That could be because copy protection doesn't frickin' work.

I don't know about ripping to iTunes or an iPod, but I tried to copy both CDs recently and had no luck.

The only CD I have that won't go into iTunes is Radiohead's "OK Computer," and I think that's probably because I got it from the dollar bin at a used CD store and it's pretty banged up.

But, you know, it plays, so I won't replace it.

I haven't tried copying the new U2 -- even on my 2004 mix, I used a live version of "Sometimes ..." But my downloaded version of "Only Living Boy in New York" from ther Garden State soundtrack burned to CD fine.

But my downloaded version of "Only Living Boy in New York" from ther Garden State soundtrack burned to CD fine.

Heh. When I got home from seeing Garden State I immediately put on the Simon & Garfunkel record with that song on it. My parent's original 30+ year-old record. That was my favorite album when I was 3. And the record still plays beautifully.

WNYC's American Music Festival 2005 Picks, All-Time Favorite Recordings of American Music

Some of the usual - and eminently worthy - suspects (Kind of Blue, Frank Sinatra Sings For Only The Lonely, Aaron Copland, Ellington, Monk) along with some quirky choices, including one that cries out to be in LITG Vol. 2 (see below), and one that may be in the first volume. Is Parallelograms the Linda Perhacs album that Kim wrote about? That was one of the choices of Irene Trudel, Soundcheck’s Technical Director/Senior Concerts Engineer. I bet John Schaefer (Soundcheck's host) would love to do a phone in w/ David & Kim. There's the Routledge/NY connection. It's clearly meant to be.

The one that needs to be in vol. 2 was picked by Ed Haber, WNYC Senior Concert Engineer, Peter Ivers’ Band with Yolande Bavan: Knight Of The Blue Communion (emphasis added):

This music never changed the world and probably had no impact on anybody else’s music—but I find it extraordinary, an album I come back to year in and year out. I describe it as “Schoenberg meets Howling Wolf,” but that’s not meant to be taken literally. Peter Ivers’ music on this record uses avant-garde classical patterns and sounds and sets them off against his own Chicago blues based harmonica playing and Yolande Bavan’s jazz vocal styles (she’s a singer and actress from Sri Lanka, still best known for replacing Annie Ross in Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross). With a strong rock rhythm section and elements of jazz free improv thrown in, it’s amazing that the concept is not overwhelmed by the individual elements involved. In fact, it’s all exceptionally coherent and remarkably joyful. (Peter Ivers went on to record several perhaps more conventional song albums, none of which were nearly as successful artistically as Knight Of The Blue Communion.)

Is Parallelograms the Linda Perhacs album that Kim wrote about?

Yep. Even got a cool Tom Neely illustration of Linda doing her dental asst job.

Yolande Bavan

Wow, I didn't know she did anything besides replace Annie Ross. That's nifty. Wasn't it Fontella Bass who recorded with the Art Ensemble of Chicago?

Somebody else picked Conlan Nancarrow. Nice.

Joe, are you a big Bill Evans fan? In the Jeopardy category: Great Jazz Bassists Who Died Tragically Young, who gets the nod for most lost potential? Lefaro or Blanton?

are you a big Bill Evans fan?

Compared to most people, yes; compared to Bill Evans fans, no. Kind of Blue is one of my desert island discs, and he was crucial to those sessions as an architect as well as a player. I love his sound & can appreciate him on that level, but I don't have a trained ear so a lot of his subtlety is lost on me & the music starts to sound samey after a bit. Which is not to say that it is, just that harmonic development is mostly over my head. I also wish he had pursued the Bud Powell influence in his playing after his stint with George Russell more than he did.

Great Jazz Bassists Who Died Tragically Young

Paul Chambers. The incredibly deep catalog makes people forget he died when he was 33. But to answer your question I'd go with Blanton. I'm not a chops guy. And I don't mean to insult LaFaro by saying that, it's just that when people talk about him they always talk about his virtuosity - which is not what usually interests me. Many people whose opinions I value, plus my own listening, convince me that Scott LaFaro was way more than the Stanley Clarke of his generation. But if asked to choose, and I was, I'd go with Blanton, in large part because of his specific (Ellington) and general (cusp of swing and bebop) place in history. It would be interesting to hear an alternate universe in which he hadn't died. What use would Duke & Strayhorn have made of him? What influence would he have had on them? How would the scene at Minton's have developed had the house bass player not died? Kenny Clarke, Blanton & Monk... that's a helluva rhythm section.

Kenny Clarke, Blanton & Monk... that's a helluva rhythm section.

Phew, no shit, now that you mention it.

Harold Arlen was born 100 years ago today. So many possible earworms: the thread-appropriate "That Old Black Magic" and "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)," both of which were on my Buffistamix; the board-appropriate "Ill Wind," which Darla sang at Caritas (I'll listen to Sinatra's version); or maybe Sinatra's "Get Happy" (Swing Easy) or "Blues in the Night" (Only the Lonely); or maybe Ray Charles singing "Over the Rainbow" (Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul... or better yet "Come Rain or Come Shine" from The Genius of Ray Charles; maybe I'll just listen to the whole Wizard of Oz soundtrack. Maybe Louis singing "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" or Lena singing "Stormy Weather" or Groucho telling us about "Lydia the Tattoed Lady." Or maybe I'll imagine being at Birdland in the late Fifties and Abbey Lincoln is singing "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe" just for me. Yeah, I like that one. Even if it entails Max Roach trying to kill me.

I've never had copy protection issues using iTunes, on any disc. The only times I run into those errors are with WMP.