Barenaked Ladies releases kids album...

I was reading Crave, a gadget blog that covers news and reviews of new technology, when I came across this little gem. The blog has added a featured MP3 download to their daily blog entries. Today's download is from the Barenaked Ladies that features a track called "7 8 9". It's from their new kids album called Snacktime, released in May. It's a short track at a minute and 30 seconds, but it's a witty and somewhat charming song about how 7 ate 9, of course. You can download the track for free from music.download.com or you can watch the animated video for the song below. Pretty funny.

Nine Inch Nails gives me a reason to listen...

Ever since I made the change to XM Radio about 4 years ago, my album buying habits have drastically changed. I used to buy 3 or 4 albums a month, if not more. Now, I'd be lucky to buy 3 to 4 albums in a year. I just don't see that need for me to spend the money on a new album when I can listen to a lot of different music for $12.95 a month

This fact makes Nine Inch Nails latest release all the more exciting. It's absolutely free. Trent Reznor decided to allow you to download the album completely free from the albums web site. All you have to do is supply an email address and you'll have your pick of multiple formats from mp3's up to CD quality. It even includes the album art in a .pdf format.

Just another way a band can get their music out to the masses, especially to people who might not be totally inclined to buy the album because of financial reasons. Even though I like the music Nine Inch Nails makes, I may have never heard the album if it wasn't free. If I never heard the album, would I be writing this post? Probably not...