Political World

In a video directed by John Mellancamp, this is Bob Dylan performing a song which seems appropriate here. If you're a fan of the man, check out my new Media Blog at MySpace where I've posted some more.

Dylan's latest album, "Modern Times", is receiving great critical acclaim and from what I've listened to so far I would add my name to the list. Remarkably, given his track record in recent years, one can actually decipher the words without undue effort and they are engrossing.

You can hear the whole album presently streaming at AOL. Sadly, it's in Windows media format only - a technical oversight for a company trying to reinvent itself as a web portal for all users. Otherwise you'll have to pay for the tracks via iTunes - and that's a scam too because what you end up with will be two tracks short of the CD version.

I guess this all runs contrary to the growing trend we witnessed yesterday when Paramount annouced that their back catalogue will go online for free. Like most TV, the system will be funded by advertising (expect lots of it, including sound on the tracks themselves) but artistes will be renumerated from that same income and thus not lose out on royalties. Plus, I'm sure that really intersted sound consumers will still fork out on superior quality CDs for their long-term collections.

Later.