IF YOU HAVE 5 SECONDS TO SPARE...

[omniblob]

...then i'll tell you the story of my life.nah, more like a petty rant. it's a blog, after all. i initially was a little bit suss about joining this network as it seemed (i don't know) a little narrow. radiohead are obviously massive, but is joining a fan-site better than the regular networking sites?well, the answer is a resounding yes. the number of great songs i've managed to pilfer off of all of you is proof of that.(wait? where's the rant? oh, right...)of course, at the moment i'm unable to upload any of my library. wrong format, see? aaaarrrgggh!!! what's the difference between sony atrac files, mp3s, wmas and the rest? essentially, nowt. leave it to the record companies (an industry that's been in existence for a small fraction of the time people have loved and shared music) to find a way to screw up the most exciting change in music distribution for, well... ever.i used to like i-tunes (easy format to play with, even for a luddite like me) but i've binned it, same with windows media player, sony sonic stage, the creative software. do they really think that any of the small fraction of money they make from digital rights management ("for the artists", apparently), will make up for the ill-will they've generated in their customer base? that's not counting the companies that have started taking music lovers to court (funny how the big commercial pirates never seem to go out of business, isn't it?).as my late, great, grandfather would say, "bunch of airseholes"...this site, with it's diversity, shows that there is still a massive number of people who love the good stuff, not the brain-dead fodder served up by the conglomerates (i include several supposedly "independent" artists in this). the fact that emi dropped 80 million quid on jobbie williams, then watched radiohead leave and release an album without them is proof that sometimes, the good guys win.(eee-emmm-iiii! someone should write a song about them...)i saw the pixies play to 40,000 people in edinburgh, without a record deal.(did you know the pixies split on my 15th birthday? bastards! no wonder i'm tri-polar)the new james album was done without them, too. james, famously played two sold-out nights at the manchester g-mex, without a record deal and the radio wouldn't play them, because "there was no interest". the worm, people, is beginning to turn and, if you've ever had to spare five seconds for anyone who works in the record industry, that can only be the best news you'll hear this year. vive la revolution!i love you all,steve x.