The Blog - AskOmar.com OG’s Collection of Opinions

I love music, it makes me happy, it makes me work better, it inspires me. I enjoy listening to new music every day. Sometimes I know what I want, and many times, I don’t know what I want. So I start discovering new sounds, stuff that I haven’t listened before. I have thought that I am addicted to music, music is my drug, I always want more and something new every time. If you are reading this, it means that you are like me when it comes to music. This will guide you to places that you could find new music and possibly add to your list of favorite artists, without using software like Limewire or bittorrent networks.

Where to Start and Last Resorts
iTunes Store - Access it through iTunes
Amazon MP3 Store (on a side note, why do amazon uses non-user friendly URLs?)
Rhapsody

News
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com
http://thedailyswarm.com
http://stereogum.com/
http://www.subterraneanblog.com/
http://www.mtv.com/music/charts/
http://www.mtvu.com/music/ahead_of_the_curve/
http://www.current.com/fix

Where To Discover
http://fairtilizer.com - You will need an invite to get in. I have a few, if you ask me nicely, I can give you one.
http://audiomap.tuneglue.net/
http://www.musicovery.com/
http://www.spiralfrog.com/
http://soundslikenow.org
http://mog.com/
http://music.myspace.com
http://muxtape.com - Create your own “Muxtape” or randomly click on any of the ‘muxtapes’ at the homepage, you never know what good treasure you might find. Check mine out, I will try to update frequently with different ‘ear food’.

On iTunes
1. Open iTunes
2. Click on Radio
3. Open the Eclectic Tab
My favorites from that list are:
Pig Radio
KCRW

Search Engines
http://hypem.com
http://beemp3.com/
http://g2p.org
http://elbo.ws/
http://skreemr.com/
http://www.musire.com/
http://www.albumhunt.com/
http://www.mp3gle.net/

On TV
I rarely watch TV, but here are three programs that I watch to discover new music.
MTV U
Subterranean - MTV2 - Sunday Nights at 1:00 AM
The Fix - Current TV - Tuesday Nights at 10:00 PM
MTV Hits - Watch out for the MTVU and Subterranean playlists.

Blogs
Here is a short list of blogs that I constantly keep an eye on.

http://palmsout.blogspot.com - electronic, mixes
http://missingtoof.com/ - electro, mixes
http://digitaleargasm.blogspot.com/ - electric, pop, mixes
http://www.discoworkout.com - electronic
http://caucasian-tabloid.blogspot.com/ - electronic
http://my.opera.com/Licorice%20Pizza/blog/ - eclectic, oldies
http://deekmedia.wordpress.com/ - eclectic
http://redthreat.wordpress.com - electro, mixes
http://musichole.blogspot.com/ - eclectic, bootlegs, mixes
http://blog.tracklistings.net/ - radio shows, mixes
http://mp3daily.blogspot.com/ - eclectic
http://www.nialler9.com/blog/ - indie, eclectic
http://www.brooklynradio.net/shows/ - eclectic, various
http://www.newmixes.com/ - radio shows, mixes
http://therapup.rawkus.com/ - hip-hop
http://findasoul4sale.blogspot.com/ - hip-hop

All of the sites above have RSS feeds. RSS is a very powerful instrument to get information from the sites to us, instead of us going to the site to find about. To keep an eye on new updates that any of the blogs that you like, use any RSS aggregator such as Netvibes, Use it, abuse it, stay informed and up-to-date with music, and share your tabs with the world.

More Info
The following link, I collected some information from them and used it to compile this list. You may find something else useful on them.
http://mashable.com/2007/09/20/music-news/#more-11067
http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Download_Free_Music
http://blog.brokep.com/2007/10/27/what-to-use-instead-of-oink-waffleswaffleswaffles

• Go to your favorite artist myspace. check out their top friends. Click on any of their “friends” and keep digging in.
• Click on the blogrolls (the links on the sidebar). You never what treasures you may find.
• On Google. Use this string artist name "rapidshare.com/files"|"megaupload.com/?d"|"badongo.com/file/"|"mediafire.com/?"|"http://www.zshare.net/audio/", replacing ‘artist name’ with the band or artist that you want to search.
• Google Images - Search for album covers in this format (Artist Name - Album Name). The best results are Blogs posting the links to download the full albums. You might find more music of your interest.
• http://www.music-alerts.com/ - You type the name of your favorite artists, and it will create a RSS feed from the artists you input and keep an eye for anything that is released from them.

Enjoy music, feed your ears, stimulate your senses with aural goodness! And that’s it. I will keep updating this post, whenever I find a good site, or any recommendations that I may get. Enjoy!

Social Networks are a great part of our life, even if we want it or not.

Here is how it has affected out daily thought process, explained by scenarios.

“[insert anything common], should I twitter it?”
Some quick examples:
“I just farted and it smells” - NO
“The house is burning down, where is the baby?” - NO
“I’m taking a dump” - NO
“Batman dies” - Watching The Dark Knight on opening night and sharing the ending.
“Driving at 95, idiots should not be in the road” - NO, twittering and driving don’t go along.
Don’t drink and twitter. Is like drunk dialing, except 45 of your twitter buddies have to read your drunk update.

“Hmm, I should take a look at craigslist” - After seeing someone buy a new TV. You know he has to get rid of his old TV one way or another.

“DUGG” [with a thumbs up] - to a hot girl, or hot guy if you are a female.

“6, 7, 5, 8, 9, 1, 6, 8, 4, 10, 2″ - Coming out of the club, and looking at the girls at the line coming in while giving the “hotornot.com” rating.

“Buried as inaccurate” - After seeing a not-so-hot girl wearing a shirt that says “Sexy Hot Girl”

“Buried as inaccurate” - After your friends describe you a girl, and is not totally how they painted it.

“You just get vinegar, and it will get rid of those stains… I read it on Wikipedia” - Trying to be a smart ass on something you read on wikipedia.

“Oh yes, I’m gonna get 1 million plus views on this baby!” - After filming your friends singing and dancing to the Spice Girls, and contemplating of the YouTube possibilities.

“I wish I can find her on MySpace” - After eyeing a young looking cute girl

“OMG, these photos are going up to flickr” - Taking photos with a fancy nancy SLR Camera at the park.

“OMG, these photos are going up to Facebook” - Taking photos with a point and shoot in last nights party.

“Bla bla bla, look at me, I’m singing along, I found that rare remix song on The Hype Machine” - Showing off to your friends at a club that you are “truly indie”

Final words - Don’t underestimate the power of the web and Social Networks, they are called “Social Networks” for a reason. It is a big party that everyone is in, and you control if you want to be the center of attention, with difference of the real world, people pay attention to you. Be smart about it… or not.

This Cannot Be More Accurate