SprouseNet

Introducing The PlanktonPod...

Some readers may have noticed I've tweaked the look of this blog a bit. This is the nerdy kind of thing I do in my very rare spare time--kind of sad, isn't it? The biggest change in the blog is the addition of the little music player at right. Music is a huge part of our lives, and I thought it would be fun to include some on our blog. Since Xan and I are also both iPod enthusiasts(!) I wanted to present it in the form that you see, with the ability to update it occasionally with songs or other audio tracks that have some connection to what we're writing about or what's going on in the world.

I get just as annoyed as anyone when I visit a mySpace site and some obnoxious music blasts out of my speakers uninvited, and I know the pain of internet slowdown while waiting for embedded automatic audio players to load and start. For those reasons, I've set up the PlanktonPod so that you don't have to listen to it if you don't want to--interested parties have to actually hit the play button to hear any music. I should mention that the controls are pretty easy to figure out--just click on the name of the first song in the list on the iPod's little screen(or whichever song you want to hear) and the music begins. You can also press the center button in the middle of the white click wheel and whatever track is highlighted will play(pressing the forward and rewind buttons will highlight and scroll through the songs). Once music is playing, the virtual click-wheel works like a real iPod's click wheel with the exception of volume levels(you'll have to control the volume using your computer's own controls). Underneath the PlanktonPod are some little buttons that will take you to iTunes or other sites where some songs I post can be purchased(if available), or will help you create a music player for your website. I plan to change playlists every week or so. Feel free to comment on the songs and playlists and we'll be happy to answer any questions(we love talking music).

So...the inaugural PlanktonPod playlist is a mix of summer-themed songs, with an emphasis on this week's holiday. Next week I'll post more summer songs(or if the current weather conditions here in Columbus persist, I'll post any songs I can find about rain, floods and tornadoes). Enjoy!

--C