I've been looking for this site for months. Its one of the reasons we're involved with weed. [source: http://www.downhillbattle.org/itunes/ ]

Love not guilt
If you want to support the musicians you love, the best way to begin is by downloading the song for free on a filesharing network. Then send them what you want to give, no middleman. 14 cents. 99 cents. 10 dollars. A site like musiclink.com, though still rudimentary, makes this a little easier and is a step in the right direction. Weed (weedshare.com) is an ingenious new system where songs can be distributed on p2p networks but must be paid for after 3 plays. Instead of pursuing dead-ends like iTunes, we can develop p2p and direct contribution systems into a full-fledged music economy that sustains many more musicians than the current one. If downloading and contributing is made just as easy as iTunes, it could work and it would work. After all, iTunes is already voluntary.

"If you build a shiny new house on a landfill it still stinks
Apple says iTunes is "better than free" because it's "fair to the artists and record labels." That's simply not true. First of all, Apple gets 3 times as much money as musicians from each sale. Apple takes a 35% cut from every song and every album sold, a huge amount considering how little they have to do. Record labels receive the other 65% of each sale. Of this, major label artists will end up with only 8 to 14 cents per song, depending on their contract. Many of them will never Artists Get Ripped Off. even see this paltry share because they have to pay for producers and recording costs, both of which can be enormous. Until the musician "recoups" these costs, when you buy an iTunes song, the label gives them nothing. [source: http://www.downhillbattle.org/itunes/ ]

One of my favorite writers of our lifetime is gone. I had the pleasure of meeting him 8 years ago when the state made him an honorary colonel and I was writing and doing database design for mtv online. My fondest memory of that night was when he threatened to hit me with a rider's crop for grabbing the last molsen golden I've been reading his stories, books and sports criticism every chance I could since I first heard about him after moving to Louisville back in the late 80's because he told it like he experienced it, true and passionately. His words and lifestyle incited people across the world, and I'm sad to see him pass and never having a chance to offer him the last beer.

Hey Hunter, thanks for all of your fantastic words and bad craziness all of these years, I appreciate the short time we had together...Flo

After months of inactivity I've finally found what I've been looking for since the entire mp3 scene got boring, corporate and old, PODCasting. If you don't read the newspaper or tech site's you're way behind (like I feel), but hey I needed some inspiration after nearly losing my lunch attempting to keep our SHOUTcast streams running the past 5 years. Seeing I only read about this new media distribution method, I'm still extremely green around the edges and still reading tutorials and 'how-to's' on creating a PODCast, I have that same exact feeling I did in 1998 when I first heard about mp3 technology over 6 1/2 years ago. That's a long time ago, so I guess I'm hard to please or inspire, but I'm back baby--- to the dismay of 1000s everywhere hah hah. I am so ready toget going once again and get my first PODCast ready for release I can barely stand still here.

A few of my McFriends from the holidays.