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Salon has an interesting profile on MoveOn. The most interesting point to me, especially in light of the liberal partisan brush the right often paints MoveOn with, was this:

"I think there are cranks on all sides," says Boyd. "The cranks are running the show on one side. People who 10 years ago, 15 years ago would have been laughed off Capitol Hill have, through having a very strong, consistent voice in an environment in which there's a vacuum of integrity, have gained ownership of one team. But it's a very fragile alignment. If you look at Americans' issue positions, they don't align with the Bush administration. My view is that Americans are very centrist. When you go out and talk to people, I share views with a lot of people across the country."

That center has been obscured by television, which thrives on rancor and outrage. But Boyd believes the Internet is beginning to counteract some of television's distortions. "The American people are smart, talented, resourceful, all of those good things," he says. "Right now with technology, we can tap into that resourcefulness; we can help play a catalytic role in helping to get these people to step forward. That's what you're seeing with MoveOn. That's what you're seeing with the Dean campaign and other campaigns."

Has the Radical Center found an outlet?

Presumably inspired by fellow Boston institution MIT's Open Courseware, the Berklee College of Music, one of the finest jazz and music business schools in the country, has started the Creative Commons licensed Berklee Shares.

Welcome to the Berklee Shares Web site. Here you will find free music lessons that you can download, share and trade with your friends and fellow musicians.

Berklee Shares is:

• Individual self-contained music lessons developed by Berklee faculty and alumni.
• Free and open to the music community around the world.
• A library of MP3 audio, QuickTime movie, and PDF files.
• A glimpse into the educational opportunities provided by Berklee.

This is amazing. It has everything from lessons on music production and business, to improv, to individual instrument lessons. Check it out.

[via unproductivity]

iTunes for Windows is ready for download! They've added some new features to the store as well. Celebrity playlists, gift certificates and an allowance account to allow parents to let their kids use iTunes without a credit card.

If you're stuck on Windows and have an iPod, you're already downloading it, but even if you don't have an iPod, but do have an mp3 collection you should check it out.

Welcome, Windows users, to the world's best digital music jukebox, with a great music store inside - and it keeps getting better. Welcome to a music store with hundreds of thousands of songs which you can conveniently browse and search, and an inviting way to preview, buy and download music online quickly and easily. And welcome to the best friend an iPod ever had: iTunes.

Incidentally, while browsing the iTunes web site, I noticed this little blurb.

Coming soon for more than 25 million U.S. members of America Online

Sure enough:

Apple(R) and America Online, Inc., the world's leading interactive services company, today announced an alliance to provide instant, one-click registration to the iTunes(R) Music Store for AOL's more than 25 million U.S. members starting later this quarter. America Online will integrate links to iTunes artists, albums and songs throughout its leading music site, AOL Music, which will give members the option to link directly to the specific iTunes Music Store page to preview and buy music as they browse and read music news and reviews.

"Apple and AOL are making it easy for AOL's 25 million U.S. members to legally buy music online," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "With just one click, AOL members will be able to legally preview, purchase and download music from the iTunes Music Store's catalog of more than 400,000 songs."

"Apple's iTunes Music Store is a runaway hit," said Jonathan Miller, chairman and CEO of America Online. "Today, Apple and AOL are uniting the number one music destination site, AOL Music, with the number one music download site, Apple's iTunes Music Store, to bring customers the most complete online digital music experience."

This could be the nail in the coffin for eMusic, Napster MkII, etc.

WWBD?