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Top 50 Albums Part 2

This post does not relate to any other topics

Here is the next instalment from my list of iPod essential albums. I am kind of plucking these straight of my iPod list as I go in alphabetical order, but there may be a few omissions I will throw back in at the end if I don't reach 50 by the time I reach Z…

Posted on Oct 10, 2008 at 11:20:12.

Perhaps My All Time Top 50 Albums? (Part 1)

This post does not relate to any other topics

I am not normally one for charts since my musical tastes change daily and as new music is discovered other albums are replaced. For this very reason I like to keep my iPod collection fresh always looking for something new to listen to. Recently I did another fresh install of albums following the tweaks to my audio files to enable Genius to work on the lower bit rate versions. I couldn't help but notice there were a select few albums I just couldn't tear myself to remove from the playlist. So perhaps these should be classed as my top albums of all time? A bold statement perhaps, but certainly they are some of my favourites and well worth a listen.

Here are the first 10 in no particular order…

Lots more to follow…

Posted on Oct 10, 2008 at 06:44:46.

An unknown error occurred (4010) - iTunes Genius FIXED

Also relates to Software

Are you suffering the 4010 error in iTunes Genius when you try to activate the service?

I had set up a subsidiary repository for my most popular music on a separate laptop where I could store all audio at 128kbps and transfer it freely to my iPod Touch without interfering with the music stored at higher bit rates on my main media drive. This in theory would also allow me to easily manage the new Genius feature for these compressed files and have it working on the Touch.

Alas though, I could not get Genius to activate! The iTunes Store just threw back the 4010 error every time the tracks were submitted.

I validated my iTunes library XML file; I setup a new iTunes account; I deleted the Genius database file; I converted any MP3 files that had not been created with iTunes; I tried repeated submissions; and even tried submitting in the early hours of the morning (to get around any server bottlenecks) but still to no avail.

So as a last resort I closed iTunes down and deleted the iTunes library XML file. In fact I deleted all the files in the iTunes directory - library file, Genius file, Extras file and the artwork cache. Note my actual music library was stored on a separate partition. If this is in the iTunes directory do not delete this of course ;) So when iTunes was re-opened it was a blank slate again. In my Advanced preferences I ensured the path to my library still pointed to the directory housing all my music files to ensure I didn't end up with two copies of each file! Then I added just one album (the classic Allman Brothers Live at Fillmore East) back to iTunes by dragging the folder and dropping it into iTunes (can also do File->Add Folder from iTunes menus). Now I tried once again to enable Genius and… it actually worked! Just to play it safe I added a few more albums at a time and updated Genius from the Store menu (in case it was a corrupt album causing the problem). But after 20 or so albums had been registered successfully with Genius I dropped the rest of the albums back in (200 in total) and once again submitted to Genius with no issues at all :)

So finally now I have Genius working with all the albums on my Touch. Well I say all but of course no collection is complete without a Beatles album or three which don't fit in with Apple's Genius currently!

Posted on Oct 07, 2008 at 17:17:25.

What's on the Playlist

Also relates to Nostalgia

If it isn't enough that I subject the world, beyond these four walls, to my sporadic outbursts, this year I am going to inflict my eclectic taste in music on you as well! Ok, its not all bad. I confess that of the few live acts I have seen one was the teen sensation of the last decade. But then, I also got to see the Pixies and the Sisters of Mercy play Manchester and the NEC respectively in the early 90's - surf rock and gothic melancholy make the perfect match!?

Doolittle still features highly on my playlist but I tend to jump around a lot, through the decades and over different genres from Mahler to Mad-chester or Ozrics to Ziggy. Though I find beyond what I hear on Radio 2, I have little passion for contemporary music. New bands are emerging all the time with some interesting styles, but I find the originality and creativity that flavoured the music of years gone by is lacking. The phrase I have heard something like this before springs to mind.

Something I had most certainly not heard before was Argus which I was initiated to only last year. Where have Wishbone Ash been all my life? Argus is a superb album of medieval rock and roll with electric guitar playing to rival anyone - just plug in to Throw Down the Sword to hear 120 seconds of perfect harmony and synchronicity from Andy Powell and Ted Turner's dueling. This became my album of choice last year, carrying me through many long nights of urgency.

Early this year, I have slipped a little further back in time, dusting off some old Barclay James Harvest cassettes. Once referred to as the poor man's Moody Blues in the 70's, BJH have delivered many timeless harmonies from the inspiring and somewhat haunting Mocking Bird to rolling melodies like Song for the Dying and the 1968 debut Early Morning. Achieving a perfect balance of orchestral and rock, BJH were accompanied by a full orchestra on their tours in the early 1970's (the Harvest Years) even integrating Shostakovitch and Handle into their sets. The Poet/After the Day medley provides a fine example of the perfect juxtaposition of orchestra and rock ballad. Time Honoured Ghosts provided my first introduction to BJH in my teens, and it wasn't long before Medicine Man, Suicide and Dark Now My Sky were playing alongside Some Kind of Stranger (SOM), Hey (Pixies), Life On Mars, Made of Stone and other eternal favourites.

If you are reading this and Wishbone or BJH have not entered your life before, I strongly recommend a quick deviation.

Posted on Jan 29, 2005 at 05:49:14. [Comments for What's on the Playlist- 2]

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