Filed under: Multimedia, Software, iTunes, Beta Beat
Peel: MP3 Blog Client
Peel is an interesting application for reading and subscribing to MP3 blogs. What is an MP3 blog (or musicblog) you ask? Well Wikipedia says that a musicblog is simply a blog whose main point is offering MP3s (or other digital audio files) for download (along with commentary). Peel is very self consciously meant to look like iTunes and is designed to integrate with it, allowing you to "add your favorite music directly to iTunes with a click of a button." Peel has two panes, one for managing and downloading the music, and the other for reading the blog postings. Once you download Peel you'll find three musicblogs already subscribed and you can immediately start streaming music from them. It even features Growl support for displaying track information.The Music Blog Wiki has a musicblog directory which looks like a good place to get started. This seems like it might be a great way for learning about new music. Anybody out there a big musicblog fan? If so, which ones?
Peel is in beta and so a free download for the moment, but will eventually sell for $14.95
Thanks to those who sent this in!
[Via lifehacker]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Josh said 8:26AM on 2-16-2007
This reminds me a lot like Songbird http://www.songbirdnest.com/
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Eric Lawton said 4:48PM on 2-16-2007
is this legal?
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Mat Lu said 4:54PM on 2-16-2007
Well there's nothing illegal about Peel. Regarding the particular MP3s, that would depend on what songs people are putting on these blogs. After all, there is non-commerical music out there.
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D said 5:25PM on 2-16-2007
Yes this is legal. Most weblogs get permissions from bands to post.
I love www.FunTimeOK.com. Superb indie/noise/avangarde music.
Also guys, let me know if you know any good electronic music weblogs. Anything electronic, really - breaks, house, d'n'b etc.
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Tom said 5:46PM on 2-16-2007
I host a weekly community radio show and mp3 blogs have really been a timesaver for me. I check approx. 30-40 of them a week to find new music. Peel will make the process of finding and previewing new music even more streamlined. The blogs I read all post mp3s distributed by bands and independent labels. In other words, they're legal. Think of them as web-based music magazines w/ a free CD attached. Many also offer podcasts.
A good place to find mp3 blogs w/ the music you like is to go to an mp3 blog aggregator (I use http://www.elbo.ws ). Type in the names of musicians you like and visit the blogs in the search results. Most of them will also have a blog roll of like-minded blogs. My favorite mp3 blogs are songs:illinois (http://songsillinoismp3.blogspot.com/) and aquarium drunkard (http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/).
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A_Webb said 7:13PM on 2-16-2007
And Songbird is FREE!
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cwguth said 9:05AM on 2-17-2007
This is one of my favorite new apps--I didn't know I needed it, but now I don't know how I have survived without it.
I used the directory listed above and subscribed to a bunch of new music blogs, and I'm going to go through them over the next week or so and see which ones I like.
I'd never heard of songbird until Josh's comment--I'll have to check that one out later. If it does the same thing, I might be sold on it instead.
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