Well, Herman Cain...looks like someone is putting a 9.9.9 plan into effect, eh? :)

So, we had a bit of Zune excitement yesterday when the Zune team announced that not only were they going to Canada with the Zune Music Marketplace and Zune Pass, but they were making some modifications to the current subscription model here in the U.S.

For $9.99, you'll have unlimited streaming access to songs in the music marketplace *and* the music videos that are available as well. If you're in the current $14.99 plan and wish to stay there (the $9.99 plan will be missing the 10 free songs), then you can grandfather your way in. The new $9.99 plan takes effect on October 3rd, so if you want nothing to change about your current situation, continue to do what you've always been doing.

Note that if you grandfather into October 3, you'll also get the unlimited streaming of music videos. That feature will be essentially for ALL Zune Pass subscribers.

So once the aura of "Oh my FKN Gawd, Zune said something!" died down, people (myself included) began to inquire a bit more about this new plan and what it means for new customers. Many have made the valid point that the 10 free credits was one of the great differentiators for Zune as opposed to what Spotify or Rdio has to offer. So if you were to sell someone on Zune Pass, starting Monday, what would you tell them is a key point to going with Zune versus going with say Last.Fm, when Last.Fm is a PC, Phone and Xbox service like Zune is.

Of course, Zune lowered their price so that they could better compete with these other services that are hitting the scene, but after thinking about it I agree with the value-add question. Of course 10 free songs on a $9.99 plan makes the plan itself free, but you have to wonder how much were the agreements with the labels to allow users to simply stream videos all they want and not purchase them. $14.99 subscribers minus 10 songs is $5 so maybe that $5 helps cover agreements. Just a thought...

Many (myself included) also wonder what's the value of being able to have unlimited streaming of music videos. Remember, you can only stream them (at this point) via the PC software or the Xbox 360. Who'd want to sit in front of their PC and look at vids all day and who'd want to do that on the Xbox, when Youtube will become an app on the service. I could only think that having a music video playlist (for parties) would make things fun or having music videos play behind the song when you're going through a playlist. I would hope that I'm not expected to just pick each video as the previous one ends.

As I noted yesterday, one of the parts of the post that caught my eye was the "More to come" line. As few words as that has, that has a great impact. Microsoft has still yet to announce what they're doing on the TV (or total entertainment front) with announcements about grand partnerships still to be revealed. I'm sure more music services will appear (iHeartRadio announced during their music festival that they were coming to Xbox Live) and in my conversation with Slacker Radio long long ago, they expressed interest in being an app on the service. Why wouldn't they? Xbox Live reaches millions of users every day.

So where does this leave Zune. Zune *is* Microsoft's first-party solution for music, TV and movies but the question still remains how this service will fit into the grand scheme of Microsoft's entertainment package going forward.

Until we get clarifications about that let's deal with present matters. What do you all think of the current Zune Pass subscription that goes into effect on Monday?

Sound off, Zune Nation!

Another Friday, another free music blitz.

• With R.E.M.'s breakup, check out this track.
• Dig down into some Fossil Collective.
• Check out Dead Rock Machine.
• Check out this massive set of new releases featuring the Kooks, Neon Indian, and much more.
• Here's a free track from Pallers.

Have a great weekend.

Been a while since I've been back in the saddle offering up my choices for good songs from the new releases. Partially, that's because some weeks have just been very mediocre and then last week was spent participating in certain aspects of the BUILD conference (not to mention my MSMVP event in Costa Mesa). So here we are with some tracks that have caught my ear this week.

