1st Piano

By Davion Wong iPhone owners are getting excited about loading their new gizmos with iPhone music downloads. After all, the phone-cum-digital portable media player can store up to 100 songs easily and allow a playtime of up to 24 hours of audio. This article will show you 7 hot tips to find the top service befitting of your new toy when it comes to iPhone music downloads. 1. Free or Paid Freebie seekers probably would argue with me on this. There is nothing wrong with wanting free iPhone music downloads. Who doesn't anyway? But the trouble is that free websites that give you music for free are often associated with exposure to viruses, spyware and adware when downloading media files there. Our phones are too new and precious and to risk exposing them to these harmful elements is a No No. How about downloading each iPhone song for $0.99 or more at online music services like HMV, iTunes and so on? People wouldn't mind if it is only one or two song. But if we are

Independent music has been a driving force during the development of MySpace, and now the social network has ignored its core when it launched the new MySpace Music. The new deal with Amazon.com makes them a new competitor against iTunes and Napster. After signing a deal with the 4 major labels (Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, EMI Music, and Warner Music Group, Inc.) MySpace and its business partners could benefit from the indie artists, but will they return the benefits? You can always say that yes, an indie artist being featured next to a signed artist could help their exposure. But does the artist gain the same amount of benefits as the major label? 1. The independent artist doesn't see a fixed amount of money coming in from the on-site advertising deals that MySpace creates, because of MySpace Music. 2. The indie artist has to count on, whoever checks out their page, actually listens to their music, instead of it being forced into their ear

I think that some toy manufactures some times forget that the parents and grandparents of children also have to listen to music that their toys create. Most soon become very annoying, often grating on our auditory nerves. The Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube is a very welcome exception to that group of products. Any parent, grandparent or child caregiver wants to provide their children with the best forms of education. Up to now, the only musical expressions that were available to our children have come to us from the folks at Sesame Street or Barney. Sesame Street and Barney have been very important to the development of many children so their worth should not be diminished; however, the musical education that sprang from those shows left a lot to be desired. That is why the Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube is a great product. The music is actual Mozart music. The Cube plays 8 Mozart compositions. The music from the Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube is very pleasing to listen to. The instru

By John C Arkin The Multi-Region version is available from Planet Omni. This player is amazing. It's clearly better than the first gen players, bdps1, even the bd91. there are a few little things to consider about blu ray. It SHOULDN'T play cds. if you have 1000 to spend on an Elite blu ray, then you should have good money, like 600 for a Cambridge azure or a like 24 bit cd player. blu ray lasers are very narrow, and will not read cds correctly, and to make them do so would be way more work than is considered worthwhile by the major manufacturers. That being said, DROOL! best upscaling I have seen on any player to date, full streaming features, and the Pioneer Elite look. It's a really good player and I for one think that it's the best to date. It plays CDs, as well as internally decodes advanced audio (minus DTS-HD Master) into PCM for transmission over HDMI or analog, for all the legacy receivers out there. Very nice Blu Ray player though with many ni

By Jay Douglas There are 3 major types. The desktop microphone, the lavalier microphone, and the headset microphone. Now, while there are some fine desktop microphones on the market, I don't recommend any of them for audio or video production. Why? Because they can be moved to different positions on the desktop and that means that each time you record you have to adjust it to ensure it is positioned in exactly the same position as your last recording or the recording volume won't be consistent. This is especially critical when you're doing long recordings, take a break, and come back to continue recording. The second undesirable feature of a desktop microphone is that, even if the microphone remains in exactly the same position, you as the user don't. You don't sit perfectly still when you're using the computer. You'll turn your head, scratch, or whatever, and your head and mouth placement will cause your recording levels to fluctuate. In fa

By Georgina Pearce If you're interested in duplicating your CD's or DVD's the environmentally friendly way, here are a few things to consider when choosing a company to help you do it. Green packaging. Some duplication companies offer sleeves made either entirely or partially from recycled cardboard. Recycled plastics. If you must use plastic in your packaging, look for a company that uses recycled plastics. A sound policy. What's the company's internal policy on energy? Does it operate using green power? Is it committed to conserving energy by using energy-efficient bulbs and appliances? If so, you'll know that the company is committed to green duplication in other ways as well, and they're likely to be a good partner. Soy-based inks. Most commercial inks are petroleum-based and contain VOC's-volatile organic chemicals. These evaporate quickly into the atmosphere, where they contribute to global warming. Soy-based inks contain no VOC

By John Milligan The Nintendo Wii Fit features four main categories of exercises to choose from: Strength Training, Aerobics, Yoga and Balance Games. Taking the revolutionary motion sensing abilities of the Wii, the Wii Fit itself features the inclusion of the Balance Board, a sturdy device placed on a flat surface, that can read the motions and gestures of anybody standing on top of it. This nifty device features more than 40 different exercises across four areas of training such as leaning to block soccer balls, swivelling hips to power hoop twirls or balancing to hold the perfect yoga pose. These are of course fun activities, and don't forget the ski jumping and heading soccer balls, that challenge the player's overall body balance. This is all about controlled motion using arms, legs and other body parts which in themselves include dancing, exercise, balance and dexterity games which Nintendo says will help to build muscles and provide stability. The Wii Fit

