The greatest thing a family can hear from their soldier is “I’m coming home” and lots of families are getting that gift this year.

Welcome back and thank you for all you’ve done.

Welcome Home Troops originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Turns out that when I opened Google Music’s uploader system preference the other day it now appears that it supports playlists; regular not smart playlists. This should make it easier to upload only the music I want and exclude the rest.

The downside here is that I now have to find a way to clean up Google Music. I’m pretty sure the upload app won’t just remove what I don’t have selected. But that shouldn’t be too hard.

At least it’s a step in the right direction. Google Music is pretty darn cool and being able to upload some, but not all, music is a big step in the right direction. It’ll be even better once they can get some sort of smart playlists added in too.

Google Music’s uploader app finally adds playlist support. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

One of the best things about the internet today is how quickly one person can create something unique, something inspiring, and have it seen by millions of people almost overnight.

Hopefully this video inspires you to help, donate, volunteer or do what you can for those who need it.

Dueling Kermits entertain and inspire to help the homeless. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

I’ve been testing out both Google Music and Amazon Cloud Player and have to say that they are both nice services.

Below are my pros and cons of each service after some initial testing.

Price:

Google Music – Free (for now)
Amazon Cloud Player – First 5 gigs are free, after that it’ll cost. Tip

Uploading:

Google Music:

• Pro: Creates a native Mac system preference.
• Pro: I can set the bandwidth used to upload my music.
• Pro: Automatically uploads all my music. And when new music is added to my system, automatically uploads that as well.
• Con: It uploads all music in iTunes. The only other option is to manually add individual folders and that’s not very convenient. So my Google Music account includes Jingle Bells and The Wheels On The Bus. Not exactly what I want to hear all the time.

Amazon Cloud Player:

• Pro: Select which playlists or songs you want to upload. It organizes everything by iTunes playlist so you can choose only certain playlists if you want and exclude the Christmas music.
• Con: You have to login to Amazon Cloud Player on the web and click the upload button before you can use the upload app.
• Con: No bandwidth controls.

Playlists:

Google Music:

• Pro: Uploads all of iTunes regular playlists to the web.
• Con: Doesn’t upload smart playlists.
• Pro: Can create instant mixes.

Amazon Cloud Player:

• Pro: Uploads all of iTunes regular playlists to the web.
• Pro: Uploads all smart playlists too.
• Con: Smart playlists don’t auto update, they are basically regular playlists now.
• Pro: Can re-upload playlists to get them in sync.

Both can create new playlists on the fly, however there is no way of creating smart playlists.

Player:

Google Music:

• Pro: Android App – Android player is very user-friendly, clean and works well.
• Con: No iPhone App
• Pro: Website works on iOS so you can play your music on iPhone or iPad. However it is a bit slow but they do say it plays in the background.
• Pro: You can play your music on the web. The website is nice and clean and easy to use.

Amazon Cloud Player:

• Pro: Android App - Android player is decent, however it’s bundled with the Amazon store and it feels bulky.
• Con: No iPhone App
• Con: The website kind of works on iPhone and iPad. However it’s still pretty buggy.
• Pro: You can play your music on the web. The website is ok, not as nice as Googles, but it gets the job done.

Other Features:

Google Music:

• If you use Chrome, get the Play/Pause and Skip extensions for your browser.
• You can rate songs via thumbs up or down.
• You get free music just for signing up.
• Will work with Factotum on the Mac soon, which allows you to play/pause/skip via the keyboard.

Amazon Cloud Player:

• Having the Amazon Store available is pretty nice sometimes. You can quickly purchase a song and have it in your cloud player in seconds.
• You can download your music to your phone or back to your computer.
• Works with Factotum on the Mac which allows you to play/pause/skip via the keyboard.
• It’s open to everyone right now.

If I had to pick one, I’d probably choose Google Music as I like the web and Android user interfaces better. Plus the ability to control my music from my browser and auto uploads of new songs in iTunes just make it easy.

Granted both services could be over shadowed if iCloud comes out next week and creates an even better cloud music solution. However we’ll just have to wait and see how that pans out.

Even better than both services is my iPod. Cloud based music services like these are nice, but nothing beats the speed, portability and features of having an iPod with you.

Google Music vs Amazon Cloud Player – A quick review. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Amazon gives you 5 gigs for free, but you can get an extra 20 gigs for only $0.69.

How? Well Amazon has stated that if you purchase any MP3 album, you get a free 20 gigs. So you just need to find an album for $0.69.

That’s pretty easy too. Almost every week Glee releases music for their show and each single is considered an album and some are only $0.69. So you can purchase Big Ass Heart for $0.69, save it directly to your Amazon Cloud Player and get your free 20 gigs automatically.

Now I haven’t found any other albums for less than $0.69. Theoretically there could be others, but since I watch Glee, and think the song isn’t to bad, I stopped looking.

There you have it, an extra 20 gigs of space on Amazon Cloud Drive for only $0.69. Nice!

Get an extra 20 gigs of Amazon Cloud space for $0.69. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Well I’ve been going through my old CDs and deciding which ones to get rid of. If I’m on the fence about any, I just import them into iTunes so I know I have them if I ever need a flashback moment.

