In 2018, are you still downloading mp3s? If not, do you miss them? I was reading a number of different blogs on the subject; and turns out there are just as many different opinions about mp3s. Some bloggers talked about the beauty of gaining access to obscure music not easily found in stores; not sure if that’s still true because the best way back then was via Kazaa & Imesh. Now that both of those are basically defunct; I’m almost positive that the way people get their MP3s now are by way of YouTube. As I’ve gotten older, I just don’t see the point of going through the trouble of finding and downloading mp3s anymore, now that streaming is here. There is a point (speaking from my experience) where large amounts of mp3s becomes too much to organize/manage. No matter how much you try, you can’t really truly organize them; unless you obsess over them to the point you can’t do anything else with your life. Which is also one of the many reasons I’ve come to the conclusion that downloading mp3s now are just too primitive in the current age of streaming. I liken this to people who have emotional attachments to physical albums; once you come from a certain era, it’s really hard for most people to change towards something better. We all fall victim to it (whatever that thing is).

I think the only sites that supports mp3s now (legally) are independent artist sites, such as Jamendo and the like. What I find even more stunning, is that many artists who want more fans, still don’t use music discovery platforms such as Spotify. Let me tell you, the vast majority don’t even know what a Jamendo is. Some bloggers I’ve read suggests that mp3s are dying. I’m not sure if I agree with that either; maybe if we look at it in a relative sense (in comparison to streaming)?. When we look at legal sites such as Amazon and GooglePlay, there needs to be a site that has music not available on your chosen service in mp3 form. On the other hand, I’ve also seen sites that automatically and illegally RIP YouTube music into mp3 formats. Now, taken in account that storage has gotten larger and cheaper, there still comes to a point when downloading huge amounts of mp3 files (also large sized files cause most of us care about quality), can and often does effect you’re mobile’s performance. Hardware do get slower as space diminishes. Again, to solely use mp3s today just doesn’t seem practical to me anymore (unless there’s no other way of getting it), and it has become a habit that is impossible to break, especially now that music is essentially free now via streaming.

I was thinking, I haven’t seen a Time Life infomercial in ages! Remember those? I think they used to come on PIX or WWOR. They used to spread out about 10-15 CDs containing all kinds of classic music for the sale of $120, with 5 easy payments of $23.99. 😀 Although those infomercials may have been annoying to some, one thing’s for sure, it was a great way to rediscover your favorite classic music. I’ll doubt this will comeback ever again, as all we have to do now is stay in front of the TV with our Shazam up and running. I remembered that I recorded a couple of those long infomercials on VHS. I just Shazam’d all the songs I liked. Didn’t need to make one single purchase. Yup… Free & legal….. Gotta love technology!! Now you have people creating playlists derived from those  same albums. LOL

You know, I’m surprised to read that there are a lot of people who still believe that blogs are dead. This is not exactly true at all, and I think if someone wants to start a blog of their own, they should not be discouraged. What appears to be the core & common belief is that, now with the age of music streaming services like YouTube, Spotify, etc, people can just listen to music themselves without having to read the advice of others. While that is true, there are also other factors. Many people do in fact loose interest in their blogging. It takes a certain amount of dedication that many people just don’t have anymore. Sometimes people have things in their lives that has permanently taken their attention away from blogging. Or, sometimes it’s simply being technically challenged. There is a LOT that is involved in blogging. It’s not just finding a good interesting topic people want to read about; it’s also figuring out how to promote yourself for the least amount of money and time; it’s about figuring out how google works to your best advantage. A lot of people aren’t willing to invest in that kind of time, therefor, some blogs start to slowly die off.

I also considered the possibility that Google is inadvertently shadowing bloggers. Why would I think this? Well, remember that everything is automated, and keywords  are used to search your content, and once a string is found, Google/X search engine can do whatever. Understand that a search engine’s algorithms are not perfect, and sometimes they can blacklist innocent sites for just typing the wrong word. This is because today, sites like Google & Facebook have become not only so politicized; they’re being made responsible for blocking “questionable sites.” So despite the fact that many people still think that blogging is dead, there are a ton of new music blogs emerging all over the place. The bottom line is, it’s true you may not necessarily need a blog to get their opinion on music, but we do still need them to help us find new music and playlists that cater to our tastes. Also, if you really are interested in a particular artist, you may appreciate a little more information about that artist, which a blog (made by other music fans) can provide. Please remember one thing, regardless of how good a search engine’s (or music service’s) algorithms are, we still need a human being to help us find quality & historical music.

I am so incredibly angry. All I can say to you guys is, unless you have very strong technical abilities DO NOT USE GODADDY! However, if you’re on Godaddy already, here’s why you should stay with the devil you know (a wise old saying). Setting up for the first time is easy. But switching over to the new server was a nightmare! And they really didn’t do shit! They left me hanging for almost two weeks, they’re unorganized, they’re not on the same page at all. If it where not for the fact that I understand what I’m doing, and the fact that their hardware is pretty solid, I would have went with another hosting provider. But the other thing is, I don’t want to leave into the arms of an even worse host! “Better to stay with the devil I know.” Why did I do it in the first place? To have better security, and a cheaper price. I really don’t know what happened, they were not so bad when I first started with them 10 years ago. Their tech support SUCKS now!!!! They must have outsourced their staff too! It’s the only explanation I can think of! Damn it. It is so difficult to deal with a company that has outsourced their staff. It’s not a good feeling to realize you understand more of what needs to be done than the provider’s staff. They love to talk you in to buying a bunch of stuff, but in reality, the lack the organization to do what’s necessary for my situation. It was kind of like talking to a Best Buy manager; you know how they’ll lower the price on something in order for you to get the insurance? LOL So, long story short, because the server is entirely different, the new database is entirely different, I can’t import any of my old data. And I’m not paying a single penny more to have them do anything (which they’re not going to do shit anyway, cause they appear to be backwards). So, I decided to start over again from scratch. I was saddened to come to that conclusion. Words cannot describe how mad I am with godaddy. The amount of work that would have taken to deal with that database isn’t worth it. My question is, why didn’t they develop a tool to seamlessly migrate data and update the database? Especially since WordPress is the most commonly used CMS program. Grrrrrrrrr. Thanks guys for your patience and support. Please note: It will be some time before google gets around to indexing my site.