Morning Music Notes – U2 Roll into Toronto, Manager is Delusional

U2 roll into Toronto (actually, Larry Mullen Jr was spotted in trendy Yorkville yesterday) to play the Skydome Rogers Centre. Since it is such a nice day, maybe they will play with the dome open, like they did 2 years ago. The Telegraph has a guest article by U2 manager Paul McGuinness, who thinks that recent steps are making the download age come closer to an end. Mr. McGuinness is referring to the slap on the wrist policy that US internet service providers have promised. 6 strikes and you’re out…maybe. Some interesting theories from Paul McGuinness, nonetheless.

Free Music Festival!

The annual FreeFest from Virgin Mobile is back again. The festival is planned for September 10th, and will be at the Merriweather Post Pavilion, in Columbia, MD. Acts include The Black Keys, Deadmau5, Cut Copy, Empire of the Sun, Two Door Cinema Club, Cee-Lo Green, and TV on the Radio. And how does one get these tickets? Simply “like” the Virgin Mobile Live page on Facebook. Once you have liked the page, you are eligible for the free tickets, which will be available on Friday, July 15th at 10:00 AM EDT. Virgin Mobile customers and Virgin Mobile Festival ticket holders from the past five years will be invited via text and email to a private “free-sale” (aka pre-sale) to be held on Thursday, July 14th at 10:00 AM EDT.

Everything is Becoming Redundant

I love my iPod, and have since Day 1, over 2 versions and 8 years ago. The problem is I do not take it with me 100% of the time, due to size, plus I have my wallet, keys, phone, etc. With the iPhone, I basically had an iPod with me 100% of the time, and life became that much better. Smartphones are great at replacing objects and making older, common items, like alarm clocks, redundant. CNet has a list of items that surveys show smartphones and tablets are being used for instead of the original items:

Alarm clock: 61.1 percent
GPS: 52.3 percent
Digital camera: 44.3 percent
Personal planner: 41.6 percent
Landline phone: 40.3 percent
MP3 player: 37.6 percent
Video camera: 34.2 percent
Newspaper: 28.2 percent
Radio: 27.5 percent
Desktop/Laptop computer: 24.2 percent
Gaming device: 20.8 percent
Books: 20.1 percent
Internet service at home: 19.5 percent
DVD player: 14.1 percent