Wondering how in the world you’re going to rip those hundreds of CDs to your computer? iPod owners probably go through that point about five minutes after they get it. How in the world am I supposed to rip the hundreds of CDs I already own?

Check out Rip Digital. I’m annoyed because it’s one of those services I always wanted to start — and they already have. Kudos for them for getting off their duffs and actually doing it. I like the fact that they can ship your ripped music on an external Maxtor drive, which I was thinking about getting anyway. You can justify the expense as a way to get backup for your computer’s data at the same time. I just wish I discovered this service before ripping about half my collection — what can you do.

Music is a strange concept in society. It produces nothing, and is valued only insofar as people in society place value in it. One could say it’s an artificial societal construct designed to create jobs, by “fooling” people into placing value in it, thus establishing a demand. There’s definitely pleasurable aspects in it for the individual, but from a rational standpoint, it requires a peculiar justification.

Sites like Music Plasma help track similar styles of music visually, as well as show their impact on a genre. We definitely attempt to codify things and place them in neat categories, but sometimes things just don’t fit. It’s a lot like building castles in the sky — what sort of knowledge are we creating with this categorical structure?