Friday, February 15, 2008

Audio & Video

I had some fun trying out these sites, but again with mixed results.
last.fm--searched for Alfred Brendel, gave me a profile but connected me to "similar" artists for listening. Sound quality was not good and I could not turn up the volume to really hear it. It listed the track, but not the composer or full work. I liked the menu choices, including "don't ever play again."
pandora--tried the song name "yesterday." About six different and unknown groups came up, but I guess the Beatles are not sharing their work. When I randomly chose one of the groups, it began playing a completely different song, with a little disclaimer popup --"why we're not playing yesterday" but when I clicked for the explanation--nothing. I know that music copyright is a touchy deal, so maybe I was expecting too much. Sound quality poor.
IMEEM-- I liked browsing the categories. I chose "classical" but it wasn't my definition of "classical." More like just pop lite. The sound quality was much better on this site. But then when I tried to leave the site--I couldn't. Held prisoner!
Internet archive--I had great fun watching a few minutes of some 30's and 40s cartoons since I love the popular culture of that era. Something I will definitely return to when I'm bored at home. The Popeye cartoons were "feature" length, one was a bit pixeled, however. This site is a keeper.
Sound effects--a good one to refer patrons to, as we sometimes have requests for various effects recordings. The ones I tried, I could not play because of something lacking on my computer.
Mango languages--would love to try but am so sick of having to sign up, login, password, etc. Yesterday I just ran out of time, and I see I have just 10 minutes left today to finish this blog. \Gutenberg's audiobook--limited choices, but I hope it grows and grows. I will want to come back, and maybe if it's still around in my old age, volunteer to read something. I love reading aloud to an audience!

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