Here is some of the stuff I hate to admit but I saved.

One Week by Barenaked Ladies

Livin’ La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin

Show Me Love by Robyn

No News by Lonestar

I’m No Superman (Scrubs theme) by Lazlo Bane

Wonderful by Everclear

Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous by Good Charlotte

Zoot Suit Riot by Cherry Poppin’ Daddies

I’m sure I’ll find lots more ‘treasures’ along the way too!!

Music I hate to admit that I saved. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Merchandising

Fox’s Glee has to be one of the smartest shows on TV when it comes to merchandising.

Now I’m not talking about t-shirts and DVDs, Glee is killing the competition with music.

Every week the Glee cast releases a few songs and every week, they skyrocket to the top of iTunes. When the Glee kids went to regionals, they dominated iTunes the very next day.

In the first season alone Glee sold 12.9 million digital tracks with another 3.6 million in album sales. That helped them reach #28 on Billboard Music’s Top 40 Money Makers. [source]

What other shows need to learn here is that the public loves music and the love to get their hands on it now.

Every show should have their episodes soundtrack ready for download as soon as the show airs. I’m willing to bet that the most downloads happen within hours of the show ending, not weeks or months later when a soundtrack album finally arrives.

For Glee, the future is bright. As long as they keep creating good music, the show will continue to rake in big bucks, not to mention the viewers.

Glee knows where the money is; merchandising. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Thankfully, or maybe not, some songs come out that are unique and stand out from the rest.

Here are 8 unique, funny, or just plain weird Christmas songs.

All I Want For Christmas Is You by Vince Vance & The Valiants

I have to say, this is one of my favorites. I don’t know why, but I love it.

Actually, the best thing about this song is the video. Unfortunately, YouTube doesn’t allow me to embed the original version. If you want to see it, click here.

Bob & Doug McKenzie 12 Days of Christmas

There’s nothing like living the great white north and singing about beer and smokes.

If you listen to the song, I don’t think the guys get past 8 before they kind of get confused and give up.

Burger King Christmas Carol Song

Quite possibly the most annoying Christmas song ever that will get stuck in your head all day.

Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Christmas Song : Christmas Don’t Be Late

It’s not Christmas without some Chipmunks. And who doesn’t want a hula hoop?

Don’t Be A Jerk (It’s Christmas) by SpongeBob

I just heard this one for the first time the other day and it’s pretty good.

To make it even better, this home-made video I found on YouTube showcases a bunch of celebrity jerks!

Just Another Christmas Song – Stephan Colbert

The truth can hurt a little, or be very entertaining! I mean have you ever heard baby Jesus cry Ho Ho Ho?

Twist Of The Magi SHeDaisy with Rascal Flatts

This one is a listening song. It’s a beautiful song about selling your loved ones prized positions and shipping her mother off on a bus. The video may be un-official, but the song is solid.

Merry Christmas From The Family – Montgomery Gentry

Another redneck entry here. You know any song that starts out ‘Mom got drunk and Dad got drunk At our Christmas party’ is going to be a good one!

Bonus: Adam Sandler – Original Hanukkah Song Video

This one goes out to all the Jews who don’t celebrate Christmas.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Feliz Navidad and all that jazz!

8 Super Awesome, or Strange, Christmas Songs originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

When I go to the iTunes Store, I hate seeing all Beatles music. I get that they want to promote it, but do they have to fill up every square inch on the homepage?

Chances are, if you want Beatles music, then you’ve got Beatles music. Is there anything new here?

Does Apple really think that a band that disbanded in the 70s is worth all this fuss?

To be realistic here, lets look at the top 10 songs. Ohh, no Beatles songs. Looking at the top albums, no Beatles albums there either.

I’d expect more with the front page Apple.com story, iTunes TV commercial and iTunes homepage takeover.

Hell, Glee probably sells more music in a week than the Beatles does.

I guess I just don’t get the Beatles hype. Yes they changed music. Yes they were great back in the day. But this is 2010 and the best Beatles songs are probably remakes.

That’s just my opinion.

I don’t understand the Beatles iTunes hype. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

I’m sure I’ve missed some, so drop links to the iTunes replacement icons you find in the comments below.

32 iTunes Replacement Icons originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

If you’re anything like me, you’ve got thousands of songs on your iPod. Some songs are great while others you’re not quite sure why they are on there. No one has the time to sit down and go through them all, so why not mark all the songs you no longer want with one star, and then delete them later?

I’ve been doing this for a few weeks now and it’s working great. I have my iPod playing at work and whenever a song comes on that I no longer want, I rate it with one star. Then, every few days or so, I fire up iTunes, the iPod and ratings sync, I sort them by rating, and then delete all the one star songs. This removes them from my iTunes, iPods and iPad as they are all in sync.

Even if you manually manage your music on you iPod, you can still sort by rating and clear off any one star songs. Downside here is they’ll still be in your iTunes and other i devices.

It’s easy, efficient and a great way to clean the old music off your iPod that you no longer like.

