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I had a problem: I wanted my radio station to automagically play my newer music and update the stuff that it plays every day, yet keep enough older stuff that there is still some variety, especially if no new music gets discovered for a while. I’d need to find some way to keep the most recent 200 or so tracks playing on my station.

Let’s start by looking at what we have and what we have to do:
Files on a Linux fileserver playing on a Windows server (via samba) in Winamp using EdCast to stream to sc_serv (Shoutcast) on a different Linux server in the DMZ. Currently, I have the X: drive on the Windows server mapped to the Linux Fileserver. Winamp re-scans the fileserver every 3 days for new music and adds it to the library, but I still have to manually go in and add new tracks to the playlist.

Some initial ideas and problems:
-Use XML-RPC / SOAP from another music cataloging program that I currently use
+I just really feel like there was an easier way to do what I wanted without going through all the trouble.

-Telling Winamp to [re]load the playlist: the Winamp API Uses C++…yuck…I don’t know or want to learn C++ just for this project. Plus, DRY applies, someone HAS to have thought of this before.
+Solution: httpQ, a simple http listener plugin for Winamp that uses a simple and easy to implement control scheme: simply call the right URL and Winamp does what you want. Awesome. ( http://httpq.sourceforge.net )

-Finding files that have been modified recently, and if none have been modified in the time specified, keep looking until you find enough files
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I’ve decided to try my hand at making something that sounds like the way I feel sometimes.

Have a listen.  The title is Broadcast0.  There is no artist as far as I am concerned, I’m just playing what I feel.

here

I was just messing around with the Virtual DJ for M(h)ac(k)intosh and made this in about 15 minutes…Link

I just fooled around with cue points…it’s a really nice program and has a cool plugin that you can use to make sort-of breakbeat stuff with, but sort of difficult to use without a MIDI controller (I haven’t tried to get my M-Audio Trigger Finger working on Mac yet).  The program also beatmatches really well and is very responsive…unless you try to drag-n-drop from a network share in OSX.  Maybe this works better in the windows version?

Anywho, check it out at http://www.virtualdj.com

http://www.amazon.com/Split-Bonus-CD-Thursday/dp/B001GJ2ZBG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1223244491&sr=8-1

In other news, Thursday is supposed to release a split with Envy on November 4th…I already have it, of course, but I’m glad that Geoff Rickly finally decided to put out an album that is a bit closer to real screamo.  This is not to say Thursday is a bad band, they are the closest thing to actual screamo that you will ever hear on the radio.  The album is going to be released on Temporary Residence Limited (of Explosions in the Sky, Grails, and Mono fame) will be a 12″+CD set, with both containing the same music.  It is rumored that they will also be releasing a hand-printed limited edition via their web store.  I’m really glad to see them break free of the BS relation with Island Records.

Geoff is also still involved in his side project, United Nations.  It’s really refreshing to see a band go from mainstream to playing more traditional-eqsue screamo, although they seem to want to call it “emo-power-violence”…which basically seems like real screamo.  “The band was started by Daryl Palumbo, vocalist of Glassjaw and Head Automatica, and Geoff Rickly, the vocalist/lyricist of the band Thursday. Other artists involved in the project possibly include Ben Koller, drummer for Converge; Christopher “Chree” Conger, former drummer of The Number 12 Looks Like You; bassist Eric Cooper of Made Out of Babies; and Jonah Bayer of The Lovekill. However, due to contract obligations of all members except Rickly, the official lineup isn’t well-known, with the exception of Rickly and Palumbo.^[3][4] Since Rickly is the only member whose primary band is currently not under contract, his name is the only one that can legally appear in press materials.^[5] Press photos of the band released in 2008 depict 4 people wearing Ronald Reagan masks.^[6]“

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_(band)

Hopefully other bands will follow in Thursday’s footsteps and break away from the mainstream.  The record companies forget that this is the age of technology and they can’t get away with selling a $15 cd with one hit single on it anymore…people will just download it or buy it on iTunes or some other online music store.  Also look into the latest release of Radiohead, Girl Talk, and Y.A.C.H.T.    — they all were involved in some form of digital release of an album, and I hope this trend of bands releasing their own material continues.