In recent months I have become a rich bugger. And so I have bought a shiny new smartphone.
One of the delights of Android is that the phone’s address book integrates and syncs with Google Contacts. So for the first time ever since I started using a mobile phone, I have all my contacts on my phone, and navigating through them is actually easy. I can create separate groups in Google Contacts, both based on the type of relationship I have with the contact (family, friend, work relationship, service provider), and on how frequently I call that contact (people who should be called every day, people who I should catch up with every few months, suppliers who I never want to speak to but whose number I should store so I know when they’re calling – you get the picture). So I can keep a priority address book, and archive everything else. What delight. This is the Platonic ideal of address books.
I can also assign each group of contacts its own ringtone. And here is where I need help.
Last week, I discovered a version of the Ode to Joy on grooveshark. It was a short, choral, full of sturm-und-drang version from the Neon Genesis Evagelion soundtrack that would have been perfect for a ringtone.
Now one of the things about being a rich bugger is that I can afford to buy music legally, and when it comes to music I really like, I want to do so. Unfortunately, when I tried to buy it from grooveshark, Amazon claimed it didn’t have it.
Many internet searches later, including the Neon Genesis Evangelion music wikipedia page, lots of fanvids on youtube, and a Neon Genesis Evangelion forum, it turns out that this is from Rahbari conducting the Brussels philharmonic, and just a short clip from the fourth movement of Symphony No 9. Which is not too big a deal – mp3 cutter is there.
What is a big deal is that even the Rahbari Symphony No 9 doesn’t seem to be available anywhere. Flipkart doesn’t have it. Amazon UK doesn’t have it. Amazon US doesn’t have it on its own, but has five affiliate retailers who have it. Unfortunately, the shipping prices will probably be more than the CD itself, and more importantly, I’ll end up waiting a month or more before actually receiving the CD. Napster does have a digital version, but only lets me stream the track, but not download it. Bah.
Beloved readers, do you have any idea of how to get this track legally? If nothing else works, I’ll just rip it off youtube and use that while simultaneously ordering the CD of Amazon.
Update
I gave in to temptation and torrented the Neon Genesis Evangelion Symphony. Now it turns out that they’re not the same track. Someone has just found a very badass Ode to Joy, incorrectly tagged it Neon Genesis Evangelion (or possibly NGE had it in the anime but not on the soundtrack), and caused confusion. Oh sigh. I seemed doomed to not know the actual performers of this version.
I think most beloved readers will be more interested in how you became a rich bugger.
I think most beloved readers will be more interested in how you became a rich bugger in recent months. Damn, enter button pressing habit!
For that I have Mint and Yahoo! to thank.
Woah, nested comments! Strong!
iTunes seems to have it, did you check there ?
I don’t use iTunes.
Syncing Google contacts, mail & calendar is not limited to Android phones
iPhone & iPad also sync with google contacts, mail & calendar!
Actually, any mobile device which can set-up microsoft-exchange email can sync!