And yes, Demi Lovato is on this list...deal with it! :P)

"All Night Long" by Demi Lovato from the album "Unbroken" [Pop]

"Maximal Crazy" by Tiesto from the album "Maximal Crazy" [Elec]

"The Lady is a Tramp" by Tony Bennett/Lady Gaga from the album "Duets II" [Jazz]

"Run Every Time" by Gavin DeGraw from the album "Sweeter" [Pop]

"Outside Looking In" by Celtic Thunder from the album "Storm" [Pop]

"If You Want To" by Lalah Hathaway from the album "If You Want To" [R&B]

"Breakdown (feat/ Lisa Shaw)" by Miguel Migs from the album "Outside the Skyline" [Elec]

In a video for a contest held by artist LMFAO and car maker Kia, the Zune HD makes a special appearance. Featured two seconds into the video, it looks like the Zune is the party rock player of choice for both Kia and LMFAO. While not the subject of the video or contest, it is great to see the Zune HD still kicking it. The video is below.

As for the contest, known as “The Soul Shuffle Slam,” it looks like it is based off a Kia Soul commercial, which initially aired during the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, and LMFAO’s ‘Party Rock Anthem’ music video that provided the soundtrack for the Kia commercial. Personally, it looks a little like a more upbeat homage to the Deliver Hope advertisement that accompanied the release of Halo: Reach. Then again, I do not remember any shuffling hamsters helping Kat blow up a Covenant ship.

Putting the Kia commercial and LMFAO music video together, if you make a video of yourself doing LMFAO’s shuffle, you could win $10,000 for doing so. While the possibility of winning $10k is alluring, seeing the Zune HD one more time is almost as sweet. Check out Kia’s YouTube page for more info on the contest, which ends October 7th. Who would I be without saying you can listen to the song (and get lyrics) for free on Bing and download ‘Party Rock Anthem’ via Zune?

It's Yoda free music time...

• One of the best band names I've heard in a while: Neutron Wireless Crystal.
• Enter Slow Club.
• Check this EP from Jens Lekman.
• Spinner.com has this free track from Mathieu Santos.
• Indie Rock Cafe has a ton of free tracks, including ones from Class Actress, Megafun, Social Climbers, Rokysopp, and more.

If you follow me on Twitter you may remember I tweeted a link to a Photosynth I  made of a bridge in Vermont as part of a day trip to the state. That bridge is the Taftsville Covered Bridge, which is featured in the Photosynth above. After a conversation with some friends about the recent weather New England and parts of upstate New York have received, as the result of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Depression Lee, I decided to check YouTube to see if I could find videos of water rushing past the one bridge I happened to capture with my camera. I found such a video.

This video was taken just after Hurricane Irene swept through Vermont leaving many without power or road access. When compared to the Photosynth above the video was recorded on the opposite shore of the Ottaquechee River, just beyond the power station. As I understand it, the bridge survived and the state is still cleaning up from all the rain. None the less, these are some powerful comparison media views showing the volume of water that went through one part of Vermont.

A few weeks ago a guy at work was selling a pair of tickets to the Incubus concert in Camden, NJ. The tickets were only $50, and since I dig Incubus' music and hadn't been to a concert in over 3 years, I thought it'd be a good time.

My wife and I got the date night (thanks to my youngest brother, who watched our children) and headed down. Parking was $25 by the Susquehanna Bank Center, and not much cheaper further away. Maybe I'm just getting old and miserly, but wow- $25 is ridiculous. Whatever, we paid it and parked. There were tons of people pre-gaming the concert- beer cans everywhere, and as we walked down to the gates we caught a whiff of some extracurricular smoking activities. Getting into the park was painless, and we were concerned about getting a decent spot on the lawn. But once we made our way up the steps, we found a spot to our immediate left, and laid out our blanket and chilled.


The camera phone shot doesn't give you too decent a perspective, but we had a good view. We had a clear sight to the stage and would have an easy time of leaving the concert once it was over.

By the time we sat down, Young the Giant was on their final couple of songs. From what I heard I really enjoyed them. "Catchy rock with a pop appeal" would be my initial impression- again, didn't hear too much but enough to want to seek out more of their music down the road.

After a brief wait, Incubus came on. They put on a great performance, kicking things off with "Megalomaniac" and then seguing into "Wish You Were Here". Their performance went on to be a mix material off of their new album, If Not Now, When?, and older material. They did an acoustic set comprised of "Defiance" and "Stellar". Fittingly, they concluded with "Nice to Know You", only to return for a 3-song encore.

