DEMONOID IS BACK!!

Ok, Firstly, thanks to my friend Renju for letting me know of this. Only this morning, I was telling someone that Demonoid used to be a haven for great torrents, but sadly was no more. How idiotic of me!! Little did I know it was back online.

Go out there, get the music, the movies and the games you want. Don’t blame me for not having told you about Copyright violations though.

Demonoid’s State of Suspension:

After Demonoid went offline, finding quality torrents was always an issue, with the Internetflooded with spam. Thankfully, IsoHunt listened in to the wishes of people and allowed commenting on torrents. This way, bad, malicious and spam torrents could be avoided.

Read my earlier post here:

Demise of Demonoid ?

People who know about torrents, will be jumping with joy at this news. Yes, torrents on Demonoid are still old and need to be updated. Chances are you won’t find the latest torrents just yet. But knowing the Demonoid community, things will be back in no time. So keep your fingers crossed and just be patient. Also, when things are back, SEED. Till you reach a rario of 2.0 atleast. Don’t be selfish.

For people who do not know to use torrents, read this

A Guide to Using Torrents

Really Awful…

Not knowing what to do, now that my project is done, (Well, almost. Still a few finishing touches and fine tuning remaining.) I set out to try something.

I thought I’d record myself singing a couple of songs I thought I could sing well. The result: Awful!! Really Really Awful. I don’t know what the issue is. I mean I know I am not a good singer (no, wait I am not even a bad singer) and I can’t render high pitches at all. I know my limitations. (Yea, I can’t sing.) But I thought, it sounded decent when I was singing it. However on playback, it just sounded like someone I really hate braying. Pathetic. I better give this a rest. Or, wait, could it be the substandard microphone?

People, who are considering suicide, can write in to me. I’ll send you a CD with my songs in it. It’ll be real quick (can’t assure painless)

Creative Zen - A Must Buy

I have already written in short about Creative Zen in a post earlier. (I am too lazy to link it. Use the search facility )

Features ?

Specifications ?

Why am I writing about it again ? Well, couple of reasons:

1) I actually saw it today for the first time and tried using all the facilities to an extent.

2) I was going to get one for myself, but then I might have to sacrifice it if I want my K801i

3) Some of my friends didn’t even know there is a player called Zen!! (Message: Read my Blog )

My First Impression:

Saw Sricharan’s Zen today. Sricharan was/is my senior in/from college. Shiva’s batch-mate. Shiva also has a Zen, but either he treasures it a lot or didn’t want me to take a look. ;) I am thoroughly impressed. Why ?

• Comes in 2,4,8,16 and 32GB variants. 
• It’s tiny.
• It’s weightless.
• It’s got an awesome screen. (For a tiny player, it sports a 2″ screen) 
• Good sound quality.
• Radio with 32 built in presets
• Sound Recorder that works really well and
• Lot’s more such as organiser, DivX and Xvid support…etc.

Here are some photos:

Creative guys, here’s something you should know:

” Your product rocks and kicks ass. People here in India love their mp3 players and are buying them like crazy. But thanks to your lacklustre marketing and to an extent callous attitude towards the Indian market, most people still think that IPOD and MP3 players are synonymous. If you have a good product, you still need to market it you know!!”

Same goes for Zune. Bloody hell!! Make it available in India and see how many people buy it. You will be surprised.

Bottom Line: MP3 players are for Indian markets too. Sell it here and we are ready to buy them.

YARO - Yet Another Rip Off

Well, we know this for a while. Anu Malik is to Hindi what Deva is to Tamil. They shamelessly copy songs from English and not even ones that we would not have heard of. Whether they think the audience is so intellectually dull that it will go un-noticed or whether they are intellectually dull, is something that needs to debated on. (Well, actually not. I guess it’s both.)

So, I was not all that surprised when X* showed me a recorded song on mobile. Well, the recording was not clear and I have not heard the song before. The song was from a Tamil movie, which I later found to be Kadhalil Vizhunthen. The music director is one Vijay Antony. I am being very honest here. I have neither heard of this bloke nor the movie. So what’s the big deal about all this ? Well, X* tells me this song is lifted from some popular English track he has heard before, but is not sure which one. Meanwhile, X* had trouble finding out which movie this song belonged to. He had recorded it on his mobile from a radio nearby I guess. X* however later on determinedly found out the song, the movie name and the music director, which I have written here.

Now, the Song is called Unakkena Naan. The female singer is Ramya and guess who lends the male voice ? The plagiarist himself. (Well, I am hoping he didn’t take permission/rights from the original artiste, in calling him that.)

Here’s the Song for you:

Unakkena Naan

I am going to have a quiz here and ask people to name the real song. (You should note here that X* was also successful in finding the actual song by the original artiste. To be honest again, it’s a song I have not heard of. The artist I have heard of.) We even played the two songs together (on two players) and they seemed to sync for most part. (For the originality of the last 5 odd seconds, I give credit to the music director.)

The Original Song:

Shiva and Marc, both got the original song and the artiste right. It is Unfaithful by Rihanna. To think he copied straight form that song, pity.

Vijay Antony’s Site:

What’s comic about the whole issue is, this is what his Biography on his site had to say:

Vijay Antony-the man who impels to do something different repeatedly is back again with his best foot forward to ascertain his note-worthy versatility and uniqueness in whatever he does.

Other note-worthy things about his website,

• It says under construction on the home page, yet has almost all the data
• There’s an annoying song playing on the background and there’s no way to turn the music OFF. Grrr…

ROFL.  

Note: X*’s name has been withheld on request.

