In the turn of the century around 1920, many artists made their mark by playing in the discreet underground nightclubs known as "Speakeasies" which are high class , "Blind pig" lower class or "Smokeasy" for smokers. The United States once prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages and smoking tobacco in clubs as a constitutional amendment. One could usually find an underground nightclub by the doors without a sign to indicate that there was such as establishment inside. Those dives also had a secret door that lead out to a passageway or alley in case the police came to investigate. The police had the power to arrest everyone in the place due to the fact that they were broke the law by being there.

However, thing were beginning to look up for Jazz Music once the invention of the record player or phonograph was made to play jazz albums. In addition, radio stations helped promote Jazz music, and made it popular among the public. Jazz Music became a music of class that earned the era a nick name known as the "Jazz age". The band leaders who became famous as Jazz musicians were Paul Whiteman, Ted Lewis, Harry Reser, Leo Reisman, Abe Lyman, Nat Shilkret, Earl Burnett, Ben Bernie, George Olson, Bob Haring, Vincent Lopez, Ben Salvin and many more. Paul Whiteman claimed to be the king of Jazz music due to his popularity. He earned the title when he hired some white Jazz musicians with Bix Beiderbecke included to combine jazz with larger orchestrations.

In fact George Gershwin’s "Rhapsody In Blue’ was commissioned by Whiteman as his debut for the orchestra.

Ten years after Jazz music became popular it was reinvented into a style that would be suitable for radio and dancing. This style was known

IPods have been a great market hit since their appearance in 2001, almost 5 years ago. Since listening to music is one of the favorite activities of today’s individuals, the constant evolution of this device was an important request, so the new product presented a diverse range of new features, accessories and capacities. The iPod evolved from a simple and basic music player to a sum of music player, recorder, and photo viewer and now to a both music and video device.

The most important new feature of the latest generation of iPods, meaning the 5th generation, is the video. Basically, these inventive and technologically advanced, yet small devices support both MPEG-4 and H.264 videos at significantly high resolutions, which are not far from a VSH tape. Actually, in more precise terms, the H.264 codec can play video at frame rates up to 30 frames per second, video bit rates as high as 768 kilobits per second and pictures as big as 320 pixels wide by 240 pixels high. Comparing the iPod video with the TV 27 FPS or the movies 24 FPS, it is obvious that the small device it is much better. Regarding the audio qualities, comparing to a CD quality, the iPod video is superior. On the other hand, the MPEG-4 video supports a bit rate of 2,500 kilobits per second and pictures as big as 480 pixels wide by 480 pixels high, meaning three times the size of the actual screen (in comparison with the H.264 video, which supports pictures the same size as the screen pf the iPod).

The reviews on this item are so far, excellent – the quality of the motion images is great, with almost perfect colors, even when the device is connected to a TV set in order to watch a video. Even more, watching the videos on the actual iPod is possible due to a larger screen, which also allows the high visibility of sharp texts and photos. Still, even though the battery is claimed to last around

There is not one person around who knows jazz music that did not hear the name Dizzy Gillespie. Dizzy Gillespie was a composer, singer, jazz trumpet player and bandleader. He along with Charlie Parker was the creator of modern jazz music and bebop. Dizzy also started Afro-Cuban jazz. He had the gift of making new harmonies that were layered and complex. At the time, it was not done in jazz before. He was most remembered for the trumpet he played that was bent. It was accidentally ruined when he was on a job in 1953. Surprisingly, Dizzy liked it because of the way it changed the tone of the instrument.

Dizzy was born John Birks on October 21, 1917 in South Carolina. He was the youngest in the family of nine children. His father was a horrible man who beat his children all the time, and died when dizzy was 10 years old. He taught himself how to play trumpet when he was twelve years old. He won a scholarship to Laurinburg Institute but, dropped out of school and went to Philadelphia to pursue music full-time. He played with Frankie Fairfax and recorded for the very first time in 1937. He then was a part of Cab Calloway’s band, but was criticized for his solos, calling them "Chinese music". He was thrown out because Cab said that he sent a spitball at him, and Dizzy, angrily stabbed him in the leg with a knife.

Dizzy was a part of Duke Ellington’s, Woody Herman and many other bands. It was with Billy Eckstine’s band where his unique playing fit better than anywhere else. He met again with Charlie Parker. Together they played famous clubs such as Monroe’s Uptown House, and Minton’s Playhouse. This is where jazz music progressed again and bebop was created. In the beginning a lot of people didn’t like bebop. They were used to the old jazz music, and thought the new sound of bebop was a threat and were afraid of it.

