As promised in my New Year's resolutions, here is the first of what I plan to make weekly reader-participation posts. Granted, it's toward an utterly self-serving end...but I've got to start somewhere.
I have been, since Christmastime, the possessor of a very gently used iPod Nano. I love the idea of iPods, which to me are the realization of my wish, back in the days of Northern Exposure, that one day I could be my own disk jockey and throw together my own highly eclectic playlist Chris-in-the-Morning style.
My question to you: What should I put on my Nano?
If you suggest country music...well, it isn't going to happen. But I'm open to just about anything else -- cabaret, Saami throat yodeling, Moby Grape, Tin Pan Alley, liturgical music, stuff the crazy kids are listening to these days. But you have to convince me why.
Any free downloadable tunes out there worth collecting?
How about podcasts? What are some of you listening to these days?
Thank you in advance for great suggestions.
11 comments:
myfreemusicfriday.com has free downloadable music on... hmm.. what day was it? Oh yeah! Friday! Although they haven't been doing it for the last few (on account of the holidays) I imagine they will soon be sharing music again. I got a pretty good version of Aaron Shust singing "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" and a piano version of "O Holy Night" by Chris Rice. Other than that, I would suggest anything Elvis or Frank Sinatra... :) But then again, to each her own. Good luck.
Give Michael Sandler (http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=creator:%22Michael%20Sandler%22)
a listen (free, legal downloads) - some of the finest and most thought-provoking modern abstract music around. People sometimes classify him as "ambient" but that sounds too New Age. His magnum opus (IMHO!) is his 7-part work on salvation history, Geschichte. Utterly beautiful, goes from glorious to terrifying and back again!
Other free goodies (including my own Eremos tracks!) at http://music.download.com/
I have a sizable CD collection that I converted to mp3 and uploaded into my player. If you have a free afternoon I would highly recommend that.
I also podcast news analysis shows like As it Happens, the Current here in Canada, All Things Considered out of the US, Star Stuff (for the astronomy geek in me) and Word Watch which gives history and background to interesting words and phrases we use, etc. Download podcasting software and then subscribe to them and you'll have something new to listen to every day!
Forgot to mention that Star Stuff and Word Watch are out of Australlia.
Here are some URLs:
Word Watch - http://tinyurl.com/o3t5d
Star Stuff - http://tinyurl.com/wz8py
As it Happens - http://tinyurl.com/vm2tx
The Current - http://tinyurl.com/y6vksu
NPR Podcasts - http://tinyurl.com/abg9c
BBC Religion Report - http://tinyurl.com/yx67rb
The Religion Report (Australia) -http://tinyurl.com/y25ta5
Some of the 100 best speeches of last century.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html
Why? Because these things inspire, they make us think, they make us dream!
Oh, there is also Grace Matters, which kept me Lutheran during my year of missionary work in England last year.
http://www.gracematters.org/listen.html
Peace,
Chris
Cool post and helpful to me too with my own Christmas gift.
Cool idea - may ask for the same on my blog.
I've recently delved into Celtic & Irish music, and Marc Gunn's Celtic & Irish Music podcast is pretty cool.
NPR's Speaking of Faith has a podcast - the host often has interesting guests. Recent repeats have included Martin Marty, a panel of folks talking about the literary faith of Merton, O'Connor and others, and more of the same.
Three folk music acts my wife and I love are Storyhill, Justin Roth and the Wailin' Jennys. You can find links to their websites and others on my blog.
Try pandora.com. They will ask you a few questions and then play music they think you will like. It is a great way to discover new artists.
You can get free audio books (of out-of-copyright books) from http://librivox.org/
And if you don't mind spending a small monthly fee ($11.50USD) try emusic.com. After iTunes they are the second largest download site and have a pretty good classical section. Several hundred choices for Back alone. And unlike iTunes and some of the others you get an mp3 file - no restrictions on making copies, backing it up or playing on whatever/whereever you want.
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