Napster for iPhone Uk

Somebody somewhere please sort it out. Have now been using spotify subscription for over 6 months and it just doesn't cut it.

Why oh why oh why is this so hard

And if it's in the US then why not here?

And then 'the industry' wonders why illegal downloading goes on. Probably because the greed and lack of competition in certain services makes it difficult, for those that want to legitimately pay for e-music, to access it in a way that suits them.

Disgruntled of Shropshire

Finding my reserves

There is nothing like boosting your confidence than running in a race and doing well.

So when I managed to pull out a personal best at Sunday's Birmingham half-marathon, I was over the moon.  Even better that I was running through my old hometown, down streets that had so many memories for me - my old junior school, the park where I watched friends and family pose for wedding photos, the prep school where I sang at a Summer Ball.

Lately, I have been feeling the strain of every day work, as I guess we all do from time to time.  Trying to 'replace' two-thirds of your team, due to maternity leave, at the busiest time of the finance year, is no mean feat.  There have been days when I have felt as though there is 'nothing left in my locker', and I have had to dig deep to maintain my finance-professional-cum-quirky-music-loving-chick persona.

I set off way too quickly on Sunday, partly to escape the congestion at the start of the race, but mainly to take advantage of the descent out of the City Centre.  However, my quick start came to bite me towards the latter half of the race, in the energy-sapping dark tunnels, and climbing the truly awful hill, at mile 10.  It was at these low points that I had to dig deep, find what little reserves I had left, and keep going.

When you cross the finish line of a long distance race, it makes you feel as though you can achieve anything.  Starting a new week, with my half of my new team half in their seats and half waiting in the wings, I feel on top of the world.

"We're women, not ladies!"

Really?????!!!!!

I ran a half marathon on Sunday with my husband.  Actually, it wasn't quite with, because he finished 15 minutes before me.  But anyway, on the journey home, we switch on Radio 4 to hear the last 20 minutes of The Reunion.  I first caught some of this show last week, when were in London for Notting Hill Carnival.  What a lovely day that was - sun was shining, calypso and samba were playing, the police van even belted out KRS One and Shall Marshall (google it).

Last week, the topic of said show was Hurricane Katrina, with the guests a mixture of survivors, officials and an army general.  A very moving and sombre recollection of the events and media portrayal.

This week, the topic was the 1970 Miss World contest, which was famously interrupted by a Women's Lib protest.  Unfortunately, the one fact that I cannot get out of my mind is that one of the guests felt it necessary to interrupt Peter Jolley (organiser) mid-sentence, when he refers to them as "ladies", to say, "We're women, not ladies".  Hello??!!

I am not going to attempt to get into the rights and wrongs of the women's movement, or beauty parades for that matter.  I am fairly sure that I, on balance, have benefited in many ways, from what these women stood for.  But since I heard the program, and listened to it again online, all I can think about was the fact that this guest felt it necessary to undermine her whole raison d'etre, in my opinion, by making a point of protesting against the use of a word which 99% of women have absolutely no problem with.

My friends and I - all career-minded, hard-nosed, corporate-thonged types - call each other ladies all the time.  My younger brother calls me Lady as a term of respect and endearment.  In the same way at work that I will address men as guys, gentlemen or even boys.  What would she prefer? bitches and ho's?? Because I don't see the Women's Lib storming the MTV and Radio 1 studios on a regular basis.

Times have moved on, and although there may have been a time when ladies was deemed to be patronising, or assuming fragility and delicacy (how awful!), it's everyday  meaning has perhaps moved on - this happens in the English language.  When I googled to find out why it was deemed so offensive, I struggled.

Surely we need to stop fighting yesterday's battles.  Instead let's focus on figuring out how to have it all, keep it all, close the gender pay gap, prolong fertility, master the menopause, halt the emasculation of men, and stop the shards of glass falling in from the broken ceiling.  All triumphs of the Women's Lib movement.

Wolf whistling is alive and well

Is it just me, or is wolf-whistling on the increase?  Whilst out for my early morning run on Tuesday I was slightly taken aback when I heard this strange noise, looked around and saw a parked-up driver with pursed lips.  Then on Thursday, I had two horn-honks, in close succession.  At one stage I thought I must have forgotten to put my running vest on, or might have split my shorts.  But no, no wardrobe malfunctions.

It got me thinking about how women in the eighties used to get so hung up on wolf-whistles, and being called "love", or "darling" in the office.  Funny how times change.  Now it seems to be the norm for everyone to refer to each other in affectionate terms such as chick, hun, duck, love, treacle - whether you are male or female, and noone seems to bat an eye.

Even in the office, most women I know tend to hold their own, and give as good as they get.  Don't get me wrong, we still make a mental note of men with an inability to keep the eyes away from the chest-region. But we are probably less likely to go running down to HR to complain, and are more likely to simply recognise this male deficiency and move on, occasionally laughing at said individual with other colleagues who have clocked the same.

I'm not condoning those who cross the line, just saying that I think the line has moved and blurred, since the media and shoulder-padded feminists have stopped telling us it was all so demeaning.

