Now that the album is available to listen by streaming on their MySpace, I decided to post my review for the new Shadows Fall album Retribution on Sputnik and WordPress (take your pick, lol):

http://xenoraiser.wordpress.com/

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review_32370

This also brings me to a small favor I'd like to ask of anyone reading my blog. For my News Reporting/Writing class (technically a Journalism course) our professor is essentially having us write two blogs a week on to a select site; I picked WordPress (since he recommended it and most of the class did too-there are eight people in the class by the way). And long story short on Tuesday he told us that we want to try and reach a large amount of audiences, which you could say I and my fellow co-workers/writers on TalkXbox try doing as well. But my favor to ask is that if you happen to have a WordPress account (or know anyone who does and might be interested in my type of blog), I'd very much appreciate some feedback on my posts/blogs (they'll almost always be reviews for games, movies and albums), just keep any comments written decently please. ;)

Outside of that this semester of college has already turned into my busiest, most demanding so far, I'm having to make a trip up to my main campus (about 15 or so miles from my house) just to use the lab to work on my Web Site Development class (technology as always shows its love for me by not letting me install the trial for Fireworks CS4-one of the programs we're using). Though I've used Fireworks and Dreamweaver in the past to make several sites in high school, so I'm hoping I can get ahead during my time at the campus today.

On a side note, I'd like to mention that about a month and a half ago a Zune I bought completely broke down on me, I sent it in and got a replacement...it lasted 3 weeks before breaking on me. So I sent in that Zune the Thursday before Labor Day weekend (which I visited my grandparents in Point Lookout, which was very enjoyable) and now I'm waiting on my next replacement. What am I getting at? Once I get that next Zune I'll have gone through 10 Microsoft hardware products/replacements in less than 4 years (that's 5 Xbox 360's and now 5 Zune's-one 30, one 80 and now three 120's). It's sad really, not just my predicament but how Microsoft can't make anything even half-reliable (and to think they made the original Xbox, that thing was indestructible).

But there is a chance I might actually convert to Apple and buy my first product of theirs since my first generation iPod Shuffle. After toying with my friend's iPhone (which has a case that protects the screen but still detects touch) and hearing that the iTouch is now available in a 64 GB model I have become very enticed. The only problem is the price...$400 is rather demanding even when I have a job since it barely covers my car and gas payments. But since it has over 40 GB it's pretty much my only alternative to the Zune (since I really don't like the look and interface of the iPods). Though I do have some questions for iTouch owners. I've heard that Apple offer applications for both but allow iPhone users to get them for free while iTouch users have to pay (since iPhone users pay for the phone services already). So here are my questions in regards to that:

How frequently do they release these applications?

What are/included with/in these applications?

How much do they usually cost?

Are they overall worth the price?

Looking forward to (hopefully) hearing/seeing some comments.