Blip.fm – for when you must share everything

It’s not enough that we share what we’re doing every minute on Twitter, our party pics on Flickr and even what we ate after every meal: now we also can share what we’re listening to on Blip.fm. What’s next? ListenToMeSingInTheShower.com? (Hmm, anyone have any extra VC?)

I discovered Blip.fm just by seeing people on Twitter posting interesting posts with little musical notes in them, like this:

I set up an account, found a couple of Twitter buddies to invite, and suddenly, I’m sharing even more of my life.

Blip.fm works this way: You find songs that are mysteriously hosted around the Internet (or upload your own at your own copyright peril) and post that song with a little Text. It’s really Twitter with music. Blip does a few things really well – such as integrating with Twitter. You can tell Blip to share every new song that you select on Twitter. It posts just like you see above. If you don’t want to flood your Twitter account, you can type an exclamation point before your text. For example, if I had typed “! Was listening to this, one of my favorite Stones songs …” then it would have posted on Blip, but NOT on Twitter. Handy.

What I don’t like: Commenting on others’ choice of songs is cumbersome. You actually have to post the song yourself in order to even comment. Is there really a social networking site out there that does not have an easy way to comment on others’ messages? Lame. Also, their “help” section could use a lot of help. There is no explanation for much of anything on there if you’re a newbie. It’s hard to figure out some of the most basic things, such as “What is a ‘listener?”

What I do like: Sharing songs is something we naturally do. When a good song comes on the radio, don’t you turn it up so others can hear it sometimes? Isn’t it fun to see what’s on your friends’ iPods? Also, the interface is pretty clean, and once you figure out the basics, it isn’t difficult to master.

So, here I am, sharing my taste in music. Of course, I stopped listening to new music around 1994, so I’m dating myself with each post. But it is a lot of fun.

Want to share your music? Join me here.

Yes, I am ready for some football

This is my time of year.

It was in the 60s this morning when I woke up (it’s still going to be 96 today, though). In a few minutes, a boring college football game is on TV. Don’t misunderstand me: A boring college football game is like pizza – even when it’s bad, it’s good.

Tomorrow, the Cowboys open the season at Cleveland. It just doesn’t get any better. I’ve had Cowboys season tickets since 1992. Well, my Dad had the tickets until about 2001, and then I purchased them from him. I went to a lot of great games in those years, including the famous “Lett it be” ice bowl on Thanksgiving. I also saw some Cowboys highlights, including the prime years for Emmitt, Aikman and Irvin.

Alas, this is my last year of having season tickets. Jerry Jones’ (and the taxpayers’) beautiful new stadium has outpriced me. Every year, I scraped up about $2k to buy the tickets (4 seats in lower end zone, shady side). I’d sell most of the tickets on eBay, go to a few of the games and break even (in good years). This year, tickets are waaaaa-aaaay more than $2k, when you throw in the “franchise fee” that Jerry want me to pay on each seat.

Oh well, it was a good run. Hopefully, the Cowboys dominate this year and make it to at least the NFC championship (with home-field advantage). That way, I can get at least a few more games in (and playoff games, no less) before my tickets go away.

Being outpriced will not stop me from being a Cowboys fan. I’ll still watch them. Thank God for high-definition TV, pizza (bad or good) and football.

Now if we can just get the high temperatures down into the 70s …