Clean Out Your iPod With Song Ratings originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

I did a lot of Googling and a lot of testing and came up with one solution; iRip.

iRip is a Mac and Windows application that can transfer music, movies and playlists from your iPod to iTunes. Now backing up music and movies isn’t all that special, but the fact that it can backup playlists was the one feature I couldn’t find anywhere else.

The way it works is that it imports all the songs on any given playlist into iTunes and keeps the playlist intact. The good news is that it doesn’t duplicate all your music in iTunes either. It only copies over what isn’t already in iTunes and links the songs that already exist in iTunes to the playlist being backed up.

The only downside I found was that it was very particular about exact matches between the iPod and iTunes files. It did import some duplicates, however, out of nearly 14,000 songs and 10 playlists, there were not that many duplicates that I had to clean up.

iRip does come with a price tag of $20, but it’s not a bad price seeing as it’s the only application I could find to backup my iPod playlists, and not screw up my iTunes library.

How To Backup iPod Playlists originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

The theme song was written by the Barenaked Ladies and can be downloaded from iTunes or Amazon.

Want to hear the whole thing? Here is the entire Big Bang Theory theme song.

Doesn’t it just make you crave Chinese food?

Grab The Chinese Food, Here Is The Whole Big Bang Theory Theme Song originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Prince has released a new fight song just for the Minnesota Vikings! You can listen to a snippet of it above.

Full version here:

Not quite what I was expecting, but what do you think?

Purple and Gold Lyrics

the veil of the sky draws open
the roar of the chariots touch down
we r the ones who have now come again
and walk upon water like solid ground
as we approach the throne we won’t bow down
this time we won’t b denied

raise every voice and let it b known
in the name of the purple and gold

we come in the name of the purple and gold
all of the odds r in r favor
no prediction 2 bold
we r the truth if the truth can b told
long reign the purple and gold

the eyes say ready 4 battle
no need 4 sword in hand
we r all amped up like a rock n roll band
ready 2 celebrate every score
ready 2 fight the elegant war
ready 2 hear the crowd roar

that’s what we came 4
and so much more
in the name of the purple and gold

r spirits may b tired
r bodies may b worn
but since this day is r destiny
r history – that’s y we must b
4ever strong as the wind that blows the Vikings’ horn
in the name of the purple and gold

CHORUS

Listen To Prince’s Vikings Fight Song – Purple & Gold originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

I think all Garth Brooks fans are waiting on Garth. Waiting for new music, waiting for a tour, waiting to see if he’ll return. Lets hope so!

Garth Must Be Busy Music Video originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

This year, I decided to turn 29.1 instead of 30.  Now, it’s not that I’m afraid of 30, but I just felt like it sounds better if I stay in my 20′s a bit longer.

Yes, it’s true, I’m now 30.  Back when I was a kid there was not internet, no cell phones, no SUVs.  We had Intellivision, Garbage Pal Kids cards, and three channels on TV that you had to get up to change.  These whippersnappers today have it so easy.  Ha ha, there is my old man talk for the day.

To me, age is just a number. I still feel young and extremely blessed to have a great wife, a nice house and a young one on the way.  I’m ready for  my next 30 years!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Both songs are available on iTunes or Amazon.

Today I turn 30, or 29.1. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Some songs are timeless.  The advice Baz Luhrmann dispenses is still good today and everyone can learn from it.

What kind of memories does this bring up for you?  Or is this your first time hearing it?

Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Sometimes you want something new, something festive and something to put you in a party mood.  Something to dance to!

I’ve put together a list of some of my fun and/or unique holiday songs that are worth checking out. Maybe you’ll find one or two to add to your collection.

• Call Me Claus – Garth Brooks
• Deck The Halls – SHeDAISY
• Merry Christmas From the Family – Montgomery Gentry
• Jingle Bells – Crazy Frogs
• Winter Wonderland – Jason Mraz
• Santa’s Gotta Semi - Keith Harling
• Cool Yule - Bette Midler
• Christmas Without Carol - Elliott Yamin 
• ‘Zat You, Santa Claus? – Garth Brooks
• It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Gonzo & Rizzo
• Mary Christmas Happy New Year – ‘N Sync
• Merry Christmas Baby - Pepe 
• Hallelujah He Is Born – Sawyer Brown
• What Christmas Means to Me – Jessica Simpson
• Sleigh Ride - SHeDAISY
• Girl of My Dreams - Jonas Brothers
• Merry Christmas, Baby - Elliott Yamin
• Christmas Vacation – From National Lampoons Christmas Vacation

Most songs above can be found on iTunes or Amazon for $0.99. All should help you shake your groove thing this Christmas.

What Christmas songs have you found that are fun and festive?

18 Holiday Songs To Party To originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Star filled mini musical on Prop 8 and how it’s possible that gay marriage could bring in a lot of money to save our economy.

Prop 8 Musical – Gay Marriage Will Save the Economy originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

I’ve never been more excited about politics than I have with Obama.  There is something about the man that makes me feel energized and that change is coming.  I’m ready to see what he can do.  It’s a new day!

For those that want the song, it’s now available in iTunes for $0.99.

It’s a New Day – Music Video originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com