Meta-recs?
Jul. 25th, 2011 07:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livI've had my ereader for slightly less than a year, and I've sort of run out of stuff to load on to it. I mean, obviously I haven't run out of books, but there is very little left on my to-read list that is available in ebook form other than from Amazon. This is partly because Amazon has a near-monopoly, which I don't want to support if I can help it, and partly because publishers seem to like doing stupid things like making one book of a series (usually the middle one) available in ebook format but not the rest, or trying to region restrict ebooks when the codex versions are sold all over the world.
One solution to this is to start buying from Amazon, which means using semi-legal tools to strip their evil DRM so that I can convert files to a format which works on my (non-Kindle) ereader. I would rather not do this, because it means rewarding Amazon for what I consider to be really shoddy, anti-competitive practices. And because it's semi-legal and there's a small but existing risk I could get into trouble for it. And because I hear that Amazon's proprietary format is rather a hassle to crack.
Another solution is to start reading random stuff that isn't on my to-read list; there's plenty of material that's free or cheap enough to buy just on a whim. I'm doing a bit of that, but I don't want it to become the primary way I select reading material. The point of buying an ereader was so that I could deliberately choose to read the books I'm most interested in reading, rather than whatever happens to come into my hands for not too much money. I already read like that, picking up random books from charity shops and the library, and that's fine, but I want to read the books I'm positively excited about as well. Also I don't quite have the heart to page through all the more or less unmoderated / unedited cheap and free stuff that's out there in order to find what's worthwhile. At least when I buy from a charity shop, I have a pretty high chance of getting something that was actually published as a real, original book, not just a stream of words dumped out of someone's brain or copy and pasted from something else.
So what I really want to be doing at this point is to expand my to-read list. I managed to pick up a good list at Eastercon, and I always keep a close eye on Jo Walton's reviews at Tor.com. But both those are (fairly obviously) heavily skewed towards SF, and again I've more or less exhausted what is available in ebook format other than Amazon's Kindle-restricted stuff. I sometimes read stuff because someone I know reviews it, often on DW but sometimes it's in person enthusiasm. But that isn't very systematic. So what I'm looking for is sites with regular, high quality reviews that I can browse in order to discover new stuff I'm likely to like. Probably not so much a crowdsourced rating system type of deal, because it's too much effort to separate out the genuine reviews from the spam, and even most of the genuine reviews aren't very useful to me because if all they say is "I loved this book it was awesome!!!!1" then I don't get any impression of whether it's worth my seeking out. It may be that the way forward is traditional newspapers, actually. But anyway, where do you guys go to find new reading material?
I have a similar sort of problem with music. I've been buying music from emusic for some years now, because they do reasonably affordable, DRM-free stuff and I like their business model. But again, I'm sort of running out of material, especially as the major music labels won't allow DRM-free sites to sell their stuff. And honestly, DRM-free digital music at a reasonable price is no longer as much of a rarity as it used to be, plus emusic keep raising their prices to the point where it's no longer really worth the disadvantage that you have to pay a monthly fee and that the selection is somewhat limited.
I am still picking up new stuff from Pandora (again, needs semi-legal methods to get round their region limitation), and from last.fm, but more and more I'm finding that it isn't available on emusic, or isn't new to me. I can't get my head round Spotify; I'm quite inclined to buy a paid subscription, because I hear that artists are getting more income from Spotify than any other online music store or radio system. But I just don't get how it's supposed to work! Are you supposed to choose each song you want to play, or is there a way to use it to discover new music? I don't mind if it's investigating friends' tastes, or playing system-generated or user-defined tags, or playing stuff that's similar to a seed artist. But I can't figure out how to do any of those things on Spotify, which makes it not very satisfying for me. I usually have music on in the background when I'm doing something else, I don't want to have to stop every 5 minutes and decide what I want to listen to next, even though Spotify does have an impressively wide selection to choose from.
I know people do make playlists, but as far as I can see most of my friends have playlists consisting of simply particular albums they enjoy, not intentionally created music mixes. I also can't find any way to search for public playlists, perhaps those containing a particular song, or even just the most popular on the site. Perhaps I should start a DW community for people to share playlists!
