A lot of it sucks; some of it doesn’t. My favorite musician now is Andrew Bird; “Armchair Apocrypha” is beautiful. “Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs” is worth your time. I like Arcade Fire; “Funeral” is a very hummable album. “Neon Bible” has a few I like (like “Keep the Car Running”), but “Funeral” is better. Okkervil River (“The Stage Names”) took a few minutes to get used to, but the songs stick in your craw.

Solution: don’t use Windows Media Player, and don’t use MP3′s.  Instead, use CorePlayer to play Ogg Vorbis files.  There’s no skipping, they sound better, and you can fit more in the same space.  To rip from CD, use the good ol’ standby AudioGrabber, following Tom’s Audio Guide instructions.  Converting from MP3 to .ogg won’t do any good, but CorePlayer should handle them better than WMP.

On eMusic, I have a basic account.  For $10 a month, I get 30 MP3 downloads (they don’t offer Vorbis, shame on them).� Now, some downloads are worth downloading just because they’re great.  The Crash Test Dummies have a few albums available there.  And I still contend that The Ghosts That Haunt Me is one of the best albums ever.  But after the CTD downloads were done, I concentrated on getting more bang for my buck; that is, I want the longest palatable songs I can find.  How far can you stretch 33 cents per song?

Here are some good, long MP3′s from eMusic:

• 56:11 – Ustad Amjad Ali Khan’s “Raag – Ahir Bhairav.”  Good sarod and violin.  The memorable theme at 32 minutes or so is great.
• 41:58 – Tom Heasley’s “Thonis,” from “On the Sensations of Tone.”  Ambient tuba music, if you can believe it.  Get “Prelude,” too.
• 21:27 – Robert Henke’s “Studies for Thunder,” from “Signal to Noise.”  The other two tracks are great, too.
• 15:17 – Yngwie Malmsteen’s “Trilogy Suite (Includes Red House and Badingere) ” from “Double Live.”  I saw Yngwie with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai on the G3 tour a few years back.  Yngwie kept tossing his guitar around his body, and one time he came about a foot away from spearing Billy Sheehan with it.  Funniest thing I’d seen in a while.  Several of his albums are available on eMusic, the best being “Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in E Flat Minor Op. 1.”  Great listening.
• 10:19 – Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman.”  Straight-up awesome.
• 25:40, 25:03, 25:37 – Ambient Music Therapy’s “Ultimate Sleep System.”  Impressive ambient music.  It’s tough to be non-intrusive.

I’ve been poking around at this for a while, but nobody else in the family likes hearing me practice.  So, this is from sneaking picking time.  It’s not a full rendition, but the two major themes are there.  And I don’t know why, but the microphone makes me nervous, and all that. Here it is.  Next on my list is Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.

Sleepers Awake! (MP3)

This is a minimalist banjo version, with just a cheap mic hooked up to the computer.  So the sound quality isn’t great — just imagine it’s an old Folkways recording.

Kyrie Eleison (MP3)

I’ll add more songs as I learn them.

MP3 recording of Bach’s Prelude in C Major (BWV 846) on the 5-string banjo