2003.11.16 tidbits:
i was kind of surprised to receive an email the other day from MP3.com stating that, since they'd just been purchased by CNET Networks, Inc., they'd be shutting down their service on Dec. 2nd. now, it'll be replaced by a new service of some kind, though what that entails remains to be seen.
the reason this surprises and shocks me is because it seems that so many independent artists used MP3.com as their primary "website", or at least as a hosting server/controller for their online MP3 tracks. from what i can tell from the email, none of the existing information will be transferred to the new mp3.com, forcing thousands and thousands of artists to completely re-create their web presences and to track down and ensure that anyone linking to their former mp3.com pages updates to the new links.
my first thought when i read the email was "whoa, it's going to be a firestorm!" subsequent searches for info indicate that the storm hasn't been as big as i thought so far, but it's only been a couple days. we'll see what happens.
sticking to the music theme, WinAmp 5 has slithered out of the dark hole of the pseudo-public beta (AOL users only) with beta version 2. WinAmp 5 is small and resource conservative like WinAmp 2.x was, but incorporates some of the better features of the (largely) failed WinAmp 3. unfortunately, one of the things 5 has dropped is the WinAmp 3 plugin APIs, so i've had to switch back to DoSomething as my plugin of choice for the "MP3 of the moment" feature that closes the most recent post (and which is also viewable in the "remote" webcam windows).
finally, you might remember me mentioning way way back when about the SyncIT utility i'd found. it was and always remained the single most awesome tool i've yet used on a computer. it fulfills its purpose without compromise or extra unnecessary crap. well, unfortunately, this tool also ended up switching from being a freeware thing to a subscription based thing, and i was just kind of morally opposed to it. especially considering that when they started charging for it, they'd not updated the client in over a year. so, i had to quit using this awesome piece of software. well, now, as it turns out, after struggling with their economic model and hardware problems for a while, they've decided to release it into the wild world of open source. the new bookmarksync project has updated the client and the server software, and is providing a version that can be run on php/mysql setups. i managed to get it set up on x13design.com in about 30 minutes, and am now, once again, quite a happy camper. a happy camper with impeccably synch'ed bookmarks.