Always be ready for miracle, a great thing to happen, or a choir singing hallelujah because you did something great with InstantHallelujah.com.  All you have to do is click the button (you have the choice of the long or short version, depending on the greatness that is going on) and be ready next time the unthinkable happens. 

I have a great love for useless web sites, and this one might rank up there as one of the most fun useless ones out there, (sorry InstantRimshot.com).  KissTunes.com lets you become a grand piano, acoustic guitar or electric piano player right from the comfort of your own keyboard. 

The interface here is pretty simple.  You can use your keyboard or the mouse to click the buttons, and play that specific note.  You also can record your little ditty once your done, play it back, save it or load another.  Who wouldn’t want to play and record tunes online using your computer’s keyboard? 

Although it is a little slow right now (probably going to be getting really popular soon) be sure to keep KissTunes.com handy next time you feel like composing your next keyboard tune of your own.

Ridley’s Theme from Super Smash Bros Brawl (and Metroid)

Pit’s Theme from Kid Icarus

M. Bison’s Theme from Street Fighter

Dark World Theme from The Legend of Zelda: a Link to the Past

The Fanfare Music from Final Fantasy

The Super Mario Bros Theme (Well, DUH!)

Simon Belmont’s Theme from Super Castlevania IV

Samus’s Theme from ANY of the Metroid Games

Setzer’s Theme from Final Fantasy VI

The Overworld Theme from The Legend of Zelda

Did I miss an obvious choice?  Let me know!  Also, I want to point you towards SupraDarky’s YouTube page where he has tons of themes for you to listen to and enjoy.

• Blue Satellite – By: Styve Bolduc (preview)
  
• Metal Zone – By: M Musik (preview)
  

Which one do you like more?  Found them both at PremiumBeat.com, which I am really looking forward to seeing how well working with them will be.  Thus far, for the budget podcaster – they seem to have the cheapest deals for royalty free music.

It is both Mac and Windows friendly too.  Just download, unzip and you’ll be off on your own music creating adventure.  Here is an example video I found via the ‘ol YouTube:

Taking the link shortening service to a new level, TinySong allows you to type in the name of any song and get a shortened link to it to share with others.  For example, lets say I knew you were in the mood for some Van Halen (with David Lee Roth of course, Sammy Hagar is not welcomed here).  Now I go to TinySong.com and type in “Jump”.  The number two result there is “Jump” by Van Halen.  Click on that and your done.

Now I can share that song with all of you here:

http://tinysong.com/4Gq

Of course this makes sharing song recomendations REALLY easy.  This is all powered by Grooveshark, which is an awesome service in it own right that is well worth checking out too.  Go give TinySong a test to see if it can pull up the song you have stuck in your head right now…

The FLV to MP3 Online Converter is the tool you want to keep handy.  So far it is still fairly quick with it’s conversion and when it is done doing that voodoo that it does so well it will spit out a .mp3 file for you to save, edit and rename as your own.

As a bonus, also be sure to check out my post on Firefox Facts that covers ripping mp3 files from music shared on MuxTape.com.

Now it has a new Web 2.0 look and feel with Muxtape.  I have yet to create one of my own (might make a best of the Web Hosting Show?) but after listening to a few of the others this is a great way to get a sample of a lot of different music.

Here are a few samples I picked at random:

http://streetforce1.muxtape.com/

http://blacktshirts.muxtape.com/

http://supercoolmanchu.muxtape.com/

Give it a shot, and if you have created a mix tape of your own feel free to share!

It seems like no matter where I look or who I talk to there is always a catch or several catches that just scare this old country boy off. I just replied to an E-mail conversation I started with with Mark of PodcastThemes.com, letting him know I’ll probably look to go in a different direction just because of all the loopholes and agreements that must be made. I don’t blame him or anybody else for it. It is their creation and they want to make sure they get plenty of credit for it. Just seems like there should be an easier way.

I want a McDonalds for podcast themes.

I have also considered finding an independent artist that wouldn’t mind me using their song (or doing a song for me) for some free pluggage and a paycheck. The only problem with that is I would have to start listening to song after song till I found something I liked.

So this is an open offer to anybody who wants to take me up on it. Want to do a rock theme for the Web Hosting Show podcast? Let me know and I’ll do my best to make it worth your wild.

The name of the Web site that has brought me so much joy is Amie Street. I haven’t had the time to really get down and dirty with it yet, but so far I like what I see.

Most of the music on the Web site is from independent artists and fairly cheap too. Of course the more popular the artist becomes, the more expensive the music downloads might be. All the songs start out as free – and can rise to 98 cents.

What about DRM protection? None to be found!

We have no DRM on our mp3’s, so once you buy them, they’re yours. Put them on your iPod, your computer, a CD you made for road trips, or anything else you can come up with.

So if you are looking for a a new way to discover some awesome new bands, give it a shot. You might even be able to find a few coupons out there to give you an even better free sample of what you can do with the service. If you join up, add me as a friend – I am interested in seeing how that aspect works as well.