Conrad Agramont

To Zune or to Spotify… That’s the question

agramont — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 04:48:18 +0000

When I heard that Spotify was coming to the United States I thought, “What’s the big deal”? With such a question in hand, I when to the site to get notified when the service was available. I was lucky enough to get approved for early access only a few days later. After using the free version of the service, I quickly saw how it could be a game changer.

First off, I’ll point out that I’ve been using the Microsoft Zune services since it came out. Full Disclosure: I worked for Microsoft at the time Zune came out. Regardless, it’s a quality product.

To keep this post short, I’ll get to the basics.

Zune Pass: http://zune.net

User Interface is easy and beautiful.
Great integration with Windows Phone (I have a test phone and it works like a charm), XBOX 360, PC, and Zune HD (cool but limited device)
Each month I get to keep 10 songs via MP3, everything else is protected (WMA format) but as long as I keep paying the subscription I can get as much as I want.

Spotify: http://www.spotify.com

Free version allows for (free) streaming of music. (Awesome)
Paid versions allow access via you mobile device. I have an iPhone and it’s pretty nice. It also works on other mobile platforms such as Windows Phone and Android.
Streaming is super fast.

Winner: To be determined, but right now I’m starting to think I’ll go the way of Spotfiy unless Zune makes a few changes. If Spotify can get away with the free service, why can’t Zune? Plus I like being able to keep 10 songs via MP3 each month.

Great day at the beach

agramont — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 07:42:43 +0000

Today was a great day at the beach. I think we spent about 4 or 5 hours there enjoying the waves, sunshine, and hanging out with some of our old neighbors yet still very close friends. Today I learned how to Skimboard. I wasn’t that great at it, but it was my first day and loads of fun.

You know, as the kids get older, I find it more fun everyday doing things outside. I find that they generally want us parents around and doing cool stuff is always a plus. Take this video stills from some of the footage we shot today.

They loved getting involved and making something cool. They’re the main starts of my planned summer time movie. I’m getting great stuff from them. Sometimes I wish we had the camera rolling all the time, because their best stuff comes in unplanned moments. Come to think of it, so does their worse.

Conrad Blogging 3.0

agramont — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:57:29 +0000

While this is the same blog URL (http://agramont.net) that I’ve been blogging from for a while, I’m taking a new direction in how and where I blogged. In the past my blog has been more about professional topics and content. While this was a great way to get out interesting information about the products and/or services I worked on, it didn’t give me a good place to share other types of information. While I did use spaces like Facebook to share very personal content, that content could never really be shared with the awesomeness of the Internet world. Plus, my previous blogging was done on a shared hosting service (http://ASPnix.com ) and I had to both deploy and maintain the blogging software (Community Server) which took too much of my time. So now I’ve moved over to WordPress.

So where is all of that previous content? Well for now, it’s nowhere. But I do have plans to get the most popular content and stick in this sites new archive space.

So here are my new rules for content:

Post all Corporate/Business content on my companies blog site. It’s really the right place to put this information. Plus, if I move on , I don’t have to maintain that content or service.
Post all really personal information on Facebook. Facebook for now, although I’m starting to fall out of love with them because of their weak and inflexible security model. They clearly haven’t learned from other big players such as Microsoft and Google. But I haven’t found a better replacement.
Picture or Video for all posts. Having a blog post with just text is getting pretty old. It’s more fun when there is a picture or video to help tell the “Story” and give some visual stimulation. Thanks to the Neistat Brothers for the inspiration (more on them later).
No topic is off limits. It’s my blog and I can blast if I want to (within reason). I’ve been holding back for a long time many of my views on politics, products, and other stupidness. I’d like this to be my truly personal space to document that. Is it a risk? Sure, but sometimes you gotta have your voice heard….right?
Listen, Think, and Share. I’ve found that some of the best blogs listen to their readers and have an open and honest dialog. I’d like to try that out, but first I’ll need readers. Like you! (right?)

OK, enough of that…. Let’s have fun now!

Here’s a super short video of my lovely wife Pam “striking out”

New Pics

agramont — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 07:09:36 +0000

I added some recent Family photos we took at a studio and some pictures of the kids in the Photos section.

Conrad