"Creep," SoundCloud and missed opportunities

I've been messing around with a new music-sharing service called SoundCloud that offers lots of promise but leaves me frustrated because I see a lot of missed opportunities.

As you may have read previously, I'm something of a hack audiophile, not the geekiest by any means but moreso than your average person who thinks the quality of MP3s is all that. So I was excited to test out a service that presents music in a visual way, with the song's audio map front and center (a completely new view for many people).

SoundCloud offers an easy way to share music, whether a link through social media, widget music players or by placing an actual song file in someone's SoundCloud Drop Box. Depending on the settings, songs also can be downloaded or syndicated via web players (such as are attached in this post). Musicians and record labels are starting to share more music in SoundCloud. It's especially popular for those creating electronica.

So here's where I think SoundCloud excels and where it could use some work:

• It's very easy to create personal playlists with one click on a song you like. Here's my list. And here's a set list of some fantastic '90s guitar pop by someone with the handle D-Waves.

D-Waves 90s Guitar Pop Mix by D-Waves

• I love the idea of being able to add comments at specific points in a song. For example, at the 3:40 mark of Devo's "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA," I was able to comment on how I love the bridge that connects the two songs. My comment was simple, but could have gone deeper in terms of the mix, echo, etc. These can be the equivalent of audio footnotes, something musicians and fans contribute to add new dimensions to artwork. Sadly, the comments on most songs are junk (here are some for Them Crooked Vultures' "New Fang"). I know this kind of complaint makes me sound like the old man yelling, "Get off my lawn, you crazy kids!" I get that. But that lack of a filter is a serious flaw for me, the music geek.

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Listening vs. hearing

I've been thinking a lot recently about how the brain can absorb what seems like endless streams of information in this age of 24-7, particularly sound, so I found Julian Treasure's TED presentation on hearing fascinating.

That's in part because it's my business to figure how to deliver news and information to busy people who more than ever need filters on that media faucet. But there's also some selfish interest at play.

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Erasing audio history

Updated on Thursday, August 27, 2009 at 10:43 PM by Logan Molen

I'm reading a terrific book called "Perfecting Sound Forever" by Greg Milner that chronicles the history of recorded audio. So far I've learned about Edison and others who invented recording cylinders and discs, and A great book on the history of recorded soundhow the Lomaxes traveled across the South, using crude equipment to record raw versions of traditional folk and blues songs by performers that include the now legendary Leadbelly. Without those so-called field recordings, there'd be a critical hole in the audio history of the 20th century. And frankly, without some of those recordings, we might not have The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Who, even Elvis, all of whose early songs paid great homage to blues and R&B.

The topic of audio quality might sound boring, but it's not. Really, particularly in an age of digital song files and podcasts.

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