Price per musical gigabyte

I thought it would be interesting to look at the cost per gigabyte for the Apple iPod over the past couple of years. Of course there's a lot more to the iPod and its price than just raw disks or chips, but storage is probably the largest single determinant of the marginal cost. This makes it pretty apparent how much of a bargain the nano is compared to the shuffle. I can't wait to see where the nano will be a year from now.

[Sources: engadget.com & apple.com. Cost per gigabyte for multiple models within the same family on the same date are averaged.]

Six Degrees Radio (TM)

A few weeks ago, I had what I thought was a great idea (well, I'd love it, and that's all that counts in this era of personalized media) for a new radio station format. Along the lines of Six Degrees of Separation, each song must relate to the previous song in some direct way (e.g., artist, song title, shared band member, cover, or songs from the same soundtrack). I'm a big fan of covers, duets, and other alternate versions of songs, and this format would mix a lot of that in (not to mention that it would be "Two For Tuesday" every day). The rules should be made clear to the listeners, and contests could even be held where the audience can guess the connection. Getting busted on lame seques could be another avenue for audience involvement.

An example playlist snippet:

"Calling All Angels" - Jane Siberry with k.d. Lang
"Until The End of The World" - U2
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" - Paul McCartney & U2
"Across The Universe" - Fiona Apple
"Father and Son" - Johnny Cash and Fiona Apple
"Hurt" - Johnny Cash
"Dead Souls" - Nine Inch Nails
"Burn" - The Cure
"Cities in Dust" - Siouxsie and the Banshees
"Don't Go To Sleep Without Me" - The Creatures
"Movement of Fear" - Tones on Tail
"Ziggy Stardust" - Bauhaus
"Starman" - Dar Williams
"The One Who Knows" - Dar Williams & Alison Krauss

And from there, the possibilities are (nearly) endless. You get the idea. But, I do need some suggestions for how to link to Radiohead, besides just their cover of "Wish You Were Here"...

AM, FM, XM, Sirius, Podcast, it doesn't matter. It's not the medium, it's the messsage. Sorry, Marshall.

P.S. "Six Degrees Radio" is a Trademark of Local Maxima.

"Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it"

Call it nostalgia. Call it an obsession. Whatever. I like the 1986 movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

I've been trying to compile a soundtrack for the movie and it's a somewhat challenging task. Not that they're all great songs, but I want a complete set, with alternate versions. There never was a commercially-realeased soundtrack for the movie, but I have seen custom versions for sale.

I had a couple of the songs already:

* Dream Academy / The Edge of Forever [CD album version]
* Yello / Oh Yeah [12" vinyl single with additional Dance Mix and Indian Summer Music mix]

Several songs were available on the Apple iTunes Music Store:

* Big Audio Dynamite / BAD
* Wayne Newton / Danke Shoen
* Zapp / Radio People
* John Williams / Star Wars (Main Title)

Two songs I obtained through eBay from separate sellers in England:

* Sigue Sigue Sputnik / Love Missile F1-11 [12" vinyl single]
* The [English] Beat / March of the Swivelheads [B-side of the 12" vinyl single "Jeanette"]

The Sigue Sigue Sputnik tune in the movie appears to be a mix edited specifically for the movie (it may not be available commercially anywhere), but the 12" vinyl single has the Dance Mix and the Extended Version (as well as a derivative song, "Hack Attack"). The Extended Version, by the way, has samples from another one of my favorite movies, Blade Runner. The non-instrumental version of March of the Swivelheads is called Rotating Head and is on the album Special Beat Service.

Others songs I found on various CD albums and compilations:

* The Dream Academy / Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
* General Public / Taking The Day Off [I pulled this one from the Classic Masters CD (2002)]
* The Beatles / Twist And Shout [available on the Please Please Me album]

Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want is a cover of a song originally (and better, in my opinion) done by The Smiths. One source indicates that the movie version is an instrumental, and I finally got a copy on vinyl, on the Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want 12" single. There is a non-instrumental version by The Dream Academy on an '80s compilation CD, Sedated In The Eighties No. 4 (1995). The version by The Smiths is available on their Best ... I (1992) album.

There are two songs that are very hard to come by:

* Ben Watkins & Adam Peters [The Flowerpot Men] / Beat City [Fireball Records]
* Blue Room / I'm Afraid [Written by David Joyner & Paul Mansfield]

If you know where to find any related songs, you know where to find me.

"You're still here? It's over. Go home. Go."

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Welcome to Local Maxima.

Sometimes it's better to say nothing at all.

Barbara Bush came out of retirement for this?