The thing about Skype

We've all heard of Skype.  It's a great idea, and its free - mostly. So why hasn't it taken over the world? Years after launching, why isn't everyone laughing all the way to the bank.  And why haven't call providers revenues been dented?  In short, why hasn't Skype tipped?

I'm not sure what the business text books are saying, but my experience is this, and I suspect it to be typical of many users.  I heard of Skype about 5 years ago.  Didn't really get it.  Thought that perhaps some people were joining a secret cult where you had to scratch your left ear to gain entry.  You would see certain 'types' add it to the bottom of their email signature, or websites - Hmmm.  Anyway, after an advertising campaign a couple of years ago, and after visiting some faraway relatives I revisited Skype.  Set up a username and hey presto, I made 2 or 3 calls - maximum - grainy webcam, patchy sound quality etc.  I then did nothing.  Until this week.

My brother has recently moved to the US, so my sister was teaching my Mother to use Skype (again!).  Now here is the first thing about Skype.  People aren't always on.  They couldn't get hold of him because he was showing as offline.  I used my nifty, free, WhatsApp app to message him, and within a few seconds he was on.  But here for me is the crux with Skype.  The quality was so abysmal they had to abandon.  I called them on my iphone's Skype app, but again the quality was awful.  They could barely hear me at all - just the odd syllable.

If the stats are to be believed they reckon Skype is taking 13% of the international call share of minutes.  Really???  Based on my experience I would rather use my landline, mobile or a prepaid phone card.  Surely you need to be able to hear someone to have a conversation with them, rather than spend the entire duration saying "what was that?"  Perhaps this is why the share of minutes is so high.

What I love about Skype is that it truly epitomises the Scandinavian sense of fairness and egality.  Spotify and Ikea - same thing.  But I think I'll wait another few years until the next marketing campaign announces that you can actually now hold a decent conversation.

Singing for supper on QVC

I've read the article in today's Sunday Times and I'm still not sure what to make of it - artists singing on QVC to sell albums?

For me, Matthew Goodman goes a little far when he calls it 'selling their soul'. No, Matthew, selling your soul is allowing your single, nay, your face, to be used to advertise deodorant. Come on, Alexandra, you are so much better than that.

Is it sad, or savvy, that recording companies are scraping the barrel of recorded music sales by turning to the 'we buy anything on impulse' audience that watch QVC. Sure it may shift a few units, but will these people actually go to the concerts, buy the merchandise, and follow up releases? Unlikely, but still plausible I suppose. Either this is the clever discovery of a profitable new segment, or the last ditch attempt of a dying swan.

I reckon that recorded music is heading one way - free. Or as free as it can be under some sort of subscription, rights, or rental basis. With only collectors, luddites and members of the slow movement regularly buying physical products.

I also believe that there is a big elephant in the room, which the music industry has to acknowledge before it can move forwards. Illegal downloading has not robbed them of income per se, as suggested in the article. There is no way on earth that the quantity of everything downloaded would ever have been purchased. Many illegal downloaders probably don't even get round to listening to half of it. Yes, it will have had an impact on revenues, but what about general social trends. Kids who had nothing else to do thirty years ago except watch TV with their parents, listen to their friends' mix tapes, or play on their Commodore 64 (if they were lucky) now have PSPs, Facebook, iphones, wii's etc. While the grown-ups now eat out, go to the cinema, cook with Jamie's 20-minute meals app. Maybe the time for listening to music has just been squeezed out by our busy, have-it-all lives.

Yes, all creative industries need to tackle the issue of protecting artistic content. But seriously, the music business needs to spend less money on old rope, and put more efforts into making money in the future - be that from recorded music, or something else. And I don't think QVC is the answer. But then what do I know.

Do they have wi-fi?

Modern technology is great isn't it? Advances in digital technology and connectivity have opened up new worlds for individuals, businesses, communities and countries.

At the same time, I firmly believe that this same ubiquitous connectivity is responsible for much of our modern-day stresses and pressures. Put simply, we are always on.

20 years ago, when there were few mobile phones, people simply couldn't be reached when they were travelling, or on holiday, or out for dinner. Emails would not be read, let alone actioned, until the following working day, if the recipient had already gone home.

Now, with mobiles, blackberries, iphones, ipads and other time-saving, sanity-sapping devices, we are always on. And I'm really not trying to raise the gender thing here, but guys, you are by far the worst at this, yet you doth protest the most. Mobile phones are answered in restaurants, cars (obviously), planes and trains (even with the dreadful Euston to Birmingham signal). Blackberry messages are picked up and sent at all hours of night - what must their partners think of them? Do they sneak off to the bathroom to send these messages??

Anyway, my point here is that being on 24-7 can't be good for us. Where is the down-time, moment of calm in the day, R&R? How can we possibly recharge our batteries when we are always on?

One of the great bosses I had a few years ago always used to leave the first hour and a half of every day completely free. No meetings under any circumstances. He also used to like going for a walk at lunchtime. I admire this self-discipline.

I currently find myself in an organisation where, if you will allow it, you will always be on.

I know this because when my friend booked us in for a spa break this week, I said to her, "Do they have wi-fi?"