In the early 90s, "alternative" rock exploded and suddenly every wannabe musician believed they could crank out a hit tune. Kids grabbed guitars and headed for garages and basements to produce rough demo tapes and, hopefully, bask in the glow of fame. More or less, that was the beginning of the do-it-yourself era of music production that has exploded in the age of the Internet. And one example of the great leaps that have been made in home-recording equipment since the heyday of Nirvana is the H2 Handy Recorder from Zoom. According to Zoom, the purpose of the H2 Handy Recorder is to "provide brilliant stereo recording in an easy-to-use, ultra-portable device". Essentially, the small digital tool acts a mini recording studio, providing far greater sound clarity than a tape recorder ever could. The H2 has two sets of mics - one pair on the front and one pair on the back - and musicians can use all the mics at once to produce a four-channel recording wit

By Luis Diez Il Divo, Josh Groban, classical crossover... Who are all these people that seem to be revolutionizing the classical music world? Musicians have been "crossing over" almost from the moment music was invented. Mozart's famous Rondo "Alla Turca" was already using a popular style of Turkish music that was famous at the time. Later on Tchaikovsky would be inspired by gypsy violinists playing in cafés and Bach had already written music for the Zimmermann café he used to play in. Although name labels are very useful for categorizing what type of music we are talking about, as soon as you go in a little deeper, boundaries immediately start to blur. What do we call a gipsy flamenco singer singing a famous traditional "bolero" with latin jazz legend Bebo Valdés? That is exactly what Diego el Cigala did in his Grammy-awarded CD Lagrimas Negras. What does all this have to do with classical music? Well that is precisely the point, funni

STEP Analysis The STEP analysis of the Colorado Creative Music aims at analyzing macro-environmental factors of the music business the company is engaged into. These factors fall into political, economical, social and technological groups (Pearce, Robinson, 2000). Political factors affecting music business in whole and CCM in particular: strong political stability in the United States; regulatory and legal issues concerning music business including copyright laws for copyright protection of both music writing and recording, copyright-related legislation touching upon the issue of virtual internet promotion and distribution, such as The Audio Home Recording Act (1992), No Electronic Theft (NET) Act (1997), "The Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act (DPRSRA) 1995, The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, "Pending legislation: Music Online Competition Act and the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Protection Act (CBDTPA)" and others. Environm

By Will V Johnson Who knew Thriller would end up being the best selling album of all time. There was no way to prepare for its success because nobody saw what was coming. Yet, Michael has not been able to duplicate studio magic he and Quincy had; the artistic "roll" he was on; the total awe and submission of the media; the overwhelming force of his presence or the mesmerizing control he had over millions of fans worldwide. Therefore, even though more powerful than any other entertainer, he never repeated the success of Thriller. But he could have. Even without all of the magical ingredients that helped him make musical history, he could have used the momentum created by Thriller to sale another 40 million albums. All he had to do was have knowledge of who he sold those 40 million records to. Get it? If Epic Records were smart, they would have gotten the address and phone number of every person who purchased the Thriller album. Do you understand what that could

In online music promotion, word of mouth, or more precisely, viral marketing is an extremely powerful tool. Who wouldn't want to be one of the lucky few people to gain notoriety, just by creating something people consider cool? You can also create fun digital gifts for your music marketing campaign. Whether, the materials you create go viral or not doesn't really matter. What matters is that your fans have something that makes them value you more. The stuff you are about to learn contains things they can make part of their everyday lives. Let's do this. 1) Mp3s - the obvious choice - Many bands are very resistant to giving away songs. However, if you want your music to spread out you need to give your fans your best, all the time! Remember "garbage in - garbage out". If fans like your songs they will put them on their iPods and on their phones. And they will share with their friends. Plus they will come back for more. That's when you make your

Are you looking to get more music plays on MySpace? Every aspiring artist can tap MySpace to make his or her music more popular, and probably land a record deal. But not all aspiring artists know how to get more music plays on MySpace. Some of these artists do not realize that they can tap some proven ways to get more exposure on MySpace. You should capitalize on the opportunity to get more plays on MySpace, so your music will become more popular, and you might even get to gain a major record label deal. By creating an account on MySpace, artists like you can spread their music to a bigger audience. But this is just half of the battle. Once artists learn how to get more music plays on MySpace, they can reach out to a bigger audience of MySpace users. There are many ways for artists to get more exposure on MySpace. Many of these methods have proven to be effective for artists to get more exposure for their band. One of the best ways to get more music plays on MySpace is g

