someone talking sense...

...about music and the internet. More to the point, someone who knows what they're talking about, talking utter sense in the mainstream US-ian press. Will wonders never cease? Janis Ian writes in USA Today about why the US/International record industry is doing its damndest to kill internet radio, music downloads, etc, etc. She's been saying this stuff on her website for some time now, but it's still nice to see it out in the "real" world.

[link found on slashdot]

Just Read: Idoru, William Gibson

[amazon.co.uk]
A man, having lost his researcher's job with a build-em-up-and-knock-em-down celebrity TV show, applies for a new job with a very mysterious organisation. Meanwhile, a young female member of a band's fan club sets off to investigate rumours that one of the band's stars is planning to marry a synthetic personality, the Idoru of the title.

I've not had much chance to read in the last few weeks, and my first attempt to read this book foundered. Gibson's prose has never been particularly easy for me to follow, and reading it 3-4 pages at a time at 1-2 day intervals was a recipe for disaster - but this was my fault, not the author's. So when I had a couple of long rail journeys last weekend, I started over, and this time I managed to hit it running.

Once things start to gel, it's a good read, with twists and turn all over the place, building to a gripping conclusion. That said, Gibson leaves a few gaps to be filled by the reader's imagination (not necessarily a bad thing) and the ending is a little vague. I guess I'll wait and see how book three adds to it.

[note: this is the second book in a loosely-linked trilogy, coming between Virtual Light and All Tomorrow's Parties]