Audiofile
The growth of the Internet's influence over-and contribution to-our musical taste is a blessing in many ways. With the help of MP3s and the musical obsessives who are kind enough to upload them onto music sites where anybody
can get their hands on them has splayed the obscure, the hidden, the brand-spanking-new and the once-forgotten across cyberspace for all to hear. Oh sure, the music snobs of us despair over the fact that now just
anybody
can get their grimy little paws on a cut from KISS'
The Elder
, and those who spent years digging through musty used record crates at garage sales, sweating, hands rent by giant cardboard cuts from album covers, might resent the fact that their treasured finds are now available through the click of a mouse. But, really, at least now we all get to
hear
them.
And, though
, Limewire and the like have made access to music easier, another problem remains: There's so freakin' much of it! How do we keep up? In the time it takes someone to read a Sasha Frere-Jones review in the New Yorker, they could have downloaded the entire oeuvre of the band he's writing about. Does anyone over the age of 25 really have the energy to keep constant tabs on the music factory that is the Internet.
Well, some of us do. But for those who don't,
's "Audiofile" is a helpful, fabulous way to at least crack the surface. On a daily basis, Salon's Thomas Bartlett serves up the cream of the free download crop so you don't have to sift through constant Google searches and labyrinthine links. For each download, Bartlett provides a description, history and review of the song (or podcast, or video). These vary in length from a few hundred words to several paragraphs, and they are helpful in deciding whether or not to bother downloading the song. Best of all, a list of every single download Bartlett has ever recommended runs down the left side of the column, so literally hundreds of new songs are available at your fingertips.
Admittedly, Audiofile is not as satisfying as its Salon predecessor, "Wednesday Morning Download." Bartlett can get a smidge wordy, his taste sometimes lists toward the down-tempo and his choices often appear a bit random. But it's the randomness that, in the end, makes Audiofile work, sending you down musical pathways you never would have considered before.
