Sign o' the Times

On the face of it, Prince and Gary Redshaw from Nimans have little in common. The former being a multi-million selling, ludicrously prolific music legend, with a fondness for purple and name changes. The latter being a member of the purchasing team at a Salford telecoms distributor.

But both have united behind a common cause this month - the humble compact disc. Most people may have voted with their ears for the Spotifys and iPods of this world, but Nimans is still a torchbearer of the CD flame.

The distributor's tech bods have created a specially adapted CD player to provide on-hold music for old school PBXs. Redshaw reckons the device will "fill a major gap in the market".

Prince, meanwhile, has eschewed distributing his 20Ten album via iTunes - or anywhere else - in this country, only making it available as a freebie CD with The Mirror.

The pint-sized popstrel told the paper that "the internet's completely over". Oh, well, it was good while it lasted. And, in a hammer blow for resellers everywhere, he declared "all these computers and digital gadgets are no good".

Maybe the little fella's right. My old man always warned me I'd make no money selling these newfangled contraptions. He always wanted me to become a flamboyantly androgynous rock/pop/funk/R&B star.