Whither Thou Goest JazzRadio.com?

 

My First-World outrage of the day!  ClassicalRadio.com and JazzRadio.com are now both subscription-based services (they are part of the same streaming network) that, henceforth, will only offer a mere five randomly-chosen free stations per day.  I'm furious!  These are two of my favorite streaming services of all time!  And now I am expected to pay for the privilege of picking my stations?!  Never!

I'm kidding about my outrage, of course.  I understand that music services have to pay the bills just like anyone else.  And, honestly, the membership fee of $60 a year, one that unlocks all six music streaming stations - DI.FM, RadioTunes, ClassicalRadio.com, JazzRadio.com, RockRadio.com, and ZenRadio.com - that are part of Ari Shohat's music network, is not unreasonable; it comes out to $5 a month, which would make it one of the cheapest subscription services out there.  

But it comes down to this: I really enjoy JazzRadio.com, but would I pay to listen to it?  

Brief Review: Netflix's "High Score"

 

One of my favorite hobby horses is how video games, an industry that generates more revenue than the movie and music industries combined, is largely ignored by the old media.  To me, this has been a baffling exercise in willful blindness, something akin to when theater ignored the arrival of motion pictures, much to their long-term chagrin. The arrival of the video game industry has proven to be a watershed event, one that would transform the world of entertainment forevermore.  How did this happen?  At long last, someone has acknowledged the Donkey Kong gorilla in the room and attempted to answer that question by chronicling the rise of this new entertainment goliath.  Deposit a token to watch Netflix's new docu-series about the rise of video games, High Score.

Anti-Social Social Media

 

They call it "social media," but it really ain't!

(That's the extent of my daily allotment of folksy verbiage!)

Of course, that is not a new observation.  Contemporary media pundits have been making this observation for some time, so I am not saying anything new.  I guess you can consider this just my personal declaration of social media liberation.  

Well, that is my hope, anyway.