Apple Announcements

The new Apple announcements made today are pretty interesting for us stingy PC users. The iPod shuffle is a 512mb-1GB Flash-based iPod for $99-$150. As a musician I'm of course excited about how many more consumers this will get into the iTunes music store so they can buy my album. As a consumer I uh want one. The Mac mini looks super cool. A tiny (6.5 inches wide / 2 inches tall) 1.25GHz G4 Mac priced at $500. Doesn't come with monitor, mouse or keyboard, which is fine. Engadget claims the lack of audio in is a big deal, but I can't see how it is. You may not be able to use your crappy $10 microphones with it, but with USB and Firewire you can use all sorts of audio devices ranging from consumer to professional.

Very sassy moves by Apple all around. I'm curious to read about how easily that Mac can be turned into a tiny recording studio.

Coolfer: Tech Myopia

Coolfer: Tech Myopia - Coolfer takes tech journalists to task. I often think that just as folks in the tech industry cringe when outsiders think they "get it", tech writers need to realize that maybe the music biz is a little more complicated than it seems on the surface.

Hostbaby Wizard

Hostbaby Wizard - Derek at CDBaby launches the HostBaby Wizard, an easy way for musicians to set up websites:

It's the perfect tool for musicians who want to focus on their music, and not have to master HTML, spend a fortune, wait months, or be at the mercy of webmaster friends doing you favors.

It's free to sign up, free to try out for a month, and only $20/month if you decide to stay.

Cool service from a cool guy.

Happy New Year

Oh, hey, happy 2005. I was going to do a big recap of all the Brad Sucks successes and failures this year but I don't think I could do it without getting all gloomy and boring. Of the positive parts: I met a lot of great people this year, the Brad Sucks uh listenership seems to still be growing at a good pace and for that I am thankful. Thank you to everyone who read my site and bought things and pushed my music on unsuspecting people in 2004. I hella appreciate every it. There are good things on the bubble for 2005 already so I should probably start replying to email.