Jenni.

Thanks for all your help on this! To wrap this little saga up, my entry got me on the course, which I have finally finished. Hooray. You can check out my work and the delightful radio in question here: D&AD Design Workshops 09

Yeah that just clicked. You only get around 30 stations in most areas, scuppered! Think I got muddled between reading about internet radio. There is a prototype internet radio, that relies on a 3G mobile phone contract to work: CES: Blaupunkt debuts world?s first Internet car radio - Gadgets plan b then.

Chill out. I am not writing a dissertation, as I said, my initial post was based on a design brief. It is an extra-curricular competition for a place on a D&AD design course in London. I have a week to design a new way of browsing, buying and listening to music and so forums are an ideal way to understand the territory and a range of viewpoints. If I was required to cite my research, which I'm not, I would think forum research was not only acceptable but extremely relevant for a project on social media and the digital age. A lot of people have posted their personal preference, and I am more interested in those who choose to download or use online streaming services because I believe this is the way design will progress. I also found it interesting that a lot of people use the service at work, and so wanted to think of places we listen to music where you don't have access to your vast personal library. I think someone here mentioned a portable spotify player, which is where things will go. However, trying to make a large website user friendly on a small handheld device gets into complex interaction design which is not my speciality. My current concept is a digital radio for your car. Digital radio offers thousands of stations so it is hard to know what to listen to or how to navigate easily. When you're driving and listening to the radio you can push a button when a good song comes on to "love" the track (although I need to think about the semantics). When you get home you can remove the radio (as most can now for safety) and it has a flip out usb that connects to your computer. You then have the option to stream for free, or purchase the tracks you "loved", learn more about the bands, and the main selling point is that it will then recommend you radio stations based on the kind of music you "love" and you can update the preset buttons on the radio, so you can keep updating your top 5 stations. Now I just need to design the thing...

I posted this as a discussion question to try and not steer the conversation, but as most people moved to a "Save Fopp!" mentality I'll try and steer a little! For the generation who previously bought the physical formats there is a romanticism about owning the CD or vinyl for various reasons. Whilst some people justify it because of the added value or artwork or lyric books, the biggest reason is technology aversion, it's a generational thing, myself included. Similarly to delboy, I had heard of Spotify but wasn't aware of the extent social media sites had come on. For the generation of new music listeners (14+) they have literally never bought a CD, never mind a casette or vinyl, so why would they start? 30+ music streaming sites My intitial post is in fact a design brief. I used last.fm occasionally, but checked out a number of these sites for research. I was particularly impressed with we7, and grooveshark because you don't have to sign up to anything and spotify is impressive too. Even my younger brother who is admittedly a bit cooler than me these days wasn't really aware of the range of sites out there. Using them, it is easy to see a future where physical music is considered old fashioned, even downloading could become outdated as these streaming services improve and the Government continues pushing to improve connectivity around the country. So what does that mean for design... This was a point that was raised in the brief. If you accept the fact that digital music is the way forward, then how can you add value in the same way as with a CD that encourages people to download legal files? There are limitless opportunities, ilike is an application where artists can send special video messages to people who buy their tracks, people recieve tour info, etc. What about free tour tickets, wallpapers? What I'm trying to think of is how you can add value (artwork, lyric books, secret tracks) to a digital file. The growing trend is to add value through the service itself, better recommendations, and the ability to purchase or stream for free.

65% of teenagers now regularly use live music streaming services such as Spotify and last.fm, and many more are set to follow. This free file sharing and live streaming has meant illegal file sharing between 14-18 year olds has dropped significantly from 42 to 26%. Leading artists such as Kings of Leon sold over 100,000 copies of their album digitally, whereas physical CD single formats plunged 43.5% last year. We are entering a new era for music. It is an arena that is constantly evolving with technology, and the behaviour of music consumers. Where we used to only be able to buy physical formats such as vinyl records, cassette or CDs with cover artwork and lyric books, we now have a very different experience of accessing and buying music. We can now listen to music before we choose to buy it, or not buy at all by listening to live streaming on Spotify. Music now exists as digital files, transferred from computer to MP3 player. What do you think is the future for browsing, buying and listening to music?

Hehe, I was just online doing a bit of research for AQA (63336) trying to answer this question "Who is peaches geldof's agent/manager? Ta " and the link to this thread came up in google. Bizarre. Unfortunately the answer was not provided and I am thirty pence the poorer. Oh yeah, and I've sat next to her on a plane. It was ages ago, and I didn't know who she was, and Mum was all excited because she'd seen Bob Geldof, but I didn't know who he was either, and she insisted on splitting me and my brother up because her seat was in the middle. Super bitch.

So, I've been keeping an eye out for any word on a second Indian Summer but there's absolutely nothing. Anyone know if there's even gonna be one? Whilst looking for information I came across the impressive website for this Connect festival at Inverary Castle, Argyle. ::: CONNECT MUSIC FESTIVAL ::: From the website alone there's definately a similar vibe to Indian Summer, so I'm all ears, AND it falls on the same weekend that Indian Summer did last year which makes me think this is an instead of as opposed to an as well as. Connect festival is presented by DF concerts whereas I'm pretty sure Indian Summer was by PCL. Anyway, I'm suspecting Connect will be along similar lines though on a larger scale (20,000) with bigger names. They're selling these "early bird" tickets when there's absolutely no mention of a lineup which is pretty annoying, but I'm tempted to get some anyway. Modest Mouse have a new album on the way so that'd be pretty nice. I don't want to buy tickets when I don't even know who's playing... hmmm. Guess I'm routing for arcade fire showing up as well. Wouldn't mind getting a tipi either. Thoughts and that?

