what is the Album Bin?

FINGERTIPS ALBUM BIN -- introduction

The Album Bin is the corner of Fingertips that will feature brief but (I hope) informative reviews of entire CDs, not merely free and legal MP3s. These will be regular, physical CDs--good old-fashioned albums. As long as they still make 'em, I'll do my best to write about one every now and then.

There are two catches regarding what can appear in the Album Bin. First, I will only write about CDs from which are available free and legal MP3s. Second, I will only write about CDs that I like. I will grade them on a simple scale of one to three hands, as follows:

	Very good; there may be one or two weaker tracks but overall a very positive listening experience
	Excellent from beginning to end
	Cream of the crop; one of the year's best

Additionally, I will place a dollar sign ($) at the bottom of a review to indicate that I bought the CD myself, or a plus sign (+) at the bottom to indicate that I received the CD promotionally.

An Album Bin review will aim to offer a resonant flavor of the CD being discussed rather than a comprehensive overview. I will neither tend to too many of the album's details nor offer much in the way of artist biography--such things can be easily enough discovered elsewhere on the web.

Launched late in 2004, the Album Bin has gone through quiet periods and periods of resurgence. Some of this has to do with me having enough time to devote to it, but it also has to do (for instance, during the period between August and December 2006) with me finding a CD I like enough to write about that also has a free and legal MP3 associated with it. For more thoughts on that, you might want to check out an essay I posted in August 2007 entitled "The future (or not) of the album."

P.S.

If you are an artist or are with a record label and are interested in submitting a CD for consideration, drop me a line and I'll let you know what to do. Be aware, however, that Fingertips does not review many CDs, and every CD featured must have at least one available free and legal MP3 online somewhere.