Two Excellent Sites

I've been meaning to link to these for a while, and no time like the present. I really love these sites and want them to succeed, and there's nothing like word of mouth for that.

First, Magnatune: try before you buy MP3 music.. As they say, they are a record label, but they are not evil! Read the founder's story, Why I created Magnatune Records. That will also link you to the infamous Courtney Love article in Salon which explains that record labels' alleged concerns about artists getting ripped off through file swapping are bogus, because the record labels themselves do such a good job of that that there's nothing left for the artists to lose when it comes to college kids sharing music. Magnatune's way is completely legal, you have a choice of how much to pay for an album, with options about types of files (more than one type is fine). And the artists actually get some real money.

And besides that, they have really excellent music, a lot more cutting edge and interesting than a lot of the other services.

And second - imagine that Amazon is a really, really good used bookstore, like Moe's in Berkeley. You're probably a bit bookish, or you wouldn't be reading my blog, so you will love this one. Head over to Alibris - Used, New and Out-Of-Print Books, Music and Movies. All the convenience of Amazon, all of the serendipity of used book store. They also link to rare book auctions, an interest of mine, but then, I'm a hopeless nerd who thinks an evening settling down with a thirty-year-old edited collection of critical essays on the Medieval poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a good time.

I'll put these over on my links section at the right, too. And it's been a while since I posted some flash fiction - will put some up tomorrow, cross my heart.