Oh Shaun, tartan scarves are everywhere. It seems red tartan is the new leapord print for winter upon the high street bandwagon. Especially red it seems.

A fine bit of Luke Cheuh trhown into the mix.

There are still tickets on sale chum.

I managed to get tickets from the arches website. All's well. Still, tunnels will be awesome.

Hmmm, the nme site is only offering me the Aberdeen date. Does this mean it's all sold out or is it just acting funky? Would rather go in Glasgow like. ---> So I called ticket enquiries and the call failed whilst I was being transferred, so I called the customer servieces number and it puts you through to last minute.com Great stuff.

Oh my that's ace! Shitdisco are nuts. Definately a fun night.

how to kill the dj [part two] - optimo[espacio] the pacha experience (for a friend's birthday) The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album - Sufjan Stevens The optimo[espacio] record is great.

Here’s a slice of information for you: - a very limited amount of day tickets will be released on sale on Saturday 5th August at 9am. Yey. Maybe if you or a friend don’t live in Glasgow, or haven’t got a floor or sofa in the City to kip on for the Saturday night, then this Day Ticket is the ideal way to pick your favourite day? However, these tickets are strictly limited, so if you’ve got your wee heart set on only Saturday or Sunday, please get up early on the 5th August at 9am to avoid disappointment and buy your daily special here. As you may have read in the news, over the past few weeks there have been some dazzling additions to the main stage bill. A band who have just celebrated thirty years in the music industry, The Fall, are now confirmed as playing the main stage on the Saturday, alongside Yo La Tengo, SXSW buzz band the Tapes n Tapes, acclaimed singer songwriter Ben Kweller and home-grown act Camera Obscura. You can find very informative biogs of all these bands on our web-site (click here) - highly recommended. We have also now announced day splits, so you can work out when to eat and when to queue for drinks so you don’ t miss your favourite band ever. How thoughtful... Saturday Main stage: Yeah Yeah Yeahs The Fall Hot Chip Guillemots Ben Kweller Scissors For Lefty 1990s Sunday Main stage: Antony And The Johnsons Yo La Tengo Gang of Four Broken Social Scene Tapes ‘n’ Tapes Camera Obscura Tilly And The Wall More quality information to follow about the other two stages (yes, you heard us, that’s TW0 other stages) very soon. Did you know that we’ve also just added lawn bowls, and croquet, to the line-up? Don’t you love the idea of playing bowls while listening to The Fall? A real sight to behold in Scotland, and certainly a sight never before seen in Glasgow's West End. On a closing note, packed lunches are not required, seeing that there’ll be sushi, smoothies and other healthy food stalls to provide you with treats throughout the weekend. Picture yourself sitting on a picnic bench sipping a Southern Comfort cocktail, surrounded by trees strung with fairylights watching the sun go down on Yo La Tengo… Speak soon, there’s much more for me to tell you yet, and only one more month in which to tell it! Keep 'em peeled... Love from Indian Summer

Hmm, thought I recognised the name of the place. Sandra Johnston, my best friend's Mum has an exhibition there at the minute. I'll head along, has anyone been?

I really like cooking, especially since going off to uni. Cooking for one's a bit of a pain but it did get me eating heaps of fruit and veg because you have to consciously use them up before they go off. I use this site all the time: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/ One of my favourite things to make are stuffed peppers. Not going to go into full details because I'll just miss something out. You basically drizzle some pepper halves in olive oil and bake them in the oven for 12 minutes. Red peppers are sweetest and yummiest. In the mean time chop a red onion, some green pepper, red pepper, couple of tomatoes get it in a pan with a bit of oil, some tumeric, ground coriander, then you put a dry portion of rice in with all that and add boiling water just til the rice is covered. Boil that for however long your rice takes to cook. then let the water boil off, add some mozzarella if you want because it makes the rice better for stuffing, salt, pepper, in your peppers. Super yummy.

Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon Lo-Fi-Fnk - Boylife Guillemots - Trains to Brazil The Blow - Poor Aim: Love Songs Also bought both the Klaxons and Justice singles. Singles? Must have been feeling wild that day.

The new line-up is: Indian Summer Yeah Yeah Yeahs Antony and The Johnsons Hot Chip Yo La Tengo Broken Social Scene Guillemots Scissors For Lefty Gang of Four Fall Tapes N Tapes Ben Kweller Camera Obscura 1990s Optimo (Espacio) Tilly & The Wall Mr Scruff Soul Jazz System Maurice Faulton Butch Cassidy Sound System Melting Pot Amp Fiddler Moodymann Bill Brewster (DJ History) Paul Cawley and much more

What bedtime means to a child. Lie down in the dark, perfectly still.... for HOURS. hitler hitler hitler

...and Tilly and the Wall. What fun.

...and Ben Kweller. Tapes 'n tapes are cracking.

Where/when can you buy tickets hmm? I'm finding them tough to track down.

I really want to go. I'll try and cram in all the quality time with the parents into a few hours and skip off to this.