In this day and age of digital downloads, iTunes, internet radio, and MP3 players, actually purchasing hard copy music (CD’s) is becoming something of a rarity. And while I, myself, have happily embraced the freedom and portability which digital music affords, I can’t help but feel like something has been lost in the shuffle.

Album covers and liner art are quickly going the way of the VHS tape, and I must confess a little sadness here, because as a young lad I looked forward to the liner notes of a new cassette tape/CD almost as much the music itself. Album covers and liner art were like an extension of the artist’s vision and self-expression; a place where I often found inspiration in the form of visual art and fashion.

With that nostalgia in mind, designbump has put together this great collection of trends in album art from 2009. Sit back, relax, put on a great song, and enjoy!

Design Trend: Grunge

Design Trend: Hand-Drawn

Design Trend: Image Based

Design Trend: Minimalist

Design Trend: Photo Manipulation

Design Trend: Portrait

Design Trend: Type-Based

Design Trend: Vector Art

Design Trend: Digital

Barbara Nixon, a public relations professor at Georgia Southern University, recently posted instructions for completing the final exam for her PRCA 4330 students. Students were asked to create a list of the five most important things they learned from the course about conducting public relations research and to explain why these five things were important.

Students were then instructed to choose from a list of options for submitting their exam. The options included creating a PowerPoint deck and uploading it to SlideShare; creating a podcast using Utterli; creating a video and posting it to YouTube; creating a blog post.

What I love about this is the integration of new media and technology in the classroom. It makes me feel better about the next crop of PR folks that will soon be upon us. After all, this whole internet thing is going to be huge.

Between delays and bad weather, traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday can be a nightmare. This year, Travelocity is to the rescue with Twitter updates from the country’s busiest airports. Their Thanksgiving Task Force is also aggregating Tweets from travelers who use their #TravelocityTTF hashtag.

Aside from the customer service via Twitter angle, there’s also an entertainment component. If you’re bored during your travels, tune into Travelocity’s Twitter feed to find out about fun contests happening every hour. A recent post promises a gnome lunchbox to the Tweeter who posts the best picture of a plane with a flashy paint job. A gnome lunchbox sounds like a great way to transport holiday leftovers. Yummy.

Technologizer brings us this fun little stroll down Nostalgia Lane: a collection of family home computer ads complete with large blocks of Ogilvie-esque copy and reasoned arguments for purchasing the product. (Remember back in the day when people actually read copy? Well, at least that’s what we told ourselves.)

When you live in New York City, it becomes a game to figure out which neighborhood someone lives in purely based on their dress and demeanor. What if currency helped tell that story as well? That’s the question design students at the School of Visual Arts answered in a recent project.

Students drew various neighborhoods (sorry, Manhattan only) out of a hat, researched them and eventually designed currencies to represent them. Some went for non-traditional shapes and sizes. Others focused on bringing to life a neighborhood’s heritage, such as the focus on Chelsea Market’s Nabisco history.

A full visual recap of the designs can be found on Flickr.

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that cheerleading lumberjacks aren’t really my thing. And for past ten years or so, the GAP has really struggled trying to reinvent its brand image in a way that resonates with a consistent customer base.

But with that said, I have to tip my hat to them for the way they executed this in-store promo for a new customer loyalty program called “Sprize.” The idea behind the loyalty program is that if you buy something at full price and it goes on sale within 45 days, the GAP will automatically credit the difference to your account. What better way to celebrate turning the traditional price adjustment policy upside down than by turning the store…upside down. Literally.

What I love about this stunt is that it gets the customers asking questions–questions the GAP wants to answer. So much more effective than having your employees wear a button that says “Ask Me About Our New Loyalty Program.” Well played, GAP. Well played.

Combine cool design with eco-conciousness and I’m generally sold. It’s also interesting when designers take an everyday item, like a power strip, and turn it into something that makes you think.

Enter the Power Aware Cord, which isn’t your typical power strip. This one is all about showing how much energy is being used and hopefully inspiring people to think about their own energy consumption.

[Via Unplggd]

We’ve all seen the staggering statistics about how unsafe it is to drive while texting or emailing but so many drivers are still doing it. Our unquenchable need to get and share information seems to trump even the scariest of the public service announcement videos out there.

So what can we do? An app called DriveSafe.ly could be the answer. The app is designed to read text messages and emails aloud while you’re on the road. Because it’s a hands-free app, it should keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road. It will also send customizable messages back to people, letting them know you’ve received their message.

The app is currently available on Android and Blackberry. iPhone users will have to wait until it’s out of beta or jailbreak their phone to give it a whirl.

Things blow up in movies.

Lots of things.

Cars, buildings and the Death Star all come to mind. One of the main things that seems to get annihilated a great deal in movies are the big cities of the world (with Tokyo topping the list).

With Roland (Independence Day) Emmerich’s 2012 being loud and crazy in theaters now, Yahoo has a done a nice round-up of those cities you probably want to avoid when the monsters, aliens, asteroids and the end of the world all come a calling.

Just sayin’.

For all you Xbox Live gamers out there get ready for some social media to integrate with the dashboard. Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm will, according to Major Nelson, be rolled out to everyone on November 17.

The update also includes a new Zune video area that picks up where the Xbox Video Marketplace left off, adding the ability to stream a number of purchases instantly instead of having to wait for them to download.

Keep in mind if you’re an Xbox Live user under age 18, you won’t be able to access the new features at launch because of a current lack of parental controls on the new services. But Microsoft is working on building out those controls, so Twitter (Twitter), Facebook (Facebook) and last.fm should become available to teen Xbox 360 users within a few weeks.

Here’s the rundown of the new features from the Xbox site.