The satellite radio industry is dominated by two major players – Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio. Both companies charge a monthly fee for their services, but service payment plans often change to attract more customers. For example, starting in 2005 Sirius offers a $500 fee that is valid for the lifetime of the equipment. Sirius offers 65 music channels, without any commercials and traffic and weather reports for most of the major US cities. On the other hand, some of XM Radio’s channels did contain some commercials, but in much smaller quantities than those found on terrestrial radio channels. Today, XM has 67 commercial-free music channels, 21 channels with detailed traffic and weather information, 39 channels of news, entertainment and sports and an amazing number of 23 play-by-play sports channels. XM Satellite Radio Inc. owns the most impressive digital radio equipment and facilities, boasting over 82 end to end broadcasting studios. Sirius Satellite Radio is located in the heart of New York City with a huge recording studio. Sirius Satellite Radio has an impressive library of over 2 million music tracks.

Sirius Satellite Radio

Sirius Satellite Radio is one of the two main providers of digital radio broadcasting in the United States and it shares this important market with XM Radio. While you would think that XM and Sirius are 100% rivals, you will be surprised to find out that both companies are working together on a joint program in order to develop a receiver for both of their broadcast frequencies. Sirius uses three geosynchronous satellites that pass over the United States territory at regular time intervals and transmit the data alternatively. The Sirius satellite network is also located in a position that offers better line of sight – this means that transmission interruptions caused by trees, mountains or any other landscape form are less likely to happen. Sirius announced that the number

Although the dimensions of the new iPod video are smaller, the display thinner, the screen dimensions are bigger and the image quality is better. These advantages are not the only ones as the new iPod video keeps more surprises regarding the image and the screen display.

The large color screen and reduced dimensions of the video and audio device is the attractive point of the new iPod video. This aspect makes possible the explicit reading of the menu, of the options and possibilities as it has a bright, sharp text.

The screen quality of the new iPod video may be compared to the screen quality of any TV set and it may even become the winner of such a contest. Both the design of the new iPod and the video features are very well thought out and the most important aspect is that the resolution is up to 320×240. The resolution quality is comparable to the quality of VHS video tape, being less than half that of a DVD. That is why the sunny weather, the too bright rooms are not a problem for watching the videos on the iPod video. These obstacles are great enemies of the previous handheld video devices of reduced dimensions and these do not matter anymore, especially when it is the case of the new iPod video.

The possibility of watching the favorite music video and Disney or Pixar video, the TV shows of films on the road, away from home was a matter of dreams not long time ago. And this dream is possible now due to the next step in video technology.

Besides, the new iPod video has also some amazing options with the photo album because of great quality of the images. You may also rate your photos or create slideshows with your favorite ones so that your past empty moments may be filled with great memories. This fact is also due to the eliminated common obstacles (sunshine, bright indoors or outdoors) of watching videos on

The entertainment industry is one of the most dynamic and attractive ones, and satellite radio has recently captured a large share of it. Audio entertainment products are highly popular today and there is a wide variety of choices when it comes to having good music in your car: regular CD players, car CD players with storage space or MP3 players. When it comes to radio however, there is an even bigger divide – you can listen to or go with one of the new satellite radio offers. The popularity of satellite radio broadcasting has gone sky-high in the past years mostly because it has some exciting benefits that commercial FM/AM programming simply cannot offer. Analog radio stations are not able to broadcast the full range of sounds available through digital satellite radio and this has a noticeable impact on sound quality. Digital radio programs are broadcast through a satellite – this means that users don’t have to switch radio stations every time they get out of a certain geographical area, as the signal is countrywide. Traditional to FM and AM broadcasts have different forms of noise disturbances – satellite radio eliminates this problem as the quality is very close to that of the original tracks it is playing.

Technology and content

Because satellite radio uses such high tech instruments (satellites, small portable receivers) many still perceive it as unapproachable and prefer to stick with traditional radio. Most young people, however, can’t wait to get their hands on the latest in technological advancements, so satellite radio is perfect for this age group. The price you had to pay for satellite radio one or two years ago was a bit high for many who decide to enjoy traditional, commercial radio stations instead, as they are free. Today however, for a

The newest and most popular innovation in iPod technology is, for sure, the iPod video. Still, getting to this innovative device is just the result of a long research through the history of the iPod making.

The appearance of the iPod was owed to an increased marketing request: the lack of quality of the digital music players was noticeable to the interested consumers, as opposed to the growing number of digital devices, such as cameras, camcorders and organizers. Due to this fact, the Apple industries established a team of qualified engineers in order to develop the mechanism and design of the soon to be first iPod, which resulted in less than a year of technical and practical research. The launching of the new and exiting product was held on the 23rd of October 2001 and soon, the market embraced the new product. The evolution from the first iPod, which was revealed almost 5 years ago, till the iPod video reveals the intense and permanent research of the specialized engineers. The next significant step in the evolution of this device was the release of the 2 versions iPod, for both Mac and Windows users, which highly increased the sales and the number of potential customers. Actually, the iPod sold at such a high rate, that the permanent improvement of the product, in order to maintain the leading position on the market, was a necessary request (the selling rate recorded over 42 million units since the release of the product).

