If you’re looking for a quick musical fix for your July 4th weekend, the Amazon MP3 store has two deals worth celebrating. The first is the free Patriotic Music Amazon Sampler from Documentary Recordings, a 10-track collection that includes “God Bless America,” “America the Beautiful” and military songs. The second is the 30-track A Salute to America, by 101 Strings, a new everything-but-the-kitchen-sink collection released this week that costs only $1.89. Performance quality varies, but for 40 tracks for less than $2, it’s still a good deal. Seriously, even the iffy Lawrence Welk-sounding renditions on the latter are palatable as background music for a barbecue. The Amazon MP3 downloader is required, but the free plug-in makes downloading easy and can be configured to dump the new tracks right into iTunes.

After five years, I have canceled my subscription to Sirius XM Radio. You can now add me to the 1.7 million subscribers the satellite radio service lost in the first quarter this year. My decision had nothing to do with Sirius XM’s new iPhone app, which has been criticized for not including primo programming such as Howard Stern or Major League Baseball (neither of which I’ve ever listened to), but it does have everything to do with these reasons:

1) The audio quality has declined. I’m not talking about reception quality, which has always been fine. I’m talking about the sound of the music. It might be just my ears, but the music on Sirius over the past year or so has increasingly sounded like poor-quality MP3s — not all the time, but much of the time. The audio has always been compressed on Sirius and XM, before and after their merger, but it sounds noticeably worse to me lately – to cram more programming into limited bandwidth, I assume.

2) The price has gone up. When I first started with Sirius, the price was about $120 a year. My latest annual renewal would have been about $150, more if I wanted online access to programming. This isn’t as big a deal, but it was still a factor.

3) Sirius bailed on Cinemagic. One of the most exciting things about XM for me was its channel devoted to nothing but film music. So when Sirius merged with XM, it was the main channel I was looking forward to. But immediately upon “adding” Cinemagic, Sirius pre-empted it with Christmas music (one of three such channels during the holidays), but it ran regular alerts saying that Cinemagic would be back after the new year. It was — for about a week. Then Sirius replaced it with an all-disco station — even though it already had separate channels devoted to 1970s and dance music.

4) My listening habits have changed. After converting my vast CD collection to high-quality MP3s, I pretty much listen just to my iPod (via my car stereo) while I drive. That change, coupled with the previous factors, sealed my decision to cancel Sirius. (But I do have to say that if Cinemagic had been added, I probably would have kept Sirius as a way to keep up with new releases.)

When I called Sirius to cancel, I was offered two months’ worth of free programming to stay on. I declined. My subscription officially ended last week. Thursday, I received an email offer to renew and get two free months and then three months at $13 each. I didn’t reply.

Here’s something interesting, though. A few days after my subscription ended, I received a survey asking why I had left. I filled it out, citing much of what I’ve written here. One of the questions asked if I would be willing to pay $6.99 a month for 50 channels of programming that I would choose. I’d actually seriously consider that, especially if it included Cinemagic, because that would neatly address most of my concerns. (UPDATE: See comments for why this won’t happen.)

Until that happens, though, I will be a former Sirius subscriber.

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The latest come-on from a new line of HDMI cables prompts this reminder not to waste money on overpriced options backed by techno-mumbo-jumbo. Consider these touted features of Radio Shack’s new Auvio HDMI cables (pictured right), as listed in a press release:

* “24k gold-plated hybrid HDMI connectors for a secure, high-speed connection”
* “Triple shielding to prevent outside electrical interference and ensure a strong signal”
* “Optiflex™ cover, low-loss conductor and dual twisted-pair construction for durability”
* “Deep color and xvYCC support for a great picture”
* “Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio support for great sound”
* “RoHS and Prop. 65 compliance for environmental friendliness”
* “Limited lifetime warranty for peace of mind”

The release goes on to say the cables are being offered at a “superior value.” That price: $35 for a 3-foot cable to $80 for a 12-foot cable. What? Such pricing makes it hard to believe the claim that Auvio researchers created the cables after they “found that consumers paid more than they should for features that simply are unnecessary or excessive given their needs.” Uh, that would include Auvio cables now, too. They might be cheaper than Monster HDMI cables — the whole reason they were created, to have a “lower-priced” option when showing Monster cables to customers at Radio Shack – but they are still way overpriced. And the “features” of an HDMI cable are fairly limited. It either is or isn’t an HDMI cable; build quality is probably the biggest concern.

To put it in perspective, Monoprice’s premium HDMI cables (pictured above) have virtually the same “features” as Auvio, including gold-plated connectors and a hefty build, yet sell for less than $5 for a 12-foot length.  If you can prove to me that the sound and video of a home theater is any better — or even different — as a result of the Auvio cable vs. the Monoprice equivalent, I have an MP3 Challenge you should be able to ace.

(Which reminds me:)

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Drum Corps International’s foray into electronics is mostly not a disaster, based on the incredible performances by five World Class corps Saturday night at Drum Beauty in Stillwater.

