As Chris Packham has 'form' in sneaking in his musical preferences, I watched the first episode of this season looking out for anything unusual. There were no album covers masquerading as Springwatch cue cards, in fact I didn't spot anything for most of the programme until .... Chris described a photograph as "some kind of nothingness". This sounded a little convoluted and a quick Google confirmed that this was indeed a recent single by the ever mirthsome Manic Street Preachers. Can anyone confirm that Chris is smuggling Manic song titles into this year's programme?

I await "If you tolerate this ...." with bated breath - no doubt it will be a reference to some mallards whose chicks are about to be eaten by a buzzard.

You might remember that there was a fuss on the other side of the Pond last year when eMusic changed the packages for its members - lots of angry comments on messageboards and leaving the club. When I logged in today for a quick browse, I was greeted with messages telling me that the pricing for the UK (and I think elsewhere) is changing in November (no date actually specified).

Instead of getting so many credits per month, members will now have money at their disposal with each track costing 42p. Currently, I get 40 tracks for £10.99. Simple maths says that this means that I can only download 26 tracks. However, eMusic says that I will get a bonus of £5.81, bringing my spending ability back to 40. At least it says that I will get this bonus in November, so far I have not found anywhere which explicitly states that this bonus will continue into the future.

eMusic says that this will encourage more record companies and artists to come on board, giving greater choice. It also says that it will be able to discount some music, benefiting members. However, that means (though it does not say it) that it will also be able to put up the price of some tracks - I expect the price of longer tracks to rise, so no more loading complete symphonies for the price of 3 or 4 credits. (In fact you can currently get whole operas for one credit per Act).

I know that there are a number of eMusic users amongst the Massive. What do people think? Good thing or bad, or won't it make much difference?

Fraser, if there is an issue with discussing another company's policies on the blog, please remove this thread.

No Beard. Just smooth, very smooth.

Robert Forster's second rule of Rock and Roll (as featured in the magazine and the latest Backstage Podcast) certainly rings true. I can think of many examples which prove it, e.g. The Boss:

Born to Run - Meeting Across the River (not a bad track but look at all the others)
Born in the USA - Dancing in the Dark (nuff said)

But, like every rule, it can be broken; there has to be the odd exception or three. For example, I don't think that anyone has told the Dame because it would make these tracks the weakest:

Ziggy Stardust - Suffragette City
Aladdin Sane - Jean Genie.

Applying the rule to other classic albums makes these the weakest tracks:

Blood on the Tracks - Shelter From the Storm
Revolver - Got to get you into my life
Astral Weeks - Ballerina

Any other examples of someone breaking the second law?

I have managed to get through life without ever hearing them. As their catalogue has once again become available on emusic in the UK, I am thinking of sampling about 15 songs. The question is, what would those top 15 songs be? This is where I hand it over to the greater expertise you all have.

Thank you in advance.

Were the good citizens of the Word office having a ukelele party last night, as many people around the country did? I can picture them all grimacing, trying to find the right chord and strike the most appropriate 'Rock God' pose.

Or did you miss The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain playing to a packed Royal Albert Hall at the Proms last night.

So, if you want to hear "Anarchy in the UK" as played on Radio 3, "The Ride of the Valkyries" changing before your very ears into "Silver Machine", or wondered what "Life On Mars", "My Way", "Born Free" and "Substitute" might sound like when played at the same time and all on ukeleles, then this is the concert for you. Not to mention Beethoven's 9th Symphony played by 1003 ukekleles and "Wuthering Heights" as an encore (in a Yorkshire accent of course).

Includes the great line "Let me introduce you to the Bass Ukelele. It is the future - you can't fight it."

I've been sitting here for 90 minutes, pretending to work, with a big silly grin on my face.

Enjoy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/events/Proms/b00m68x7

You know how people keep popping up on this site with complaints about BBC Radio, especially about anyone associated with Radio 6. Well, brace yourself chaps and chappesses, because after tomorrow evening we might be inundated. I just happened to be passing through the BBC website, particularly the Radcliffe/Maconie homepage, when my eyes were drawn by the special guest for tomorrow evening's programme.

It's only that saxophone playing, associate of Prime Ministers, and occasional contributer to Word podcasts. I refer of course to a certain Mr Mark Ellen.

So, expect complaints (again).