Up until a few days ago I'd never tried an online subscription-based music service, mostly because I couldn't conceive that it would be worth $10 a month (which is the typical price for these kinds of services). However, the other day my friend Al turned me on to a service called MOG.com. 

I signed up for the 14 day free trial and then downloaded the free iPhone app. MOG allows you to listen to music on your computer using a web browser, or on your iPhone via the MOG app (it also works with the ROKU TV box). Intuitively, I realized it would be very nice to be able to have access to almost any song in existence. However, experiencing this directly almost brought me to my knees with joy.

Ideally, I would like to have a music service that offers the following: (1) access to the widest possible selection of music; (2) the ability to discover new music easily based on music that I already know; and (3) the ability to access this music from virtually anywhere, at any time. The MOG music service provides this in spades.

MOG gives me access to all the artists that already exist in my purchased library of music, in addition to significantly more artists. MOG says that they have 8 million tracks available, but the number seems limitless to me. What really sets MOG apart is the ability to discover new music easily. Obviously, since I'm paying a flat monthly fee I'm encouraged to listen to as much music as possible.

MOG makes it easy to discover new music in a couple of different ways. First, the search function works exactly the way that Google does; that is, you can simply type in the name of an artist, song or album (or any combination) and find what you're looking for very quickly. For example, if you type in “stones waiting” you'll quickly find a link to the Rolling Stones song entitled Waiting On A Friend.

MOG also has a unique tool called MOG radio, which is fundamentally just a dedicated playlist that only play songs by a particular artist. But, what makes this even more interesting, is that you can use a special slider that lets you populate the playlist with other artists who sound like the focal artist. In other words, if I listen to Steely Dan radio I can adjust the slider so that an increasing mix of other artists who sound like Steely Dan are included in my playlist.

This is a great way to find new music based on music that you're already familiar with. This features is available in the web browser version, and in the iPhone app.

I was curious about the iPhone app (MOG also works with Android phones), wondering whether it would work well when I wasn't in a Wi-Fi hotspot. It works great at home, without any fault whatsoever. But that's because my house is blanketed with Wi-Fi. So I took the iPhone app for a spin in my car to see if it would drop out when I was using only the 3G service. I drove around New Orleans for about an hour doing various errands and not once did I lose my connection to the MOG service. Incidentally, the iPhone app works perfectly with Apple headphones; that is, you can pause the music by clicking once or advance to the next song by double clicking quickly.

Because MOG is so reliable, and because it is available to me pretty much anywhere I go, I have decided that this is a service I'm willing to keep paying for. After all, I probably spend at least $10 a month to buy music. If I can have all the music I would ever want available to me anywhere, why would I even want to own it? Of course, you are allowed to download music if you like so that you have it permanently on your computer hard drive or iPhone. I have downloaded a few songs just to see how this works, but the reality is I don't care about the music on my iPhone unless (for some reason) I can't access the Internet.

MOG allows you to create playlists if you like, and those playlists are available to you from any device that you log into on. I haven't spent much time creating playlists, and probably won't do that until I get more used to using the service. My friend Al expressed dismay that he had used a service called Lala where he built up a bunch of playlists, only to lose them all when Apple took over the company and shut it down. I doubt that will happen with MOG. Still, I'll wait a while before I invest time creating playlists.

In case you're wondering, you can only login from one device at a time. So, if your computer is logged into MOG when you login with your iPhone app it will log you out of the computer version. The service costs $9.99 per month but that's only if you want to use the iPhone app as well as the computer browser. If you want to log in from just your computer then it only costs $4.99 per month. That's a pretty good deal!

If you want more information about MOG click on this link. I'd check out the 14 day free trial and see if it works for you. You might be surprised like I was.

Seth Godin's thoughts on the mistakes made in the music business is spot on.  Apple is one company that has actually benefited from the switch to digital music, or so they say. That seems right.  When I bought my first iPod, about four years ago, I had an 'Ah ha!' moment.  I re-discovered my love for music, an epiphany that paved the way for me to switch my computing life completely to Apple.  Yes, Apple completely understands our love for digital music. 

Or does it?

A few weeks ago my brother visited me from Panama.  One of his goals was to buy an iPod and open an account on the iTunes music store.  He already had an iPod that I'd given him, and which I had loaded up with all my music.  Even though the iPod had 40 GBs of tunes he quickly became dissatisfied.  He wanted to buy his own music.  But, because Apple doesn't allow people in Panama to use the iTunes music store, he had to resort to using illegal services like Limewire.  While it was free, he wasn't satisfied because the quality of the files he acquired wasn't always good, and it was too cumbersome to transfer the music to his iPod.  He wanted to buy music legally, but he simply couldn't do it.

So I set him up with an account that has my U.S. based credit card.  Now he can buy music (which I pay for, although he claims he'll pay me back).  :)  And so now he's happy. He says he's re-discovered his love for music.  Too bad his friends in Panama (or the rest of Central and South America) can't do the same.

Meanwhile, as my brother was buying a new iPod nano, I was buying a satellite radio. It was an impulse purchase so I really had no idea how much I would like it. The quality of the sound is great, and I now have a steady stream of new music pouring into my house. I am absolutely blown away.  As soon as I hear something I like I walk over and look at the display to find out who the artist is and the song name.  At first I was tempted to buy every new song I liked, but I kept myself in check.  Why buy the music?  I already own lots of music.  As long as I'm hearing lots of new stuff I'm perfectly happy.  As long as I'm in the United States, that is.

