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The second LP from L.A.-/Vancouver-based Swollen Members is a natural and overwhelmingly positive evolution from 1999's Balance. An 18-track movement with banner production, an incredible lineup, vital energy, and a quiet confidence rarely found in hip-hop, Bad Dreams is an inspired and unique set from front to back. With appearances from Jurassic 5's Chali 2Na, Evidence, DJ Babu, Planet Asia, DJ Revolution, Joey Chavez, Son Doobie, Moka Only, and other key members of the Battle Axe crew, the album both takes itself extremely seriously and throws a great party at the same time. The record's highlights are many, though the appearance of the highly acclaimed 2NA with Dilated Peoples' Evidence on "Full Contact" is easily the record's biggest asset in a paramount rap-along collaboration. "Take It Back" and "Total Package" feature music from the sensational DJ Revolution, who makes funk-hop sound groundbreaking all over again. And while their rotating DJs and producers make the whole set progressive and lively, it's the tag-team duo of Mad Child and Prevail who pull everything back into SM's familiar fold. ~ Nic Kincaid, All Music Guide
Jobs: Music good, Zune bad
In an interview with Newsweek, Apple chief blasts Microsoft's would-be iPod killer, saying its Wi-Fi sharing "takes forever."
Is Steve Jobs worried about the threat Microsoft's forthcoming Zune poses to the stranglehold his iPod-iTunes has on the digital media market?
No fan of Zune.
"In a word, no."
That's what Jobs told Newsweek in an interview published yesterday. The Apple chief went on to blast to downplay the Zune innovation of which Microsoft has seemed most proud: its ability to let users send other Zune users songs for temporary playback over a Wi-Fi connection.
"I've seen the demonstrations on the Internet about how you can find another person using a Zune and give them a song they can play three times," Jobs told the magazine about Zune, which hits stores November 14. "It takes forever. By the time you've gone through all that, the girl's got up and left! You're much better off to take one of your earbuds out and put it in her ear. Then you're connected with about two feet of headphone cable."
Most of the Jobs interview focused on the iPod itself, which celebrates its fifth anniversary October 23, and why the device and the iTunes store has had so much success where others have floundered.
"We don't strive to appear cool," Jobs said. "We just try to make the best products we can. And if they are cool, well, that's great."
Jobs also chronicled Apple's relationship with the major labels, which has turned over the years as the iTunes share of the download market has skyrocketed, and the company has resisted the labels' attempts to raise per-song digital prices.
"If we go back now and we raise prices--this is what we told the record companies last year--we will be violating that implicit deal" we made with consumers," Jobs said. "Many [users] will say, 'I knew it all along that the music companies were gonna screw me, and now they're screwing me.' And they would never buy anything from iTunes again."
Jobs also said Apple has always been up front about the fact that songs purchased on iTunes will only play on iPods.
"Nobody's ever demanded it," said of interoperability, or allowing users to buy music from any download store and have it play on any MP3 player. "People know up front that when they buy music from the iTunes music store it plays on iPods, and so we're not trying to hide anything there."
Jobs said he is most proud of the fact that the iPod brought "music back into people's lives" after it "had faded in importance for a while."
"Music is so deep within all of us, but it's easy to go for a day or a week or a month or a year without really listening to music," he said. "And the iPod has changed that for tens of millions of people, and that makes me really happy, because I think music is good for the soul."
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