Four of the elite drum and bugle corps — Phantom Regiment of Rockford, Ill., the Cavaliers (pictured) of Rosemont, Ill., the Madison Scouts of Madison, Wis., and the Blue Stars of LaCrosse, Wis. — just used an amplified front-sideline percussion ensemble (xylophones, marimbas, timpani, etc.), with some adding tastefully played electronic keyboards and sound effects. Only one corps, Spirit of Jacksonville, Ala., went all-out techno, with a loud bass guitar, keyboards, vocals and everything overmiked. Spirit’s show was meant to mimic a rock concert, using the music of Kansas, but it sounded like a front ensemble with drum corps accompaniment. Interestingly, the corps that did the least with electronics and amplification, Phantom and the Cavaliers, also did best in the competition, with the Cavies coming in first and Phantom second. Spirit finished last, tied with the Scouts. Based on Saturday’s results, it’s only drum corps’ restraint that is keeping electronics in check. The more the technology is used, the better the chances that it won’t be successful — until a champion-caliber corps puts on the equivalent of a modern, high-quality Broadway show on the field using electronics. (That’s when DCI changes the rules to allow corps to use spotlights and a chorus line.)

DCI’s electronics experiment continues tonight in Mankato at the Thunder of Drums. Unfortunately, two of the World Class corps from Stillwater, Phantom and Spirit, will not be there. The rest of the lineup will be the same as Stillwater, plus Pioneer of Milwaukee. Show starts at 7 p.m.

Attention classical music fans: There’s quite a deal going on CDs for $2.99 each — up to 85 percent off. They’re being sold directly by distributor Naxos Direct on its budget-priced Naxos and Marco Polo labels. Better yet, if you buy five or more, shipping is free. More than 400 titles are available, so that shouldn’t be hard to do. These prices are even better than what’s typically available from liquidator Berkshire Record Outlet (which I adore). Naxos and Marco Polo have winners and clunkers, just like any other music labels, but if you’re worried about the quality of the performances on an interesting-looking title, just check the reviews at Classics Today. Even if you don’t buy CDs anymore, it’s worth getting these and ripping them yourself, because they’re much cheaper than even MP3 downloads. For example, one highly recommended title is Havergal Brian’s Symphony No. 1 (Gothic), which is $2.99 through the sale but almost $18 as a download or as a CD from Amazon. What a deal!

When some of the world’s top drum and bugle corps roll into Stillwater on Saturday, things will be a little different at the city’s annual Drum Beauty competition. Actually, they’ll sound different. As I wrote last summer, the elite marching-and-music units that make up Drum Corps International are being allowed to use electronics in an expanded role for the first time this year. So besides the amplification that has been allowed for several years, corps can now play electronic instruments live and use prerecorded sound effects and human voice to augment the music-making of their brass and percussion players. It’s a techno-trend that fans of the traditional marching activity jeer and advocates of change applaud.  

It’s not clear yet what we’ll actually hear this weekend, because the show in Stillwater is part of the national kick-off of DCI’s summer music season, which ends with the world championships in Indianapolis in early August. Drum Beauty will be one of the first opportunities that fans have to see and hear the elite world-class corps in a competitive setting. In fact, there was enough confusion during the off-season over how exactly corps could use electronics that a DCI rules committee had to clarify matters.   

We do know that the closest DCI corps to the Twin Cities, the Blue Stars of LaCrosse, Wis., are planning to use electronically reproduced sound effects to complement their show about a World War II-era factory. “Among the sound effects, audience members will hear steam, an air raid siren and the actual radio announcement that played when Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941,” according to a DCI preview of their show. Blue Stars alumni who saw the preview told DCI “that they thought the electronic sounds enhanced the show.”

I haven’t heard what, if anything, is in store from the world champion Phantom Regiment (pictured) of Rockford, Ill.; the Cavaliers of Rosemont, Ill.; or Spirit of Jacksonville, Ala. I do know that when the Madison Scouts of Madison, Wis., hired a new caption head for their front-ensemble percussion, an understanding of electronics was specifically cited among his qualifications.

I have to admit that even though I’m a techno-geek, I prefer drum and bugle corps in their traditional, in-your-face, LOUD brass-and-percussion configuration — no electronics. But whatever the results of adding electronic instruments, it will be nearly impossible to keep me from being mesmerized by this amazing display of music and motion.

Besides the DCI world-class corps mentioned above, Drum Beauty will also feature Minnesota Brass Inc. of St. Paul, the Govenaires of St. Peter, the Colt Cadets of Dubuque, Iowa, and the Racine Scouts of Racine, Wis. You can buy tickets for Saturday’s show, which starts at 6 p.m. at Stillwater High School stadium, through the Drum Beauty website. Not only will you see some great shows — electronics or not — but you’ll also be supporting an important nonprofit activity. See you there.

TAKE THE TECHNOBABBLE MP3 CHALLENGE!
Can you tell the difference between MP3s and the original CD?