OK, this alone justified the $9.95 I paid MTV this month for its URGE service. I have to say, it’s addictive and has worked spectacularly well for more than two months. After my disastrous experience with Napster To Go a few years ago, I was gunshy. But it’s been rock-solid.
The commentary from Jack Black and Kyle Gass is priceless. Sample :
I hate to sound like an old man and keep naming songs from the ’70s and ’80s. … The Cars don’t really make what I’d call sexy music, but the guitar solo in this is so hot [scats guitar sound].
As for the playlist itself, I haven’t summoned up the courage to actually play it yet.
(PARENTAL LYRICS ADVISORY: If you don’t know Tenacious D, this is a good starting point. Imagine that Spinal Tap had grown up in an American suburb in a parallel universe where Jack Black is a rock and roll god. And if bad words offend you, then forget I even mentioned it.)
Ed Bott (@ wordpress.com) 
A friend of mine gave me the first Tenacious D CD as a gift. I chuckled the first time I heard them and deadpanned afterwards — Spinal Tap are better at sustaining the joke, personally. That said I’m glad someone had the nerve to take the plunge with Urge and see how it really is (and isn’t just slamming it out of hand without actually using it, like some hardware reviewers we could name…)
Yes, thanks for the heads-up about URGE. I don’t think I’m in the sweet spot for their $9.95 monthly, although I really got my money’s worth out of MSN Radio Plus and MSN Music. That worked better for me.
On the other hand, the MSN Pandora thingie (http://radio.msn.com/radio/tuner/ top of page usually) is a hoot and I may actually increase my listening because the genre-matching is quite delightful — much better than what fans of bands also like (aka the amazon buyers/readers-of-this-book approach). Apparently, our affinity for partiicular musicians is not all that one-dimensional.
If Pandora did classical music I suspect I’d be even happier.
I suspect that eMusic might be a good-enough match for me, except that I don’t listen to that much music that I want to own, even at two-bits or less per purchase.
Feeling lonely out here on the musical-minded long tail.
PS: Thanks for your almost-captcha thingie. Even though the hex is relatively small, it is clear and easy to do for my old eyes.
After complementing you on the captcha, I miss-keyed one. Interesting. Wink, wink, say no more.