<b>The playlist is the killer app:</b> On that new Billboard blog powered by PaidContent.org, <a href=”http://billboard.blogs.com/billboardpostplay/2005/03/david_goldberg_.html”>Rafat Ali reports</a> that the “killer line” in the keynote address Yahoo’s music GM David Goldberg gave at the Digital Music Forum was this: “The playlist is the killer app.”<br><br> I didn’t hear the speech, so I don’t know what he meant by that line. However (and, okay, last time I checked I had nothing to do with digital music except listen to it) I made a similar observation in the <a href=”http://www.rexblog.com/2004/12/29#a5440″>second longest rexblog post in history</a> (see 4 - B,C,D).

Cool: My friend, Rafat Ali (PaidContent.org) has launched a joint venture blog project with Billboard called Billboard Post Play (the economics of digital music).
Check out that “powered by PaidContent.org” logo. I link to Rafat so
often, perhaps I should add one of those to this blog. This is savvy,
people. Smart all ’round. Congratulations. To my “old media” friends:
Learn from this. Rafat explains the venture here. (Oh, yeah, and I have some VNU friends too.)

Some guy’s thoughts on the future of magazines (or, why I love magazines): For some reason, Lorraine Sanders of Media Life thought she’d interview some guy about why he loved magazines. What she didn’t know was the guy wouldn’t shut up.

Intro:

These are emotionally charged times for
the magazine industry, a period of much hand-wringing over the future
of the medium as it faces the threats of the internet and cable and
lord knows whatever new challengers may arise. It’s also a time of
self-examination, one in which the industry is examining not just the
magazine’s effectiveness as an advertising medium but more and more its
essential relationship with its readers. And that suits Rex Hammock
just fine. Hammock is president of Hammock Publishing of Nashville, a
custom publisher of institutional and association magazines,
newsletters and online media. Hammock thinks the magazine industry
needs to get back in touch with its inner self, to understand why
people love magazines and why magazines as a medium are unlike any
other. Hammock runs Rexblog.com, where he expounds upon these ideas.
Hammock talks to Media Life about magazines and his fascination with
them.

Thank you, Lorraine and Media Life for asking.

Nooked:  Nooked, a directory of corporate RSS feeds.  (via: Dave Winer)

Hip-hop SAT prep: You won’t hear me casting dispersions aspersions (okay, sometimes my malaprop  humor is too nuanced) in the
direction of Flocabulary. (Here are a couple of free samples.)

Quote:

I’m trying to live vividly, trying to stay intense,
I keep it stoic and serene, ‘cause I’m calm under stress,
What’s next? The sounds of my breath make rhymes seem sleeker,
A lyricist, an elocutionist, a public speaker…

(Thanks, Shannon)

Southwest to Mac users - No Ding! When I saw the folks at Microsoft giving rave reviews to this cool new application from my favorite airline,
I knew it must be something that works only on Windows. If you are
a Windows user, “Ding” will alert you whenever there is a deal that may
interest you.

Note to Southwest: Don’t waste your time on a Mac version, rather offer a wide array of alerts via RSS or IM.

Retiring from gossip beat: So, this morning I learn from the closest thing
the Nashville media has to a gossip columnist that Paris Hilton,
indeed, is in town. And, from the lame (did I say lame, I meant “same”)
report, I determined that the rexblog not only broke this
major story, but actually reported the first public sighting of her.
And thanks to the rexblog reporter (who I’ll be happy to name if she
wants the glory), we got juicy details.

And so I am choosing to step down while still a champion.

In order to leave the gossip beat while still on top (you won’t find
anymore Paris sightings here, in other words), I am now requesting that
Mr. Roboto and Thursday Night Fever be the official Paris-Nichole in Nashville gossip blog. Please.

By the way, the rexblog “source,” e-mailed this morning to explain why she was in Lillie Rubin, but that’s a another story.