If the demise of RIAA-flouting online mixtape site Muxtape left you scratching your head (though not perusing founder Justin Ouellette’s long explanation left on the site — tl;dr, bro), fear not. For every underwhelming MP3 search engine like Plorf, there’s a SeeqPod. They’ve been king of the hill for a while, but SeeqPod’s new playlist function — users can create their own playlists or search for ones they might like— would have been a Muxtape killer anyway.
But a strong second choice would be Mixtube, which makes playlists out of YouTube videos, and even has a shuffle function. Sure, the sound quality isn’t quite MP3, but it looks a lot like Muxtape did, and as you may have noticed from SeeqPod searches, there’s even more music on YouTube than there are MP3s on the net. User-generated playlists are like the Geto Boys — they can’t be stopped. (www.plorf.com; www.seeqpod.com; http://mixtube.org)
DEAR AMAZON.CA
Your American counterpart’s MP3 store has a Twitter feed announcing its Daily Deals, where albums such as Van Halen’s self-titled disc run for $1.99 or thereabouts. Amazon.ca has no MP3 store and keeps asking me whether I want to buy the new James Taylor album. Why do you hate us? Is it NAFTA? (http://twitter.com/amazonmp3)
DEAR AMERICA
On the other hand, Canadians can download Wilco (pictured) and Fleet Foxes’ live version of “I Shall Be Released” without having to pledge to vote in the US election. Which is only fair, since we gave you The Band (i.e. the people who made the definitive recording of the song) in the first place. (http://wilcoworld.net/vote/)
MP3 OF THE WEEK
The Acorn + Ohbijou, 12” EP: A tasty little four-song vinyl/MP3 EP on the eve of these acts’ North American jaunt. The Acorn’s “Burrows” rollicks along more than their sometimes-tepid recordings do. Meanwhile, Ohbijou’s “Darcy” has plenty of oomph, without losing that pixie-dust-filled atmosphere that has kept fans smiling beatifically from the depths of our cardigans. (www.kelprecords.com)