Jack Johnson - Sleep Through the Static

Jack Johnson returns with a new studio album "Sleep Through the Static." Johnson consistently makes easy laid back pop.

Sheryl Crow - Detours

Sheryl Crow's new album Detours was released this week and is available for download on Amazon.com for $8.99. Its a pretty good album and early review are solid. Rolling Stone gives it 3.5 stars.

Yahoo Music Shutting Down - Switching Users to Rhapsody

Yahoo Music is closing its website and switching its users to Rhapsody. The change is expected to occur sometime in the first half of this year. Yahoo music customers will keep the same rates for a limited time, but will eventually need to switch over to Rhapsody's rates. Apparently, Rhapsody will be integrated into Yahoo's music portal. More specific details are forthcoming.

Yahoo Music was a nice service, but it never really was able to catch up to Rhapsody in terms of performance. I think Yahoo music customers will enjoy Rhapsody's service, but they will miss the Yahoo price.

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Download the classic Michael Jackson Thriller album at Amazon.com. Its a time capsule for everything that was great about the 80's.

Kanye West: Glow in the Dark Tour

Looks like Kanye West is prepping a tour in support of his Graduation album this summer. No dates are posted yet for what may be the "Glow in the Dark tour", but you can download the album on Amazon for $7.99. Pretty good deal.

Kate Nash - Made of Bricks

The new Kate Nash album Made of Bricks is now available for download on Amazon mp3 for only $7.99. Its a British pop goodie and worth a listen. Preview the tracks for free at Amazon.

Free and Legal Mp3 Download on Qtrax?

A new music service called Qtrax is claiming that it will soon offer free mp3 downloads on its site and pay for the service through advertising. Although Qtrax claims to have signed a deal with major record companies, those companies are denying that a deal is in place. Stay tuned for more details.

Amy Winehouse - Back to Black on Amazon Mp3

Amy Winehouse's new album Back in Black is available for download on Amazon's new mp3 service. You can download the entire album for $7.99. Best of all, its 256kbps and DRM free so there are no restrictions on your download. Its a great service and it will play on any mp3 player, including iPod.

The Flaming Lips: At War With The Mystics

Unique philosophical rockers The Flaming lips.

Sansa Clip with Rhapsody DNA

I've been testing the recently released Sansa Clip player and so far I'm very pleased with the results.

This is one of the smallest players you will ever see, yet somehow it squeezes in a very nice user interface with an electric blue on black screen. On the back of the player is a built in removable clip which makes this player perfect for the gym.

You navigate the Sansa Clip using a circular click pad which I found to be very quick and responsive. A home button located above the click pad takes you back to the menu screen. There is also a power-hold button on the left and a set of dedicated volume control buttons on the right of the player. The sound is very good and the player is packed with options including a voice recorder and and FM radio receiver.

It also comes with built in support for the DNA. For those of you who subscribe to Rhapsody to Go, this is a great feature. You can download any track from Rhapsody on to you player and listen to it on the go. Just make sure you plug in your player to Rhapsody each month or else your tracks will expire. I've been downloading a feature called Rhapsody channels. This allows you to pick a favorite genre of music and have hours worth or music automatically updated and refreshed on your player every time you plug it in. Basically, its like taking a radio station to go. If you like a track, you can click on it to automatically add it to your library.

If you are looking for a small portable player that's great for the gym, you won't find a more full featured player than the Sansa Clip.

Alan Jackson's Small Town Southern Man

Alan Jackson's new single is now available for downloading on . Jackson show's why he's still one of Nashville's best.

History of red hot chili peppers

If you are looking for a history of red hot chili peppers, before they became pop sensations, check out this compilation on . What Hits!? is a compilation of their early years including the classic "Under a Bridge."

Collective soul mp3 mp3

Collective Soul is ready to release its new album which includes the great mp3 single Hollywood. Preview the song on the website, then head over to
to catch up on the rest of Collective Soul's mp3 catalog.

The White Stripes - Icky Thump

The White Stripes are back with a new studio album, "Icky Thump", a exclusive. Although still not on par with the classic, "Elephant", its still a great listen.

Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger

Ryan Adams is back to his old ways (kind of) on Easy Tiger. I've given it a couple of listens and although its probably his best album since Rock N Roll, its still a bit subpar. However, I may be judging it too quickly. If you are a member you can check it out now for free..........try Tears of Gold.

John Mayer - The Village Sessions

This is a nice 6-song acoustic set featuring songs from Mayer's latest album, "Continuum." Check out "Waiting on the World to Change" with Ben Harper. Available now for free to subscribers.

New Smashing Pumpkins Single on Rhapsody - Tarantula

Its been a long time since we've heard anything good from the Smashing Pumpkins. Will this be their return to greatness? Check out the new hard-rocking single Tarantula from the Pumpkins on .

3 Legal Ways to Get Music on Your MP3 Player

It is common knowledge that free digital music can be obtained through peer-to-peer sharing networks like Kazaa and Limewire. However, downloading copyrighted material is illegal and although punishment is rare, it does occur. Furthermore, the quality of these tracks can be questionable and using peer-to-peer networks opens your computer up to dangerous viruses.

For those of you who want to avoid these types of files, there are 3 great options available to you.

• Rip your own CD collection into digital format
• Purchase protected music files from a digital music store like Itunes (some are now unprotected).
• Rent music on a subscription basis from Rhapsody, Napster, or Yahoo Music Unlimited.
  

If you have a large CD collection, you can save yourself a lot of money by ripping your own CD's to your hard drive. Although this can be time consuming, it offers the highest possible audio quality and is generally considered legal (as long as you don't decide to share these files with millions of people). If you rip your music in mp3 format, it should be compatible with any mp3 player, including the iPod.

Digital music stores like Itunes offer millions of tracks for download, however, there are restrictions placed on these tracks for most artists (EMI recently removed digital rights management, DRM, from their music files). You are limited to the number of times you can burn songs to a CD and the number of computers you can use to listen to these songs. However, for most people, this is not a concern. Also, Itunes audio quality measured in bit rate is less than what you can achieve when ripping your own CD's. Finally, protected Itunes songs only transfer to an iPod, so if you have a different mp3 player, you will need to find a compatible music download service.

Subscription music services allow you to download millions of tracks for a monthly fee. When you stop paying the monthly fee, the tracks expire and will no longer play. The advantage of this service is that you can listen to anything you want without having to buy every CD. Prices range from $10-$15 a month. With a subscription to-go service, you can transfer any song to a compatible mp3 player and take it with you to the gym or on trips. If you like to listen to a lot of new music, then this may be the most cost-effective option.

Itunes Unleashes DRM-free Version of Itunes

As promised, Itunes has released its DRM-free music store courtesy of EMI music. The songs are 256kbps AAC music files and cost $1.29 per track. You can upgrade most of your current eligible tracks for $0.30 per track.

No Beatles songs yet, but you can download tracks from big-name artists like Coldplay, Norah Jones, Joss Stone and REM. This is the first major music label to offer legitimate paid downloads online. Look for other online music stores to follow suit in the near future.

New Wilco Single - "What Light"

The new Wilco single is now available for streaming and download on The full album is due out later this spring. Enjoy!