finetune & blueprint

I read about this cool thing called FineTune on Blueprint Magazine's Blog. Basically, you pick 45 song from their selections and make a playlist. It has to be 45 songs for some sort of legal reasons. likewise, you can only pick three songs per artists, but it's pretty neat. I've been listening to my playlist for at least an hour. Most of it is stuff I actually have on my itunes playlist, but it's still neat like in case your ipod's battery dies or something, you can just open a playlist from finetune and listen to music you like, instead of being stuck with internet radio. If you like internet radio, you can also pick artist radio stations which plays "related artists" selections. One downside is there's a weird limit on hitting next, which is really bad for people like me who don't actually listen to complete songs or get bored quickly. Regardless, FineTune is pretty neat.

Since I mentioned Blueprint, I thought I'd rave about it as well. Blueprint is a Martha Stewart publication and I know Martha Stewart isn't that cool, but Blueprint is incredible. Its tagline is "Design Your Life" and the magazine encompasses lots of aspects of life. I haven't had time to devour all of the May/June issue (cover pictured), but the previous three issues are INCREDIBLE. There's an article in every issue called "100 Reasons to..." which very interesting. Last issue's was "100 Reasons to Get Rid of It" and the first issue was "100 Reasons to Crack a Smile" which actually did make me smile. #41 John Cusack in Say Anything. #80 The National Spelling Bee on ESPN. #89 Chuck Norris in general. Maybe you didn't smile, but I certainly did. The magazine also recommends cool books and awesome music. The current issue suggests summer time music with a guide of Old and Newish albums to pick. All in all, I think the magazine is pretty hip. It deals with pop culture and etiquette and every day life. I really enjoy it.

So, sign up for an account on finetune.com and make a playlist and pick up a copy of the May/June issue of Blueprint, I don't think you'll be disappointed.