Whoa. Scary.
Bill points to a RealAudio stream of the title track from the new Bruce Springsteen album The Rising, but with my delightful dialup connection, once I navigated my way through the maze of “Upgrade your RealPlayer now, damn you” dialogs, it mostly sounded like it was recorded inside a big tin can, with Clarence pounding on Bruce’s back while he sang to provide low-tech vibrato. I did get about a minute of decent stream in the middle, enough to whet my appetite for July 30th, though. I know, I’m naive, but this seems like a perfect album to pre-release an mp3 or two: how could anyone say “Oh, I’m not buying the cd, I’ve already got two songs from it”?
I’m not sure exactly what they mean by “offered exclusively for 48 hours” (is that “offered for 48 hours” or “exclusively for 48 hours”?), but:
The first song “The Rising” will debut on Monday, June 24 at AOL Keyword: First Listen [yadda yadda, and at Netscape Music] and will be offered exclusively for 48 hours. The remaining three songs – “Lonesome Day,” “Into the Fire” and “Mary’s Place” – will premiere on July 8, 15 and 22, respectively.
So go, listen to it now, just in case you only have today to do it. Bill, you’re in charge of not letting me forget about Lonesome Day on the 8th.
The most amazing thing about this was the revelation that you, helpful blog and script guru, are on a dialup!!
Phil, I feel your pain! But still, and I am a streaming illiterate, wouldn’t the whole tune be cached by the player after the first run through is complete. If so, then wouldn’t it sound better on a second play?
And as for the reminder, haven’t your ever used Mail to the Future?
http://www.mailtothefuture.com
Dialup: afraid so. Could get satellite for $700 installation and something extreme per month, won’t. Could get cable (though maybe not quite yet, in my neighborhood), but I’d have to dig a trench through my neighbor’s yard myself. Won’t. No DSL (13 miles and two switches to the central office). I’m in a holler, so even when the really cool wireless provider puts his new antenna on the top of the hill, I probably won’t be able to get it. Just the price I pay for living where I have to chase deer, turkeys, doves, and quail out of the driveway just to get out.
Caching? Caching is theft, don’t you know that? Just to be sure, I downloaded a new version of RealPlayer (I think I promised them my left testicle for it, but I’m reasonably sure I get to keep the right one), and told it to use a huge cache. It plays seven seconds, then stops, gets the rest of the (low-quality) clip, and plays it. Oh well.