The twenty-first century has arrived in the house of Mike: I have bought some digital music online. It’s quite exciting, and now I’ve taken the plunge I’m finding it all too easy to spend money on music. Instant gratification is a powerful thing.

The provocateur of this was my discovery that CD Baby now sell mp3s alongside their CDs for many of their albums. I instantly snapped up Regina Spektor’s 11:11 and an album by Jill Tracy, Diabolical Streak, an artist who I found during some aimless myspace browsing. Tracy’s music is really lovely; dark and sensuous parlour music. CD Baby is awesome: for mp3 downloads, 91% of the money goes directly to the artist.

There are many reasons I am ambivalent towards Facebook. Most of these are half-formed feelings; one which isn’t is Facebook’s bland, impersonal look. I used to see this as “clean” and “unfussy”; now it is dull and tedious. Blue, blue, blue…

Myspace is garish, but it’s also exciting. The scope for customisation is ample opportunity for making the space your own. I have freedom on my myspace page to create a crazy, messy page; to have eye-straining purple stripes; to have some fun and express myself.

Previously, I was using del.icio.us ; recently I’ve been trying out ma.gnolia. These are social-bookmarking services, where your bookmarks are shared with all and sundry. An odd idea initially, but two possibilities have recently grabbed my attention.

The first is the reposting of bookmarks to other place. The linked list on this site is powered by reposting bookmarks tagged “toblog” from del.icio.us. The ability to republish links in this manner allows me to do something I’d not had the time to to before, and adds value to this site.

Whilst I was in Japan I bought an iPod Touch. A couple of weeks ago I became very frustrated with the hoover in my flat and bought a Dyson. Both of these devices are very well made and a pleasure to use.

The Touch is a step, nay, a stride forward. The experience is qualitatively superior to previous iPods. I still find the inertial scrolling and the way one flicks from photo to photo a joy. The iPhone and Touch have set a new benchmark.

I never quite got on with the old design; I’m not sure I get on with this one either. Such is life.