QUICK HITS

Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM

JAM ON IT

Have you ever wanted to participate in a spontaneous jam session? Now you have your chance with JamNow.com, which offers musical collaboration, entertainment and social networking in real time. Musicians can use the “virtual studio” to interact with other musicians, and they can use the portal as a rehearsal/performance space and recording/promotional tool, too. For example, a guitarist and a drummer can open slots for a vocalist and a bassist, allowing them to join the jam on the fly. And if you're simply a fan, you can hang out and watch the action. How's that for an instant concert?

STREAMS ON A PLATTER

The latest in social-networking music sites is MX Play (www.mxplay.com). Download the player (for Mac, the tiny download link is right under the “install now” button), and MX Play will find audio and video streams on any Website, give you instant access to them and add links to your MX Play library. You can also import your computer's library of music to MX Play. It might take a bit for MX to iron out some kinks (the streams are sometimes labeled poorly, for example). But all in all, this is another cool way to get music to work at your beck and call.

LARGE AND RECHARGED

No worries if you only use 20 percent of your brain's memory cells. That's human nature, and drinking doesn't help. But only using 20 percent of NI Battery 3's sweet features? Shenanigans, my friend! On How Audio's Battery 3 training video (download or DVD; www.howaudio.com), British producer Kevin Bazell lays out every nitty-gritty of the kickass drum instrument in less than one info-packed hour. It's also easy to refer back to individual chapters after you forget 80 percent of what you learned the first time.

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