Morning Paper

The Beatles Go To Court Over Tapes Of Ringo Starr's First Show

  Apple Corp, not to be confused with Apple Inc., which was a whole other law suit, has filed a that's right you guessed it, law suit against Fuego Entertainment Inc. which has tapes of the very first Ringo Starr performance with the Supergroup.

  The poor quality tapes were recorded at a show in at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany in 1962. 

  The Beattles don't want these tapes out there because they want to preserve the memory of the greatness that made them who they are. 

"Eight unreleased tracks are said to be among the recordings, including Paul McCartney singing Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" and McCartney and John Lennon singing "Ask Me Why."

Apple Corps claims that the songs were taped without the consent of the band and that Fuego and sister companies Echo-Fuego Music Group LLC and Echo-Vista Inc. have no right to distribute them.

"This appears to us to be a garden-variety bootleg recording," said Paul LiCalsi, an attorney for Apple Corps."

I'm a Beatles fan, but not as big a fan as a few of my friends.  I can see them being torn between wanting to hear these tapes, and not wanting to hear them with Ringo on his first night out.   There are already enough rumors about Ringo's playing early on, folks might do well to not have them substantiated.

Read

Former ABBA drummer killed in freak accident

Despite that I'm revealing my age, I used to love ABBA, having been a teenie-bopper during the late 70s - early 80s.  I just read on E-Online that the former drummer, Ola Brunkert, who played with ABBA during their most popular periods died in a freak accident. He was 62.

"According to authorities, Brunkert fell into a glass door in his dining room and slashed his throat. He apparently attempted to stanch the blood flow with a towel and apparently went outside to call neighbors for help. But he lost consciousness and collapsed.

According to published reports, a neighbor discovered Brunkert 's body, in a pool of blood, in the garden outside the musician's home Sunday evening.

The 62-year-old had sustained major cuts to his neck. An autopsy later confirmed investigators' findings that he died accidentally."

E!- Online

SanDisk Launches Sansa Fuze MP3 Player

SanDisk has introduced a new line of sub $150 mp3 players.  The new Sansa Fuze is loaded with capabilities and features to keep consumers well entertained while on the go.  This new player seems to be a stiff competitor for the iPod Nano.

In addition to playing music, video, photos, FM radio and audiobooks, the thin Sansa Fuze is packed with extras, including a microSD card slot to add and transport content with ease; a voice recorder to capture thoughts on the fly, and a bright, 1.9”color screen that allows users to easily navigate their music or watch videos in landscape mode.

A distinguishing feature of the Sansa Fuze player is its microSD™ card slot. This memory slot provides consumers the ability to quickly add content onto their device and expands storage capacity, giving ample space for thousands of additional songs, hours of video and numerous photos. Plus, by using a SanDisk microSD card, users can easily carry their music and other content from their Sansa MP3 player to their mobile phone, or even their PC.

The Sansa Fuze player is expected to be available in U.S. stores in early April and in Canada and Europe in late spring, with other regions of the world to follow.

The music player comes in a 2GB capacity, available in black (holds 500 MP3 songs) with an price tag of $79.99, a 4GB, available in black, red, pink and blue (1,000 MP3 songs) for $99.99 and 8GB, available in silver (2,000 MP3 songs) for $129.99.

Electronista

Vote for your favorite Web 2.0 apps

Are you a big user of web apps, like Gmail, Google Calendar, Yahoo! Mail, Picasa, Flikr, YouMail, BitTorrent, YouTube,  Ebay or a ton of others?  I am.  If you are too, let them know by casting your vote for the WebWare 100 in anticipation of the Web 2.0 Expo coming up April 22-25 in San Francisco.

Categories include:

• Audio
• Browsing
• Commerce and Events
• Communication
• Productivity
• Publishing and Photography
• Search and Reference
• Social
• Utility and Security
• Video

Nine Inch Nails Made Bank In Two Days Flat

A few days ago Nine Inch Nails released their new album for download on the internet, a new trend that is slowly wiping out the Music Store Industry.

In only two days of online sales, the band estimates that it took in a clean $750, 000. That's almost a million bucks people. The "Limited edition deluxe sets" are very popular and totals like this will help solidify the move to internet music sales.

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Test Your 80's Music Skills!

Yesterday a friend asked me about a one hit wonder song from the 80's. Normally I'm the music encyclopedia guy, but I couldn't remember. So I promptly went on a search eventually finding it. But in the process I came across a site with a 80's music Lyrics quiz.

Normally I don't go in for that sort of thing but I figured what the hell. Actually it was pretty fun, kudos to the author. I scored pretty well, but on the ones I missed, it was funny to hear the song play in my head when the right lyric was shown. Well, for me at least.

There are 103 questions, some easy most hard, example:

Every --- has its --- Just like every night has it's dawn.

Anyway, it's a good way to test your 80's skills and memory of classics and plain ole stupid songs as well. If you've got the time head over and test your skills. But come back and tell me how you did. Also, no cheating, no Google searches or running to your "best of the 80's" party CD's.

