emudir

Cory Doctorow is a sci-fi author and commentator, who is usually to be found in his capacity as co-editor at boingboing. His most recent essay collection, Context covers a diverse set of topics, trying to reconcile the “freemium” nature of the Internet (something we’re strongly in favour of here at emudir) and the need for creators to benefit from their hard work (we all have to eat, right?) What’s more, it is itself a “freemium” product, being a Context, is a Creative Commons licensed free download, as well as purchasable as a physical book.

This give-away model has also inspired Jan Rubak to do a similarly CC licensed audiobook reading of the book, just as he did with Doctorow’s previous book, Content. With not only the author’s permission, but also his thanks. Which is nice.

If you enjoy the book, you can either buy it directly, or donate a copy of either Context or Content to a school or library (which we would highly recommended, by the way).

Context
Homepage: http://craphound.com/context/
Download the book: http://craphound.com/context/download/
Download the audio book: http://www.archive.org/details/CoryDoctorow-Context

Content
Homepage: http://craphound.com/content/
Download the book: http://craphound.com/content/download/
Download the audio book: http://www.archive.org/details/CoryDoctorow-Content_268

We’ve featured a good few albums on this blog before, and they tend to fall into two distinct categories. Either they are from established artists – such as Nine Inch Nails, or Coldplay – as a “thank you” to the fans.

But just as often – as here – the people giving their music away do so as a trailer to their live shows, and the highly regarded indie rockers TheWeeknd do exactly that. In fact, the strategy is so successful, they’re commanding huge fees for sell-out concerts all over the USA. (Forgive me if indie rock isn’t exactly right – it’s difficult to judge genres for people like me who use Deicide as chill-out music…)

And you can find out for yourself exactly why – both their albums Thursday and House Of Balloons are available from their website. (You’ll need JavaScript enabled to experience it properly, and a zip application to extract the files, by the way).

Home page: http://the-weeknd.com/

Did you see Coldplay at Glastonbury? If you didn’t, it’s perhaps amazing you managed to avoid it, given it sems to have been shown live on the BBC and then again and again for days. Which means you probably did it on purpose, so if I were you, I’d move on to the next post.

Still here? Good… …read more »

Anyone who is a fan of BBC Radio 4′s excellent The Now Show will already be familiar with the resident songsmith Mitch Benn. What you probably won’t be familiar with, however, is his excellent reading of the Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol“, reposted for this Christmas.

“A Christmas Carol”, of course, is Dickens’ tale of the miser Scrooge, whose heart is opened to the spirit of Christmas (and to his fellow human beings in general) by the visitations from four spirits (the first of which is his old partner, Jacob Marley), who take him to visit… Well, if you’ve seen one of the numerous films, you will already know – and if you don’t, then this is a great way to find out! …read more »

A very quick post, this – just a little extra something to add to your music collection… should you want to:)

Boing Boing recently reported on WFMU’s “Product Music: Vol 1“, a collection of corporate songs for familar products. Although perhaps questionable taste. Enjoy!

If you haven’t seen the movie about Facebook – “The Social Network” – as yet, here’s a reminder that there’s a free 5-track sampler of the soundtrack, scored by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, available from the official Nine Inch Nails website.

To get it, simply register with your email address, and they will send you a link that’s valid for 24 hours. You can only download once per email address though, so I’d make sure you’re in a position to download it right then and there before registering…

I love reading, I like the look and feel of a book and I like to see the words on the page. I won’t buy a Kindle or any other type of electronic reader because, to me, it wouldn’t be the same. I like the cover of the book, I like to see them lined up on the bookshelf when occasionally one will jump out and just beg to be read again. And I always oblige.

Sometimes though, being read to is sheer bliss. On a car journey the short stories on radio 4 are usually in serial form or just too darn short. So there is a gap to be filled.

Enter audiobooksforfree.com. …read more »

The DJ Girl Talk is giving out his new album “All Day” as a free download. Not just that, but it’s licensed under Creative Commons, which is also pretty cool as it means you’re even free to create your own remixes.

The album is intended to be listened to in one, and so while it’s available as a single long MP3, you can also download as separated MP3s for ease of navigation. …read more »

I expect that, like me, you have seen all these adverts in the press for smart machines that will turn your vinyl records and old cassettes into CD.

Thing is, they’re not cheap and you are stuck afterwards with a machine for which you will have no further use, because, let’s face it, if you go to all the trouble of transferring vinyl and cassette to PC or CD then you are no longer in the market for vinyl etc, are you? …read more »

For years, Winamp has been the audio player of choice for many discerning audiophiles. Not only does it play standard MP3 files (which can be purchased from Amazon or – if you pay for the upgrade to the Pro version, created from your own CDs), but version 3 added a video player. And a music library that tracks your play information, so you can see what you listen to most. …read more »