Gift-a-song meme

MacAllister said:

Okay--who knows how this thing works? I gather you can send a song to the someone else, who sends a song to someone else, and so on...but I'm a bit fuzzy on the details. It sounds sorta fun, though--plus, I'm madly in love with my little black iPod Nano--so much so that I'm contemplating puchasing it its own Mac computer...

Anyone? Bueller?

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Is this an actual meme? I know I talked with you about starting a meme based on the fact that you can "gift" someone with a song from the iTunes store.

I've been asking people how I should implement it, but no one's said it's already out there.

MacAllister said:

Ah! Perhaps it isn't then, Lisa. I've perhaps combined in my fevered brain that conversation with you, and the recent "When you see this, post an antiwar song" thing--because I went looking for the iPod thing a couple of nights ago, and got nowhere.

Okay. Let's figure it out, then. It seems the trickiest part is determining who has an iPod.

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They don't actually have to have an iPod; iTunes is all you need. iTunes is free, and available for Mac and Windows.

The tricky part is picking a song. You don't want to send one they already have; so either they have to :

1. pick one or more from the iTunes store (which kinda kills the surprise element)
2. post their collection (and some people have twenty thousand or so songs)
3. live dangerously

What do you think?

I have an iPod and so far I have RatPack songs and Stephen King's On Writing iBook and that's it.

MacAllister said:

Okay--iTunes will go on other mp3 players, too? I know that the song will work on the computer, regardless, so that part is cool.

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Errr . . . it used to work with other player like the Rio, but I think not any more.

You know, I've edited four books on iPods and iTunes; I should know this stuff . . .

So how does this sound as a meme plan.

The purpose of this meme is to gift a friend with a single song you've chose for them from the iTunes store, and to have them blog about it, and, if they like tag one or more of their friends.

1. Pick one or more of your friends who you know like listening to digital music; preferably someone who already has iTunes and an iTunes account, and who has a blog or Live Journal or somthing similar.

2. Select a song you want to give them from the iTunes store.

3. Post about this meme on your blog or Live Journal, and list your friends, the song you've chosen for them, (keep the song a secret until after you friend receives it, if you'd like), their blog, and these instructions. Feel free to add a comment about why you chose the song, if you'd like.

4. Purchase the single song for each friend, one at a time, (that is don't buy three songs for three friends) from the iTunes store, then click the Gift button that's included in the link for the song. When you check out, you'll be shown a form with spaces for your name, your friend's name and email address, and short message. This will be emailed to your friend, with instructions about how to download their gift song. Use the message to send them a link to the permalink for your blog post about the meme so they'll know to blog about the song.

5. If you decide to "gift back" to someone who tags you, please also tag someone else, so we can have a variety of musical tastes, journals, and people.

6. Songs are .99 cents on iTunes; if people want to send MP3s directly, that's up to them, but post the song title, artist, and album anyway. I suspect it's possible to do this with other music services, but I don't know. There are also lots of good sources for free music on the net; feel free to use those, or to publicize indie artists you like a lot. Oh, and there are free songs at Amazon too.

What should we change?

See the More Better Version Here

MacAllister said:

Hmm--sounds good to me, actually. I'm doing a dry run in my head, to make sure it doesn't break down anywhere...

It seems fine.

Dawno? Think of anything we've missed?

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Please somebody proof it; last night was a night of very little sleep and it's the second in a row. I'm lucky it's not in Hittite.

MacAllister said:

How 'bout I just go start it? Or would you prefer to, since it was your idea? It makes sense, and isn't anywhere near Hittite.

Although, I think you should preserve the Hittite meme idea for another day. *g* That has potential, too.

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Let's both go start it And get your friends to play too.

I suppose we could come up with a variant as an AW thread, for non bloggers . . .

MacAllister said:

Okay--check this, I tried to streamline a bit, without losing meaning:

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Much betterer.

Thanks! I'm going to be doing it on more than one blog (there's a shocker!)

Forgive me for missing out on the earlier posting - this is a GREAT idea (and that's not just because I just got a cool new song for my iPod *hugs Mac*)

I'm a bit under the weather today and will be going back to bed after my 11:30 meeting.

I will put this meme up on my blogs as well.

After the Hittite meme can we do Urdu? I've always wanted to do Urdu...

Dawno said:

Forgive me for missing out on the earlier posting - this is a GREAT idea (and that's because I just got a cool new song for my iPod *hugs Mac*)

I'm a bit under the weather today and will be going back to bed after my 11:30 meeting.

I will put this meme up on my blogs as well.

After the Hittite meme can we do Urdu? I've always wanted to do Urdu...

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Alas, I can do Sanskrit, but not Urdu . . . and all my Sanskrit is useless Sanskrit.

If you use the iTunes store, then click the Gift button that's included in the link for the song.

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I can't find this... every time I search, every which way I search, I find no "gift" option, and if I click "buy," it automatically starts downloading on my own computer. Where am I missing the gift option?

Having an iPod sounds more troublesome then having a baby, Jenna.

Edited version

1. Pick one or more of your friends who listens to digital music; preferably someone who already has iTunes and an iTunes account, and who has a blog or Live Journal or something similar.

Songs are .99 cents on iTunes; if people want to send MP3s directly, that's up to them, but post the song title, artist, and album anyway. You can use a credit card or PayPal to purchase songs. You must have installed a copy of iTunes to play or download the songs. I suspect it's possible give music with other music services, but I don't know. There are also lots of good sources for free music on the net; feel free to use those, or to publicize indie artists you like a lot. There are
free songs at Amazon too.

2. Select the song you want to give.

3. Post this meme on your blog or Live Journal, and list your friends, the song you've chosen for them, (keep the song a secret until after you friend receives it, if you'd like), a link to their blog, and these instructions. Feel free to add a comment about why you chose the song.

4. Purchase the single song for each friend, one at a time, (that is don't buy three songs for three friends.) If you use the iTunes store, find the song, then click on the link for the album; you will see a link near the top of the screen that says "Gift This Music; click it, then click the Gift button that's included in the link for the song. When you check out, you'll see a form with spaces for your name, your friend's name and email address, and a short message. This will be emailed to your friend, with instructions about how to download their gift song. Use the message to send them a link to the permalink for your blog post about the meme so they'll know to blog about the song. If you use Tags, tag the post as "Gift Music."

5. If you decide to "gift back" to someone who tags you, please also tag someone else, so we can have a variety of musical tastes, journals, blogs, and people.

Troubleshooting: Get iTunes for Mac or Windows here. It's free. If you can't get the URL/Web link from the email the iTunes store sends to tell you you have a song to download, try copying the URL to a new document, making sure that there are no spaces or returns where the very long URL has broken. You can covert the songs in iTunes from Apples DRM/protecte AAC format to an mp3 if you'd like.

rich said:

Having an iPod sounds more troublesome then having a baby, Jenna.

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Nah, not really, (think of the size issue!) and it's a lot more fun than a mace.

MacAllister said:

You click on the album name, and up in Album window with the picture there is a "give music" button, Jenna.

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A-HAAA! The ALBUM window. I was... not looking there. TYVM.

Now, is meme pronounced the French way or like mee-mee?

Rich: I've been swaddling my iPod and putting it down for naps and strolling it around the neighborhood, but it has yet to spit up on my shirt, so I'm gonna vote for babies being slightly more high-maintenance.

Oh, no, a third possibility! My little brain could explode.

I always read it as "mem" (silent e on the end), then thought about what it means ("it's all about me!") and thought it might be pronounced "mee-mee." I hadn't even thought of "meem."

Now I must know for sure.