iTom

[filkertom]

Okay, I think I've got all the bugs 'n' stuff beaten out of it. We shall see.

Today starts iTom, a subscription service with a brand-new song every week. Subscribing is free and, I hope, extremely easy; do it here, or Friend the LJ feed itom_songs. (It updates really slowly -- sorry, I have no control over that.)

The free MP3s are 128 Kbps, and are (mostly) available until the next song update; if you want to pay for a higher-quality 192 Kbps MP3, it's only 99¢. Every few months, I'll bundle 'em into a download album.

Please, please let me know what you think of the songs, of the idea, if there are any problems with any aspect of this. I specifically put the thing on a blog so that anyone could comment on it. Many thanks, gang.

Comments

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Go for it. What's the worst that could happen?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Never say that. Martin Lawrence is still out there. Somewhere.

[janet-coburn.livejournal.com]

OK. I've followed the links and clicked the buttons. Let's see what happens.

[thingunderthest.livejournal.com]

Excellent!

I really think this is part of the new model. I am helping a writer with her monthly subscription vignette service.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I specifically e-mailed Jonathan Coulton (http://www.jonathancoulton.com/) about this, hoping he wouldn't think I was horning in on his turf. He replied by saying he thinks everyone should be doing it this way. :)

[thingunderthest.livejournal.com]

Odd that code monkey (http://www.jonathancoulton.com/lyrics/code-monkey) came on my playlist at the same time as I saw your reply

[knitmeapony.livejournal.com]

Most excellent! Will you be reading the comments on the LJ feed, or should I head over to the Blogspot post, what would you prefer?

Also, I'll be posting/repimping this on my journal.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I don't even know if the feed will have comments. I literally just put in the XML. I'd prefer the comments on the blog, but I'll read 'em wherever they get put.

[knitmeapony.livejournal.com]

All feeds on LJ end up letting you comment just like regular post, I b'lieve.

But you got it, I'll head to the blog to comment!

[kshandra]

All feeds on LJ end up letting you comment just like regular post, I b'lieve.

True, but they only have a shelf-life of two weeks, which is when the cache on the feed gets flushed. That said, I'll probably still be commenting on the feed, rather than on the blog, because I add syndicated feeds to my LJ so I don't have to open a new tab and look at another site. ;-)

[knitmeapony.livejournal.com]

Ah! Thank you for clarifying, I always wondered how that worked.

Pardon my brain-fart...

[wookiee71.livejournal.com]

Will the 99¢ songs be available only on your website, or will you be setting up the paypal style weekly billing/payment like JoCo? Would you group the higher quality ones together to be downloaded specifically by those who elect to follow that course?

Re: Pardon my brain-fart...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

The 99¢ tracks will always be available. They'll also be the ones lumped into the downloadable albums, so that if you wait to get a download album you WILL be getting precisely the same high-quality tracks. Don't know yet if I'm gonna set up a subscription payment -- is that what you mean? I don't like doing that. Makes me nervous.

Re: Pardon my brain-fart...

[wookiee71.livejournal.com]

Understandable. Just wanted to know what the full range of options were.

Re: Pardon my brain-fart...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

And, yes, they'll only be on my web site. Bluntly, the download services such as iTunes don't make me any money.

Re: Pardon my brain-fart...

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

Why would a subscription payment make you nervous? Just curious.

I subscribe about $2/month each to things like This Week In Tech (podcast) and The Sebo Kitty Club (comic) and am more than happy to do so. With TWIT it's a donation towards a good podcast with Sebo it's a special comic in the e-mail.

Maybe a subscription where you get the mp3 before anybody else by a week or so?

Re: Pardon my brain-fart...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

It's more of a personal thing, as in: if something personally happens to me to delay the music -- some Real Life Stuff that just ate the time -- I'd feel really miserable about being late for people who have paid for a subscription.

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

Coulton was my reaction too, but I've just discovered him, so I'm in the initial stages of wow.

Simply put, Tom? This rules. Absolutely rules.

[ratbastrd.livejournal.com]

Righteous! Looking forward to the first of 'em!
*poised over the download button, waiting impatiently*

[dubheach.livejournal.com]

About bloody time.

See you in less than two weeks ::squee::

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

Más excelente, Tom--can't wait to hear the mayhem you have in store for us, and thanks!

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

Just listened to it, and not only is it fun, but describes my feelings far more elequent than I could. Liked the George Jetson music in the middle, good contrast to the vocal style.

[hughcasey.livejournal.com]

Tom, go look at this when you get the chance...

http://syndicated.livejournal.com/dorktowerfeed/98464.html

If you haven't been following it, the story is that the one guy (a gamer) went on a date with a furry that... didn't go well.

[starsongky.livejournal.com]

No itunes for me, but I'm all for the LJ syndicated version. I set up my own syndicated feeds for a couple of knitcasts with RSS feeds and that works pretty well.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Oh, this isn't iTunes. It's all done off my site, the same as the other downloadables are. As I mention above, iTunes doesn't make me any money at all.

[janet-coburn.livejournal.com]

OK. So what do I do? Does it email the song automatically or what? And does it work with Mac? It's been several hours since I followed the links and nothing has happened. I can get to the song from your home page . . .

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Okay, LJ is just taking a bloody long time about the RSS feed. I hooked it up with my Google home page hours ago. But, then, that's why I put the direct link up there. :) Just go there, and right-click (wait, you're running a Mac, so special-click) on the "Download This Song" link, and save the file. That's all. If it makes it easier, bookmark the main page, http://filkertom-itom.blogspot.com . Or use an RSS feed besides the one to LJ.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

As long as you've got a download button somewhere, I'm happy. And if you link to it from here every time you have a new song, I'm delirous with joy. Now, if you start a podcast about the filk scene, then I could very well overload on joy and spend the next month in a corner giggling contentedly.

[eibii.livejournal.com]

High-pitched noise of glee and encouragement goes [here]. Technology is awesome, sometimes. Break a leg!

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

Oh how nifty! Thank you. :)

Gessi

[delayra.livejournal.com]

Who needs an iPod when we've got iTom? Yaaaaay! *bouncydances*