Month: December 2007

recycled quote of the day

I was a bit upset about reaching that milestone, but an older friend consoled me. ‘Don’t complain about growing old – many, many people do not have that privilege.'”

Perspective.

“I’m very pleased with each advancing year. It stems back to when I was forty. I was a bit upset about reaching that milestone, but an older friend consoled me. ‘Don’t complain about growing old – many, many people do not have that privilege.'” [From Earl Warren]

I guess I should just turn myself in?

Record Industry Goes After Personal Use — “In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.” Which would make Apple and iTunes massive co-conspirators for asking me if I want to import the contents of a music CD every time I insert one.

[update] Welcome, readers from BlogRunner. Consider making a donation to my bail if this all goes badly 😉

Record Industry Goes After Personal Use — “In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.” Which would make Apple and iTunes massive co-conspirators for asking me if I want to import the contents of a music CD every time I insert one. But I note the RIAA hasn’t sued them, just us little guys.

[From Record Industry Goes After Personal Use]

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links for 2007-12-29

recycled quote of the day

Our future is in our own hands, to make or to mar. It will be an uphill fight to the end, and would we have it otherwise?… ‘You forget,’ said the Devil, with a chuckle, ‘that I have been evolving too.'”

“There is no law of progress. Our future is in our own hands, to make or to mar. It will be an uphill fight to the end, and would we have it otherwise? Let no one suppose that evolution will ever exempt us from struggles. ‘You forget,’ said the Devil, with a chuckle, ‘that I have been evolving too.'” [From William Ralph Inge]

the future gets more evenly distributed

Warner Music has announced that it will begin to sell non-DRM’ed MP3 music files on Amazon, making it the third (of four) major labels to sign up for DRM-free distribution of their music, Universal and EMI being the other two.

…The only reason it matters to them is that it puts them in an arms race against their own customers, on behalf of the record manufacturers.

Slowly but surely . . . .

Warner Music has announced that it will begin to sell non-DRM’ed MP3 music files on Amazon, making it the third (of four) major labels to sign up for DRM-free distribution of their music, Universal and EMI being the other two. [From Warner to sell no-DRM MP3s on Amazon]

I was looking to buy an album the other night and was able to compare the price/quality at iTunes and Amazon. Amazon won. The tracks were no cheaper but the quality was better (at 256kbps vs 128) and the album price worked out to be less. The DRM business is not something that keeps me up at night, but all things being equal, I’ll take the tracks without it. And when the quality is worse, there’s no reason to consider DRM-encumbered material.

The ball is in Apple’s court to make the quality/price issue go away and get rid of the remaining DRM holdouts. The only reason it matters to them is that it puts them in an arms race against their own customers, on behalf of the record manufacturers. Why would anyone want to be their proxy?

Wow, people ego-surf on eBay?

July 18 2005 InfoWorld Color Printer Chad Dickerson HP – (eBay item 6975770536 end time Jan-19-08 18:26:49 PST) Wow — people sell old copies of InfoWorld on eBay?! [From Links for 2007-12-27 [del.icio.us] ]

[From Links for 2007-12-27 [del.icio.us]]

😉