Yetanotherdot

Griffin Final Vinyl - 2.5 For Mac

Got and iMic? Got a bunch of Vinyl laying around? Want to get some of those B-sides that have yet to make to CD or Mp3 onto your iTunes library? Well you're in luck because this looks like a pretty good solution.

Product Description:
Audio application that allows users to easily record their collection of old vinyl records using just the Griffin iMic and their turntable. Previously users wishing to record their old record collection had to hook up their entire stereo system just to power their turntable. Now users can connect the record player directly to their iMic, and using Final Vinyl record and save all their old albums. They can then make them into CDs, MP3s etc. Final Vinyl does more than just record old albums; it is a fully functional general audio recording application as well. It can be used to record instruments, microphones and reel-to-reel tapes plugged into the iMic. It includes a 10-band Equalizer that is capable of significantly altering and enhancing a user's sound input. For example, inexpensive microphones could be improved by tweaking the base response. Old worn records can be fine tuned and tonally corrected. All this and more can be done using the completely free Final Vinyl combined with the Griffin iMic.

What's new in this version:
Updated and improved user interface.
New VocalReducer effect.
Supports opening multiple simultaneous audio files.
Normalize now uses a user-defined value.
Play repeats within a selection.
New preset colour options.
Saving of individual tracks via right/control-click.
Marks can be repositioned via its handle.
The range of an effect applied to a selection can be modified via its handles.
The waveform no longer needs to be rebuilt after multiple undo/redos.
Drag and drop of supported audio files.
Expanded level meters.
No longer requires a Griffin audio device to be connected.

Operating System Requirements:
This product is designed to run on the following operating systems:
Mac OS X 10.5 Intel
Mac OS X 10.5 PPC
Mac OS X 10.4 Intel
Mac OS X 10.4 PPC
Additional Requirements:
Mac OS X 10.4 or higher

griffintechnology

Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video

It's somewhat ridiculous that a working musician such as myself can be so late to the musical. I don't do the MTv thing, or the music video thing until someone sends me something they think I may like.

I had heard about this video and had seen quick clips of it on television, but until early this morning had not watched it from beginning to end.

If you're hard wired to not like this particular democratic candidate, you may want to "fight the funk" as George Clinton used to say. But it's hard to deny the power and passion melted into this piece. It's also beautiful INMHO to see so many of all walks take politics as a passion, instead of talking about how many gold rings they have, how good their butts look or milkshakes in the yard.

Take a minute and watch this video.

Digidesign Updates Pro Tools LE & HD 7.4/7.4.1

Pro Tools, that now main stay of professional audio recording has been updated with improvements to LE and HD versions.

Digidesign Pro Tools HD - 7.4.1

What's new in this version:
Digidesign is pleased to announce Pro Tools compatibility for Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) with Pro Tools HD 7.4.1 software, the first of a phased Pro Tools update release. Pro Tools HD 7.4.1 software provides Mac OS X 10.5.1 compatibility* with Apple’s current 8-core Mac Pro computers (those featuring Intel “Harpertown” processors).

Leopard compatibility for Pro Tools LE, Pro Tools M-Powered, other Pro Tools|HD systems, older Intel-based Mac Pro computers, Avid Mojo SDI, and expansion chassis is expected in subsequent Pro Tools software updates, so please wait until official announcements are made before upgrading your system to Mac OS X 10.5.

Important — Please be aware that some currently shipping plug-ins and virtual instruments are not compatible with Pro Tools HD 7.4.1 running on Mac OS X 10.5.1, and some require that you update your plug-ins if an update is available. Before you install the Pro Tools HD 7.4.1 update, be sure to review the plug-in compatibility and update information here.

* Pro Tools HD 7.4.1 software works with Mac OS X 10.5.1 only, and is NOT compatible with Apple’s new Mac OS X 10.5.2 release. Please do not update your OS until we’ve made an official announcement about compatibility.

Digidesign Pro Tools LE - 7.4

Product Description:
Get ready for a revolutionary new way to work with Pro Tools. Digidesign Pro Tools LE 7.4 software features all-new music creation tools and support for more creative options, making it the most flexible Pro Tools software ever.

Featuring the time-manipulating power of Elastic Time, Pro Tools LE 7.4 software allows you to approach your projects in creative new ways, making working with tempo- and time-based sessions a whole lot easier, more efficient, and imaginative.

Pro Tools LE 7.4 software also adds support for Windows Vista Ultimate and Business (32-bit) systems. And new support for Avid Mojo SDI brings Pro Tools LE systems into the Avid post-production workflow, allowing you to benefit from the great picture quality, easy navigation, and efficiency of Avid video right in the Pro Tools timeline.

DigiDesign

Erykah Badu A Video To Be Seen

Okay, I don't do this often, but sometimes you see and hear something and you just want everyone to see and hear. I happen to dislike videos so I don't see very many. I find them boring and a part of the reason why music has lost it's flavor. But sometimes a video comes along like the "OK Go" video and you just sit back and go, wow, That's wasn't a video, that was an experience.

For anyone who loves and misses true R&B, my guess is you,'ll like this new offering from Erykah Badu for the song- Honey