Morning Edition on KSTX

A major storm system is causing havoc for travelers trying to get home from their holiday destinations. Powerful winds and blizzard conditions have hit parts of the U.S.

2012 has been a strange year for content creators — authors, producers, musicians. It was a year when the very idea of physical ownership of a book or CD or even a song file became almost passe.

It was also the year in which music-streaming services like Spotify and Pandora launched major efforts to convince people to pay for something they didn't own. But it's been slow going.

Music-streaming services have been trying to win over two types of customers: a younger generation that doesn't buy at all and an older generation that still likes owning physical albums.

Connecticut has suddenly become the epicenter of the nation's gun control debate in a way no one there could have foreseen. The Newtown school shootings have brought calls for restrictions on firearms, in the state that once led the world in creating modern weaponry.

If you drive past Hartford on the interstate, you'll see the blue onion dome high atop the factory that once was the Colt Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company. The gunmaker has long since left its Hartford factory, but it still makes guns nearby.

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

The call to the online shoe retailer lasted more than 10 hours. For one thing, the customer on the line wanted to know how the Zappos employee likes living in Las Vegas. The conversation even ended with a sale of Uggs boots.

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

We've been looking back at some of the stories we heard on MORNING EDITION in the past year and bringing you encore performances of our favorites. 2012 marked the 50th anniversary of the first Bond film, "Dr. No." and to help 007 celebrate, we investigated one of the ingredients that helps make Bond films so Bond.

(SOUNDBITE OF JAMES BOND THEME SONG)

MONTAGNE: Ah, yes, the music. This is one of the most famous themes in movie history, and here's the part that gives it that secret agent feel.