Emu [sic]

DRM is bad. The term DRM (digital rights management) refers to access control and copy protection technologies that make it difficult or impossible to make legal copies of digital media. Of course, it's legal (in the US) for you to make copies of music or movies that you own for your personal use; that means it's perfectly fine to convert your LPs to MP3s and put them onto CDs (or MP3 players). DRM gets in the way. Most of the songs that you download from online music stores like iTunes have DRM technology that prevents you from making legal copies of the music you've bought, a right to which you are legally entitled.

Enter eMusic, the #2 online music retailer. eMusic sells high-quality MP3s without DRM. Of course, the major labels don't like it, but in spite of that, the site has thrived, selling music from independent labels. And just because it's not on one of the Big Four record labels doesn't mean that you won't like it. Some of your favorite artists might have albums on eMusic, and the genres are in no way limited to what you'd consider "indie music." I don't know how I got into all of this, but it probably happened the other day when I suddenly decided not to like such dumb music and maybe discover other things.

I asked my friend Luke if he knew anything about eMusic, and it turns out he's a subscriber who can't get enough of their selection of jam bands. There's something for everyone. So I'm ready to sign up for the free trial, and therein lies the rub. You need a credit or debit card to sign up so they know what to charge if you don't cancel before the free trial ends. Since certain people aren't being cooperative, all I have to go by is my debit card that I don't have yet for my new bank account that has no money in it. So it looks like I'm going to have to wait, but I hope it'll be worth it.

I was browsing through some old photos when I found these photos of gas station signs, taken around Pompano Beach, Florida, on Sunday, May 4, 2003. Check out those prices.

Only four years later, prices have broken $3. Another great reason not to have a car.

I got an e-mail the other day from the creator of a new site called We101, which indexes blogs by city (USA only). I decided to add my site to the listing, and I encourage others to do the same. (Most major cities in the US are listed; mine wasn't, so I chose the city closest to me.) There aren't many sites there yet, but it could quickly grow into something useful.

Old Vinyl is a blog that features MP3s and cover art from hopefully out-of-print LPs. There's probably nothing you'd want, but they're interesting to look through.