In 2005, the new and better iPod was revealed, when celebrating the 4th generation of these devices; the new model introduced, for the first time, the color screen. In the spring of 2006, the Samsung company announced that they were about to provide the media processor for a new iPod model, an improved version of the Apple’s device. Soon after, the 5th generation of

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Billie Holiday was one of the most famous jazz music singers in America. Her real name was Eleanora Fagan. Like most lives of musicians, she had a very bad time growing up which damaged her career. Her life is written about in the autobiography Lady Sings The Blues, but there are many things in there that are not really valid. Her stage name is from an actress, Billie Dove and her father Clarence Holiday.

Billie grew up in the poorest area of Baltimore. Her parents married when she was three years old, but it did not last. They divorced and she was raised by her mother and various relatives. She had been raped when she was eleven years old, and skipped school a lot, so she was placed in The House of the Good Shepherd in 1925. The House of the Good Shepherd was a reform school for Catholics. A friend of the family helped her out of there a couple of years later. She then went to New York to live with her mother. A year later, her mother discovered a neighbor was raping Billie, the man spent three months in jail.

Things seemed to go from bad to worse. Billie had said a brothel claimed her where she worked as a prostitute , and then was in prison for awhile. She started singing for tips in the Harlem night clubs in the 1930’s. It was said when she had not a dime to her name and was about to be evicted, she sang "Trave’lin All Alone" at a club and had the audience crying. She kept singing for tips until she ended up at a popular jazz club called Pod’s and Jerry’s in Harlem. A lot of her performing cannot be discovered, but it is said she was working at Monette’s, another club in 1933 when John Hammond, a talent scout found her.

John got her to record with Benny Goodman that same year. She sang in a group with Teddy Wilson, a pianist. Their debut was the song "Miss Brown You", and "What A Little Moonlight Can Do", which made her a

Welcome to the world of Sony! In this article we will try to discuss the features of the Sony portable XM receiver, which, by the way, was the first plug-and-play model sold on the market. The gadget is the ideal receiver for people who need a compact and totally portable communications receiver. Although the user interface is pretty out-of-date and the receiver lacks a numeric keypad, the Sony portable receiver is a great radio. Imagine yourself in a James Bond movie, or imagine the good old days, the 1950’s, imagine a spaceship with its fine curves, well.. the Sony receiver has it all: the futuristic looks of a spaceship, its utility like any Bond gadget and its state-of-art like the science fiction of the 50’s movies. The XM Satellite Radio is an adventure! Although the portable receiver is no longer listed on the market, it is still available in the channel. Below, I will try to discuss the features of three Sony portable receiver models, the ICFSW7600G.2CE7, the ICFSW11S.CE7 and the ICFSW12S.CE7.

ICFSW7600G.2CE7 Sony Portable Receiver

The price of this model varies at around $200, its frequencies being 150 kHz -30Mhz (LW/MW/SW), 76-108 Mhz (FM). It has 100 memory presets, an audio output of 380 mW, size of 190×118.8×35 mm and the weight of 608 g.

The nice thing about this model is that it provides LCD read-out in 1 kHz steps, can be electronically tuned and the frequency can be adjusted on the keyboard. For its modes (AM, SSB, FM) you can listen to stations from all around the world. As additional features, you can use the receiver as a clock or alarm.

ICFSW11S.CE7

For $40, this model is a bargain. It has a led tuning indicator, frequencies between 153-279 kHz (LW), 530-1602 kHz (MW), 76-108 Mhz (FM), audio output of 100mW, size of 155×90x33 mm and it weights 340 g. As a drawback on

XM Satellite Radio Inc. is one of the major players in the satellite radio industry, with over 2 million subscribers and spreading all over the American territory. XM Satellite Radio Inc. deliver over 120 channels of radio to an ever expanding customer number. Here are some of the characteristics of XM Radio:

Corporate headquarters: Washington, D.C.

Date of launch: November 12, 2001

Satellites in service: 3

Available satellite radio channels:150

Monthly subscription cost:$12.95

XM Satellite Radio Inc. is the owner of one of the 2 FCC approved licenses for delivering digital radio in the United States. Since it only shares the field of Satellite Digital Audio Radio Services (SDARS) with Sirius Radio, XM Satellite Radio Inc. has plenty of room to develop and expand. 2001 was the year when XM Satellite Radio Inc. began broadcasting – progress was slow at first, but soon after satellite radio began skyrocketing as a social and economical phenomenon. Since it was the first national digital satellite radio service provider, XM Satellite Radio Inc. captured an important share of the market and started offering music programs and other types of shows and channels like talk shows, sports, comedy, science and news. XM Satellite Radio Inc. owns the most impressive digital radio equipment and facilities, boasting over 82 end to end broadcasting studios. The digital radio used by XM Satellite Radio Inc. is encoded using the complex CT-aacPlus technology which is broadcast in 128kb/sec format – very close to CD quality. The signal produced by using this technology makes the transmission much clearer and more accurate than any analog radio provider could ever offer. There are no noise disturbances that were often present with FM and AM broadcasts and the transmission is crystal clear. The fact that the signal is received in digital form solves