buying. Last week, I wrote about all the various mainstream services selling music downloads. Competition is fierce, and the latest fallout is the Yahoo! Music Online Store, which will discontinue operations on September 30.

There was a time if you didn't tape (or TiVo) your favorite TV shows, you would have to wait for the re-runs or even syndication to catch that episode you missed. Today, there's an abundance of free websites providing recent and older episodes of your favorite TV shows. Some of these sites offer movies, but most are older flicks. So, pull up a chair and your laptop to check out some TV…on the Internet.

Since the introduction of my blog last week, I've received a good deal of information from a variety of sources, both personal and professional, that I want to share with you. The swift response is just an indication of the interest in this topic.

I've always been a big fan of Peter Gabriel, so I was intrigued when I heard about a new music service he co-founded called <A HREF "http://www.we7.com">We7.com</A>. The site allows members to listen to songs and albums in their entirety for free. They can create a playlist to share with friends and colleagues. If you like the song well enough, then you can buy and download it.

If you are at all familiar with "audiophile music," then you've heard of Chesky Records, which was founded by David and Norman Chesky all the way back in the last century. Their philosophy was to capture the spaciousness of "live music" in their recordings. If you want to know more about their history, go to <A HREF="http://www.chesky.com/core/body_about.cfm
">Chesky Records</A>, which is still alive and well.

I'm currently in Brazil and had the opportunity to attend a HiFi show in So Paulo. It was incredibly small, at least by comparison to the shows I attend in the US. However, it did provide some insight as to what products are being introduced into the Brazilian market and how they compare to the North American equivalents.

Maybe you already know what a mashup is and even if you don't know the proper terminology, you've definitely heard one. A mashup is one or more songs mixed together to create an entirely new song. Technically, these new tracks are bootlegs, as they are not authorized remixes by the artist or sanctioned by the record labels. That said there are hundreds, if not thousands, of these unique hybrid tunes out there.