Why are some old albums not for sale online? The Wall Street Journal “Real Time” guys look into one of life’s mysteries (free feature).

Quote:

“…while most pop new releases are a click away, some artists’ “back catalogs” are frustrating patchworks, with albums unavailable because of rights issues, because clearing those rights isn’t a priority for a record label, or maybe just because they’re way down on an awfully long list. Think of them as the digital-music revolution’s missing in action.

Blogging the sudden end of a business: Closing a company is a sad, traumatic experience. (Trust me.) Paul Purdue is going through the experience now…and is using his blog to keep the customers of iFulfill.com informed during the days after he announced the company has shut down. His customers are using the comments as a forum to display their concern (and anger), but also to look for help in getting their merchandise to another fulfillment vendor. It’s not fun to look at, but is somewhat of a milestone in business blogging. It’s certainly something I’ve never seen before.

(via: Steve Baker and BL Ochman)

What Steve Baker said: Mainstream journalist/blogger Steve Baker (of BusinessWeek’s Blogspotting) responds to the question, “Should mainstream journalists blog?” (Here was my response.)

Terry Heaton surveys Nashville bloggers about Channel 2’s efforts: 46 bloggers (including me) responded to a survey by Terry Heaton who has been working with Nashville’s Channel 2 (and SF’s KRON) on citizens’ media initiatives. This weekend, he posted some of his findings.

Quote:

“Mainstream media that play in this space need to first understand that the blogging community doesn’t need them, and that humbling reality is what needs to guide strategies and tactics as they work to get involved. The Nashville blogosphere is now five times larger than it was when the station first began its involvement, and I think it’s safe to say they’ve played a role in encouraging that growth.

How? Simply by listening. Who knew?

Along the way, station personnel have discovered something they didn’t expect: getting to know the local blogging community is a lot more fun than you can possibly imagine up front. And frankly, folks, fun isn’t a word that’s been associated with local media for a long, long time. How do you put a value on that?

What Jeff Jarvis said: Jeff notes that TV Guide should have overhauled themselves 10 years ago when it would have actually done some good, and then asks why drastic strategic changes are not happening at other publishing companies today.

And then he answers: “It’s because they are cash cows.”

No longer an outsider: Dave Winer reports (celebrates) the availability of a Mac version of the OPML editor. (Download page here). I guess I now get to play. (However, I think I’ll wait until I’m on vacation in a couple of weeks to really dive in.)

At Gnomedex, I spent some time with Dave Luebbert, who worked with Dave W. on the initial release. Dave says also that Andre Radke has helped in getting the Mac version available. Thanks to everyone.

Better question: After years of linking to (and explaining why they’re wrong) articles about why magazines are going to go away because of the Internet, I finally get to link to a story that asks, “Why are magazines so successful?”