Amazingly Cool Resources, Part 4 of 5 - imeem

Amazingly Cool Resource #4: imeem

I just dicovered imeem about a week ago, and I am in love! I told you in the last installment of StumbleUpon, which lets you discover new websites by building a profile of what stuff you like, and serving up more of that kind of stuff. Well imeem is kind of like that, but for music. And video too, but I mostly use the music side of things.

I like a lot of music, but I am (as has been mentioned in other posts) a cheapskate tightwad. I don't like to pay for music, and I don't particularly like having to sneak around like a Drug Dealer looking for a place to "Score" music for free.

imeem is a great resource for anyone who works (or plays) next to a computer much of the day. If you don't want to spend much time, just log in (you do need an account), type the name of the artist that has captured your fancy lately into the searchbar (make sure you select a "music" search,as opposed to an "Everything" search), and get a list of imeem's songs by that artist (more or less). With the click of one button, you can make a playlist out of all those songs, which pops up in a streaming music player a separate window. You can look through that list, and un-check song you don't want to hear.You can minimize that window, leaving it in the background where it will play the songs you want to hear, with no interruptions, for as long as you want. Kicks Radio's Butt, Hands Down.

If you do want to spend a little more time cruising through the tunes, there is a little button (actually there are 3) up at the top Righ..no Left side of the screen, that functions just like StumbleUpon's "Stumble" button. Based on the songs you have rated previously, the "discover" button will take you to a new page, where a fresh song awaits your rating. If you like the song, you can choose to play the next "Related" song, or click the "dicover" button to get another tune.
There is a lot that can be done to improve the site's navigation, and their "help" page is kind of a joke, but the main features of the site, playlist building and music discovery, are worth a look. And of course, the system works a lot better if you have friends in your network who actively share music. Since plugging in

Amazingly Cool Resource #4½: hulu

One thing that really annoys me lately is the people who respond to my blog with "You must have too much time on your hands!" or "You need a hobby!" or some other snarky comment implying that time spent in front of my computer screen is time wasted. Anybody who can tell me how Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell are getting along nowadays, or why, in their opinion, the last "Project Runway" contestant should never have been treated like that, or what happened on the last 114 episodes of "24", doesn't have the right to tell me about wasting time online.

We make time for what we like, whether that be playing in the park with our kids, reading the New York Times every day, Building a Full Size Replica of Chewbacca out of Legos, Reading the last 70 James Patterson Novels, or organizing and maintaining our "Hubcaps of the World" Collection. One thing I spend a lot of time doing lately is blogging- Researching things, Sharing my thoughts about the world, and Trying (occasionally desperately, and mostly ineffectively) to foster a sense of interactivity and community amongst my various readers.

One thing I haven't spent ANY time on is watching TV. Not that I am holier than thou or anything, I just live in an area that is too far away from both Nashville and Chattanooga to get decent reception with bunny ears, and am too big a ... you guessed it! Too big a cheapskate tightwad to pony up for Satellite or Cable TV. (Maybe I should have called this series Amazingly Cool Resources for Cheapskate Tightwads!)

Anyway, As of a couple of days ago, I got my "Invite" to the "Private Beta" launch of Hulu.com, the upcoming joint venture from NBC and Fox, to bring "Made For the Airwaves" content to the YouTube crowd. While I haven't watched much TV for the last few years, it has not been for lack of shows I wanted to see. "Heroes", as readers of this blog could probably guess, is something I really wanted to see, and I got really sick of being in the dark as I heard America talk about "Lost", and "24" as well. The "Reality" TV, like the aforementioned Project Runway and American Idol, I could Pass on, but there is actually a lot of TV programming that I would like to catch up on.

Now that it is available to me, on demand and practically commercial free, on Hulu, my only problem is prioritizing what shows to watch first. I have one episode each of "The Simpsons" and "The Office" under my belt and only 4,000 more episodes to go. Now I can waste my time like a real American, and get the social approval I so desperately desire!

(that last sentence was intended sarcastically. Just so you know.)