PlopBox

Well, as my friends already know, I am also a music freak, in addition to being a computer nerd. However, my taste in music tends to run along the same lines- my favorite type of music is electronic music. Lately I have been listening to some of the so-called "old school" demoscene music, mostly from the '80s and '90s. Of course, if your computer can play those old files that's great, but alot of computers can't without special software. It can also be very hard to track all that music down, given its age. I don't have to worry about either of those problems but, for those who do, there is one place where they do all the work for you- www.Plopbox.net

They have playlists of recommended songs, a rating system, and you can have personalized playlists too. Check them out, and discover some cool new music for free!

Ubuntu 8.04

Yes, before you ask, this is in fact a shameless plug for a truly great operating system.
As a Neo Retrotech Nerd, I do place a fair amount of emphasis on the NEO part. I, in fact, cannot live my life entirely in the 8-bit computing realm. I wish I could. I can't. You see, I am a university student, and at universities they make you use modern computer software for all your classes in an attempt to make you "computer competent." Yeah, sedate me again, because I'm having a hard time believing that learning how to use M$Office makes me "competent."

So, in an effort to keep from failing some of my key classes here, I keep a "modern" computer around so that I don't have to fight with the academia. But I won't. Will not. Do not. Did not. And never will use ANY Micro$oft products produced later than 1988 of any kind, at any time, in any way, on anyone's machine. So I use Ubuntu. I'm no guru-master of computers, but I know enough about Microsoft's diabolically ingenious "embrace, extend, exterminate" methodology to know that I cannot use their software. And I also don't have the know how to compile things by myself. So Ubuntu fits the bill. The new 8.04 is what a modern OS ought to be- easy to use, easy to set up, and free.

You see, it's alot like the way it used to be- easy to use, easy to set up, and free. The OS was part of the machine, not a license-encumbered monstrosity. There were no EULAs requiring you to sell your soul. And of course, software was one of those things where it was treated as individual property, not as a "licensed media." You know, that disk for your Apple II? Well, it was YOURS. And what was on it was YOURS. Even if you bought it from someone else. It just was your own property, to do with as you pleased. Period. Open Source is currently the only way to keep doing things this way. Of course, just like the guy who would give you some Apple II software on disk, the guys who make Open Source deserve a little dough too. So donate to projects like these. They support the kind of computing you love, and it takes that much money away from Micro$oft, which if they could take it they would, even if it's only $5.