Hear It, Buy It, Love It

I've got two very good friends who have worked at AOL now for about 5 years. They're not techies, they're business-side guys. During the time they've been there, I've done very little but make fun of them for working for what, to my eyes at least, appears to be the most half-assed company ever created. They're two very intelligent guys working for the dumbest company around. At every turn AOL has made the exact wrong decision, and it's completely thrown away the incredible position of power it had circa-1999.

I say this because, finally, I think AOL has gotten something right. I've been linking the last few weeks to several whole, new albums being streamed at AOL. They have rock, pop, rap, r&b, and other genres of stuff, and up to 25 albums at a time.

What does this mean? It means they're slowly, week by week and album by album, earning my trust and loyalty. Right now, if I like an album I hear at AOL, I go and buy it at Insound or Amazon. But give me a few more weeks -- and redesign their site a tad -- and I'm going to start buying through AOL. And if they add enough other interesting content, they may start getting a lot more of my traffic, and a good deal more of my money. (No, that does not mean I will be joining any $20/month service, thanks.)

Anyway, we'll see how long it takes for them to kill this thing before it really starts to take off. In the meantime, go and listen to these new albums in their entirety, and dream of a day when AOL won't be a dirty word:

Josh Rouse, Subtitulo

Sondre Lerche, The Duper Sessions

Appleseed Cast, Peregrine

Editors, The Back Room