The satellite radio won't work in Panama when I go down there to visit my brother.  Oh well, maybe one day the music industry will be all smoothed out and we'll be able to have our music wherever and whenever we want to.

Dick Morris is a big player in the music industry, but like many music executives he had no vision  whatsoever (or maybe it was lack of initiative).  Wired Magazine explained that he liked to "rail against criminal-minded college students and low-life punks who steal the music that his artists work so hard to create."  But he "admits to being fairly ignorant about technology" insisting that his job was to nurture the creative side of the business.

Yep, and Nero's job was to fiddle while the flames rose.  What a stupid statement: Complain about what you don't control, while you say that the one thing you could control is completely incomprehensible to you. No wonder the music industry is in shambles.  But, I am glad. 

If there are two words that don't belong together it's "music" and "industry."

Check out my friend Rebecca's My Space site, and listen to her song Santa Fe.  Rebecca is an amazing singer/song-writer.  She's living in Austin now because of the whole post-Katrina thing.

When I was at the Louisiana State Bar meeting in Destin, Florida I had a chance to hear two acoustic guitar players named Ben Friedman and Kyle LaMonica.  Their band is called Free Monica and they have a website and, of course, a MySpace site where you can hear a few songs from their latest CD, Egoliath (what a great name!).  Listen to Leave the Light On.  It's sort of haunting and, for some reason, it resonates for me in some weird way.  The whole CD is great; if you get a chance to hear these guys live (you'll have to be in Destin) then jump at it.

Doc Schneider is a great litigator and a great guy.  He's also an excellent guitarist and songwriter.  I got a copy of his CD a few years ago and have enjoyed it tremendously.  Just today I found out he has a website and you can check out his songs (download them, even) free of charge (but you should buy his CD from CD-baby if you can).  Choices and Chances is a great song, but I know a lot of lawyers will like Legal Guitarist too.  Doc lives in Atlanta, but travels around the country practicing law.

The N.O. Jazz Fest is going to take place on two weekends this year: April 28 - 30 and May 5 - 7.  The announcement of artists was released today, and it appears that Dave Matthews, Jimmy Buffet, Paul Simon, Keith Urban and Bob Dylan will be among the big-name acts that will be appearing.  Obviously, the real draw is all the local talent that will be on hand.  Fats Domino comes to mind, along with others too numerous to mention.

Ray Ward has passed me the musical baton.  He asks the following questions:

• what is my total volume of music
• what is the last CD I bought
• what song is playing right now
• what five songs do I listen to a lot because they are special to me
• five people I'm passing the musical baton to

I'm going to respond, but in an extended post, so feel free to click on the 'continue reading...' link if you want to read my responses.

My good friend Chris Cortez is having his CD-Release party this Saturday night at Dos Jefes Cigar Bar here in New Orleans. His new CD is called 'Mum is the Word' and features some catchy originals and  some covers like "Everyday I Have The Blues, Georgia On My Mind, Sweet Georgia Brown."   The CD has already gotten a 5 star rating from eJazz News.

The festivities kick off at 9:30.  Chris is going to have a killer 6 piece band that promises to rock the house.  Admission is free, and there will be lots of cool prizes and giveaways, including some of his new CDs.  His old stuff is available at Apple's iTunes Music Store at this link (requires that you have iTunes installed on your computer) if you want to check out what his stuff sounds like. Check it out and then come to Dos Jefes and look for me in the back.

His last album, Hold It Right There, is now available on iTunes Music Store. (my top song recommendations? Benny's from Heaven, Hold It Right There, and All Right, Ok, You Win).  His next album, Mum's The Word, is being released at the end of this month, and hopefully it will be available on ITMS soon too. 

Chris is a really wonderful musician, but he depends on the kindness of quasi-strangers (i.e. people who hear him play live) to make an immodest living.  His records are completely self-produced, so please give a listen and, if you like what you hear, buy his stuff and then relentlessly recommend it to friends and strangers.  I think it's really great that he has managed to get visible on Apple's music site.  Hopefully, it will lead to more people discovering his music.  He's someone who really deserves a wider audience.

My friend Chris Cortez is going to be on New Orleans' local radio station WWOZ this Friday (tomorrow).  He'll be playing  his guitar from 6 - 8 pm CST on Friday Nov. 19th.  You can listen in on their web stream if you aren't in New Orleans.  He'll be playing with my friend Vincent (guitar) and a great percussionist named John Wooton; and he will certainly play some stuff from his new album Mum's the Word.  Definitely check it out.

And check out WWOZ anytime if you want to hear great New Orleans music.  WWOZ is one of those rare independent music stations that we all need to nurture in any way we can.  Hey, Jazz Fest only happens once a year and you've got to come here to enjoy it.  WWOZ is on all the time and you can listen to it from anywhere in the world if you have an internet connection.

My sister-in-law is in town visiting along with her sister, Michelle.  We've had fun listening to music at my official new neighborhood bar (Dos Jefes), and in the course of one of our conversations Michelle told me about a band I'd never heard of: Maroon 5.  She said I had to listen to She Will Be Loved (iTunes Link) and she was right.  Great song!  The next day another friend of mine emailed me to tell me that her new favorite song is Sunday Morning, also by Maroon 5. 

I can't believe I hadn't heard of this band before.  Oh well, that's what friends are for.