Zune Again!! And it Rocks

 

Ok I am turning something of a fan here. Why ? Because I just finished downloading (ok when I say I did something , it could also imply my brother actually did it in my presence.)  and installing the new zune software and firmware and it simply ROCKS!!

Let me tell you why it rocks : (My old zune with new firmware)

• The new software is free. So is the firmware. Way to go Microsoft!!
• The new firmware lets me download and watch podcasts on my old (30GB) Zune. The podcast collection on Zune Marketplace seems decent if not great.
• I can wirelessly sync music from my PC to my Zune. ( I checked it and it works fine. It’s a bit slow, but who cares as long as I can sync songs wirelessly ?)
• It supports more Video formats. Mpeg4 and H.263. (No Divx, Xvid yet though. That’s a bit of a disappointment.)
•  The appearance of the new interface on the Zune rocks.

Why the 80GB Zune rocks:

• Its available for the same price the 30GB model was available. (250 $)
• It has a 3.2″ screen (compared to 3″ Zune and 2.5″ Ipod)
• It is slimmer and smaller than my Zune
• It has custom engravings and stuff.
• It comes with premium earphones!! ( I got normal ones with mine.)

I am not writing a detailed review here. I read somewhere that they have discontinued a few features which were actually good. Like dynamic search and ranking system. I am sure there must have been some reason behind this.

P.S: One thing though. If you are planning to buy flash based players, I personally suggest the Creative Zen. Just Compare its features with any flash player and you will see why. (I think its the best player from Creative stable yet!!)

Zune

The Zune is Microsoft’s portable music player. (I am tempted to say mp3 player, but it plays more than that.) Well you can read about it anywhere on the internet, but as an owner, I thought I’d share my experience in using it.

 

Briefly about Zune:

• Zune was launched in the year 2006 approximately 1 year before the current date. It was launched as a 30 GB player. However Solid state versions and a 80GB version are soon to follow.

• Zune is made by microsoft. Actually the 1G(First generation) Zune was Toshibas Gigabeat S reworked and software by MS. I don’t know if this alliance will/is continuing from 2G onwards.

• Apart form music, it also supports Images/pictures, Videos and FM radio.

 

About Ipod:

I am one of the admirers of Apple ipod. Or should I say was. Ipod was the ultimate mp3 player. When the Ipod came with the picture ipod, and then the Video Ipod, people were going crazy. It is a well marketed device, no doubt at all. And the features are good as well.

• Ipod was released in 2001. So thats 6 years before MS released their player. For 6 years they have led the market sales.
• It is the largest selling music player in history with 110 million units sold already.

Zune Vs Ipod:

I am sure Ipod and Apple fans will not even like a comparison, but here are some of the features i liked in Zune better than Ipod:

• The screen is a 3″(inch) screen compared to Ipods 2.5″ scren
• The model though bulkier, I like the appearance better.
• The interface even in the absense of the click wheel is good.
• Its got Wi-fi which can soon sync with your computer. Earlier it only allowed Zune to Zune or Zune to X-box limited transfers. (Limited transfers mean, you can listen to the song only a few times after which it gets deleted.)

Some of the low points of both Zune and Ipod are that the formats that they support are minimal be it audio or video. The Zune says its 2G will support more formats. But if you want a player that can play DivX and Xvid movies, Go for Creative Zen!! An excellent player. 

Feel Good Inc By Gorillaz

I recently came across this song. (Though it seems I have had this song on my HDD for about 2 years now) Its from the album ‘Demon Days’ by Gorillaz released in 2005. I kinda heard the other songs once and didn’t like them much. But having said that, I didn’t like this song when I first heard it either.

I liked the lyrics and the novel tune of the song and this is how the lyrics go:
Hahahahahahahahaha,
Shake it, sh-shake it Feel good, [x9]
City’s breaking down on a camel’s back.
They just have to go ’cause they don’t know wack
So all you fill the streets it’s appealing to see
You wont get out the county, ‘cos you’re damn as free
You’ve got a new horizon It’s ephemeral style.
A melancholy town where we never smile.
And all I wanna hear is the message beep.
My dreams, they’ve got to kiss, because I don’t get sleep, no..

Windmill, Windmill for the land.
Turn forever hand in hand
Take it all in on your stride
It is sinking, falling down
Love forever love is free
Let’s turn forever you and me
Windmill, windmill for the land
Is everybody in?

Laughing gas these hazmats, fast cats,
Lining them up-a like ass cracks,
Lay these ponies at the track
Its my chocolate attack.
Shit, I’m stepping in the heart of this here
Care bear bumping in the heart of this here
Watch me as I gravitate
Hahahahahahaa.
Yo, we gonna go ghost town,
This motown,
With yo sound
You’re in the place
You gonna bite the dust
Can’t fight with us
With yo sound
You kill the INC.
So don’t stop, get it, get it
Until you’re Jet Ahead.
Yo, watch the way I navigate
Hahahahahhaa

Feel good, AHHHHahahahah [x4]

Windmill, Windmill for the land.
Turn forever hand in hand
Take it all in on your stride
It is ticking, falling down
Love forever love is free
Let’s turn forever you and me
Windmill, windmill for the land
Is everybody in?

Don’t shout, get it, get it
We are your captains in it
Steady,
Watch me navigate,
Ahahahahahhaa.
Don’t shout, get it, get it
We are your captains in it
Steady, watch me navigate
Ahahahahahhaa.

Feel good, AHHHHahahahaha
Feel good,
Feel good, AHHHHahahahaha
Feel good….