Streamline your marketing and promotion with niche streaming web sites. The amazing onlinetv rage is right here and growing. Internet marketing attention is focused on broadband streaming media and nothing could be better for your music than a slice of that attention. This is a marriage made in heaven streaming media and music video. With the free, built into Microsoft, Movie Maker most everyone can take their audio file and with a little creativity make it into a compelling video. Music videos are no longer a barrier for bands to take advantage of the onlinetv revolution. Just pop some cool pictures or some video shorts from your mini-cam, lay in your audio tracks and viola! You have made a simple music video to get that song out. A video with title, credits, lyrics and a message where viewers can buy it will more than suffice as a promotional tool. Don't forget "Where is the next gig?" Who has not heard of youtube or google video? These amazing amalgams o

Netlabels A netlabel is a virtual music label which handles its distribution 100% virtually, and an entity which also give away their artist's releases free of charge to its web visitors. The philosophy of most netlabels is to give away its music for free to its visitors. This ideology, interestingly enough, aligns itself with the current public's ideological demands that music should be something that is free. The masses today are demanding free music, and so we see many netlabels across the globe embracing this new paradigm shift of how music is to be handled and distributed. Netlabels around the globe represent collectives of like-minded individuals who produce quality music, and are helping to pave the way for new music distribution possibilities. There are probably approximately 500 to 1000 netlabels currently in the globe covering a range of musical genres, although mostly spanning itself in the electronic music realm of genres. A possible reason for most b

By Carla Acheson With the escalating progression of music technology in the last decade, mainland CD stores are continuing to decline in popularity, as the trendy demand for digital music downloads continues to crush them further into the archives of history. Claiming more than half of the globes music buying audience, Digital Music Distribution is the predominant method of music marketing the world offers us today. More and more musicians are appearing on the scene with highly polished albums, mostly produced entirely under their own steam. They have become resourceful singular empires, holding sole rights and authenticity as unconstrained producers and marketing agents of their own products. These musicians are ready to take the world by storm by hooking themselves up with one of the many distribution companies currently available. But as an independent musician, what are you really signing up to in a distribution deal? Many digital distributors offer musicians the c

By Adam Bradley As a cheap acoustic guitar where does the Alvarez RD8 stand up against its better known rivals such as the Washburn D10S. Is it just an expensive bit of scrap wood or a fantastic bargain? First off let me start by saying the guitar certainly looks like it has been built with a great deal of care. It certainly isn't the flashiest of guitars but it is certainly more attractive than many acoustics that fall into the same price category. Of course looks mean nothing to an acoustic guitar if its sound is poor. Thankfully the looks of the Alvarez aren't wasted as the RD8 sounds fantastic and is certainly a match to many of the more higher priced acoustic guitars available. For the price only the Takamine G320 comes anywhere near and there are probably only an handful at double its price that actually better it. The guitar also has the feel of a much more expensive acoustic guitar with a very impressive playing action and it is certainly built to last f

By Chris Hammond Let's take a close look at the Yamaha YDP 213. This is a good entry level home digital piano and good value for the money too. And speaking of good value for the money, you can find this digital piano for about $900, so it is not outrageously priced. This 88 key digital piano has an attractive walnut cabinet finish that looks good in any home. You'll particularly appreciate the fact that it comes with a stand that has 3 pedals built into it. So you don't have to worry about a pedal sliding on the floor when playing. Yamaha does a good job of simulating the feel of an acoustic piano. They use different types of keyboard action in their various models. For the Yamaha YDP213 they use the Graded Hammer Standard (GHS) piano action. This type of piano action emulates the feel of an acoustic grand piano by making the lower notes a little heavier than the higher notes. The feel of a digital piano's keyboard action is a subjective thing. But some

If you love guitar playing and are on a look out for the best and most economical solution to guitar learning, then you can opt for Ben Edwards' Jamorama. Its primary objective is to enable guitar learners, (irrespective of their skills levels - beginner, intermediate or advanced level learners) to learn playing guitar through perfect ear training and reading guitar tablatures. This cutting-edge program uses such simple teaching methodology, that even an 8 year old kid with a true passion for guitars, can easily use, comprehend and apply the principles learnt through this program with utmost ease and comfort. When you purchase "Jamorama: The "Ultimate Guitar Learning Kit", you will be entitled to receive several useful features and bonuses, that will enable you to play the guitar flawlessly. These features include - 1. E-books: You will receive 4 well-written downloadable e-books - one for beginner level learners, another one for intermediate level lea

By Kyle Kolbe I bought the Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studio Isolation Earphones last week and have been enjoying them. Key benefits include: clean open sound with good separation of instruments and performers, very detailed yet smooth response in the upper frequencies, controlled, tight bass if not a little muted (though may improve when I figure out how to reliably lodge them in my ear canal, more later), adequate sound isolation from both your environment and the headphone wire itself thanks to over the ear hard, but pliant to fit snuggly over your ear, plastic encased wire stress relief, low listening fatigue and good comfort with the correct sized ear plug (still don't know if I've found mine yet). Another great upgrade to the iPod sound system in my pocket. Read on for a more in depth look at my continuing headphone struggle. I have bad luck with my headphones. I discovered headphone.com a few years back when I knew there must exist better sounding phones than