You know how it is, you're at a party, the conversation turns to music, someone mentions Bob Dylan, they turn to you and say "What do you think about him going electric?".

Well, avoid the ensuing embarrassing silence with this compact guide to Dylan, featuring his career summed up in a dozen tracks.

I've been running an independent artists MP3 download website for a while now and have recently been musing about my options with it as hosting costs pile up. One of the options is to close it down, so I thought I'd blog about a few hidden little gems on the site that, as far as I know, aren't available to download anywhere else. Could be the 'last chance to hear'..

Let's kick off in a laid back mood with 'Disconcerted, Dazzled And Dazed' by Errol Walsh, then move up a gear with the rocking guitar instrumental 'Choke On It' by Richard Studholme. Next up is the funky 'Break The Mould' from Liz Shea, then the powerful 'Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye' from Donna Boyd. To finish off this little playlist it's got to be 'Final Farewell' from Coyotes. Enjoy!

I've been a Napster To Go subscriber for several years now. It allows unlimited downloads on up to three computers and MP3 players and even though you never actually own the music (you are basically renting it as the DRM licences expire if you cancel your account), it's a great deal. Recently, however, I've found myself using it less and less.

Napster's buggy software has long been an annoyance. They issue new versions every now and again, but it's always slow to load, slow to download tracks and frequently hangs. You find yourself trying to download an album, wasting half an hour, then just giving up. Napster use 192kbps WMA encoding and while its fine most of the time it can sound very flat and compressed. Also, the lack of any integration with Vista Media Center is a real missed opportunity. I would love to have my Napster library accessible from my Xbox extender, but it's not to be.

My daughter buying an iPod (not Napster compatible, not even a teeny little bit) was the final straw. I had to ring up to cancel my account as you can't do it online, but it was a simple process. So long Napster, maybe I'll be back, maybe not. We'll see how it goes.

I've uploaded my album "Sea Of Dreams" onto last.fm and am now offering it as a FREE MP3 download.

The tracks were recorded live in one day in 1995 with my trio, which was me on piano & vocals, Tom Langridge on bass and Bob Langridge on drums (yes they are brothers!). I wrote the songs at various times, some just weeks before, while some had been knocking around for a couple of years in various guises. The track 'Dead Man Blues' was first recorded back in 1990 with a band called 'The Blues Connection'. There is a master tape knocking around somewhere, but I don't have a copy..