So, any ideas? There must be something on the internet that helps find people new books to read and new music to listen to, that isn't Amazon's extremely clunky recommendation system. How do you people discover new media?
One solution to this is to start buying from Amazon, which means using semi-legal tools to strip their evil DRM so that I can convert files to a format which works on my (non-Kindle) ereader. I would rather not do this, because it means rewarding Amazon for what I consider to be really shoddy, anti-competitive practices. And because it's semi-legal and there's a small but existing risk I could get into trouble for it. And because I hear that Amazon's proprietary format is rather a hassle to crack.
Another solution is to start reading random stuff that isn't on my to-read list; there's plenty of material that's free or cheap enough to buy just on a whim. I'm doing a bit of that, but I don't want it to become the primary way I select reading material. The point of buying an ereader was so that I could deliberately choose to read the books I'm most interested in reading, rather than whatever happens to come into my hands for not too much money. I already read like that, picking up random books from charity shops and the library, and that's fine, but I want to read the books I'm positively excited about as well. Also I don't quite have the heart to page through all the more or less unmoderated / unedited cheap and free stuff that's out there in order to find what's worthwhile. At least when I buy from a charity shop, I have a pretty high chance of getting something that was actually published as a real, original book, not just a stream of words dumped out of someone's brain or copy and pasted from something else.
So what I really want to be doing at this point is to expand my to-read list. I managed to pick up a good list at Eastercon, and I always keep a close eye on Jo Walton's reviews at Tor.com. But both those are (fairly obviously) heavily skewed towards SF, and again I've more or less exhausted what is available in ebook format other than Amazon's Kindle-restricted stuff. I sometimes read stuff because someone I know reviews it, often on DW but sometimes it's in person enthusiasm. But that isn't very systematic. So what I'm looking for is sites with regular, high quality reviews that I can browse in order to discover new stuff I'm likely to like. Probably not so much a crowdsourced rating system type of deal, because it's too much effort to separate out the genuine reviews from the spam, and even most of the genuine reviews aren't very useful to me because if all they say is "I loved this book it was awesome!!!!1" then I don't get any impression of whether it's worth my seeking out. It may be that the way forward is traditional newspapers, actually. But anyway, where do you guys go to find new reading material?
I have a similar sort of problem with music. I've been buying music from emusic for some years now, because they do reasonably affordable, DRM-free stuff and I like their business model. But again, I'm sort of running out of material, especially as the major music labels won't allow DRM-free sites to sell their stuff. And honestly, DRM-free digital music at a reasonable price is no longer as much of a rarity as it used to be, plus emusic keep raising their prices to the point where it's no longer really worth the disadvantage that you have to pay a monthly fee and that the selection is somewhat limited.
I am still picking up new stuff from Pandora (again, needs semi-legal methods to get round their region limitation), and from last.fm, but more and more I'm finding that it isn't available on emusic, or isn't new to me. I can't get my head round Spotify; I'm quite inclined to buy a paid subscription, because I hear that artists are getting more income from Spotify than any other online music store or radio system. But I just don't get how it's supposed to work! Are you supposed to choose each song you want to play, or is there a way to use it to discover new music? I don't mind if it's investigating friends' tastes, or playing system-generated or user-defined tags, or playing stuff that's similar to a seed artist. But I can't figure out how to do any of those things on Spotify, which makes it not very satisfying for me. I usually have music on in the background when I'm doing something else, I don't want to have to stop every 5 minutes and decide what I want to listen to next, even though Spotify does have an impressively wide selection to choose from.
I know people do make playlists, but as far as I can see most of my friends have playlists consisting of simply particular albums they enjoy, not intentionally created music mixes. I also can't find any way to search for public playlists, perhaps those containing a particular song, or even just the most popular on the site. Perhaps I should start a DW community for people to share playlists!
