Previously, I discussed how we are being monitored digitally in our bedrooms as much as on the world wide web, in order for companies to ‘better target ads’ to us, their customers. Since then, there have been a few events that add to my pessimism regarding internet services (i.e. search engines), directing me to believe that they are seriously invading our privacy, or are on route to do so.

• Yahoo allegedly hands over information to Chinese authorities about an author of some politically-charged internet writings. He was subsequently charged and jailed (and tortured, probably). The Chinese couple is currently suing Yahoo.
• Google rats out YouTube TV-show uploader, who brazenly offered never-before-aired episodes of a major television show. Now Google offers a new copyright-protection tool called “Claim Your Content” for companies to easily report piracy on YouTube.
• Google is trying to weezle its way into television ads & radio advertisements as well.
• Google will soon offer GDrive, to let people backup their entire hard drives, etc, for free. It’s not enough that they control millions of people’s email, internet searches, calendars, etc, but now all their personal files as well?
• WebOS is becoming more and more of a viable future way of working on the computer. With web applications popping up every day and the world wide web becoming increasingly accessible to all, it is only a matter of time before all our computer work will be actually executed online.

Now of course, there are good things and bad things which come out of these developments. One good thing is that we will be digitally and globally connected, able to access (and work on) all our files and documents from anywhere in the world. Of course, this comes at a price: privacy. Each and every single move we make in the digital world will be logged, somewhere. And internet companies will continue to cave in to big conglomerates for fear of lawsuits (ex/piracy case vs. Youtube) as well as governments for fear of being shut out of a huge market (ex/Chinese case). Other companies will be able to target ads to us (I personally don’t like this idea, some might think it’s good), and governments all over the world will be able to get any information they want about anybody. Does that really protect us? If it does, then that protection comes at another price: freedom of speech. Just look what happened to the Chinese writer.

A couple days ago, I posted an article entitled “Radio Sucks.” Pretty poetic, huh? But at least it’s to the point, that finding/listening to music nowadays is a chore, and with all the technology out there trying to ‘help’ us, I find it even harder to filter out the crap and just listen to good music.
It all started with the slow downfall of our public music staple, the radio. A silent, yet deadly, weapon has been attacking it, slowly yet thoroughly, at its core. This weapon, called ‘payola‘, has a deep, strong hold of radio, due to greed, among other issues.
Now what does the listening public get in return? Annoying boring songs repeated over and over, often on multiple stations at the same time. It’s sickening. I can spend an entire 100 mile car trip just flipping from one station to another, never finding any song worth listening to. And it’s not only the public who suffers. Countless dj’s & musicians, with tons of talent, are being blocked out of the airwaves, while bland artist-wannabe’s get played constantly.
Now I finally see a ray of hope: Dan Mitchell’s article “What Can Money Buy” in the NY Times documents a possible crackdown on payola. Although just a tiny step in the right direction, this might indicate a new momentum towards opening up the airwaves to real music again.
[Note to bloggers & readers of blogs: this article also explains the ‘blog type of payola’, or paid-for-blog-posts. That’s right. Reviews you see online may not be what you think!]
Please check out the Future of Music Coalition’s take on this recent payola settlement here.

…and so does satellite. I even get sick of my mp3 player, and now it’s broken anyways… In my car I still have a tape player. With no way of taping anything anymore, I can only listen to old, old “mixtapes” I made years ago. These amateur tapes have songs that are temporarily refreshing, since I haven’t heard them in years, but still annoying as soon as the tape replays.
I have tried internet radio, and find the same problem. Lukewarm songs chosen by someone else? Not much better than regular radio, but at least there are (almost)no commercials.
     I have tried Pandora, and now last.fm. Both websites have the same problem, for me: they are both just not big enough yet to really understand what I like, which is a mixture of somewhat-random music such as hip-hop, latin, persian, and RnB. Of course, I am picky within each of these categories, where the only common ‘thread’ would be a sort of ‘passion’ in the music or “mambo.”
     The only time I find myself truly listening to a bunch of great songs in a row would be either during certain radio lunch-hour mixes or weekend pre-night-out dj ensembles. There’s always energy in their choice of songs then, and they typically choose great songs, independent of recent billboard chart hitlists.
     I’m still waiting for the internet custom-tailored mixes to work for me - in the meantime, check out these helpful sites:

• last.fm - helps you listen & find your favorite music based on social data
• pandora - tailors your listening based on ‘music genome project’s’ categories
• Steve Krause’s blog - with a well thought-out breakdown of last.fm vs. pandora
• datawhat? blog - compares various ways of discovering new music
• MusicIP - another music-matching website
• tapestry - finds music playlists for you based on style, theme, & tone
• finetune [via Lifehacker] - first music site I’ve found that actually knew old-school reggaeton (i.e. underground) artists existed…also offers html links of your playlists!

Good luck to you in finding music that works for you. One thing I noticed is that most of these systems work better when you input a specific song or artist rather than a genre or tag…
If you’ve been in my situation and found a solution, please let me know how!!!!