Vocalist Brandon Boyd sounds great live, skillfully bringing to life the band's tracks. Musically Incubus was amazing; Mike Einziger is the real deal live with his guitar work. Chris Kilmore's turntable work was great live and added an aural element that I love about Incubus' sound. This is a band playing in their prime and it showed.

Something else that I enjoyed was the video that played during the band's performance. It showed footage of the band's performance intermixed with surreal or symbolic imagery, and it made for a nice companion piece to their performance.

It was a killer performance and I would recommend checking out Incubus if given the opportunity.

Set List:

1. Megalomaniac 
2. Wish You Were Here 
3. Adolescents 
4. Anna Molly 
5. Promises, Promises 
6. The Original 
7. Privilege 
8. Consequence 
9. A Certain Shade of Green 
10. In the Company of Wolves 
11. Defiance (Acoustic)
12. Stellar (Acoustic)
13. Punch Drunk 
14. A Kiss to Send Us Off 
15. Dig 
16. Drive 
17. Switchblade 
18. Nice to Know You 

Encore:

1. Pardon Me 
2. Are You In? (Riders on the Storm snippet)
3. Tomorrow's Food 

When not filling up Inside the Circle with his own brand of crazy talk, Julio maintains a blog over at http://www.julioinprogress.com.

Is this it? As I walked through Best Buy this afternoon I noticed that the Zune HD was on clearance for a price of $152.99. This is not the first time you have been able to score a Zune HD for a prices like this. According to Zune Boards forums, Target sold the Zune HD at a similar price when the chain stopped selling the device. Newegg deactivated the 16GB Zune HD device saying it is out of stock and may or may not be restocked. Amazon lists the 16GB Zune HD as only available through 3rd party resellers. Walmart sells the Zune HD, without any clearance label, albeit for $159.54 – a price similar to other clearance prices.

A check of the Best Buy website shows the Best Buy website now sells only Zune Pass in the location you would expect to find Zune devices. The lack of a product page is odd as HP’s recently discontinued TouchPads still have product listings while the presumably still in-production Zune HD has none, as evidenced by the picture above. A sales representative at the customer service number of Best Buy’s website told me there were no Zunes in stock on the website or in Best Buy stores. When I asked about future availability I was told there was no set replenishment date and to call in periodically. Take it for what it is, but get your Zune HD from your local Best Buy or Walmart while you can.

Considering these facts and the age of the Zune HD itself, I have to wonder, is Best Buy going to stop selling the Zune HD? If so, to my knowledge, that leaves Walmart as the only national retailer still selling the Zune HD in stores. More importantly, with Zune out of stock at so many first-party retailers, what comes next in the Zune media player lineage?

zOMG, Your.Music.Weekly makes its return from the dead to provide you with free music yumminess and gets to use that awesome Yoda graphic. Hello, Brave New(ish) World...

• Just in time for the weekend is, uh, The Weeknd.
• Say it three times fast: Oberhofer.
• You will be at St. Vincent's mercy.
• 3am Revelations serves up a duo of tastiness with We Are the City and Go to Me.
• Indie Rock Cafe rocks a mix to end summer featuring Pavement, Husker Du, Teenage Fanclub, the Lawsuits, the Novel Ideas, and much, much more.
• Grab 10 free tracks from Amazon.com as part of their "Artists on the Rise" set, including Luke Temple, Jessica 6, and Active Child.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Vox Circle column. Considering I’ve slept poorly the past couple of nights, my brain was obviously keen on writing one since here I am, tapping away on my Chromebook at 12:42am to unburden the spongy gray matter of some ideas crawling around it like rusty automaton spiders.  Lucky for you, fearless reader, that you are privy to the results. Just try not to, you know, send ninja monkeys after me or something in retaliation. But if you do send them, at least send along some peanut butter crackers.