So, any ideas? There must be something on the internet that helps find people new books to read and new music to listen to, that isn't Amazon's extremely clunky recommendation system. How do you people discover new media?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-25 07:49 pm (UTC)http://www.spotifyclassical.com/
As for ebooks, I've always been tempted to do recs for some of my public domain finds, but am not sure how many readers I have who are interested in the older stuff.
I'll be tracking this to see what other people recommend...
(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-25 08:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-25 08:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-26 08:21 am (UTC)Yes, but MP3s are better quality than they were a few years ago. I think what you need to do is get someone do a blind test on you, playing you the same piece of music off CD and MP3, and see if you can tell the difference.
As regards recommendations, though it's probably not what you're after primarily, I find Desert Island Discs can be a good way to discover new music, particularly of things I would not ordinarily listen to. (Not necessarily every week, but from time to time.) The last album I bought was Ez A Világ Való (This World Is Made For Me), by Hungarian Romani band Parno Graszt, which I discovered listening to Terry Gilliam on Desert Island Discs.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-26 12:46 pm (UTC)Desert Island Discs is a really good idea as a way of finding recs, though, thank you.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-26 12:59 pm (UTC)dinosaurDimetrodon.)(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-25 08:19 pm (UTC)Mobileread's reading recommendations forum is worth looking at, but there's nothing systematic about it.
eBooks Just Published blog lists non-DRM'd ebooks, mostly from Smashwords. They're not quite reviews, but they don't list the utter dreck.
The Eppie Awards are for ebooks--and I'd point you at a list but I don't think anyone has one, gaah. (I remember a similar issue looking for past Lambda winners. You'd think organizations that give literary awards would keep more than last year's winners around?) The easiest way I have to find them is to use Fictionwise's Award search page (which, unfortunately, puts the awards in a dropdown and the final page result just goes to the main search URL.) They have EPIC award winners, finalists & nominees at separate spots on the dropdown.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-25 08:58 pm (UTC)For
(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-25 09:21 pm (UTC)The purpose of SPS is to help people find ebooks worth reading, with an understanding that whatever's on the NYTimes bestseller lists probably doesn't need any help. (Not that that's all good stuff, but it's all much, MUCH better than the raw unproofed self-indulgent crap that sometimes winds up at Smashwords. I mean, for NYT bestsellers, the beginnings of the sentences are all capitalized and the POV rarely changes within the same paragraph.)
Self-releases by previously published authors are *terrific* subjects for SPS; it's content that's worth reading that won't be getting mainstream media coverage.
I wouldn't even mind if people started putting reviews of current bestsellers at SPS. I don't want it to stay focused on those, but don't mind if there's some--especially if the reviews mention the ebook-specific details, like whether there's a useful TOC and the formatting is clean. (Lots of current bestsellers are typo-ridden in ebook form, because the publishers use bad export settings.)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-25 10:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-26 09:29 pm (UTC)This lot were billed as SF with strong female characters:
Pre-golden age classics:
Books mentioned by the GoH panel as formative; most of these come from David Weber, who seems a lovely person but I am not sure his taste overlaps much with mine:
Books mentioned as doing interesting things with sex:
Non-fiction:
Other:
Not really about how to find music but about where you might get it from...
Date: 2011-07-26 09:23 pm (UTC)I'd be very surprised at that. Where did you hear it?
Among indie artists I follow on Twitter, Spotify is almost a bad word. It offers very, very little return to artists. Philip Glass writes, "On Spotify, it's in fact fractions of one cent. So if someone listens to your song dozens times, the label will get 1 cent. The artist will get a small share of that." (NB I find the rest of the article rather defensive, and it completely misses out any crowdfunding options, but that's another matter.)
Bandcamp is good, though.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-27 09:58 am (UTC)I think the thing with Spotify, poking around, is that it has the highest total volume of income for artists, having overtaken other online music providers. I'd misread that claim as artists getting the most money; it sounds as if individuals are seeing very little per track. I think I'll probably revise my intention to buy a paid subscription to Spotify, then.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-27 08:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-27 09:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-28 04:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-28 04:48 pm (UTC)