Radio Free Bob

On bobdylan.com, in case you haven’t been there in a while (I hadn’t), there’s an interesting feature. Click a song, look at the lyrics, and look to the left and see which albums it’s been on. So far so good. Then click one of those new “Listen” buttons. Listen to the song. Nice, right? You get the whole thing, not just a niggardly little sample. But wait! Keep listening. If you leave your browser up, a random assortment of entire Dylan songs starts to play.

With the right software you can send the stream to your home stereo. I don’t think the playlist is unlimited, but wow. It’s the kind of radio I dreamed of in high school. And if you’ve owned most of Dylan’s back catalog in various now-unplayable formats, and have so far refused to buy music you “already own” in this-yer newfangled mp3 format, it’s like meeting old friends.

     posted 31 March 2009 by Michael Scott Moore

  1. And there was a song from the new album up for download all day on the 30th. If I hadn’t been in transit, I would have notified you.

    — Ed Ward    Apr 1, 01:53 pm    #

  2. Dang!

    — Mike    Apr 1, 07:57 pm    #

  3. That’s cool. Good heads up.

    I’m in San Jose for Bruce and E and I was talking with the road crew last night in the hotel bar and they said, “Be ready for a bunch of Dylan and Guthrie.” I said, “Classic Dylan?” and the guy I was talking with at the time (who is a piano tuner on the tour) said, “But everything Dylan does is a classic. Bruce could just pull Dylan songs out of a hat and we’d be happy with the set.” This website proves his point. Judas keeps on going into the digital world.

    — e    Apr 1, 08:33 pm    #